Under the scorching gaze of the students, and more importantly, because the coach himself had no intention of sharing snacks with the students, Lin Wanxing could only distribute what few Cheetos she had left in her hand.

And rather embarrassingly, when the snacks were distributed, they were one short.

The only child who didn’t receive any food was Chen Jianghe.

Lin Wanxing and Chen Jianghe exchanged glances, and she implied — “As a mature young man like yourself, you probably don’t like Cheetos anyway, right?”

“I do.” Student Chen Jianghe was concise.

Left with no choice, Lin Wanxing could only transfer money via WeChat to the only person nearby who had stock. After haggling, she bought a single Cheeto for one yuan, which was particularly humiliating.

With only one tiny snack per person, it took just seconds from chewing to swallowing. After the crispy crunching sounds, only a faint aroma of puffed food lingered in the air.

Under the starry sky, the atmosphere mysteriously fell silent again.

“Coach, do we have any other training items next?” Chen Jianghe asked.

“Nothing more today, go home early,” the young man said.

“What time do we meet here tomorrow?” Fu Xinshu asked.

At this point in the conversation, the young man paused.

Lin Wanxing followed his gaze and saw two people at the entrance not far away, walking up the stairs.

All around was quiet, making the footsteps increasingly clear.

The newcomers were two middle-aged men. One was older with a balding head and a slightly chubby build. The other wore a suit and looked like the most typical middle-aged elite in society.

“Called you but no answer, guessed you might be here.” The balding middle-aged man spoke very familiarly.

The middle-aged man was surprised to see so many young players in the stands. But almost without thinking, he walked over and inserted himself into their conversation.

The young man remained seated, merely looking up and asking — “Something up?”

“What else could it be? Of course I’ve come to pay my respects to a worthy talent,” the other replied politely. “Are you free? I just got off the train, let’s have dinner together later?”

“Wait a moment.” The young man’s attitude toward the visitor was neither cold nor warm.

After saying this, he looked at the young players before him — “I may not have time to come tomorrow, but if you want to train, I hope you can agree on a time when everyone is available.”

Lin Wanxing licked her fingers, which still had a salty-sweet taste, and asked — “Are you leaving?”

“Yes, I have to go now.” The young man said goodbye, hands in his pockets, following the two middle-aged men away.

Although his attitude was about the same toward everyone, it was obvious that he still maintained a great degree of respect for the two middle-aged men who had arrived temporarily, especially the balding one.

In the night breeze, snippets of the three men’s conversation drifted back.

Someone casually asked the young man “Been idle lately, guiding the kids?” The young man seemed to answer something, but she couldn’t hear clearly.

As the three walked down from the stands, Lin Wanxing could no longer hear what they were saying.

When she came back to her senses, the students beside her had their mouths wide open, staring at the balding middle-aged man’s back, looking extremely shocked.

“Holy shit, teacher, that guy?”

“Our coach?”

“Damn, is it him?”

The students seemed to have regressed in language ability, only able to express meaning with interjections and phrases.

“What’s wrong, babies?”

“Teacher, don’t you recognize Liu Chuanguang?”

“Who?” Lin Wanxing savored the name, which seemed somewhat familiar.

“You’ve never heard of Coach Liu? He was the national team’s head coach, though only for three months, but that team got thrashed 5-1 by Thailand, so he’s quite famous!” Chen Weidong’s voice was resonant.

“Lower your voice!” Lin Wanxing hastily said, “Why are you shouting so loudly when talking behind someone’s back?”

For Lin Wanxing, she felt no particular excitement about meeting a former national team head coach who only served for three months.

However, she understood the idiom “paying respects to worthy talent,” and after considering the conversation between Coach Liu and the young man, she had an inexplicable sense of crisis — “So Coach Liu is no longer with the national team, where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yichun Greenland?”

“Yongchuan Evergrande?”

The students casually suggested, then suddenly reacted as well.

“Coach Liu isn’t coming to steal our coach, is he?!”

Once this was said, the students began chattering all at once.

“Coming to invite our coach to be a coach at Yongchuan Evergrande?”

“No way?”

“Could what our coach said before be true?”

“Maybe they just know each other?”

“Should we ‘tail’ them a bit?”

While the students were whispering among themselves, Lin Wanxing had already finished searching for information. She put down her phone and said — “Coach Liu is indeed at Yongchuan Evergrande now, and the man next to him should be the club manager.”

“Damn!”

This expletive was enough to express all the students’ emotions.

Lin Wanxing thought that the young man hadn’t lied to them; a campus football team like theirs probably wasn’t in his “job-seeking” consideration range to begin with.

“So what do we do now?” Yu Ming asked.

“What’s the use of asking here? If you’ve got guts, go straight up and ask!” Qin Ao said.

“Who runs the fastest?” Lin Wanxing looked up and asked.

The students were still in their sportswear, covered in sweat, the flush from the long run not yet faded from their faces. Each of them looked at her with strange expressions.

“Sorry, let me rephrase.” Lin Wanxing immediately recognized her mistake and corrected herself, “Didn’t you say you wanted to ‘tail’ the former national team head coach and the Yongchuan Evergrande manager? Who’s going?”

The students were stunned, seemingly unaccustomed to turning their big talk into reality.

“We need someone quick-witted who won’t get caught,” Fu Xinshu said.

At this moment, everyone’s gaze fell on Qi Liang.

Tianming Hot Pot Restaurant, Hongying Food Street.

According to Lin Wanxing’s judgment, Coach Liu and the Yongchuan Evergrande manager weren’t locals. They had come looking for someone right after getting off the train, so they would theoretically find somewhere nearby to eat, and probably wouldn’t go far. Student Qi Liang’s report also confirmed her view.

The restaurant wasn’t crowded, with many empty seats. On the bustling food street, this was a place where one could sit down without waiting in line, which was probably why the three chose to dine there.

Lin Wanxing had originally wanted the other students to go home first, but in reality, she was too naive. The word “obedience” had never existed in these students’ dictionaries.

In the end, she led the group in a grand procession to the opposite side of the hot pot restaurant.

Seeing them approach, student Qi Liang, hiding in the dark corner of the street, opened his mouth, and with a “plop,” the popsicle stick he had been chewing fell to the ground.

Under the neon lights, Yu Ming happily jumped up and waved to greet Qi Liang.

Qi Liang darted over in one swift move and pulled them into the dark corner of the street.

“Is this what the teacher calls ‘tailing’?” Qi Liang said irritably.

“They insisted on coming along, I couldn’t help it,” Lin Wanxing shrugged.

Across the street in the hot pot restaurant, their “targets” were sitting by the window. Two bottles of beer had been opened, a table full of dishes ordered, and steam rose from the hot pot, creating an overall lively atmosphere. But the bowls and plates on the table were all clean; this was probably what adults called “having a meal.”

“What are they saying exactly?” Yu Ming stretched his neck.

“Are they inviting our coach to be a coach at Yongchuan Evergrande?” Chen Weidong was very worried.

“Doesn’t that hot pot look difficult to eat? The tripe that just went in hasn’t been scooped out yet, it must be tough now.” This was from Zheng Feiyang.

The students chattered, focusing on different points. With their tall figures, lurking suspiciously by the roadside, they drew sidelong glances from passersby.

“Do you know how to read lips?” Qi Liang asked.

“No, do you?”

“Then what can you hear from this far? Get closer.” As Qi Liang spoke, he very systematically led them in a circle, approaching the side of the hot pot restaurant by the street.

Lin Wanxing fell behind the students. Just like scenes from television, as she was crossing the street, the young man who had been intently listening to the conversation at his table suddenly turned his head.

Through the misty glass, he looked right at her.