Lin Chong's Women's Cuju Team

Chapter 177 Chai Nianci Faints

The match restarted. This time, Yin Xue and Hasalawa focused their attention on Du Rushuang and Chai Nianci. They felt that the two had cooperated well earlier and they couldn't let them touch the football again. Chen Jinhuan was the emperor's concubine, a fact Hasalawa and the others already knew before the match, so they dared not offend her. Chen Jinhuan knew that Ning Zhanyan was in the Wolf King's hands, so she also hesitated and didn't dare to play the football with full focus.

Seeing Chen Jinhuan's unusual behavior from the stands, Emperor Huizong asked Liu Guangyu in a low voice, "Eunuch Liu, why do you think Consort Luo seemed so lost on the Cuju field today? She clearly had opportunities to grab the ball, so why didn't she actively go forward?"

"This servant thinks... Her Majesty might not be feeling well today..." Liu Guangyu stammered, glancing furtively at the Emperor, afraid he might have said something wrong.

"If my beloved concubine is truly unwell, should we consider having Lin Chong replace her with a female Cuju player?" Emperor Huizong murmured to himself. Then, without waiting for Liu Guangyu's reply, he loudly addressed Gao Can beside him, "Lord Gao, quickly summon the imperial physician. I want him to take Consort Luo's pulse."

Gao Can, of course, also noticed that Chen Jinhuan's performance on the Cuju field today was off. He had long known that sending the emperor's woman to the Cuju field was definitely inappropriate. Now that he realized that Emperor Huizong intended to recall Consort Luo, Chen Jinhuan, he seized the opportunity and had someone summon the imperial physician.

However, before Gao Can could order someone to stop the game, Lin Chong was heard shouting loudly at the edge of the football field: "Stop the game! Everyone stop!" What was Lin Chong shouting about stopping? He hadn't even stopped the football match yet, so why was he in such a hurry? Gao Can, with a gloomy expression, quickly ran to the edge of the football field. He wanted to see what had happened that made Lin Chong so eager to stop the football match.

Gao Can composed himself and looked towards the Cuju field. He saw that Chai Nianci had fainted in Du Rushuang's arms. Zou Xiaoyan, Chen Jinhuan, and others had formed a circle, separating Chai Nianci, Du Rushuang, and the Jin Kingdom women's Cuju team. How exactly did Chai Nianci faint?

It turned out that Yin Xue and Chai Nianci had bumped into each other at close range, and Chai Nianci fainted. Du Rushuang quickly helped her up from the ground and shouted, "Everyone, stop playing football! Sister Chai has fainted!"

Du Rushuang held Chai Nianci and looked at her face with concern. She saw that Chai Nianci was pale and her jaw was taut. So she looked angrily at Yin Xue and questioned her loudly, "Did you let the little silver snake bite Sister Chai just now?"

Seeing Du Rushuang so agitated, Yin Xue was not afraid at all. She simply shrugged and said to her, "My little silver snake never bites people randomly. The only reason she bit you before was because the tone of your voice made her uncomfortable."

"Yinxue, stop making excuses! You must have let the little silver snake bite Sister Chai just now. Hand over the antidote!" Du Rushuang shouted at Yinxue. Her voice was loud and fierce, which indeed caused the little silver snake hidden in Yinxue's belt to crawl out, hang on Yinxue's shoulder, and stick out its tongue at Du Rushuang.

"Little darling, don't bite her!" Yin Xue shouted as she gently stroked the little silver snake's head to stop it from biting Du Rushuang.

"Shuang'er, don't be impulsive!" A hurried male voice came from afar. Du Rushuang and Yin Xue saw that the man rushing over was Yelü Wen. Yelü Wen approached Du Rushuang, but he didn't look at the woman. Instead, he reached out and took the pulse of Chai Nianci in her arms through his sleeve.

Du Rushuang knew that Yelü Wen was a skilled physician, so she felt comfortable letting him examine Chai Nianci's pulse. At that moment, Du Shiniang also led an imperial physician closer to Du Rushuang and the others. Seeing Yelü Wen examining a patient, the imperial physician remained calm and waited quietly to the side.

"Ah Wen, how is Sister Chai? Is she poisoned?" Du Rushuang urged the man to speak when she saw that Yelü Wen hadn't spoken for a long time. Yelü Wen's lips curled up into a smile, and he looked into Du Rushuang's eyes and said gently, "Shuang'er, your Sister Chai is not poisoned. She suddenly fainted just now because... because she is pregnant."

"What does 'having a happy pulse' mean?" Du Rushuang looked bewildered upon hearing Yelü Wen's words. She noticed that Du Shiniang had brought a royal physician, so she turned to the physician and said, "Old man, come and take my sister Chai's pulse again. Also, what does 'happy pulse' mean?"

The imperial physician was an old man nearing fifty. He glanced at Du Rushuang and thought to himself that this young girl was truly naive, not even knowing what a "pregnancy pulse" was. He didn't say much, but simply took Chai Nianci's pulse again. After taking her pulse, the old man bowed to Yelü Wen and said, "Your Excellency, your diagnosis was very accurate. This young lady is indeed pregnant."

Du Rushuang became even more anxious. She tugged at Du Shiniang's sleeve and asked in a coquettish tone, "Sister Du, what exactly is a pregnancy pulse? Why do Awen and this old man both say that Sister Chai is pregnant? Please explain it to me clearly."

Du Shiniang gently patted Du Rushuang's hand a few times and said in a gentle tone, "Silly girl, 'Xi Mai' means that a woman is pregnant. Your sister Chai is carrying Lord Shen's bloodline."

"So that's how it is! Old man, can't you explain it more clearly? You made me so worried!" Du Rushuang suddenly realized, glared at the imperial physician, and complained gruffly.

Du Shiniang quickly instructed Wu Song and Lu Zhichen, who had shamelessly disguised himself as a palace guard, to help Chai Nianci to rest in a tent outside the football field. She also sent the imperial physician to get medicine. Lin Chong, upon learning of Chai Nianci's pregnancy, frowned, his face filled with worry.

Now that the Song women's Cuju team is down to one person, how can the Cuju match between the Song and Jin states continue? That Shen Daoyuan is really something, insisting on getting Chai Nianci pregnant before the Cuju match. Couldn't he have waited until after the match to consummate the marriage? Sigh! It's not that we don't have female Cuju players now, but the few Cuju players that Zixiang Pavilion usually keeps are not even as good as one of Chai Nianci's toes. Moreover, they've never seen such a big scene before. They'll probably go weak in the knees as soon as they see the strong and muscular female Cuju players from the Jin state.

Just as Lin Chong was worrying about finding a replacement female soldier, a mighty and imposing army was marching in orderly formation towards the capital. They were dressed in uniform, armed, and high-spirited, as if no difficulty could stop their advance. This army numbered approximately 20,000 men, all soldiers of the Song Dynasty, and their commander was none other than Shen Daoyuan.

Shen Daoyuan rode a dashing white steed, hurrying ahead of the vast army. His gaze was firm and far-reaching, as if he were making final preparations for the upcoming battle. His bodyguard, Wu En, followed closely behind on horseback.

"Sir, slow down! I can't keep up with you!" Wu En shouted to Shen Daoyuan ahead while panting on horseback.

Shen Daoyuan tightened the reins, turned his horse around, glanced behind him, and saw that the army's marching formation was a bit loose. He realized that he might have been too impatient, so he ordered everyone to rest in the woods ahead.

A short while later, Wu En leaned against a large tree, stuffed the dry rations in his hand into Shen Daoyuan's hand, and advised him, "Sir, you haven't eaten anything since yesterday evening. You've been traveling all night, so eat something quickly. Your wife will definitely win the football match today, so you don't need to worry."

“Although we received a letter from the mysterious person in the palace, knowing that today’s football match between the Song and Jin dynasties is just a pretext, and that the Wolf King is actually colluding with Song officials to force the emperor to abdicate, we still don’t know how many people the Wolf King has planted in the palace, and that the Imperial Guard Commander Chen Ge is Gao Advisor’s man.” Shen Daoyuan said worriedly as he took a piece of bread from Wu En.

"My lord, we're only 800 li from the capital, almost there! You don't need to worry." Wu En took a bite of his bread and said to Shen Daoyuan, his words muffled. Shen Daoyuan glared at him and ordered them to set off again before he could finish eating. Wu En hurriedly went to find his horse, his mouth full of bread crumbs, looking extremely disheveled, but he dared not complain.