The coach said, "Then use your midfield intuition to more keenly judge the opponent's offensive routes. While protecting yourself, become the backbone of the defensive line."
As the match date steadily approached, the early spring fog along the southeastern coast rolled in like thick smoke, blanketing the earth.
Lin Wanxing pushed open the door.
She looked around but couldn't see the boundaries of the rooftop railing. The entire city was shrouded in milky white fog.
Today was the day they were departing for Yongchuan.
Lin Wanxing swept her hand through the air, the mist drifting strand by strand through her fingertips. The concrete image of Yongchuan seemed to have long faded from her mind.
But now that the destination had become confirmed words on their train tickets, "Yongchuan" grew clear once more.
Hongjing → Yongchuan
D7016 9:29 Departure
The display screen in the ticket hall flickered.
Due to the heavy fog, road transport was disrupted, and the high-speed rail station was crowded with bustling travelers.
It was still early. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the fog hadn't yet lifted, and the air was thick with the mingled scents of tea eggs and instant noodles.
"Teacher, what are you looking at?"
The voice snapped Lin Wanxing out of her thoughts.
Zheng Feiyang, with a pair of cleats slung around his neck, asked her excitedly.
She stared for a moment before realizing he had tied the shoelaces of both shoes together and hung them around his neck. The bright yellow cleats swung back and forth against his chest.
Lin Wanxing sighed helplessly, "Why didn't you put your shoes in your bag?"
"My bag is full of snacks—I can't put them together."
Quite the cleanliness enthusiast.
Lin Wanxing instinctively glanced down at her phone.
Qin Ao remarked, "I just asked you a question, and you changed the subject. Now you're checking your phone—who are you waiting for?"
Lin Wanxing held up her phone, showing Teacher Qian's profile picture and contact name. "I'm definitely waiting for my supervisor. But you—who do you think I'm waiting for?"
Qin Ao made a face. "Don't gross me out."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Teacher Qian soon arrived.
He had plenty of experience leading students to competitions and had prepared a small yellow cap for each student.
The boys were reluctant to wear them, but Teacher Qian wasn't one to be argued with. A former boxer, he had an imposing presence when he put on a stern face.
Like elementary school students, the boys accepted the caps and, however unwillingly, clipped them to their backpacks.
Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa also took theirs.
The caps were bulk-ordered from Pinduoduo, identical for everyone.
After Lin Wanxing and the students put theirs on, they noticeably seemed to shrink in height.
But when Wang Fa wore his, he appeared exceptionally handsome and bright, standing out from the rest.
Even the boys complained, "Damn, Coach, why do you look so much better in a cap than we do?"
"Maybe it's a matter of the person wearing it?"
Lin Wanxing teased, only to be met with the boys' retort, "Teacher, you've gotten even shorter!"
When the caps were nearly all distributed, one remained extra.
Teacher Qian scanned the group. "Who didn't take one? Did someone go to the restroom?"
Despite the noisy high-speed rail station, the small area where they stood fell abruptly silent the moment Teacher Qian asked.
The atmosphere grew strangely tense, and Teacher Qian sensed it too.
Lin Wanxing said, "Wen Chengye didn't come."
"What? Why didn't he come? Boarding is about to start!"
The students' faces stiffened; no one wanted to speak.
Lin Wanxing briefly explained what had happened.
"You're saying you plan to go to Yongchuan with 10 people to play against the Evergrande youth team? That's impossible!"
Upon hearing their final plan, Teacher Qian suddenly slapped the handle of his suitcase, exclaiming that this was sheer recklessness.Lin Wanxing: "There's nothing we can do about it."
"Aren't you going to try to persuade him?" Teacher Qian stared at her.
Lin Wanxing: "It's not like it's a divorce or a breakup, what is there to persuade?"
Teacher Qian was furious: "Then do you know that Wen Chengye's parents are going through a divorce? The kid is in a bad mood and acting out. What kind of major conflict could there possibly be between boys?"
The other students on the football team had no idea about this. When they heard it, they were stunned.
Lin Wanxing, however, remained calm: "I know."
The other students turned to look at her, their expressions even more incredulous.
"Teacher?" Even Fu Xinshu couldn't help but call out to her.
Lin Wanxing didn't plan to explain much. She glanced at the students and finally singled out Qin Ao: "What do you think?"
"What's the big deal about his parents divorcing? It's not like mine didn't," Qin Ao said disdainfully. The students didn't say anything more.
But their wandering eyes and the long silence that followed betrayed their true feelings.
The departure time drew nearer.
Luggage was placed on the conveyor belt one piece after another, and passengers passed through the metal detector one by one.
The train ahead pulled out of Hongjing Station. The display for D7016 kept jumping to the top position until the words "Now Boarding" lit up behind it. That empty cap still hung on Teacher Qian's rolling suitcase.
The boarding announcement sounded over the loudspeaker.
The students, carrying their backpacks, passed through the high-speed rail ticket gates one after another.
Fu Xinshu walked last.
He looked back and saw only a surging crowd, hurried footsteps. Further away, the fog was blown open by the wind, but the sky remained unseen.
A dark red rubber track, intense drumbeats.
The song was a newly popular Korean hit, its repetitive melody enough to make one's heart explode.
Once, twice, three times...
Finally, the ringing of a phone interrupted the suffocating repetition of the music.
The young man didn't answer the call immediately. Gasping for breath, he picked up his backpack and jacket from beside the rubber track encircling the lake.
The area was empty and deserted. A cold lake breeze brushed against his body. He put on his jacket and slung his backpack over his shoulders at a slow pace. Just as the call was about to hang up out of impatience, he finally answered.
"Good son, are your classes over?"
The young man zipped up his jacket and simply grunted "Hmm" in response.
"Then hurry home. Mom asked Auntie to make soup for you."
The voice was enthusiastic but conveyed no warmth.
After hanging up, he zipped his jacket fully and looked down at today's running record.
Three laps around Hongjing Lake.
17,787 meters, total time: 97 minutes.
It was a long distance, and because he had used interval running settings, the overall time was even longer.
Long enough for his family to think he should have finished his classes.
Long enough for the train that left the station to have reached its destination.
Wen Chengye glanced at the time.
11:06 a.m.
Yongchuan was a big city.
The difference between it and Hongjing was directly reflected on review platforms. Yongchuan had 279 restaurants with an average cost of over 300 yuan per person, while Hongjing had only 9 citywide.
After getting off the high-speed rail, the distance from the train station to Yongchuan Evergrande's suburban training ground was almost equivalent to the high-speed rail travel time from Hongjing to Yongchuan.
The fog had finally lifted. Along the way, they could see green reed beds lining the highway, stretching out endlessly, merging with the horizon.
The youth hostel Lin Wanxing booked was near the suburban field.On the road, the bus passed through Yongchuan University Town, stopping at station after station in front of various universities. Energetic college students got on and off, while Lin Wanxing pulled her hat over her face and fell into a deep sleep.
By the time the bus reached the terminal, only their football team remained on board. Lin Wanxing stepped off the bus drowsily, awakened by the lake breeze that greeted her face.
Yongchuan Evergrande's training base was located by Dongming Lake.
The students had been on the road for so long that they felt their bones were about to fall apart.
"They dragged us all the way out here..."
They stretched lazily, carrying their luggage as they disembarked.
Lin Wanxing glanced at her phone; it was already past 12 noon, and there were no messages on WeChat.
"The finals will be held at Yongchuan Evergrande's home ground, in the city. I remember there were plenty of great food spots nearby," she remarked.
"Teacher, are you kidding?"
"I'm stating a fact, not joking," Lin Wanxing retorted, asking the students, "What were you expecting?"
The students looked deflated, unable to come up with a response.
As for the schedule, Lin Wanxing had already confirmed everything with both the youth hostel and the Yongchuan Evergrande training base.
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