But why keep moving forward?
Furious footsteps echoed through the space as his father appeared in the hall.
Wen Chengye stood up and walked toward him.
The next moment, a slap struck his cheek, thunder roaring in his ears.
In the reed marshes, egrets startled into flight,
Wen Chengye looked at his father’s contorted face.
Yet he felt unusually at ease.
Though he hadn’t reached that place, he was no longer standing still.
The dark red track beneath his feet stretched endlessly into the distance—he saw the path.
The phone call ended.
Lin Wanxing suddenly turned her head and looked at Wang Fa.
The young man’s cap had been blown to the ground by the wind at some point. He simply tilted his head slightly, gazing at the sky.
Fluffy raindrops dampened his hair and eyelashes.
“I think you two are very similar,” Lin Wanxing said to Wang Fa.
She knew clearly.
At this moment, Wang Fa’s question had already been answered.
What is football?
It is violence, competition, confrontation.
It is Wen Chengye, who after countless arguments still doesn’t know why he wants to stand on the field with his teammates.
It is the heart of an ordinary child who wants to give up but ultimately doesn’t, resolutely pressing on.
It is refusing to accept fate and refusing to yield.
Chapter 107: CD
It was a CD—a rare sight these days.
It was enclosed in a kraft paper envelope, with the front inscribed:
To Student Wen Chengye, Building 14, Fu’an Garden.
The envelope bore no postage stamp or courier labels, suggesting it had most likely been placed directly into Wen Chengye’s home mailbox.
Two days had passed since the match against Yongchuan Evergrande.
Losing to Yongchuan Evergrande was expected, but the match itself had been brutal. Holding a 10-man lineup to a 0-2 score against Yongchuan Evergrande was already commendable, but a loss was still a loss.
At first, the students struggled to move past the defeat. The more desperate the situation, the more the match pushed them to their limits, the clearer their inner desires became.
For a long time after the match, the students were consumed by the details of their mistakes. Thoughts like “I could have” and “Why didn’t I” filled their minds.
If not for the situation with “Wen Chengye,” Lin Wanxing believed those recurring scenes would have tormented them for much longer.
Though no one said it aloud, everyone was genuinely concerned about Wen Chengye.
For instance, right after the match, they wanted to know where “Wen Chengye” was and whether he would come to Yongchuan.
When they learned Wen Chengye had been slapped by his father and taken back to Hongjing, they even entertained the idea of a “jailbreak.”
Hearing the words “jailbreak,” Lin Wanxing was utterly speechless—what nonsense was this?
So she sent Wen Chengye a WeChat message: Your teammates say they can provide a jailbreak service. Do you need it?
Wen Chengye didn’t reply immediately.
A long time passed—so long that they had already packed their bags at the youth hostel and were about to board the high-speed train back to Hongjing.
“Wen dog sent me a ‘dumbass’!” Qin Ao exclaimed, suddenly jumping up on the platform, phone in hand. “What does ‘dumbass’ mean? Did his dad slap him stupid?”
Hearing it was a message from Wen Chengye, the boys nearby crowded around Qin Ao, scrambling to see his phone.
Qi Liang glanced at his own phone, noticed there was no message from Wen Chengye, and sneered. “He really likes you, huh?”
Qin Ao immediately puffed up with pride. “Are you jealous? He only sent it to me.”As he spoke, he picked up his phone and replied to Wen Chengye with a middle finger emoji right in front of Qi Liang.
Anyway, these were some of the things that happened after the match that day.
And now, two days later, it was time for Wen Chengye to climb up to the rooftop again, holding this envelope.
It was after dinner, and everyone was slacking off as usual.
The student on duty was washing dishes, Lin Wanxing had snatched a wooden sofa on the balcony to nap, when the rooftop door was pushed open.
A boy in his school uniform and sweatpants appeared at the doorway, carrying a backpack and holding an envelope.
He stood facing the wind, his coat fluttering, quietly watching the others on the rooftop in the night.
The other team members didn’t react at first.
When they realized it was Wen Chengye, they actually felt a little embarrassed. The group and Wen Chengye stared at each other across the vegetable garden—it was quite a scene.
In the end, it was Lin Wanxing who couldn’t take it anymore.
“Alright, alright, how long are you all going to keep staring?” she called out to Wen Chengye to come in.
Then, Wen Chengye handed her the envelope.
If the front of the envelope read “TO Wen Chengye,” then the back…
The back was printed with the contact information and address of Hongjing City Ninth Junior High School, indicating it was a very formal school envelope.
“What is this? Did someone mail it to you?” Lin Wanxing asked.
“Yeah.”
“Who sent it?”
“Don’t know.”
“Hongjing Ninth Junior High—is that the middle school you all attended?”
The students nodded one after another.
This method of delivery easily reminded Lin Wanxing of the things the students had received before.
Like the “Free Ball Rental 100 Times Card” that Chen Jianghe received, or the cigarette case Qin Ao got, or even the recent takeout order related to Wen Chengye…
Although the forms were different, this mysterious and strange feeling made it seem like they were all from the same person.
The other students nearby felt the same way.
“Who gave it to you?” Chen Jianghe asked.
“Don’t know. It was just left in my mailbox,” Wen Chengye said.
“When did you receive it?”
“Last year, at the end of the semester…”
“…”
Hearing that the letter was from last year, the students were speechless.
“So you received it a long time ago and just didn’t bring it over?”
“It was just a CD for me. Why would I bring it over, and who would I give it to?” Wen Chengye retorted.
That did sound reasonable.
“Then why are you bringing it over now?” Qin Ao asked.
“Because there was also a note inside,” Wen Chengye said irritably.
Qin Ao, quick-eyed and swift-handed, shook the envelope—it was empty. “There’s nothing here?”
“I threw it away a long time ago,” Wen Chengye said bluntly.
“You’re really something else!” The other students were shocked—this guy was so shameless and unapologetic.
“What was written on the note?” Lin Wanxing suddenly grew curious.
If Wen Chengye had thrown it away directly, it probably wasn’t anything nice.
Sure enough, Wen Chengye looked both annoyed and slightly embarrassed.
A few words slipped through Wen Chengye’s lips: “To my future star players…”
Ugh!
For a moment, that line really made everyone feel awkward.
But only for a moment.
Soon, the students began to speculate about who could have said such a thing. A strange light gradually appeared in their eyes—though it seemed unbelievable, there was only one possible answer.
“Is it the coach?!” the students exclaimed in unison.The coach they were referring to was, of course, not Wang Fa, but Coach Jiang—the one who had taught them to play soccer since childhood, guiding them from toddlers who could barely dribble steadily to players capable of competing with professional youth trainees.
"Did the coach send this to you?"
"Why didn’t you bring it out earlier?"
"You’re seriously too sneaky!" the students exclaimed in unison.
Wen Chengye remained quiet.
Truthfully, he had already guessed who the sender was, which was why he had never discarded the CD or the envelope.
The boys chattered excitedly, growing increasingly curious about the contents of the disc.
Finding a computer that could read CDs was no easy task these days. Fortunately, at Yuan Yuan Cram School, there was an old machine left behind by the grandparents, capable of handling the job.
Holding their breath, the students cautiously pressed the disc tray button. With a soft click, the tray slid open.
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