Leaves of a Chinese Parasol

Time seemed to have rolled back ten years.

Xi Mubai at the time was only a young man, barely a day over eighteen. Even though he was young, his stature was huge, but he had not filled out yet, so he appeared rather thin. His features had deepened even though they still carried traces of youth. It did not detract from his charm because he looked just like every woman's dream first crush.

Every day, many girls would trail behind him. Even if they just saw his back, they would die happy. Mubai, on the other hand, was only interested in computers. He registered to study computer science at the best school in City T when he was barely 16. He continued to leave a glorious legacy over the two years he was there. Those two years were the best time for the school's girls, but it was only a stepping stone for Mubai.

In two years, he had finished all the courses available, and the teachers there had nothing left to teach him. Therefore, Mubai decided to study overseas.

After the last lesson of the day, Mubai, like usual, walked out of the classroom without registering the commotion he had caused. When he passed a Chinese parasol tree, a leaf fell down blocking his sight.

Mubai stopped in his tracks and picked the leaf that had stuck to his shirt. The leaf had yellowed. Mubai raised his head and saw the crown of yellow leaves on the tree. Without him realizing it, it was already autumn.

A Chinese Parasol would lose its trees to prepare for winter come every fall. The school had many Chinese parasol trees, so during every fall, the whole campus would be littered with tree leaves.

Mubai had not once stopped to appreciate the scenery of this school. At the moment, he realized how beautiful the school was. Perhaps it was because that was his last day at school, he uncharacteristically stopped to appreciate the scenery and did not leave in a hurry like usual.

Suddenly, another leaf fell before him. Then two more fell, following that was one more leaf, two more leaves…

Two leaves, one leaf…

The pattern was weird; the leaves either fell in two pieces or singular one, and they all fell before his sight. He studied the falling leaves quietly, and a thought cropped up in his mind, but he could not exactly explain why that would be the case.

The group of girls behind him were screaming from pure excitement and awe.

"Isn't he handsome? Even the tree leaves are attracted by his looks; they are all falling for him."

"No wonder they say there are beauties that would make wild geese alight and fish dive down for shame!"

"These leaves are all mine because they all fell for him."

"No way, those are mine!"

"Mine…"

While the girls were fighting among themselves, the leaves stopped falling, and Mubai picked up his pace and left. After he left, he no longer returned to the school.

The girls at the school collectively lost their crush, and their spring of love officially ended.

However, a legend about Mubai started to circulate around the school. It was said that on the day he left, even the Chinese parasols at the school wept their leaves, begging him to stay. However, eventually, he left, taking the school's spring with him…

The Chinese parasol that he'd stood under became kind of a romantic spot for the girls at this school. There were even rumors that before the group of girls from his batch graduated, they all came to take a final picture with this particularly sentimental Chinese parasol tree.