Chapter 101: Your name
Su Can sat on the desk. The night had grown fairly late, and beyond the balcony shared by the dorm rooms, lights had begun to glow in Nanjing University's dormitory buildings and study areas. Farther away, the nightscape of Shanghai Municipality spread out before him. The crisscrossing streets held a swelling power, glittering like scattered stars in the night, answering the vast starry sky overhead.
It made one appreciate the greatness of human civilization.
An old verse spoke of ten years of lamplight amid rivers, lakes, and nighttime rain. Before him, this city sat at the mouth of the Yangtze River, its districts on either bank linked by the narrow waters of the Wuhong and Huangpu Rivers. The dazzling spectacle formed by its densely packed skyscrapers and the bustling headlights along the riverside Binhai Road was a world of rivers and lakes in the truest sense.
In this immense world, stories more unexpected than drama unfolded every day: the struggles of bewildered university graduates fresh out of school, the cramped homes of the working poor, the dreams young men and women held on to amid reality, the battles over private desires and interests among those who controlled resources in the city's CBD, and the exchanges of power at every critical juncture. It was endlessly fascinating, yet real and cruel.
Zhang Xiaoqiao leaned against the railing and looked out. The sight of the dormitory buildings seemed to remind him of a memorable remark Su Can had once made that had since spread. He murmured, "What makes a truly first-rate university isn't how luxurious its high-rises are or how much floor space it has, but whether its study rooms are brightly lit at night. I don't know if it's because you said that, but a lot of Nanjing