Chapter 89: You know each other?
Nanjing University had countless academic experts and professors whose work intersected with government interests. Every academic report issued here could indirectly influence the future direction of government policy throughout China. Yet the professors and lecturers teaching in its lecture halls, any one of whom came from a prestigious academic lineage and could make waves in the outside world, never forgot to nag before every class that attendance was closely linked to end-of-term credits, and that the students present should value their money and steer clear of failing grades.
But at university, slogans like that were as hollow and unreliable as "value your health, stay away from cigarettes."
The clamor of Shanghai's construction swept over the area. The university district's tallest multipurpose building was going up amid a great bustle, while the surrounding Wujiaochang area was also undergoing rapid renovation and transformation.
The weather turned from sweltering to crisp and clear, gradually entering the season when large differences between daytime and nighttime temperatures called for long sleeves. The girls who had dressed so prettily and lightly in summer began adding layers, though the black stockings coming into fashion on campus with autumn's arrival would still get pulses racing.
Perhaps the only difficulty the revelation of Su Can's identity as a Facebook cofounder brought him was that, at some point, invitations to dorm mixers and all kinds of activities had begun multiplying. They came whether Li Han and his girlfriend Chen Jia attended arts and sports club dances or ballet performances, whether Xiao Xu joined photography activities or the Mountaineering Association, or through the increasing number of girls striking up conversations with the aloof Zhang Xiaoqiao at the Film and Art College.
During this period, Room 602 did attend a few mixers advertised as having "substance"