Chapter 58 – I will play!
The second half of the match started.
The Eastern District continued with their tactics. Other than those players who got yellow cards were played cautiously, the rest of the players were playing “dirty.” Both sides were attacking. When the Western District players threaten them, the Eastern District players will purposely foul them. They pushed, tackled, pulled, and even hugged. They will do whatever it takes to stop the Western District from scoring a goal.
The Western District players were not playing to their usual standards. Xu Yan, Dong Xuebing and the rest of their supporters were vexed!
Because her boyfriend was injured, Tan Limei was supporting her team angrily. “Western District! Go for it!” Changjuan and a few other girls from the Finance Department were also cheering for their team. When the opposing team played dirty, they will curse and swear at that player.
15 minutes……
30 minutes……
There was no progress in the match. The score was still 0:0.
Will this game ended in a draw? That will be zero wins in 8 games!
Dong Xuebing was no longer hoping for the other team to be awarded a penalty kick. Even if he had saved the penalty kick, the match would still end in a draw. He was p.i.s.sed by the Eastern District team and Deputy Political Commissar Xu. He was hoping for a win.
Finally, in the last two minutes of the match, an opportunity arises for the Western District team!
Guo Panwei was long pa.s.s from the midfield had touched an opposing team player, and the ball fell in front of their team’s striker. No players were guarding him, and that striker turned and ran with the ball towards the goal.
Xu Yan jolt up and shouted: “Everyone goes forward and supports him! Press forward!”
The Eastern District team’s defense line had been moved up the field, and the striker only has to face a defender. If he gets past this defender, he might score the winning goal!
The Western District team saw a glimpse of hope and rushed forward to provide support!
At the same time, Political Commissar Xu also shouted. “Stop him! Don’t let him through!” The defender heard her orders and increase his speed. The small size striker moved the ball slightly to his left and wanted to get past the defender. But that defender ignored the ball and went straight for the striker!
Cras.h.!.+ The defender crashed into the striker!
The striker fell onto the ground and was rolling in pain.
Beep! Beep! The referee showed a yellow card and gave a free kick to the Western District team.
Yellow card and a free kick? If the striker gets past the defender, it will be a goal!
Li Qing ran onto the pitch to check the striker’s injuries. Seeing that he could no longer continue with the match, the Western District Team went into a rage!
“f.u.c.k! I quit!” A player from the Finance Department took off his jersey and threw it on the floor!
Guo Panwei shouted furiously: “Shouldn’t this be a red card?!”
“You did it on purpose!” Two players from the Political Section shoved that defender.
The Eastern District team players also ran over, and both sides started arguing. The situation was getting out of control!
Maybe it was because this was the last match of the tournament, two leaders from the City Bureau entered the stadium through one of the side gates. They should be there to watch the game. But when they saw what was happening on the pitch, they immediately shouted: “What’s going on? What are you all doing?”
Most of the players recognized the leaders, and the arguments stopped.
The leader with a small mustache looked over at the reserve bench: “Xu Yan (Deputy Branch Bureau Chief Xu), Xu Yan (Deputy Political Commissar Xu), is this the way you all lead your teams? Look at them!” He pointed at the players. “Is this the way your players should act?”
Deputy Political Commissar Xu tried to push the blame: “Director Li, it is Chief Xu’s team that is unhappy with the referee decision.”
Xu Yan was furious. She immediately tried to argue: “Director Lu! The Eastern District team……”
“Shut up!” Director Lu ignored her. “I don’t care what happened! I just want to know if this match can continue?”
Xu Yan paused for a few seconds and replied: “Yes!”
Director Lu waved his hand and said: “Hurry up and carry on with the match!” He was no longer in the mood to watch the match. He turned and walked out of the stadium with the other leader.
Deputy Political Commissar Xu smiled and looked at Xu Yan. “Chief Xu, you should subst.i.tute your player.”
Li Qing was furious at Deputy Political Commissar Xu, but she was higher ranked than him, and he cannot show his anger. He can only shout: “Change player! I want a striker!” But the Western District supporters were all women and middle-aged men. Dong Xuebing was the only reserve player left. There were no strikers to replace the injured player.
Xu Yan knew it was impossible to win today’s match.
Ring, ring, ring…… Xu Yan’s mobile phone rang. She let Li Qing take over and walked to the reserve bench to answer her phone. It was her ex-husband, and also Deputy Political Commissar Xu’s current husband. Xu Yan frowned and answered. “h.e.l.lo, what do you want?”
A man asked in a deep voice. “Where is my son?”
Xu Yan replied: “At home playing video games.”
“Why are you letting him play video games again? I knew he will be wasting his time when he goes over to your place!” The man growled. “I will be finis.h.i.+ng my work early today and will fetch my son from your place. Tomorrow is Xu Yan’s birthday, and he said he wanted to celebrate her birthday with her last week. He will not be staying with you this week. We shall talk again next month.”
Xu Yan tightens her grip on her phone: “What is the meaning of this? Our son must live with me for a week every month. This is what we agreed before we divorced! Why are you fetching him away after one day?”
“Didn’t I said it is Xu Yan’s birthday? Our son had agreed!”
“What has her birthday got to do with my son?”
“I don’t want to argue with you! I will bring my son back later! That’s it!”
“You…” Xu Yan’s ex-husband had hung up the phone. Xu Yan almost threw her phone on the floor out of anger. Suddenly she swayed and knocked onto a pillar. She almost fell.
Dong Xuebing had been looking at Xu Yan and immediately ran over to help her. “Chief Xu, are you ok?”
Xu Yan did not reply and took out a half tablet of high blood pressure medicine from her bag. She swallowed the pill with some water and sat there panting. Since the day Xu Yan (Deputy Political Commissar Xu) appeared, her life was turned upside down. Her husband was taken away from her, her family was taken away from her. Now, her son will be taken away from her. She got nothing left! All she had left was anger!
Before this match, Chief Xu wanted to win badly. But now…… she could not even fulfill such a small wis.h.!.+
This incident had wasted some time, and there was only less than 1 minute on the clock. No players on the pitch could score a goal, and there were no players to subst.i.tute. Is there anything worse than this?
Xu Yan felt needles were poking her heart when she saw the gloating Deputy Political Commissar Xu smiling at her.
Defeat!
She was defeated by Deputy Political Commissar Xu again!
Xu Yan laughed at herself and lean back on her chair.
Dong Xuebing could feel Xu Yan’s helplessness feelings. He could not stand there and do nothing. He clenched his fist and said: “Chief Xu! Let me play!”