On the day of the sports college entrance examination, the students insisted on following certain rituals.
Even though some of them lived closer to the examination site from their homes, they still insisted on gathering at 7 Wutong Road in the morning. They would eat breakfast together, bicker with each other for a bit, prepare everything for the exam, and then set off.
Lin Wanxing symbolically checked the students’ admission tickets and ID cards, and following the route she had scouted yesterday, sent everyone to the examination site on time.
The weather was clear, banners hung high outside the examination site, and the candidates in their sportswear looked vibrant and energetic.
The first day of the formal examination was the 100-meter sprint and standing triple jump.
“Go for it! Charge!” Lin Wanxing said to the students.
“We know already.” Yu Ming waved his hand.
“Don’t be too nervous about this small exam,” Qin Ao reassured.
“If you say one more punctuation mark, it will be awkward. Let’s stop here.” This was Qi Liang.
“Teacher, you can go back now. It’s too hot. We’ll return on our own later.” Fu Xinshu was, as always, understanding and reliable.
Lin Wanxing nodded, watching the students enter the examination site.
But just as she was about to go home to slack off, she was called by Chen Yuan: “Teacher Lin!”
Lin Wanxing paused.
“You’re also waiting for your students, right? Why don’t we sit together?”
Parents and teachers from out of town gathered outside the police line, and the Sports College had arranged an off-campus rest area for everyone.
Lin Wanxing was invited to share a cup of mung bean soup with teachers and parents from various schools across the province.
After being surrounded, Lin Wanxing finally understood why Wang Fa hadn’t come to send the students off for the exam today!
In the rest area, ceiling fans whirred overhead, and enthusiastic shouts from candidates could be heard from the distant field.
Parents and teachers were chatting and exchanging information, with Lin Wanxing encircled in the middle—these were the troubles of having outstanding students.
“How are Teacher Lin’s players planning their future?”
“Huh?” Lin Wanxing wiped her mouth. “I don’t know.”
Chen Yuan choked for a moment.
“It’s like this.” Chen Yuan looked around and continued, “Each university has limited spots for ‘High-Level Athletic Teams.’ We’re all parents of football students here, so we wanted to coordinate and apply to different schools to increase everyone’s chances of getting into good universities.”
“That’s possible?” Lin Wanxing was shocked.
“Information comes from the exchange. We even have a WeChat group for sharing application information.”
Chatting with Chen Yuan, Lin Wanxing learned that his son was a football student at Lüjing International High School, taking the college entrance examination this year, in the same grade as Qin Ao and the others. The old father was indecisive about whether to send his son down the professional football club path or to university for a diploma, worrying about it all day.
“Good seedlings get noticed by professional team youth systems from the age of thirteen. I was too hesitant back then and delayed my child’s progress.”
“The domestic football environment is just like that. Aren’t you afraid they won’t earn enough money and end up with a body full of injuries?”
“University isn’t the only path, but who wouldn’t want their child to attend if possible?”
As Chen Yuan spoke, Lin Wanxing listened quietly.
Lin Lu’s mother had also poured her heart out to her about similar concerns before. She talked about the poor domestic football environment and worried about the child’s future. Chen Yuan even wanted to find out exactly which universities similar candidates were applying to, just to gain that little bit more probability.
On the sports field, the starting gun fired, and the sound of rubber shoes powerfully pushing against the track could be heard.
Towards the end of the conversation, Chen Yuan felt a bit embarrassed: “I don’t know why I ended up telling Teacher Lin so much.”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
“Let me add you to our WeChat group,” Chen Yuan said.
—
The moon was bright, the stars were sparse, and the city’s night breeze was refreshing.
At the dinner table, the students were animated, telling Lin Wanxing about their heroic performances during today’s exam. Lin Wanxing also shared Chen Yuan’s concerns with them.
“So did you join the group in the end?” Wen Chengye asked incredulously.
“No, I decided to give this opportunity to Old Fu,” Lin Wanxing said, smiling at Fu Xinshu.
“Old Fu is a friend of the middle-aged and elderly, makes sense!” Yu Ming nodded.
The other students all agreed.
“Teacher, there’s one more thing I need to tell you,” Qin Ao picked up a pair of chopsticks with scrambled eggs and tomatoes, speaking as if casually.
“What is it?”
“After our football specialized exam is over, we’ll have free time in the afternoon. Those guys from Lüjing International and Anning Experimental… oh right, and those from Fengchun High School, they want to come to our place to hang out.”
Lin Wanxing bit her fork, exchanged a glance with Wang Fa, and doubted her ears a bit. What did “hang out” mean?
Without giving her time to ask, Lin Lu immediately followed up: “They’re the ones pestering us!”
“Yes, they insisted we be good hosts. Are we even familiar with them?” Qin Ao said disdainfully.
“Weren’t you the one bragging first? Saying we have the most advanced training ground and teaching building,” Wen Chengye sneered.
“How was I bragging? I was just afraid of disappointing them!”
“Haha.”
Qin Ao and Wen Chengye continued their back-and-forth.
Lin Wanxing directly raised her hand to interrupt them: “Just tell me directly, how many people are coming…”
—
Noisy chatter, a hubbub of voices.
The last time 7 Wutong Road was this lively was when Grandpa and Grandma were still alive.
At that time, the Yuanyuan Tutoring Center hadn’t closed yet. From preschool transition to high school tutoring, many children from the neighborhood came here. When there were many students, the building even housed a chef and aunties to take care of them.
Lin Wanxing leaned against the railing, watching the gathered football students, and suddenly seemed to understand the joy the elderly had felt back then.
Downstairs.
Qin Ao had somehow acquired a small flag, and like a professional tour guide, he enthusiastically introduced to the football students from various schools: “This is where we usually live and study, and that’s our training field.”
He pointed to the Wuchuan Road Sports Stadium in the distance.
The football students from other schools looked up at the dilapidated little building before them with a profound sense of disbelief: “This place?”
“Modern and high-tech?”
“A brand new football learning experience?”
As the students questioned, Fu Xinshu patiently pushed open the iron gate of the residential building and answered their questions.
“How do you usually practice with equipment?”
“We have a professional gym.”
“And why don’t you study at school?”
“How can school compare to the freedom outside?”
Walking to the second floor.
The Yuanyuan Tutoring Center sign had been wiped clean, and the corridor was lined with plants that the students had grown well on the rooftop. Flower pots of various colors and materials stood together, roses and clematis flowers intertwined, pothos vines drooped low—everything was lush and verdant.
“Why are there flowers lining the path to welcome us?”
“That’s too kind!”
“You losers, don’t flatter yourselves. These are grown upstairs and placed down here because there’s no more room up there,” Qin Ao said, exasperated.
The corridor was clean and tidy, with various posters on the walls.
Only one classroom was open. Everything here seemed somewhat outdated to these football students from prestigious schools, nothing special, yet somehow different in every way.
“Why does your place feel…” a player from Anning Experimental began but then hesitated.
“It looks like a hodgepodge,” a student from Lüjing International was much more direct.
“Of course, we picked up all of this,” Qin Ao said as he pushed open a door.
Seeing the scene inside, the football students from other schools were stunned.
It was an entire wall of wooden shelves.
The shelves were packed with electronic components and plastic casings, some dirty, some cleaned.
Looking carefully, they discovered that the shelves held many outdated game consoles, from small handheld Tetris games sold at shops near schools to what appeared to be decent imported models. The collection was diverse and comprehensive. Even more impressive was that in the middle of the room stood an electrician’s workbench, filled with various soldering and repair tools.
The other boys had never seen so many “discarded items” and were astonished.
The Hongjing Eighth Middle School players happily introduced the game consoles on the shelves, speaking one after another.
The players from other schools listened with their mouths agape: “You picked all these up as garbage and fixed them yourselves?”
“Yes, what’s the problem? There are expert teardown guides online. You get better with practice.”
“No, brothers, we all work hard on sports every day. How did you guys already start working in an electronics factory?” And they hadn’t even neglected their sports training…
“Don’t be envious, don’t be jealous~?” the Hongjing Eighth Middle School players said proudly.
The lifestyle of the Hongjing Eighth Middle School students was something the football students from other schools had never seen before.
They couldn’t understand how these Hongjing Eighth Middle School guys could train, attend classes, and still pick up trash.
Someone secretly touched a handheld game console on the table, and the “beep beep beep” sound brought everyone back to reality.
Compared to the workshop, the second room next door was much more normal. But not quite to an ordinary level…
It was a classroom—bright windows, clean desks—but without high stacks of textbooks and exercise books. Instead, there were many folders.
Blackboards stood at both the front and back of the classroom.
They entered through the back door and found a tactical diagram drawn on the blackboard, showing not only match details but also passing route maps.
“You even analyze matches? Which game is this?”
Zheng Feiyang smiled, looking like he had been waiting for this question: “This is, of course, our epic battle against Yongchuan Evergrande—that peak contest we must always remember!”
The player who asked the question was speechless: “Showing off to you.”
But more players looked at the formation diagram on the blackboard with curiosity. They didn’t know all the details of the final, but they were all participating teams in the Youth Super League and had witnessed the legend unfold as Hongjing Eighth Middle School fought its way to the final.
“The tactics look quite complex,” someone commented.
“Of course, this is our coach’s formation change!” Zheng Feiyang said happily as he began to introduce it.
Despite the laughter and conversation, the football tactical and technical knowledge of Hongjing Eighth Middle School still secretly alarmed the football students from other schools.
They felt somewhat fortunate not to have to face these abnormal opponents anymore.
The blackboard at the front of the classroom was empty, but on the right wall hung an A3-sized poster.
Everyone crowded closer and discovered it was a detailed summary chart of the sports college entrance examination admissions.
Categorized into “Sports Single Recruitment,” “Sports Unified Recruitment,” and “High-Level Athletic Team,” the chart listed “Recruitment Targets,” “Examination Content,” “Time Arrangements,” “Score Calculations,” and a series of recruitment details that couldn’t be more thorough.
But this wasn’t the most impressive part, because beneath the poster stood a small three-compartment cabinet. The cabinet, following the poster’s three categories, held different types of university admission brochures, historical score lines, four-year course contents, and even some important reference alumni reviews, all categorized and easily accessible.
“Your teacher is so meticulous,” the football students from other schools commented after flipping through the materials in the cabinet.
“What do you mean our teacher? We collected these materials ourselves. Our teacher just gave some directions,” Qin Ao answered, then looked at the students from other schools in shock. “You mean your teachers do all the material collection work for you? That’s so nice!”
“Um, not really,” a student from Anning Experimental said. “We’ve never seen so many materials.”
“If not, then how do you choose schools?” Chen Jianghe didn’t understand.
“We just look at our level, teachers give some advice, and we go take whatever exams the school arranges for us…” a student from Lüjing International said naturally.
Hearing this, the Hongjing Eighth Middle School students couldn’t comprehend at all: “Wait, it’s your college entrance exam, and you just follow what others arrange without researching the schools yourself?”
“For us sports students, there are only those few schools. The options aren’t that many, right?” a boy from Fengchun High School said.
“How can there not be many? The number of canteens alone differs greatly!” Lin Lu exclaimed.
“So you don’t know anything yourselves and came to ask what schools we want to apply to?” Wen Chengye also said.
“Life is your own. How can you not care about your future at all?” Fu Xinshu said helplessly.
The Hongjing Eighth Middle School students spoke one after another, chattering away, completely bewildering the football students from other schools.
—
Lin Wanxing waited upstairs for a long time without seeing the main group come up.
She ordered Wang Fa to take down the cut watermelon. The corridor of the Yuanyuan Tutoring Center was quiet, with Fu Xinshu’s clear and pleasant voice coming through distinctly.
In the classroom, the football teams from other schools were all seated.
And Fu Xinshu stood at the podium, introducing the details of different university admission processes to them, in a highly professional manner.
Questions and the sound of paper being flipped came from below from time to time.
“Giving them watermelon to eat is a loss,” Lin Wanxing looked at Wang Fa. “What do you think, should Chen Yuan pay my students some tutoring fees?”