Most of the time, life is not a competition.

We don’t have clear opponents, persistent goals, or an unwavering belief in victory.

It seems like we’re just living day by day.

Hanling City, Guangming Cinema.

It was midnight, and an animated film was being screened.

With minimal promotion and the late hour, there were only scattered viewers.

Lin Wanxing finished inspecting all the screening halls and came to the only one still showing a film. After completing the theater registration form, she sat down in the last available seat. One of the small perks of being a cinema staff member was being able to watch movies after work or when there were few people.

The film had only been playing for ten minutes.

It was a fan-oriented movie. Many had read the manga as children, but after more than a decade, those who used to secretly read comics during class had grown up. With work the next day, few bothered to stay up late to watch it.

On the screen, a young girl in the animation fell heavily on the court. The white shuttlecock landed inside the boundary, and her opponent tightly embraced in celebration of victory.

The audience let out scattered gasps.

Sweat dripped down as heavy rain fell outside the gymnasium as if threatening to shatter the roof. The rain was the best catalyst for the atmosphere. She and her doubles partner had lost the crucial match. Soon they would enter high school and would no longer play badminton together.

In Lin Wanxing’s memory, the manga story seemed to have ended there unfinished.

At first, her classmates were all scratching their heads, wanting to know what would happen next. Would the male and female leads end up together?

But they never got a conclusion.

As time passed, when she occasionally thought about it, she surprisingly felt that the regret of that rainy day was not a bad ending.

Time beautifies everything.

After defeating Hanling Victory, the seniors of Hongjing No. 8 Middle School would face their second mock exam.

During this period before the second mock exam, there were many small tests at school. Additionally, Teacher Xiao Xu felt she couldn’t handle all the teaching work for the football team students. So all the football team students had to return to normal campus life.

Xu Yuning had thought about this decision for a long time.

When she spoke with the students, fearing they might have many other thoughts, she emphasized that it was because she felt her teaching ability was inadequate, not that she was unwilling to teach them.

The boys didn’t have much reaction.

The classroom was silent for a while before someone asked, “She’s not coming back at all, is she?”

For the students, staying at Yuanyuan Tutoring Center meant that Lin Wanxing might return someday. Returning to school also meant that Lin Wanxing would truly no longer be involved in their studies and lives.

“We ran away, it would be good if she could come back,” Qi Liang said.

Lin Wanxing’s classes had always been casual, without much formal textbook content.

The subject teachers all felt that the football team students were used to being free-spirited, and it was not optimistic to expect them to sit properly in class listen to 45-minute lessons, and do test papers.

The teachers were concerned, so before formal classes began, they gave everyone the test papers that would be covered soon through Teacher Xiao Xu.

The day before returning to school, after finishing football training, the students collectively sat in the classroom of the Yuanyuan Tutoring Center working on the test papers.

The sunset gradually disappeared, and the classroom was very quiet. Fu Xinshu stood up and turned on the light.

The fluorescent tubes flickered slightly, but none of the students looked up.

There was the soft sound of pencils on paper in the classroom.

Under the light, no one was clear what that emotion was.

Returning to school for classes didn’t mean they couldn’t use this classroom anymore, and no one was preventing them from using it.

Until the finals, they would train at Wuchuan Road Sports Field, and after school, they would still eat and live on the rooftop upstairs.

But what then?

The match would end, they would graduate, and one day they would leave this place.

The stories that happened would become memories, everything would gradually become the past.

And they would never see Lin Wanxing again.

There will always be such moments.

You sit in the darkness, unable to figure out many, many questions.

You always feel like something is questioning you, but you don’t even know what the question is.

On the first day back to campus, the students saw a congratulatory notice about them.

It was posted outside the school canteen.

Last time, when they defeated Yuzhou Silver Elephant, they hung banners here themselves, making a big scene.

Now it was the school’s official congratulatory notice, even organizing people to watch the match with great fanfare—almost the scenario they had dreamed of.

Instead, it gave a sense of unreality.

There weren’t many people around who cared.

But the students still walked over.

Next to the congratulatory notice was an announcement that the school would organize students to go to Yongchuan to watch the finals. Interested first and second-year high school students could register with their homeroom teachers.

Fu Xinshu took out his phone, took a photo, and prepared to send it to Lin Wanxing.

Only when he opened WeChat did he realize that his chat with Lin Wanxing had fallen far back. The most recent message was him unilaterally sending her information about the finals.

Lin Wanxing had never replied.

Everyone initially thought that the teacher should be quietly paying attention to them from behind the scenes.

But it wasn’t until Teacher Xiao Xu honestly admitted that she couldn’t complete the teaching tasks and they had to return to school for classes that everyone truly realized Lin Wanxing hadn’t looked back.

Although they could guess that since the day she moved her boxes and made her statement, she had never opened her previous WeChat again.

Sometimes they could understand her.

If she decides to move forward, then forget everything and don’t look back.

But sometimes, they couldn’t understand.

They had been together for so long, and they were not what she thought they were. Why couldn’t she trust them a little?

The night before the second mock exam.

Training time was from after classes at 5:30 PM until 8:30 PM.

Afterward, Wang Fa called for dismissal on the field.

According to the students’ arrangements, they would go upstairs to take a shower, and then study at the tutoring center. Those who lived far away would leave first, and those nearby would go home around 11:30 PM.

Outside the window came the occasional sound of kicking a ball.

But for some reason, looking at the books spread out on the table, Fu Xinshu couldn’t read a single word.

“Bang” “Bang”…

Outside, Wen Chengye was practicing set pieces alone on the field.

Qin Ao stretched his neck, the hanging lamp on the ceiling was dazzling. “Can’t he be a bit quieter? Listening to him makes me want to go kick a few shots too!”

“Good grades mean you can do whatever you want!” Lin Lu said.

“It’s also possible he’s going abroad, so he can do whatever he wants!” Yu Ming added.

Hearing this, Fu Xinshu pushed his chair and stood up.

“Where are you going?” Qin Ao asked, puzzled.

Fu Xinshu said, “To tell him to be quieter.”

On the field, grass, and soil were fragrant in the air.

The street lights could only illuminate the track surrounding the field, most of the field remained dark.

Fu Xinshu walked onto the track, a football flew towards him.

He jumped up, stopped the ball with his chest, and controlled it steadily.

Wen Chengye stood in the dark center of the field, breathing heavily, hands on his knees, just looking at him.

“What are you doing here?” Wen Chengye asked.

Fu Xinshu took a couple of steps to gain momentum, then kicked the football.

The ball cut through the misty night, then fell into the deeper darkness.

Wen Chengye showed no intention of receiving the ball.

As if all strength had left him, he fell directly onto the grass, arms, and legs spread out, looking up at the night sky.

The night sky was distant yet seemed to press down very low, completely enveloping them.

Fu Xinshu took a deep breath. He walked around Wen Chengye, picked up the football he had kicked away, then walked back.

Passing by Wen Chengye’s side, he still said to him, “Even if you don’t need to review, go back and rest early. There’s an exam tomorrow.”

After saying this, he prepared to leave, but his leg was suddenly grabbed, almost making Fu Xinshu stumble.

“What are you doing?”

Wen Chengye looked at the night sky. “Aren’t you tired?”

“…”

Fu Xinshu was silent for a moment, not knowing what he meant.

“Studying and training every day is tiring, but being able to pursue what you want doesn’t count as tiring,” he said after a while.

As expected, Wen Chengye gave a cold laugh and let go of him.

“Do you know why I don’t need to review?” Wen Chengye’s voice came from the lawn.

Fu Xinshu stopped. “Are you going to tell me some pre-exam secret?”

“Because someone has always given me the answers, I can copy them at will,” Wen Chengye said.

It was as if thunder had sounded in the sky, sparks flying. Fu Xinshu looked down in disbelief.

Wen Chengye was still lying on the grass looking up at the sky, without any sign of shame on his face.

Dusk was falling, and all previous confusion now had answers.

Why had Wen Chengye’s grades improved so dramatically, and why could Lin Wanxing persuade him to return to the football team?

Lin Wanxing had known all along that Wen Chengye was cheating, but had been covering for him.

“Did the teacher know about this?”

“You know the answer. Surprised, right? The teacher protected me,” Wen Chengye said.

“Why?”

Fu Xinshu couldn’t describe the emotions in his heart—confusion, anger. He didn’t know why Lin Wanxing would do this!

“I don’t know,” Wen Chengye’s voice was very calm. “At first, I thought she was threatening me to join the football team. But later, I felt uncomfortable with this ‘protection.'”

Wen Chengye spread himself completely flat on the ground. As he said these words, he gradually relaxed. “Before she left, we met in front of the administration building. I was holding my high school transcript that had just been stamped, preparing to apply to foreign universities. She saw it. She was disappointed. Although she didn’t say it, I knew she was disappointed.”

“Why didn’t you say this before?” This was a story Fu Xinshu had never known. He felt his heart beating rapidly, his head about to explode. He directly squatted down and grabbed Wen Chengye’s collar.

“I didn’t dare to say it,” Wen Chengye said very calmly.

His eyes were as black as they could be, making one feel as if facing an abyss. Fu Xinshu let go.

“Why tell me these things? Do you want me to tell others, or do you want me to report you to the school?”

“You know why,” Wen Chengye said.