From high noon to sunset.

Lin Wanxing sat in the equipment room, even catching the scent of grilled squid from the food stall outside the school’s back gate.

But the young man who called himself “Qin Ao” never returned the soccer ball.

Around 5:30 PM, it was time for her to leave work. An intern teacher with a ponytail was waiting for her at the door.

“Lin Wanxing, you got assigned to manage sports equipment?” the intern teacher asked, looking up at the department sign in shock.

Her surname was Xu, and she had started her internship in the same batch as Lin Wanxing. Being naturally warm and enthusiastic, they had become quite close.

Earlier today, Teacher Xu had learned about her position in their intern WeChat group and had been clamoring to come see it for herself.

Lin Wanxing glanced at the empty “Return Signature” column in the borrowing ledger, closed the book, and said, “Yes, I’m in charge here now.”

“Aren’t you from Yongchuan University? Why would the school assign a top-5 master’s graduate to manage equipment?” Teacher Xu stepped into the equipment room and started coughing immediately. “What’s that smell? You’ve got it rough, haven’t you?”

“It’s not so bad, pretty relaxed actually.” Lin Wanxing put her things in her backpack, locked the door, and walked out with Teacher Xu.

Students were gradually leaving school, though few exited the gates.

Lights turned on in the classrooms one after another. Even at a lower-ranked school in the city, supervision of high school students remained strict.

“Have you found a place to live yet?”

Lin Wanxing had taken only a few steps when Teacher Xu asked this question.

Lin Wanxing paused.

If she remembered correctly, Teacher Xu had previously mentioned going apartment hunting with her after work.

Now Teacher Xu was suddenly pretending not to remember this, which likely meant something had changed.

“Not yet,” Lin Wanxing replied.

Teacher Xu brushed a strand of hair from her face in the sunset light, lowered her head slightly, and said somewhat embarrassedly — “Well, Teacher Chen, you know, she rented a three-bedroom apartment for just 3,500 yuan, and there’s a vacant second bedroom she’s renting to me for 600 yuan. Since we’re all assigned to the Senior Year 3 group, we thought it would be convenient to live together.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Lin Wanxing said.

“They’re waiting for me at the school gate, so I’ll head over now.”

“Okay.”

Teacher Xu ran toward the school gate, her ponytail swinging back and forth in the sunset.

Lin Wanxing adjusted her backpack strap as her phone rang in her pocket.

“Miss Lin, the apartment vacated by the previous tenant has been cleaned. When will you be coming?”

“I’m sorry, we won’t be coming today. My friend says she’s found a place.”

“So I don’t need to be the honest broker and rent the apartment to you and your friend at a discount?”

“Right.”

“That works out well. A tenant moving in today asked if he could change rooms. He wants the south-facing rooftop apartment—the one with the view of the stadium that you and your friend were planning to take. He said he’s willing to pay extra.”

“That probably won’t work. The school dormitory I’m staying in is only available for two weeks, so I’ll still need to move in.”

Lin Wanxing hung up the phone and found herself with nothing to do. After thinking for a moment, she turned and walked toward the teaching building.

She had been shown around the teaching building by a school teacher earlier and remembered that Senior Year 3 classes were located on the upper floors of Teaching Building No. 2.

After climbing four flights of stairs, she finally reached the door of Class 5, Senior Year 3.

Senior Year 3 teachers never ended class on time.

The math teacher and someone who looked like the homeroom teacher were standing in the classroom while students were receiving their test papers.

Lin Wanxing sat at the staircase corner leading to the rooftop and waited for more than ten minutes until the class finally erupted with the noisy voices of students.

The teachers had left, and students were organizing their homework.

She stood at the back door and tapped the shoulder of a student sitting by the entrance — “Excuse me.”

The student, who had been playing with his phone, was startled.

He turned around abruptly, and the first thing Lin Wanxing noticed was a long, narrow scar below his eye.

The boy’s mouth was open, seemingly ready to curse, but upon seeing her, his face instantly filled with a smile, and his tone changed — “Hello, beautiful. What can I do for you?”

The transformation was quick. Lin Wanxing said, “I’m looking for someone.”

“Who are you looking for?”

“Qin Ao.”

The boy immediately stopped smiling. He gave her a suspicious look, examining her up and down several times before plastering another fake smile on his face and asking — “Do we know each other, beautiful? Why are you looking for me?”

Lin Wanxing smiled too. What a coincidence.

She pulled out the chair next to the boy and, under his shocked gaze, sat down and briefly explained the situation.

She described the height and appearance of the young man who had borrowed the soccer ball, and finally asked, “Do you know who it might be?”

“Damn, Chen Jianghe, you stupid bastard.” The real Qin Ao almost immediately realized who she was talking about and cursed in displeasure.

Having learned the crew-cut student’s real name, Lin Wanxing asked, “Which class is Chen Jianghe in? Do you know?”

“Teacher, Chen Jianghe is a loser from Class 11,” Qin Ao said with a smile, but then, as if remembering something, he frowned. “He came to borrow a ball from you?” Qin Ao asked.

Qin Ao still had a smile on his lips, but because of the scar at the corner of his eye, his gaze turned cold and fierce, giving his whole person a strangely discordant feeling.

“Yes,” Lin Wanxing answered.

“Teacher, Chen Jianghe has mental problems. Don’t lend to him next time.”

“What kind of problems? Tell me more.” Lin Wanxing took out a box of Pocky from her bag, opened it, and offered a stick to the boy.

Qin Ao froze, looking at the chocolate stick she was offering, and said, “Teacher, eating snacks isn’t allowed in the classroom.”

“Oh… sorry.” Lin Wanxing quickly finished chewing the chocolate stick.

“Are you a teacher?”

“You and Chen Jianghe seem quite close.” Lin Wanxing dusted off her hands. “The way you ask that question sounds just like him.”

Sure enough, Qin Ao wore a “who’s like him” tsundere expression, clearly unhappy.

“Since you know him so well, can you help me find out where he is?” Lin Wanxing asked again.

Learning Chen Jianghe’s exact whereabouts took some effort.

According to classmates from Senior Year 3, Class 1, Chen Jianghe hadn’t attended classes that afternoon. He was also a notorious troublemaker in his class and didn’t get along with anyone. Finally, it was the class beauty who stepped in, making several calls to Chen Jianghe before finding out his exact location.

Lin Wanxing walked out of the back gate of No. 8 High School, headed north for five minutes, and saw an old sports complex.

The overall architecture was in the style of the 80s and 90s, with gray-white cement walls that seemed to pull time back several decades.

The outdoor swimming pool was covered with a black dust cover. Beyond the pool was a bare soccer field.

In the glorious evening sunset, the concrete stands on both sides of the field were diagonally cut by the sunset—one side orange-red, the other dark gray.

There were several young people on the field, along with a middle-aged man.

Lin Wanxing stood in the shadows and quickly identified Chen Jianghe’s face among them.

The young man was looking at the middle-aged man standing in front of him with excitement. Lin Wanxing could vaguely hear the middle-aged man saying things like “You have great potential” and “Trust me.”

She walked around behind Chen Jianghe to the stands, only to discover that someone else was already sitting there.

The iron-gray stands rose in tiers. The young man was tall with long legs. His black baseball cap was pulled low, and from Lin Wanxing’s angle, she could barely see his face.

The light was misty and dim, yet the white lines dividing the seating areas shone brightly.

She walked up to the stands and sat down beside him.

At first, neither of them spoke.

From where they sat, she couldn’t hear what the people on the field were saying.

She only knew that it seemed to be a long and complex conversation.

The middle-aged man was encouraging Chen Jianghe, and then the young people on the field were divided into two groups, beginning a simple confrontation drill that didn’t look like it would end anytime soon.

She took out the unfinished Pocky from her bag and crunched through two sticks.

“Is that the coach?” she turned her head and asked the person beside her.

The sunset light was darker than before. Two of the streetlights at the top of the stands had come on, but more were broken.

The young man turned his face slightly, his gaze lifting a little.

His eye color was very light, his lips thin. His jacket was lazily draped over his knees, giving him an overall indifferent appearance.

Lin Wanxing squeezed the bag, pushed out a chocolate stick, and held it in front of him.

The young man was still looking at her, making no other movement.

“Want one? Don’t be shy,” Lin Wanxing said, fearing he might be embarrassed.

At her words, the young man finally raised his hand.

His shirt cuffs were rolled up, revealing a section of evenly muscled wrist. In the last faint light of sunset, he extended his well-defined fingers…

And then…

He grabbed the entire bag.

Lin Wanxing was at a loss for several seconds.

Until the slight crunching sound of biscuits being chewed arose, she finally reacted.

She looked at her empty palm, then incredulously at the Pocky bag in the young man’s hand.

“I…”

The young man’s indifferent gaze glanced over.

Lin Wanxing thought for a moment, then said somewhat pitifully — “I’m a bit hungry. Could I have it back?”

“‘Don’t be shy’?” he quoted.

“I meant for you to take one stick,” she emphasized. “One.”

The young man made no move to return the bag. Instead, he took out another chocolate stick, lightly held it between his teeth, and said languidly — “Do you want to know?”

“Huh? Know what? Your phone number? These days we young people just add each other on WeChat directly.”

“Do you want to know what they’re doing?” He paused, biting off a piece of chocolate. “But if I were you, I’d just go down there directly.”