Chapter 15: That girl
It was like a scene etched into a picture. The athletics field, which the seasoned upperclassmen at Nanjing University schemed every day to avoid, finding people to hand in their morning exercise slips for them, was packed with freshmen.
Every one of them had woken to a five-thirty alarm, clambered reluctantly out of bed, opened their wardrobes, and dug through jumbled piles of clothes for a shirt or T-shirt suitable for running. Then they had put on the sneakers or running shoes they had prepared and followed the crowd to morning exercise.
Along the way, they might chat about amusing things that had happened since term began: who had stood out at the welcome gala, whether this semester's course selection system had flaws. Perhaps they would continue an unfinished discussion from last night's bedtime chat-the unresolved clash between a freshman and an upperclassman.
And so everyone witnessed the following sequence of events beyond any doubt. Specifically, the somewhat aloof girl who had played the piano onstage at the welcome gala, amid a crowd that was somewhat angry but nowhere near openly condemning anyone, performed one seamless sequence for a freshman who had become familiar to most of his fellow freshmen: she stepped out of the crowd, approached, and kicked someone.
Yet when she turned back and took that freshman's hand, it looked so natural.
A whole crowd felt that there was no justice in the world.
The ruddy light of the rising sun shone on their faces that day-young Su Xiaocan and Tang Xiaowu, surrounded by so many vivid faces.
These faces had once cheered or felt melancholy over their new lives when they entered university. Now they all wore the same stunned look, as though life had unexpectedly sideswiped them.
Their thoughts were still drifting