By the time Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa returned to Hongjing, it was already the second day of the Lunar New Year.

The reason for their return was that the vegetables on the rooftop needed watering.

The weather was cold and clear.

A layer of red firecracker debris covered the small roads of the new village, evidence of the New Year’s arrival.

The students gathered on the rooftop almost as soon as they returned.

They had many reasons.

Some worried about eating too much affecting their “physique,” some felt that two days without training would impact their fitness levels, and Chen Jianghe even claimed he could only focus on homework while there!

Lin Wanxing was drying local specialties bought during their trip on the rooftop. A whole row of bright red sausages hung from bamboo poles.

Through the gaps between the sausages, she could see the boys jumping up and down.

Having just passed the New Year, families liked to dress their children in bright-colored clothes. The boys looked cheerful and full of energy.

The weather was nice, and the cabbage and greens on the rooftop looked enticingly vibrant.

So despite having agreed to take a break until the fifth day of the New Year holiday, the rooftop was once again full of energy.

After the Spring Festival, the Youth Super League would resume. This was why the students were unwilling to complete their holiday break and insisted on rushing back to train.

However, during the holiday period, every family had their matters, and not everyone could gather together easily. Especially Wen Chengye, whose phone couldn’t even be reached. It was said that he had gone abroad with his parents.

But by the fifth day, the designated day to resume training, Wen Chengye had still not rejoined the team, and his phone remained unreachable.

Qin Ao finally had a minor outburst.

They went to Wen Chengye’s house, but the gates were tightly shut. Everyone anxiously left several messages for Wen Chengye but received no reply.

It was as if this person had vanished into thin air!

The other students cursed Wen Chengye for being irresponsible while also feeling that this was exactly the kind of thing he would do.

With incomplete training, they quickly approached the day of their rematch against Yuzhou Silver Elephant.

Pushing open the rooftop door on the top floor of the building, dark clouds seemed to press down to the corners of one’s eyes. The weather forecast predicted snow in the coming days.

The wind was strong, and as far as the eye could see, there were no signs of spring. The lawn was covered with white frost, with no new shoots visible.

Lin Wanxing rubbed her hands and went back to her room to change into a down jacket.

When she came out again, the sun had risen a bit, peeking through a gap in the clouds.

Yuzhou was somewhat far, on the edge of Hongjing.

By “edge,” it meant that leaving at eight in the morning, they would need to take a three-and-a-half-hour bus ride to reach the Yuzhou Silver Elephant base.

The students hadn’t traveled out of the province for a match in a long time and had enthusiastically made plans over the past couple of days.

When leaving home, Lin Lu had packed many cookies and potato chips in his bag, while Qin Ao brought ham sausages and bananas, supposedly good for staving off hunger.

This match required traveling out of the province, and for safety reasons, the school specifically arranged for Teacher Qian to accompany the team.

After all, Wang Fa was an external staff member, so Lin Wanxing had to agree.

All the boys arrived on time, except for Wen Chengye.

Lin Wanxing routinely checked off names on the form. When she called “Wen Chengye,” there was only silence.

The wind howled, seeming able to penetrate through sweaters at any moment. The branches were damp, but fortunately, it wasn’t raining.

Everyone slowly looked at each other, only then realizing that Wen Chengye hadn’t arrived.

“Damn, what’s Wen-dog playing at?”

“He’s not going to show up, is he?”

“No way???”

Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa exchanged a glance. She took out her phone and called Wen Chengye, but the phone was powered off.

Unconsciously, she recalled the first time she led the team when Wen Chengye had stood them up without a word.

Wen Chengye had already missed many days of training, and everyone had been anxious, even considering finding a substitute. But Qi Liang had said a couple of days ago that Wen Chengye had replied saying he would come, so everyone had temporarily set their minds at ease.

Now that he hadn’t shown up, Qi Liang was naturally surrounded by everyone.

Qi Liang said, “I’m not his father. What good does asking me to do?”

“But wasn’t that what you said?”

“Wen-dog might be playing me too. Are you all that naive?”

Just then, the school bus drove up. It stopped beside them, bringing a gust of cold wind.

The door opened, and Lin Wanxing took the opportunity to let the students board first. Everyone was still complaining that Wen Chengye truly never changed his ways.

At that moment, the phone suddenly rang. The situation was indeed like a tangled mess.

On the other end of the line was Teacher Qian from the sports department, saying that he suddenly had a family matter and the school had arranged for another teacher to come, asking them to wait a bit longer at the school gate.

Lin Wanxing hung up the phone and turned around to find Fu Xinshu still standing beside her.

“You should go up first, it’s cold outside,” Lin Wanxing said, gesturing toward the students in the bus windows.

Though usually easygoing, when Fu Xinshu got angry, he was as stubborn as a bull.

“What if Wen Chengye doesn’t come?” Fu Xinshu looked terrible.

“Ah, that won’t happen, will it?” Lin Wanxing stared at the distant crossroads.

“Why wouldn’t it? He doesn’t care about us,” Fu Xinshu said with certainty.

Lin Wanxing rarely saw Fu Xinshu like this, so stubborn it bordered on paranoia. The incomplete training over these days had made even the good-tempered Fu anxious.

Cars roared past as Lin Wanxing and Fu Xinshu waited by the roadside.

“He’s just like that, plays when he wants to, doesn’t when he doesn’t. He never considers his teammates. In training too, he never cares about what position others are in or how they should play. He clearly knows how important this match against Yuzhou Silver Elephant is for our group stage qualification, but he can still not show up for training,” Fu Xinshu said all at once, expressing the emotions of these past days.

Lin Wanxing listened quietly, pondering before finally asking, “Do you have any thoughts?”

The boy looked at her, his gaze full of confusion and frustration, “I don’t know, teacher.”

“You’re dissatisfied with Wen Chengye, but have you thought of any other solutions for our team?” Lin Wanxing asked gently.

“What solutions?” Fu Xinshu still didn’t understand.

“Simply put, are you thinking of replacing him with someone else?” Wang Fa, who had been listening for a while, was quite concise.

“What about Chen Weidong? Can Chen Weidong come back, just for the next match, let him play,” Fu Xinshu suddenly looked up at them.

“Chen Weidong hasn’t participated in training for more than a month. If you’re certain you need him back for the match against Yongchuan Hengda, we can talk to him together,” Lin Wanxing said.

The distant crossroads was empty, without even a car, eerily quiet. “Or do you mean, if Wen Chengye doesn’t come today, we should find Chen Weidong now?”

Fu Xinshu didn’t speak.

Lin Wanxing sighed almost inaudibly.

The boy kicked the ground. “I just want to win. You’ve been trying to make us understand that football isn’t necessarily just for victory, but I don’t understand all that. I just want to win.”

Lin Wanxing felt somewhat helpless, “You misunderstand, that wasn’t my intention.”

“Forget it,” Fu Xinshu finally uttered these two words. “We’ll probably just stay like this.”

The young man’s brow furrowed slightly. Due to the constant conflicts since Wen Chengye joined, it seemed he had developed permanent creases.

The last time Fu Xinshu had spoken to her in such a serious and desperate tone about the future was probably when they first started.

Back then, Fu Xinshu believed they couldn’t continue as they were.

If they didn’t play football, if they weren’t together, there really would be nothing in their future.

Then they painfully organized the current team, stumbling forward step by step until today, when they would still be caught in a dilemma due to the simplest personnel issue.

Lin Wanxing thought for a while, gently blowing on her fingers, which had grown cold from holding the sign-in sheet. Wen Chengye’s name was still blank.

The cold wind howled as a taxi sped toward them. Lin Wanxing looked over. After a loud braking sound, the taxi stopped.

The door opened, and someone got out.

Lin Wanxing looked toward the sound and suddenly froze.

It was Jin Ziyang, the popular teacher from Hongjing Eighth School.

“Teacher Jin, why are you here?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“Teacher Qian was supposed to accompany you, but he suddenly had a family matter, so I volunteered,” Jin Ziyang said.

The roadside fell silent again. Lin Wanxing looked up to see the students in the bus giving them a strange, scrutinizing look.

Lin Wanxing instinctively glanced at Wang Fa.

Wang Fa’s expression remained unchanged.

Jin Ziyang’s gaze swept over the bus, asking, “Is everyone here, Teacher Lin? It’s so cold outside, why aren’t you waiting on the bus?”

Lin Wanxing replied, “A student named Wen Chengye hasn’t arrived yet.”

Jin Ziyang asked, “Did he say when he would arrive?”

Lin Wanxing shook her head, “We can’t reach him by phone.”

Jin Ziyang took out his phone, “I’ll call his mother.”

Lin Wanxing was stunned, saying, “I just tried, no one answered.”

But before she could finish, Jin Ziyang had already dialed.

Surprisingly, this call seemed to connect quickly.

Jin Ziyang, with one hand in his pocket, instinctively walked a few steps away, avoiding them, and stood by a roadside tree.

From Lin Wanxing’s perspective, she could see Jin Ziyang wearing a relaxed, casual smile, suggesting a warm relationship with the person on the other end.

After a short while, he hung up and returned, saying casually, “Wen Chengye is coming right away. His family had a small matter, causing a delay.”

Fu Xinshu’s tense face finally relaxed.

Jin Ziyang explained that he had been Wen Chengye’s private tutor before, so he was quite familiar with the Wen family.

“Then teacher, do you know what Wen Chengye was doing during the New Year? He hasn’t come to training for many days.”

“I’m not that familiar with him,” Jin Ziyang said with a slight smile.

Wen Chengye arrived very late.

When even the bus driver couldn’t help but ask her “When will all the students be here? The air conditioning has been running and consuming fuel,” Wen Chengye finally boarded the bus.

The boy wore a thick down jacket, his face very pale. Half of it was hidden in his scarf. He coldly glanced at the other players on the bus, found an empty seat by himself, and sat down without apologizing for being late or speaking to anyone.

“Happy New Year,” Lin Wanxing greeted the student with a smile.

But Wen Chengye only gave her a cold glance.

This scene was observed by the other students on the bus, and everyone felt a bit heated.

The air conditioning was on in the bus, making the atmosphere humid and hot, like a barrel of mixed explosives. Although dampness might make it harder to ignite, it could still unexpectedly explode at any moment.

The bus left the city and got on the highway. No matter how much everyone had initially looked forward to the match against Yongchuan Hengda, the anxious waiting before departure and the subsequent three-hour journey was enough to wear down much of their enthusiasm.

Wen Chengye sat alone in the last row of the bus, with empty seats on both sides. Outside the window were the yellow small slopes unique to winter, scraped with turf, still appearing damp from winter rain, not yet dry.

The students had been eating snacks throughout the journey, as if on a spring outing. Now, swaying on the bus, they had grown tired, and the bus quieted down.

Lin Wanxing had been sitting with Wang Fa.

During a minor traffic jam on the highway, she stood up to stretch her legs and found Wen Chengye sitting alone in the back row, looking gloomy.

Lin Wanxing noticed he wasn’t feeling well and asked the driver to stop at the next rest area.

Jin Ziyang enthusiastically called to the boys, saying he would treat them. The boys got off one by one.

Lin Wanxing looked back and discovered that Wen Chengye was still sitting in the back seat.

“Motion sickness?” Lin Wanxing asked.

Wen Chengye remained silent, his face dark.

“Or not feeling well this morning? Something you ate?”

“Do you want to get off and get some fresh air?”

But no matter what she asked, Wen Chengye remained silent.

Lin Wanxing had no choice but to open the window beside Wen Chengye.

“When we get back on the highway, close the window if you get cold,” she said.

The students who had gone out for fresh air returned. They held various kinds of food in their hands—grilled sausages, dried tofu, and classic highway zongzi. The compartment was suddenly filled with rich aromas.

But this happiness didn’t belong to Wen Chengye.

The vehicle started, and Lin Wanxing sat back in the front row.

Looking at the happily eating students, she jokingly said to Wang Fa, “The kids are too easily bought off.”

“Teacher Lin just needs to stay firm in her beliefs,” Wang Fa said.

“I’m firm,” Lin Wanxing gave Wang Fa a playful salute, then looked back toward the end of the bus.

Wen Chengye had moved two seats over, now sitting by the window, feeling the breeze.