What happened to Lin Wanxing in the following period existed only as scattered fragments in her memory.

Rather like frames captured from a movie, some extraordinarily bright, others completely black.

A jacket fell upon her.

Warm, strong arms lifted her from the rubber track.

Lin Wanxing struggled to open her eyes but found only darkness before her. She could only feel herself leaning completely against the other person, then closed her eyes again.

Though temporarily unable to see, her other senses remained.

She could feel herself being supported and, due to the supporting posture, the other person’s warm breath with a hint of menthol cigarettes falling on her neck.

A jacket landed on her shoulders as Lin Wanxing was supported, beginning to walk slowly around the track.

Of course, to call that posture “supporting” would be less accurate than “dragging.”

Many times Lin Wanxing lazily tried to sit down, but firm, unyielding arms held her up, forcing her to continue walking.

She gripped the other person’s arm, feeling its solid firmness against her palm.

No words were spoken, and there seemed to be no other images.

Only the swishing sound of footsteps against the rubber track rang with particular clarity in the seemingly endless space.

Time had already been stretched infinitely long, with no concern about stretching further.

Her legs felt like soft noodles, and the timeline also seemed like very soft noodles.

In any case, when such strange comparisons flooded her mind, Lin Wanxing knew her condition must be improving.

She licked her cracked lips, struggling to lift her head to look at the person beside her, and then found herself meeting a pair of deep, dark eyes.

Long eyelashes, baseball cap still on—it was indeed Wang Fa.

Wang Fa, maintaining his professional coach’s attitude, forcibly dragged her around the track for two laps before allowing her to sit down.

Lin Wanxing plopped down ungracefully on the grass, then immediately lay flat on her back with limbs sprawled, giving Wang Fa no chance to drag her even two more steps.

Lin Wanxing closed her eyes. The grass beneath her was prickly, and she was still sweating profusely when another jacket covered her face.

This jacket was heavy, carrying a faint scent of menthol tobacco, clearly not her own.

Having the jacket thrown on her face, Lin Wanxing involuntarily groaned. She laboriously pulled the jacket down a bit, covering herself obediently like a blanket.

Then, the person beside her left.

Lin Wanxing closed her eyes, disregarding the damp chill of the evening grass, intending to sleep for a while. She was truly exhausted.

But in her half-asleep state, she was forcibly shaken awake again.

She raised her hand to lazily wave it off, but a bottle of drink was forcibly placed in her hand instead.

The cap was open. Wang Fa held her hand, forcing her to confusedly take a couple of sips.

The drink was slightly sweet and slightly sour, probably some brand of sports drink. Then she took a couple more sips on her own.

“How long did I run?” Lin Wanxing slowly spoke, hearing her voice as dry as sawn wood.

She coughed lightly a couple of times. Another surge of metallic taste rose in her throat, and then she began coughing heavily.

This time, however, probably because he thought she had revived, she no longer received the handsome man’s gentle care.

Wang Fa didn’t even pat her back or anything. He just took back the sports drink, closed the cap, and said, “If we’re counting just the running and not the time you spent crawling on the ground, about 41 minutes.”

What did he mean by crawling???

Lin Wanxing wanted to cough again after hearing this.

She suddenly felt mischievous, and reached out to pull hard, dragging Wang Fa down with her to lie flat on the grass, playing dead.

Forty-one minutes, not even half of a football match…

Her hand still retained some warmth from the young man’s palm during the pulling, her palm damp, probably from condensation on the cold sports drink.

Beneath her was the soft yet prickly grass. Under the scattered stars and bright moon, before her eyes stretched a vast, boundless starry sky.

When you keep gazing at it, it feels as if you might be completely absorbed into it.

And humans? They’re merely insignificant creatures living in the universe.

Time is long, and spacetime is eternal.

Compared to the starry sky overhead, most things indeed seem meaningless.

Lin Wanxing thought for a long time.

In a state of prolonged, aimless contemplation.

She thought about many things.

Finally, Lin Wanxing heard her own dry voice speak again — “Help me with something, and I’ll waive your rent for a month.”

“All right.” Wang Fa’s cool voice fell beside her ear, clear and straightforward.

Lin Wanxing wasn’t sure what made Wang Fa change his mind and agree to her request.

Perhaps she looked too much like a dying dog while running, or perhaps for Wang Fa, she still held a glimmer of hope, and he too wanted to try once more.

17 Wutong Road, Yuan Yuan Tutoring Center.

Lin Wanxing dragged her exhausted body up the stairs.

She pushed open the classroom door, and sure enough, the boys were all sitting in their seats.

Each had a book spread open on their desk—things like “Three Years of High School Exams, Five Years of Mock Tests,” Chinese textbooks, and most exaggeratedly, Qin Ao had “Anna Karenina” (English version) on his desk.

When they saw her enter, the students all stiffened.

A rustling sound suddenly erupted. Lin Wanxing watched as the students hastily put away various time-wasting tools. Lin Lu even secretly stuffed his phone into his desk.

“Triple Kill!”

The electronic sound of a game character being eliminated is still transmitted through the desktop.

Qin Ao kicked Lin Lu’s chair. Lin Lu fumbled about, trying to turn off his phone while greeting her — “Teacher, you’re here?”

“Did you go swimming or something?” Qin Ao asked, seeing her dripping with sweat.

Lin Wanxing pointed at Lin Lu and said, “Don’t go AFK, be a quality player.”

Then she looked at the others and said, “Come on, follow me.”

From 17 Wutong Road to the old sports field, there was a shortcut.

Bypassing the small courtyard of the old community, passing through a small patch of pitch-black bamboo grove, they reached the back entrance of the stadium—the same route Wang Fa had just led her through.

The students stood at the stadium entrance. The rolling shutter door at the back was half-open, and they immediately realized they had returned.

Led by Qin Ao, the kids began to protest — “Teacher, what are you doing?”

“Having class,” Lin Wanxing said, walking into the stadium on her own, completely disregarding the students’ complaints behind her.

“Didn’t you say we have the freedom to choose?”

“Yeah, we want to study, not football class.”

“We want to study! The kind of tutoring you get in high school!”

“A-B-C-D-E-F-G, Teacher! The kind of class you asked us about yesterday noon!”

The group of boys grumbled behind her, with the attitude that if she made them play football, they would rather die than comply.

Lin Wanxing was already too tired to speak and didn’t care what they were shouting behind her. What she needed to do was bring the students to the right place.

By the field, Wang Fa stood waiting.

In her memory, this seemed to be the first time Wang Fa had come down from the stands to stand on the green field.

Under the night sky, the young man’s tall, straight figure was outlined, naturally possessing an incredibly convincing presence.

The moment they saw Wang Fa, the students’ loud protests turned into quiet questioning.

Perhaps because they weren’t very familiar with him, or perhaps because Wang Fa commanded respect when he switched to a certain mode, no one dared to protest around him.

The students involuntarily lined up while gathering around her to protest in hushed voices.

“Teacher, didn’t you want us to study? We’re studying, so why are you making us play football again?”

“Didn’t you say we could do whatever we wanted?”

Just such quiet, reluctant grumbling.

Lin Wanxing sat down heavily and asked, “Let me confirm, you all want to study with me, right?”

The students were speechless under her gaze. After a while, Fu Xinshu nodded firmly — “We’ve all discussed it. We can’t beat Lüjing International. We want to study and get into college.”

The implication was that they no longer wanted to play football.

“I understand,” Lin Wanxing nodded. “Then what follows is the first lesson you need to learn from me—football.”

This sounded like some kind of narrative trick, and the students didn’t buy her explanation, with the attitude that she couldn’t do anything if they refused to play.

But Lin Wanxing was equally stubborn, simply saying, “Our principle has always been and will remain the same—those who want to learn can stand here, those who don’t can leave.”

It’s hard to explain why.

Maybe it was Wang Fa’s strong presence, or perhaps her serious expression in the end made the students unwilling to anger her. Of course, there might also have been many deeper reasons.

In the end, beneath the starry sky, on the green field, not a single person left.