At her usual pace, Lin Wanxing would have stared him down, demanded an explanation, and finally descended the stands to confirm the facts.
But since he’d said that...
“Watch my bag for me.” She dashed straight down from the stands.
No one on the field had expected her to run down.
The moment she leaped off the stands, all eyes turned toward her—including Chen Jianghe’s.
In the boy’s eyes, Lin Wanxing caught a flicker of astonishment, followed by inexplicable shame and anger.
The people on the field exchanged glances.
Before the middle-aged man could speak, Lin Wanxing cut in, “What are you all doing?”
Chen Jianghe frowned deeply, stubbornly refusing to speak, like any rebellious teenager.
The middle-aged man glanced shrewdly at her, then at Chen Jianghe, seeming to grasp the situation. “And you are?”
“I’m his sister,” Lin Wanxing replied, neither identifying herself as a teacher nor mentioning soccer, opting for an ambiguous role.
The man’s eyes lit up instantly. “You’re his sister? Did you know your brother is incredibly talented?”
Lin Wanxing glanced at Chen Jianghe, paused briefly, and said, “Of course. My brother is a genius.”
Hearing this, Chen Jianghe’s pupils widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected her to say that—genuinely surprised.
“Ah, I’ve been observing him for a while. I often see him practicing alone on the field and assumed his family wasn’t supportive,” the man said, pausing briefly. “Truth is, I’ve seen many talented players, but few who work as hard and diligently as he does, all on their own.”
The boy, hearing the praise, reacted with a mix of pride and embarrassment, his cheeks flushing as he averted his gaze.
“He never mentioned any of this to us,” Lin Wanxing replied after a moment of silence.
“Let me introduce myself. My surname is Liu. I’m a professional scout with Yongchuan Weisheng Agency. Here’s my card.”
The man formally handed over a business card, which Lin Wanxing accepted with both hands, slightly taken aback.
She looked down and read it twice. “A scout?”
“Surprised, right? Didn’t think we had scouts in our country?” The man adjusted his glasses and launched into a familiar spiel. “Even though our national soccer scene isn’t great right now, the leagues are undeniably improving. My job is similar to that of an artist agent—I scout talented young players, introduce them to major clubs, and offer them new opportunities.”
As he spoke, the man affectionately ruffled Chen Jianghe’s damp hair.
Though Lin Wanxing knew that agents often engaged in what amounted to “human trafficking,” she had to admit the situation was beyond her usual scope of knowledge.
After a moment’s thought, she drew on her limited understanding of soccer and asked, “Are you planning to introduce him to youth training programs at those clubs?”
“Seems like you’ve done some homework as a guardian. Yes, generally, aspiring professional players need to go through club screenings. I’d like to arrange trial trainings for him at several clubs, including Yongchuan Evergrande,” the man explained, pausing briefly. “You’ve probably heard of them—their owner is in real estate, extremely wealthy.”
“But he’s still in high school,” Lin Wanxing said, looking at Chen Jianghe.
For some reason, Chen Jianghe’s expression had grown calm."Sis, you have to understand that your brother's high school education is actually his weak point. Many professional players are either groomed by their families from a young age or were scouted early by clubs. Their entire lives revolve around one thing—playing football. That kind of planning is very clear-cut: parents invest money, clubs invest money, and they're trained intensively. Your brother has already attended high school; to be honest, he's fallen behind quite a bit. The kid is working hard, but you as the family need to put in effort too."
When the word "family" was mentioned, Chen Jianghe's expression suddenly turned cold.
Lin Wanxing noticed this and, with an adult's intuition, felt the middle-aged man's intentions weren't entirely pure. She could only proceed step by step and asked, "So what should we do now...?"
"First, take a leave of absence from school—pause for a year. Next month, Evergrande Football School's training camp begins, lasting about three months. I'll recommend him to go there first for some professional training. Early next year, there's also the elite class entrance exam for the football school. If he gets selected, the tuition will be fully waived."
"Leave of absence? He's taking the college entrance exam next year!"
"Let me be blunt—what's the use of the college entrance exam? Won't he still have to graduate and find a job to make money? Many elite football school classes offer annual scholarships of 500,000 yuan. How many adults can't even earn that in ten years?"
Lin Wanxing looked up at the middle-aged man's gaunt face.
His cheekbones were high, his eye sockets sunken, and he began speaking fluently and volubly.
He went from discussing club youth training to the salaries of Chinese Super League professional players, from trial training to players going abroad to gain prestige.
A three-year football school and three-year overseas plan—it was as if Chen Jianghe could be sent abroad any moment and, upon returning, become a sought-after prospect for major clubs.
Money, fame, career, status—all seemed within easy reach, a golden path slowly unfolding before them.
"So, your suggestion is for him to take a leave of absence now, go train at a club-affiliated football school, and pursue a professional path?" After summarizing, Lin Wanxing asked the most critical question: "Will food and accommodation be covered before he's selected? Our family's financial situation isn't great."
Chen Jianghe shot a cold glance in their direction.
"Of course, there are still some fees for the training camp."
"How much?"
"10,000 for three months of training—a small amount that most families can afford. You have to understand, 3,000 yuan a month for facilities, coaches, and personnel costs—this fee is practically charity."
A streetlamp shone on the middle-aged man's face, his expression radiant.
Not far away, in the shadows of the plastic track, lay a discarded No. 8 Middle School uniform, with a tattered blue backpack on top.
Chen Jianghe remained silent from start to finish, not interrupting the conversation between the middle-aged man and her.
Lin Wanxing looked at him. The young man was wearing a white T-shirt and sports shorts, his figure appearing lean in the wind, yet unexpectedly cold and resolute.
So she asked Chen Jianghe, "Do you want to go?"
"What does whether I want to go have to do with you?" Chen Jianghe asked.
"If you want to go, I'll prepare the money for you," she said.
"Are you insane?" The young man's face suddenly turned harsh. "Do you think I don't know my own level? Is youth training about who's the best? No, it's about who bribes the coach the most. Even if I could make it into the club's official team, so what? Going abroad would cost another fortune, and they'd just stick you in some no-name European team's youth training—and you call that 'gaining prestige'?"Chen Jianghe must have been holding it in for a long time. Now that he had let it all out, his face was still full of disgust and anger.
"Kid, don't be in such a hurry. You should know that Yongchuan Evergrande's partner is Manchester United's youth academy, the best in Europe."
"Do you even know anything about football? Manchester United's youth academy hasn't achieved anything since the Class of '92. They're not even top-tier in England, let alone all of Europe." Chen Jianghe glared at the middle-aged man, the corners of his eyes slightly red from his sudden outburst. "You think I'm some dumbass who's easy to fool? Becoming a professional player? I've never even dreamed of that."
After shouting, Chen Jianghe hugged the football, dashed toward his school uniform and backpack, picked them up, and ran off.
Lin Wanxing stared intently at his retreating figure, clutching the business card in her hand tightly.
"We'll contact you if needed."
After bidding farewell to the middle-aged man, she chased after him.
The teenager was tall and long-legged. As he sprinted across the field at full speed, Lin Wanxing could only watch helplessly as the distance between them grew larger.
"Hey, wait for me!" she shouted.
Her voice echoed off the walls at the edge of the stadium. Chen Jianghe turned a corner and instantly vanished from her sight.
Lin Wanxing, completely out of breath, shouted almost hopelessly, "Fine, run if you want, but give me back my ball!"
In the quiet evening, the sound of footsteps in the distance suddenly stopped.
Seizing the moment of the teenager's hesitation, Lin Wanxing called out as she ran, "Just leave the football on the ground and wait for me to pick it up, Chen Jianghe."
At the end of the alley, the teenager, who had been bending over to place the ball, suddenly froze.
The proud and tsundere boy naturally couldn't accept being told what to do.
He straightened up again, and Lin Wanxing walked toward him under the glow of the streetlight.
The alley was quiet. Chen Jianghe's expression shifted several times before he finally spoke first: "I knew from the start that guy was a fucking scammer. I was just messing with him. Why did you have to butt in and waste your breath on him?"
"He might not have been a scammer," Lin Wanxing said.
"Even if he wasn't, it's impossible. And do you really think you're my sister?"
"Is your next line, 'Mind your own fucking business'?" Lin Wanxing said slowly. "Oh, that sounds like some classic line, doesn't it?"
Chen Jianghe got angry again, threw the football down, and was about to run off.
Lin Wanxing stopped him: "Aren't you hungry? I haven't had dinner yet. Let's go."
"I'm going home to eat."
It sounded like an excuse.
"Call and say you're not coming back. Tell them you did so poorly on the exam that the teacher is making you stay to catch up on homework," Lin Wanxing said.
"You do remember you're a teacher, right?"
"Sometimes I forget," Lin Wanxing said, walking ahead as if talking to herself. "How about beef rice noodles? I suddenly feel like having some."
She took two steps with her hands in her pockets when she suddenly felt like something was missing.
"Where's my bag…"
At this thought, Lin Wanxing vaguely recalled the moment she had rushed out of the stadium. She had caught a glimpse of the young man in the stands, who seemed to be slowly, bite by bite, chewing on her chocolate bar.
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