It was a CD, something rarely seen these days.

It was enclosed in a manila envelope with the front addressed to:

Fuan Garden, Building 14, Student Wen Chengye (Recipient).

The envelope had neither postage stamps nor any shipping label, suggesting it was likely placed directly in Wen Chengye’s mailbox.

Two days had passed since the match against Yongchuan Hengda.

Losing to Yongchuan Hengda was expected, but the process was somewhat brutal. A 10-man lineup achieving a 0-2 score against Yongchuan Hengda was impressive enough, but a loss was still a loss.

The students couldn’t initially move past the defeat. The more desperate the situation, the more a match pushed to the extreme, and the clearer one’s inner desires became.

For a long time after the match, the students were immersed in the details of their mistakes. Thoughts like “I could have” and “Why didn’t I” filled their minds.

If not for the “Wen Chengye” matter, Lin Wanxing believed these recurring images would have tormented them for a long time.

Though they didn’t say it aloud, everyone was concerned about Wen Chengye.

For instance, immediately after the match, they wanted to know where “Wen Chengye” was and whether he would come to Yongchuan.

When they learned that Wen Chengye had been slapped by his father and taken back to Hongjiang, they even contemplated a “prison break.”

Hearing the words “prison break,” Lin Wanxing was truly speechless—what were they thinking?

So she sent Wen Chengye a WeChat message: “Your teammates say they can provide prison break services. Do you need this?”

Wen Chengye didn’t reply immediately.

A long time passed, so long that they had already packed their luggage at the youth hostel and were about to board the high-speed train back to Hongjiang.

“Dog Wen sent me an ‘idiot’,” Qin Ao, holding his phone, suddenly jumped up on the platform. “What does ‘idiot’ mean? Did his dad slap him silly?”

Hearing it was a message from Wen Chengye, the boys all gathered around Qin Ao, scrambling to see his phone.

Qi Liang checked his phone, found no message from Wen Chengye, and sneered: “He likes you, huh.”

Qin Ao immediately boasted: “Are you jealous? He only messaged me.”

As he spoke, he picked up his phone and sent a middle finger emoji back to Wen Chengye right in front of Qi Liang.

Anyway, these were some of the things that happened after that day’s match.

And now, two days later, Wen Chengye was walking up to the rooftop again with this envelope.

It was after dinner, and everyone was in their usual slacking-off mode.

The duty student was washing dishes, Lin Wanxing had grabbed a wooden sofa on the balcony to nap, when the rooftop door was pushed open.

A young man in school uniform and sweatpants, with a backpack and holding an envelope, appeared at the door.

He stood against the wind, his outer clothes fluttering, quietly gazing at the others on the rooftop in the night.

The other team members didn’t react at first.

After realizing it was Wen Chengye, they felt a bit embarrassed. The group and Wen Chengye looked at each other across the vegetable garden, creating quite a scene.

Finally, Lin Wanxing couldn’t take it anymore.

“Alright, alright, how long are you going to stare?” She beckoned Wen Chengye to come in.

Then, Wen Chengye handed her this envelope.

If the front of the envelope was “TO Wen Chengye,” then the back…

The back was printed with the contact information and address of Hongjiang City No. 9 Junior High School, showing it was a very official school envelope.

“What’s this? Someone sent it to you?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“Mm.”

“Who sent it?”

“Don’t know.”

“Hongjiang No. 9 Junior High, is this the junior high you all attended?”

The students nodded one after another.

This delivery method simply made Lin Wanxing think of some things the students had received before.

Like Chen Jianghe’s “Free 100 Times Ball Borrowing Card,” or the cigarette box Qin Ao received, or even the recent takeout order about Wen Chengye…

Although the forms differed, this mysterious and strange feeling made people think they came from the same person.

The other students nearby felt the same way.

“Who gave it to you?” Chen Jianghe asked.

“Don’t know, it was just in my mailbox,” Wen Chengye said.

“When did you receive it?”

“Last year, end of the semester…”

“…”

Hearing that the letter was from last year, the students were all speechless.

“So you received it early but didn’t bring it over?”

“Inside is just a CD for me. Why would I bring it over? Who would I give it to?” Wen Chengye countered.

This sounded reasonable too.

“Then why are you bringing it now?” Qin Ao asked.

“Because there was also a note inside,” Wen Chengye said impatiently.

Quick-handed Qin Ao turned the envelope upside down; it was empty. “There’s nothing here?”

“I threw it away already,” Wen Chengye said directly.

“You’re a dog!” The other students were shocked at how shameless and self-righteous he was.

“What did the note say?” Lin Wanxing suddenly became interested.

For Wen Chengye to throw it away directly, the contents probably weren’t pleasant.

Sure enough, Wen Chengye looked very displeased, with a hint of embarrassment.

A few words escaped from between Wen Chengye’s lips: “To my future star little players…”

Ugh!

This sentence did make everyone feel awkward for a moment.

But only for a moment.

Soon, the students began to guess who might say such a thing. A strange light gradually appeared in their eyes. Although it seemed incredible, there seemed to be only one answer.

“Is it from Coach?!” the students asked in unison.

The coach they referred to was, of course, not Wang Fa, but Coach Jiang, who had taught them to play football from when they were little kids who could barely walk with the ball, to being able to compete with professional youth teams.

“Coach sent it to you?”

“Why didn’t you bring it out before?”

“You’re too much of a dog!” the students said in unison.

Wen Chengye was very quiet.

He could also guess who the sender was, which was why he never threw away the CD and envelope.

The boys were chattering, becoming increasingly interested in the contents of the CD.

Finding a computer that could read CDs was challenging these days. Fortunately, at Yuanyuan Tutoring Center, there were old machines left by grandparents that could complete this task.

The students held their breath, almost carefully pressing the CD tray button. With a click, the tray opened.

The CD was placed in the tray, closed, followed by clicking reading sounds.

The old computer responded slowly; according to Lin Wanxing’s perception, the entire reading process took a long time.

In the “My Computer” folder, a CD-ROM file named “20xx Mayor’s Cup” appeared.

Double-clicking the CD partition, the folder refreshed, and a video document appeared on the monitor.

Another double-click.

The incandescent light hung silently high, distant stars bright.

Before the image appeared, there was music.

A male voice humming an English song, the voice slightly hoarse but light and melodious. The singing echoed throughout the classroom through the old speakers plugged into the computer.

The instrumental prelude intertwined, completely reminiscent of Hollywood film music from the last century.

Almost closing one’s eyes, one could envision a street at night. Heavy rain, the protagonist happily puts away an umbrella, dancing on the street glittering with rain.

I’m singing in the rain.

Just singing in the rain

…

Then, a not-high-definition image appeared on the old monitor. It was a dim locker room, the image quality rough, even with particle-like dust floating.

Then, the children’s bright smiling faces appeared.

Their faces were tanned, and suddenly a large smiling face occupied the screen, followed by chattering background sounds.

Lin Wanxing was startled, looking around at the nearly adult students, barely making the connection.

Slightly childish voices rose and fell through the speakers in the classroom.

Someone was shouting “hurry, hurry,” someone saying “charge,” and someone bragging “how I dribbled past and knocked down the opponent last time.” The last one, of course, was Qin Ao.

They were chattering, and although the image was of a dim locker room, seemingly filled with the smell of jerseys, cleats, and sweat, those bright smiles seemed to be basking in the sunshine.

Then, the scene changed, becoming brighter.

On the outdoor field’s grass, two teams of junior high players lined up. There were spectators who looked like parents on the sidelines, though overall not many people.

Seeing a freeze-frame at one point reminded Lin Wanxing of the group photo she had seen at Lin Lu’s house; it should be the same match.

The referee blew the whistle, and the game began.

The children sprinted across the field. In the monitor’s image, everything was brilliant and bright.

In the nighttime classroom, the old speakers were still playing the cheerful “Singin’ in the Rain” soundtrack.

The junior high students ran and jumped on the grass, the black and white football rolling.

They shouted, cheered, and also wailed from collisions, everything vivid and lively.

Goals scored, goals conceded, tackles, dribbles, and finally the whistle sounded.

Lin Wanxing wasn’t even clear what the exact score was.

Everyone gathered in a group, looking dejected.

The students’ rainy mood was completely reflected on their faces.

Someone gathered the boys, bringing them together.

A middle-aged man’s voice said in the background:

“Quickly, quickly! Go shake hands!”

“What’s the rush? There’s still next year’s match!”

“Come on, come on! Keep it up!”

The boys were urged, encouraged, and lined up to shake hands with their opponents.

The next moment, the screen darkened, showing the dim locker room again.

Hoarse background music played.

And many, many noisy voices.

“Let’s talk about our goals for next year.”

“What’s a goal?” a child asked.

“It’s what you want to do next year!”

“Continue playing football!”

“Of course, we’ll continue playing!”

“Coach is asking what results we want!”

“The championship!”

“Championship!”

It was as if a sudden sun shower was pouring down.

The background music still hummed I was dancing and singing in the rain.