The morning Celestial City received them for the second time was nothing like the first.
The first time, Lin Yi and Wang Hao had arrived as examination candidates, part of a convoy of buses carrying students from eight frontier cities, surrounded by the particular anxiety of people who didn't yet know how things would go. The city had been impressive then. Wide and tall and overwhelming in the way that large things are when you're encountering them for the first time.
This time was different. They arrived as accepted students. That distinction, Lin Yi had decided somewhere on the journey, was not a small one. The city looked the same. The buildings were the same height. The streets were the same width. But the relationship to it had changed. Jianghe was behind them now. This was not a visit. This was the beginning of something that would last years.
Wang Hao had not stopped talking since the transportation hub.
