It must have been a carefully planned script.

The beginning slightly heavy, the middle intentionally reassuring, and the ending lightening up again. Very authentic, as if the situation she faced was indeed thorny but still solvable.

Later, Wang Fa would recall Lin Wanxing’s phone call countless times. He had always clearly known that Lin Wanxing’s problem was almost unsolvable. She refused to discuss specifics, avoided providing train information, and even brought up her parents with whom she didn’t have a good relationship.

But at that time, he was still fooled by her superficial ease.

Of course, this was also because the call ended so quickly that he couldn’t find an opportunity to ask more. When it came to refusing people, Lin Wanxing was indeed a veteran.

Lin Wanxing’s sudden departure left everyone still at the rooftop of 17 Wutong Road feeling somewhat unadjusted.

This discomfort also came gradually, approaching slowly.

For instance, the students would often call out “Teacher” or “Lin Wanxing.” But after calling, they would receive no response. They would instinctively turn around to look for Lin Wanxing, only to realize that she had temporarily left for personal matters.

Wang Fa also frequently had the illusion that Lin Wanxing was still living beside him.

Habits are the most grinding, just like how he had already grown accustomed to making two cups of tea in the evening.

But when he took out two cups, finished making both, and was about to call Lin Wanxing, he would find the house ahead in complete darkness. Only then would he remember that Lin Wanxing would be away for some time, forcing him to reluctantly drink both cups of non-alcoholic Long Island Iced Tea by himself.

Lin Wanxing’s departure wasn’t without any news. So they later always felt that “disappearance” was a more appropriate description.

She was using a very clever way to gradually erase traces of her existence.

She would contact the students every day, but only through WeChat. She would also share photos of her life upon their request. She could even keep calls with them, though brief but never completely refusing to answer.

So during that period, although everyone felt uneasy, they all subconsciously remained well-behaved and understanding because of the teacher’s family matters. At the same time, they could even find excuses for Lin Wanxing’s gradually decreasing responses—surely the teacher was too busy!

If it weren’t for the school later assigning a new football team guidance teacher, everyone would have been under the illusion that Lin Wanxing would return in a few days.

But that was pure self-deception.

After the mock exams finished, the Youth Super League quarter-finals followed.

According to the draw, they would face the Cangmen Lions Youth Team. The opponent was the top team from Group A, backed by the Cangmen Lions, a genuine professional team.

After the draw, everyone immediately told Lin Wanxing the news. They also sent her the venue location and detailed match schedule. Although Lin Wanxing was busy, they still hoped that perhaps she could find time to come on match day.

But what no one expected was that on the day after the quarter-final schedule was confirmed, they were notified to gather in the multipurpose classroom.

The school had many multipurpose classrooms, but only that one left a deep impression on the students. Because it was where Lin Wanxing had organized the first team meeting, and also where everyone had met collectively for the first time.

Everyone anxiously arrived at that multipurpose classroom at 12:30 PM the next day.

Spring was flourishing, each day warmer than the last.

The classroom was hot, with brilliant sunlight outside the window, illuminating the person at the podium with a radiant smile.

She was a female teacher with soft, chestnut-colored wavy hair and sparkling earrings—very young and beautiful, but not Lin Wanxing.

Seeing the new teacher standing at the podium, everyone immediately understood what was happening.

Qin Ao immediately took the lead, turning around to leave without a word.

But the person at the podium seemed prepared: “Wait a moment, your Teacher Lin has something for you.”

She just said this one sentence.

Really…

Completely hitting their weak spot!

The new female teacher’s surname was Xu, called Xu Yuning. She said they could call her “Teacher Xiao Xu,” and explained that she was entrusted by Lin Wanxing.

The tables in the classroom had been merged into a small discussion group arrangement, with everyone sitting in a circle. After introducing herself, Teacher Xiao Xu walked down from the podium and sat before them. In front of them, she took out a small notebook from her pocket and opened it.

The notebook was bound with ordinary white paper. On the cover were handwritten words “Hongjing Eighth Middle School Football Team Work Manual,” the handwriting delicate and very familiar-looking.

The students sat up straight, wondering what exactly Teacher Xiao Xu was up to.

Sure enough, when Teacher Xiao Xu opened the “Work Manual,” the line drawings on the first page instantly made the students realize that this booklet was made by Lin Wanxing.

It was a team formation diagram, showing a field layout and the players’ positions on the field.

Each of them had their own personified Q-version cartoon, with their names, jersey numbers, and a brief introduction written on it.

Qin Ao saw himself depicted as a boisterous figure, somewhat resembling a little Charmander, and immediately shouted: “Defamation, absolute defamation!”

Lin Lu found that Lin Wanxing had drawn him as a lively rabbit, and was quite satisfied: “I am indeed cute!”

Chen Jianghe’s Q-version had a crew cut and a serious face.

Fu Xinshu looked scholarly and refined, Wen Chengye was a black-faced sheep, Zheng Feiyang was a howling Northeastern little tiger, and Yu Ming was a deer-like animal. Student Qi Liang resembled a curly-haired fox, and goalkeeper Feng Suo was depicted as a tall, steady, reliable bear. Even the silent duo Zheng Ren and Zhi Hui had their distinctive appearances.

“Lin Wanxing gave this to you?” After studying it for a long time, Qin Ao finally spoke his first words to Teacher Xiao Xu.

“Yes, your Teacher Lin sent it to me so I could get to know you faster,” Teacher Xiao Xu answered.

Turning the page from the Q-version formation diagram, a building structure diagram of a house appeared.

The upper right corner was labeled “17 Wutong Road,” and the diagram included not only their Yuanyuan Tutoring classroom and rooftop but also the distant field where they trained daily. The students were even more surprised to discover that Lin Wanxing had assigned them a small task in the bottom right corner of the drawing, asking them to give Teacher Xiao Xu a tour of the building.

“Why is there a task for us too?”

“She’s still so troublesome!”

“So, can you show me around?” Teacher Xiao Xu asked curiously.

“Since she said so, what else can we do? You can come with us later,” the boys said, speechless.

After “17 Wutong Road,” Lin Wanxing used two more pages to briefly introduce the students’ daily schedule, homemade recipes, and things like negotiation meetings…

The more they looked, the stranger the students felt, and by the end, they suddenly lost interest in criticizing Lin Wanxing’s line drawings.

Everyone fell silent.

“What does she mean, making it like she’s ‘entrusting orphans’? She’s not coming back?” Qin Ao used a strange expression.

“I don’t think so.” Teacher Xiao Xu coughed lightly, comforting them. “I’m mainly responsible for taking you to the field and helping you complete some basic courses. Once Teacher Lin finishes her own business, she should come back, right?”

Teacher Xiao Xu’s words, to some extent, comforted the bewildered players.

The Hongjing Eighth Middle School football team players also knew clearly that for the match against Cangmen, the school would definitely assign someone to watch over them. And for their daily academic courses, someone had to teach them.

They had no choice but to accept Teacher Xiao Xu.

Moreover, Lin Wanxing had family matters, so they needed to behave and save her some worry.

This thought was uncomfortable, so no one wanted to express it, but everyone harbored similar feelings.

The match against the Cangmen Lions took place on a fine Saturday.

Teacher Xiao Xu had also booked high-speed rail tickets for them, probably at Lin Wanxing’s instruction.

When everyone arrived at the match venue and began warming up, they all simultaneously looked toward the stands. They always held a slim hope that Lin Wanxing would appear there, waving to them.

But in reality, the stands were empty. Apart from the ready opponents, only Cangmen’s specialty white egrets paced on the grass.

Regarding the match, as Wen Chengye became increasingly familiar with the B2B midfield position, the team’s offensive and defensive operations flowed more smoothly and in sync.

The Cangmen Lions made the same mistake as other teams, never treating Hongjing Eighth Middle School as a team with a special tactical system and strength comparable to a youth team.

Although the competition had reached the knockout stage, the Cangmen Lions wouldn’t underestimate any opponent.

But exactly how to deploy troops and make targeted tactical arrangements—due to insufficient information, the Cangmen Lions didn’t know how to proceed.

And their coach was Wang Fa, who was always one move ahead.

Before the match, Wang Fa made the judgment that since the opponent wasn’t familiar with them, plus they had dark horse momentum, the Cangmen Lions would likely adopt a conservative strategy after kickoff and probe first. So they should be able to use this time to catch the opponent off guard.

Thus, their match against the Cangmen Lions went even more smoothly than the one against Shencheng Haibo.

Just 8 minutes into the first half, Chen Jianghe used a brilliant diving header to open the Cangmen Lions’ gate.

The team’s morale soared.

The Cangmen Lions quickly responded, stretching their formation to engage in counter-attacks. But turtling was precisely Hongjing Eighth Middle School’s specialty.

Until the end of the first half, the Cangmen Lions hadn’t scored.

In the 27th minute of the second half, the referee awarded a controversial penalty, which the Cangmen Lions’ number 7 converted to make it 1-1.

It seemed like their first match after reforming the team also had such a controversial penalty. At that time, everyone was angry, almost wanting to start a group fight, but this time, they remained calm.

They truly believed they would win and were confident.

Almost a replay of that match, in the final moments of the second half, Hongjing Eighth Middle School used a counter-attack, with Qi Liang assisting Wen Chengye, who opened the Cangmen Lions’ gate again with an outside-the-box curling shot.

The 2-1 score remained until the final whistle.

Strangely, neither the players nor the coach on the sideline maintained a very calm attitude toward this victory.

The most excited was probably Teacher Xiao Xu, who was watching a match with full engagement for the first time.

In the locker room after the match, the students excitedly reported to Lin Wanxing the good news of defeating the Cangmen Lions and advancing to the semi-finals, but strangely, Lin Wanxing didn’t reply immediately.

However, in recent days, Lin Wanxing’s replies have become less and less timely.

But the students always felt that since Lin Wanxing’s room remained unchanged, and she had never returned home to pack her things, it was impossible that she had truly left.

Besides, the coach was still here!

Lin Wanxing might abandon them, but could this woman also abandon the coach, showing such fickleness?

Yet ironically, the first person to receive a call was Wang Fa.

After the match against the Cangmen Lions team, they didn’t receive Lin Wanxing’s congratulations but instead a call from the grandmother who ran the small shop downstairs.

The grandmother said that agents were bringing people to the rooftop to pack up, bundle up the landlady’s things, and ship them away.

The landlord of 17 Wutong Road was none other than Lin Wanxing herself.

Wang Fa put down his phone in the locker room, feeling only silence around him.

Compared to his hesitant attitude when he was about to leave before, Lin Wanxing’s actions now showed that she had truly decided to leave.