In short, if this “I” had been spoken by anyone else, Lin Wanxing would think that person was arrogant.

But Wang Fa was different.

Wang Fa’s answers were always straightforward summaries of the matter at hand.

Lin Wanxing looked at the person across the dining table and softly repeated his answer: “You.”

Coming all this way, she understood Wang Fa’s importance better than anyone.

Without Wang Fa, they would probably still be that team crushed by the An Ning experiment.

However, having Wang Fa himself explain these issues so clearly was still somewhat difficult to accept.

Lin Wanxing thought for a moment, then asked: “‘You’ are the key variable. How can you be so certain we won’t win next time? Is it because… something is wrong with ‘you’?”

Wang Fa showed no displeasure at being questioned. He gently picked up his glass and clinked it against hers.

The glasses made a light “ding” sound as they touched.

Wang Fa said: “Although football is a game of luck, strength is what fundamentally determines victory or defeat. Between a high school team and a professional academy team, there’s a clear gap in ability.”

Lin Wanxing stared at the two glasses of sparkling water on the wooden table.

Wang Fa’s glass was almost empty after the large sip he had taken, with only mint and lemon slices layered at the bottom.

Her glass remained full, with carbonated water bubbling and green mint leaves swaying inside.

Lin Wanxing looked up and asked him: “Then what about ‘you’?”

Wang Fa gripped the soda can on the table and refilled his glass: “Me, or rather the training and tactics I provide. At best, these things might temporarily fill the glass, but after a few sips, it’s empty again.”

Wang Fa’s sleeve was rolled up halfway, revealing a half-section of his fair, strong arm.

Lin Wanxing suddenly raised her head: “But we won before, didn’t we? Your tactics were very effective.”

“The previous tactics were based on the premise that the opponent would underestimate us. Because we were so unskilled, our opponents easily became complacent, giving us opportunities to counterattack. But now, will the players and coaches of Shencheng Hai Bo, looking at our record, still underestimate us the same way?”

The logic Wang Fa explained was quite simple.

Previously, opponents would underestimate them, but now the situation has changed. They had already won one match in the group stage, and no one would underestimate them anymore.

By becoming a team with fighting capability, they had paradoxically lost their fighting capability.

That was more or less the logic.

But Lin Wanxing couldn’t find words to respond.

Wang Fa took back his water glass, his fingers stroking the cold surface.

Lin Wanxing said: “But I still feel that the students have been training diligently, and you can bridge many of the gaps between us and the professional teams. Surely we still have some fighting chance? If strength truly determines everything and the match outcome is predetermined, then all those passionate sports stories wouldn’t make sense.”

“What do you think passionate sports stories are about?” Wang Fa looked up and asked her, “The weak defeating the strong, pursuing limits, turning the impossible into possible?”

Lin Wanxing nodded firmly: “Something like that.”

“But I think that training rigorously day after day for decades, using refined and superior technique, focusing meticulously, and completing matches with absolute precision—this is what true passion is.”

Wang Fa sat at the simplest wooden table on the rooftop, the dim light outlining his silhouette.

Lin Wanxing looked at him.

Sometimes she felt that Wang Fa’s personal experiences had stripped away his aspirations and dreams.

Yet sometimes she also felt that Wang Fa’s continued presence beside them embodied the greatest persistence and passion.

Lin Wanxing remained speechless for a long time.

Finally, she decisively downed her sparkling water in one gulp, slumped over the table, and bluntly surrendered: “So, what should we do? Just wait to lose?!”

“Why does that matter?” Wang Fa was surprised. “Doesn’t Teacher Lin always believe that the win-loss result isn’t so important?”

“Are you mocking me? Don’t be like Qi Liang!” Lin Wanxing drew wet finger patterns on the table, earnestly emphasizing, “I never thought that winning or losing wasn’t important, but rather that football itself is more important than the match result.”

“That’s good. You can observe a different kind of match now, and see what football itself looks like,” said Wang Fa.

In late October, Hongjing No. 8 Middle School hosted Shencheng Hai Bo at their home ground.

The weather had turned cooler, but after the noon field was baked by the scorching sun, it still emanated watery vapor.

The players from Shencheng Hai Bo and Hongjing No. 8 Middle School lined up on the field.

Both teams consisted of seventeen and eighteen-year-old youths of similar height. Perhaps due to consecutive victories boosting their confidence, Hongjing No. 8 Middle School students appeared spirited, while the Shencheng Hai Bo players seemed much more composed.

However, as Wang Fa had said, years of rigorous training were what best-reflected capability.

Lin Wanxing sat in the rest area, observing the opposing players.

If described in exaggerated novel terms, the Shencheng Hai Bo young players were like graceful young beasts on the grassland.

They had grown up on this land from childhood, their muscle lines gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight, running with ease and comfort. It seemed as if at any moment, they might suddenly leap up and pounce on their prey.

Just as Wang Fa had said.

The young Shencheng Hai Bo players were psychologically much better prepared than Yuzhou Silver Elephant.

Unlike Yuzhou Silver Elephant, from the beginning of the match, the Shencheng Hai Bo players’ attacks showed no signs of impatience.

They constantly initiated attacks from midfield, then distributed to the wings. They wouldn’t force breakthroughs to the goal line area; when encountering obstacles, they quickly passed the ball back to midfield and restarted their attack with possession.

Even Lin Wanxing could see that the young Shencheng Hai Bo players were playing with patience.

They maintained possession, constantly recycling the ball, never crossing carelessly without a good opportunity as if they were wary of Hongjing No. 8’s pressing.

In football or most competitive sports, when one side shows weakness, the other naturally becomes more aggressive.

The Hongjing No. 8 players, having experienced consecutive victories, were full of confidence.

As if unable to tolerate this slow, old-fashioned match rhythm, the Hongjing No. 8 players, led by Lin Lu, began actively pressing in the attacking third.

But the Shencheng Hai Bo players remained cautious.

While attacking, they didn’t push forward excessively but maintained sufficient defensive personnel in their half. This meant that even when Hongjing No. 8 managed to win the ball, they found it difficult to mount an effective counterattack.

In the 17th minute, Lin Lu got the ball but noticed two opposing players closely marking Fu Xinshu.

So he had to make a long pass to his team’s two forwards, but such long passes required extremely high ball control skills and could easily be intercepted.

Qin Ao felt the same way. When he occasionally got the ball and looked around, he found problems everywhere.

Whether it was Fu Xinshu Chen Jianghe, or even Lin Lu pressing forward on the wing, there always seemed to be Shencheng Hai Bo players blocking the passing lanes between him and everyone else.

Shencheng Hai Bo had studied their game patterns thoroughly.

The Shencheng Hai Bo coach had accurately identified the key figures in No. 8’s counterattacks.

Although Qin Ao wasn’t the initiator of counterattacks, he was an important pivot in the transition between defense and offense. Whether Lin Lu or Fu Xinshu initiated a counterattack, they would pass the ball to him.

Qin Ao’s subsequent passes would go to Chen Jianghe or the wings, or even combine with Chen Jianghe’s forward runs.

It was through Qin Ao’s quick movement and distribution that these four players’ counterattacks could function as a cohesive unit.

This was their proud “Tactic One.”

But now, whenever Lin Lu or Fu Xinshu planned to pass to Qin Ao, there would always be an opposing player near him.

Just this slight delay meant that the other Shencheng Hai Bo players who had been attacking had already quickly retreated to defensive positions.

With all passing lanes cut off, Hongjing No. 8’s once-proud rapid counterattacks could no longer be executed.

Previously, the Hongjing No. 8 players had adapted well to being under pressure. After all, in every match, their goal was bombarded by the opposition.

But the sudden change in the opponent’s approach—neither pressing nor attacking aggressively—made the students very uncomfortable.

Defeating Yuzhou Silver Elephant filled the Hongjing No. 8 players with confidence. They believed the gap between them and professional academy teams wasn’t so large, so they had many different ideas on the field.

They were no longer constantly vigilant about defending but instead tried to find more opportunities to win the ball and counterattack while defending.

37 minutes in.

Shencheng Hai Bo launched a new attack.

The player wearing number 11 on the wing delivered a cross toward No. 8’s penalty area.

Lin Lu watched the ball and began moving toward its landing point.

Usually, when defending, Chen Weidong would cover the opposing attacking player while Lin Lu watched the ball.

But this time, Chen Weidong, like Lin Lu, was looking up at the ball while also glancing toward their half, searching for counterattack opportunities after winning possession.

The next moment, Chen Weidong collided heavily with a Shencheng Hai Bo defender with a loud “bang.”

Chen Weidong felt a sharp pain in his head and fell hard to the ground.

Taking advantage of this unguarded gap, the Shencheng Hai Bo forward instantly received the cross in the penalty area!

Zheng Feiyang rushed forward to defend, but with such a large space in the penalty area, a one-on-one between forward and defender was an uphill battle.

The Shencheng Hai Bo forward easily dribbled past the advancing Zheng Feiyang and decisively shot.

The ball was too close to the goal, and the shot was too powerful.

Despite goalkeeper Feng Suo having made several brilliant saves earlier, he could only helplessly dive in the face of this close-range shot.

The ball brushed past Feng Suo’s fingertips, flew into the net, and was finally stopped by the netting.

The ball was in.

“Foul! Wasn’t that a foul?” Qin Ao ran to where Chen Weidong had fallen, jumping up and down, and shouting at the referee.

The referee put the whistle to his mouth, blowing to signal the goal while extending one arm toward the center, indicating the goal was valid.

Qin Ao shouted a few more times, but the referee completely ignored him.

On the grass, Chen Weidong moved slightly. Qin Ao quickly crouched down: “Are you okay?”

Chen Weidong clutched his head, not speaking.

Lin Wanxing ran to the sideline with concern, only able to watch from a distance.

“What’s wrong, Chen Weidong?”

“Does it hurt? Where does it hurt?” Fu Xinshu also ran over.

But Chen Weidong remained unresponsive for a long time.

Just as the referee was walking over, Chen Weidong suddenly rolled onto his back. With his arm covering his eyes, he spoke in a long, weak voice: “I’m fine.”

“Damn, you scared me to death. Don’t play dead,” Qin Ao immediately sighed with relief.

“Can you stand up? Do you feel nauseous or like vomiting?” Fu Xinshu extended his hand.

Chen Weidong held his hand and sat on the ground for a while before weakly and slowly standing up.

Qin Ao was clearly annoyed by this dawdling attitude, but considering his teammate had just been injured in a collision, he only said: “Hurry up, no one’s blaming you for the defensive mistake. Let’s be positive and try to get back the goal we conceded!”

But the cruel reality quickly showed Qin Ao that in the face of a true skill gap, a positive attitude could only make defeat slightly more bearable.

After going down 1-0, pressure instantly fell on Hongjing No. 8.

As the match progressed, the Hongjing No. 8 players’ emotions shifted from anxiety to frustration.

Their ball control and defensive organization became increasingly fragmented.

After scoring, Shencheng Hai Bo abandoned their previous caution, and their attacks became relaxed and flowing.

They used possession to constantly recycle the ball and stretch the defense, depleting the Hongjing No. 8 players’ energy.

The Hongjing No. 8 players, eager for quick results, began abandoning penalty area defense in favor of intensifying midfield pressing.

But when they instinctively pushed up to attack, their own penalty area became like a harvested wheat field—completely empty.

Shencheng Hai Bo’s long passes toward the space behind them met almost no resistance before resulting in goals.

When conceding the second goal, the Hongjing No. 8 players still had the will to actively compete, but after conceding the third, they gradually felt powerless and hopeless.

The first half ended with the score at 3-0.

As the second half began, the Hongjing No. 8 players appeared physically exhausted from their early pressing and psychological pressure.

In the 3rd and 15th minutes of the second half, Shencheng Hai Bo used a set piece and a forceful breakthrough to fix the score at 5-0.

At the same time, Shencheng Hai Bo announced substitutions, bringing on three players from the bench in succession.

This was perhaps the best declaration of the match’s outcome.

The result was decided; time to give more players a chance to practice.

At the Hongjing Mingzhu Club’s stadium locker room, the air was stifling.

Twenty minutes had passed since the match ended.

After the game against Shencheng Hai Bo finished, the Hongjing No. 8 students didn’t linger on the field.

They quickly and glumly returned to their locker room, covering their heads with towels, as if this would immerse them in their own world without having to see anyone.

The air was filled with the stagnant smell of sweat after intense exercise. The space was dim and silent, with only the students’ heavy, labored breathing continuously echoing.

Lin Wanxing wanted the students to quickly dry off and change clothes, worried they might catch cold.

But after calling many times, no one responded.

Finally, she could only look to Wang Fa for help.

“Dry off your sweat, change your clothes, and let’s go back.”

Wang Fa’s voice rang out, calm and forceful.

The locker room finally showed some extra movement.

Boys are more responsive to direct commands. Led by Fu Xinshu, everyone began mechanically drying their heads, but their movements were sluggish, as if completely drained of energy. It reminded Lin Wanxing of dehydrated cabbage left in the refrigerator for a week—completely wilted.

Qin Ao lay on the bench with a towel covering his head, mechanically moving it up and down.

Wang Fa sat at the other end of the bench: “If we leave early, we can still do a post-match analysis today. Any later, and we’ll have to do it tomorrow,” he said.

Lin Wanxing also seized the opportunity to speak: “Actually, according to psychology, I can’t tell you ‘don’t be sad’ because the ‘don’t’ itself emphasizes and suggests ‘sadness,’ BUT!”

“Teacher, can you please be quiet for a bit?” Qin Ao immediately shouted, sitting upright and expressing his indignation by furiously drying his hair.

“Yes, exactly, Teacher is too noisy,” said Lin Lu.

“Women who nag too much age faster,” Chen Jianghe commented.

Lin Wanxing hadn’t expected that her rambling would be more effective than Wang Fa’s words.

After giving the students a chance to complain, they were no longer the same stagnant, eternally gloomy group they had been moments before.

By the time everyone had changed clothes and walked to the bus, they were already chattering and arguing.

One moment saying this pass shouldn’t have been made that way, the next moment saying that defensive play was problematic.

This was perhaps the significance of what Wang Fa called post-match analysis.

After defeat, the students quickly refocused their attention on the match itself.

Although listening to them the whole way, Lin Wanxing felt it was essentially just passing blame around.

But regardless, they had at least recovered some of their usual excess energy.

As usual, the bus stopped at the school gate.

The students had played a match for most of the day and argued all the way back, showing fatigue in the latter part of the journey. Half were awake, while the other half were sound asleep.

The awake students headed directly to 17 Wutong Road, while Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa woke up the sleeping students one by one.

She asked if they wanted to go home first or together to 17 Wutong Road. The answers were unanimous.

“Of course we’ll go straight to the analysis!”

When Lin Wanxing got off the bus, she found that Chen Weidong hadn’t left yet but was waiting for her under a tree by the roadside.

Lin Lu and Zheng Feiyang got off the bus with exhausted faces. The two boys rubbed their eyes drowsily, instinctively moving to join them.

Wang Fa, however, patted the two boys on the back, indicating they should go ahead with him.

The autumn phoenix trees were withering, with a few fallen leaves on the road.

Chen Weidong looked tired. Lin Wanxing asked first: “Is your head still uncomfortable?”

Chen Weidong looked at her, hesitating to speak.

“Let me accompany you to the hospital,” Lin Wanxing pulled her student’s arm, taking out her phone to call a taxi.

“No need, Teacher, I’m really fine,” Chen Weidong hurriedly stopped her, even jumping twice to demonstrate.

“You should still get checked,” Lin Wanxing insisted.

“Really, there’s no need, Teacher! I just want to go home and rest!” Chen Weidong suddenly raised his voice, clearly genuinely anxious. After a moment, he added, “I’m mainly too tired today and don’t want to join the analysis session.”

The boy’s lips were somewhat chapped, and he was quite dirty.

Lin Wanxing couldn’t bring herself to insist further: “Then go home and rest well. If you feel unwell, tell your parents immediately, then call me.”

She instructed him again.

“I understand, Teacher.”

Chen Weidong waved goodbye and turned to leave.

The dinner after the match with Shencheng Hai Bo was the most casual meal the students had had in recent days.

They once again brought out their long-stored instant noodles, took a few bites, then hurried to watch the match recording Wang Fa had made for them.

All the windows in the Yuanyuan Tutoring Center classroom were open.

The evening breeze passed through, cool and refreshing, dispersing the lingering smell of the boys’ sweat and the beef-flavored instant noodles in the air.

The projector played the full match recording, with everyone looking up, quietly watching.

Before the key goal concession, the students held their breath in anticipation.

Chen Weidong falling, the ball being kicked into the goal frame—even Lin Wanxing found that moment unbearable to watch.

This was followed by another long period of silence.

Although there were still ambient sounds from the projector, the students only saw their own bewildered expressions on the field.

Wang Fa pressed the pause button.

“Damn,” Qin Ao cursed, exhaling heavily.

The video rewound, and Wang Fa slowed the speed to let them observe what happened before that conceded goal.

Qin Ao had only noticed Chen Weidong falling and the subsequent goal. He looked around the classroom: “Where the hell is Chen Weidong anyway?”

“I let him go home to rest,” said Lin Wanxing.

“He’s not sulking just because I said a few words to him, right? I didn’t say much to him on the bus either,” Qin Ao said irritably.

“You didn’t say much to him, huh~” Qi Liang’s leisurely voice came from the corner.

“You’d better not talk. You think you defended well? Your share of blame for this goal isn’t small,” Qin Ao immediately retorted.

Just as the boys were about to argue again, Wang Fa’s voice timely intervened: “Let’s look at the next segment.”

The match recording continued.

Wang Fa seemed thoroughly familiar with the entire match. He quickly fast-forwarded the recording to a part where the students’ rapid counterattack was disrupted.

Then he played this segment again.

The classroom was very quiet.

The students’ attention returned to the match.

The segment Wang Fa played was very representative.

Even from Lin Wanxing’s outsider perspective, it was apparent that Shencheng Hai Bo seemed to already know their passing routes, always positioned in the most appropriate spots.

Then another goal.

And another example. Failed attack.

Similar content repeated multiple times, and the students also realized the problem.

Wang Fa paused the display and drew similar tactical diagrams on the blackboard.

“They knew how we were going to pass, right? Is there a mole? Did someone leak our tactics?” Yu Ming shouted.

“What the hell are you talking about with leaks? They’re a professional football club. With our few routines, wouldn’t they figure them out after watching a couple of times?” Qin Ao scolded.

“I was just trying to lighten the mood,” Zheng Feiyang said, hurt. “With your temper, no wonder Chen Weidong couldn’t take it.”

“Damn,” Qin Ao snapped. “What did I do?”

“Too impatient,” said Qi Liang.

Qin Ao was the type to be easily provoked. Just as he was about to rush over to discipline Qi Liang.

Wang Fa spoke up: “Shencheng Hai Bo was very well-prepared. They clearly understood our general tactical approach and made detailed tactical arrangements before the match. Look at it from another angle—they truly respected us.”

“Really?” The students’ eyes suddenly lit up.

“A professional team respected us that much?”

“Did they also watch the recording of our match against Yuzhou Silver Elephant?!”

“They definitely did,” said Wang Fa.

“That’s quite some ‘respect,'” Yu Ming exclaimed.

“How flattering,” Zheng Feiyang continued to lighten the mood.

After some clamoring, the students involuntarily fell silent again.

The tactical diagram Wang Fa drew on the blackboard was very clear. This was what they had been practicing all along, but similarly, for professional teams, these were relatively elementary and simple tactics.

The students were confused about their routines being decoded, unable to make sense of it.

“So what do we do?”

“Shencheng Hai Bo knows about it, surely Yongchuan Hengda will know too? It seems like this approach won’t work going forward.”

“Damn, don’t mention Yongchuan Hengda. Just hearing that name makes my hair stand on end!”

“Look at you, such a coward.”

The students chattered back and forth.

Wang Fa quietly listened for a while, then asked: “So, what do you think are our team’s current problems, and how should we improve?”

“I don’t know,” said Yu Ming.

“Do we need to practice two more counterattack systems?” Qin Ao questioned.

“We’re easily led by the nose by the opponents,” said Chen Jianghe.

“That seems right. At the beginning, we planned to defend slowly and counterattack, but the opponents are old hands. They recycled possession with us, and we got impatient,” Zheng Feiyang agreed.

“It feels like our stamina still isn’t enough. When we get anxious, we run aimlessly, and running aimlessly makes us tired.”

Without realizing it, the boys moved away from blaming each other and began seriously discussing the problems in their match, with Fu Xinshu making a thorough summary.

They watched the lost match many times.

Under Comrade Wang Fa’s guidance, they summarized the problems that occurred during the match and the improvements they wanted to make.

Wang Fa then explained the key points for future training.

By the time they actually dispersed, it was already past 10 PM.

Wang Fa went to shower, and Lin Wanxing sat alone at the small table on the rooftop.

Her laptop was in front of her, with a light bulb extending from the iron railing swaying back and forth.

The students had all left. The rooftop was quiet and peaceful, with a crescent moon overhead.

Lin Wanxing logged into WeChat on her computer and transferred some of today’s photos from her phone to the computer.

Experiencing failure with her students was also a new experience for her.

She browsed through the match photos she had taken today.

Before the match, everyone was spirited on the bus.

During the lineup, the boys were full of energy.

Lin Wanxing had even captured a photo of Qi Liang jumping high to head the ball away.

But after the match was lost, she didn’t take any more pictures.

After organizing the photos, she opened her browser and logged into her email.

The email was the one left on the blackboard by the “mysterious person.”

Since it was registered in her name, she had treated it as her own.

All along, she hadn’t known who was quietly helping the students, nor had she ever left a message in the email asking, “Who are you?”

Of course, she really wanted to ask. But multiple times when opening the email, she felt that maintaining this mysterious tacit understanding wasn’t bad either.

So in the end, she deleted the inquiry email she had written and used it as a memo to store the students’ daily activities.

Sometimes she would record training routines, occasionally upload garden photos, and similarly, she would faithfully record what happened during their matches.

She thought that perhaps one day, that mysterious person would suddenly log into the email and see these records in the drafts folder.

And treat it as a kind of one-sided tacit understanding.

October 24, 201X, Sunday, Weather: Sunny

Today in the match, we lost 0-5 to Shencheng Hai Bo.

Before the match, our coach had already prepared me, saying we might lose this time.

Oh no, what he meant was, we couldn’t win.

But I kept thinking that since we had already beaten Yuzhou Silver Elephant, no matter what, we should still have some fighting chance.

But actually, we didn’t.

Although I had been informed of the result in advance,

When defeat actually came, I still felt terrible.

Now when I close my eyes, I can still see Chen Weidong falling on the grass and the ball being scored into our goal.

So the gap between us and professional teams is that big.

Those goals, one after another, and the expressions of the opposing players on the field, constantly emphasized this point to me.

The coach said it was because there’s an absolute gap between us and professional players.

But does that mean we can never defeat a stronger opponent?

Actually, in my worldview, winning or losing in football isn’t so important; what’s important is football itself.

Whether you’re happy in this process, whether you’ve gained something, whether you’ve found meaning.

But once you fail, what happiness, gain, or meaning is there in these so-called processes? It only brings pain.

Before the match, our coach told me to watch what football itself looks like, to see what it really is.

Anyway, he hasn’t figured out this question himself, so it’s okay if I can’t figure it out for now, right?

But so far, I think what makes competitive sports fascinating is still this:

The weak defeating the strong, turning the impossible into possible.

You carry many questions you can’t figure out, pursue victories that seem unattainable, yet still run on this grass field, keep running.

Lin Wanxing finished writing the email.

The night deepened, and the starry sky was quiet.

She slowly pasted today’s match photos and Wang Fa’s analysis diagrams from the blackboard into the email, then clicked save draft.

Wang Fa finished showering and opened the door to come out.

Just then, her phone rang.

Lin Wanxing answered the call.

“Teacher Lin, hello.”

In the dark night, Student Chen Weidong’s hoarse voice appeared on the other end of the phone.