With these words, the entire rooftop fell silent.

The autumn wind was a bit cool. The lettuce seedlings in the small garden swayed in the evening breeze, while only the pancakes in the bag remained warm.

Someone shouted “Holy crap!”

This was almost the perfect expression of how the students felt now.

The boys immediately erupted into chaos.

“No way?”

“Is the mysterious person helping us again?”

“Helping us with what? ‘Wen Ji’? Could it be referring to Wen Chengye?”

Zheng Feiyang pointed at the printed text on the paper bag as he said this.

“Could it be that the ‘mysterious person’ sending us this bag of pancakes is hinting at something about Wen Chengye?” Qin Ao pondered.

“I get it, suggesting Wen Chengye is a pancake!” Lin Lu raised his hand.

“Did you need to point that out? Everyone knows Wen Dog is an idiot,” Qin Ao said disdainfully.

“If it’s that person, there should be a deeper meaning, right?” Fu Xinshu spoke up. “Just like the things Qin Ao, Chen Jianghe, and I received before…”

Hearing this, Lin Wanxing turned her gaze back to the “Wen” character on the packaging.

“The mysterious person wouldn’t want us to find Wen Dog to play soccer, would they?” the students said.

“Could they know that we failed to convince Wen Dog, so they’re lending us a hand?” Zheng Feiyang asked.

At these words, Qin Ao couldn’t help but smack Zheng Feiyang. “We begged him? Do you know how to talk!”

“But why was it delivered to Qi Liang?” Wang Fa suddenly asked.

“Right! Such a crucial item should be given to the protagonist, shouldn’t it?” Qin Ao said, clenching his fist, thumping his chest, and pointing forward.

“Maybe because Qi Liang has a better relationship with Wen Chengye?” Lin Wanxing said.

“When you say it like that, it makes me sound like a mole,” Qi Liang said, exasperated.

He grabbed the takeout bag from the table and, as if inspecting some malfunctioning machinery, pretended to be nonchalant while carefully examining the pancake bag inside and out.

“What are you looking at?” Qin Ao said irritably.

“What’s the point of giving me this bag of pancakes? Do they want me to take it to Wen Chengye?” Qi Liang asked.

“Maybe there’s a hidden sword in the fish belly?” Goalkeeper Feng Suo suddenly said. “There’s something inside the pancakes!”

The students had many opinions.

Wang Fa kept looking at the pancakes on the table.

Lin Wanxing asked him softly, “Want to try one?”

“I couldn’t possibly,” Wang Fa said politely.

The unique aroma of baked stuffed pancakes wafted from the bag. Everyone was hungry after talking for so long.

Lin Wanxing opened the bag, took out the pancakes, put them on a plate, and pushed it in front of Wang Fa, letting him pick his favorite flavor first.

Yu Ming wanted to stop her. “Teacher, what if these pancakes were meant for Qi Liang to give to Wen Chengye? What if you eat them?”

Lin Wanxing looked at Wang Fa, then said to Yu Ming, “If we eat one of your pancakes, at worst we’ll pay you back tenfold.”

“Don’t use old jokes!” the students shouted.

Along with the various flavored pancakes, Lin Wanxing brewed a large pot of black tea.

Above them hung a slightly yellow pendant light, attached to what was supposedly a loofah trellis. On the autumn rooftop night with its slight chill, the black tea, pancakes, and green bean-stewed noodles had a special flavor.

They’d barely had two sips of tea before the pancakes were gone.

The students wiped their mouths, savoring the lingering aroma of the pancakes, having completely forgotten their earlier tasks.

“Did you find anything?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“The osmanthus sugar one was pretty good.”

“That good? I had the preserved vegetables and pork one. If I’d known, I would have split it with you.”

“I mean, did you find the ‘sword’ in the ‘fish belly’?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“What sword? No sword, only despicable people,” Qin Ao said fiercely, looking at the text on the paper bag.

“Teacher, are you stupid? How could there be anything else in pancakes from such a big store?” Yu Ming said seriously.

“What do we do then?” Lin Wanxing rubbed her chin and smiled helplessly. “The pancakes are gone, but we haven’t found anything.”

After she said this, the students started chattering again.

Some said there might not be any clue at all and they were just overthinking, while others said one pancake wasn’t enough—maybe they needed to eat two more to figure it out.

Of course, some more simple-minded students began to believe that this bag of pancakes was meant for Qi Liang to bribe Wen Chengye.

Lin Wanxing quietly listened while drinking her tea.

After much debate, they turned the packaging inside out several times. Finally, Fu Xinshu said, “Following the ‘mysterious person’s’ previous approach, they must have given us a clue. We just need to use our brains a bit.”

“But you don’t have brains to use,” Qi Liang smirked.

“And you do?” Qin Ao glared at him.

Qi Liang seemed to have had an idea all along. He gave Qin Ao a sidelong glance and shared his deduction. “The only thing that could be considered a clue is just these two numbers on the receipt.”

Qi Liang tore off the receipt that was stapled to the paper bag and placed it in the center of the wooden table.

The two numbers in the final order remarks column stood out particularly.

“Could these two numbers be a password for some box, or a building number, seat number, or something similar?” Fu Xinshu said.

Qi Liang — “The storage boxes at the back of our classroom don’t have locks, and, 19 and 20—do they refer to the boxes in our class? My student number isn’t these two either. Do you want me to check someone else’s box?”

“I was just giving an example.”

Everyone fell into deep thought again.

To help the students’ reasoning, Lin Wanxing specifically ordered another set of pancakes from the original store—6 flavors, 2 of each.

She deliberately left the same note on the receipt, wanting to see what differences there were between this version and the one the “mysterious person” sent to Qi Liang.

When the items arrived, the students started complaining again, “Each person can only have one, teacher is too stingy!”

“You’re still craving more and want to try other flavors, right?” Qi Liang teased.

Lin Wanxing licked the pancake crumbs at the corner of her mouth and put the two receipts together. “How could you say that about your teacher?”

The students gathered around again. Indeed, the receipts from the two different deliveries looked the same.

Using the process of elimination, the only clue was still just the two numbers “19, 20.”

“So, what does this mean?” the students asked while chewing on pancakes.

They had already discussed this question for a long time during the interval before the second bag of pancakes arrived.

Qi Liang had no ideas at all. The only possibility seemed to be the cabinets at the back of the classroom. Although there were also guesses about building floors, ages, or passwords, none seemed plausible.

Qi Liang kept looking at the two receipts on the table.

“Damn, only two numbers—we’ll be guessing until which year and month,” Qin Ao swallowed the last bit of pancake and irritably criticized Qi Liang. “With your brain, can you figure anything out?”

Qi Liang slowly raised his head. “Do you know what the difference is between you and me?”

“What’s the difference?”

“The difference is that not only do I have a brain that you don’t, but I also have a pair of eyes!”

Saying this, Qi Liang moved the two receipts in front of Qin Ao, folded his arms across his chest, and arrogantly said, “There’s a very obvious difference between these two receipts. I’m not talking about the scrambled recipient phone number. Do you know what it is?”

Hearing Qi Liang say this, the students immediately gathered around.

Lin Wanxing also quietly began to re-examine the two receipts.

The address was what she had filled in based on the original receipt, even typing “5th floor” the same.

The number of pancakes ordered, the varieties, and even the order were the same, so what was the difference?

Lin Wanxing finally could only focus her attention on the notes: 19 20?

19…

“I know!” Lin Wanxing suddenly looked up.

“You know again?” Qin Ao said disdainfully.

“Let Qi Liang explain,” Lin Wanxing looked at the student.

Qi Liang didn’t keep them in suspense. He placed the two receipts on the table and said, “The original note is 19. 20, while the teacher’s note is 19 20.”

Qi Liang pointed at the very small and inconspicuous “.” after the receipts, saying this.

“Holy shit, that’s it?”

“Ah, just a dot?”

“What kind of obvious difference or major discovery is this?”

“This indicates that the clue left for us by that person isn’t the two numbers 19 and 20, but rather 19 points and 20 points,” Lin Wanxing said.

“Could it be a time? Or some kind of score? But why such a small dot?”

The students began discussing again, each offering their own opinion. Lin Wanxing didn’t speak, just thoughtfully drinking tea on the side.

When they had discussed it enough, Lin Wanxing touched the cup wall and said, “I think I know what it is.”

“What is it?”

Lin Wanxing nodded and held up the receipt. “If I’m not mistaken, this is a clue that could make Wen Chengye join us.”

Afterward, the students argued noisily, wanting to know exactly what it was, but Lin Wanxing didn’t tell them.

Everyone argued for a long time. Lin Wanxing didn’t mind when the students accused her of being deliberately mysterious or said she hadn’t figured out what it was.

She consistently refused to discuss her theory.

Finally, the boys reluctantly went home.

They felt lingering interest in this game night of eating pancakes and solving riddles.

The teapot and cups were still on the table.

The tea had been brewed many times and was now cold and bland.

Lin Wanxing opened the teapot lid, intending to add more hot water, but Wang Fa stopped her.

“If you brew black tea like that, my British neighbor’s grandmother would call the police,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing released her grip on the thermos. She knew Wang Fa was joking, but her emotions and thoughts weren’t focused on this at the moment, making it difficult for her to continue the conversation.

The rooftop was cloaked in the stillness of night.

Lin Wanxing remained silent.

Wang Fa finished washing the teapot and cups with a clinking sound, then brewed a fresh pot of tea.

The amber-colored tea flowed steadily, with wisps of steam gently rising.

Wang Fa’s voice rose with it. “What’s the answer to the riddle?”

“Huh?” Lin Wanxing suddenly came back to her senses and saw Wang Fa looking at her with a calm but concerned gaze.

Lin Wanxing knew clearly that while Wang Fa seemed to be asking about the riddle, he was concerned about her.

Gathering her thoughts, Lin Wanxing half-jokingly said, “Coach is getting a bit gossipy.”

“Of course I’m curious,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing took a sip of tea, then dipped her index finger in some water that hadn’t been wiped dry on the dishes and wrote 19. and 20. on the wooden table.

“These are two question numbers,” she said.

“Question numbers?”

“Yes, the math exam question numbers from this monthly test,” Lin Wanxing said, sounding quite certain.

“How do you know?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Lin Wanxing rested her chin on her hand. “It goes back to when I was supervising Wen Chengye’s exam.”

Lin Wanxing told Wang Fa that ever since she supervised Wen Chengye’s exam, she had always felt there was something strange about how he wrote his papers.

“Although it might not be quite appropriate to say this, during a normal exam you need to think and calculate, but Wen Chengye didn’t. Later, I thought for a long time about what his exam-taking reminded me of…”

Wang Fa asked, “What did it remind you of?”

Lin Wanxing — “Like he was reciting from memory.”

“Reciting?”

“I suspect Wen Chengye has been cheating on exams all along,” Lin Wanxing explained. “But my suspicion is just my suspicion. After all, I was Wen Chengye’s exam supervisor. I supervised him for three full days and didn’t find any problems with his exam process.”

“You think someone gave Wen Chengye the answers in advance, and he’s been cheating all along?” Wang Fa asked.

“I hadn’t thought that much about it initially,” Lin Wanxing said. “I am, after all, an educator and former science worker, so I try to be objective. When I couldn’t prove Wen Chengye was cheating during the exam, then he wasn’t cheating. So for me, the matter was closed.”

“Was it closed?” Wang Fa asked.

“Well, not completely,” Lin Wanxing was a bit embarrassed. “I later asked Mr. Lu, Wen Chengye’s homeroom teacher, about his previous grades. Since the kids said Wen Chengye used to be terrible too, I wanted to confirm.”

“Did you confirm it?”

“Yes,” Lin Wanxing suddenly felt a bit angry. “Mr. Lu meant that Wen Chengye’s grades used to be poor. It was only after he entered his senior year and stayed away from his former ‘bad influences’ in the soccer team that his grades improved dramatically, shooting straight to the top of the grade.”

Lin Wanxing tapped the table and said softly, “Not to brag, but even if I taught with all my effort, I couldn’t possibly bring students of our kids’ level to the top of the grade in just two or three months!”

“So you still suspect Wen Chengye,” Wang Fa took a sip of tea and said calmly.

“I’ve watched Wen Chengye in class. He’s always distracted. To put it simply, his body is in the classroom, but his mind isn’t. So why, when he’s not even paying attention in class, can he score so well? I think, if he’s not a genius who fell from the sky, there’s only one other possibility,” Lin Wanxing said.

“Cheating,” Wang Fa said.

“Yes.”

“So what’s the connection between cheating and 19 points and 20 points?” Wang Fa asked.

“It’s not 19 points and 20 points, it’s questions nineteen and twenty,” Lin Wanxing said.

Wang Fa — “Questions?”

“Yes, questions from this month’s math exam.”

Lin Wanxing spoke very hesitantly.

Although she had suspected Wen Chengye all along, she had no evidence.

The evidence she wanted had already been seen by her; she just hadn’t thought about it that way.

Wang Fa asked, “What about the questions?”

“It’s not that there’s a problem with the questions…” Lin Wanxing spoke hesitantly, her fingers lightly brushing over the screen of her phone that had been sitting on the table.

Wang Fa looked at her.

Lin Wanxing wasn’t sure how to explain. “I’ve looked at our school’s monthly math exam papers. 19 and 20 are two geometry problems. There’s nothing wrong with the questions, but the answers… seem to have a problem.”

She took out this month’s exam papers and spread them in front of Wang Fa.

Mr. Lu had previously also organized the standard answers for all exams for her. Therefore, in front of question numbers 19 and 20 in the math answers, there was an obvious transposition arrow.

Wang Fa raised his eyes, looking quite incredulous.

“The answers to these two questions were printed in reverse,” Lin Wanxing said.

“Did Wen Chengye also write the answers in reverse?” Wang Fa’s expression tensed slightly.

Lin Wanxing sighed softly.

Although it was strange.

By connecting the clues, Lin Wanxing believed that the takeout receipt note “19. and 20.” was meant to expose a lie about Wen Chengye.

Wen Chengye’s exam results were not the result of his independent thinking and answering; he had somehow obtained the answers for each exam.

Wen Chengye had been cheating all along.

The tea was still warm, but the night wind had grown colder. Lin Wanxing fell into an unbearable silence.

What she needed to do now was very simple.

Open her phone, call Mr. Lu, and verify whether the two questions Wen Chengye had reversed on the math exam were indeed questions nineteen and twenty.

But sitting under the vine trellis, her thoughts frozen, Lin Wanxing didn’t do this.

The voices of people opening windows and talking downstairs could be faintly heard. She rarely had moments like this where she hesitated because of difficulty.

Wang Fa’s voice timely sounded, “Even if you call Mr. Lu and confirm that Wen Chengye indeed wrote these two questions in reverse, there’s still no evidence that Wen Chengye cheated. He could easily say he misread the question numbers and wrote in the wrong place, that it was all a coincidence.”

“Yes, that’s probably what he told Mr. Lu,” Lin Wanxing said in a very flat tone.

“It’s quite interesting,” Wang Fa said. “This receipt is a clue, but it’s also a task, requiring you to find evidence that can nail Wen Chengye?”

“But Coach, I’m not worried about ‘evidence’…” Lin Wanxing looked at him, saying very uncertainly, “I’m just wondering, what should I do for the best?”

Nearby on the rooftop wall still hung a “Warm Congratulations” banner. Further away, the playground and city were shrouded in darkness.

In her mind appeared the image of the student.

Wen Chengye with his cold expression, head slightly tilted back. He used cheating to deal with exams, refused communication, and despised everyone.

If she discovers this, she should report it to the school. The school might expel Wen Chengye according to regulations, or they might let him off with a warning.

And then?

Would that complete her work?

Uncertainty was like a cloud covering the moon, the light dim and hazy.

Lin Wanxing looked at Wang Fa. “How did your team handle players who made mistakes in the past?”

“Are you asking how we would handle ‘cheating’ players like Wen Chengye?”

“Yes.”

“If he wasn’t ‘valuable,’ we would terminate his contract and expel him. But if he was valuable enough, our tolerance would increase. However, if he crossed certain bottom lines involving interests, he would still have to leave.” Wang Fa’s answer was cruel.

“Bottom lines involving interests?” Lin Wanxing didn’t understand.

Wang Fa pondered for a moment, then told her a story. “We had a player in our team before, named Peter Warren. He was very talented—strong, fast, agile. At that time, my position was still very low, and I heard from superiors that they all thought he was the next Matthew Le Tissier. The latter is the greatest player in Southampton club history, who served Southampton his entire career.”

Wang Fa paused, took a sip of tea, and continued, “Because Peter Warren was exceptionally talented, the club was very indulgent with him. In the youth training team, if your strength was formidable enough to sell for a lot of money, then being late or leaving early weren’t considered problems.”

“And then?”

“This led to Peter Warren’s unruly temperament. He was lawless and often spoke without restraint. Once, his ‘racist’ remarks in a bar were posted online. Because the content was too malicious, it caused an uproar, and the club, under public pressure, expelled him.”

Lin Wanxing finally understood what Wang Fa meant by “bottom lines involving interests.” If the damage caused by this player exceeded his value, he would be ruthlessly abandoned.

She looked at Wang Fa. “Did Peter Warren join another team afterward?”

“No,” Wang Fa shook his head. “After that, he fell into a slump for a while. During an alcohol-fueled dispute, someone broke his leg with a steel pipe. This was a serious injury during his developmental period, and the repair surgery required an extremely high cost. But he had been expelled by us, and the team wouldn’t possibly pay this money for him. In the end, with nowhere to turn, he even called me to borrow money. At that time, he cried and told me he deeply regretted it.”

When Wang Fa told stories, there was always a great calmness, but Lin Wanxing could also hear his deep regret.

The cool wind was like water, the tea flowing steadily.

He picked up the teapot and poured her another half cup.

Lin Wanxing fell into deep thought.