The soft chime of a wind bell in Maokong in early autumn was the first page fate turned for them. Lin Shuyue had tucked half a lifetime of loneliness between the lines of Song lyrics. Growing up alone had taught her to be independent and reserved, but the moment she met Zhao Xingyao, she was willing to let down every defense and turn the feelings she had kept inside for so long into the courage to pursue her. Zhao Xingyao had grown up surrounded by the tender care of her grandparents. Faced with this sudden, burning affection, she was like someone holding a cup of piping-hot osmanthus wine: hesitant and uneasy, afraid it was no more than a fleeting flirtation, and too wary to take a sip. Song lyrics became their shared language, and osmanthus their running motif. From choosing bookmarks side by side in a bookstore and hiding their names on a title page, to keeping a date beneath the dormitory building and wandering through the osmanthus-scented park south of the city, their hearts slowly grew certain as they tested the waters and drew closer. The winds of senior year brought choices about the future. Lin Shuyue held on to her long-held dream of pursuing further studies at Harvard, while Zhao Xingyao remained devoted to her calling as a teacher. They supported one another, but in the end, they had to head in different directions at the airport. The time difference stretched out the wait, and distance dimmed their warmth. Video calls could not withstand the tide of reality, and occasional visits could not hold back the passage of time. The thoughts hidden in "Tune: Rain and Bells" and the promises made beneath the osmanthus tree ultimately lost to the diverging paths their lives took. Some affections, it turned out, can only last for a particular season of life, like the sunlight of that early autumn: warm for a while, but destined to fade.
Theme: Some loves are beautiful precisely because they belong to youth alone. Regret and missed chances, too, are part of growing up.
