48 Hours a Day

Even though the person in charge had appeared in front of him, Zhang Heng was still grabbing the tattooed man’s head.

“That’s interesting. We haven’t met each other before, and I’m pretty sure that we don’t have any disagreements as well. My friend, why are you doing such a terrible thing to me?” The old man looked around. He saw his men on the ground, immobile and severely wounded. He then wiped his hands with his handkerchief and handed it to the person behind him before taking off his leather apron.

“I don’t think I know your name.”

“I’m just an insignificant nameless man. My name is not important. I do my job, and I get paid. But I think you should know about my employer. He is supposed to do business with someone here tonight. My job is to make sure that the transaction proceeds without any hiccups,” Zhang Heng said. “Oh, Mr. Jonathan, I like him. Is he in the car behind you? If only he got down earlier, I don’t think such a regrettable tragedy would have happened.”

“My employer hopes to see your sincerity when he gets off the car.”

“Do not take advantage of my good nature, my child. This is not how business is supposed to be done,” the old man was shaking his head, “We haven’t even laid our eyes on the goods, and you want us to show you the money first? That doesn’t make sense at all. Am I right?”

Zhang Heng tapped on the tattooed man’s cheek with the back of a knife. “Mr. Jonathan has done business with others, and they usually don’t use people like him as a welcome.” The people behind the old man were ready to draw their weapons. However, they were stopped by their boss.

“Interesting, it’s been a long time since I met someone as interesting as you.”

“...but I often encounter people like him,” Zhang Heng snapped, planting the tattooed man’s head on the table harder.

The tip of the knife had been dangling in front of the tattooed man’s face for a while. He was so afraid that he peed himself. A slight frown appeared on the old man’s forehead when he saw the cowardice of his man. Immediately, he stopped talking and turned to the man behind him.

“Get the money out.”

Zhang Heng finally let go of his palm when he heard the words. He then put the knife back on the table. A look of surprise flashed in the old man’s eyes. He wasn’t surprised when Zhang Heng defeated all four of his men in one go, but when Zhang Heng took a step back, he felt like he could never truly figure him out.

He then coughed, “Well, when are you guys going to stop embarrassing me?” After what the old man said, the few men lying on the ground mustered their final straw of strength to stand up. They limped to the slaughterhouse with their heads hung low.

“Wait.” Zhang Heng said, pointing to the guy who was stabbed in the wrist before, “He has to be sent to the hospital quickly.” “This little injury is nothing to me. I won’t make a fuss like a woman. I will just wrap it with something later,” the man replied with the pride of a fighter burning in his heart. His tough-guy statement had also won the approval of his companions.

“I hope you will not regret what you said tonight the day you realize you can no longer hold a folk,” Zhang Heng said indifferently. Never one to be nosy, he would not repeat the same thing three times. Everyone was responsible for the choices that they made, whether it was the chemistry teacher or an Albanian kid who was trying to prove that he was a real man.

Defeated, the old man’s goons finally brought out a leather bag.

Zhang Heng then signaled the chemistry teacher in the car to come out, who then took two deep breaths before opening the car door.

Just as he got out of the car, he tripped on the scuff plate. He managed to stabilize himself quickly and walked over with the carton in his arms.

“Jonathan, I thought that there is a good level of trust between us. It would be best if you weren’t so wary of me. I can’t believe that you hired someone to protect you. Don’t you trust me?”

The teacher grabbed onto the leather bag with an embarrassed expression on his face. He opened his mouth and tried to explain to the old man, but no words left it when he remembered what Zhang Heng told him.

“Count it,” Zhang Heng said. The teacher nodded and quickly counted the cash in the leather bag. “All good,” he nodded vigorously.

“Just as agreed...” the old man raised his eyebrows, “can we inspect the goods then?”

The teacher finally handed the cardboard box to the old man.

The old man wasn’t idle when he inspected the goods. He constantly glanced at Zhang Heng, but he did not speak again. Not until his men came back and said something to him.

The teacher became very nervous suddenly, “I’ve checked the things that I made, and the quality is excellent. I’m pretty sure it exceeds your standards.”

“Relax, relax, there is nothing wrong with the goods. I am very satisfied with them,” the old man reassured.

His words allowed the edgy teacher to let out a sigh of relief, but in a split second, the old man suddenly changed his words, “Then, it’s time to talk about compensation.”

“Compensation, what compensation?” the teacher’s heart skipped a beat.

“Your man hurt my man. Are you planning to leave this place just like that?” the old man smiled, “I am a reasonable person, but the people above me are not as kind as me. You know, we are a complicated... big family. So, we must consider all of the aspects when doing things.”

The chemistry teacher was a little overwhelmed when he heard what the old man said. He stood there with his mind blank while holding the paper bag. At that moment, he began cursing in his heart on how Zhang Heng had overdone it. If only the young man hadn’t kicked up a fuss unprovoked, they should have all returned to their cars safely by now.

Zhang Heng, however, was utterly unfazed. He knew very well that if he had not hurt those thugs, the old man would have never them as politely as he did. Zhang Heng then asked the old man in front of him, “What do you want?”

Unexpectedly, the old man’s target wasn’t the chemistry teacher but him. “As compensation, how about you work for me for a month,” the old man directly spoke in Zhang Heng’s direction. “That’s impossible,” Zhang Heng refused without hesitation, “I have no interest in getting involved in trouble.”

“But you are already in trouble now.”

“Who can cause me trouble? You?” Just as Zhang Heng was done talking, the subordinates behind the old man pulled out their guns from their waist suddenly. What they did not expect was Zhang Heng reacted faster than them.

Then, right before they could aim, a Beretta 92F was pointed at the old man.

The crisis had caused the chemistry teacher’s heart to sink to the bottom of the ocean. He did not expect that the crowd that acted so politely a second ago would go against them the next second.

“It’s useless. Like I said, we are one big family,” the old man smirked. Looking as calm as a dove even with a gun pointed to his head, he went on, “A big family means everyone can be sacrificed. If you kill me, someone will soon take my place. Not only will you die, but your companions in the car won’t escape us as well. Some of our stores happen to be short of staff recently. I believe she can help us to solve this problem.”

“Is that so? Then, I will kill him.” Zhang Heng turned his gun to the stunned teacher. “If I kill the hen that lays golden eggs for your family, I’m not sure what the other members would think.”