Chen Jiayong, who had been admitted directly to Peking University through a New Concept Competition essay, had given up his guaranteed graduate admission to Peking University last year and joined the Magic City's News Morning Post as a reporter.
He had come voluntarily to help out this year. Of the calls notifying contestants to meet the admissions officers last night, half had been made by Chen Jiayong.
At the same time, he was representing the News Morning Post to cover the New Concept Competition from start to finish.
He drank at the banquet and, feeling dizzy, took a cab back to his rented place.
Halfway there, his phone rang.
"Hello..." Chen Jiayong answered with narrowed eyes, half reclined in the back seat of the cab.
His college roommate's voice came through. "Old Chen, it's Qiangzi. Did you go to the New Concept event?"
Chen Jiayong sat up straight. "I just left."
"Someone named Chen Guiliang wrote two poems? And one of them was composed in seven steps?"
"Where did you hear that?"
"Just tell me whether it's true."
"I suppose so. How did you know? You don't usually follow this stuff."
"I saw it on the Peking University BBS."
By the time he finished chatting with his college roommate and got out of the cab, Chen Jiayong had sobered up quite a bit. As soon as he got back to his rented place, he logged onto the Peking University Weiming BBS.
There were several related posts, and he casually clicked into one.
The post was quite interesting. The commenters were either enthusiasts of classical poetry and prose or top students of Chinese language and literature, and they were arguing over Chen Guiliang's "violation of the lone-level rule."
"The third line has to be changed. One character would make for a