Chapter 111: Myself
The schedule for high school seniors was hectic, with the classroom blackboard densely packed with monthly plans.
After advancing from the Group Stage, the students quickly faced a series of mock exams.
During exam week, everyone seemed busier than usual.
The students who had been staying at 17 Wutong Road now had to return to school frequently, enduring the baptism of "small tests every three days, major exams every five days.""
The focus of their lives abruptly shifted from 17 Wutong Road back to the high school campus.
Returning to school life and taking numerous exams left the students somewhat unaccustomed. For instance, they had to adjust their training schedules and could no longer take afternoon naps. After lunch in the cafeteria, they often crowded into the sports equipment room.
As a result, Lin Wanxing lost her rare moments of leisure.
She reclined slightly in her small lounge chair, listening to the students—their mouths still greasy from lunch—complain about how boring the morning’s Chinese essay prompt had been.
"A four-panel comic is one thing, but it’s about animals!"
"Just a few monkeys hopping around, and the drawing isn’t even that good."
"Couldn’t figure out the meaning, and we had to write an essay based on the comic."
"Did you write it?" Lin Wanxing asked, cracking small walnuts while chatting with the well-fed boys.
"Of course we wrote it."
"But we’re not sure about the examiner’s intention—no idea if our essays were on topic."
"It’s just the first mock exam, no need to overthink it," Lin Wanxing said, picking out the walnut meat and popping it into her mouth.
"What do you mean, ‘no need to overthink it’? It’s still the first mock exam!"
"As a teacher, you should say something more constructive!"
"Yeah, like ‘focus on securing the basic points, don’t let difficult questions affect your mindset’—that would be somewhat helpful."
"Exactly!"
As the team grew more united on the field, the boys’ coordination in arguments also became more seamless.
Lin Wanxing often found their chatter headache-inducing and could only resort to perfunctory tactics.
"Keep talking, I’ll record it and play it back for you next time."
The boys were visibly annoyed.
Lin Wanxing glanced around and suddenly noticed someone was missing in the equipment room. "Where’s Wen Chengye?"
"His dad came to see him at noon," Qin Ao said.
As if mirroring the situation, the rarely used landline phone on Lin Wanxing’s desk suddenly rang.
The students instinctively fell silent.
Lin Wanxing picked up the phone to a gentle female voice on the other end.
"Me, right now?"
"Yes, Principal Liu requests your presence in his office now. Room 301, administration building."
The call ended abruptly.
Lin Wanxing set down the receiver, and the students looked tense.
"Break it up, I need to step out. Go prepare for your afternoon exams," Lin Wanxing said after a moment’s thought, shooing everyone out of the equipment room.
Lin Wanxing remembered that her first interview at Hongjing No. 8 Middle School had also been in the administration building. The building wasn’t tall, only three stories high. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Wen Chengye exiting the building.
His father walked ahead—it was Lin Wanxing’s first time seeing Wen Chengye’s dad.
The father and son stood one behind the other at the top of the steps.
Lin Wanxing looked up slightly.
Wen Chengye’s father wore a striped suit and a Rolex gold watch, appearing every bit the well-groomed, precious capitalist. He glanced down at her condescendingly, not even bothering to greet her.
Wen Chengye turned and said something to his father. The elder Wen descended the steps first and left alone.Wen Chengye then walked down and stopped in front of her.
Lin Wanxing looked at the boy before her. He was wearing his school uniform today, holding a document folder in his hand. His slightly narrow eyes had pupils that appeared lighter under the sunlight. Aside from his shorter hair and his skin tanned to a deeper wheat shade from recent training, he still carried the same young master aura she had seen when they first met.
Wen Chengye had hardly ever spoken to her about his family matters. Lin Wanxing had only heard rumors of a "divorce battle." As private affairs of wealthy families, she found it difficult to offer any help. After a moment of contemplation, she chose the most neutral opening line: "How did the exam go today?"
"Don’t worry, I wrote everything myself today."
Lin Wanxing smiled. Young Wen was quite direct. So she decided to be straightforward as well: "Then what was your father doing at school today?"
"He wants me to study abroad and came to supervise me while I gather some documents."
Lin Wanxing was taken aback. She had never heard Wen Chengye mention this before: "Are you going abroad?"
"I’m just delaying for now," Wen Chengye said lightly. "No need to worry. We’ve talked it over. I’ll finish high school, play out the matches, and see how things stand after the college entrance exams."
Lin Wanxing nodded. After a moment, her gaze fell on the transparent document folder in Wen Chengye’s hand. "And what about you? What are you leaning toward?"
"Studying abroad is quite tempting for me. No matter what, going abroad to study and being closer to a club—even a small one—would be better than staying here, right?"
Wen Chengye seemed to have rationally considered these questions and had a general direction in mind, but Lin Wanxing fell silent.
"Are you using these grades to apply to foreign universities?" Lin Wanxing pointed at the folder in his hand, where the report card inside was still visible—the one he had obtained through cheating.
Wen Chengye suddenly froze.
He slowly lowered his head, looking at the folder in front of him, initially at a loss. But soon, he composed himself and looked at her intently, trying to read something from her expression.
Children were always like this.
From almost the moment they were born, they gradually learned to recognize adults’ expressions to understand their emotions—this was the beginning of their socialization.
Lin Wanxing remained calm, allowing Wen Chengye to observe her.
In truth, both she and Wen Chengye were well aware that, no matter how the football team seemed now, there were still unresolved issues hanging between them.
"I don’t know where your answers came from…"
As soon as Lin Wanxing spoke, Wen Chengye cut her off.
"Jin Ziyang gave them to me," the boy uttered the name.
Thinking of the recent rumors at school and Jin Ziyang’s consistently ambiguous and probing attitude, Lin Wanxing suddenly understood: "Jin… Jin Ziyang?"
"Yeah, didn’t you know? The reason Jin Ziyang listens to me and gives me answers is that he’s my mom’s 'little boyfriend.' I’m blackmailing him with that."
The information was overwhelming, hitting Lin Wanxing like a thunderbolt, leaving her unable to process it. Perhaps her expression betrayed her emotions, as Wen Chengye said bluntly, "Don’t worry. My mom cheated, and my dad messes around too. They’re disgusting, and so am I. I’ve never been any good." Wen Chengye shook the folder in his hand, making his meaning clear.
The sun hid behind the clouds, and a cool breeze swept across the front of the teaching building.Lin Wanxing gazed gently at her student. The boy had indeed tanned considerably and appeared more spirited.
As time passes, people always seem to undergo constant changes on the surface. Yet the cold arrogance and stubbornness on Wen Chengye’s face didn’t seem much different from when she first met him.
Soccer might bring him joy and even inspire him to pursue his dreams, but it couldn’t completely change him.
Lin Wanxing slipped her hands into her pockets, feeling almost pessimistic.
Wen Chengye turned and walked away, as if trying to catch up with his father’s retreating figure.
"You despise your parents," Lin Wanxing said.
"Yeah, so what?" Wen Chengye halted almost immediately and turned back.
"Though you act indifferent, you also despise yourself for being this way," Lin Wanxing continued.
Wen Chengye was speechless but also visibly fearful. He never intended to engage in any deep conversation with her on this topic, yet he couldn’t help saying, "This is just who I am. My parents are like that, and I’m like this. We’re all terrible."
"People truly find it hard to change." Without saying anything more to Wen Chengye, Lin Wanxing turned and ascended the steps. No footsteps followed from behind—Wen Chengye remained standing where he was.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she finally glanced back.
Her student stood in the shadow of the building, his face etched with confusion and bewilderment, emotions that stood out starkly.
After a moment’s thought, Lin Wanxing said to him, "Though I have many issues myself, I’ve always believed that no matter what, your parents, your family, and everything you’ve been through can never determine the person you’ll become."
"Then what do you think can decide it?"
"Perhaps it’s the person you aspire to be."
The principal’s office was on the top floor, unobstructed at the back.
The door was wide open. Lin Wanxing curled her knuckles and knocked on the door panel.
Through the office window, the distant sky was visible.
It was a clear spring day, with the azure sky stretching far and white clouds pure as snow.
Wen Chengye must have been perplexed.
Even if he had the courage to board that bus to Yongchuan, it didn’t mean he could overcome obstacles, face life’s challenges head-on, and make genuine choices.
After all, few people truly know what the right path is.
And Lin Wanxing had always wondered whether a child like Wen Chengye could truly change. Learning, education, even tolerance and love—could all these things genuinely transform a person?
Or perhaps, from beginning to end, a person simply becomes who they are destined to be, encoded in their genes.
At the desk, the principal looked up.
"Principal, you asked to see me?" Lin Wanxing bowed.
Chapter 112: Urgent Matter
Sometimes, a person’s disappearance follows a certain process.
It means they don’t vanish suddenly. Instead, through a relatively slow but deliberate process, they gradually erase every trace of their existence.
So, at first, the students didn’t think Lin Wanxing had disappeared.
It was just that afternoon, after finishing their exams, when they went as usual to the sports equipment room to wait for Lin Wanxing to finish work, they found the door tightly locked.
At first, they knocked, found no one there, muttered among themselves, and prepared to leave. Then Comrade Chen Jianghe, with his rich experience in climbing through windows, suggested they check the back window first.
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