The leg was not seriously injured.

After Fu Xinshu had his X-ray, they waited another half hour for the results. It was just a simple soft tissue contusion that would heal with rest.

In this gloomy, cold weather, they finally had some good news.

With Fu Xinshu’s condition confirmed, Lin Wanxing contacted Jin Ziyang. She planned to have the school bus return to the Yuzhou Silver Elephant Base to pick him and Wen Chengye up before heading back to Hongjing.

But Jin Ziyang said he had already taken Wen Chengye back to Hongjing by high-speed rail and told her not to worry.

At 5:50 PM, the school bus, now carrying two fewer passengers, departed from Yuzhou back to Hongjing.

Outside the window was an iron-gray highway. The headlights only illuminated a small patch of ground ahead, while farther away lay the silent winter night and completely dark road.

They reached Hongjing late at night.

The weather was cold, and everyone was exhausted.

Lin Wanxing asked the driver to take each student home. By the time it was Fu Xinshu’s turn, only Lin Lu remained on the bus.

Fu Xinshu’s home wasn’t far from Wutong Road. Wang Fa carried Fu Xinshu upstairs, saying he could walk home himself and that she should take Lin Lu home first.

With two fewer people again, the bus set off once more, with almost all the seats now empty.

The driver yawned. The only sounds in the bus were a student’s uneven breathing interspersed with occasional sniffling.

Lin Wanxing paused briefly, then went over to tap Lin Lu on the shoulder.

The student turned away, burying his face against the window.

“We’re almost there,” Lin Wanxing said.

Lin Lu buried his head even deeper into his arms.

When the street light shone in, Lin Wanxing noticed his shoulders trembling—he seemed to be crying.

Lin Wanxing was momentarily at a loss.

Embarrassed at being discovered, Lin Lu curled up even tighter.

Lin Wanxing withdrew her hand. At that moment, she could almost feel the student’s many emotions.

The fatigue after arguments, the reluctance after decisions, the uncertainty about the path ahead—everything exploded in that lonely moment after everyone else had left the bus.

This was a midnight city illuminated by street lamps, where everyone had the right to be sad.

Lin Wanxing didn’t disturb him but returned to her seat.

The bus stopped at their destination, the sound of brakes and opening doors breaking the silence. Lin Lu vigorously wiped his face, stood up abruptly, gathered his luggage, and got off.

In the shifting light of the street lamps, for a moment, Lin Wanxing saw his reddened eyes, tears, and mucus still dripping, looking utterly miserable and helpless.

Lin Lu’s home was less than ten minutes by car from Fu Xinshu’s.

He quickly dried his tears and then denied everything — “I wasn’t crying just now. I was just so tired that my eyes watered when I yawned.”

The bus stopped at the entrance to the residential complex.

To Lin Wanxing’s surprise, two middle-aged people were standing by the security booth.

Lin Wanxing recognized one of them as Lin Lu’s mother.

His parents looked anxious. Lin Wanxing helped Lin Lu off the bus, thanked the driver, and told him he could head home.

It was cold outside and nearly midnight. Lin Lu’s mother looked like she had a stomach full of things to say.

“Why did you come out?” Lin Lu quickly wiped his face again, but his reddened eyes and occasional sniffles betrayed him.

“You said you went to the hospital. How could I not worry?” Lin Lu’s mother quietly exclaimed.

“I told you it was someone else,” Lin Lu jumped up and down, showing off his intact arms and legs. “I’m fine, Mom!”

“But with what happened on the football field, and your leg already not being good, how was Mom supposed to know if you were telling the truth?”

The driver closed the door, and the bus drove away.

Lin Wanxing pulled her clothes tighter. Lin Lu’s mother, startled by the sound of the departing bus, looked over.

“Teacher Lin…”

Lin Wanxing looked up.

Lin Lu’s mother hesitated, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

Lin Wanxing — “I’m fine either way.”

“Huh?”

“Whether you want to invite me upstairs to chat, or just say ‘It’s cold, Teacher Lin, go home early and be careful on the way,’ I’m fine with either,” Lin Wanxing said.

—

Lin Lu’s home wasn’t large—two bedrooms and a living room.

There was no separate study, so the computer desk was placed in the living room.

Lin Lu was urged to take a hot bath, while his mother busied herself in the kitchen. Lin Wanxing, wearing soft house slippers, wandered around the living room.

She looked at the photos on the bookshelf one by one, with Lin Lu’s father standing beside her, seemingly not knowing what to say.

Soon, one of the photos caught Lin Wanxing’s attention.

It was a group photo of a football team with very young children.

“This was taken when they participated in the Mayor’s Cup,” Lin Lu’s father said. He took the photo from the shelf and handed it to her.

The background was green grass. The young players in the photo still had childish features. Lin Lu, being young at the time, had especially large eyes. Chen Jianghe and Yu Ming were squeezed together in the photo, and next to them was a tall boy who looked arrogant and domineering—must be Qin Ao.

Lin Wanxing also recognized the quiet duo of Zheng Ren and Zhi Hui. There was another student who, despite his young age, had a cold and indifferent gaze—it couldn’t be anyone other than Wen Chengye.

Standing at the far right of the photo was a middle-aged man. He had a crew cut, a serious expression, and dark skin. This must be Coach Jiang that the students talked about. Lin Wanxing compared him with her mental image for a while and confirmed she didn’t know him.

“They were quite cute when they were young,” Lin Wanxing said.

“Yes, and they listened back then,” the father replied.

“What made you decide to send Lin Lu to play football?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“It was my father’s fault—his grandfather, I mean. Lin Lu was very skinny when he was little. One weekend, Lin Lu and his grandpa went to the park and happened to meet Coach Jiang’s football class distributing training materials. I was against it at the time, but Grandpa said it was only 350 yuan per semester, just his one month’s pension, and he would pay for it. Who knew? 350 yuan and the child has been playing for so long.”

The man’s voice was full of resignation.

Lin Wanxing looked up. On the wall was a warm family photo of the three of them. On the table was a half-played toy car, partially disassembled, with the other half placed next to oranges in a fruit bowl.

“It must have been very difficult,” Lin Wanxing said.

Lin Lu’s father let out a long sigh, and after a while, he quietly asked, “Teacher Lin, did you lose the match today?”

The man’s expression was concerned.

“Yes, there was an incident on the field today, so we couldn’t win,” Lin Wanxing answered.

“I saw Lin Lu was crying,” Lin Lu’s father said. “Today when he told us he was at the hospital, his mom was so worried she wanted me to take a taxi straight to Yuzhou.”

Lin Wanxing remembered her first meeting with Lin Lu’s mother when she came to school because her son had sprained his foot.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Lin Wanxing said sincerely.

“His foot has a habitual sprain from playing football when he was young, which is why we were quite happy when he stopped playing in high school. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t achieve much in football. If his legs get damaged and he’s left with a disability, that’s a lifelong issue.”

Without realizing it, Lin Wanxing and Lin Lu’s father were sitting on opposite sides of the small dining table. Hearing his last words, Lin Wanxing fell completely silent. The sound of running water from the bathroom and the gas stove from the kitchen became audible.

“When Lin Lu was little, I watched anime with him. ‘Slam Dunk,’ ‘Star of the Giants’—I watched them all. I thought, hey, if my son ever wins a championship in football, how proud I would be,” the man said, opening the thermos on the table and taking a sip, savoring it. “Ah, youth is wonderful. You can dream all sorts of dreams. At my age now, I just turn over and open my eyes each day thinking about work, most concerned about how much money is in the bank account and whether I can support my wife and child.”

Lin Wanxing folded her hands on the dining table. Rarely was she at a loss for words.

“Don’t feel pressured. I’m just chatting,” Lin Lu’s father said. “We parents are very grateful to you. Lin Lu’s grades have improved quite a bit lately. You also told us that the child could get into a good university as a sports specialty student and that he could get into an undergraduate program. That’s very tempting for us parents. But isn’t this just an excuse? Isn’t academic performance just an excuse for you to continue letting the children play football?”

The man’s tone suddenly turned sharp.

Lin Wanxing felt this wasn’t entirely wrong, so she nodded.

“People are always greedy. We think Teacher Lin is so capable, why can’t she spend time helping the children focus on their studies? Even without football, she could help them get into good universities, right?”

“Continuing to play football is their choice. If they want to give up football and focus wholeheartedly on studying, I will provide the necessary help,” Lin Wanxing paused, emphasizing, “But I can’t be responsible for their choices.”

“But you are indeed guiding them, aren’t you?” Lin Lu’s father suddenly laughed helplessly. “You say it’s the children’s own choice, but you think they should continue playing football, so you’ve been supporting and guiding them to keep playing, right?”

The water stopped, the gas went out, and silence fell. Lin Wanxing couldn’t answer.

“Why?” asked Lin Lu’s father.

“It’s difficult for me to explain clearly.”

“Her mom and I have always found it strange—you were a top scorer in the college entrance exam, a graduate from a prestigious university. Why would you come to our small place to be a PE teacher?”

“I encountered some things.”

“Those things made you feel that studying is useless, that after all that reading, it amounts to nothing. But what gives you the right to think studying is useless and then influence the lives of these children with your ideas?”

Lin Wanxing walked out of Lin Lu’s home.

It seemed that since that incident, she hadn’t encountered a situation where she had to answer so many questions.

So, overall, she had trouble answering.

She held the railing and walked down the stairs.

The collision on the field, the fight in the locker room, Qin Ao’s anger, Wen Chengye’s coldness, and Fu Xinshu’s determination…

These scenes flashed one by one in the darkness, and fatigue, like heavy snow bending pine branches, made her feel heavy.

It was still very cold. The air was damp and chilly, making the stairwell seem even narrower.

Lin Wanxing thought…

Lin Lu’s father was wrong from the start. She didn’t have the power to influence students’ lives. People aren’t creatures that can be changed.

None of this had any meaning.

Her phone vibrated gently in her pocket.

Lin Wanxing’s fingers were stiff from the cold, but she still took out her phone.

There were many messages on WeChat.

There were notifications from the school teachers’ group, Jin Ziyang’s message saying Wen Chengye had arrived home safely, and the most recent one from Wang Fa.

Winfred — Go straight out of the complex after you come downstairs, I’ll wait for you at the south gate.

The message was brief, but Lin Wanxing looked at it for a while.

The motion sensor light in the stairwell suddenly went out. In this dim and cold space, the screen gradually dimmed as well. She felt the cold edge of her phone, with some inexplicable emotions in her heart.

When Lin Wanxing walked out of the residential complex, Wang Fa was indeed waiting at the entrance.

Based on time and distance calculations, Wang Fa must have carried Fu Xinshu home and then taken a taxi directly here.

Under the street light, the young man in his windbreaker was tall and slender.

On both sides were winter street trees, their leaves completely fallen, branches stabbing toward the sky. There were no cars on the road anymore. Behind him stretched an empty, long, smoke-gray street—no stars, no moon, everything was a bone-chilling city night scene.

Yet somehow in this very setting, perhaps due to the soft street light, or maybe because Wang Fa had wrapped a brown plaid scarf around his neck, he looked particularly warm.

Lin Wanxing walked quickly to Wang Fa.

She tilted her head slightly upward.

Wang Fa’s eyelashes were lowered, his profile illuminated by a faint yellow light, his contours clear and cold. His eye color therefore appeared deeper than usual, like thick honey.

Lin Wanxing instinctively took her hand out of her pocket, making a slight lifting motion, but at the moment she almost touched his face, she withdrew her fingers.

“It’s so cold, why didn’t you go back first?” she patted Wang Fa’s shoulder and asked.

The young man’s gaze fell on his shoulder. Lin Wanxing cleared her throat lightly, pretending nothing had happened.

Wang Fa looked away and said as they walked, “Because your student Lin Lu messaged me saying, ‘Teacher has entered the tiger’s den and been captured by his parents, please come rescue her quickly.'”

What nonsense.

Lin Wanxing was helpless — “How is he going to pass the Chinese exam at the beginning of the semester?”

“I think it’s quite good, fully expressing the urgency of the situation,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing’s steps faltered for a moment before continuing alongside Wang Fa.

Neither of them made any move to take out their phones to call a car. The street was long as if they could walk for a very long time.

“What happened?” Wang Fa asked.

Lin Wanxing thought for a moment, then slowly told Wang Fa everything that Lin Lu’s father had discussed with her. In the end, she quietly omitted the part where Lin Lu’s father asked her “why she came to this small place to be a PE teacher.”

“So to summarize, Lin Lu’s parents believe you can help the children get into good universities, but instead you encourage them to play football rather than focus on studying?” Wang Fa asked.

“Exactly!”

“How did you respond?”

Lin Wanxing rubbed her hands together and blew a breath of warm air into her palms. “I told him this was the students’ choice, and all I could do was assist them.”

“But playing football isn’t that interesting,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing immediately glared at Wang Fa — “I thought we were on the same side!”

“I’m definitely on Teacher Lin’s side,” Wang Fa smiled.

“But football still disappoints you,” Lin Wanxing completed the half-sentence Wang Fa had left unsaid.

“What about you?” Wang Fa suddenly looked at her.

Lin Wanxing gave him a puzzled look, but in that moment, she also felt completely penetrated by Wang Fa’s clear gaze.

This was a cold winter night on a dark street, with no stars, no moon, and endless silence.

“What has disappointed you?” Wang Fa asked.