Ginkgo Leaves Fall

"When Ginkgo Leaves Fall" is a campus crush novel told from the first-person perspective of the male protagonist Lin Yu. It is like a film that has been dusted by time, delicately and sincerely recording a silent confession about youth, loneliness and redemption. The core of the story is how an introverted and sensitive boy touches a beam of light that illuminates his entire dark world through the lens. The protagonist of the story, Lin Yu, is a silent "ghost" in Class 3, Grade 2, Huachen Middle School. His grades were in the middle of the pack and he was not good at socializing. The old film camera left by his father in his schoolbag was his only way to communicate with the world. He used his lens to capture light and shadow, record still life, and isolate himself in a lonely world of black and white until one afternoon in September, the transfer student Su Nian arrived. Su Nian is like a plant transplanted from the Jiangnan water town, with a cool temperament and the unique warmth of the south. She is quiet and distant. She wears a silver bracelet left by her mother on her wrist all year round. The glimmer of light in the sun is like a key, unexpectedly opening the locked door in Lin Yu's heart. At that moment, Lin Yu raised the camera by mistake and started this grand and private secret love with a secretly photographed silhouette. From then on, Lin Yu's lens had the only protagonist. He began to take long detours, pretending to pass by the ginkgo tree where she often went, just to take a picture of her quietly reading poetry from behind; in an autumn rain, he left his umbrella to her as she squatted on the ground to pick up a soaked collection of poems, and then ran away in the rain, letting the cold rain and the heat in his heart intertwine; he found out that her math scores were not good, so he began to insert his neat notes on wrong questions into her exercise book as an "anonymous classmate." All these silent efforts were his clumsy approach and his timid protection. The turning point of the story happened on that afternoon with the first snow. When Lin Yu secretly photographed Su Nian making a snowman under the ginkgo tree again, she discovered her on the spot. He was so embarrassed that he thought this cautious secret love would end here. However, Su Nian was not angry. Instead, she showed him a smile purer than Chuxue and asked softly: "Do you like taking pictures? Can you take a picture with me and the snowman?" This simple sentence, like a warm current, instantly melted away all Lin Yu's anxiety and inferiority. With trembling hands, he pressed the shutter, freezing the first real interaction between them. This photo became a witness to the breaking of the ice in their relationship. The climax of the story was when Lin Yu gave her the photo he took of Su Nian during the first snowfall. On the back of the photo, he wrote the long-awaited confession: "When the ginkgo leaves fall, the best sunshine I have ever seen." Su Nian looked at the photo and him without saying anything, but gave him a gentle and understanding smile in return. This smile is a response to all his silent contributions and a tacit approval for their future. "When the Ginkgo Leaves Fall" is not just a story about secret love, it explores loneliness and connection more deeply. Lin Yu observes the world through the lens and falls in love with a person through the lens. In the end, it is because of this love that he dares to put down the lens and truly enter the world. The appearance of Su Nian is not only the light in Lin Yu's life, but also an opportunity for him to get out of his self-enclosed world. In an extremely delicate way, the novel depicts the sourness and sweetness of adolescence when "you want to touch but then withdraw your hand", as well as the warm process of two lonely souls attracting each other and redeeming each other. At the end, the story does not give a clear "together" ending, but stays in a hopeful blank space. Their future, like the roll of film that has just started shooting, is full of infinite possibilities. The falling of the ginkgo leaves is the beginning of the story; and when the new leaves bloom again, their story has just begun the most exciting chapter. This is the most tender youth poem about how to use love and courage to dye the black and white world into colorful colors. Intention: Everyone may be an isolated island, but love and understanding can become the bridge connecting the islands. It tells us that even the most introverted and lonely people have the right and ability to love and be loved. The real growth is to dare to put down your defenses and bravely walk into the world full of light and color that once scared you.