Lu Zhe discovered that Xia Zong's playing style was quite unique, the kind that was almost never seen on amateur football fields.
Xia Xiaobing is not good at dribbling past opponents, and she rarely even dribbles the ball. Once the ball reaches her feet, it usually doesn't stay for more than three seconds. She stops the ball, pushes it with the instep of her foot, and sends it to where it should be—most of the time to Lu Zhe, and occasionally to other teammates.
But Ms. Xia also has her problems, namely physical strength.
Even though she had a treadmill in her office and maintained a regular workout routine, she simply couldn't run anymore after half an hour. The other guys weren't much better off; although they were all grown men, they didn't last as long on the field as Ms. Xia.
Mao Kai was relatively relaxed, but that was mainly because he was the goalkeeper and didn't need to run around.
So after half an hour, they had to stop the game, sit down on the sidelines, and drink water and rest.
Lu Zhe subconsciously wanted to lift his jersey to fan himself, but before he could, his hand stopped. Turning his head, he saw Xia Xiaobing sitting next to him drinking water.
After taking a sip of water, Xia Xiaobing put down the bottle, wiped the sweat from the side of her cheek with the back of her hand, and said, "Everyone did a good job today, better than last time."
Mao Kai laughed and said, "It's mainly thanks to you and Xiao Lu, Mr. Xia. Our tactics for this game were very simple: we would huddle in front of the goal and defend, then pass the ball to Mr. Xia, who would then pass it to Xiao Lu..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xia Xiaobing interrupted, "We won't kick like that later, I need to rest."
There are six people on our side in total, and we used to take turns going off to rest. Now the boss has taken over the spectator seats on the sidelines, so the other five of us have to stay on the field.
Mao Kai paused for a moment, then said, "Then the tactic is even simpler: just get the ball and pass it to Xiao Lu."
"You two can discuss it slowly, I'm going to the restroom."
After Xia Xiaobing finished speaking, she put down the water bottle and walked out of the court.
Lu Zhe stared at her receding figure, his gaze somewhat complicated.
Suddenly, Mao Kai patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Not bad, young man! You've got good skills!"
Lu Zhe turned to his superior and smiled modestly, "It's alright, but President Xia is really..."
"You were really shocked, weren't you?" Mao Kai slapped his thigh. "That's a normal reaction. We were the same way. When President Xia organized a team at the company, we thought she was just a cheerleader on the sidelines or something. Who knew she could actually play on the field, and she even played better than us!"
Lu Zhe: "The team was organized by General Xia?"
Mao Kai: "Of course, who else could it be but her? And it only started about two weeks ago. Before that, none of us knew that President Xia could actually play football..."
These words surprised Lu Zheye slightly. Judging from Xia Zong's appearance, she had undoubtedly trained for a long time. However, the company's team had only been organized for half a month, which meant that she must have had other ways to practice football before that.
But does a company owner in the growth phase really have that much free time?
————
Another hour passed, and tonight's football activity came to an end.
After resting for nearly half an hour, Xia Xiaobing returned to the field and played for another half hour. The scoreline and goals scored by both sides showed a very significant change.
When Xia Xiaobing was not there, Lu Zhe carried the team alone. It was very hard, but there was nothing he could do. The defense was leaky everywhere, and he had to dribble the ball from his own penalty area to the opponent's penalty area. As a result, the opponent scored more than a dozen goals.
When Xia Xiaobing was there, he could stay in midfield, wait for the boss to pass the ball, and easily shoot to score, thrashing the opposing team by more than a dozen players.
The match ended in a near tie with the opposing team.
"It wasn't easy... Phew... Tonight was so fulfilling..." Mao Kai sat on the ground, his hands on his knees, panting like a large bellows.
Seeing his appearance, Xia Xiaobing said, "I'll drive later, I'm afraid you'll get a leg cramp when you step on the gas."
Mao Kai: "That can't be that bad..."
Xia Xiaobing: "I'll drive."
Mao Kai: "Understood!"
————
When they returned after the game, they were still in the same van, but the driver had changed from Mao Kai to Xia Xiaobing.
Mao Kai was the first to be sent home, followed by the other three management members.
After the last member of the management team got out of the car, only Xia Xiaobing in the driver's seat and Lu Zhe in the back seat remained inside.
Before the car started moving again, Lu Zhe suddenly asked, "President Xia, how about I sit in the front?"
"OK."
Xia Xiaobing's tone was calm, revealing no emotion whatsoever. It seemed she didn't care about such details.
Lu Zhe got out of the car, walked halfway around, opened the passenger door, and got in. This put him next to Xia Xiaobing.
Buckle up, and the car continues on its way.
"You still live there, right?" Xia Xiaobing suddenly asked.
Lu Zhe turned his head and glanced at it.
Xia Xiaobing was now focused on driving, her eyes fixed straight ahead. The question she had just asked seemed to have been merely casual.
Lu Zhe: "Yes, it's still there."
There was a two-minute silence in the car.
Suddenly, Xia Xiaobing changed the subject and started talking about work: "Mao Kai probably already told you that our artificial intelligence has been updated and upgraded recently, you know that, right?"
Lu Zhe: "I know, it's true, Xiao Qiu seems to have become smarter."
Xia Xiaobing smiled and said, "It's definitely not enough. I'm going to set new goals for the R&D department soon, so you might need to work a little overtime."
Upon hearing the words "overtime," Lu Zhe immediately became alert, though he showed no outward sign of it.
Xia Xiaobing continued, "But you don't need to stay at the company. Anyway, you can do the same work at home, and you can even bring your friends along. It might even be quite fun."
Lu Zhe was a little confused: "Uh... what are the job duties?"
"It's very simple. You can still chat with the AI, and you can even bring along your roommate to chat with them. I've also prepared this for you so you can work overtime."
As she spoke, Xia Xiaobing pointed to the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat.
Lu Zhe opened the locker and saw a small silver speaker. It looked very similar to the one in the company, only a little smaller.
Xia Xiaobing added, "After powering on, connect to Wi-Fi, and it will start working automatically. All you need to do is chat with it, just like before. With your friend's help, the testing efficiency might even be higher."
Lu Zhe picked up the small speaker and considered for a few seconds—it was called overtime, but the work was actually very easy. It was just a matter of having the AI chat with him for a few minutes while playing games with Miss Tang. It wouldn't have any impact.
Moreover, Xia Xiaobing added at this point, "There is overtime pay."
Lu Zhe immediately and firmly declared, "No problem!"
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