Chapter 23: Those fireworks filling the sky (Part two)
The banquet continued. After the Shangshi Summit's wine supplier offered its thanks on the central stage, the event drew toward its close. At the organizers' invitation, everyone rose and raised their glasses for a ceremonial toast, as the celebrated Dragon TV hostess onstage put it, "to remember this wonderful evening."
The Nanjing University contingent felt thoroughly satisfied at the reception. At their last gathering, Du Ke's emphatic assertions had put them in an awkward position. Today, he had neither compromised nor relied on an aggressively dominant position; instead, Su Can's words had provoked him into leaving. Of course, to Du Ke himself, Nanjing University had plainly brought out Su Can as its trump card to slap him in the face over his earlier remarks. He had said Nanjing University had no entrepreneurs in the true sense, yet Thousand Friends was now no match for Facebook. That was an ironclad fact, not something sophistry or quibbling could explain away.
But why should Du Ke simply let Nanjing University slap him in the face? So he left "in indignation." It was a perfectly ordinary escape tactic that also spared him from being made fun of. To everyone else, however, his abrupt departure inevitably seemed a little graceless and heedless of the bigger picture.
In the past, Nanjing University's entrepreneurial circle had received little attention from pioneers like those at Tsinghua. Although it had begun to take shape, most of its members could hardly compare with Tsinghua's formidable, talent-packed alumni. This time, they had pulled off a splendid comeback. It also showed that, after nearly two years of decline, Nanjing University's entrepreneurial circle was beginning to revive.
Naturally, everyone on the Nanjing University side was delighted, while the Tsinghua contingent nursed its frustration.
That