Volume six: Amid this splendor, the chariot swept all before it
Chapter 1: You bastard
At the University of Posts and Telecommunications, atop Nanshan in Nanan District of the western municipality, you could always watch the sun sink over the city each day. The light resembled the midtones of an oil painting, combining long and short strokes, long in the distance and short nearby, as magnificent sunset clouds drifted past and lights gradually sprang up throughout the city. It was a university distinguished by its slopes and steps. University Mountain would have been a better name, though it also seemed to be the place in the city where an upraised hand came closest to the sky. Liu Rui attended this university tucked away in the southwest, living out his college years climbing up and down the mountain every day. Still, his life was quite colorful.
Down from the dormitories at the highest point, the central cafeteria on the "mountainside" offered not only breakfast to buy on the way to morning classes, but also frequent opportunities to gather with his college buddies to watch NBA games. The arts and athletics room in the gymnasium beyond the central cafeteria often hosted dances. Occasionally, he could indulge in a little sophistication and arrange dates with a couple of rather attractive girls. On Chongwen Road outside the main gate, the many bars where customers could request songs were always packed at night, and prominent upperclassmen often frequented them.
Like the most ordinary college student, he sometimes ordered skewers from the spicy hotpot stalls outside the gate, where nightlife flourished, and ate a late-night snack with beer. He also often saw drunken girls squatting outside bars and suddenly bursting into tears. Or, watching girls climb into luxury cars on weekends, he would occasionally feel a