After an unexpected summer encounter, high school sophomores Lin Xiaoman and Jiang Yi gradually grow closer, moving from classmates to something more.
During a storm on the first day of school, Jiang Yi catches Lin Xiaoman just as she’s about to fall, and their connection quietly begins. As classmates, they keep finding ways to interact: when Lin Xiaoman is stumped by a difficult problem, Jiang Yi passes her a sheet of scratch paper with his solution already written down; when another boy won’t leave her alone, he steps in; and when she gets hurt, he brings her notes and helps her with her assignments. Lin Xiaoman, meanwhile, quietly pays attention to Jiang Yi: the way he spins his pen, the ginkgo leaf on his collar, the sight of him shooting hoops, and how devoted he is to his grandmother.
As they encourage each other through monthly exams and go together to Jiang Yi’s grandmother’s house to pick ginkgo nuts on the weekend, innocent feelings quietly blossom between them. Set against a summer backdrop, the story unfolds in classrooms, libraries, on basketball courts, and in an old courtyard, depicting the pure, heartwarming connections of youth. Every line brims with the excitement and beauty of adolescence, as though you can hear the secret feelings tucked away in the summer cicadas’ song.
