Three of a Kind

This is a novel grown out of a "private diary." The work began as diary-style writing from the author's girlhood, so its language carries an unpolished rawness and heat—and precisely for that reason it captures a truth many youth novels cannot. At the first Youth Literature Competition, the judges—including Chen Xiaoming, Liang Xiaosheng, Bai Ye, Li Jingze, He Shaojun, Ning Ken, Shen Biao and Yan Ge—unanimously voted it the top full-length award. Liang Xiaosheng said it "made me cry," and Bai Ye judged that it "transcends the ordinary youth novel and carries a profound literary quality." Unlike the usual campus romance or prankster narratives, the book centers on three teenagers' pursuit of "warmth, safety and freedom," portraying rebellion as a serious inquiry into the human condition rather than a pose. The three protagonists are sharply distinct—Huasheng's silent stubbornness, Zi'en's easygoing simplicity, Maigou's humorous restlessness—and the perspective circulates among them, showing the same youth from different facets. The structure of the four seasons, from autumn to the sprouting of spring grass, lets the whole book keep room to breathe even under pressure. It suits readers who want to find pain and literary texture in a youth story.