After experiencing a hands-off first day at work, Lin Wanxing was surprised when the sports department actually assigned a dedicated teacher to help her get familiar with her duties on the afternoon of her second day.
The teacher, surnamed Qian, was portly and appeared amiable and smooth-tempered, though it was said he had a background in boxing training.
The equipment room door was wide open, with a long wind blowing through. Inside, the windows were clean and the room bright. Teacher Qian stood frozen at the doorway for a moment before stepping inside with delight. "Teacher Lin, you've even organized the storage room! Such an enthusiastic work attitude!"
"I had to tidy it up anyway. It's not like I had anything else to do."
"Well then, Teacher Lin, are you still free now? Our office also needs cleaning..."
Lin Wanxing smiled. "No problem, I can help with cleaning whenever needed."
"Just kidding, don't take it seriously." Though Teacher Qian had a burly build, his voice was soft. He walked around the shelves once.
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Wanxing brought out all the equipment she considered scrapped for Teacher Qian to inspect one by one - broken jump ropes, deflated basketballs, badminton rackets with snapped strings...
Finally, she handed him the verified checklist. Once Teacher Qian confirmed it, he could submit it at the logistics department's regular meeting.
"If there's any equipment that needs replenishing, you can let me know the types and quantities when you have time," Lin Wanxing concluded.
Teacher Qian glanced at the basket full of damaged equipment, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Ahem, Teacher Lin... school is also a workplace."
"Ah?"
"Workplace experience teaches us not to be too diligent, otherwise you'll end up with all sorts of tasks coming your way."
"That makes sense!" Lin Wanxing said while handing him another paper. "Teacher Qian, I've also checked the large equipment. Here's the list. When would be a good time for us to inspect whether the equipment is in good condition?"
Teacher Qian: "..."
Despite his verbal admonishment, Teacher Qian still took advantage of the lunch break to walk her around the sports field area.
He showed her all the large equipment under their jurisdiction. They inspected basketball stands, soccer goals, parallel bars...
Regular high schools actually don't have much large equipment, but exposure to wind and rain leads to serious wear and tear. Without regular inspections, safety hazards could easily arise.
Lin Wanxing noted on her small board to remember to sweep the sandpit daily.
She also registered a broken backboard, rusted parallel bar posts, and missing soccer nets on the school goals.
Teacher Qian looked at what she was recording on her small board. "The budget is limited, and applications aren't guaranteed to be approved."
"Let's just try," Lin Wanxing said.
——
Teacher Qian spent the entire lunch break in the equipment room.
Since his class had the first period in the afternoon, he simply didn't return to his office.
While Lin Wanxing organized her notes in the equipment room, Teacher Qian sat like a large lump in a nearby lounge chair, drinking tea and reading newspapers. He held a pencil, solving puzzles in the newspaper - very much the middle-aged/elderly style.
A tall male student knocked at the door, identifying himself as the PE class representative looking for Teacher Qian to ask about equipment needed for the first PE class that afternoon.
The boy had a narrow scar under his eye. Though he had been grinning cheekily moments before, he froze completely upon seeing her.
Lin Wanxing looked up, thinking her encounters with Qin Ao were always coincidental.
Teacher Qian put down his newspaper. "Next class is volleyball. Take out the volleyball basket and make sure there's one for every two students in the class."
Qin Ao nodded and turned toward the ball sports area.
Watching Qin Ao's tall retreating figure, Lin Wanxing asked Teacher Qian: "PE class representative?"
"Yes, before each class, the PE class representative will come early to borrow equipment according to the PE teacher's requirements," Teacher Qian briefly explained the procedure.
After counting the volleyballs, Qin Ao carried the basket out. Though Lin Wanxing felt the basket was taller than half her height, Qin Ao lifted it effortlessly.
The boy walked toward the door without looking back.
Lin Wanxing called: "Qin Ao."
Qin Ao's figure stiffened. He turned back with an exaggerated bow and smile. "Teacher, did you need something?"
"You haven't signed yet." Lin Wanxing opened the equipment borrowing/return register and pushed it to the edge of the table.
Qin Ao put down the volleyball basket and walked over.
In the previous row of the "borrowing/return register," the two characters "Qin Ao" signed by Chen Jianghe stood out conspicuously.
Qin Ao glanced at Teacher Qian, who was still working on his newspaper puzzle and not paying attention to them.
The boy immediately picked up a pen, vigorously blacking out the three characters "Qin Ao" in the "soccer" column of the previous row, then forcibly writing "Chen Jianghe" in the blank space beside it.
Lin Wanxing twirled her pen and pointed to the first column. "Write how many volleyballs here under borrowed equipment, specify the quantity."
"I know."
Qin Ao filled it out quickly, put down the pen, and left.
"Qin Ao," Teacher Qian called after him.
Qin Ao stopped abruptly, turning back after a moment. "Teacher Qian, is there something else?"
"Haven't seen you during the student athletes' training sessions recently. Slacking off?"
"I'm not taking the sports exam anymore. My mom wants me to work at my uncle's factory after high school graduation."
"What does your uncle do?"
"Hardware."
"Working in a hardware factory isn't easy. You can't be so careless about your future." Teacher Qian put down his newspaper and sat up straight. "If you properly take the sports college entrance exam, get into a sports institute specializing in soccer, you could at least become a coach after graduation. Why give up training just like that?"
"I'm not cut out for it. My academic scores aren't good enough for those schools anyway," Qin Ao said dismissively.
He left the equipment room carrying the large basket of volleyballs, while Teacher Qian remained deeply concerned.
Analyzing the information from their conversation, Lin Wanxing suddenly asked: "Does Qin Ao play soccer too?"
"Yes, he was in our high school's football team before. Has great endurance."
"What about Chen Jianghe? Were they on the same team before?"
"Correct." Teacher Qian smiled. "Not bad, Teacher Lin. You've gotten to know quite a few students in just a couple days?"
"Just happened to run into them at school," Lin Wanxing said vaguely. "Our high school actually has a football team?"
"There used to be a team. The previous principal liked these achievement projects. Don't judge Qin Ao by his current slacker appearance - their team achieved good results before, so the entire team entered our high school as sports specialty students. But after the principal changed, the new one particularly disliked these things, so they gradually stopped playing."
Lin Wanxing was slightly surprised. "Stopped playing? Why?"
"Various reasons. Parents think playing soccer has no future. The national team's poor performance creates a bad social opinion environment. As for the students themselves, no one seriously disciplines them in high school. Their team had good results before, but it just faded away."
"I see."
Teacher Qian picked up his teacup, blowing away the tea leaves floating on top. "If you ask me, they shouldn't have come to regular high school. A sports technical school would have been better. High school is too difficult - they can't handle the academics."
Teacher Qian shook his head while speaking, then took a sip of tea.
Lin Wanxing remained silent for a while.
"Still a bit unfortunate," she said.
——
13:15.
Students for the first PE class arrived leisurely.
Since Lin Wanxing wasn't a PE practice teacher, she just took a small stool and sat by the equipment room window facing the sports field, observing the PE class.
PE class procedures were monotonously similar.
After teacher-student greetings, Teacher Qian first had Qin Ao lead everyone in slow jogging warm-ups.
The students were lackadaisical, and Teacher Qian pretended not to notice. He wandered around the field for a couple rounds, then returned to begin the main lesson content.
This lesson's theme was volleyball.
Teaching content: forearm passing with both hands.
Teacher Qian demonstrated several movements, then had students form two rows to practice with each other.
He corrected a few students, then when time was almost up, had everyone take one volleyball per pair for free practice.
Students really liked Teacher Qian's PE classes like this - after dismissal for free activities, everyone could do their own thing.
For instance, several Class 5 boys on the field first pretended to wander near the volleyball court. When no one was watching, they secretly slipped toward the small grove by the field.
Lin Wanxing watched all this.
After a while, she put her phone in her pocket and walked toward the small grove where the boys had disappeared.
Under the shade of a hidden camphor tree in the grove, Lin Wanxing found three boys puffing away at cigarettes.
They held cigarettes, school uniform zippers open, striking cool poses.
One of them was Qin Ao.
When Lin Wanxing appeared, Qin Ao had just flicked ash onto the soil. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and jumped up in fright.
The boy's face showed shock and frustration. He opened his mouth, probably wanting to call out "Teacher" but couldn't get it out.
The other two students looked around confused, reluctant to extinguish their cigarettes. One even secretly took another puff, his eyes large, eyelashes curled, expression panicked yet cute.
Qin Ao collected himself, adjusted his emotions, and asked with a fake smile: "Teacher, did you need something from me?"
"Nothing, just passing by," Lin Wanxing said.
Hearing "Teacher," the other two boys under the tree suddenly flustered, hurriedly throwing down their cigarettes and stamping them out.
Qin Ao, however, remained calm. "Aren't you going to drag me to the administration office?"
"No need, I'm waiting for milk tea here." Lin Wanxing pointed toward the school's iron fence outside the grove.
"Then wait here, Teacher."
After speaking, Qin Ao squatted back down. With a "click," he lit his lighter and openly lit another cigarette right in front of her.
Utterly provocative.
Lin Wanxing didn't mind. She squatted down beside Qin Ao's smoking buddy and asked: "Can you play soccer?"
The younger boy was still in a dazed, confused state. Hearing this, he suddenly became excited. "Yeah! I'm super awesome at soccer!"
"What about Qin Ao? Is he super awesome too?"
"Oh, Old Qin? He sucks!"
"Lin Lu!" Qin Ao's rather stern voice called his smoking companion.
"Just chatting, don't be nervous." Lin Wanxing continued squatting with the high schooler named Lin Lu. "Do you still play now? Are there any matches? I'd have time to watch."
Hearing this, Lin Lu looked shocked. "It's 9012 already, and you still watch soccer matches? Soccer is already outdated - it's the era of esports now!"
"Then what games do you play?" Lin Wanxing asked.
"I'm super awesome at Honor of Kings! My Li Bai is carefree and elegant!" Lin Lu answered.
"Bullshit! You only know how to play Cai Wenji!" the other boy beside them retorted.
Lin Wanxing chatted with them about games for a while. Five minutes later, a delivery person stood outside the fence, handing milk tea into the campus.
Lin Wanxing pierced the plastic seal with a straw, took a sip, then moved to squat beside Qin Ao.
Qin Ao blew a smoke ring and raised an eyebrow.
Lin Wanxing asked: "What about you? Are you super awesome at Honor of Kings too?"
Qin Ao: "Teacher, I don't play games. I study hard and improve every day."
"What about before? Teacher Qian said your team was really good at soccer. Did you win some impressive championship? Why did you suddenly give up?"
Qin Ao suddenly stopped smiling.
"Teacher..." Qin Ao interrupted her.
"Hmm?"
"Weren't you just waiting for milk tea? Now the milk tea is here."
"Which means I can drink milk tea while chatting with you?" Lin Wanxing said.
Lin Lu burst out laughing.
Qin Ao smacked Lin Lu's head, looking utterly exasperated. He took a drag of his cigarette, stamped it out, stood up, and walked away without looking back.
The two lackeys flusteredly tried to follow their leader.
Lin Lu ran a couple steps after Qin Ao's retreating figure, then seemed to suddenly remember something. He ran back, rubbed against her side, and whispered: "Teacher, we're not champions.""
"Ah?"
"We're always! Runners-up~"
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