At the locker room entrance, boxed meals and several cases of bottled water were laid out—catering provided by the organizing committee. Qin Ao took the lead in carrying them, as the boys busily moved water and meals around.
Inside the locker room, Wang Fa unfolded a whiteboard and began the routine pre-match preparations.
Lin Wanxing went out to handle matters with the organizing committee staff. When she returned, she scanned the room and noticed that Wen Chengye was indeed absent.
The locker room was filled with the smell of boxed meals, and the boys had haphazardly tossed their freshly unpacked cleats around. With the doors and windows shut and the air conditioning running, the room had developed a distinct atmosphere.
Lin Wanxing did a headcount and realized Fu Xinshu was also missing. Wen Chengye still hadn’t returned.
She turned and went back out to look for them.
The weather was cold, and the Yuzhou Silver Elephant Club was eerily empty. She circled the locker room and the field but saw no one. Just as she was about to follow the signs back to the locker room, she spotted the restroom sign on the other side of the field.
Ahead lay a small grove of trees, where a cold, misty haze seemed to linger as if from wild hills.
"This match is really important for all of us. No matter what issues you have with me, I’m asking you to take it seriously this time!"
Fu Xinshu’s voice, edged with determination, drifted through the gaps in the trees.
Lin Wanxing halted.
Wen Chengye maintained his tradition of staying silent and expressionless, turning to leave.
Fu Xinshu continued behind him, "You can’t keep ignoring instructions. If we get eliminated this time, we’ll really have no chance to advance."
Wen Chengye said nothing. As he brushed past, Fu Xinshu grabbed his arm.
In the blink of an eye, Wen Chengye seized the hair at the back of Fu Xinshu’s head, forcing him to tilt his head back slightly.
From Lin Wanxing’s perspective, it certainly looked like Wen Chengye had viciously yanked Fu Xinshu’s hair. The boy winced in pain, his head tilting upward, making Lin Wanxing gasp involuntarily.
Wen Chengye’s lips moved as if he were saying something. Then, he shoved Fu Xinshu away as if discarding trash.
Fu Xinshu stumbled and fell to the ground.
She was about to rush over when voices behind her moved faster than she could.
"Damn you, Wen Chengye!"
"What the hell are you doing?"
Qin Ao and Zheng Feiyang’s voices erupted suddenly.
Zheng Feiyang helped Fu Xinshu up while Qin Ao forcefully shoved Wen Chengye away.
Just as Qin Ao and Wen Chengye were about to get into a scuffle, Lin Wanxing hurried over.
She grabbed Qin Ao’s fist.
Qin Ao glared at her in disbelief. "Are you fucking trying to break this up? He’s already hit someone, and you’re still taking his side?"
Lin Wanxing paused, thought for a moment, and said, "Theoretically, I’ve always hoped you’d govern yourselves freely. So, if you want to fight, I should let you fight freely?"
Qin Ao’s eyes widened in fury. "Is this really the time to discuss your educational philosophy?"
"Thinking things through is still useful. For example, look—Wen Chengye attacked Fu Xinshu, so it would only be fair if Fu Xinshu were the one to retaliate…"
In the midst of this distraction, Wen Chengye walked away without looking back.
Qin Ao shouted at Wen Chengye’s retreating figure, and Lin Wanxing released him.
"I knew all along you were biased toward Wen dog."
"That useless piece of shit hit someone, and you’re not even doing anything about it!"
"But I treat all of you equally by not interfering with any of you," Lin Wanxing said calmly, trying to soothe Qin Ao. After speaking, she turned to check on Fu Xinshu.
The boy’s face was pale and contorted with pain.
Lin Wanxing asked, "Move slowly and see if you’re hurt anywhere?"Fu Xinshu still seemed immersed in shock and fear, unable to snap out of it.
Seeing this, Qin Ao was practically fuming with rage.
Zheng Feiyang was also extremely displeased: "What the hell does Wen Chengye mean by this? It's bad enough he skipped training for days, but now he acts like the whole world owes him something during a match!"
"Forget it." At that moment, Fu Xinshu's weak voice chimed in.
He forced himself to perk up, hopping lightly on the spot, and said, "Let's just focus on the game."
The weather was damp and cold, the surroundings quiet, with only the faint sounds of whistles and footsteps from the field audible.
Lin Wanxing knew that Qin Ao, Fu Xinshu, and the others were deeply upset.
They had finally embraced grand dreams and goals, eager to take things seriously, only to suddenly realize that not everything could go as they wished.
So they were angry, sad, desperate to vent, and wanted to change Wen Chengye—yet they could do nothing.
Lin Wanxing returned to the locker room with the students.
When they pushed open the locker room door, Wen Chengye wasn't inside.
Fu Xinshu's clothes were a bit dirty, his hair disheveled, and his complexion pale.
The other students in the locker room quickly guessed that something had happened outside.
The other boys gathered around Qin Ao, asking questions.
Qin Ao directly told them about Wen Chengye's confrontation with Fu Xinshu.
"Damn it, why is that Wen dog so arrogant?"
"Is he targeting you, Old Fu? He caused trouble right before the last match too!"
Instantly, everyone was fired up.
Jin Ziyang stepped into his role as team leader, advising the students to prioritize the bigger picture and stay united.
Lin Wanxing was used to this and paid them no mind, instead sitting down next to Wang Fa.
Wang Fa was often very quiet.
Even in the noisy locker room, no matter how chaotic it got, he seemed to exist in his own space, undisturbed.
Just then, the organizing committee delivered two more crates of water. The students were all gathered around Qin Ao, condemning Wen Chengye, and no one paid any attention.
Wang Fa naturally stood up to move the water, and Lin Wanxing followed him out.
Outside, a light mist still hung in the air. The distant hills were tinged with the earthy yellow of winter, and taking a deep breath of the mountain air brought a piercing chill.
As the locker room door closed, the surroundings fell silent. Standing beside Wang Fa, Lin Wanxing suddenly felt a sense of calm.
"Did they fight?" Wang Fa tore open the packaging, pulled out a bottle of water, and handed it to her.
Lin Wanxing quietly recounted Fu Xinshu's earlier conversation with her and his clash with Wen Chengye.
"Hmm."
After listening, Wang Fa summed it up succinctly.
Lin Wanxing nodded vigorously, looking at him with hope.
But after waiting for a long time, Wang Fa offered no further comments.
Lin Wanxing let out a sigh, a wisp of white mist gently escaping her nostrils. The sounds of the boys' clamor and curses aimed at "Wen dog" drifted from behind the locker room door.
Although Fu Xinshu had said a lot, Lin Wanxing knew the problem wasn't just there.
Like, why did Chen Weidong leave?
He claimed it was due to scheduling conflicts with other sports, but everyone knew that was just an excuse.
The core issue was their lack of strength, losing matches, and to ease the pain of defeat, they began blaming each other, creating rifts and friction.
Such rifts and friction were inherent in team sports. Wen Chengye's presence might have just given the others a more concrete reason to believe, "We can't win."Mist drifted through the mountain wilderness. Perhaps if she said something and managed to control Wen Chengye, she could make him temporarily "obedient" and get everyone to work together.
But even if she achieved that, she couldn’t deliver what they truly wanted—to win the match.
The only person with that kind of transformative magic was probably Wang Fa.
Wang Fa likely knew exactly what she was thinking. He leaned against the wall outside the locker room, arms crossed, gazing leisurely at the mist-shrouded mountains in the distance.
"Any instructions from the coach?" she asked Wang Fa.
"Not really," Wang Fa replied straightforwardly, not teasing her.
"Everyone wants victory. Even Wen Chengye wants to win, right?" Lin Wanxing said.
"Hasn’t Teacher Lin always believed that in football, there are things that transcend victory?" Wang Fa countered.
"You sound just like Wen Chengye," Lin Wanxing said with a helpless smile. "I just wanted to assign a tricky winter homework—it doesn’t mean I hold any firm views."
"Really?" Wang Fa turned to look at her, his light-colored eyes holding a profound darkness. "Then let’s just say I want to see if such a thing exists," he said.
In the afternoon, the thin mountain mist began to dissipate slightly.
But the weather remained cold, the air damp and heavy. The students felt hot in their long sleeves and pants.
Lin Wanxing tightened her down jacket and stood by the edge of the field. She stepped on the turf, finding it unusually slippery underfoot.
The Yuzhou Silver Elephant players had arrived earlier than them—this was their home ground.
Leveraging their home advantage, the Yuzhou Silver Elephant youth players were energetic and confident.
In the first three rounds, the Yuzhou Silver Elephant players had only managed to secure one point. This put them in a critical position for advancing, making this match against Hongjing No. 8 Middle School one they couldn’t afford to lose.
But for the visiting Hongjing No. 8 Middle School players, this was equally a match they couldn’t afford to lose.
The sun was nowhere to be seen in the sky, much like the current atmosphere within the team.
Wen Chengye still hadn’t returned to the locker room, so only 10 players made it to the field.
The students felt Wen Chengye’s attitude was terrible, as if he had no intention of taking the match seriously. They were all simmering with frustration; even Fu Xinshu didn’t suggest going to look for Wen Chengye.
But once on the field, as they began warming up, they glanced around anxiously, seeming uneasy.
"Boss, should I go look for Wen dog?" Lin Lu tentatively asked Qin Ao.
"Are you an idiot? Go look for him?"
"But we won’t have enough players for the match," Lin Lu said.
"Then we’ll just play with 10 people. It makes no difference whether Wen dog is here or not," Qin Ao said arrogantly, though his wandering eyes betrayed him.
"Win or lose, it’s all the same with or without him," Qi Liang said, hands behind his head, sounding completely indifferent.
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