Lin Wanxing remembered that before Wang Fa ran, the students were eagerly comparing who would finish in the shortest time.

But after Wang Fa repeated the entire set of exercises, when the boys saw the time on the stopwatch, at that moment everyone felt this was too unfair!

Everyone was happily taking a test, and you had to come and show off!

That was roughly the emotion.

The sun was scorching their skin, and Wang Fa, having completed the entire set of exercises, walked toward them from the nearby lawn.

His breathing was slightly more rapid than before exercising, and he was sweating, with his black t-shirt sticking to his back, revealing the attractive contours of his shoulder blades.

But besides that, there was no sign of fatigue, as if he had just completed a normal warm-up routine.

Lin Wanxing wrote Wang Fa’s name at the bottom of the form and recorded his total time. Her name was at the top, the students in the middle, and Wang Fa at the bottom.

The boys looked at the string of numbers from top to bottom, feeling quite conflicted.

“Coach, did you come to discourage us?” Yu Ming asked dejectedly.

Lin Wanxing held the clipboard while Wang Fa leaned over to look at his own time and said, “I haven’t practiced for a long time.”

Qin Ao — “What do you mean by ‘haven’t practiced for a long time’!?”

Qi Liang — “Obviously he means, ‘Ah, this performance is much worse than before~’.”

Due to the intense exercise, Qi Liang’s messy hair was soaked with sweat, becoming docile strands sticking to his scalp. He mockingly imitated Wang Fa’s calm tone.

Wang Fa nodded — “That’s exactly what I meant.”

Chen Jianghe — “The truth hurts, coach.”

Lin Wanxing listened from the side, unconsciously twirling her pen.

Wang Fa looked puzzled — “How does it hurt?”

The students were shocked.

“You’re at a professional level crushing us high school students, how is that not hurtful!”

“Your overall time is so much shorter than ours, and you didn’t even rest in between. Are you even human?”

“Coach, were you a professional player before?”

The students spoke one after another, giving the impression that if Wang Fa weren’t their coach, they would have pummeled him first before speaking.

Wang Fa — “Don’t compare yourselves with me, compare with your teacher, then you won’t be hurt.”

The students all widened their eyes, looking at her and then at Wang Fa, surprised by the coach’s words.

Lin Wanxing held her pencil but didn’t think Wang Fa meant it literally.

“What should we compare with the teacher? She’s never played football.”

“That’s like us comparing addition and subtraction with elementary school students, it’s bullying!”

Lin Wanxing raised her hand — “I… think you might not calculate faster than elementary students. What if they’re the ones bullying you!”

“Teacher, say less, look how out of breath you are!”

The boys all tried to stop her from speaking.

“Sit down,” Lin Wanxing heard Wang Fa say to her. Then, Wang Fa took the lead in sitting on the grass, appearing very easygoing.

The boys still stood motionless, and Wang Fa asked them, “If you don’t want to compare with Teacher Lin, why do you want to compare with me?”

“Because you’re strong.”

“Aren’t you our goal? Otherwise, why would you demonstrate once for us?”

The sun was blazing hot, warming the grass and soil. They sat down one by one.

“I’m not suitable for your goal,” Wang Fa said. “First, I did come from a professional player background, but I retired early as a player. My coaching career has been much longer than my playing career.”

Lin Lu asked with concern, “Why did you retire, coach? Were you injured?”

Lin Wanxing noticed that when Wang Fa heard this question, there was a fleeting abnormality in his expression, but he quickly answered, “I wasn’t injured.”

“Oh, then why… are you so amazing?” Lin Lu asked.

In the boys’ vocabulary, “amazing” was probably the highest praise. They looked at Wang Fa with admiring gazes.

Wang Fa answered patiently and seriously, “First, I’ve been doing the same amount of physical training with my players for a long time. Second, I have more experience and an instinct for rationally allocating physical energy.”

“Instinct for rationally allocating physical energy?”

“For example, there might be a ten-year age gap between us, but generally speaking, our endurance shouldn’t differ much, or rather, you should be stronger than me in this aspect. But believe me, once we start a match, your stamina will be depleted faster. I can maintain faster explosive sprint speeds and more stable technical movements throughout the entire match because of my experience in energy allocation.”

The boys nodded vigorously as if they understood Wang Fa’s words. However, understanding the literal meaning, comprehending the content, and achieving it—there was an enormous gap between these three things.

The students also realized this, and therefore asked somewhat anxiously:

“We have a sense of this, just a little bit. But coach, this sounds like something that requires long-term training and playing matches to develop.”

“We want to learn, but what should we do when you’re not here?”

They looked conflicted, speaking cautiously while constantly observing Wang Fa’s expression.

“The first thing you need to do is something very simple yet difficult,” Wang Fa said as he held up the clipboard, showing the table with all the students’ scores.

There were many names and many data points.

Lin Wanxing saw her own time at the top, the worst performance.

While Wang Fa’s time was at the bottom, far exceeding all the students. In between were the test results of all the boys, one after another, up and down, densely packed.

Then, Wang Fa said, “Find your test results, remember them, and then forget everyone else’s.”

The boys looked at the coach. The white paper reflected a clear light, with each pencil-written number exceptionally distinct.

Wang Fa’s expression was calm and solemn, but the students were very confused.

A moment later, Wang Fa drew a clear vertical line in front of the total time column from top to bottom in front of all the students, saying, “Please remember, on this field, there will always be people weaker than you, and others stronger than you. The person you should compare yourself with has never been others, but always yourself.”

The students’ expressions changed somewhat. There was less confusion and uncertainty, neither as happy as before nor as unhappy.

They just squinted, looking very seriously at their row of numbers in the coach’s hands, trying hard to remember.

Lin Wanxing raised her bottle of mineral water, took a sip, and then saluted Wang Fa.

Making students focus on themselves in a short time was not a simple task, after all, everyone had grown up being compared to others.

What does focusing on oneself mean, and how exactly to achieve it? These are, in fact, a series of enormous propositions, abilities that people need long-term effort to understand and master.

But Lin Wanxing was grateful that Wang Fa brought up this matter, which showed he always wanted to teach these students properly and seriously.

After the physical test, they didn’t talk much more.

The students had to go to class, while Lin Wanxing had to go to work. Before their temporary parting, the students were all reluctant to leave.

Time was tight now, with Wang Fa leaving in just a few days. They wished they could cherish every second with the coach, but the daily school curriculum didn’t allow it.

Therefore, Lin Wanxing promised the students she would try to secure more extracurricular time for them.

There weren’t many morning physical education classes, and Lin Wanxing spent the rare leisurely time thinking about solutions.

At noon, Lin Wanxing borrowed a book from the school library. With the book in hand, she knocked on the door of the physical education department office.

Chubby Teacher Qian was sitting by the window drinking tea, with no other teachers present.

Seeing her, Teacher Qian enthusiastically greeted, “Teacher Lin, what brings you here today?”

“I’m here to report on some work to Teacher Qian.” Lin Wanxing stood beside Teacher Qian’s desk and only then realized that Teacher Qian had a great position because, being close, he could see the senior high classrooms in the building opposite.

She looked away and said to Teacher Qian, “Yesterday I took our school’s football team to participate in the Youth Super League qualifying tournament again.”

“Oh right, there was a match. How did it go?” Teacher Qian took a sip of tea from his large mug and asked.

“We won and advanced to the main tournament.”

“What?” Teacher Qian’s hand visibly trembled, and he quickly put down his mug. The enamel utensil hit the table with a loud “clang.” “Advanced to the main tournament?”

“Yes, they played quite well,” Lin Wanxing said.

Perhaps feeling that his reaction was too strong, Teacher Qian maintained his dignified teacher demeanor by gently picking up his mug and taking another sip. “So, who did you beat?”

“We eliminated Green View International,” Lin Wanxing said.

Upon hearing this, Teacher Qian “puffed” out his tea, spraying it all over the Hongjing Daily newspaper in front of him. Lin Wanxing calmly pulled out a tissue and handed it to him.

“Cough cough… cough cough… Who???” Teacher Qian asked while coughing.

“Green View International High School, the one owned by Green View Tobacco, which I believe is the high school division of their football school?” Lin Wanxing explained, following his question. “I heard they joined our qualifying tournament for some reason.”

“Of course, I know Green View International!” Teacher Qian’s eyes bulged like brass bells as if he hadn’t expected them to defeat such a strong opponent as Green View International, and he was very pleased.

But a moment later, he remembered something else, and his voice suddenly became dry, “Teacher Lin has worked hard.”

“It’s all due to the student’s efforts,” Lin Wanxing also engaged in formal talk with Teacher Qian. “So, Teacher Qian, don’t you think this is a rare opportunity? I’d like to apply to the school to allow the students more time for football training.”

Teacher Qian’s gaze became even more complex, “This isn’t something you can simply decide. How do you plan to apply?”

“I’ve looked into relevant materials. These football team kids can take the ‘high-level athlete’ route.” Lin Wanxing carefully observed Teacher Qian’s expression when she mentioned “university.”

Teacher Qian’s eyebrows twitched, “‘High-level athlete’ isn’t that simple. First, you need good rankings in competitions, and second, the cultural course requirements are extremely high.”

Lin Wanxing nodded, “I checked, they need to reach the second-tier university admission line.”

“Are you confident?” Teacher Qian, like a shrewd old fox, suddenly asked.

“I don’t have absolute confidence, but rather than having them sleep in the classroom every day, it’s better to let them play football outside. I can also tutor them in their studies during free time.”

Lin Wanxing, having worked in the student union in college, was skilled at formal talk. As she spoke, she continued to keenly observe the changes in Teacher Qian’s expression.

Sure enough, Teacher Qian wasn’t that interested in the “football achievements” mentioned earlier; instead, when she mentioned “tutoring,” Teacher Qian showed signs of interest, “Teacher Lin wants more time and space to tutor these students individually?”

“You could understand it that way,” Lin Wanxing went with the flow and continued, “So I’d like to ask for your help to see if the school can make a special approval to allow our school team players to have more flexible training times, without having to follow the school’s schedule.”

“Do you want them to form a separate class, with you in charge?”

Lin Wanxing — “Not necessarily a separate class, just still the team.”

“This not only requires leadership approval, but mainly parental consent for them not to follow the school’s curriculum. The college entrance exam is next year, and if children focus solely on football and neglect their cultural studies, it could affect their entire lives.”

“I understand,” Lin Wanxing said.

“You need to provide some guarantees,” Teacher Qian continued to hint.

“What kind of guarantees?”

“For instance… promise the parents that you can help the children get into university,” Teacher Qian said very directly.

“That’s probably difficult,” Lin Wanxing frankly said. “My one-sided verbal promise alone won’t be sufficient.”

“Then at the very least, there should be improvement in the next monthly exam, otherwise how can you convince the parents?”

“Originally, parents like Lin Lu and Yu Ming’s mothers, when they entrusted their children to me, would check the next monthly exam results. If the results aren’t good, they might take back their children and not let me lead them,” Lin Wanxing said.

“Exactly!” Teacher Qian slapped his thigh. “So have you been tutoring them properly?”

“No,” Lin Wanxing said very straightforwardly.

“???” Teacher Qian looked at her incredulously, his eyes widening again. “How can that be? What’s the reason? Are the students unwilling to have extra classes, or what?”

Recalling how the students sat in the Yuanyuan tutoring class demanding to study hard and make progress every day, Lin Wanxing said, “On the contrary, they actively request to study.”

Hearing this, Teacher Qian nodded with satisfaction, “That’s right. Previously, with you participating in competitions and busy schedules, having to both train and have extra classes, time was indeed insufficient. How about this, I’ll report to the principal about the school football team and see if special approval can be granted.”

“Thank you,” Lin Wanxing said.

“It’s also because Teacher Lin has done a good job. Our No. 8 Middle School advancing to the Youth Super League main tournament is a significant achievement in our school’s football development, which indeed needs to be reported. Rest assured, go back and wait for news.”

“Thank you, Teacher Qian.” Lin Wanxing smiled happily and bowed to Teacher Qian in gratitude. “I’ll take my leave then.”

“No problem, it’s what I should do. Take care.” Teacher Qian picked up his tea mug and resumed drinking thoughtfully.

Lin Wanxing took two steps before suddenly remembering something. She turned around and placed the book she had been holding on Teacher Qian’s desk.

The book had a black and white cover with intersecting grids drawn on it. The English title was “Crossword.”

Teacher Qian looked up, staring at her in surprise.

Lin Wanxing smiled and said, “This is for you.”