But at that time, they were still deceived by her apparent ease.
Of course, this was also because the phone call ended quickly, leaving him no opportunity to ask further questions. When it came to rejecting people, Lin Wanxing was truly an expert.
Lin Wanxing's sudden departure left everyone still on the rooftop of No. 17 Wutong Road feeling somewhat unsettled.
This sense of unease crept in gradually, step by step.
For instance, the students would often call out "Teacher" or "Lin Wanxing." But after calling, they would wait in vain for a response. They would instinctively turn around to look for Lin Wanxing, only to realize that she had temporarily left for personal reasons.
Wang Fa, too, often had the illusion that Lin Wanxing was still living nearby.
Habits are the most tormenting—like how he had grown accustomed to making two servings of tea drinks every evening.
But when he took out two cups, prepared two servings, and was about to call for Lin Wanxing, he would find the room ahead pitch dark. Only then would it dawn on him that Lin Wanxing would be away for some time, forcing him to reluctantly drink both glasses of the non-alcoholic Long Island Iced Tea alone.
Lin Wanxing's departure was not without any news. So later, they all agreed that "disappearance" was a more fitting description.
She was using a very clever method to slowly erase her own presence.
She contacted the students every day, but only through WeChat. She would also share photos of her life when asked. She could even maintain phone calls with them, though brief, and never completely ignored their calls.
So during that time, although everyone felt uneasy, they instinctively remained well-behaved and understanding, attributing it to the teacher's family matters. At the same time, they found reasons for Lin Wanxing's gradually decreasing replies—surely, the teacher was just too busy!
If it weren't for the school later assigning a new guidance teacher for the football team, everyone would have clung to the illusion that Lin Wanxing would return in a few days.
But that was pure self-deception.
With the mock exams over, the quarterfinals of the National Youth League followed.
According to the draw, they were set to face the youth team of Cangmen Lions. Their opponents were the top team in Group A, backed by the Cangmen Lions—a genuine professional team.
After the draw, everyone immediately informed Lin Wanxing. Along with the news, they sent her the venue location, detailed match schedule, and more. Although Lin Wanxing was busy, they still held onto hope that she might find time to come on the day of the match.
But to everyone's surprise, the day after the quarterfinal schedule was confirmed, they were summoned to the multifunctional classroom.
The school had many multifunctional classrooms, but only that one left a deep impression on the students. It was where Lin Wanxing had first organized the team meeting and where they had all gathered for the first time.
With anxious hearts, everyone arrived at that multifunctional classroom at 12:30 PM the next day.
Spring was thriving, growing warmer with each passing day.
The classroom was warm and stuffy, and the bright sunlight outside the window illuminated the person standing at the podium, whose smile was radiant and captivating.
It was a female teacher—young and beautiful, with soft chestnut-colored waves and sparkling earrings—but it wasn't Lin Wanxing.
Seeing the new teacher standing at the podium, everyone immediately understood what was happening.
Qin Ao took the lead without a word, turning to leave immediately.
But the person at the podium seemed prepared: "Wait a moment, your Teacher Lin has something for you."She only said that one sentence.
Really...
She had completely grasped their weakness!
The new female teacher was surnamed Xu, named Xu Yuning. She said they could call her "Teacher Xu" and introduced herself as being entrusted by Lin Wanxing.
The desks in the classroom were arranged into small group discussion formations, with everyone sitting in a circle. After self-introductions, Teacher Xu stepped down from the podium and sat facing them. Right before their eyes, she pulled out a small notebook from her pocket and opened it.
The notebook was bound with ordinary white paper. On the cover were handwritten characters reading "Hongjing No. 8 Middle School Football Team Work Manual" in a neat, elegant script that looked very familiar.
The students straightened up, curious to see what Teacher Xu was really up to.
Sure enough, when Teacher Xu opened the "Work Manual," the simple sketch on the first page made the students instantly realize that this booklet was made by Lin Wanxing.
It was a diagram of the team's formation, showing a schematic of the field and the players' positions.
Each of them had their own chibi anthropomorphic version, with their names, jersey numbers, and a brief introduction written beside them.
Qin Ao, seeing himself depicted as a somewhat rowish little Charizard, immediately protested, "This is slander, absolute slander!"
Lin Lu, on the other hand, was quite pleased to find that Lin Wanxing had drawn him as a lively rabbit: "I really am adorable!"
Chen Jianghe's chibi had a crew cut and a stern expression.
Fu Xinshu looked scholarly and refined, Wen Chengye was a black-faced sheep, Zheng Feiyang was a roaring little Siberian tiger, and Yu Ming was drawn as a deer-like creature. Qi Liang resembled a curly-haired fox, Feng Suo at the goal was a tall, steady, and reliable bear, and even the taciturn duo, Zheng Ren and Zhi Hui, had their own unique appearances.
"Did Lin Wanxing give this to you?" After studying it for a while, Qin Ao finally spoke his first words to Teacher Xu.
"Yes, your Teacher Lin mailed it to me so I could get to know you all faster," Teacher Xu replied.
After the chibi formation diagram, the next page showed the architectural layout of a building.
Labeled "No. 17 Wutong Road" in the upper right corner, the diagram included not only their classroom at Yuan Yuan Cram School and the rooftop but also the distant field where they trained daily. The students were even more surprised to find that Lin Wanxing had assigned them a small task in the lower right corner of the page—to give Teacher Xu a tour of the building.
"Why is there a task for us here?"
"She's still so troublesome!"
"Then, can you show me around?" Teacher Xu asked curiously.
"She already said so, what else can we do? You'll have to come with us later," the boys said helplessly.
After the "No. 17 Wutong Road" section, Lin Wanxing used two more pages to briefly outline the students' daily schedules, self-made recipes, and things like discussion meetings...
The more the students looked, the stranger they felt, and eventually, they lost interest in criticizing Lin Wanxing's simple sketches.
Everyone fell silent.
"What does she mean by this? It feels like she's 'entrusting an orphan'—is she not coming back?" Qin Ao used a peculiar phrase.
"She probably will," Teacher Xu cleared her throat lightly, comforting them. "My main role is just to take you to the field and help you with some basic classes. Once Teacher Lin finishes her own matters, she should return, right?"Teacher Xu’s words, to some extent, still comforted the bewildered players.
The players of the Hongjing No. 8 Middle School football team were well aware that for the match in Cangmen, the school would definitely send someone to supervise them. And their daily academic classes would also require someone to teach them.
Apart from accepting Teacher Xu, they had no other choice.
Moreover, Lin Wanxing had family matters to attend to, so they had to behave and not give her any extra worries.
The thought was rather nauseating, so no one actually wanted to voice it, but deep down, they all shared similar sentiments.
The match against the Cangmen Lions took place on a sunny Saturday.
Teacher Xu had also booked high-speed train tickets for them, likely at Lin Wanxing’s request.
As they stepped onto the pitch and began their warm-up drills, they couldn’t help but glance toward the stands. They held onto a faint hope that Lin Wanxing would appear there, waving at them.
But the reality was that the stands were empty. Apart from their focused opponents, only Cangmen’s signature egrets strolled leisurely across the grass.
On the field, as Wen Chengye grew more accustomed to his role as a box-to-box midfielder, the team’s coordination in both offense and defense became smoother and more intuitive.
The Cangmen Lions, like other teams before them, made the same mistake—they never truly regarded Hongjing No. 8 Middle School as a team with a unique tactical system and skills comparable to a youth squad.
Although the match had reached the knockout stage, and the Cangmen Lions wouldn’t underestimate any opponent, they lacked sufficient information to devise targeted strategies or lineups.
Their coach, however, was Wang Fa—and Wang Fa always seemed to be one step ahead.
Before the match, Wang Fa predicted that since their opponents were unfamiliar with them and they carried the momentum of a dark horse, the Cangmen Lions would likely adopt a conservative approach at the start, testing the waters. This meant they could seize the opportunity to catch their opponents off guard.
As a result, their match against the Cangmen Lions went even more smoothly than their game against Shen Cheng Hai Bo.
In just the 8th minute of the first half, Chen Jianghe scored a spectacular diving header, breaking the deadlock against the Cangmen Lions.
The team’s morale soared.
The Cangmen Lions quickly regrouped, spreading their formation and launching counterattacks. But playing defensively and weathering storms was practically Hongjing No. 8 Middle School’s specialty.
By halftime, the Cangmen Lions had yet to score.
In the 27th minute of the second half, the referee awarded a controversial penalty, which was converted by the Cangmen Lions’ number 7, leveling the score at 1-1.
It felt like a repeat of their first match after reforming the team, where a disputed penalty had also been called. Back then, emotions ran high, and they nearly came to blows. This time, however, they remained calm.
They truly believed they would win and were confident in their abilities.
Almost mirroring that earlier match, in the final moments of the second half, Hongjing No. 8 Middle School capitalized on a defensive counterattack. Qi Liang assisted Wen Chengye, who curled a shot from outside the penalty area to score once again against the Cangmen Lions.
The 2-1 scoreline held until the final whistle.
Strangely, both the players and the coach on the sidelines remained remarkably composed about the victory.
The most excited person was probably Teacher Xu, who was fully immersed in watching a football match at the stadium for the very first time.In the post-game locker room, the students excitedly informed Lin Wanxing about their good news - they had defeated the Cangmen Lions and advanced to the semifinals. Strangely enough, Lin Wanxing didn't respond immediately.
Although her replies had become increasingly sparse and delayed over the past few days, the students always felt that since her room remained unchanged and she had never returned home to pack her things, she couldn't have truly left.
Besides, the coach was still here!
Even if Lin Wanxing could abandon them, could this woman really abandon the coach and leave after causing such turmoil?
Yet ironically, the first person to receive the call was Wang Fa.
After the match against the Cangmen Lions, instead of Lin Wanxing's congratulations, they received a call from the grandmother who ran the convenience store downstairs.
The grandmother said that an agent was currently packing up the landlady's belongings on the rooftop to ship them away.
The only landlady at No. 17 Wutong Road was Lin Wanxing herself.
Wang Fa put down his phone in the locker room, feeling nothing but silence around him.
Compared to his own hesitant attitude when he had considered leaving before, Lin Wanxing's current actions showed she had truly decided to depart.
Chapter 114: Dust-covered Memories
It was a massive cardboard box, wrapped many times with plastic bags.
Wang Fa still remembered the first time he saw that box - on an autumn night.
That day, Lin Wanxing had just been preparing to move into No. 17 Wutong Road when the players suddenly found their way there. When he went down to buy cigarettes, he encountered the large crowd gathered at the entrance.
Lin Wanxing stood smiling under the streetlight at that time, and both he and the players willingly helped her carry that enormous box up to the rooftop.
Since then, the box had remained in the corner of her home. Later, a cloth was draped over it, turning it into a perfect table that no one ever touched again.
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