Chapter Summaries

Su Can led Nanjing University’s team to defeat Shanghai International Studies University in a debate about wealth and freedom, earning best debater. Afterward, Lin Luoran asked whether he would fight her if they ever became enemies, and they each promised to let the other win.

• Su Can countered Dong Xiaojia’s arguments by linking wealth to freedom and the ability to pursue love, while Lin Luoran challenged his team’s position on choice and marriage.
• Su Can’s arguments impressed the audience, and Nanjing University’s team won 20–18, with Su Can named best debater.
• Dong Xiaojia refused to shake Su Can’s hand, while Lin Luoran asked whether he would strike back if they ever became enemies.
• Su Can told Lin Luoran he would let her win once, and she replied that she would let him win no matter how many times.

Su Can won the debate against Shanghai International Studies University, then clashed with Dong Xiaojia over her accusations of poor sportsmanship. After celebrating with Tang Wu, Lin Luoran, and their friends, Su Can left Lin to spend three days at Nanjing University on her own, and she ended the chapter by messaging that she was hurt and leaving.

• Lin Luoran joked that she would accept defeat to help Su Can win, then asked him to treat everyone after his victory.
• Dong Xiaojia criticized Su Can and Nanjing University for using underhanded debate tactics, but Su Can rebutted her arguments and she angrily left the university.
• Su Can escaped the crowd celebrating his award and invited Tang Wu, Lin Luoran, and their friends to dinner at Spring Glory Restaurant.
• Lin Luoran told Su Can she would stay at Nanjing University for three days and asked him not to interfere with her plans; he sent her a brief good-night message but did not visit her.
• Three days later, Lin Luoran texted Su Can that she felt hurt by his neglect and announced she was leaving.

Su Can spent the day showing Lin Luoran around Nanjing University and shared a meal with her, Tang Wu, and Ruan Si'ou before walking Lin Luoran to her ride. Lin Luoran’s self-proclaimed fiancé, Wei Ding Ding, picked her up, and her anger at his introduction left her ordering him into the back seat.

• Su Can found Lin Luoran socializing with students at the School of Foreign Languages, and she pulled him away to explore campus and eat.
• Su Can and Lin Luoran ate meat-stuffed flatbreads and fish ball soup with Tang Wu and Ruan Si'ou, who discussed clothes and shopping.
• Tang Wu and Ruan Si'ou returned to class, while Su Can walked Lin Luoran down the street and said they would remain friends.
• Wei Ding Ding arrived in a Benz C200, introduced himself to Su Can as Lin Luoran’s childhood betrothed and fiancé, and drove her away.
• Lin Luoran rejected Wei Ding Ding’s claim and ordered him to stop the car so she could drive while he got in the back.

Su Can reflected on Shushan Stationery’s rapid growth while speaking with Wang Yue about the factory’s prospects and her recent visit home. At Nanjing University’s library, a chance collision brought him face-to-face with a proud girl carrying The Vagina Monologues, who insulted him before leaving.

• Su Can watched news about Shushan Chain’s expansion and considered the stationery industry’s potential.
• Wang Yue told Su Can that Zhao Mingnong was negotiating with an ink manufacturer and praised the factory’s progress.
• Wang Yue told Su Can she had visited her mother in Xiahai and was continuing an executive training course.
• Su Can went to the library after class and watched a young couple laugh at him before heading to the shelves.
• Su Can and a girl in blue knocked books to the floor, and she left after telling him to go back to jerking off.

Su Can reflected on his aimless previous life and appreciated how much more focused and successful his new university days had become. After Zhang Xiaoqiao accepted that his relationship would remain a friendship, the roommates shared beer on the balcony, and Su Can ended the night feeling optimistic about the future.

• Su Can saw Zhang Xiaoqiao talking with the girl who had intervened in his cafeteria fight, then went upstairs without interrupting them.
• Su Can watched the women's dorm from the balcony and remembered how unfulfilled and lonely his previous life had been after college.
• Su Can reflected on his improved ability to study and how his accumulated knowledge helped him keep up at university.
• Zhang Xiaoqiao returned with beer and told Li Han and Xiao Xu that his relationship with the girl would remain a friendship, though they planned to visit the Bund together on Sunday.
• Zhang Xiaoqiao hummed a song about Shanghai as he drank with Su Can, who felt his melancholy fade and looked forward to the stories still ahead.

After 9/11, Su Can wrestled with his inability to change world events and continued his ordinary life at university. As September ended, calls from old friends showed how their lives had changed, while Su Can remained busy with his own relationships and studies.

• Su Can heard university students analyze 9/11 and felt ashamed after a professor reminded them that innocent people had died beneath the rubble.
• Room 602 kept its usual routines as Xiao Xu mourned a crush, Zhang Xiaoqiao drew, Qian Zhongyuan avoided the room, and Su Can spoke with Tang Wu.
• Su Can heard that Xue Yiyang had joined a top StarCraft team in Changsha, Liu Rui rode a secondhand motorcycle in Chongqing, and Lin Zouwen had technical work at Information Engineering University.
• Wang Weiwei told Su Can he felt uncertain about his future at China Youth University, though Su Can believed Wang Bu's support would help him.
• Su Can heard that Lin Luoran was thriving at Shanghai International Studies University and chose not to pursue the many admirers surrounding her.

At Nanjing University, Cheng Congcong and Ruan Si'ou argued over wealthy boyfriends and what made a man worth choosing, while Cheng Congcong tried to undermine Tang Wu's relationship with Su Can. Su Can left a lecture to go see Tang Wu, leaving their next meeting unresolved.

• Cheng Congcong told her roommates about wealthy suitors, and Ruan Si'ou challenged her belief that money and family background made a boyfriend desirable.
• Tong Tong backed Ruan Si'ou, and Cheng Congcong cited Yang Mengjie's accomplished boyfriend as an example of a wealthy man with potential.
• Cheng Congcong asked Tang Wu whether she had slept with Su Can and suggested she could find a better boyfriend if they broke up.
• Su Can, missing Tang Wu because he had been busy, handed Xiao Xu his books and left the lecture hall.

Tang Wu skipped class to spend time with Su Can, and they wandered the campus before meeting senior Fan Qiyi at the Basketball Hall. Fan invited Su Can to join the Student Union, leaving him to consider the offer and Fan’s advice to pursue more women.

• Tang Wu left class to meet Su Can, holding his hand as Cheng Congcong and her classmates watched and discussed their relationship.
• Su Can and Tang Wu walked through campus, kissed, and playfully chased one another before reaching the Basketball Hall.
• Su Can and Tang Wu encountered Fan Qiyi and the team manager, who recognized them from the freshman welcome party.
• Fan Qiyi invited Su Can to become Deputy Minister of the Business Department in the Student Union and suggested the position would help him meet other women.

Su Can supported Lin Guangdong as he prepared to launch a fashion magazine and learned that Facebook was seeking venture capital. A financial report about Tang Corporation’s takeover of Donglin Group made him fear that Tang Wu’s family might be facing the same disaster he remembered from his previous life.

• Su Can declined Fan Qiyi’s offer to become a Student Union deputy minister, and Fan received news that the club festival’s sponsor had fallen through.
• Su Can reviewed Zack’s reports on Facebook’s growth and agreed that Zack should reject an offer to sell a seven-percent stake for eight million dollars.
• Su Can encouraged Lin Guangdong to define the magazine’s identity and protect its reader and advertiser data as the first issue neared completion.
• Su Can read that Tang Corporation had taken control of Donglin Group and recognized Li Lan’s name on a business card from Tang Wu’s family.
• Su Can wondered whether Tang Wu’s father had suffered a backlash and whether the tragedy he remembered from his previous life was beginning again.

Su Can learned that Tang Wu’s family faced a crisis after her father took over the debt-ridden Donglin Group, and he decided to investigate in person. He left for the company after Li Lan told him Donglin could not find the contract for its hundred-million-yuan debt.

• Su Can called Tang Wu about reports on her father, and she insisted that her family was fine and the papers were exaggerating.
• Su Can learned that Tang Wu’s father had taken over Donglin Group, which was burdened by debt and faced a creditor’s demand for repayment of one hundred million yuan and a possible asset freeze.
• Su Can considered selling his businesses to help Tang Wu’s family, then decided he needed more information before acting.
• Su Can called Li Lan and offered to consult a lawyer, but she told him Donglin could not find the debt contract despite searching its archives for two days.
• Su Can went to Donglin Group’s headquarters to meet Li Lan and learn more about the crisis.

Su Can learned that Tang Wu’s father’s Donglin Group faced a severe debt crisis and watched Chaoyue demand repayment while threatening to sue. After returning to campus, Su Can thought of a way to help Tang Wu’s father.

• Li Lan explained that Donglin’s debts and stalled projects had worsened after the former owner’s death, and that the group could not defend itself without finding its contract.
• Su Can followed Li Lan to a meeting with Tang Wu’s father and Chaoyue’s representatives, while Tang Wu worried about her family’s troubles from campus.
• Chaoyue’s Mr. Wang presented documents claiming Donglin owed 113.52 million yuan and refused to negotiate on easy terms.
• Tang Wu’s father concealed that Donglin lacked its copy of the contract, but Mr. Wang left a court complaint and demanded a repayment plan within days.
• Li Lan drove Su Can back to university, where he later realized he had an idea for helping Tang Wu’s father.

Su Can devised a smokescreen to help Tang Wu's father obtain a copy of the contract behind Donglin Group's disputed hundred-million-yuan debt. With the contract secured, they left Chaoyue for Shanghai to study their next move.

• Su Can joined Tang Wu's father and Li Lan as they traveled to Chaoyue to investigate the debt, but the court's enforcement director refused to show them the original records.
• After the court offered little help, Su Can proposed pretending they had come to repay the debt and arranging a hotel room to unsettle Wang Timing.
• Su Can and Tang Wu's father staged a smoky, chaotic hotel room, and Wang Timing arrived with the relevant documents.
• While Su Can distracted Wang Timing with tea, Tang Wu's father slipped the contract copy beneath the sofa, and Su Can retrieved it after Wang Timing left for the restaurant.
• Tang Wu's father told Wang Timing the contract was missing, then departed for Shanghai with Su Can and the others.

Su Can helped Tang Wu’s father secure a crucial contract and spotted a suspicious transfer to Hong Kong in Donglin’s repayment records. Back at Nanjing University, he reunited with Tang Wu, who had waited for him, and their teasing left him leaning closer to her.

• Tang Wu’s father told the group he had to return to Shanghai, while Li Lan praised Su Can for helping obtain the contract.
• Tang Wu’s father explained the pressures facing both sides and hinted that Su Can might have a place in Tang Corporation after graduation.
• The office director found that the contract covered a 48.25-million-yuan loan with substantial unpaid interest, and Su Can said its terms might still be legally enforceable.
• Su Can noticed that some of Donglin’s repayments had been transferred to Hong Kong, raising questions about the other party’s accounts.
• After Su Can was dropped off at Nanjing University, he found Tang Wu asleep on a bench; she said she had come hoping to run into him.
• Su Can joked that he wanted to be the third mosquito to bite Tang Wu, and she called him shameless.

Su Can attended a gathering with Zhang Xiaoqiao and their roommates, where he observed the social networks and privileged backgrounds among Shanghai university students. The evening took an unexpected turn when Du Dawei arrived with Lin Luoran, whom Su Can had recently encountered several times.

• Su Can decided to wait a few more days before asking Li Lan about Tang's father's progress, while he noticed Tang Wu's mood improving.
• Zhang Xiaoqiao persuaded Su Can, Li Han, and Xiao Xu to join Xu Haiqing at a gathering of university friends.
• At Melody KTV, Xu Haiqing introduced several guests and their influential family backgrounds, while Cheng Congcong greeted Su Can and then moved on.
• Du Dawei arrived with international students and introduced his childhood friend Wei Ding Ding, then welcomed Lin Luoran as the guest of honor.
• Su Can was surprised to see Lin Luoran again and wondered whether the world was simply too small.

Su Can attended Du Dawei’s gathering with his roommates, where Wujing Daolang criticized Chinese society and history. Su Can countered him in a heated debate, then left with his friends as Lin Luoran watched him with admiration.

• Su Can and his roommates met Lin Luoran at Du Dawei’s gathering, where she greeted Su Can coolly and kept her distance from an international student who made an unwelcome advance.
• Su Can overheard Japanese and Korean students discussing women at the party and told them to behave themselves.
• Wujing Daolang criticized Chinese football, education, and history, prompting Li Han to confront him and Wei Ding Ding to calm the gathering.
• Su Can challenged Wujing Daolang’s arguments about the Yuan and Ming dynasties and Japan, leaving him unable to respond.
• Su Can called his roommates to leave, and Lin Luoran sprang to her feet as the door closed behind him.

After leaving the KTV following his argument with the Japanese exchange students, Su Can was joined by Lin Luoran, who chose his side and reminded him of their closeness. She revealed that she had kept the tabs from every can of beer he had drunk, then asked whether anyone else still opened his beer for him.

• Su Can left the KTV with Li Han, Zhang Xiaoqiao, and Xiao Xu after confronting the Japanese exchange students.
• Lin Luoran came outside and asked Su Can where he was going, while his friends gave them space.
• When Su Can prepared to leave in a taxi, Lin Luoran caught his arm, and his friends drove off without him.
• Su Can and Lin Luoran walked together, and she linked her arm through his after he apologized for not speaking to her earlier.
• Lin Luoran switched off her phone, declared that she was choosing Su Can's side, and handed him a can of Budweiser.
• Lin Luoran told Su Can she had kept the tabs from every can he had drunk and asked whether anyone else opened his beer for him.

Su Can spent the night walking and talking with Lin Luoran, who discussed her studies, family connections, and suitors. At Shanghai International Studies University, she surprised him with a kiss on the cheek before reminding him not to read too much into it.

• Su Can and Lin Luoran talked about their futures, and Lin Luoran joked that Su Can could become her eighth suitor despite her lack of interest in men who were already taken.
• Lin Luoran told Su Can about her upcoming role hosting foreign students, her father's work, and Wei Ding Ding, whom she liked but found too perfect.
• Su Can offered to take Lin Luoran back to Shanghai International Studies University, and she fell asleep with her head on his shoulder during the taxi ride.
• When the taxi arrived, Lin Luoran opened her eyes, kissed Su Can on the cheek, and told him not to read too much into it before leaving.

After leaving Su Can, Lin Luoran worried over her feelings for him, while Su Can returned to Nanjing University and reflected on their shared past and her loneliness. At the KTV, Wei Ding Ding learned that Lin Luoran had left with Su Can and began plotting retaliation, with Du Dawei urging him to involve Chuanwazi.

• Lin Luoran watched Su Can's taxi leave and worried that she had waited too long to confess her feelings, while Su Can headed back to Nanjing University.
• Su Can reflected on his affection for Lin Luoran and guessed that her feelings were tied to their high school memories and her loneliness before he returned to his dorm and fell asleep.
• At Happy Le Di KTV, Wei Ding Ding learned that Lin Luoran had chased after Su Can and that both of them had disappeared.
• Xu Haiqing suggested Lin Luoran had probably returned to her dorm, but Wei Ding Ding angrily rejected him and smashed his phone when her number remained off.
• Wei Ding Ding blamed Su Can for taking Lin Luoran and discussed contacting Chuanwazi, while Du Dawei urged him to have Chuanwazi kill Su Can if he had made a move.

Su Can reviewed Fashion Culture’s finances with Lin Guangdong and prepared to help him pursue major advertisers in Shanghai. Their meeting with Sais agent Fan Zhiliang began at an exclusive club, where business stalled as Fan invited Lin to play cards.

• Su Can required detailed budgets and risk analyses across his businesses as he learned to manage their expansion.
• Lin Guangdong arrived in Shanghai and presented Su Can with Fashion Culture’s financial plan, estimating that the magazine would need four years to repay its investment.
• Lin Guangdong told Su Can he planned to seek advertising from Sais cameras and had arranged a meeting with agent Fan Zhiliang.
• Lin Guangdong picked up Su Can and brought him to Keeclub, where Fan Zhiliang invited Lin to join a card game before discussing business.
• Zhang Zhi recognized Su Can at the club and praised him for standing up to the international students at Du Dawei’s gathering.

Su Can and Lin Guangdong failed to secure advertising commitments from Shanghai businesspeople, but Su Can staked a one-month deadline to prove the magazine’s influence and won Zhang Zhi’s offer to seek support from Avril. As they parted, Zhang Zhi warned Su Can that Wei Ding Ding and his friends seemed to be planning to target him.

• Lin Guangdong pitched Pineapple Media’s magazine to Fan Zhiliang and the other businesspeople, but Fan’s doubts led the group to reject the proposal.
• Su Can revealed that he was Pineapple Media’s chairman and argued that the magazine was well positioned to succeed, but the businesspeople remained skeptical.
• Su Can promised that the magazine would make its mark within a month, and Fan Zhiliang pledged Saisi Camera’s two-million-yuan advertising budget for the following year if it did.
• Zhang Zhi told Su Can he would ask his mother whether Avril could use the magazine’s media services.
• Zhang Zhi warned Su Can that Wei Ding Ding and his friends seemed to be planning to target him, and Su Can thanked him.