“Holy shit, we’re so awesome!”

“I thought they’d be harder to beat!”

“Yuzhou Silver Elephants weren’t that tough after all!”

In the days following the match, Lin Wanxing often heard these comments.

While playing soccer, during meals, or when watering their vegetable garden, students would be chatting and suddenly burst out with such exclamations.

Sometimes when she passed by the students, the boys would exchange glances and break into smiles.

The atmosphere felt a bit strange.

But they were genuinely happy—just thinking about defeating the Yuzhou Silver Elephants would automatically make them grin.

During that period, the students were exceptionally content.

They were excited during every training session and increasingly serious about their studies.

The lettuce seedlings had grown from sprouts into small plants, and the green onions that had been trimmed were sprouting new leaves.

Long breezes swept across the rooftop under the clear autumn sky.

When things go smoothly, anything seems possible. Even Chen Weidong’s thoughts of leaving the soccer team seemed to have dissipated because of their victory.

Chen Weidong attended training sessions punctually and left immediately afterward.

He wouldn’t participate in the Yuanyuan tutoring classes. According to him, he used that time to practice his main sport, track and field.

To other students, Chen Weidong was a special case.

When they established the self-governance assembly, Chen Weidong hadn’t participated, so the assembly’s resolutions didn’t apply to him.

Qin Ao had always been dissatisfied with him, feeling that he came and went as he pleased.

In Qin Ao’s own words, “Last time he thought picking up trash was tiring so he didn’t show up the next day. He’s just lazy, with zero team spirit!”

Qin Ao had repeatedly wanted to propose a motion requiring the assembly to restrict such undisciplined behavior.

But essentially, Chen Weidong joined the soccer team to “help” make up the numbers, and he had always trained properly, so Qin Ao simply couldn’t bring himself to raise the issue.

Victory was just like that—sufficient to wash away worries and smooth over conflicts.

At the end of October, the school’s monthly exam arrived as scheduled.

Lin Wanxing received the school notice, went home that evening, and relayed the specific time and arrangements for the students’ monthly exam.

Standing in the Yuanyuan tutoring classroom, she distributed the printed exam schedules.

“The exam starts at 8:30 in the morning. You must arrive at school by 8:00 at the latest. Since you’ll be in different examination rooms, find your assigned room at the entrance when you arrive, instead of rushing straight to your classroom.” She paused, then added, “Also, remember to check your stationery before going to bed. If you arrive at school and realize you’ve forgotten something, come to the small storage room to borrow from me.”

Lin Wanxing reminded the students of various precautions, and after finishing, she realized she had been nagging a bit too much.

Sure enough, Qin Ao promptly interrupted, “Alright, teacher, it’s not like this is our first exam. Don’t be so fussy.”

Lin Wanxing was taken aback but couldn’t argue.

She thought that perhaps she had said too much because she subconsciously believed the students had been “unrestrained” outside school for too long, developing an aversion to school and exams, so she wanted to say a few more words.

However, she hadn’t expected that the boys were quite looking forward to the upcoming monthly exam.

For instance, Yu Ming and Lin Lu, who previously feared performing poorly and being taken back home to study, were now excitedly whispering to each other.

Lin Wanxing was still a bit concerned and asked another question, “We haven’t had any mock exam classes before. Do you need me to provide similar practice materials?”

“No need, who hasn’t taken exams before!”

“Teacher, don’t be so fussy.”

“Don’t worry, we know what we’re doing. We won’t make it difficult for you!”

The boys waved their hands dismissively, indicating they had everything under control.

As early autumn arrived, the weather had turned cooler.

The high school senior monthly exam was very formal, each time arranged like a mock college entrance exam.

During the previous monthly exam, Lin Wanxing had just arrived and wasn’t assigned to the proctor. But this time, she was naturally given proctoring duties.

The day before the monthly exam, Lin Wanxing was called in for uniform training.

The training took place after work hours, led by a young physics teacher at their school surnamed Jin, first name Ziyang.

Teacher Jin was reportedly a physics graduate from a prestigious university, a top student from a famous school, and simultaneously held the title of “teacher crush” at Hongjing Eighth Middle School, meaning he was both capable and handsome.

Lin Wanxing had heard about him.

In the training classroom, the male teacher wore a white shirt and suit pants, had delicate features, and wore black-framed glasses. He leaned against the podium, with his Apple laptop on the desk connected to a projector.

Lin Wanxing sat down in the classroom carrying twenty buns she had bought from the cafeteria.

Jin Ziyang’s gaze swept over and landed on the mound of buns in front of her. Not just him, but the other teachers receiving the training also looked over.

Lin Wanxing gave an awkward smile.

“Is Teacher Lin hungry?” the male teacher at the podium asked.

“Uh, I didn’t eat enough at lunch,” Lin Wanxing said.

“Our training will be very brief and won’t delay your dinner,” he said.

Lin Wanxing nodded and stuffed the plastic bag with buns under her desk.

Though Teacher Jin said this, his training was not quick at all.

The PowerPoint had over a dozen pages, covering everything from exam procedures to detailed rules, including handling emergencies in the examination room—he went through it all carefully.

These was just the overall requirements for the examination room. They, as new teachers, were assigned as assistant proctors, and in the next section, Teacher Jin began to explain the six key tasks that assistant proctors were responsible for. Lin Wanxing listened attentively from beginning to end, and by then it was almost dark.

Finally, Teacher Jin announced the time for cleaning the examination rooms and attaching name tags to desks before declaring the training concluded.

The other teachers left together.

Lin Wanxing wasn’t particularly close with anyone and only exchanged a few pleasantries with Teacher Xiao Xu.

After Teacher Xiao Xu left, she was alone carrying the buns she had bought for the students, thinking she could finally go home.

But just as she went downstairs, she was called from behind by the male teacher who had just finished packing up.

“Lin Wanxing.”

Hearing the voice, Lin Wanxing turned back in surprise.

Jin Ziyang had his laptop tucked under his arm, maintaining a posture with one hand in his pocket. He stood on the steps of the teaching building, calling to her.

“May I invite Teacher Lin for a simple meal?” Jin Ziyang said.

“Why?”

Jin Ziyang’s gaze fell on the bag of buns she was carrying. “Today’s training delayed your dinner.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” Lin Wanxing declined politely. “I just had a craving for the school’s carrot and beef buns and wanted to take them home.”

Given her response, Jin Ziyang didn’t say anything more, just nodded slightly and said, “Alright then, see you tomorrow.”

Jin Ziyang was merely a brief interlude, and although Lin Wanxing was curious about why he wanted to have dinner with her alone, she didn’t dwell on it.

The school’s monthly exam took place as scheduled.

Half the desks had been moved to the back of the classroom, and the examination room was rearranged. Lin Wanxing’s assigned examination room had already been determined—Room 309, which was the Class Nine of Senior Year Three.

Following the content in the proctoring training manual, Lin Wanxing checked the classroom and stood at the door of Examination Room 309 to greet the students taking the exam.

She checked each student’s exam stationery and admission ticket.

The admission tickets were specially made by the school to help senior students adapt to the college entrance exam rhythm in advance.

The students were all well-behaved, and most of them would say “Thank you, teacher” when she returned their admission tickets.

Lin Wanxing returned the admission ticket to the girl in front, then took the next one and suddenly froze when she saw the three characters “Wen Chengye” on it.

Below was a pair of black Air Jordans, and on the wrist was a skeleton mechanical watch rarely seen among students. Lin Wanxing looked up to see a face as cold as frost.

After Wen Chengye had agreed to participate in the soccer match but stood her up, Lin Wanxing didn’t see him again. What a coincidence.

Wen Chengye looked no different from a month ago.

His school uniform was worn impeccably neat, his expression was cold, and he had phoenix-like eyes with eyelids drooping over a portion just above his eyeballs, making his gaze appear even colder.

Lin Wanxing returned the admission ticket to him and said, “Your seat is at 2-10.”

Wen Chengye looked straight ahead without uttering a word. He walked directly to his seat as if she were invisible.

Besides Wen Chengye, no other members of the soccer team were assigned to Lin Wanxing’s examination room.

According to the proctoring guidelines, Lin Wanxing distributed the exam papers and sat at the back of the classroom, which was the position of the assistant proctor.

When the exam bell rang, Lin Wanxing leaned against the wall.

The students bent over their papers, and Lin Wanxing could only see the white backs of their school uniforms.

The scratching of pens and the sound of papers turning filled the air, suddenly making her feel a bit dazed.

It had been less than a year since she had truly bid farewell to her previous life.

Now, she was sitting in a high school examination room as a teacher.

Everyone imagines their future life path, but among the many life trajectories Lin Wanxing had envisioned, none were like her current situation.

She was leading a group of soccer students, doing a lot of practical work she had never considered before.

It felt both real and unreal.

Life has moments like this.

Amid busy days, you suddenly find some free time, and because of work requirements, you can’t even touch your phone—you can only daydream.

Many thoughts floated through Lin Wanxing’s mind. Because she was very idle, throughout the entire Chinese exam, she leaned against the back wall of the classroom, absentmindedly observing the backs of the students taking the exam.

Most students answered very seriously.

The Chinese exam had a substantial number of questions, especially the composition section, which meant the students spent most of their time continuously “writing, writing, writing.” When they got tired of writing, they would vigorously shake their hands.

But each person’s answering rhythm was different. Some students’ pens flew across the paper—the impatient type—crossing out incorrect parts with their pens in quick strokes, afraid of falling behind and not being able to turn in their papers in time.

Other students answered methodically. Although Lin Wanxing couldn’t see the student’s progress, she would inexplicably worry that those students wouldn’t finish their papers.

Among all the students, the only one who seemed strange to Lin Wanxing was Wen Chengye.

Wen Chengye sat by the window.

Lin Wanxing noticed that his answering frequency was a bit odd.

“Answering frequency” is a rhythm that’s difficult to describe in words.

It’s like everyone taking an exam—each person answering questions, some fast, some slow, some serious, some hasty—so you can never guarantee that all students in the examination room answer at the same frequency.

But generally speaking, most people’s answering speeds are consistent.

When it’s time to turn the page, students before and after tend to turn pages together.

But Wen Chengye was different.

Most of the time, Wen Chengye wrote very quickly, but there were also times when he paused for an unusually long time.

This inconsistency of “fast, slow” in the same person seemed very strange.

Since Lin Wanxing had nothing else to do, she began to patrol the examination room. She walked from front to back, passing each row of desks, and finally came to Wen Chengye’s side.

The boy perceptively looked up at her.

His narrow phoenix eyes slightly narrowed as Wen Chengye watched her warily.

Lin Wanxing glanced at the test paper on the desk and found that he was working on the last language usage question of the reading comprehension section.

The black pen was marking and drawing on the reading material, appearing very serious.

However, upon closer inspection, Lin Wanxing discovered that the content Wen Chengye had circled had little connection to the questions below; it looked like he was just randomly drawing on the exam paper.

Perhaps she had stood there for too long, causing Wen Chengye’s dissatisfaction. The boy simply put down his pen and spread his hands, making a gesture allowing her to check.

Lin Wanxing looked at Wen Chengye’s expression. The boy’s eyelids lifted slightly, with a fleeting threatening look in his eyes, like a wolf cub.

Although she was startled by Wen Chengye’s gaze, Lin Wanxing couldn’t possibly be intimidated by such a look. She checked his desk and paper again.

The pencil case was transparent, its contents clearly visible, not looking like it concealed any cheat sheets. The test paper was even less problematic; Wen Chengye deliberately lifted his test paper, allowing her to check underneath.

The sound of flipping papers rang out, and surrounding students turned their heads to look in their direction.

Lin Wanxing glanced at the chief proctor, who had also noticed her.

Having found no abnormalities for the time being, so as not to disturb other students, Lin Wanxing returned to the podium.

“What’s wrong?” the chief proctor asked.

“Nothing,” Lin Wanxing replied, withdrawing her gaze from Wen Chengye.