Chapter 22: Enemy of ten thousand
By the time they came out after dinner, the city lights had just come on, and Nanjing University's campus had yet to fall completely quiet. Light shone from the apartment dormitories and the teaching buildings open for all-night study. Construction was underway at many sites around campus, including the landmark building at the main entrance.
The courts still held some of the day's lingering heat. Cheers rose from them now and then, mingled with the faint shrieks of girls.
The café beneath the library had always been one of the campus's most atmospheric spots. Experienced male students at Nanjing University often bought a cup of iced tea and lingered outside, watching the girls sitting by the windows under the warm lights. They often came away with something to show for it. With luck, they might even manage to pursue one or two delicately dressed Jiangnan girls who had few admirers buzzing around them. Girls with milk tea on the table and a book by Eileen Chang or a collection of Whitman's poetry casually set beside them had always been targets for upperclassmen.
Occasionally, they encountered a few difficult ones, with hefty volumes by Beauvoir and Heidi piled beside them, yet wearing hot pants or short skirts that showed off slender, long legs. Generally speaking, those were the ancient enchantresses from the psychology department, not to be approached without some skill.
Every year, this university sent all kinds of people bearing its prestigious name out into the city and across the country. Looking through its history and the distinguished alumni now active in China's academic, financial, and political circles, one could at least find a few figures who made the university proud. Before leaving their ivory tower, the lives of those figures from its history