Nothing much had changed from before.

Lin Wanxing accommodated the students’ requests, indicating that she would wait for them in the equipment room every noon. She would teach some basic course content, and they could come listen if they wanted. But she also emphasized that these so-called “tutoring sessions” were not mandatory in any way, and students were free to come and go.

In the evening, Lin Wanxing would still accompany them for soccer training.

Although that was the plan, the weather at the end of summer and beginning of autumn was still scorching, with the late summer heat most fierce at noon.

Lin Wanxing had spent the previous night thinking about what content to teach the students for their high school foundation courses. But although she had seen the students’ test papers, the large amount of blank spaces still made it difficult for her to accurately assess the students’ grasp of high school knowledge.

So on the first day, they mainly just chatted.

The equipment room lacked tables and chairs, and there was no blackboard. The students had to sit on sit-up mats to listen to her.

Lin Wanxing chatted with the students about the most basic high school knowledge, starting with the sine and cosine theorems in mathematics. However, the students were unfamiliar with these two terms.

Above them was only one ceiling fan, whirring at maximum speed, but it still seemed like a drop in the bucket. The boys were tall with long legs and had nowhere to put them in the narrow aisle space. They moved around, uncomfortable no matter how they positioned themselves, with sweat dripping from their foreheads, breathing in the humid afternoon air.

Lin Wanxing had originally prepared some paper for the students to write on. But if they used it, they would all have to lie on the floor, so she simply put the paper aside and started just chatting.

The afternoon air was drowsy. She sat cross-legged on a mat, not fixating on what they had learned in high school, but casually chatting with them about interesting things from various high school subjects.

For instance, whether the water in “The Record of the Small Stone Pond” was clear, where the Autumn Harvest Uprising began, or things like the basic economic system. She also talked to them about the periodic table of elements, but obviously, most students knew nothing about things that high school students should be able to recite backward. Only Fu Xinshu could say something about these topics.

Eventually, the students completely lost patience to hear what she was saying.

No matter how light her tone was, the content was still boring knowledge from textbooks, and students could directly enter “zoning out” mode as soon as they heard it. Plus, with more than ten people crammed together, the smell of sweat and post-meal drowsiness all made people sleepy.

Lin Wanxing also understood that the students had already made a great effort by giving up their nap and rest time in the afternoon to come here, enduring the scorching summer heat. They tried to concentrate, but just couldn’t.

Many things are like this—when you start full of confidence, you always encounter various difficulties, making it easy to give up.

By evening, perhaps because they hadn’t slept at noon, or perhaps because an afternoon of mental activity made the students feel extremely tired, they couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for training. This lack of enthusiasm was hard to describe, and Wang Fa was never the type to seriously supervise students; most of the time he just sat in the stands. So as the students played, their running speed gradually slowed; as they played, their shouts also became quieter.

From sunset to complete darkness, with four days left until the match day, probably everyone was wondering what would happen to them after next Sunday.

That night, when Lin Wanxing returned to the dormitory, she felt unusually tired.

At the dormitory entrance, thermos flasks were placed under the trees, waiting for students to pick them up after evening self-study.

The dormitory manager was knitting a sweater. Lin Wanxing greeted the auntie as usual, but heard her say, “Xiao Lin, have you found a place to stay?”

Lin Wanxing was stunned for a moment. On the perpetual calendar hanging on the wall of the dormitory manager’s small room, it showed a large “24.” She suddenly realized that this Friday was the last day the school provided dormitories for intern teachers. She had been notified before, and Teacher Xiao Xu, who was with her, had moved out a week earlier.

“Yes, I’ve found a place, thank you, Auntie,” Lin Wanxing waved to the auntie. “I’m going back to pack my things.”

Lin Wanxing returned to her small dormitory room. On the desk were textbooks she had borrowed from the high school library, filling it, with only a small space left for her laptop. A strange sense of absurdity washed over Lin Wanxing.

It seemed as if the principal had arranged an easy job for her, as a favor to an acquaintance.

How had she become so busy that she even forgot about moving out of the dormitory?

In the dormitory, apart from the large cardboard box she had packed and mailed from university, there were no other big items. Lin Wanxing packed everything into two large suitcases and promptly ordered a small moving van on an app platform.

With the day so busy, only the evening was free.

When the van driver arrived, the dormitory manager was quite apologetic: “Oh my, I just mentioned it to you, I didn’t mean for you to leave so late at night.”

“I have to move out anyway,” Lin Wanxing placed a plastic bag containing oranges she had bought yesterday but hadn’t finished on the auntie’s desk.

“Well, be careful then.”

“I will, Auntie,” Lin Wanxing replied.

It was a simple farewell. Lin Wanxing sat in the passenger seat of the small van.

The van circled the school from outside the dormitory, with tree shadows on both sides, and arrived in just five minutes.

17 Wutong Road, the house her grandparents had bought was located here.

It was a simple old residential building in a very ordinary residential area.

The walls were a deep smoky gray color, with signs of peeling at the corners, occasionally revealing deeper-colored concrete and red bricks inside. Because her grandparents used to run an after-school care center and a small shop downstairs, the green metal main door of the stairwell had graffiti drawn by mischievous boys with chalk, and girls liked to put small stickers on it.

Lin Wanxing opened the van door. One moment she was immersed in the river of memories, the next second, she was too stunned to speak.

The green metal door of the stairwell looked exactly as she remembered it, but now the door was closed, and there were several sneaky high school students standing at the entrance.

Chen Jianghe, Qin Ao, Yu Ming, Qi Liang, Fu Xinshu…

Lin Wanxing rubbed her eyes. What was more absurd than finding a relaxing job but having all her time and energy occupied by students was that even when moving house, she could run into these bastards from the soccer team here???

Familiar people meeting face to face, especially eye-catching. To seize the initiative, one must ask first. So when “Why are you here?” was asked simultaneously, Lin Wanxing knew that her voice wasn’t as loud as the students.

“This is my home,” Lin Wanxing quickly gestured for them to lower their voices.

There was a moment of silence around them. It was around this time that footsteps were heard from the stairwell, and with a creaking sound, the bearing turned, and the iron door opened.

Wang Fa, dressed in loose athletic home clothes, appeared at the door.

The sensor light in the stairwell suddenly went dark, and the following scene was more like a segment from a situational comedy.

The three parties stood in the less than two square meters of space at the entrance of the stairwell, looking at each other in bewilderment. Qin Ao’s eyes were wide open, but he didn’t dare to shout. Qi Liang was the first to react, leaning close to her and pretending to whisper, “Teacher, does the coach also live at your place?”

Lin Wanxing hurriedly explained, “No, I just moved here.”

“Moving in to live with the coach?” Still the same question.

“But you said this is your home, how come you’re just moving in?” Qi Liang persisted.

“Teacher, you have issues.”

The students all talked at once, each with their comments, leaving Lin Wanxing unable to defend herself.

She had to look toward Wang Fa for help. The young man had been leaning against the railing the whole time, not saying a word.

“You live here too?” she asked Wang Fa.

“Didn’t you already know?” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing’s mouth was half-open, and she suddenly remembered that Wang Fa had indeed mentioned that he rented here.

“Then why are you coming downstairs so late at night?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“Originally to buy cigarettes, now, incidentally to receive you.”

Lin Wanxing: “…”

Normal words coming from Wang Fa’s mouth became strange, and the students’ eyes showed the excitement of watching a good show.

Fortunately, at this moment, the van driver jumped out of the car and unloaded the heavy cardboard box and her luggage from the trunk, breaking the awkwardness of the scene: “I’ll leave your stuff here, taking it upstairs costs extra,” the driver said.

“How much? Please help me take it upstairs,” Lin Wanxing replied.

“Which floor is it, there’s no elevator, right? The upstairs fee is 70 yuan per floor, just to be clear.”

Lin Wanxing was about to agree, but Qin Ao looked at the driver with a “Do you have a problem?” expression: “We don’t need you, we’ll carry it ourselves.”

The van driver wanted to say something more but was directly driven away by Qin Ao.

Qin Ao called Yu Ming to help move the things. His hand rested on the cardboard box as he educated her: “This guy was ripping you off. For this little bit of stuff, carrying it up one floor usually costs just 30. Did he charge you extra for the ride too?”

“It’s the platform’s standard fee, he didn’t overcharge me,” Lin Wanxing said weakly, not daring to speak up after being lectured by the student.

Qin Ao seemed satisfied with this answer. He and Yu Ming squatted down, preparing to lift the box. The two strong boys inserted their hands under the box, their arms exerting force, veins popping out, but the box that was half as tall as a person didn’t budge.

“Damn, what’s in this thing?” Qin Ao exhaled, pulling his fingers out and jumping up to ask, “Why is it so heavy?”

“Uh… it is very heavy, that’s why I thought 70 wasn’t expensive,” Lin Wanxing said helplessly.

The students clamored among themselves, wanting to try how heavy the box was. At this time, Wang Fa walked over, replacing Fu Xinshu’s position, and with his eyes signaled Qin Ao, Yu Ming, and Chen Jianghe to lift the other three corners of the box.

Wang Fa squatted down, his arms exerting force, revealing strong muscle lines. He didn’t even need a count of one, two, three; the four of them exerted force together and lifted the box.

Lin Wanxing hurriedly pulled the anti-theft door of the stairwell to its maximum opening. The sensor light in the stairwell lit up again, illuminating the slender, decayed iron railings and the long, old staircase.

Wang Fa, carrying the box, stood on the last step, bearing most of the weight of the cardboard box for the students.

“What cigarettes do you want?” Lin Wanxing asked, tilting her head back slightly.

“Green Landscape,” Wang Fa replied.