The scent of grilled squid skewers held by a passerby drifted through the hazy night street.
Lin Wanxing was momentarily stunned, then she smiled and raised her hand, waving at the people inside the restaurant.
To her surprise, the young man sitting by the window—who hadn’t been seriously eating hotpot—also raised his hand slightly in greeting.
His wrist was pale and strong, his expression gentle.
This gesture, of course, caught the attention of the two middle-aged men sitting across from him.
Their gazes shot toward her, and they quickly recognized her.
This was what happened when you got caught tailing someone. Standing outside the floor-to-ceiling window, Lin Wanxing gave an awkward laugh.
Following the trajectory of most TV dramas, just as she was discovered, the students also attracted the notice of the hotpot restaurant’s staff.
A waitress in uniform, holding promotional flyers, eagerly grabbed Qin Ao. “Welcome, all dishes are 8.8% off!” her voice rang out clearly in the night. The students, who had been hiding quite well, were now also “apprehended” by the two middle-aged men’s stares.
The scene froze in a moment of mutual wide-eyed staring between her and the students, filled with theatrical awkwardness.
Many thoughts flashed through Lin Wanxing’s mind, and she made a decision.
She walked over to Qin Ao, took the flyer from him, and said, “It’s so cheap, should we give it a try?”
——
The hotpot restaurant was even emptier inside than it appeared from outside.
Most tables were vacant. Upholding the “since we’re already here” mentality, Lin Wanxing chose the table closest to their “target.”
The students were still quite young and inexperienced. When they first sat down, they were very uncomfortable, sneaking glances at the neighboring table and making all sorts of exaggerated faces at her.
Lin Wanxing handed the hotpot menu to the students and said, “Order whatever you want.”
“Teacher?” Fu Xinshu called out softly.
“Hmm?”
“Don’t you think we’re a bit too…”
“What?” Lin Wanxing asked.
“Too blatant?” Qin Ao frowned. “Aren’t you embarrassed?”
Just then, the waitress arrived with pre-meal peanuts and side dishes.
Lin Wanxing looked at the menu herself and said, “As long as you act with enough confidence, the embarrassment falls on others.”
For the first three minutes after they sat down, the neighboring table was unusually quiet.
The only sounds were the bubbling of the hotpot and the occasional clinking of beer glasses next to them.
The students gradually recovered from their initial shock and discomfort, their attention completely captured by the hotpot menu.
Some wanted to eat lamb slices, others didn’t eat lamb; some insisted on having luncheon meat, while others argued that luncheon meat would turn mushy in the hotpot.
Amid their noisy bickering, Lin Wanxing straightened her back and began to confidently believe that they had genuinely come to the restaurant for hotpot.
Finally, the neighboring table broke into small talk.
Director Liu said, “Eat more, didn’t you skip dinner tonight?”
Hearing this, Lin Wanxing instinctively glanced at the young man. She saw him nod slightly, but his hand resting on the table made no move to pick up his chopsticks.
Under the light, his profile looked even more handsome, but it was completely different from the way she had seen him by the soccer field.
He seemed noble and cool.
The waitress began serving their dishes.
To Lin Wanxing’s surprise, despite the boys’ lengthy arguments, very few dishes actually made it to the table.
Most were vegetables, with only three plates of meat. The hotpot restaurant’s plates were small, and the few side dishes looked rather pitiful spread across the large round table.
“Is that all?” Lin Wanxing asked, forgetting to eavesdrop on the neighboring table.
“This is all you ordered,” the waitress replied somewhat impatiently.
Lin Wanxing checked the receipt and confirmed it was true. She couldn’t help asking the students, “Are you all on a diet?”
“We’re here undercover, get your priorities straight,” Qin Ao whispered, tapping his plate.
“On official business, we can’t be wasteful,” Qi Liang added.
“We’ve already eaten, we’re not hungry now,” Fu Xinshu said.
Lin Wanxing understood they were trying to save her money. She sighed softly but didn’t call them out, merely saying quietly, “When we start cooking the beef, it’s every man for himself.”
As the hotpot was lit and the spicy beef oil broth began boiling vigorously, the voices from the neighboring table became less distinct.
The kids forgot their original purpose for coming to the restaurant and started enthusiastically adding ingredients to the pot and fishing them out.
The neighboring table continued their small talk, alternating between “Hotpot abroad just isn’t as authentic as home” and “You must have come to this street often as a child.”
The conversation sounded like deliberate attempts to bridge the distance.
Lin Wanxing found it strange too. Given Director Liu’s status, he could afford any high-end restaurant. Yet he had chosen a hotpot place, seemingly to play the emotional card.
Thinking this, she held her cola cup and discreetly turned to observe the young man’s expression.
She noticed an empty cup in front of him.
Lin Wanxing instinctively took a sip of her cola. The middle-aged man beside Director Liu noticed and began searching the table for a drink bottle.
Just then, Qin Ao suddenly stood up.
He picked up their cola bottle and an empty cup, navigated the narrow aisle, walked to the other table, poured a cup of cola, and slapped it down in front of the young man.
Lin Wanxing was stunned.
But Qin Ao’s performance wasn’t over yet. “Coach, let me know if you need more,” he said. Just as Lin Wanxing thought he was returning to his seat, Qin Ao stopped beside Director Liu. The tall high school student leaned down slightly, staring at the balding middle-aged man, and asked, “Are you here to poach our coach? I advise you not to set your sights on him.”
This line was incredibly audacious and domineering.
So much so that Director Liu widened his eyes, unable to utter a single word.
This turn of events completely exceeded Lin Wanxing’s understanding of normal TV drama plots. Even after Qin Ao returned to his seat, her brain remained frozen.
The boys clapped excitedly, Yu Ming applauding his leader.
Chen Weidong raised his glass to Qin Ao.
Even Qi Liang said, “The dog finally proved useful.”
From a teacher’s perspective, Lin Wanxing should criticize Qin Ao for his lack of manners, but being brave enough to fight for something wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The students resumed their noisy squabbling over the ingredients in the hotpot.
The neighboring table also began with questions like “Are you teaching these students?” and answers like “Currently providing some guidance.”
Lin Wanxing couldn’t hear many of their words clearly and didn’t particularly try to.
But at one moment, the always noisy students suddenly fell silent.
A clear voice came from next to them.
Director Liu: “If you have any thoughts, including about compensation, feel free to tell us. I brought Old Ma here this time—I don’t need to elaborate on our sincerity.”
For about three to five seconds, the young man didn’t speak.
Lin Wanxing stared at the boiling hotpot in front of her. The silence beside her was eerie. She looked up and saw the students’ expressions mirrored her own, as if waiting for some answer.
“I’d like to see the football team first,” the young man said.
Hearing this, Lin Wanxing couldn’t quite identify her own emotions, but the disappointment on the students’ faces was evident.
Lin Wanxing picked up her chopsticks, plunged them into the hotpot, and scooped up a large portion of fatty beef.
Her movements were fluid and seamless, leaving the students dumbfounded.
A few seconds later, the boys started clamoring, and pairs of chopsticks dove into the hotpot.
The neighboring table’s phrases like “We’ll definitely arrange it” and “When are you free?” gradually drowned in the students’ competitive shouts.
By the time Lin Wanxing had a chance to look back, she found the neighboring table empty.
She instinctively scanned the surroundings and suddenly noticed someone standing behind her, hands in pockets.
As soon as the young man arrived, their table fell silent again, like a homeroom teacher conducting a surprise inspection during lunch break—no one dared to speak.
Lin Wanxing bit her chopsticks, looked up, and felt somewhat awkward.
After a long pause, she finally thought of something to say—“Would you like to sit down and have some more?”
——
That night, the nearly finished hotpot meal extended for another half hour after the young man joined them.
By the time they settled the bill and left, it was past nine.
Lin Wanxing saw the students to the bus stop. Fu Xinshu was called back to the shop by the manager, so she and the remaining students walked together for a while.
The students went home one by one, until only one person remained by her side.
The street was quiet in the way unique to small towns at night. The young man seemed even more familiar with the area than she was.
They wound through narrow alleys, sometimes passing by a river, chatting intermittently.
She asked if he lived nearby, and if he had grown up in Hongjing.
The young man answered lazily, but his voice was calm and unhurried, so their conversation continued peacefully.
At one point, Lin Wanxing suddenly said, “Haven’t you actually decided where to go?”
The young man abruptly stopped. Under the streetlight, he looked down at her slightly.
“I’ve run into you twice, and both times you were sitting in the stands at that soccer field. It feels like a place that holds a lot of meaning for you. When you have things you can’t figure out, you go there to clear your mind.”
The young man didn’t speak, just looked ahead and continued walking with her.
Lin Wanxing went on, “If Director Liu is trying to poach you, with your qualifications you could find work abroad. But you must have other reasons for returning to China. Yongchuan Evergrande might tempt you with a high salary, but what you lack—or what you want—isn’t that.”
“To be direct, you want to say that Yongchuan Evergrande isn’t right for me, but Hongjing No. 8 Middle School is. But if I don’t even know what I want, what do you think a school football team can offer me?”
“I don’t know. I was just trying to use some recruitment techniques. Ordinary companies offer salaries, but our company is different—we provide…” Lin Wanxing trailed off, struggling to continue.
“Provide what?”
“Dreams?” Lin Wanxing ventured weakly.
“I don’t have any dreams right now.”
“I thought you were going to say you’ve already achieved all your dreams.” Lin Wanxing smiled faintly. “It’s really hard, not knowing what you want and having lost your dreams.”
Her voice was soft, her words dissipating in the evening breeze. The young man didn’t respond.
They continued walking along the street, the streetlights casting a dim yellow glow, both lost in silent contemplation.
“I’m here,” the young man’s voice broke the silence.
Lin Wanxing looked up. In front of her stood a familiar yet unfamiliar residential building.
She couldn’t help but freeze in place.
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