Chapter 1

The September wind, dispelling the stickiness of late summer, brings the dry and clear scent unique to early autumn. At the entrance of University A in a certain city, the old sycamore trees that have witnessed countless arrivals and departures have quietly turned a pale golden hue. The sunlight is no longer the scorching white of midsummer, but has become warm, casting dappled shadows on the ground through the layers of leaves.

The day of freshman registration is always the busiest time on campus. The sound of suitcases being pulled by wheels, the anxious nagging of parents, the guidance from volunteers holding megaphones, and the laughter and chatter of freshmen filled with curiosity and anticipation—all these sounds blend together to form a vibrant, somewhat noisy wave of noise.

Lu Xiaoyan, carrying a backpack filled with a few books and his old-fashioned camera, walked through the cacophony. He didn't like the excessive noise; his brow furrowed slightly, and he just wanted to get through the area quickly to the registration point for the School of Humanities.

Just as he was walking briskly with his head down, a slightly different breeze swept by, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible scent, like the fragrance of sun-dried grass. He subconsciously looked up.

Then, time seemed to stretch out infinitely at that moment, and the surrounding noise receded rapidly like the tide, becoming blurry and distant.

Not far ahead of him, under the most lush sycamore tree, stood a girl.

She wore a simple white dress, the hem of which swayed gently in the breeze. Unlike the others, she didn't rush or look around; instead, she tilted her head slightly, gazing intently at the sky above, fragmented into countless pieces by the branches and leaves. Sunlight fell perfectly on her profile, outlining a soft yet clear contour, her long eyelashes resting like butterfly wings.

A sycamore leaf, its edges already turning yellow, twirls and flutters down.

She reached out, not to grab, but to open her palm and, with an almost reverent gesture, gently caught the falling leaf.

At that moment, the corners of her mouth naturally turned up, forming a very faint yet incredibly genuine smile. Her clear eyes reflected the vastness of the autumn sky and the golden veins of the leaves. Quiet, beautiful, like a painting carefully preserved by time.

Lü Xiaoyan's heart skipped a beat without warning. A strong, indescribable impulse seized him. Almost instinctively, he quickly and silently raised the camera that had always hung around his neck, skillfully adjusting the focus to capture that figure, that autumn light, that moment firmly within the viewfinder.

"Click".

The shutter clicked so softly it was almost carried away by the wind, but he was certain he had captured it. He had captured... the living essence of autumn.

The girl seemed to sense something, and turned her head slightly, casting her gaze in his direction.

Lü Xiaoyan hurriedly put down her camera, a barely perceptible hint of embarrassment flashing across her face, as if she had been caught doing something impolite.

The girl didn't show any displeasure at being disturbed. She looked at him, her smile not fading but deepening, her eyes curving like two crescent moons. She even took two steps forward, standing gracefully in front of him.

“Excuse me,” her voice was clear and cheerful, like the sound of a stream lapping against pebbles in autumn, “were you taking pictures of me just now?”

Lu Xiaoyan felt his ears burning. He nodded, momentarily at a loss for words to explain this abrupt action.

The girl didn't seem to mind. She tilted her head, smiled brightly, and extended her hand.

"Hello, my name is Qiu Yayu. Qiu means autumn, Ya means elegance, and Yu means lady."

Qiu Yayu.

Lü Xiaoyan silently repeated the name in her heart. Qiu, Ya, Yu. Each character seemed to carry the unique poetry and charm of this season, perfectly matching her and the moment just now.

He reached out and gently grasped her fingertips; they felt slightly cool to the touch.

"Lü Xiaoyan," he said, his voice lower than usual.

“Lv—Xiao—Yan—” Qiu Yayu slowly repeated it, as if savoring the rhythm of the name. Then, a playful light flashed in her eyes, “Your character ‘Yan’ also contains the character ‘Qiu’!”

Lü Xiaoyan was taken aback. He had never thought about his name from this perspective. After she said that, it became clear that the tightly closed door of the character "Yan" indeed contained a season that preceded "winter" and followed "summer".

Is it a coincidence?

Or is it some kind of subtle fate that was already buried in the name?

He looked at the smiling girl in front of him, at the sunlight dancing on her hair, at the autumn wind fluttering the hem of her white skirt, and for a moment, he forgot to answer.

Beneath the sycamore trees in early autumn, the bustling world became clear again. But this time, Lü Xiaoyan felt that even the noise seemed to have become pleasant.

Lü Xiaoyan's grip on the camera strap tightened unconsciously. Qiu Yayu... the name rolled gently through his mind, like a pebble thrown into a still lake, rippling outwards.

“Lü Xiaoyan,” Qiu Yayu repeated, her smile deepening, “your name is also very beautiful, very powerful, like… the city gate at dawn?”

This analogy surprised Lü Xiaoyan somewhat, and it also eased his tense nerves slightly. He gave a rare, barely perceptible twitch of the corner of his mouth, a very subtle response. "Thank you."

"Are you a senior?" Qiu Yayu looked him up and down with the camera on his chest. "You seem to know this place very well."

"Yes, I'm a sophomore, majoring in photography," Lü Xiaoyan said succinctly.

"Wow, Photography Department!" Qiu Yayu's eyes lit up instantly, as if stars had fallen into them. "Amazing! You looked so professional when you were taking pictures. I'm Qiu Yayu, a freshman in the School of Journalism and Communication." She introduced herself again earnestly, as if it were something very important.

News dissemination. Lü Xiaoyan thought to himself, no wonder she was so poised and confident. He nodded, indicating he understood.

The surrounding noise seemed to envelop them again, but this time, a strangely quiet atmosphere formed between the two of them.

"Um..." Qiu Yayu pointed to the camera in his hand, with a hint of expectation and pleading, "Can I see that photo from earlier?"

Lü Xiaoyan was slightly taken aback. He was used to being the one capturing and examining images, and rarely showed others unprocessed, raw photos, especially those of the subjects. But faced with her clear and direct gaze, he found it difficult to refuse.

He silently operated the camera, pulled up the photo from before, and then turned the screen towards her.

Qiu Yayu leaned closer, lowered her head slightly, and looked carefully. Her hair swayed gently with her movements, and the faint scent of sun-dried grass wafted over once more.

On the screen, the light and shadow composition were just right. The dappled shadows of the trees, the upturned profile, the focused expression, the clearly veined fallen leaf in her palm, and the quiet smile on her lips... time was perfectly frozen in time.

“That’s wonderful…” she exclaimed softly, looking up with undisguised delight in her eyes. “You’ve captured me… just like autumn itself.”

Lü Xiaoyan's heart felt as if it had been gently bumped. She understood. She understood what he wanted to express through the lens—not just to record a moment, but to capture a mood, a quiet yet vibrant sense of life belonging to autumn.

"Yes... you just happened to be there." He replied somewhat awkwardly, his ears seeming to heat up a little more. He wasn't very good at accepting such straightforward praise.

Qiu Yayu smiled, seemingly pleased with his slightly awkward reaction. "Anyway, thank you for capturing this moment. This is my first autumn at A University." Her tone was full of anticipation for the future.

Just then, a volunteer senior student chimed in: "Hey new student! The registration point for the School of Journalism and Communication is over here!"

Qiu Yayu turned around and replied, "Coming!" Then she turned back to Lü Xiaoyan and said quickly, "Senior, I have to go register now! It was nice meeting you! The photos... can I see the complete ones later?"

She waved to him, her smile still bright, then turned around, her white skirt tracing a light arc as she blended into the flow of people registering.

Lü Xiaoyan stood there, watching her departing figure until the white figure disappeared from sight. He looked down and glanced again at the photo on the camera screen.

Sunlight, sycamore trees, fallen leaves, and her.

“What autumn looks like when it’s alive…” he murmured to himself.

What was originally just a noisy registration day that I planned to pass through seemed to have become somewhat different because of a girl named Qiu Yayu.

The early autumn wind blew again in early September, carrying a chill, but it couldn't dispel the inexplicable, slightly warm feeling in his heart.