It is based on a memoir written by the protagonist Jing Qiu in 1977. The narration is added by Amy, and most of the dialogue is from Jing Qiu's original text. 1977 was the first year that China resumed the college entrance examination system after the "Cultural Revolution". Jingqiu had already taken up a full-time job at that time, teaching in the primary school attached to No. 8 Middle School in K City, L Province. She also signed up to take the college entrance examination. Her life at that time was already many times better than before she took the job, and this time she was lucky to be able to sign up for the college entrance examination, which reminded her of the words that the third child used to comfort her, saying that she would recruit from the countryside, Say "I am born to be useful".

It's a pity that when the third child's predictions began to come true one after another, the third child became a beautiful dream.Seeing Jingsiren, Jingqiu began to write a memoir to commemorate the time she spent with her third child. Later, she wrote the story of the third child into a novel of about 30,000 words and sent it to "L Provincial Literature and Art".At that time, she didn't even know that the manuscript should be written on grid paper, so she wrote it on ordinary horizontal letter paper and sent it out. The novel was returned, and the editor commented: "The writing is exquisite, the style is fresh...but the characters lack fighting spirit..." and asked her to rewrite it according to the following opinions before sending it back to "L Province Literature and Art".

Jingqiu didn't rewrite it, firstly because she was busy taking the exam, and secondly, she wrote the novel to commemorate Lao San. If the editor made changes, Lao San would not be Lao San anymore, and even if it was published, it would be meaningless. Later, with the publication of Lu Xinhua, the Chinese literary world entered the period of "scar literature"... Amy's father joked that it's a pity that the editor of "L Provincial Literature and Art" is too timid, otherwise it could be replaced and it will be written into the history of Chinese literature. Ten years later, Jingqiu left City K to study in the provincial capital of Province L. Later, her younger sister went abroad, her mother and elder brother immigrated one after another, and all the things at home were thrown away.The rejected manuscript has long been thrown away, but this memoir written in a diary was preserved by her mother and brought to Canada.

After Amy participated in the writing of <<Deadly Tenderness>>, she often received private messages or comments from netizens, suggesting to write Jingqiu's story.At that time, Amy didn't know this part of Jingqiu's story, but only a few other passages, so she often "threatened" Jingqiu, saying that she would write her story, but she didn't agree. During the Spring Festival this year, Jingqiu brought her daughter SARA to Amy’s house to play. She brought the diary and asked Amy to write some to commemorate the story 30 years ago. So there it is.