What. He awkwardly bows back.

"Pleased to meet you? I'm Chan Hei-Lei." 

"Yushi Huang. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Where are you from? I'm Hong Kong, city not enclave." 

"I accompanied the Tianjin enclave but do not live there."

Huh, that's weird. Enclaves aren't usually too eager to spend down their resources on alliances with unproven outsiders. Maybe she has a good affinity?

"Good for you, setting that up. You must be a useful person to have around." 

"I believe there were some disputes and I was a compromise candidate, but I plan to do my best."

...awkward. But, hey, chance to figure out who's allied with whom. 

"I'm afraid I don't know much about the smaller mainland enclaves. How many of you are there in our year?" 

"I'm one of eight from Tianjin this year. There are six left in sophomore year, two in junior year, and three seniors."

Hmmm. Good-sized contingent, but if those numbers are typical, they've got a terrible survival rate – almost as bad as independents. 

"It must be comforting to have so many friends around you." 

"I do not know them well yet, but I hope we will become friends."

Weirder and weirder. 

"So how'd you happen to get a Tianjin slot, anyway?" 

"Tianjin has several internal groups that do not always agree. They noticed me at a time when tensions were particularly high. Someone thought well of me and invited me to take the exam, and I did well enough to be seen as a possible solution that gave no group an advantage. I will be doing the maintenance shifts for the other Tianjin students in my year of all affiliations."

Julian wonders if all the mainland enclaves are this ...dramatic. 

"I'll probably end up picking up a few maintenance shifts myself, so we might run into each other! I'm trying to limit it, though, so I can keep my grades up." 

"I understand it can be a tricky balance."