The bus came to a halt at its destination, the sound of brakes and the door opening simultaneously filling the air. Lin Lu wiped his face vigorously, stood up abruptly, and gathered his belongings to disembark.
Under the shifting glow of the streetlights, Lin Wanxing caught a glimpse of his red-rimmed eyes, tears and sniffles still dripping, revealing deep sorrow and helplessness.
Lin Lu’s home was less than a ten-minute drive from Fu Xinshu’s.
He quickly dried his tears, then stubbornly denied it: "I wasn’t crying just now, I was just so tired that I teared up from yawning."
The bus stopped at the entrance of the residential complex.
To her surprise, Lin Wanxing noticed two middle-aged figures standing near the security booth.
One of them was familiar—Lin Lu’s mother.
The parents looked anxious. Lin Wanxing led Lin Lu off the bus, thanked the driver, and asked him to head home first.
The night was cold, nearing midnight, and Lin Lu’s mother seemed to have a lot on her mind.
"Why did you come out?" Lin Lu hastily wiped his face again, but his red eyes and occasional sniffles betrayed him.
"You said you were at the hospital—how could I not worry?" Lin Lu’s mother exclaimed softly.
"I told you it was someone else!" Lin Lu hopped a little, showing off his perfectly fine arms and legs. "I’m really fine, Mom!"
"But you never know with football—and your legs aren’t that great to begin with. How am I supposed to know if you’re telling the truth?"
The driver closed the door, and the bus drove away.
Lin Wanxing pulled her coat tighter. Lin Lu’s mother, startled by the sound of the departing bus, glanced over.
"Teacher Lin…"
Lin Wanxing looked up.
Lin Lu’s mother hesitated, as if unsure how to continue.
Lin Wanxing said, "Either is fine."
"Huh?"
"Whether you’d like to invite me upstairs to chat or simply say, 'It’s cold, Teacher Lin, head home early and stay safe on the road'—I’m okay with either."
––
Lin Lu’s home was modest, with two bedrooms and a living room.
There was no separate study, so the computer desk was placed in the living room.
Lin Lu was urged to take a hot bath, while his mother busied herself in the kitchen. Lin Wanxing, wearing soft house slippers, wandered around the living room.
She browsed through the photos in the bookcase one by one, with Lin Lu’s father standing beside her, looking somewhat at a loss for words.
Soon, one photo in particular caught her attention.
It was a group photo of a football team, the children in it all very young.
"This was taken when they participated in the Mayor’s Cup," Lin Lu’s father said, taking the photo out of the cabinet and handing it to her.
Against a backdrop of green grass, the young players in the photo still had a childlike innocence. Lin Lu, being especially young at the time, had particularly large eyes. Chen Jianghe and Yu Ming were squeezed together in the picture, and next to them stood a tall boy with a domineering air—undoubtedly Qin Ao.
Lin Wanxing also recognized the quiet duo, Zheng Ren and Zhi Hui. Another boy, despite his youth, had a cold, indifferent gaze—it could only be Wen Chengye.
Standing at the far right of the photo was a middle-aged man. He had a crew cut, a stern expression, and dark skin. This was likely the Coach Jiang the students often mentioned. Lin Wanxing compared him in her mind for a moment, confirming she didn’t know him.
"They were quite cute when they were little," Lin Wanxing remarked.
"Yes, and they were more obedient back then."
"What made you decide to send Lin Lu to play football?" Lin Wanxing asked."It's all my dad's fault, that is, his grandpa. Lin Lu was very thin when he was little. One weekend, Lin Lu and the old man went to the park to play and happened to come across Coach Jiang's football class handing out training materials. I was against it at the time, but the old man said it was only 350 yuan per semester, which was just his monthly pension, and he'd cover the cost. Who would've thought—350 yuan, and the kid has been playing for so long."
The man's tone was full of helplessness.
Lin Wanxing looked up. On the wall was a warm family photo of the three of them, and on the table was a toy car the boy had been playing with—half taken apart, the other half placed next to an orange in the fruit bowl.
"It's really not easy," Lin Wanxing said.
Lin Lu's father let out a long sigh. After a while, he quietly asked, "Teacher Lin, did you lose the game today?"
The man's expression was concerned.
"Yes, there was an unexpected situation on the field today, so we couldn't win," Lin Wanxing replied.
"I bet Lin Lu cried," Lin Lu's father said, glancing toward his wife bustling in the kitchen. "When he told us he was at the hospital today, his mom was so frantic she told me to take a taxi straight to Yuzhou."
Lin Wanxing remembered her first meeting with Lin Lu's mother—it was when the woman came to the school because her son had sprained his foot.
"We've worried you," Lin Wanxing said sincerely.
"His ankle has a habit of spraining; it started when he was young from playing football. So when he stopped playing in high school, we were actually quite relieved. It doesn't matter if he doesn't achieve great results in football—if he ruins his leg or ends up disabled, that's a lifetime issue."
Unconsciously, Lin Wanxing and Lin Lu's father found themselves sitting on opposite sides of the small dining table. By the end, Lin Wanxing fell completely silent, the sounds of running water from the bathroom and the gas stove in the kitchen clearly audible.
"When Lin Lu was little, I used to watch cartoons with him. I've seen all of them—'Slam Dunk,' 'Touch.' Back then, I thought, hey, if my son ever won a championship in football, how proud I would be." The man took a sip from the thermos on the table and said contentedly, "Ah, youth is wonderful—you can dream all kinds of dreams. At my age, when I roll over and open my eyes, all I think about every day is going to work. What I care about most is how much money is in the bank account and whether I can support my wife and child."
Lin Wanxing folded her hands on the table. For once, she didn't know how to respond.
"Don't feel pressured, I'm just chatting casually," Lin Lu's father said. "We parents are still very grateful to you. Actually, Lin Lu's grades have improved a lot recently. And you told us that the child could get into a good university through football scholarships, even make it to undergraduate studies. That's really tempting for us parents. But, isn't that just an excuse? Using academic performance as a way to get us parents to agree to let you keep the kids playing football, right?"
The man's tone shifted, becoming sharper.
Lin Wanxing felt that this wasn't entirely wrong, so she nodded.
"People are always greedy. We can't help but think, Teacher Lin is so capable—why can't she just focus the kids' time on studying? Even without football, she could definitely help them get into a good university, couldn't she?"
"Continuing to play football is their choice. If they want to give up football and focus entirely on studying, I will provide the corresponding support." Lin Wanxing paused and emphasized, "But I cannot take responsibility for their choices.""But you have been guiding them, haven't you?" Lin Lu's father suddenly smiled helplessly. "You say it's the children's own choice, but in your heart, you believe they should keep playing football, so you've been supporting and guiding them to continue, right?"
The sound of water stopped, the gas flame went out, and silence fell all around. Lin Wanxing couldn't answer.
"Why?" Lin Lu's father asked.
"It's hard for me to explain clearly right now."
"Her mother and I have always found it strange. You were the top scorer in the college entrance exam, a graduate from a prestigious university—why would you come to our small town to be a physical education teacher?"
"I encountered some things."
"Those things made you think studying is useless, that in the end, education leads nowhere. But how can you, just because you think studying is pointless, use your own ideas to influence the children's lives?"
Lin Wanxing walked out of Lin Lu's house.
It seemed that since that incident, she hadn't encountered a situation where she had to answer so many questions.
So overall, she was a bit at a loss for words.
She held onto the railing and descended the stairs step by step.
The collisions on the field, the fight in the locker room, Qin Ao's anger, Wen Chengye's coldness, and Fu Xinshu's determination...
Scenes flashed through her mind in the darkness, and exhaustion weighed on her like thick snow bending pine branches, making her feel heavy.
The air was still cold, and her breath formed damp, chilly clouds. The stairwell felt even more cramped and oppressive.
Lin Wanxing thought...
Actually, Lin Lu's father had been wrong from the start. She didn't have the ability to influence her students' lives. People aren't creatures that can be changed.
None of this really meant anything.
Her phone vibrated softly in her pants pocket.
Lin Wanxing's fingers were stiff from the cold, but she still pulled out her phone.
There were many messages on WeChat.
There was a notification from the school's teacher group, one from Jin Ziyang informing her that Wen Chengye had arrived home safely, and the latest one was from Wang Fa.
Winfred: Go straight out of the complex after you come downstairs. I'll wait for you at the south gate.
The message was brief, but Lin Wanxing stared at it for a while.
The motion-sensor light in the stairwell suddenly turned off. In the dim, cold space, the screen slowly darkened as well. She touched the cold edge of her phone, a strange emotion stirring in her heart.
When Lin Wanxing walked out of the complex, Wang Fa was indeed waiting at the entrance.
Judging by the time and distance, Wang Fa had probably carried Fu Xinshu home and then taken a taxi directly here.
Under the streetlight, the young man in a windbreaker stood tall and slender.
Winter-bare trees lined the sides, their branches stark against the sky. The road was empty of cars now, and behind him stretched a long, ashen-gray street under a starless, moonless sky—a bitterly cold urban nightscape.
Yet, in this very scene, perhaps because of the soft streetlight or the brown plaid scarf Wang Fa wore, he looked exceptionally warm.
Lin Wanxing quickened her pace and stopped in front of Wang Fa.
She tilted her head up slightly.
Wang Fa's eyelashes were lowered, his profile outlined clearly and sharply in the faint yellow light. His eyes appeared darker than usual, like rich, thick honey.
Lin Wanxing instinctively pulled her hand out of her pocket, making a slight upward movement. But just as her fingers were about to touch his face, she withdrew them.
"It's so cold. Why didn't you go back first?" She patted Wang Fa's shoulder and asked.
The young man's gaze fell on his shoulder. Lin Wanxing cleared her throat softly, pretending nothing had happened.Wang Fa withdrew his gaze and walked alongside her, saying, "Because your student Lin Lu sent me a message saying, 'Teacher has been thrown to the wolves—his parents have taken him hostage and brought him home. Come rescue him quickly.'"
What kind of mess was this?
Lin Wanxing felt utterly helpless. "What's going to happen with his language skills in the entrance exam?"
"I think it's quite good—it fully conveys the urgency of the situation," Wang Fa remarked.
Lin Wanxing paused for a moment before continuing to walk side by side with Wang Fa.
Neither of them made any move to take out their phones to call a ride. The street stretched long, as if they could walk for a long time.
"What happened?" Wang Fa asked.
After a moment of thought, Lin Wanxing slowly recounted to Wang Fa everything Lin Lu's father had discussed with her. By the end, she quietly omitted the part where Lin Lu's father had asked her, "Why did you come to this small place to be a P.E. teacher?"
"To summarize, Lin Lu's parents believe that you have the ability to help their child get into a good university, but instead, you're encouraging them to play soccer instead of focusing on their studies?" Wang Fa asked.
"Exactly!"
"How did you respond?"
OpenNovel