On the field came the deafening cheers of the students, trees, and grass trembling, the water in bottles celebrating the goal.

Lin Wanxing’s hand gently rested on her chest, feeling her heart beating violently.

Incredible.

The cheers swept across the field, traveled through distant fields, and time seemed to return to a night several days ago.

It was a field beside the old village.

After a long run, Lin Wanxing felt as if she had died. She lay on the grass of the field at night, her heart beating even faster than now.

She requested Wang Fa, asking him to give the students a football lesson. But what she didn’t tell the students was the second half of the story.

“I have requirements for the course content,” Lin Wanxing remembered saying. “This might be their last match, I want them to focus on a specific task in football training, doing something where effort will yield results.”

Wang Fa’s “Tactic One” was the product of this.

Lin Wanxing’s thinking was simple back then.

The boys wanted to win and feared losing, completely turning the meaning of the match into a product of results. But in reality, whether in football or in the studies they constantly talked about, results were never the most important thing.

The improvement of ability was most important.

She watched them practice daily, correcting their coordination, trying repeatedly; watched them progress from constant failure to eventually achieving smooth coordination. She believed what “Tactic One” had brought was already enough.

She had indeed thought that the students might score in the match, but she never imagined that the real plot would be more wonderful than imagined.

One desperate counterattack, one raid sprint, her students crossed three-quarters of the field, and through just one seamless “Tactic One” coordination, sent the football into the opponent’s goal!

Perhaps this was the wonder of football—all the surprises and unexpectedness here could always exceed imagination.

Incredible…

Lin Wanxing took out her phone, her fingertips trembling slightly. She sent the battle report to the person who hadn’t replied to her messages all day.

We scored, now it’s 1-0.

Lin Wanxing habitually put her phone back in her pocket, but this time, the phone vibrated lightly.

In her one-sided chat history with Wang Fa, a reply finally appeared. Black text on white background, Wang Fa said: Sit down, relax, enjoy the match.

It sounded like Wang Fa had been watching them all along… Lin Wanxing immediately looked around, but there was only vast greenery around the field, no sign of Wang Fa.

“Did you go to Yongchuan, or are you secretly watching us somewhere? And how can I relax? We’ve only scored one goal, we haven’t won yet.” She sent a voice message directly.

A moment later, another well-punctuated text came through.

In low-level matches, the skill gap between both sides isn’t that large. In the end, it still comes down to the players’ fighting spirit and confidence. After scoring, we’ll crush the opponent in these two aspects. So, victory is destined to be ours.

The text was long. As Lin Wanxing read it, she could almost hear Wang Fa’s voice.

The young man seemed to be wearing a baseball cap, speaking beside her in a calm yet somewhat mocking tone.

While Lin Wanxing was chatting with Wang Fa, the students on the field had finished celebrating. They returned to the center line, and the match resumed.

The field suddenly became noisy. Lin Wanxing came back to her senses and couldn’t help looking toward the Lvjing International coaching area.

There, the formally dressed coach was frantically waving his arms, signaling his players to attack, attack, and attack again!

But the more desperately they attacked, the more mistakes Lvjing International made.

In contrast, Hongjing Eighth’s players, holding the lead, appeared at ease on the field. After all, they had been under pressure for nearly 80 minutes; being ahead 1-0, they didn’t mind another 10 minutes.

One side was anxious, the other patient.

Each time Hongjing Eighth cleared the ball, it took Lvjing International almost a minute to reorganize their attack.

As Wang Fa said, after completing the first breakthrough goal, her students had already surpassed their opponents in fighting spirit and confidence.

Time passed second by second, and Hongjing Eighth’s players were completely immersed in a selfless state of play.

Even Lin Wanxing forgot to reply to the WeChat message, falling into the same absorbed state of watching the match.

Until the referee’s whistle penetrated the entire field.

The rising water vapor made the field seem as if it were burning. Sunlight penetrated the vapor, creating small, brilliant rainbows in the green background of the field.

The 1-0 score remained until the final whistle.

When Lin Wanxing and the students took the car back to 17 Wutong Road, Wang Fa had already returned.

Lin Wanxing pushed open the rooftop iron gate, and an inexplicable sense of emptiness rushed toward her.

Behind her were the chattering students. Before her, Wang Fa sat in the sunset on the rooftop, his feet on the railing, gazing at the distant field. His entire figure was like a thin silhouette, with a melancholy feeling that didn’t match his age.

Perhaps the weather was too nice today, or maybe the huge joy from victory formed a stark contrast with the current tranquility, but Lin Wanxing felt that Wang Fa was different from usual.

What exactly was different?

His foot swayed lightly at the edge of the rooftop, and a wisp of blue smoke rose in the yellowish sunset light.

Wang Fa held a cigarette between his fingers.

The blue smoke dispersed in the air, leaving a very faint tobacco smell.

Ah, so he’s smoking.

Lin Wanxing thought silently.

However, the peaceful reality was quickly dispersed by the excited shouts of the boys.

The students were all immersed in the joy of victory. Seeing Wang Fa, they immediately threw down their backpacks, rushed to him, and began chattering about the match.

Seeing them, Wang Fa extinguished his cigarette. When he turned back, he had already resumed his usual lazy and casual manner. He changed direction, his eyes particularly deep in the sunset shadows. He nodded slightly, listening to the students talk.

“We just went ‘whoosh’ like that, broke through them,” Lin Lu excitedly rushed from one corner of the rooftop to another, demonstrating to Wang Fa how the football went “whoosh.”

“It was kicking them when they were down, they were so arrogant before the match!” Zheng Feiyang followed with animation.

Chen Jianghe, the designated cool guy of the football team, spoke with authority about Lvjing International’s defensive loopholes.

“Coach, you don’t know, by the end, Lvjing International High’s coach’s face turned green.”

“Yeah, his face was green, and he grabbed our teacher’s hand asking for WeChat. Our teacher even gave it to him~” At this point, Qi Liang’s voice drifted over.

Lin Wanxing had been boiling water in the corner. Hearing this, she immediately poked her head out to protest: “Why are you attacking me? I was representing our school to promote exchange and cooperation with a prestigious football school!”

“Why exchange with losers,” Qin Ao said arrogantly.

“Makes sense,” Wang Fa agreed with the student’s viewpoint.

His clear, handsome gaze swept over lightly.

Lin Wanxing felt “caught” the moment he looked at her.

“I…” She wanted to explain.

“Delete it,” Wang Fa said.

“???” For the first time, Lin Wanxing was also speechless.

The troublesome boys clamored for a while until their energy seemed almost spent. They ran into the house in all directions, some wanting water, others lying directly on the sofa, urging her to buy groceries.

“We want half-and-half.”

“The beef must be tender!”

“Chicken meatballs!”

“Don’t ask for too much!” When she heard that she must hand-peel shrimp to make shrimp paste, Lin Wanxing finally couldn’t bear it.

Wang Fa walked into the house leisurely, listening to the food requests with interest, finally asking: “Hot pot?”

“Yes, I promised them hot pot as a reward if they won. They don’t want to go to a restaurant, insisting on eating on our rooftop.”

“Woman, don’t you understand?” Qin Ao suddenly shouted from the sofa, “When you move to a new home, you need a housewarming. We’re helping you warm your house.”

“Yes, teacher, I checked the almanac and matched it with your birth date. Today is auspicious for cooking in your new home,” Zhi Hui interjected seriously.

“She doesn’t even have a pot, obviously doesn’t know how to cook.”

“Not having a pot doesn’t necessarily mean she can’t cook. She might just be lazy,” Qi Liang added.

The boys went on endlessly, and Lin Wanxing felt her head aching.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go buy groceries.” Lin Wanxing directly pulled Wang Fa out of the house, shutting the students’ clamor inside.

“Come with me, will you? I don’t have an induction cooker, need to buy a stove and pot. I can’t carry it all alone,” Lin Wanxing looked up slightly and said to Wang Fa.

Wang Fa lowered his head. In the sunset, his features were very gentle.

“Sure,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing felt relieved and walked toward the staircase.

“I also want shrimp paste made from hand-peeled shrimp,” the young man’s melodious voice came from behind.

Lin Wanxing stopped in her tracks.

Indeed, any age-inappropriate melancholy was just her inappropriate fantasy about a handsome man smoking!