The old stadium had no specialized field lighting, relying only on streetlights and natural light for illumination.

By now, the sky had completely darkened. Lin Wanxing peeked cautiously around the edge of the field.

Chen Jianghe impatiently hugged the ball, following behind her.

After being berated by Chen Jianghe, the scout had already slipped away.

The young men from before were playing soccer on the field; everything seemed to have returned to its usual calm.

And on the stands…

Lin Wanxing breathed a sigh of relief—the young man was still sitting there.

On the pitch-black stands, he sat with his long legs crossed, his baseball cap pulled low as if he had fallen asleep.

Her backpack still lay on the seat beside him. Lin Wanxing tiptoed over, trying not to wake him.

But just as her hand grasped the strap, a cool gaze glanced her way.

The young man slightly raised his baseball cap and looked up at her.

In the darkness, his pupils were jet black, as if waiting for her to say something.

“Thank you… for watching my bag?” Lin Wanxing ventured.

The young man was unsatisfied with her response.

Before he could speak, Lin Wanxing quickly cut in — “I haven’t even asked you yet, do you know me?”

How did you know the agent was deceiving Chen Jianghe? How did you know I was looking for him? And why did you tell me to go down and help him?

“Not at present,” he replied. The night cast shadows beneath his brow bone, accentuating his three-dimensional features and refined appearance.

“Well, we could get to know each other even if we don’t already,” Lin Wanxing smiled, taking out her phone. “Why don’t we add each other on WeChat?”

“Sure,” the young man took out his phone, pressed a few buttons, then held it out to her.

Lin Wanxing hadn’t expected him to be so cooperative. Not noticing the yellow background, she saw the QR code with a profile picture and scanned it directly.

The page jumped, switching to a new window—

Pay to Individual Winfred (*fa) Amount ¥10.00 Add note Pay

Lin Wanxing was shocked — “What is this payment for?”

“Storage fee.”

“…”

Lin Wanxing turned off her phone screen, deciding to renege.

“How stingy,” the young man stood up, grabbed his baseball jacket that had been tossed aside, and turned to leave.

He took a few steps.

“By the way,” he turned to look at Chen Jianghe.

Chen Jianghe, caught in that gaze, actually shuddered involuntarily.

“Why haven’t you ever dreamed of becoming a professional player?” he asked.

Chen Jianghe opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word.

Wang’s Beef Rice Noodles.

The rice noodles were snow-white, thoroughly blanched in boiling water. Preserved cabbage from the pickle jar, well-marinated, was fished out and placed on top of the noodles, covered with sliced beef.

A wooden barrel held a large pot of clear beef broth, ladled steaming hot into the bowl. Cilantro, scallions, chili, and Sichuan peppercorns were all added according to personal preference.

The atmosphere inside the shop warmed with the steam from the soup, a feast for both eyes and nose.

Lin Wanxing rubbed her disposable chopsticks together and said to the young man sitting across from her — “This is so delicious. Have you been here before?”

Chen Jianghe finally showed a bit of local disdain — “This place is famous.”

“The owner says it’s been open for over twenty years. Have you eaten here since you were little?”

“What’s that got to do with you?” Chen Jianghe glanced at the table. The rice noodles looked tempting, but he deliberately refused to pick up his chopsticks.

Lin Wanxing didn’t mind him and continued talking.

She told Chen Jianghe that she was also a Hongjing native but had later left the city with her parents.

She asked Chen Jianghe which places in Hongjing were trending recently and told him about those old stores hidden in alleys that she had visited.

Finally, Chen Jianghe couldn’t hold back — “Do you always talk this much?”

“Not really?” Lin Wanxing pointed her chopsticks vaguely at his noodles. “Are you not going to eat?”

Chen Jianghe kept a cold face, refusing to yield.

Lin Wanxing smiled — “You’re still young, still thin-skinned. Look at that guy today—we were strangers! Not only did he eat my snacks, but he dared to ask me for 10 yuan!”

“Aren’t we strangers too?” Chen Jianghe said, maintaining his cold demeanor.

“How could we be strangers? You borrowed a soccer ball from me today.” Lin Wanxing smiled, pulling out the “100 Times” card from her pocket.

Chen Jianghe’s expression changed instantly, with a look that said ‘Put that down and we can talk.’

“Are you on a soccer team? Which one? For a scout to find you, your skills must be pretty good?”

“Why do you care?”

“You seem very familiar with soccer. If Manchester United’s youth training isn’t good, which European clubs have good youth programs?”

“La Masia, Southampton, Atalanta.”

“You know so much. So who gave you this card? You brought it with you instead of throwing it away as trash, there must be a reason, right?” Lin Wanxing asked again.

Chen Jianghe remained silent once more.

“Oh well, if you won’t say, that’s fine~ Do you still want to borrow the soccer ball?” Lin Wanxing was still holding up the handmade card, where the first box had been crossed out.

Chen Jianghe stared at her with a serious expression, continuing his silence.

“There are still 99 times left on the card. If you want to borrow the soccer ball every day, you can keep borrowing for more than three months.”

Lin Wanxing’s smile faded as she spoke earnestly, “I can lend it to you. The only requirement is that, no matter how late, you must return the soccer ball every day. This is our agreement. Can you do that?”

Chen Jianghe didn’t respond, remaining rigid.

Lin Wanxing didn’t lower her hand either, maintaining her gaze on him.

Finally, the young man nodded.

“Then let’s eat,” Lin Wanxing handed the “100 Times” card back to him, lowered her head, and began picking out the beef from her bowl to eat first.

People came and went in the noodle shop, while outside, traffic flowed steadily on the road.

After a while, the other pair of chopsticks on the table moved.

Across from her came a slurping sound of someone eating rice noodles.

Lin Wanxing and Chen Jianghe parted ways at the intersection.

The soccer ball that the young man had “borrowed” was back in her hands.

She didn’t offer to walk the student home, just left her phone number and asked the young man to send her a text message when he got home.

The sky had turned completely dark, traffic on the road had lessened, and the walk back to school became increasingly quiet.

Lin Wanxing looked up to see the brightly lit teaching building. The school buildings stood imposing, with strict discipline.

The campus was silently still.

She first returned the soccer ball to the equipment room, then walked around the teaching building toward the school dormitory.

When they came for the internship, the high school had arranged dormitories for all the interns, having them live with the students.

But because the buildings were low, and they followed the same schedule as the students—being woken by the bell at six every morning—many interns had gradually moved out of the dormitories.

The dormitory building was extremely quiet. She had previously shared a room with Teacher Xu, directly opposite where the dormitory supervisor lived.

Students were still in the evening self-study. The auntie had turned on a desk lamp and was knitting under the light.

Lin Wanxing greeted the auntie and shared half of the sugar-roasted chestnuts she had bought on her way back.

“You’re too kind, Little Lin,” the auntie said, placing half the chestnuts in a bamboo basket. She cracked one open with a “crack” and asked, “Was work tiring today? Which grade are you teaching?”

“I’m not teaching classes. I was assigned to manage the sports equipment.”

“Oh my, what a pity. Is it tiring?”

“It’s very relaxed actually. Nobody supervises me, and I can even play games,” Lin Wanxing said with a smile.

“By the way, your package arrived today. It was so heavy, such a big box. Full of books, I suppose? I had a young man help carry it to your room.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Lin Wanxing said.

“With all those books you’ve read, you must be a good student. You’ll make a good teacher.”

Lin Wanxing opened the dormitory door. The night breeze blew through, and Teacher Xu’s bed was already empty.

The left half of the room was suddenly vacant, while the right half, from the head of the bed to the desk, was occupied by a huge cardboard box almost as tall as a person.

As the light came on, the transparent tape wrapped around the box gleamed.

There were several markings she had made with a marker pen on the box.

Lin Wanxing stood in front of the box for a while but ultimately didn’t open it.