Chapter 5: Football Belongs to Youth

  It's now 4:30 in the afternoon, and the early summer sun is still half-hanging in the west.

  A bit dazzling golden light is scattered on the football field in the emerald green surroundings.

  The football field of Feicui Fourth is located in front of the new teaching building, and it's the first scenic line when entering the school gate.

  For the sake of the school's reputation, Principal Qiu invested heavily in rebuilding this football field that had been used for many years and was a bit worn out.

  After President Qiu's great efforts in renovation and decoration, it has become extremely new and beautiful.

  A 400-meter track that was previously covered with coal cinder was paved with a layer of red circular plastic track, and the track had white lines dividing it into six small tracks from outside to inside. The football field that was originally filled with yellow sand also laid out grass-colored plastic carpets. White small sand was sprinkled on these carpets to reduce the friction of the carpets. On the left side of the red plastic runway near the school wall, a spectator stand that could seat hundreds of people was built.

  The only thing that hasn't changed is the two large banyan trees standing tall at the northeast and southwest corners of the stadium, while under the banyan trees a new small fence was built with cement and white ceramic tiles.

  There are six goals on the football field. Due to consideration of students' physical strength and site restrictions.

  The match was held on a large football field, with the middle line dividing it into two small football fields. Therefore, there were four more goals with white nets hanging from them on both sides of the big stadium, slightly smaller than regular goals.

  A group of boys wearing orange tops and white shorts, the uniform of the Dutch national football team, and a group of boys wearing all-white uniforms of Real Madrid are playing a game on the soccer field surrounding one ball.

  Lin Xiaoyu is one of them in this batch of orange-robed army.

  Lin Xiaoyu wore this bright orange jersey, which was slightly different from his teammates. The clothes were all the same style, but the printed numbers on the white shorts were a bit different.

  Everyone else's number is on the front right thigh of their shorts, but Lin Xiaoyu's number is on the back left buttocks. It makes people feel like Lin Xiaoyu is wearing his pants backwards.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't wear it inside out, but this pair of ball pants was printed with the pattern reversed. There's also a small story about this pair of ball pants.

  The basketball uniforms for Class 3 of Grade 1 have just been distributed, and everyone is delighted to get the uniforms with their own numbers printed on them. Lin Xiaoyu didn't have any special feelings about the uniform number, so she casually chose No. 20. However, her classmates were not as casual as her, they all scrambled to wear their favorite numbers. As a result, some popular numbers among basketball stars became the focus of competition.

  The No. 10 jersey, a number that belongs to the team's spiritual leader in any team, is deeply favored by football fans. In Lin Xiaoyu's class, it was no exception. Several people had their eyes on this No. 10 jersey.

  But No. 10 jersey only had one, in order not to hurt the team's morale, the team captain Zhang Zhilin decided to draw lots to decide who would get the jersey. Everyone agreed. In the end, it was the team's military advisor, Siyan, who got the jersey with a big smile on his face, which was far beyond his own strength.

  Four Eyes' complacency didn't last long, and a few days later when the new jerseys were issued, Four Eyes was left speechless.

  The No. 10 jersey and the four eyes played a not-so-big-not-so-small joke, the big black number with golden edges on the orange jersey made the four eyes very satisfied, but the small 10 on the pants was printed upside down on the butt. This is the only one in the whole team that is printed upside down. Perhaps this inadvertently reflects the uniqueness of the No. 10 jersey even more.

  Four Eyes was extremely dissatisfied with the number printed on the buttocks of his jersey, as if wearing the number on the left buttock would be like a hot branding iron that would pierce his buttocks. So Four Eyes peddled his coveted No. 10 jersey everywhere.

  The jersey with the misprinted number is like a person with a misplaced face. A pair of eyes, no matter how bright and charming, no matter how captivating, once they are placed on a person's forehead, probably no one would want to have such beautiful eyes. Now this jersey is the same, no one wants this jersey with the number printed on the butt. Siyan feels very helpless about this.

  Lin Xiaoyu has never been interested in the number 10 jersey, Lin Xiaoyu actually likes the goalkeeper's number one jersey, but unfortunately, Lin Xiaoyu thinks it's too boring to play as a goalkeeper. Lin Xiaoyu can't stand being stuck in front of the goal for half an hour without touching the ball a few times, and occasionally even getting teased by skilled forwards, watching as the goal he's defending gets pierced with several big holes, feeling close up as others celebrate scoring in front of him, this feeling makes Lin Xiaoyu, who used to play goalkeeper because he liked the character Tsubasa Ozora from "Captain Tsubasa", feel apprehensive.

  Although his goalkeeping skills are not good, Lin Xiaoyu chose to play in midfield where he can run freely. Rushing forward is like being a striker, and returning to the penalty area is like being a defender, which feels great for Lin Xiaoyu.

  Lin Xiaoyu wasn't particularly interested in the No. 10 jersey, but she was intrigued by the jersey with the number printed on the buttocks. Lin Xiaoyu often didn't care for things that were too common, but she always had an inexplicable curiosity and fondness for new and unusual things. She felt the same way about this jersey with the number printed on the buttocks.

  In Lin Xiaoyu's eyes, the jersey with the misprinted number on the butt didn't lose value because of the mistake. On the contrary, she thought it was precisely this number on the butt that made it stand out from the crowd. Lin Xiaoyu liked this jersey with its unique personality. So Lin Xiaoyu went to exchange jerseys with Siyan.

  When he saw that Lin Xiaoyu was willing to take the jersey with the number printed on the butt, Siyan was overjoyed and hastily took Lin Xiaoyu's No. 20 jersey and stuffed it into his own backpack. The sizes of Lin Xiaoyu and Siyan's jerseys were the same, so they fit each other perfectly after exchanging them.

  Lin Xiaoyu wore this jersey with the number printed on his buttocks, which he thought was full of personality, and ran onto the football field.

  The football match of Class 3, Grade 1 is being held on the playground. The young players are playing very fiercely, but it's far from exciting.

  Indeed, as a group of kids who have just started playing football, the exquisite cooperation, clever passing, brilliant dribbling and beautiful goals are hard to see in the eyes of the audience. Most of the time, people only see a group of children running around and colliding with each other without any rules or tactics. Such a game may make some people who understand football feel bored.

  But for these kids who are playing on the field, this game is incredibly intense and exciting.

  Under the fuel of something called "youth", this group of kids unfolded a competition surrounding a small football with their unmatched passion. Each child was seriously engaged in this game, and the purpose of the game was very simple, just for the joy of victory.

  Lin Xiaoyu wore the jersey with the number printed on his buttocks, following the rolling football back and forth in a sprint; Siyan shouted commands to his teammates on the field from time to time. Chen Yongkun, who was playing on the wing, continued to move forward and backward along his left flank... Every face and body was covered with sweat that flowed down during their passionate youth.

  Due to limited levels on both sides, the two teams broke the deadlock in the second half.

  In the midfield, five or six players from both sides were competing for the ball, in the chaos, someone's foot kicked the ball to the back of the second-year team. The second-year defender cleared the ball in a panic and made an error, Zhang ZhiLin, the captain of the first-year third class, got the ball and directly dribbled into the opponent's penalty area, and gently pushed the ball into the goal in front of the tense and confused goalkeeper.

  One is better than zero.

  Lin Xiaoyu and other team members cheered and hugged Zhang Zhilin, who scored the goal, excitedly in front of the opponent's goal. The audience on the sidelines, including Class 3, Grade 1, also burst into cheers.

  This goal was also the only goal in this match, and neither side was able to rewrite the score for the rest of the time.

  With a whistle from the referee on the field, the game ended. The score of 1-0 was maintained until the end.

  Lin Xiaoyu and his teammates walked off the field with joy of victory and sweat all over their bodies.

  At this time, the setting sun still scattered its last afterglow, and the happy smiles on Lin Xiaoyu's face were adorned with golden light. The sweat on these children's faces also sparkled with brilliant light in the sunset.

  Lin Xiaoyu lay on the track outside the football field and said goodbye to his teammates, then walked to the stands where he had placed his backpack. At this time, all the people in the stands had left, leaving only Murong Hui Min sitting alone beside Lin Xiaoyu's backpack. Seeing Lin Xiaoyu approaching, Murong Hui Min handed him a drink with her usual soft voice, saying: "Congratulations on your win, here's a drink for you."

  This drink was bought by Murong Hui Min at the school's small shop for Lin Xiaoyu before the game started. During Lin Xiaoyu's match, Murong Hui Min held this drink with both hands and watched Lin Xiaoyu kick the ball on the field, silently cheering her on.

  Lin Xiaoyu took the drink without hesitation, opened the pull ring and happily said to Murong Hui Min: "Thank you. We're not bad at kicking, are we?"

  Murong Hui Min felt happier seeing Lin Xiao Yu drinking the beverage he gave him than when Lin Xiao Yu won the match. Murong Hui Min's face was still red, but her tone carried a hint of joy as she said, "En, you kick really well."

  Murong Hui Min stared at Lin Xiao Yu throughout the game, and didn't pay much attention to anything else. She didn't even know who scored the only goal or how it was scored.

  Lin Xiaoyu felt a bit embarrassed by this sentence, although Lin Xiaoyu himself knew that he had no contribution on the court except for running around randomly, but being praised still made him feel pretty good.

  Murong Hui Min suddenly remembered that Lin Xiao Yu had fallen once on the court during the game, and at that time, she was frightened in her heart, thinking that Lin Xiao Yu was injured. But soon after seeing Lin Xiao Yu get up again to chase after the ball, Murong Hui Min's suspended heart finally put down. Now, suddenly remembering, she asked with concern: "Xiao Yu, you didn't get hurt when you fell on the court just now, did you?"

  Lin Xiaoyu remembered that she might have fallen when competing with someone, and she didn't remember where she fell. She looked down and saw that her right knee was slightly scratched, the wound was about the size of a one-yuan coin, and the blood had basically dried up. Lin Xiaoyu was used to this small injury and didn't care much about it.

  "It's nothing, just a small scrape on the knee. It'll be fine in a few days." Lin Xiaoyu wiped the sweat from her forehead and said to Murong Huimin.

  Seeing the wound on Lin Xiaoyu's knee, Murong Huimin was slightly surprised, her cherry-like small mouth involuntarily opened slightly, and she asked with concern: "Really nothing? It's bleeding! Do we need to go to the hospital?" Murong Huimin had never been injured before, so seeing Lin Xiaoyu bleed made her a bit tense.

  "Hehe, it's just a minor injury, I used to get these all the time, just apply some iodine and it'll be fine."

  "Oh. Does it hurt?" Murong Hui Min was still very concerned about Lin Xiaoyu, she herself had cried for half a day when she fell and skinned her nose as a child, seeing Lin Xiaoyu bleeding so much but looking unbothered, she admired Lin Xiaoyu's bravery even more. In her heart, the image of Lin Xiaoyu as that prince was perfected once again by Murong Hui Min.

  "It doesn't hurt," Lin Xiaoyu saw Murong Hui's hand on this can of drink, and after drinking it herself, she asked: "Are you thirsty? Do you want to have a sip too?"

  Lin Xiaoyu had always shared various foods with Li Jingru, and thought it was a normal thing to drink a can of beverage together. But for Murong Huimin, who had never played with boys since childhood, this sentence was shocking. In Murong Huimin's eyes, this was equivalent to Lin Xiaoyu wanting to kiss her.

  When the word "kiss" emerged in Murong Hui's mind, the faint red glow on her small face immediately spread to her ears, and her small face was hot like a fire, her heart beating non-stop.

  "En." That extremely shy voice came out, and Mu Rong Hui Min himself didn't know why he agreed to drink the beverage. The sound "en" seemed to have been made without going through his own thoughts.

  Lin Xiaoyu saw Murong Hui's face was red and rosy in the sunset, with an indescribable cuteness and charm. Lin Xiaoyu couldn't help but stare for a moment, thinking that Murong Hui's face was flushed due to the heat, so he handed over the half-drunk drink to Murong Hui's small hand and said: "You drink it, I have to go home, see you tonight at self-study." Lin Xiaoyu finished speaking, picked up his backpack beside Murong Hui, and walked towards the parking lot behind the teaching building outside the football field.

  Murong Hui Min seemed as if she hadn't heard Lin Xiao Yu's farewell, still lowering her head and staring at the drink can in her hands.

  It had been a long time, and by now the football field was already empty, the entire campus was quiet as if it was submerged in the sunset. Muyong Huimin still sat quietly on the highest seat of the football field, the sunset drew a faint shadow and swaying tree shade beside her, the gentle breeze rustled this girl's slightly fragrant black hair tips.

  Murong Hui slowly lifted the can of drink to her mouth, her cherry-red lips slowly approaching the opening of the drink, as if she could smell his breath from earlier when he opened this can to drink.

  Murong Hui's small lips finally rested on the slightly cold edge of the drink can, with a slippery feeling on the metal wall of the can. Murong Hui clearly knew what this thing was, it was the place where his lips touched when he drank.

  Just thinking about her lips touching his through the medium of the drink can, Muyong Huimin's small face turned red to the point where blood could almost be squeezed out.

  She slightly tilted her head back, and a sweet and slightly sour liquid flowed into Murong Hui's throat. It wasn't just her throat, this bittersweet feeling also flowed into Murong Hui's pure and innocent heart of a young girl.

  This was a taste that Murong Hui Min had never experienced before, as if it were fine wine that intoxicated her, and she couldn't extricate herself from it.

  From then on, Murong Huimin liked the fruit juice drink called "Mood" in her hand; from then on, Murong Huimin, a girl, also fell in love with a person named Lin Xiaoyu.

  As she walked to where her car was parked, Lin Xiaoyu saw Li Jingru standing beside his car with her light yellow lady's bicycle.

  Lin Xiaoyu asked excitedly, "Xiaoru, we won! Did you see us play?" Although Lin Xiaoyu didn't see Li Jingru's figure by the field, he knew she would definitely watch his game because she had never failed to keep her promises.

  "Yes, I saw. I was watching from the balcony in the classroom corridor." Li Jingru said to Lin Xiaoyu while taking out her white handkerchief from her pocket and handing it over to Lin Xiaoyu, "Wipe your sweat, you look tired."

  Lin Xiaoyu took the handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead, Li Jingru then took out a water bottle from her own bicycle basket and handed it to Lin Xiaoyu, saying: "Let's go, it's getting late, we still have evening self-study tonight."

  Lin Xiaoyu twisted open the bottle cap and took two big gulps, indeed it was chrysanthemum tea. Lin Xiaoyu had liked drinking Li Jingru's mother's brewed chrysanthemum tea since elementary school. In this chrysanthemum tea water, there was a faint scent of chrysanthemum with a sweet aftertaste that made people reminisce. At this time, after kicking the ball and having a dry throat, Lin Xiaoyu drank more than half of the full bottle of chrysanthemum tea in just a few mouthfuls.

  "Xiao Ru, take me home, I'm too tired to ride my bike." Lin Xiaoyu was really exhausted now. After a game of basketball, her two legs felt like lead after running around the entire court.

  Lin Xiaoyu decided to put her mountain bike in the school's bicycle shed and ride it back home after tonight's evening self-study.

  "Alright, but you have to treat me to ice cream this week. Hehe." Li Jingru wouldn't let go of the chance to tease Lin Xiaoyu a little.

  "Go on, drive faster, driver." Lin Xiaoyu was used to this kind of petty extortion.

  "Don't call me driver again, or I'll kick you out of the car..." Li Jingru turned her head to say to Lin Xiaoyu who was sitting behind her.

  "Alright, I won't call you Driver anymore. Honorable Driver." Lin Xiaoyu said comfortably with her eyes closed, sitting sideways on the back of Li Jingru's car seat.

  "I didn't call you a driver, Driver-sama is much higher than being just a driver." Lin Xiaoyu retorted with a mischievous tone.

  "Besides, I really threw you on the road and let you walk home." Li Jingru said in a threatening tone.

  "You go ahead, I'll jump on the bus when you ride by."

  "Xiao Ru, I kicked hard today, didn't I?"

  "I didn't see it, I only saw someone falling down on the court with a silly expression, by the way, are you okay?"

  "If I help you apply moxibustion, then you have to take me to see a movie."

  Li Jingru, who was riding a bicycle, and Lin Xiaoyu, who was sitting at the back of her bike, chatted with each other on their way home, and before they knew it, they had arrived at their residential area.

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