It was a field already in training. However, in autumn, there was still a warm atmosphere.

Qin Ao received the ball. From his perspective, Wen Chengye’s stillness was just laziness, pure sabotage.

So instead of passing back as usual, he retreated with the ball, found an opening, and kicked it to Wen Chengye.

With a loud “bang,” the soccer ball shot like a cannonball, hitting Wen Chengye hard on the front side of his shin.

Awakened by the pain, Wen Chengye suddenly looked up, glaring at Qin Ao.

“Are you stupid? Don’t you know how to position yourself?” Qin Ao shouted at Wen Chengye.

“Consider how long it’s been since he played,” Qi Liang commented coolly, trying to defend Wen Chengye.

“The coach said to take it slow,” Fu Xinshu pulled Qin Ao back and said to Wen Chengye, “At that position, you should have moved to the left front point to receive the ball.”

Wen Chengye turned his face, looking at Fu Xinshu with a gloomy expression. “Who are you to teach me?”

“What’s with your attitude? You clearly didn’t understand what the coach said earlier. You can’t even understand the tactics board. You’re just a complete novice but still barking!” Qin Ao cursed.

Wen Chengye’s face turned ashen, his fists clenched at his sides.

Seeing that the students were about to fight during their first cooperation, Lin Wanxing exchanged a glance with Wang Fa.

Wang Fa blew his whistle, interrupting the players’ argument.

He walked to Wen Chengye’s side but didn’t mention the students’ quarrel. Instead, he simply explained the training tactics again.

Wen Chengye stubbornly pressed his lips together, not answering Wang Fa.

Wang Fa then asked directly, “Do you want to try again, or switch to another group and rest first?”

Wen Chengye looked at the other teammates on the field and decisively retreated to the sideline, expressing his attitude through action.

Wen Chengye’s withdrawal also meant that Qin Ao and Fu Xinshu, who were in his group, ended their round of practice.

Qin Ao was very dissatisfied with Wen Chengye, feeling that this useless addition affected the passing training between him and Fu Xinshu. But constrained by the coach’s arrangement, he could only retreat to the sideline with Fu Xinshu after Wen Chengye left the field.

The other players continued their passing training in groups of three.

Without the confrontational Qin Ao and Wen Chengye, the field became much quieter.

After Wen Chengye’s withdrawal, the remaining players began their daily training.

With straight lines, and the crisp sounds of the ball, the boys began running on the grass.

They intercepted or dribbled past opponents, stopping the ball with their insteps or chests skillfully. They accurately passed the ball to other students nearby and started running.

The boys had long been accustomed to this process. They were very serious and efficient.

After completing the fixed training, they would pick up their file boards and write down some notes.

Wen Chengye stood far from others but observed all this.

The other students on the field moved quickly, passing smoothly. He seemed unable to understand how they could coordinate so well.

His expression grew increasingly serious.

“Want to try again?” At some point, Wang Fa stood behind Wen Chengye and asked.

Wen Chengye suddenly looked at the coach but didn’t speak.

Seemingly unwilling to admit defeat, or like any boy who couldn’t accept his teammates’ mockery and ridicule, Wen Chengye finally picked up the soccer ball and stood up.

After returning to the training field, Wen Chengye seemed to have figured out how to deal with Qin Ao.

He directly made a long pass, taking decisive action, seizing control of the field, and commanding his teammates like dogs.

Qin Ao wasn’t willing to submit and immediately responded in kind.

The original offensive-defensive transition drill unknowingly turned into a practice of chasing long passes.

Wang Fa didn’t stop them, allowing the training to develop in a completely new direction.

The students who “suffered” because of Wen Chengye weren’t just Qin Ao and Fu Xinshu. The students in the opposing three-person group also “shared the hardship.”

When Wen Chengye made a long pass, Qin Ao had to sprint like a mad dog to chase the soccer ball. Correspondingly, the defensive players had to run along, or else they would fail in defense.

And when Qin Ao gained possession, he similarly returned the favor with long passes. Wen Chengye, not wanting to lose, also ran with complete disregard for appearance.

The players marking him were deployed across the field. Suddenly, the field was no longer filled with calm, restrained passing. Everyone was full of vigor, charging passionately.

Theoretically, they didn’t need to compete so intensely. But in this situation, none of the students wanted to lose.

They didn’t want to see the soccer ball intercepted because they couldn’t reach it in time, nor did they want to watch helplessly as the ball flew out of bounds, only to be mocked by the passer.

Wen Chengye’s presence reminded Lin Wanxing of the classic “catfish effect.”

Sardines easily die from a lack of oxygen. At that time, Norwegians tried every method to bring the caught sardines back to port alive.

Later, fishermen placed catfish among the sardines. Because catfish eat other fish, they disturb the sardines in the tank, causing a large number of sardines to survive.

Wen Chengye was more or less like this. He exhausted the other students on the team.

“While training the ability to make and chase long passes, it also significantly increased the players’ running distance and time compared to previous training.”

This was Coach Wang Fa’s summary statement to reassure her before she went to work.

Lin Wanxing wasn’t particularly worried, though.

In late autumn, darkness fell early.

Lin Wanxing finished work and returned home, pushing open the rooftop door. A cold wind blew against her face.

The rooftop presented a desolate scene, causing her to pull her clothes tighter.

It was quiet on the rooftop. Passing through the crowded vegetable garden, she realized what the problem was.

Usually at mealtime, students would be busy cooking or gardening, always very active.

But today, they had simply given up.

Lin Wanxing stopped.

The wooden sofas, benches, old tires on the rooftop… all were filled with people lying down.

The students looked extremely tired, to the extent that no one was cooking.

The light in Wang Fa’s room was on; he was probably taking a shower.

Lin Wanxing put down her bag, her stomach growling with hunger. She ran to the kitchen and first checked the beef brisket stewing on the stove.

The aroma was enticing, and the beef stewed until tender. Lin Wanxing picked up chopsticks, wanting to taste them, and instantly received a cold stare from Qin Ao.

She could only smile awkwardly.

“Teacher, are you trying to steal food?” Qin Ao was very perceptive.

“No, I just wanted to see if the meat was tender.”

“Couldn’t you just poke it once?”

“Oh!”

Lin Wanxing awkwardly poked the beef brisket.

Most of the students scattered on the ground, though not speaking, were watching her every move.

Lin Wanxing could only swallow, picking up the daily menu and duty chef table hanging nearby.

So who was responsible for cooking today?

Turning a page, coincidentally, today’s duty chefs were Qin Ao, Fu Xinshu…

Just like the soccer training groups, quite a connection.

Today’s main dish was tomato and egg noodles, with side dishes like stewed beef, minced meat with tofu, and cucumber salad. The recipes were prepared in advance by the students. The beef was already stewing, but the other dishes still needed to be prepared.

Fu Xinshu, rarely seen, was asleep against the wooden sofa, covered with a blanket. Qin Ao was equally in a half-dead state.

Lin Wanxing patted Qin Ao, who was pretending to be dead in the hollow of an old tire. “Chef Qin, are you not cooking today?”

Qin Ao let out a weak “ow.”

“That tired?” Lin Wanxing smiled.

“Teacher, please don’t rush me. I really can’t cook today. Let me lie down a bit longer, just a bit.”

“Wen Chengye has got something, huh,” Lin Wanxing smiled.

Hearing this, Qin Ao seemed to remember something.

He suddenly sat up from the wooden sofa, energized. “We haven’t assigned Dog Wen to the cooking duty?”

“Hmm, it seems not,” Lin Wanxing nodded.

“He must be included. He can’t just eat without working, right?”

“That’s for you all to decide,” Lin Wanxing said.

With approval, Qin Ao arranged Wen Chengye’s duty time with a wave of his hand.

“Make dinner ourselves?” Wen Chengye, sitting outside the crowd, suddenly asked.

“If we don’t cook, what will we eat? Will pies fall from the sky?” Qin Ao was furious. “By the way, we need to collect his share of the expenses.”

“Yes, we usually cook for ourselves. Six days out of the week we cook, and on one day we might order takeout or go out to eat. But others are quite frugal, so we usually solve it on the rooftop,” Lin Wanxing said.

“What about lunch?”

“The lunch you ate today was prepared a day in advance. Sometimes it’s made in the morning, depending on the situation, mainly because lunchtime is relatively tight.”

While she was explaining the daily cooking arrangements to Wen Chengye, Qin Ao was waking up the other students, demanding a new grouping meeting.

Everyone was already exhausted, and it wasn’t their turn to cook today, so they were too lazy to discuss this matter.

Qi Liang directly said, “Just let Wen Chengye join your group. You’re gaining an advantage with three people in a group.”

“Why? Who made you the decision-maker?” Qin Ao protested. “Why not let Wen Chengye go to your group?”

Qin Ao was indignant.

Qi Liang yawned and simply said, “Then let’s vote. Those who disagree with Wen Chengye and Qin Ao being in the same cooking group, please raise your hands.”

With these words, the rooftop became quiet.

The students looked at each other, but no one made any move.

Qin Ao was stunned for a moment and raised his hand high. But apart from him, even Fu Xinshu, who had just been awakened, ultimately didn’t raise his hand.

“You’re cheating!” Qin Ao realized this and glared at Qi Liang.

“I learned it from the teacher. She did the same thing last time,” Qi Liang rubbed his messy hair, shifting the blame.

Lin Wanxing raised her hand and said to Qin Ao, “Teacher votes for you, supporting you with both hands!”

“Your support is useless!” Qin Ao was extremely frustrated.

Wang Fa just happened to open the door and come out.

Qin Ao looked at the coach as if seeking help. “Coach, I can’t cooperate with Dog Wen!”

Wang Fa, wiping his hair with a towel, comforted him, “Currently, the cooperation seems rather stiff, but I believe there’s room for improvement in your coordination. Cooking is good; it can continue to refine your cooperation.”

Wen Chengye sat nearby, hearing their righteous rhetoric. He pressed his lips together, appearing somewhat disdainful.

The matter was settled, and Qin Ao’s resistance was futile.

After the argument, they weren’t sleepy anymore, and someone had to make dinner.

Fu Xinshu started the stove, with Qin Ao assisting.

He skillfully cut the minced meat and opened the tofu package.

Wen Chengye stood to the side, somewhat reluctant to get involved, but unconsciously found himself standing beside them.

Qin Ao turned around and saw Young Master Wen standing there, which irritated him. “You’re really in the way standing here. Can’t you do something else? Go wash the tomatoes. You can do that, right?”

Wen Chengye wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but the other students around were looking at him expectantly.

Wen Chengye gave a cold smile, took the tomatoes, and walked to the sink.

During the process of washing tomatoes, Wen Chengye didn’t cause trouble. He washed them very carefully, even removing all the tomato stems.

After washing, Wen Chengye brought the tomatoes to Qin Ao.

Instructor Qin immediately instructed, “Dry the tomatoes.”

Wen Chengye raised an eyebrow. “Is that necessary?”

“Do you understand cooking at all?” As Qin Ao spoke, he quickly dried a tomato and then pierced it with a chopstick.

He turned on the fire and roasted the tomato, turning it over the flame. The tomato skin turned yellow and then curled.

Qin Ao turned off the fire, successfully peeling off the burst and curled tomato skin. His movements were fluid, leaving Wen Chengye stunned.

Qin Ao held up the chopstick, showing the smooth tomato to Wen Chengye. “Wet tomatoes can’t achieve this perfect effect. Now do you see why drying them is necessary?”

Wen Chengye gave a cold laugh. “Making trouble for nothing.”

Hearing this, Qin Ao immediately turned his head.

Lin Wanxing, receiving a glare from Qin Ao, raised her hand consciously. “It’s me who doesn’t eat tomato skin.”

“Just being fussy,” Qin Ao complained, but still roasted and peeled each tomato.

The stir-fried tomato and eggs were served, and large bowls of noodles were scooped from the pot. The beef stewed all day on the coal stove was tender and soft.

Stainless steel pots filled with dishes were placed on the table. The students brought out the TV and adjusted the channel.

At six o’clock, the news channel’s hourly news began, and they officially started their dinner.

One by one, the boys served themselves. The news anchor began to report the day’s main news. Others, holding their dishes, took their seats at the dining table, chatting animatedly.

Wen Chengye was the last one.

With a sense of pride that seemed to reject charity, Wen Chengye took some beef and minced meat tofu but specifically avoided the tomato and egg dish that Qin Ao had just demonstrated to him.

He held his bowl and was about to leave the dining table to eat elsewhere.

Lin Wanxing gently stopped him. “What’s wrong?”

Wen Chengye looked at the news broadcast and said, “It’s too noisy.”

Having finally found a reason to leave everyone, Wen Chengye said this.

“He doesn’t understand national affairs, of course, he finds it noisy,” Qin Ao, with sharp ears, immediately retorted.

Lin Wanxing explained to Wen Chengye, “We watch the news broadcast every dinnertime. From a pragmatic perspective, understanding national affairs helps with future political exams and language expression abilities, like being able to recite poetry without knowing how to write it. From a long-term perspective, watching the news daily helps improve one’s political literacy and level of awareness, establishing long-term goals, becoming qualified socialist successors.”

“Is there any other reason?” Wen Chengye asked coldly.

“Of course, it was tiresome fighting with them for the TV before, so I might as well just have everyone watch the news broadcast,” Lin Wanxing smiled.

Wen Chengye didn’t respond to this comment. He just held his bowl and walked to the wooden sofa.

That evening, the rooftop was filled with the aroma of the students’ stewed beef. Because everyone was so tired, they became increasingly quiet as they ate.

The news broadcast continued to report the day’s news, with a bluish light.

When it came to a major case that had recently been solved, Wen Chengye finally raised his head, seriously watching the distant TV.

Lin Wanxing bit into a soft, stewed tomato, smiled, and looked away.