When it came to football matches, Lin Wanxing’s knowledge probably stopped at the themed advertisements plastered across streets and alleys during the World Cup or the European Championship.
The school bulletin boards would occasionally display posters inviting people to watch games together, and whenever she passed by a small bar, she could sometimes hear sudden cheers erupting inside after a goal. These trivial details in daily life formed her entire impression of football.
Beyond that, the last complete match she had watched truly dated back to her elementary school days.
Lin Wanxing sat under a tent set up by the pitch. Her students had just gone to the restroom to change into their sports jerseys and cleats.
The boys weren’t wearing the school’s standard team uniforms.
Some paired red with green, while others were dressed entirely in black. Lin Lu, in particular, stood out in a pair of brightly colored beach shorts.
Only a handful of students were seriously wearing Hongjing No. 8 Middle School’s official team uniforms.
Eleven students stood before her. Compared to the Anning Experimental team, they looked like a ragtag bunch.
Perhaps for this reason, the boys tugged at their clothes or adjusted their pants, avoiding her gaze.
Still, the boys were tall and long-limbed, exuding youthful energy under the sunlight.
Lin Wanxing looked them over and couldn’t help but smile. “You all look quite handsome!”
“Right, teacher? I think so too!” Lin Lu exclaimed happily, jumping up and shaking his beach shorts.
“Won’t they be inconvenient for sports?”
“Not at all! My mom dug these out for me—they’re the loosest pair at home.”
“Hmm!”
Led by Fu Xinshu, the boys began their adaptive training on the field. Lin Wanxing didn’t understand any of it.
All she knew was that spectator chairs, microphones, and flags were gradually being set up around the venue, making it much livelier than the empty scene when they had first arrived.
In the distance, two electric sightseeing vehicles approached. Aside from the drivers, most of the passengers were middle-aged men in suits—likely the officials who had come to watch the match today.
The electric vehicles stopped by the pitch, and the staff who had been working inside came out to greet them.
Lin Wanxing glanced over and suddenly froze.
What surprised her wasn’t that officials had actually come to watch the match under the scorching sun, but that not far from the entrance, a young man was strolling leisurely along the wire fence outside the field.
The young man wore a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, a plain black T-shirt without any prints, and athletic pants, revealing only a handsome profile.
Lin Wanxing found him familiar but couldn’t be sure.
She stared at him for a while, watching as he circled halfway around the field and stopped at a spot with a clear view to her right. Then, as if he had found the perfect spot, he simply sat cross-legged on the grass outside the field.
Tilting his cap slightly, the young man revealed a refined face, his eyes dark and intense, a playful smile curling at his lips as if to say, “How much longer are you going to stare?”
Lin Wanxing was stunned. Now she was certain.
—
The officials took their seats, and the match flags were unfurled.
Perhaps because the game was about to begin, or maybe the blazing sun was making everyone thirsty, Lin Wanxing gradually felt a hint of nervousness.
She didn’t look back at the young man on the grass behind her because her students had begun to line up.
The boys stood in a disorganized mess, but they were all tall and standing close, forcing her to tilt her head back slightly to see each of their faces clearly.Lin Wanxing felt she should say something to lighten the mood, but the speakers on the sidelines suddenly blared an earsplitting march, rendering her speechless.
Qin Ao laughed. "Teacher, are you nervous?"
Lin Wanxing: "Why would I be nervous!"
The students chuckled knowingly, their faces breaking into grins.
"Don’t worry, we’re just going to run a few laps, then lose. A simple performance," Qin Ao reassured her, even patting her shoulder.
Staff began calling for teams to line up and enter the field, and the students turned to head onto the pitch.
"Wait." Lin Wanxing suddenly remembered what she had meant to do earlier.
As the students looked back, she lowered the back of her hand and gestured for them to gather. "Come on, let’s cheer ourselves on!"
The students stared at her as if she were an idiot.
"The performance has to be complete—hurry up!" Lin Wanxing insisted.
The first hand pressed onto hers was Fu Xinshu’s.
Gradually, more and more hands piled on, the weight growing heavier.
Finally, everyone huddled together.
"Go, team!" Lin Wanxing shouted.
—
The simple opening ceremony officially began, with students from both schools standing on opposite sides.
Speeches followed—from school leaders, the school football committee, athlete representatives, and referee representatives—their booming voices echoing across the field.
The students stood ramrod straight. Before the match, they had joked about this being a well-rehearsed "exhibition game" for the coming year.
But now, standing on the green pitch, every face was taut with tension and seriousness.
After the ceremony, the field cleared immediately.
The referee tossed a coin into the air. Fu Xinshu, as captain, chose their side, and the players took their positions on either end of the center circle.
A sharp whistle cut through the stadium’s silence. Anning Experimental kicked off first, and the match officially began.
Lin Wanxing couldn’t articulate much in technical terms, but she noticed right away how aggressively the Anning Experimental players moved after the kickoff.
Most of their team pushed past the halfway line, creating wide gaps with constant forward runs. The ball was passed back and forth with dull thuds, echoing over the field.
Even sitting on the sidelines, Lin Wanxing could feel the pressure from their swift sprints and relentless attacks.
Like a sudden storm, ruthless and overwhelming.
Her students ran back and forth, trying to intercept, but the ball always slipped just past them.
Repeated failed attempts to regain possession brought a sense of frustration—or more accurately, the feeling of punching cotton, unable to muster any force.
Five minutes in, even Lin Wanxing could tell her students were slowing down.
Fu Xinshu, wearing the captain’s armband, waved frantically from a distance, signaling everyone to fall back into a tight defense.
Chen Jianghe shot a glance at Fu Xinshu.
Just then, Anning Experimental suddenly accelerated. The ball shot like lightning across the grass, tearing through Hongjing No. 8 Middle School’s defensive line.
Anning’s striker surged forward, controlled the ball smoothly, and swung his right foot like a whip, connecting with a powerful strike.
With a loud thud, the ball soared toward the top right corner of the goal.
Time seemed to slow in that instant.
The goalkeeper leaped high but crashed down heavily as the ball slammed into the net and dropped gently.
The referee’s sharp whistle pierced the air.
Goal.
It was that simple. Almost too simple.
"Amazing!"
"We scored!"
"Holy shit!"
Cheers erupted from Anning Experimental’s bench, where substitutes jumped up in excitement.
On the field, players hugged and celebrated, while the officials in the stands broke into enthusiastic applause.For a moment, the green field, which had only been filled with the sounds of silent passing, suddenly grew noisy.
Those voices rose around her, carried by the hot wind, brushing against her cheeks.
They were clamorous, yet insignificant.
Lin Wanxing kept her gaze fixed on her students.
For a brief moment, confusion flashed across the students' faces. The goal had come too quickly and too suddenly—no one could have been prepared for it.
Frustration was written on their faces.
But soon, Qin Ao curled his lip in disdain, and Qi Liang instantly resumed his indifferent expression. Chen Jianghe walked silently into the goal, retrieved the football, and held it.
Lin Lu shrugged at her, as if to say, "See? We really can't beat them."
Everyone moved toward the center circle, appearing remarkably calm.
It was as if this goal had been expected all along, and they shouldn’t overreact.
After one team scored, the other team restarted the game.
The players took their positions near the center circle again, and Fu Xinshu patted each of them on the shoulder.
From such a distance, Lin Wanxing couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it seemed like he was encouraging his teammates.
Yet Lin Wanxing suspected it might not do much good.
The match that followed felt somewhat drawn-out.
Under Fu Xinshu’s direction, the students seemed intent on slowing down Anning Experimental’s offensive rhythm through tight defense.
The ball was passed back and forth in their own half, the black-and-white football rolling across the green turf as the players’ movements grew slower.
Spectators and officials on the sidelines began to leave one after another, as if the game had already entered garbage time.
Sitting on the sidelines, Lin Wanxing felt a flicker of anxiety but had no way to intervene.
Yet, fifteen minutes passed.
Anning Experimental tried to accelerate and press several times, each attempt making Lin Wanxing’s heart leap into her throat, but her students always managed to keep possession of the ball.
It was a hard feeling to describe—as if, despite believing she didn’t care about the outcome, she still wanted to try a little harder, to hold on a little longer.
Fu Xinshu ran tirelessly across the field, constantly directing the ball.
The boys’ faces were flushed from the prolonged running, and each of them was drenched in sweat, as if they had just been pulled out of water.
If they fell, they got back up; if they lost the ball, they fought to win it back.
With five minutes left in the match, the score remained firmly locked at 1–0.
Anning Experimental hadn’t managed to find another opportunity to break into their penalty area.
Lin Wanxing turned her head and looked beyond the wire fence behind her. The young man in the black baseball cap was still sitting there, not having left.
A notebook lay open on his lap, a pencil held between his fingers. His cap was tilted up, his expression serious as he intently watched the match.
Lin Wanxing was slightly surprised.
Just then, the young man noticed her gaze.
He pointed his pencil toward the field in the distance.
Lin Wanxing turned back.
On the field, the Anning Experimental players began to sprint at full speed.
It seemed they had successfully intercepted the ball—somehow, it was now at their feet.
The defensive formation of Hongjing No. 8 Middle School was torn apart. Lin Lu and Qi Liang moved forward to press.
Trapping the ball, turning, passing.
But Anning Experimental’s number 10, with a quick combination play with a teammate, smoothly slipped the ball past the two defenders and continued advancing.
Lin Wanxing sat up straighter, growing more tense.
By now, all of Anning Experimental’s players, except the goalkeeper, had pushed into the opposing half.
The Hongjing No. 8 Middle School players, who had been passing at a slow pace, were now fully mobilized, chasing after the ball at a run.
A heavy thud echoed across the field.Everyone looked up at the sky.
The football crossed the field from the right side—the same position, the same player.
The No. 17 player from Anning Experimental, who had just scored, jumped up, tilted his head back, and controlled the ball firmly with a steady chest trap.
Meanwhile, Yu Ming, who had intended to intercept the ball, slid into a tackle but missed, tumbling awkwardly twice.
Scattered laughter came from the spectator stands, but most people held their breath, their attention now drawn to the movements of Anning Experimental's No. 10 player.
On the field, No. 10 began to accelerate.
Chen Jianghe and Fu Xinshu closed in to double-team him, but No. 10 remained unflustered, not even slowing down.
The Anning Experimental players began making diagonal runs, constantly pushing forward to create more space.
Chen Jianghe started pressing aggressively.
Just as everyone assumed No. 10 was about to pass, he used the outside of his foot to push the ball to the right, swiftly turned around the defender, and broke into the penalty area with a simple yet effective move, splitting the defense.
The penalty area is a zone extending 16.5 meters from the inside of the goalposts—a highly dangerous area.
Within this area, the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Any foul that would normally result in a direct free kick is punished with a penalty kick here.
Anning Experimental's No. 10 had almost single-handedly torn through the opposing defense, positioning himself in this perilous zone.
The tense moment was enough to spike everyone's adrenaline.
Hongjing No. 8 Middle School's defensive line fell into disarray. Everyone rushed to block the front of the penalty area, trying to position themselves in front of Anning Experimental's forwards and cut off No. 10's passing lanes.
In Lin Wanxing's view, No. 10 gently lifted the ball.
Suddenly, he raised his right leg, swinging the instep of his foot toward the lower back of the ball. With a resounding "thud," he unleashed a volley, sending the ball rocketing like a cannonball toward Anning Experimental's goal.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl once again.
Her students ran and leaped, each trying to block the ball's trajectory, yet it slipped through the gaps between them.
Goalkeeper Feng Suo was positioned too far forward, and the ball shot straight toward the far corner of the goal.
At that moment, a figure in red cut in from an angle, leaping high into the air.
The ball collided with the body, abruptly cutting short its elegant arc.
The black-and-white football rolled onto the grass, spun twice in the opposite direction, and then came to a stop just outside the goal.
"Aiyo!"
A collective sigh arose from Anning Experimental's bench.
Lin Wanxing slowly unclenched her tightly balled fists, letting out a sigh of relief.
Yet, almost simultaneously, Anning Experimental's No. 10 sprang up, raising his hand high and shouting frantically at the referee.
All the Anning Experimental players, both inside and outside the penalty area, seemed to realize something and began pressuring the main referee.
An uproar erupted from Anning Experimental's bench as their coach rushed to the sideline.
Lin Wanxing glanced around, somewhat bewildered, yet sensing that something was about to happen.
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