48 Hours a Day

Sweating all over, Qin Zhen ran over with two big bags of items. Before he even got to them, he had already started complaining. “You guys are finally here! I had to run everywhere to get all these things for you. Getting here later than me is such a smart move! I think I’ve completely transformed into your maid.”

“Didn’t you start lining up very early?” Zhang Heng took a bag from his hand.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I met the son of a bitch who jumped the queue. The girl behind him got mad, and he had the guts to retaliate even though he was at fault. Immediately, an aunty and I went to help the girl. Both of us stood up for her, and in the end, that guy wanted to beat me up! ”

“Who won?” Chi Jia asked curiously.

“Isn’t the outcome obvious?” Qin Zhen said proudly. “He is a high school student and is around 1.8 meters tall. I can see that he is a basketball player and he is quite muscular as well. But then, I have always fought other kids stronger than me, which was why I wasn’t afraid of him.”

When Qin Zhen saw the two girls that stood beside Zhang Heng, his eyes lit up. Nudging Zhang Heng with his elbow, he sniggered, “Aren’t you supposed to introduce them to me?” He then lowered his voice, “Which one is your girlfriend.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Zhang Heng said to Bai Qing and Chi Jia. “His name is Qin Zhen, a friend of mine since childhood. He’s from a different school in the city, but we are of the same age. He may like to brag, but really, he’s a decent guy.”

Zhang Heng then turned to Qin Zhen, “This is Bai Qing and Chi Jia, my classmates.”

“What did you mean by I like to brag?” Qin Zhen sounded disgruntled. “I’ve always been very reliable.” As he said, he stretched out his hand and grinned, “Hello, I am the captain of the basketball team in my school!”

“Awesome, I remember your school’s basketball team is pretty good. They came as runner up in the high-school basketball competition last year.” Chi Jia and Bai Qing shook hands with Qin Zhen, and Chi Jia quickly picked up a conversation with him.

Qin Zhen scratched his head. “It’s a shame. We could have won the championship. We were clearly leading in the first half of the competition, but our center player hurt his leg and couldn’t perform. The opponent caught the rebound, and they managed to score a few points after that. It was not a good day for us.”

“It’s okay. You’ll make a comeback next time,” Chi Jia encouraged.

The Burger King branch they were at was completely filled, and after the four were introduced, they found a more sparsely populated parterre near the outdoor parking lot. Qin Zhen and Zhang Heng placed leaflets on the ground, letting the two girls sit on it. The boys passed their bags to Bai Qing and Chi Jia, divided the burgers, and started devouring their meal while standing up.

Qin Zhen was so famished that he gobbled down the burger in three bites. He then took the Coke handed over by Chi Jia and thanked her. When Bai Qing saw this, she hesitated a little before taking out a cup of orange juice from the bag. “Do you want your orange juice now?” she asked Zhang Heng.

“Sure.” As Zhang Heng took the cup from Bai Qing, his finger accidentally touched hers. Immediately, Bai Qing wanted to move away from Zhang Heng’s finger, but she did not do it in the end. Before she could say anything, Qin Zhen’s expression suddenly changed.

Zhang Heng looked at where Qin Zhen looked and saw a few boys walking towards them.

Qin Zhen gasped. “That f*cker is bringing his friends here to avenge him.”

“The one who jumped the queue?” Zhang Heng asked.

“Yes. It’s okay. I can settle them. Just wait for me here.” Qin Zhen took another gulp of Coke and handed the cup back to Chi Jia.

Worried about him, Chi Jia attempted to throw caution to the wind. “Hey, don’t act tough. There are so many of them.”

“Don’t turn it into a big mess. It’s not a big deal after all. Just let me talk to them,” added Zhang Heng.

To which, Qin Zhen shook his head. “If these people are reasonable, they wouldn’t have jumped queue at the Burger King.”

However, he did not go to them alone in the end, knowing well enough that he would surely be beaten up. Although he wasn’t afraid, the last thing he wanted was to get beaten up in front of the two girls. It would be embarrassing, not to mention how he was unsure if it might inadvertently involve Zhang Heng, Bai Qing, and Chi Jia.

He had made up his mind that even if he were destined to be beaten up, he would not drag the two girls into his problem.

“It’s him! The dude who bashed me up at Burger King just now.” A boy in a blue T-shirt pointed at Qin Zhen. Judging by their appearance, they had to be quite young, and they seem ed to be students from nearby universities. There were male and female among them, and the other four boys in the group now glared menacingly at Qin Zhen.

“After you jumped the queue, you swung your fist at me first,” Qin Zhen stated for the record.

He was not afraid of them since he had a lot of experience in fighting with others. Usually, he would run away if he knew that he could not win the fight. However, he was here with his friends today. In other words, he could not run away even if he wanted to do so.

“We are not trying to bully you,” another boy said, “Stand up straight! You punched my buddy a few times at the Burger King just now. Now, let him return a few punches to you.”

Chi Jia was dissatisfied. “Why?! He didn’t even apologize when he jumped the queue. It is not right to come and trouble the person who tried to stop him.”

“You guys are his friends, right? This has nothing to do with you. If you don’t want to be beaten like him, stop talking,” warned another boy.

Zhang Heng, too, spoke his mind. “Can’t we just shake hands and let it slide?”

“Hey, can you understand human language?! There is no room for bargaining here!” the boy threatened, reaching out to push Zhang Heng at the same time.

But the next moment, his action was interrupted by the roar of an engine. He then saw six sports cars coming from the intersection. The security guard in charge immediately removed the obstacles that were placed at the reserved parking spaces. It made the other drivers who had spent ages looking for a parking spot to divert their anger at them. After seeing the luxury cars, though, none of them dared to say a single word because they knew their drivers had to be wealthy and influential people.

After the six drivers parked, a young man from the Bentley came out of his car and saw Zhang Heng. And he said excitedly, “Master! You are here too.”

After that, he quickly walked towards Zhang Heng.

Their sudden appearance made the group who came to teach Qin Zhen a lesson stare at each other. While they were still in shock, the young Bentley driver left his female companion behind and walked to their backs. When the young man saw that nobody gave way to him, he frowned. “Are they your friends?”

“No.” Zhang Heng said.

“Good.” The young man let out a long sigh of relief. His expression changed, snapping at the girl closest to him, “Get lost!”

The girl’s face changed drastically when she heard the young man telling her to get lost. She was so scared that she almost cried. Immediately, she looked at the boys around him. However, the group who were so previously so eager to beat Qin Zhen up hesitated. When they saw that Zhang Heng and his friends were just high school students, they did not hesitate to confront them. However, when they saw a group of rich young men approaching Zhang Heng, they knew it was not a good idea to provoke them.

At the same time, the owners of other sports cars had all gotten out of their cars. The group of university students no longer had the numbers advantage. And even if they could win the right, they would have to face the consequences that would come with it. So, they just glared at Qin Zhen and left without saying a word.

“Thanks.”

After they left, Zhang Heng thanked the young man. Although he knew that they were not exactly kind souls, they weren’t people who would find unnecessary trouble. The young man acted in such an arrogant manner because he saw the fight that was about to break out between the group of university students and Zhang Heng’s group. He just wanted to help Zhang Heng and his friends to resolve the problem peacefully.

“Don’t mention it,” the young man said. He glanced at the two girls, Bai Qing and Chi Jia, and smiled. “It seems that you have company tonight. We won’t bother you anymore. You can come to our club anytime you want, and please, do teach us some of that amazing driving skills.”