When the ginkgo leaves at Guanghua University turned their first golden color, the hustle and bustle of freshman registration gradually subsided.
In front of the Chongli Building where the Department of Physics is located, Mu Xinrong was holding a thick stack of newly received textbooks, his eyes moving among the crowd with a barely perceptible hint of nervousness and anticipation.
The sunlight shone through the gaps between the branches and leaves, dancing on his handsome profile.
Finally, he caught sight of the familiar figure under a lush ginkgo tree not far away.
Chao Youye stood alone, his figure still somewhat thin and upright, with a simple white shirt and dark trousers outlining neat lines.
He raised his head slightly and looked at the falling golden leaves. His profile looked calm in the mottled light and shadow, and the aloof feeling around him seemed to be softened a little by the autumn sun.
But Mu Xinrong knew that only a corner of the ice had melted, and there was still a deep pool inside.
"Youye!" Mu Xinrong smiled and walked over quickly. His voice was filled with natural joy, trying to dilute the tension.
Chao Youye turned her head at the sound. Her violet eyes looked at him, calm and peaceful, like a lake in late autumn.
He nodded almost imperceptibly in response.
Without saying a word, his eyes fell on the shaky pile of books in Mu Xinrong's arms.
Mu Xinrong looked down following his gaze and realized how clumsily he was holding the books. The top few books were about to fall.
Just as he was about to adjust his posture, a bony hand with pale skin reached out and naturally took away the heaviest books, "Theoretical Mechanics" and "Introduction to Quantum Physics", from his arms.
"Thank you!" Mu Xinrong breathed a sigh of relief, his smile becoming more genuine. His fingertips brushed against Chao Youye's slightly cool hand as he handed the book over.
The slightly cool touch was like a weak electric current, causing Mu Xinrong's heart to skip a beat. He also saw Chao Youye's fingertips curl up almost imperceptibly, and then return to normal.
"Dormitory?" Chao Youye's voice was as cold and clear as a mountain stream, breaking the silence. He held a book in his arms and looked towards the dormitory area.
"Yes! In Zhuyuan Building 7, Room 409!" Mu Xinrong nodded quickly and walked side by side with him. There was half a person's distance between them, not too far, not too close.
Mu Xinrong struggled to find topics to talk about, recounting anecdotes from his reporting days and complaining about how the dormitory building was a bit old but the location was good. Chao Youye mostly just listened quietly, occasionally uttering a very soft "hmm" in response.
The dormitory was a standard four-person room, with a bed above and a desk below. Mu Xinrong and Chao Youye were lucky enough to be assigned to the same room.
The other two roommates were Zhao Lei, who had a loud voice, and Liu Mo, who wore thick glasses and was a bit introverted.
Seeing Chao Youye come in, Zhao Lei greeted her warmly, while Liu Mo pushed his glasses and whispered "Hello".
He simply nodded briefly to Youye, a greeting. He placed his books on the table by the window and began to organize his things. His movements were quick and methodical, revealing a calmness that belied his age and... a coldness that seemed to distance him from others.
The originally relaxed atmosphere in the dormitory inexplicably cooled down a bit because of his presence.
Zhao Lei and Liu Mo looked at each other, both feeling a little embarrassed.
Mu Xinrong saw this and sighed slightly in his heart, but he was not surprised.
He took the initiative to help Chao Youye put the bedding she had brought on the bed, and said to the other two with a smile, "We'll be roommates from now on! My name is Mu Xinrong, and this is Chao Youye. He's a quiet person, but a very nice person!"
He tried hard to smooth things over and bridge the invisible gap.
Chao Youye paused while tidying up her desk and looked up at Mu Xinrong. Her eyes were filled with inquiry, as if she didn't understand why he was explaining for her.
Mu Xinrong gave him a soothing, slightly silly smile.
She turned her eyes away from Youye, her long eyelashes drooping, covering the fleeting ripples in her eyes.
University life slowly unfolded. The physics department's courses suddenly became more difficult, especially those in theoretical physics. Although Mu Xinrong was a top student, he often struggled with the professors' imaginative deductions and profound concepts.
Whenever he frowned and thought hard in class, biting the pen, he would subconsciously look at Chao Youye sitting next to him.
Chao Youye was always quiet. He sat upright, his notebook open, his slender fingers gripping a pen, occasionally scribbling a few lines of notes on the paper, so concise they were almost symbols.
When the professor talked about certain key and difficult points, his eyes would become particularly focused, and it seemed as if data streams were silently running in the depths of his violet pupils.
He seldom asked questions, but whenever the professor swept his eyes across the class with a questioning tone of "Who understands?", Chao Youye's calm gaze would always meet his, silently conveying his understanding.
During an electrodynamics exercise class, a question about electromagnetic field tensor transformation stumped most of the class.
Mu Xinrong drew and drew on the draft paper, his thoughts feeling like a tangled mess. He scratched his hair in distress, his eyes involuntarily drifting to Chao Youye again.
Chao Youye's draft paper was extremely clean, with only a few lines of extremely concise formulas written in the corner.
He seemed to notice Mu Xinrong's gaze, tapped the tip of his pen lightly on the paper, and then calmly pushed his draft paper towards Mu Xinrong.
Mu Xinrong was stunned for a moment, then a warm feeling welled up in his heart. He leaned in closer, carefully examining the formulas. They were the covariant form of Maxwell's equations in four-dimensional spacetime, along with a crucial Lorentz transformation matrix.
The simple symbol was like a key, instantly untangling the mess in his mind! He suddenly understood and looked towards Chao Youye with gratitude.
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