1985, the year of the great writer, began with Infernal Affairs!

Lin Fang stared at her face for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Jinqiu, what did you do last night?"

Xu Wei also came over to take a look, and burst out laughing after seeing it: "Your eyes look like a panda's!"

He Jinqiu touched under her eyes and said irritably, "Nothing, I just didn't sleep well."

"Didn't sleep well?" Lin Fang was skeptical. "Can't you get like this from not sleeping well? Tell me honestly, did you stay up late last night?"

Xu Wei chimed in from the side, "That's right, that's right, confess and you'll be treated leniently, resist and you'll be punished severely."

Forced into a corner by them, He Jinqiu could only whisper, "I'm looking at the manuscript."

"Reading manuscripts?" Lin Fang's eyes lit up. "What manuscripts? Are they the ones your dad brought back?"

Xu Wei also became interested: "Right, right, isn't your dad the editor-in-chief of *Contemporary* magazine? Does he have some good articles to write again?"

He Jinqiu nodded.

"What manuscript?" Lin Fang pressed. "If it's so good it keeps you reading all night, it must be really good, right?"

He Jinqiu was about to speak when she suddenly remembered something and closed her mouth again.

She remembered that the prequel to "Infernal Affairs" hadn't been published yet.

It's true that her father brought the manuscript back, but it's something that hasn't been published yet, so it can't be told to anyone.

If I tell anyone and it gets out, it will have a bad impact.

Lin Fang waited two seconds, and seeing that she didn't speak, she became impatient: "Say something!"

He Jinqiu shook her head: "I can't say."

"Can't I tell you?" Xu Wei blinked. "Why can't I tell you?"

"It means we can't say anything; we can't divulge manuscripts that haven't been published yet."

Lin Fang and Xu Wei exchanged a glance, then looked at He Jinqiu together.

"You're so unfair! What's our relationship? Tell me what happened?"

"That's right, no one else knows. Just tell us quietly, and we promise we won't tell anyone."

He Jinqiu shook her head again: "No, no, I really can't say."

Lin Fang snorted and reached out to tickle her.

He Jinqiu was most afraid of this, and immediately curled up into a ball, laughing so hard she could hardly breathe: "No, no, no, hahaha... don't tickle me..."

Xu Wei joined in, the two of them tickling He Jinqiu so much that she twisted and turned in her seat, laughing until tears streamed down her face.

"Tell me! Will you tell me or not!" Lin Fang asked while scratching him.

"Hahaha... I won't say, I won't say." He Jinqiu was so tickled that she could barely speak.

The school bell rang.

Lin Fang and Xu Wei then stopped.

He Jinqiu sat up straight, tidied her disheveled clothes and hair, and smiled.

Lin Fang turned her head to the side and whispered, "I'll deal with you after school."

He Jinqiu stuck her tongue out at her.

The teacher entered, and the classroom quieted down.

He Jinqiu opened her textbook, her eyes on the blackboard, but her mind was still on the Infernal Affairs prequel she had watched last night.

Ni Yongxiao, Han Chen, Huang Zhicheng.

The characters, dialogues, and scenes played through my mind frame by frame, like watching a movie.

She recalled two sentences Ni Yongxiao said, his upright spine in his final moments, and everything he did for the Ni family, which was in dire straits.

She recalled Han Chen's appearance when he was young, his expression when he chatted with Huang Zhicheng at the police station, and how he gradually became the ruthless person he later became.

And there's Lawyer Xie.

This boy is two years younger than her.

Calm, composed, and articulate, he doesn't seem like a young person who has just entered university.

She's two years younger than him, yet he can write something like this.

The first "Infernal Affairs" movie was good enough, so good that she felt uncomfortable for several days after watching it.

This prequel is actually better than the first one.

How did he manage to do that?

He Jinqiu couldn't understand it.

She grew up in a literary environment; her father was the editor-in-chief of "Contemporary" magazine, and her family was surrounded by scholarly families.

She herself is quite talented, having won numerous awards in essay competitions since childhood, and also achieved a high score in the Chinese language section of the college entrance examination, which led to her admission to the Chinese Department of Peking University.

She always thought she was pretty good.

But now compared to Lawyer Xie...

She suddenly felt a little discouraged.

She's two years younger than her, just came from the countryside, and has only been in college for less than half a year, yet she can write such works.

And it's not one, it's two.

Every single one of them is so good that even she, who considers herself quite good, can't even muster the thought of comparing them.

The gap is too big.

she thinks.

It's not just big, it's huge.

A class period passed just like that.

She didn't hear a word the teacher said.

When the bell rang, the teacher packed up her things on the podium and was about to leave when she suddenly remembered something and turned back around.

"By the way, I have something to tell you. There's a national essay competition for college students recently, and the theme is about changes in rural life. If you're interested, you can take a look. The details are posted on the department's bulletin board, so check it out yourself."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the classroom before finally settling on He Jinqiu.

"Jinqiu, you've always been a good writer, you should give it a try."

He Jinqiu was stunned for a moment, not expecting the teacher to call on her individually.

She nodded subconsciously, but actually had no thoughts in her mind.

The teacher has left.

Lin Fang and Xu Wei came over again.

"An essay contest? Jinqiu, are you participating?"

He Jinqiu shook her head: "I haven't thought about it yet."

"You're definitely capable. Your writing is so good, winning an award is no problem."

He Jinqiu smiled but didn't reply.

She really didn't have any particular thoughts in her mind.

She wasn't very familiar with rural themes.

She grew up in the city and could count the number of times she had been to the countryside on one hand.

She was afraid she wouldn't be able to write with genuine feelings.

Never mind, it's fine if I don't participate.

After school in the afternoon, He Jinqiu returned home.

As soon as she entered, she smelled the aroma of food. She changed her shoes, went into the kitchen, and saw Shen Jingshu wearing an apron and cooking. The pan was sizzling and steam was rising.

"You're back?" Shen Jingshu didn't even turn her head. "Go wash your hands and eat right away."

He Jinqiu responded and went to wash her hands. When she came out, she saw that He Chongshan had also returned and was sitting on the living room sofa flipping through the newspaper.

"dad."

"Hmm." He Chongshan looked up at her. "Did you stay up late again last night?"

He Jinqiu remained silent and sat down next to him.

He Chongshan smiled and said, "Finished reading it? What did you think?"

He Jinqiu nodded, thought for a long time, and finally managed to say, "It's so beautiful."

He Chongshan laughed: "That's it?"

He Jinqiu couldn't say anything else, except that she was just too beautiful, so beautiful that she didn't know how to describe it.

Shen Jingshu brought the dishes to the table and called them to eat.

The three of them sat down around the table and ate and chatted.

While eating, He Jinqiu suddenly remembered the essay contest the teacher had mentioned earlier and casually asked, "Dad, does your editorial department have any essay contests running lately?"

He Chongshan picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and said, "What, you want to participate?"

"No, it's just that the teacher mentioned it today, a national college student essay competition, about rural life, and asked if I wanted to try it. I haven't decided yet."

He Chongshan said "Oh," put down his chopsticks, and looked at her.

"I know about that competition. Xie Lu is preparing for it right now."