Upon hearing this, Wang Fa fell into deep thought, gazing toward the football field.
His eyes were distant, as if he were seriously contemplating or recalling his own life.
Until—
Lin Wanxing heard Wang Fa say, "How much are you planning to pay?"
"Pay for what?" Lin Wanxing didn’t react immediately.
Wang Fa took out his phone and once again displayed the payment QR code. "This is a paid answer."
In the darkness, the black-and-white pattern against the bright yellow background was particularly glaring.
She narrowed her eyes, but the young man remained calm and composed, not at all joking.
Lin Wanxing took a deep breath, trying not to get angry, and chose a counterattack angle: "Why is it that when I asked if you’d coach the team, you didn’t mention money, but now that I’m asking if you support the kids playing football, you want to charge? Is this question particularly special?"
"Didn’t expect you to be so polite. Should we settle the coaching fees for the past two days together then?" As he spoke, Wang Fa lit up his phone screen again.
"No, no, it’s a misunderstanding," Lin Wanxing waved her hand, forcing an awkward smile, pretending not to see the QR code as she leaned back in her chair.
On the field, the students had started another round of training.
Perhaps they were genuinely tired, or maybe the coach’s earlier harsh words had dampened their high spirits. Their movements lacked the previous speed, and the boys seemed somewhat lazy.
Lin Wanxing could deeply relate to such feelings.
For children, if they develop an interest in something or show a tendency to work hard, they always hope for encouragement from adults.
After all, they’ve grown up this way, so it’s natural for them to lose interest if they don’t receive positive feedback from adults.
In any case, the disbanding happened naturally.
It started with Yu Ming, who had reached the time agreed upon with his mother, packing his bag and heading home. Then, the remaining students played for a while before saying goodbye in small groups.
Eventually, everyone left, and even Fu Xinshu came to bid farewell.
The student seemed to want to ask something—perhaps about tomorrow, when to come for training, or whether they should even come at all. But in the end, he asked nothing.
Lin Wanxing leaned back in her seat, the evening breeze brushing her face.
On the entire field, only one girl was still running around the plastic track, her parents walking slowly behind her.
Other than that, the playground was empty, restored to the tranquility that nights should have.
—
With almost no organized training activities, everything depended on the students’ personal willingness, so the outcome was left to fate.
The students’ exam results were likely the same.
Lin Wanxing only found out that the students had failed again when she was summoned to the teachers’ office.
The word "again" might not be entirely appropriate here, as several students hadn’t even taken the exam.
Standing at the door of the large teachers’ office, Lin Wanxing peeked inside. The imagined scene of being surrounded by angry parents didn’t exist; the office was very quiet.
Most teachers were in class, while a few were grading assignments. Teacher Xu, sitting at her small desk, glanced up at her. Lin Wanxing signaled with her eyes, and Teacher Xu quickly tiptoed over, whispering, "Oh, you’re here."
"What’s going on? Did Teacher Wang and the others need something from me?"
"They just said, why did you have to get involved with those students?" Teacher Xu replied.
"Huh?" Lin Wanxing was confused.
"Remember the exam a couple of days ago? Several students from your football team didn’t take it, and some who did barely wrote anything. Then the students went home and told their parents they didn’t have time to study because you called them to play football."
Hearing this, Lin Wanxing was completely stunned. A dark pot had fallen from the sky—those brats actually knew how to shift blame?
Seeing her shocked expression, Teacher Xu continued, "I already told Teacher Wang it definitely wasn’t you who made them train. They made up excuses themselves, and you can’t control them anyway."
As they spoke, a teacher grading papers in the office noticed the commotion at the door. Teacher Wang, the homeroom teacher of Lin Lu and Yu Ming, put down her red pen and gestured for them to enter.
Soon enough, Lin Wanxing found herself standing before Teacher Wang’s desk once again. The last time she was here, she faced aggressive parents, but this time, she inexplicably felt like the "parent" being summoned.
Teacher Wang’s gaze swept over Lin Wanxing and Teacher Xu before she spoke: "Teacher Lin."
"Here," Lin Wanxing replied.
"You’ve probably heard why we called you here?"
"Just... just heard."
"I won’t say much else. The parents’ pressure is on the school now, so you need to take more responsibility." As she spoke, Teacher Wang pulled out a stack of exam papers. "Take a look at these first."
Teacher Wang was a straightforward person, so their conversation ended quickly.
Lin Wanxing took the unified examination papers of the 11 students currently in the football team and sat briefly by Teacher Xu’s desk. She flipped through the papers one by one, noticing that even blank papers from absent students were included. In comparison, those filled with answers but covered in red crosses were already considered examples of good attitude.
Seeing her read slowly, Teacher Xu went to pour a glass of water and returned to whisper, "Don’t be upset. There will always be problematic students; just ignore them."
"How can I ignore them?" Lin Wanxing asked leisurely while reviewing the papers.
"Don’t do this. Teacher Wang just..." Teacher Xu trailed off, pulling out her phone and typing a line in WeChat:
—You were too arrogant in the office last time. Teacher Wang wants to teach you a lesson.
Lin Wanxing glanced at the message and said, "It’s fine. If I just ignore it, I’d lose face."
"Is this fine? Did you really tell them to skip exams for training?" Teacher Xu widened her eyes.
"Not at all," Lin Wanxing said.
"I knew it! I find it disgusting how they lied about not taking exams because you called them to play football." Teacher Xu was indignant.
"I’m really fine," Lin Wanxing said calmly, pausing before asking Teacher Xu, "Did you ever lie when you were a child?"
Teacher Xu froze, her expression stiff.
"I did when I was little," Lin Wanxing said. "Once, my deskmate falsely accused me of breaking his thermos. The teacher made me call my parents to school to pay for it."
Teacher Xu seemed a bit angry and didn’t respond.
Lin Wanxing continued on her own, "I tried every way to prove that I didn’t break his thermos—that he broke it himself by accident."
"Then what happened?" Teacher Xu couldn’t help but ask.
"Then, of course, his parents were called to school. That day, the teacher called me to the office too. My deskmate and his father stood in front of me." Lin Wanxing placed her hand on the exam papers, looking calmly at Teacher Xu as she gestured to a spot. "After hearing what the teacher said, his father glanced at me, then lifted his foot and kicked my deskmate hard into the corner."
Her voice was very low, and the office was quiet.
Teacher Xu’s face showed pity, her small nostrils quivering slightly.
Girls are always tougher in words but soft-hearted creatures.
Lin Wanxing said, "Later, I thought, no wonder he lied. His father’s beatings must have hurt so much. Actually, asking my parents for some money wouldn’t have been a big deal for me. But for him, it really hurt too much."
Teacher Xu remained silent for a long time before finally pursing her lips and saying, "But this is different from the students’ situation now."
"It’s not entirely the same. My students lied—maybe they have poor character and bad morals. But from another perspective, they’re also afraid. They know it’s wrong, so they tried to find an excuse to cover it up."
Also, they depend on me, subconsciously thinking I can solve many problems for them, including this one.
But Lin Wanxing didn’t voice this last thought.
OpenNovel