Walking south from the youth hostel for a short distance, there was a small commercial center with businesses like KFC and McDonald’s.

Wang Fa chose a KFC and pushed open the door.

Lin Wanxing found it strange, “Is the food at the youth hostel not good?”

Wang Fa replied, “Tired. Would Teacher Lin like some coffee?”

Lin Wanxing said, “I thought Coach only drank freshly ground pour-over coffee.”

As she said this, Lin Wanxing stopped in her tracks.

Her pupils dilated slightly, and she involuntarily grabbed Wang Fa’s arm with an obvious subconscious gesture of wanting to pull him away from this place.

Wang Fa followed the young woman’s gaze to look at the nearby counter. There was a group of people who looked like teachers and students, crowded together standing at the KFC counter, discussing their orders.

The students were calling out “Professor Fu is treating,” and they appeared to have a very harmonious teacher-student relationship.

Standing at the front responsible for paying was presumably that professor, somewhat older but not much older than the three students behind him.

“What would you like to order?” asked the employee behind the counter.

Wang Fa lowered his gaze.

Lin Wanxing had already released her light grip on the edge of his clothes. Her eyelashes were lowered, her long hair falling loose, clearly not wanting to be seen. Wang Fa had already noticed that while passing through Yongchuan University Town, she similarly didn’t want to appear in anyone’s line of sight.

This place made her uncomfortable; she didn’t want to be discovered and instinctively wanted to avoid it.

But because she was Lin Wanxing, she could control it very well.

Wang Fa said, “Suddenly feel like having McDonald’s.”

“It’s fine,” Lin Wanxing only replied with that, then she looked up and confidently said to the server behind the counter, “Two iced Americanos.”

“Are you dining in or taking away?”

“To go.”

The group in the line next to them was chattering noisily, paying no attention to them.

The coffee liquid flowed from the machine into cups. The server pressed plastic lids on top and handed the coffees to them.

From beginning to end, Lin Wanxing focused intently on the server’s actions.

But Wang Fa could feel that she was very nervous.

Therefore, when they received the cold coffee, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” Lin Wanxing smiled at the server, took the coffees, and handed one to Wang Fa.

They turned to leave the line, and the customers behind them moved forward.

Just then, the group in the line next to them also finished ordering. Someone carrying a paper bag of food circled them, then casually glanced and exclaimed in a surprised and uncertain voice, “Lin… Lin Wanxing?”

Lin Wanxing’s body stiffened.

Perhaps because the Americano had too many ice cubes, her fingertips holding the plastic cup turned white, though her expression remained forcibly calm.

Wang Fa looked up.

“Professor Fu,” Lin Wanxing’s tone was normal as she nodded in greeting.

The Professor Fu in front of them, having received Lin Wanxing’s response, also clearly became nervous, “Why are you here?”

Lin Wanxing replied, “I went back to work in my hometown. I’m here with students for a competition.”

“Hometown?”

“Hongjing.”

“Oh, I see.” Professor Fu appeared gentle, kind, and not good with words. He held the paper bag with one hand and rubbed the seam of his pants with the other, as if suddenly thinking of something, he asked, “What competition?”

“The Youth Super League, a football match.”

“Oh, a football match? Nearby? Are you Yongchuan Hengda’s opponent this time?”

Hearing this, a female student next to Professor Fu jumped out to ask.

“I’m coaching high school students. We’re playing against their youth team,” Lin Wanxing glanced at the young professor and asked, “What about you?”

“That’s quite a coincidence. We happen to have a project on identifying violent behavior in football stadiums. We just completed a questionnaire survey at the Yongchuan Hengda base today,” the professor said, “We’ll be going to other teams in a few days.”

Lin Wanxing nodded, as if her question was merely polite conversation and these things had nothing to do with her.

The professor also felt awkward and continued wiping his hands.

At this moment, the female student behind the professor looked at a WeChat message and said, “Professor Fu, Senior Xiang is asking what flavor of coffee we want?”

In the plastic cup, ice cubes clinked against each other.

Lin Wanxing still kept her head slightly lowered, her fingers trembling lightly.

Similarly, the professor who had just greeted Lin Wanxing suddenly looked toward the door. As if suddenly remembering something, he said to Lin Wanxing, “Well, I won’t keep you. You should go now.”

Lin Wanxing didn’t speak again. She gave a slight bow, holding her iced coffee, and left with Wang Fa.

The KFC door closed, its bell jingling.

After watching the young couple leave, the students gathered around Fu Hao finally couldn’t contain their gossip.

“Professor, was that your ex-girlfriend?”

Fu Hao’s expression immediately changed, “Don’t talk nonsense!”

“No? That girl was really beautiful.”

The soft brown cardigan, simple plaid skirt—the male student recalled the fair neck and delicate, pale fingers of the girl from earlier, smacked his lips, unable to help savoring the memory.

“She’s just a former student I taught.”

The doorbell jingled again.

A young man carrying a bag of coffee walked in, “What’s up?” he asked.

“Senior Xiang, Zhou Yuan just saw a pretty girl who seems to be our former senior. Now he’s all lovesick,” a student said.

“What former senior?” Xiang Zi distributed the coffees one by one, “If she hasn’t gone far, why not ask for her WeChat?”

“I think her name was… Lin Wanxing? Sounds a bit familiar,” the female student said.

The long embankment stretched on as if walking far enough could lead to where water meets the sky.

The iced coffee in her hand had been replaced with a paper cup of oden.

After leaving KFC, because the coffee was too cold and her hands were shaking too much, Wang Fa bought her a warm snack.

Lin Wanxing knew her reaction wasn’t calm enough, and she knew Wang Fa had noticed her abnormal behavior.

But even so, Wang Fa only took the iced coffee from her hands, led her to stand at a small stall, and asked if she wanted “seaweed knots” or “radish.”

When humans are caught in unpleasant memories, they indeed need such help. Giving up fighting with oneself, staying calm, focusing attention on other things—even trivial matters would do.

So Lin Wanxing held the oden and began reading the introduction of the shop on the paper cup. By the time she became aware again, she was sitting with Wang Fa on a bench, not knowing how long they had been there.

The lake breeze was cold, the vast water surface reflecting blinding sunlight.

And Lin Wanxing was leaning on Wang Fa’s shoulder.

She could feel his solid muscles and the warmth of an adult male.

One cup of iced coffee was already empty.

Wang Fa turned his head to look at her. Under the shade of trees, his eyelashes were long, giving his gaze a gentle color.

Lin Wanxing lowered her head.

She controlled her hand, taking out a fish ball skewer from the Oden cup. Then gently, she took a bite. The fish ball was tender, and the hot liquid entered her mouth with a wonderful taste.

“Is it good?”

An insignificant question.

“Not bad,” Lin Wanxing paused, then raised the fish ball to Wang Fa’s lips.

Wang Fa turned his head to glance at the fish ball but made no move, just looking deeply at her.

“What’s wrong? We’ve shared so much food before, are you disgusted by me now?”

The originally light-colored gaze deepened a bit.

Wang Fa held her hand, naturally paused for a moment, then bit one from her hand, saying, “The taste is indeed not bad.”

Lin Wanxing withdrew her hand.

She could feel that Wang Fa held her hand only to check if she had recovered somewhat, his gentlemanly concern just right.

“That person just now was my former ‘Criminal Psychology’ professor from the university,” Lin Wanxing picked out a large piece of radish and took a bite.

“He’s already a professor? He looks very young.”

“Associate Professor. Of course, his surname is also Fu, so it’s a pun. College students are just that boring,” Lin Wanxing said, “Even if you go to graduate school, it’s just serving your advisor on projects every day, though Professor Fu should be a decent advisor.”

“If you were still studying in Yongchuan, would you be with them serving as an advisor?” Wang Fa asked.

“No, we aren’t in the same research direction. I’m not interested in what they do.”

“I remember you studied educational psychology?”

“Yes.”

“You were interested in that.”

“I guess I was, before.”

“And now?”

“Now? I don’t know.”

Evening by East Ming Lake, mist spread over the water, neither stars nor moon visible.

The closer to the match, the more uneasy and restless the atmosphere became.

Tomorrow’s match will start very early.

Therefore, at 9 PM in the youth hostel, the lights in the temporary dormitory belonging to Hongjing No. 8 Middle School students went out early.

This was the cheapest dormitory, with 6 bunk beds that could sleep 12 people.

Even breathing sounds rose in the dormitory, as if everyone had fallen into deep sleep.

But in reality, that wasn’t the case.

That afternoon, after Wang Fa and Lin Wanxing returned from their walk,

The students followed their coach and teacher to the Yongchuan Hengda Football Training Base.

How to describe that feeling?

They had been to Yongchuan Pearl Club to play football before, but these were completely different bases.

When they arrived at the entrance of the Yongchuan Hengda base, staff members came to pick them up in sightseeing carts.

The staff received them formally and gave them a tour of the base.

First was the promotional display room, where they saw the trophies won by the Yongchuan Hengda team and an overview of the entire base’s architecture.

Only then did the students learn that there were three standard 11-a-side football fields, as well as cage-style football fields specifically for training and sloped running tracks.

The staff then took them to the high-standard gym and swimming pool. Everyone saw cold therapy rooms they had never seen before, as well as temperature-controlled swimming pools and massage relaxation pools that were much more professional than their Wuchuan Road Stadium, drooling with envy.

Finally, before taking them to tomorrow’s match venue, the staff directed them to the cafeteria. The implication was that breakfast and post-match lunch were prepared for them tomorrow, both buffet style—they could enter by giving their names.

Vast stretches of green space, high-end dormitory buildings like five-star hotels, and in the distance, the sparkling waters of East Ming Lake.

The fog had dispersed completely. When the students closed their eyes, they could imagine that sunny, beautiful venue covered in sunlight.

Chen Jianghe opened his eyes in the darkness, looking at the pitch-black bedboard in front of him. He suddenly felt an urge to speak.

The person on the upper bunk turned over.

Words caught in his throat, but Chen Jianghe couldn’t make a sound.

What was there to say?

The base that had only appeared in dreams suddenly took concrete form.

He recalled the day he met Lin Wanxing.

The things that agent said, the scenes he described, those beautiful paths—he wasn’t immune to their attraction.

But “Yongchuan Hengda Base” and “trial training” were words too beautiful, so fake that he didn’t believe he could get such an opportunity.

Yet today he had walked in, without any sense of reality.

“Are you all asleep?” a voice sounded from the upper bunk.

In the haziness, Chen Jianghe thought it was his voice.

In an instant, many pairs of eyes in the room opened.

But the entire temporary dormitory remained silent.

After who knows how long, Qi Liang’s voice rose, “Are you stupid? If we’re asleep, how could we answer your question?”

With a tumble, Qin Ao sat up directly and climbed down from the bed.

He stood on the ground, hands on his hips, looking at the person on the upper bunk opposite.

Qi Liang also sat up.

They stared at each other for a while, both unable to speak.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, just can’t sleep.”

“What use is telling me if you can’t sleep? Want me to sing you a lullaby?”

“You can’t sleep either, right?”

It was almost a strange tacit understanding formed from years of training.

In the dormitory, one boy after another got up, put on their sports shoes and jackets. No one quite knew who suggested it, or perhaps no one suggested it at all, but they walked out of the room…

Lin Wanxing draped a woolen scarf as an outer garment, curled up on the sofa by the lake-facing floor-to-ceiling window.

A group of students emerged from their room with strange expressions.

She hesitated for a moment, about to speak, but the students pushed open the door silently and ran into the night.

Lin Wanxing looked across.

There, Wang Fa was holding the fantasy novel from the afternoon, nearly finished reading it.

The pitter-patter of footsteps gradually faded away…

Lin Wanxing inquired with her eyes.

Wang Fa said, “They probably couldn’t sleep and went for a night run.”

20 minutes later.

Almost every half minute, she would look out the window once.

Finally, the figures of the high school students reappeared outside the door.

The youth hostel door was pushed open with force, the night wind rushed in, and the students returned covered in sweat.

But none of them spoke. After coming in, they habitually gathered around the long table, began pouring water from the teapot, and drank it all down in one go.

After some hesitation, Lin Wanxing tentatively asked, “Is someone snoring too loudly? Do you need to change rooms?”

“It’s just…” Qin Ao leaned back in his chair.

“Annoying,” Chen Jianghe sat upright, looking at the dark lake surface.

A thin mist floated on the water, too quiet, almost allowing one to hear the sound of lake water hitting the stone shore.

Lin Wanxing put the laptop from her knee back on the coffee table.

Wearing slippers, she also sat down at the table.

The students continued to sit glumly, even stopping their actions of drinking water and wiping sweat.

“Go to sleep early. We still have a match tomorrow,” Lin Wanxing finally reminded them.

“We won’t win tomorrow, will we?” After enduring for a long time, someone finally spoke.

Various emotions accumulated, making even the air thick and heavy, difficult to dispel.

Wang Fa leaned against the window-side sofa, the novel in his hand already turned to the last page. The night outside made his features look handsome, his brows and eyes profound.

“Indeed, we won’t win,” he put down the book and answered.