Hearing this, Wang Fa pondered deeply as he gazed toward the field.

His eyes were distant, as if he was seriously contemplating, or perhaps reflecting on his own life.

Until—

Lin Wanxing heard Wang Fa say, “How much are you prepared to pay?”

“What do you mean how much?” Lin Wanxing didn’t immediately understand.

Just then Wang Fa took out his phone and displayed a payment QR code, “This is a paid answer.”

In the darkness, the bright yellow background with its black and white pattern was particularly glaring.

She squinted, but the young man maintained a completely composed and calm demeanor, not joking in the slightest.

Lin Wanxing took a deep breath, trying hard not to get angry, and chose a counterattack angle, “Why is it that when I find you to be a coach, you don’t mention money, but when I just ask you ‘do you support children playing soccer,’ you want to charge me? Is this question so special?”

“I didn’t expect you to be so polite. Then let’s include the coaching fees for these two days too?” Wang Fa said while lighting up his phone screen again which had just darkened.

“No, no, it’s a misunderstanding.” Lin Wanxing waved her hands, laughed awkwardly, and pretended not to see the payment code as she leaned back against the chair.

The students on the field had begun a new round of training.

Perhaps they were truly tired, or maybe it was the coach’s unpleasant words that made them lose their previous high spirits. The figures on the field no longer moved with their earlier speed, and the boys appeared more or less listless.

Lin Wanxing could empathize with this feeling.

For children, if they’re interested in something or inclined to make an effort, they always hope for encouragement from adults.

After all, that’s how they’ve grown up since they were little, so once they can’t get positive feedback from adults, it’s normal to feel it’s pointless.

In any case, dispersal happened naturally.

It started with Yu Ming, who reached the time he had agreed upon with his mother, shouldered his backpack, and went home. Then the remaining students played for a while before saying goodbye in twos and threes.

In the end, everyone had left, and even Fu Xinshu came to say goodbye.

The student seemed to want to say something more, appearing to want to ask what would happen tomorrow, when to come for training, or perhaps he wanted to ask if they would still come at all. But in the end, he didn’t ask anything.

Lin Wanxing leaned against the seat as the evening breeze caressed her face.

On the entire field, only one girl was still running around the plastic track, her parents accompanying her behind, walking very slowly.

Besides them, there was no one else on the field, which was empty and had returned to the quiet appropriate for nighttime.

A training activity with almost no organization, entirely dependent on the students’ personal wishes, so the final result was left entirely to fate.

The student’s exam results were probably the same way.

Lin Wanxing only learned that the students had failed their exams again when she was called to the teachers’ office.

Perhaps the word “again” isn’t quite appropriate here, considering that several students didn’t even take the exam.

Lin Wanxing stood at the doorway of the teachers’ office, peering in, but the imagined scene of being surrounded by parents didn’t exist—the office was very quiet.

Most teachers had gone to class, while a small number were grading papers. Teacher Xiao Xu sat at her separate small desk, looked up at her once, and Lin Wanxing gave her a signal. She hurriedly tiptoed over and whispered, “Oh, you’re here.”

“What’s up? Why did Teacher Wang and the others want to find me?”

“They’re asking why you had to manage those students,” Teacher Xiao Xu said.

“Huh?” Lin Wanxing was bewildered.

“Wasn’t there an exam a couple of days ago? In your soccer team, several people didn’t take it, and some who did take it didn’t do the paper. Then the students went home and told their parents that they didn’t have time for the exam because they were called to play soccer.”

When Lin Wanxing heard this, she was completely stunned. A bucket of blame had descended from the sky—these little brats knew how to shift responsibility?

Probably seeing her shocked expression, Teacher Xiao Xu continued, “I’ve already told Teacher Wang that you didn’t tell them to train and play soccer instead of taking the exam. They made up excuses themselves, and you can’t control them.”

As she was saying this, teachers grading papers in the office noticed the commotion at the door. The grade leader Teacher Wang, who was also Lin Lu and Yu Ming’s homeroom teacher, put down his red pen and gestured for them to come in.

It wasn’t long before Lin Wanxing was standing in front of Teacher Wang’s desk again. The last time she was here, she had faced aggressive parents, but this time, she somehow felt like she had inexplicably become the “parent” being summoned.

Teacher Wang’s gaze swept over her face and Teacher Xiao Xu’s, then he spoke, “Teacher Lin.”

“Yes,” Lin Wanxing said.

“You should have heard why I called you here?”

“I… just heard about it.”

“I won’t say much else. The pressure from parents is on the school, so you need to take more responsibility.” As Teacher Wang spoke, he took out a stack of test papers from beside him, “So, take a look at these first.”

Teacher Wang was a rather straightforward person, so their conversation ended quickly.

Lin Wanxing received the unified test papers of the 11 students currently on the soccer team and sat down briefly at Teacher Xiao Xu’s desk. She flipped through the papers one by one and discovered that even the blank exam papers of those who had been absent were included. So in comparison, the papers that were filled in but covered with red X marks were already considered to have a good attitude.

Probably seeing that she was looking through them slowly, Teacher Xiao Xu went to pour a cup of water, came over, and advised in a low voice, “Don’t be angry. There will always be problematic students. Just ignore them.”

“How can I ignore this?” Lin Wanxing asked methodically while continuing to look at the papers.

“Don’t, Teacher Wang is just…” Teacher Xiao Xu said this far, then took out her phone and typed a line of text in the WeChat chat box—

“You were too aggressive in the office last time, Teacher Wang wants to teach you a lesson.”

Lin Wanxing glanced at that line of text and said, “It’s not that bad. If I just ignore this, I’ll lose face.”

“Is this not bad? Did you tell them to train and skip the exam?” Teacher Xiao Xu’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t do that,” Lin Wanxing said.

“I knew it! I thought it was disgusting how they lied and said they didn’t take the exam because you told them to play soccer.” Teacher Xiao Xu was indignant.

“I’m fine with it.” Lin Wanxing calmed down, paused, then asked Teacher Xiao Xu, “Did you ever lie when you were young?”

Teacher Xiao Xu was taken aback, her expression stiffening.

“I did when I was young,” Lin Wanxing said. “Once, my deskmate wrongly accused me of breaking his thermos, and the teacher asked me to bring my parents to school to pay for it.”

Teacher Xiao Xu seemed a bit angry and didn’t respond.

Lin Wanxing continued on her own, “I tried everything to prove that I didn’t break his thermos, that he damaged it himself by accident.”

“And then?” Teacher Xiao Xu couldn’t help but ask.

“Then of course his parents were called to school. That day, the teacher also called me to the office. My deskmate and his father stood in front of me.” Lin Wanxing placed her hand on the test papers, looking calmly at Teacher Xiao Xu, and indicated an approximate position. “His father listened to what the teacher said, glanced at me, then violently raised his foot and kicked the little boy, my deskmate, into the corner of the wall.”

She spoke in a very low voice, and the office was also very quiet.

Teacher Xiao Xu showed an expression of sympathy, her delicate nostrils quivering.

Girls are always creatures who might speak harshly, but whose hearts are incredibly soft.

Lin Wanxing said, “Later I thought, no wonder he lied. It turned out his father’s beatings were so painful. For me to ask my parents for some money wouldn’t have been a big deal. But for him, it must have hurt.”

Teacher Xiao Xu remained silent for a long time, and finally said with pursed lips, “But that’s not the same as the current situation with the students.”

“It’s not quite the same. My students lying could be because they’re morally corrupt and behaviorally depraved. But from another perspective, they also have fears, they know it’s wrong, so they want to find an excuse to get by.”

And also, they are relying on me, subconsciously believing that I can solve many problems for them, including this one.

But Lin Wanxing did not speak this last sentence aloud.