However, Lin Xi seemed fine.
The game continued, and with Lin Xi’s two goals as a boost, Chen Feng and his teammates played with more energy. Through teamwork, they helped Lin Xi break into the penalty area, facing the goalkeeper directly. But Lin Xi didn't get greedy. After feinting past the goalkeeper, he passed the ball back to the front of the small penalty area. A stout teammate, weighing over 200 pounds, received the assist and scored. He hadn't deliberately rushed to this spot, but had been running with the team towards this direction and couldn't stop, coincidentally ending up in the perfect position.
Three-nil. The halftime whistle blew.
I followed everyone back to the locker room. They were all praising Lin Xi, who merely smiled without speaking, sitting in a corner and wiping sweat with a towel. I squatted in front of her, picked up her left foot, and looked closely. On the gray fabric cleat, there was a distinct bloodstain.
“Did someone step on you and draw blood?” I asked.
Lin Xi withdrew her foot, glanced at her teammates, then leaned closer and whispered to me, “It’s nothing, a little medicine will do. Are you going on in the second half?”
“I’m not playing. Captain Lin is leading, victory is assured!” I said with a smile.
“I want to play with you!” Lin Xi said coquettishly, her lips brushing against my ear as she spoke, sending a shiver down my spine.
“…Alright, I’ll see how it goes.”
After a fifteen-minute break, the second half began. I noticed the opposing team had made personnel changes, bringing on a number 10. At first, I couldn’t quite make him out, but when he ran into our half, I finally saw him clearly: it was Song Wenzhi!
Chen Lu hadn’t recognized him yet, her attention not on the opposing players but on cheering for Lin Xi and his brother.
I pointed him out to her. “Your ex-boyfriend is on their team?”
Chen Lu squinted to look. Just then, the ball came towards our side. Song Wenzhi chased after it, kicking it back into the opponent’s half, and casually walked to the sideline. He looked at Chen Lu, then at our substitute bench, and said contemptuously, “What, you little slut, changed partners again?”
Chen Lu was closer to another substitute player on my left. A metal armrest separated me from her. I thought Song Wenzhi was referring to them, so I immediately pulled Chen Lu closer, to assert my claim. Ah, no, I wasn’t in my own body right now, no wonder Song Wenzhi wasn’t even looking at me properly.
“Screw you!” Chen Lu retorted, not holding back. “Why do you show up everywhere? Such bad luck!”
Song Wenzhi pointed to the company names above the stands. “This is a company our family just acquired. I’m their new chairman. You slut, just you wait. One day, I’ll acquire your family’s company too, and then I’ll make you kneel before me and sing a song of submission!”
“Get lost! Go play your ball!”
Song Wenzhi grinned smugly and returned to the field.
Honestly, back at the Chen family’s factory, when Yao Yao dealt with Song Shanhe, I felt a little guilty towards Song Wenzhi. No matter how he had insulted Chen Lu and me, he didn’t have a father anymore, did he? I hadn’t intended to make things difficult for him. Moreover, after Long Yue appeared, the Song family immediately became a puppet of Mo’er, so I hadn’t bothered with Song Wenzhi anymore.
Unexpectedly, I ran into him today. And it seemed he wasn’t just a puppet of Mo’er but genuinely had some power. It was possible that the Song family was Mo’er’s CEO, and Long Yue was the chairman. CEO works hard, so Long Yue should at least give the Song family some shares. The one hundred million compensation from the Chen family would likely have also ended up partly in the Song family’s coffers, which is why Song Wenzhi was so extravagant, talking about acquiring new companies.
“He’s infuriating me!” Chen Lu panted, her chest heaving. “If I had known their company was the opponent, I wouldn’t have come!”
“It’s alright. It’s a good opportunity to teach him a lesson,” I said with a smile, standing up and stretching my joints, preparing to go on the field.
How dare he insult my CEO? I’ll make sure he never becomes a CEO!
I was still in a sensitive period, so it was best to avoid getting injured. I didn’t rush onto the field. Instead, I pulled over a substitute player and asked him to teach me how to do a more professional warm-up before heading onto the field.
However, the situation on the field changed drastically. Besides Song Wenzhi, the opposing team seemed to have made several other substitutions, with at least three new faces appearing in the defense, midfield, and forward lines. With the coordination of these new players, plus Song Wenzhi’s own decent skills, Chen Feng and Lin Xi were being pushed back into their own half, unable to even touch the ball. Chen Feng was getting anxious and went for an aggressive tackle. The opponent was a young newcomer, barely out of puberty, but judging by his sturdy thighs, he was undoubtedly a formidable helper Song Wenzhi had brought over from the professional youth academy…