Volume One: Our Own League 154: Nobody Expected Her to Be the School Team Manager

The first tryouts for the Jinguancheng 17th Middle School football team came to a successful conclusion. A total of thirty-six players passed the assessments and officially entered the school football team. Their roster is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Xu Donglai (Grade 7), Wang He (Grade 7), Zhang Jintong (Grade 8), Wang Xu (Grade 7)
Defenders: Li Jie (Grade 7), Chen Ping (Grade 7), Chen An (Grade 7), Jin Yubin (Grade 7), Ma Long (Grade 8), Zhuo Jun (Grade 7), Liu Peng (Grade 7), Song Xiang (Grade 7), Shi Hongming (Grade 9), He Kai (Grade 8), Zhang Yi (Grade 9)
Midfielders: Zhong Haokun (Grade 7), Zhu Ge (Grade 7), Xu Liuxian (Grade 7), Zhao Bin (Grade 7), Wang Jun (Grade 7), Li Bo (Grade 7), Lin Xuefeng (Grade 7), Yuan Fang (Grade 7), Ding Yi (Grade 7), Qi Dan (Grade 8), Chen Wei (Grade 8), Han Dongshuo (Grade 9)
Forwards: Xu He (Grade 7), Zhang Zhen (Grade 7), Tang Jike (Grade 7), Yang Xin (Grade 7), Yang Hao (Grade 7), He Xiaoke (Grade 7), Tang Lujiaming (Grade 8), Guan Yu (Grade 8), Hao Pengyou (Grade 9)

Yangtong Mingxiong announced the roster on stage that very day, but since not everyone memorized it clearly, they saw the official list posted at the school's newspaper kiosk the next day.
The Jinguancheng 17th Middle School football team posted the roster publicly so everyone could see it.
Just as Principal Wang had said, the school team was primarily built around a foundation of first-year students. This time, a total of 25 students from Grade 7 were selected, along with 7 from Grade 8, and 4 from Grade 9.

Indeed, while very few Grade 9 students participated in the tryouts, their selection rate was high.
Only a handful of seniors showed up for the selection, yet four of them made the cut, which was quite impressive. You must remember that two to three hundred seventh-graders participated in the tryouts, and only 25 of them were chosen, making the selection rate exceedingly low.
To be honest, many of the seventh-grade students found this strange.
They had all witnessed it with their own eyes—the senior students in Grade 9 possessed very solid skills, and they had all assumed that virtually every senior who tried out would make the team. They never expected that only four of them would ultimately be selected.

When Xu He saw the roster, he asked Li Jie beside him with a look of surprise, "Old Li, something isn't right. Many of the senior students from Grade 9 who got cut were actually stronger than some of us seventh-graders who made it. Why were they eliminated?"
Xu He found it a bit difficult to understand.
The seniors from Grade 9 who participated had great abilities, and their physical fitness was generally superior to that of the seventh-grade students. Why were all of them eliminated?

Before Li Jie could speak, Li Liying, who was standing next to Xu He, chimed in, "This is mainly considered for the future of our school team. The seventh-grade students will definitely be better in the long run compared to the Grade 9 seniors, especially since the seniors will graduate in a little over half a year. Selecting too many seniors would have a negative impact on the team's future development, and at the same time, it would distract too much from the seniors' studies!"
That was true. The academic workload for the Grade 9 seniors was extremely heavy. Since they were about to take the high school entrance examinations, how could they possibly have that much spare time to play football?
Xu He nodded slightly, indicating that he understood.
Thinking about it carefully, this selection method seemed quite reasonable after all.

However, shouldn't they have chosen a few more seniors from Grade 8? The physical condition of the eighth-grade seniors was much better, and their current academic burden wasn't nearly as heavy as that of the ninth-graders, right?
Although Xu He didn't voice the question, Li Liying perceived his doubt and immediately said, "Coach Yangtong discussed this with Principal Wang of our school. The team will be built around our seventh grade as its core because our grade has an extremely strong football atmosphere, and we've already organized a football league. Everyone's skills are quite good, and our potential is huge. If our school team can break into the national tournament, it will definitely be thanks to our grade!"

Hearing this, Xu He naturally felt an overwhelming sense of pride.
As expected, the students in their seventh grade were simply stronger.
After looking over the roster, Xu He felt a few lingering sentiments. After all, some of the classmates he had previously held high hopes for did not make the school team—for instance, Qin Tailong, a forward from the Class 14 football team's trident, Deng Ning, his teammate who had always wanted to join the Class 10 football team, and Lu Yiming, who had been training frantically. None of them had passed the assessments.

However, most of the players who had shown standout performances in the Grade 7 football league had made the cut, which he felt was great.
That way, he would feel deeply familiar and comfortable being around these players.
To tell the truth, Xu He really wanted to go and assemble with the school team right now and start training immediately.
He simply couldn't wait!

Yes, this fellow Xu He seemed to be somewhat impatient.
Li Liying looked at Xu He and said, "You guys don't need to be in such a rush. Coach Yangtong Mingxiong and the others are currently handling many matters regarding the initial setup of the team. Our first joint training session is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, so you guys just need to gather at the pitch by then!"

Xu He felt a wave of disappointment. They had to wait until Wednesday?
There were still two full days and nearly three days left. This truly made it hard for him to wait.
Suddenly, Xu He seemed to realize something.
He immediately turned his head to look at Li Liying and asked, "What did you just say—we? Did I hear that right?"
Hearing Xu He say this, Li Jie's eyebrows shot up instantly. It seemed he had heard Li Liying say the exact same thing.
He also looked at Li Liying, his eyes filled with anticipation.
Li Liying flashed Xu He a sweet smile and said, "You didn't hear wrong. I have been officially hired by Coach Yangtong Mingxiong as the team manager, in charge of your daily life and logistics."

Joy blossomed in Xu He's heart, and he offered direct congratulations, "Congratulations, classmate Li Liying! Oh no, I should congratulate you, Manager Li Liying!"
Li Liying rolled her eyes at Xu He and said, "Stop teasing me!"
Xu He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.
To be honest, Xu He was genuinely happy that Li Liying could become their school team manager. Because Li Liying possessed formidable capability, a decisive and efficient work style, and handled matters with absolute reliability, having her as the backing for all of them made Xu He feel completely secure and fantastic.
Xu He said immediately, "With you around, I can totally rest easy!"

Li Liying replied, "You guys better pay attention and don't say I didn't warn you—I am not the only manager of the team."
Xu He widened his eyes in shock and blurted out, "How is that possible? Who else is there?"
Li Jie also widened his eyes, staring fixedly at Li Liying.
Li Liying continued right away, "Teacher Ye Ziqing, the mathematics teacher from your class, will also become our school team manager. Come to think of it, I'm actually her assistant! You guys should be very familiar and well-acquainted with Teacher Ye Ziqing, right? Hurry up and tell me what kind of person she is. Is she easy to get along with?"

Xu He and Li Jie stared at each other with wide eyes, completely incredulous.
They truly never expected that their mathematics teacher, Ye Ziqing, would end up becoming the football team manager. That defied all logic!
Xu He immediately turned his head and asked in confusion, "Old Li, does Teacher Ye like football?"
Li Jie thought about it carefully, then shook his head like a rattle-drum and said, "I have no idea. I've never heard of such a thing!"

A wave of confusion washed over both Xu He and Li Jie.
They genuinely had never heard that their teacher Ye Ziqing liked football. In fact, didn't she usually seem a bit resistant to them playing football? Why on earth would Teacher Ye Ziqing become the school team's football manager?
Could this be a task assigned to her by Principal Wang?

Li Liying raised her slender eyebrows slightly and said, "Hey, can you two stop making eyes at each other? Hurry up and tell me whether Teacher Ye Ziqing is easy to get along with."
Li Jie suddenly looked at Xu He and said, "You talk instead. You're much more familiar with Teacher Ye."
Li Liying immediately looked at Xu He, her eyes brimming with a desire for knowledge.

Xu He instantly wore a miserable expression, looking helplessly at Li Jie as he protested, "What do you mean by saying I'm more familiar with Teacher Ye? Which eye of yours saw that I'm close to Teacher Ye? I'm not familiar with her at all, okay?"
Li Liying immediately looked back and forth between the two of them, as if trying to guess who was telling the truth, and then her sharp gaze locked firmly onto Xu He.
Li Jie gave Li Liying a thumbs-up and secretly thought, "Impressive!"
Xu He rolled his eyes at Li Jie and said, "I really am not that close to Teacher Ye. It's just that my math grades dropped drastically a while ago, so Teacher Ye called me over for a couple of chats, that's all. And all we talked about was studying; most of the time I was just getting scolded. How could I possibly be close with her?"

Neither of them paid attention to what Xu He said, continuing to stare at him intently until Li Liying finally spoke up: "I don't care about all that. Just based on your intuition, do you think Teacher Ye is an easy person to get along with?"
Seeing the two of them staring so intently at him, Xu He felt rather helpless. However, he carefully thought it over and said, "Teacher Ye seems to be a relatively easy-going person, I suppose. But she is extremely serious and rigorous in her work; she's someone who holds both herself and others to very strict standards. Um, roughly like that..."
To be honest, even after saying all that, Xu He himself wasn't quite sure if his description was accurate.

Li Liying, however, believed Xu He's words because, judging by outward appearances, Teacher Ye Ziqing indeed seemed a bit like what Xu He described.
If that was the case, Li Liying felt relieved.
It meant that Teacher Ye Ziqing was likely a fairly approachable person. Being serious about her work and holding herself to high standards were great traits that Li Liying deeply admired, and since they closely mirrored her own personality, she felt she should be able to get along harmoniously with Teacher Ye Ziqing.
Li Liying flashed a sweet smile at Xu He and said, "Thank you, Xu He!"
Xu He grinned slightly and said, "You're welcome. I didn't really help you with anything; I just hope what I said is useful to you!"
Li Liying nodded slightly and said, "It's definitely useful!"

Since Li Liying put it that way, Xu He didn't dwell on the issue any further. At this moment, he was actually quite interested in the matter concerning Mu Yang—why had Mu Yang suddenly withdrawn from the school team tryouts?
Xu He had been wanting to figure out this puzzle, though he hadn't seen Zhu Ge today. He would wait until the whole-school assembly later to go find Mu Yang and ask him clearly to see what reason lay behind it all.
To tell the truth, Xu He felt that Mu Yang failing to enter the school team was a massive loss for the team.
Mu Yang's abilities were formidable.
Xu He really wanted to ask Li Liying if she had seen Mu Yang and if she understood the reason behind his withdrawal from the tryouts. However, before he could voice the question, Li Liying suddenly said, "Thanks for the information. To thank you, I'll share a piece of news with you as well!"

Before Xu He could snap out of his thoughts about Mu Yang, Li Jie grew interested and immediately asked, "What news?"
Li Liying glanced at Xu He and said, "You'd better not be late on Wednesday. Coach Yangtong Mingxiong is someone who intensely dislikes people being late! If you are late, you'll definitely face extremely harsh punishments, and there's even a chance you might be directly expelled from the team!"
Hearing this, both Xu He and Li Jie widened their eyes, struck by a wave of inner shock.
It was that serious?
Directly expelled just like that?

Seeing that the two of them were taking the matter seriously, Li Liying didn't say anything more and simply stated, "Alright, I'm heading out first. I still have things to take care of, bye-bye!"