The aroma floated in the misty evening streets. Lin Wanxing first froze for a moment, then smiled and raised her hand, waving at him.

To her surprise, the young man sitting by the window who hadn’t been seriously eating his hot pot raised his hand slightly and returned her greeting.

His wrist bones were fair and strong, his expression gentle.

This gesture naturally drew the attention of the two middle-aged men across the table.

Lin Wanxing stood outside the floor-to-ceiling window, smiling awkwardly. Their tailing had been completely discovered…

Meanwhile, the students were also caught by the waitress at the hot pot restaurant entrance — “Welcome, all dishes are 88% of the original price.” The young lady’s enthusiastic, resonant voice directly exposed the students who had been hiding so well.

Across the street lamp-lit sidewalk, Lin Wanxing and the students stared at each other, creating a dramatically awkward scene. For a moment, many thoughts flashed through her mind, then she made a decision. She walked over directly, took the flyer, and suggested to the students — “It’s so cheap, should we give it a try?”

The inside of the hot pot restaurant was even emptier than it appeared from the outside.

Most tables were vacant. Following the principle of “since we’re already here,” Lin Wanxing simply sat at the table next to the young man.

The students were rather naive. When they first sat down, they were very uncomfortable, occasionally stealing glances at the neighboring table while making all sorts of facial expressions at her.

Lin Wanxing handed the hot pot menu to the students, saying — “Order whatever you want.”

“Teacher?” Fu Xinshu called softly.

“Yes?”

“Don’t you think we’re a bit too…”

“What?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“Too blatant?” Qin Ao frowned, “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

The waitress happened to bring over the pre-meal peanuts and appetizers. Lin Wanxing looked at the menu and said — “As long as you’re not embarrassed, it’s the others who will be embarrassed.”

Indeed, during the first three minutes after they sat down, the neighboring table was very quiet. Glasses clinked lightly, and the hot pot bubbled with a gurgling sound, but no one spoke.

The students recovered from their initial shock and discomfort, their attention completely drawn to the hot pot menu.

Some wanted to eat sliced lamb, others didn’t eat lamb; some insisted on having luncheon meat, while others argued that luncheon meat would become mushy in the hot pot.

In short, amidst their noisy debate, Lin Wanxing also straightened her back and began to righteously believe that they had indeed come to the restaurant to eat hot pot.

The neighboring table finally had sounds of small talk.

Coach Liu said — “Eat more, haven’t you had dinner yet tonight?”

Hearing this, Lin Wanxing instinctively looked toward the young man, seeing him nod slightly, but his hand resting on the table showed no movement to pick up his chopsticks.

Under the lights, the young man’s profile appeared more handsome, but completely different from how she had seen him at the edge of the field.

Very dignified, and also very cool.

The waitress began serving dishes.

What surprised Lin Wanxing was that despite the boys’ lengthy arguments, there were very few dishes actually placed on the table.

Mostly vegetables, only three plates of meat. The restaurant’s plates were very small, and those few side dishes placed on the entire round table looked rather sparse.

“Is this all?” Lin Wanxing, no longer able to focus on listening to the neighboring table’s conversation, looked up and asked.

“This is all you ordered,” the waitress said somewhat irritably.

Lin Wanxing took the receipt to check and found it was indeed the case. She couldn’t help but ask the students — “Are you on a diet?”

“We’re here undercover, get your priorities straight,” Qin Ao tapped his plate and lowered his voice.

“On official business, we can’t be wasteful.” This was from Qi Liang.

“We’ve already eaten, we’re not hungry now,” Fu Xinshu said.

Lin Wanxing realized they were trying to save her money, sighed slightly, but didn’t expose them, only saying mildly — “When we put in the beef later, everyone needs to compete fairly.”

As the hot pot was lit, the spicy beef tallow broth bubbled with rising steam, making the neighboring table’s voices less clear.

The children, having forgotten the main purpose of entering the restaurant to eat hot pot, began enthusiastically putting in and scooping out food.

The neighboring table continued with small talk, at times discussing “foreign hot pot isn’t as authentic as back home”; at other times saying “you probably used to come to this street often when you were young.”

Those conversations sounded like deliberate small talk to close the distance.

Lin Wanxing also found it strange that someone of Coach Liu’s status could afford any high-end restaurant, yet he chose a hot pot place, seemingly wanting to appeal to emotions.

Thinking of this, she held her cola cup and turned around slightly, wanting to see the young man’s expression.

She noticed an empty cup in front of the young man.

Lin Wanxing instinctively took a sip of cola, and seeing this, the middle-aged man next to Coach Liu began looking for a drink bottle on the table.

Just then, Qin Ao suddenly stood up.

He took their cola bottle and an empty cup, walked around the narrow aisle to that table, poured a cup of cola, and then “plonked” it down in front of the young man.

Lin Wanxing was shocked.

But Qin Ao’s performance didn’t end there — “Coach, call me if you need more,” he said. Just when Lin Wanxing thought he was going to return to his seat, Qin Ao stopped beside Coach Liu. The nearly six-foot-tall high school student bent down slightly, staring at the balding middle-aged man, and asked — “Are you here to poach our coach? I’m warning you, don’t get any ideas about him.”

This statement was incredibly bold and brazen.

So much so that Coach Liu widened his eyes, unable to utter a single word.

This scene completely exceeded Lin Wanxing’s understanding of normal TV drama situations, so even after Qin Ao returned to his seat, her brain was still in a state of shock.

The boys excitedly applauded, with Yu Ming leading the clapping for him.

Chen Weidong raised his glass to Qin Ao.

Even Qi Liang said — “The dog finally did something useful.”

From a teacher’s perspective, Lin Wanxing felt she should criticize Qin Ao for being impolite but being brave to fight for something didn’t seem like a bad thing either.

The students began noisily fighting over the side dishes in the hot pot again.

The neighboring table also began discussing “you’re teaching these students” questions and “currently doing some coaching” answers.

Lin Wanxing couldn’t hear many of the words clearly, nor did she particularly want to try.

But at one moment, the constantly noisy students suddenly fell silent.

A very clear voice came from next door.

Coach Liu — “If you have any thoughts, including about compensation, you can tell us. I brought Old Ma this time, I won’t say more about our sincerity.”

For perhaps three to five seconds, the young man didn’t speak.

Lin Wanxing stared at the boiling pot in front of her. The silence around her was frightening. She looked up and found that the students’ expressions were the same as hers as if waiting for some answer.

“I want to see the team first,” the young man said.

As the voice came, Lin Wanxing couldn’t quite define the emotion in her heart, but the students’ faces showed obvious disappointment.

Lin Wanxing picked up her chopsticks and plunged them into the hot pot, scooping up a large helping of fatty beef.

Her movements were smooth and flowing; the students were dumbfounded.

Seconds later, the boys began making indistinct noises, and pairs of chopsticks fell into the hot pot.

The neighboring table’s words like “will definitely arrange for you” and “when are you free” gradually drowned in the students’ loud competing voices.

By the time Lin Wanxing had a chance to look back, she found that the seats at the neighboring table were already empty.

Lin Wanxing instinctively looked around and suddenly discovered someone standing behind her, hands in their pockets.

With the young man’s arrival, their table abruptly fell silent, like a head teacher conducting a surprise inspection during lunch break—no one dared to speak.

Lin Wanxing bit her chopsticks, and looked up, feeling somewhat awkward.

After a long while, she finally thought of something to say — “Why don’t you sit down and have some more?”

That evening, the hot pot meal that was about to end continued for another half hour after the young man sat down.

By the time they paid the bill and left, it was past nine o’clock.

Lin Wanxing sent the students to the bus station. Fu Xinshu was called back to the restaurant by the manager, and she walked a bit with the remaining students.

The students went home one by one, and finally, only one person remained beside her.

The street had the unique tranquility of a small city at night, and the young man seemed more familiar with the place than she was.

They navigated through alleys, occasionally passing by rivers. Lin Wanxing chatted casually with him.

She asked if he lived nearby and if he had grown up in Hongjing.

The young man answered lazily, but his voice was relaxed, and their conversation continued peacefully.

At some point, Lin Wanxing suddenly spoke up — “You haven’t decided where to go, have you?”

The young man suddenly stopped, under the street lamp, slightly lowering his head to look at her.

“The two times I’ve met you, you were sitting in that stadium stands. It feels like a place that means a lot to you, where you go to clear your mind when there are things you can’t figure out.”

The young man didn’t speak, just looked ahead and continued walking with her.

Lin Wanxing continued talking to herself — “If Coach Liu is trying to recruit you, with your experience, you could find work abroad too, but you must have other reasons for returning to China. Yongchuan Evergrande can tempt you with a high salary, but what you lack or what you want isn’t that.”

“To be direct, you’re saying Yongchuan Evergrande isn’t suitable for me, but Hongjing Eighth Middle School is. But when I don’t even know what I want, what do you think a campus football team can offer me?”

“I don’t know, I’m just trying to use some recruitment techniques. Ordinary companies offer you a salary, but our company is different, we’ll provide you with…” At this point, Lin Wanxing suddenly couldn’t continue.

“Provide what?”

“Dreams?” Lin Wanxing suggested weakly.

“I don’t have dreams now.”

“I thought you were going to say your dreams have already come true,” Lin Wanxing smiled faintly. “It’s really hard, isn’t it? Not knowing what you want, and also having lost your dreams.”

Her voice was very soft, her words dispersing in the evening breeze, and the young man did not respond.

They just kept walking on the street, under the dim yellow street lights, both falling into silent contemplation.

“I’m here,” the young man’s voice sounded.

Lin Wanxing looked up to see the familiar yet strange apartment building in front of her.

She couldn’t help but stand there, stunned.