If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Elegant penmanship, moving verses, the exact same English cursive script.
He Youting sat down on the bench by the riverbank.
Wang Fa held the notebook, remaining silent for a long time.
"Wanxing left me this poem because I'm a doctor." He Youting spoke slowly amidst the gentle lake breeze. "After Shu Yong died, she once knelt at our doorstep, saying she never did those things, crying and begging me to believe her. But that day, I didn't open the door."
Wang Fa quietly sat down beside Professor He.
"Later when I was cleaning the house, I found this little notebook. My first thought was to burn it. But when I opened it, I don't know why, I just started crying." He Youting gazed at the lake surface, her temples ruffled by the wind, faint wrinkles appearing at the corners of her eyes. "I asked myself, she called me 'the beautiful and kind Professor He', but was I truly kind?"
"It had nothing to do with you." Wang Fa interrupted her. "Shu Yong had arranged too much before his death, the evidence was overwhelming. If I were in your position, I would never have believed Lin Wanxing's one-sided account."
"Yes, because if I believed Wanxing, then I would have to admit a terrible truth - that my husband wasn't seduced by another woman, but that he simply never loved me. For me back then, that was too difficult."
"Perhaps he loved you once, but people change."
He Youting shook her head: "I've always been very busy at the hospital, rarely paying attention to home matters, but I thought Shu Yong and I had a harmonious relationship. I understood him. But suddenly, not only did my marriage fail, I also had to admit that I couldn't even tell whether the husband I'd been married to for over thirty years was human or monster. I truly couldn't do it. And if that were the case, how could I possibly understand a young girl?"
"But you still wanted to see for yourself." Wang Fa said.
"Yes, I wanted to see with my own eyes. Jiang Lei truly gave me so much vitality for life, yet he died. That day when I stood before his grave and heard that Wanxing's grandparents were buried nearby, I was truly shocked. They kept talking and talking, saying what wonderful people the elderly couple were, how pitiful Wanxing was. Looking at the names on the elderly couple's tombstone, watching the candle wax drip down drop by drop, I thought - they're all watching me from heaven. I have to do something." He Youting took a deep breath. "If Wanxing's teacher was a beast, then I wanted to see what kind of teacher she would be."
"So you went to find Yan Ming?" Wang Fa said in a low voice, suppressing his emotions.
"When Xiao Ming came to visit me in the hospital, Jiang Lei's son heard she often watched football matches live in England, so he added her on WeChat, saying he wanted to frequently enjoy her live photos on Moments." I knew about this." He Youting showed a thoughtful expression. "Having Xiao Ming make that suggestion might be the most correct thing I've ever done in my life."
Gravely ill, husband's suicide, failed marriage.Wang Fa found it hard to fathom just how intelligent and resilient the woman beside him must have been—to maintain a sliver of clarity and reason amid a life of darkness and despair, and still choose kindness.
His earlier resentment toward Yan Ming had completely vanished. Beyond gratitude toward Professor He, he was utterly at a loss for words.
"She’s found fulfillment in the football team—and should be happy," Wang Fa said. "Thank you, truly, thank you."
"And thank you," Professor He patted Wang Fa’s arm. "When Xiao Ming told me you were staying at Wanxing’s grandparents’ home, it felt like something out of a novel. I’ve heard bits about you two—from initial doubts to finding it incredibly sweet. She must be a remarkable girl for fate to place you in her story, especially one so painful."
"She has always been a truly remarkable girl," Wang Fa replied, his heart aching with bitterness. "It was my foolishness that failed to keep her with me."
He Youting shook his head. "When I learned she had left, I couldn’t understand it. I believed she was a good person—life was finally improving. Why would she go?"
Wang Fa looked at Professor He.
Behind them, the students, eyes red-rimmed, wore similarly puzzled expressions.
"Later, I realized—ah, in this story, I had only been thinking of myself. In truth, the pain and torment she endured were no less than mine. Because she was so lucid and strong, it seemed she could always sort out her emotions and carry on. As if everything was fine, when it really wasn’t. I didn’t know how to handle it all, so I sent that fax, hoping you would learn her story and help her."
In Wang Fa’s ears, Lin Wanxing’s voice from that day at the train station seemed to echo.
She had said, "No need."
She said she was "leaving soon."
She said, "Not everything can be resolved."
She truly intended to leave, with no desire to remain by their sides.
Being questioned by the police again was indeed painful for her, but that wasn’t what she truly feared.
She had fought so hard to live.
Yet the moment she saw Shu Yong’s photo again, she suddenly understood—it was a shadow she could never escape in this lifetime.
She didn’t want to endure strange looks again, nor be judged by those closest to her.
There were so, so many things she didn’t want.
But most of all, she didn’t want to be disappointed anymore.
"Why did our teacher really leave?" The students couldn’t grasp it.
"Because she could no longer trust people," Wang Fa looked at his players and finally understood. "And we… are people too."
Time rewound to that night on the rooftop.
Wang Fa could still recall the look in Lin Wanxing’s eyes then—
Her gentle smile as she pulled a one-yuan coin from her pocket.
She said heads for leaving, tails for staying.
The coin landed softly, the result clear.
There was no disappointment in her gaze—only a steady, clear, and peaceful look, like water or a mirror, fixed on him.
They gazed at each other, as if seeing themselves reflected.
Wang Fa finally understood.
Why Lin Wanxing understood him so deeply, why she continually tried to help him resolve his inner struggles, why she urged him to stay a little longer…
When Lin Wanxing looked at him, it was as if she were looking at herself.
What they were truly fleeing wasn’t the surface-level problems, but the confusion within their own hearts.Just as he couldn’t understand why people played football, what about Lin Wanxing?
"She received a full scholarship but didn’t continue her studies," Wang Fa said softly.
"Yes, she gave up psychology," Professor He said slowly.
Wang Fa felt as if he had just woken from a dream.
He had always thought the problem lay with those anonymous letters, that they were the reason Lin Wanxing couldn’t continue her education.
But that wasn’t the case.
She had indeed wavered, but it wasn’t the letters that shook her—it was something else.
Her teacher, Shu Yong, had been deeply entrenched in the field of psychology for years, yet he remained despicable—devoid of reverence, overflowing with selfish desires. Her classmates slandered her relentlessly, and even her own parents didn’t believe her.
If a gentle push was all it took for someone to slide into the abyss of evil, what use was education? What use was psychology?
Faith could shatter in an instant, and Wang Fa suddenly understood everything that had tormented Lin Wanxing.
They weren’t incomprehensible or inconsistent. Long before others tried to persuade them, they had already tried to convince themselves countless times. But the problems remained problems. When faced with the most extreme challenges, the one they still couldn’t persuade was themselves.
Confusion and bewilderment pressed down on the heart like rocks.
It was the narrowest, most suffocating part of the journey, one only encountered by those who had traveled countless mountains.
You knew very well that taking a step back would bring boundless skies, yet when the coin landed and the bell tolled, you remained trapped in that narrow passage.
Because those who truly tread the narrow path could never bring themselves to abandon it.
The weeds stood still, and the lake’s surface was calm and unrippled.
Wang Fa glanced at the frail woman sitting upright beside him.
One night, unable to sleep, He Youting opened a small photo album and dialed Yan Ming’s number.
That afternoon, Lin Wanxing finally stepped into the multipurpose classroom that was about to be filled with players.
"You’re clearly terrified, yet you still want to try again."
"Yes, we want to try."
Chapter 123: Ice and Fire
The eleventh day since Lin Wanxing left.
Wang Fa finally learned the deeply buried stories.
In the afternoon, he took the students and left Yongchuan. Before departing, Qin Ao and Wen Chengye made a promise with Professor He: if they could make it to the finals, they would invite him to watch the match in person!
To the students, Professor He was someone they deeply respected and were grateful to. They desperately wanted to do something for him. But looking around, aside from playing football well and studying hard, there was nothing else they could change.
The twelfth day.
The students who hadn’t gone to Yongchuan learned the reason for Lin Wanxing’s departure after Wang Fa returned. That night, none of them could sleep. The more they understood, the more they felt at a loss, far more than when they had known nothing.
They gathered together and talked at length. Aside from training and study hours, they spent their time pondering what exactly they should do.
Sometimes, they wanted to go straight to Lin Wanxing and tell her, "We’re not like that. Please, look at us."
But other times, they asked themselves:
Why couldn’t she leave, escape, and avoid seeing the things she didn’t want to see? Who had the right to tell her that the past was over, that she must be strong, brave, and pull herself together?
The thirteenth day.
The semifinal schedule was finalized.
Hongjing No. 8 Middle School would face Hanling Victory at their home ground, Hongjing Pearl Club Stadium.
On the other hand, discussions about "what to do" had almost reached a dead end. Just as their teacher had once said, every person was an independent and free individual. Why couldn’t she do what she wanted?
The fourteenth day.Wang Fa stayed up all night reviewing all the available materials and match recordings of Hanling Victory, devising new training tasks.
On this day, he bought a train ticket, yearning deeply to travel to a certain city to see a certain person. Yet in the end, he remained seated on the rooftop, enduring the departure time alone.
Day Fifteen.
Everyone gathered together and made a decision.
Wang Fa opened that email.
They were going to place the choice in Lin Wanxing's hands.
Day Sixteen.
Hongjing began to rain.
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