48 Hours a Day

Panda Novel

The minibus Wei Jiangyang booked had just arrived downstairs. The three boys loaded the vehicle with the camping equipment and food they had prepared.

Zhang Heng checked out his sf recurve bow from the shooting range the day before.

After about a week of practice, his skills were almost fully recovered. With the help of modern technology, he was able to hit ring 9 at 50-meters. But Zhang Heng’s specialty at was shooting moving targets, although it all depended on the target’s speed and the trajectory.

One particular thing bugged him. He kept feeling that a pair of resentful eyes were gazing at him, which made him a little hesitant to unleash his full potential. By and large, he had to wait for still time to find a place for practice. Now that an opportunity to traverse the wilderness had presented itself, he could find a serene place to practice his archery skills.

“Childe Zhang, if anything dangerous happens, you have to protect me first,” Chen Huadong trilled jokingly. Zhang Heng did not keep his archery lessons a secret from his roommates. All of them knew that he’d just started. In fact, only a week ago and had even searched the net for tutorial videos. How much progress could he have made?

“Alright, don’t forget to fall into my arms when it happens.”

They chatted and laughed as they repeated up and down the stairs. Finally, after loading everything into the back of the van, the three girls made their way to them.

Chen Huadong gave Zhang Heng a nudge with his elbow and said, “The one on the left is Shen Xixi.”

Zhang Heng looked in the direction his friend pointed at and saw a tall girl. Wei Jiangyang sure wasn’t lying when he said that her physical condition was good – she had the body of a model, and was easy on the eyes. Not to mention that, unlike the coquettish superstars on the television and magazines, there was purity in her eyes. There was none of that pretentious, deliberate ‘girl shyness’ on her. It was no wonder that she was the girl of so many boys’ dreams; the Public Relations Departments’ number one ‘good person card’ wholesaler.

Shen Xixi flipped out three bottles of water from her bag and handed them to the three boys. She piped excitedly, “Thank you for the hard work, guys!”

Zhang Heng accepted the bottle and thanked her.

It was the little things that told a lot about a person’s upbringing. It was apparent that Shen Xixi did not consider the three boys as free labor and personal bodyguards, nor did she think that just because she was a girl, letting the boys do the heavy lifting was by default. Such qualities on a woman, especially a beautiful one, was more than hard to come by.

Chen Huadong continued to play the role of an inept, fumbling advisor, He whispered into Zhang Heng’s ear, “It’s been said that Shen Xixi’s father is a university lecturer and her mother is a novel translator. Seems like a good family. So… what do you think? Childe Zhang, I believe your families are well-matched.”

The person that Wei Jiangyang was waiting for was missing. He could not help but ask himself, “Where’s Xiaoxiao? Why isn’t she here yet?”

“Hahaha! Each time we go out, that woman is the most troublesome of all. Putting her makeup on takes forever! Wei Jiangyang, you will suffer when you marry her!” laughed the shortest girl among the three. Standing between the two other girls, she attained a humble 1.5 meters give or take. Needless to say, she was the legal loli, Xu Jing, that Chen Huadong had eyes for.

She had only just finished when someone smacked her over the head.

“Ugh. I’m sorry you had to hear that! I will make sure to discipline this child!” Shen Xixi told Wei Jiangyang, keeping a straight face.

The atmosphere was just starting to feel a little warmer when they suddenly heard a voice call out, “Xixi.”

It was then that the girl’s expressions immediately changed.

“Xixi, are you and your roommates going out to have fun? Why didn’t you tell me? I could send you there.” A flashy chili red BMW 5 Series sports sedan pulled to a stop next to the group.

The guy driving the car pulled the handbrake and stepped out.

Zhang Heng’s eyebrows raised. He was wondering why Shen Xixi looked so familiar – apparently, they had met earlier on when he was leaving the supermarket after buying the scratch cards. Now, he recognized the couple he saw. It was Shen Xixi, and this guy clad in a Supreme t-shirt.

“Cheng Cheng. Why are you here again?! Xixi has already rejected you so many times! Why haven’t you taken a hike already?” Unlike her name, Xu Jing¹ was a straightforward girl who did not keep her thoughts to herself.

This blatant announcement that exposed his rejection had put a dent to Cheng Cheng’s dignity and cut his ‘face’, but because Xu Jing was a girl, it would be embarrassing if he threw any tantrums. Instead, the fuerdai swallowed his anger.

“Xixi, can I talk to you for a moment? It’ll just be nearby. I know a coffee shop with excellent Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee,” said Cheng Cheng.

Shen Xixi frowned. Even the ordinarily good-tempered girl was starting to lose her patience. She and Cheng Cheng had been strangers until that welcoming party for freshmen.

That very night, after performing a song, Cheng Cheng approached her and had been coaxing and pestering her for more than half a month since.

From flowers, snacks, and fruits, to an iPhone and concert tickets, Cheng Cheng would entrust some girl to leave them at Shen Xixi’s dormitory door.

But this modus operandi that had worked so well on every other girl failed miserably on Shen Xixi.

The gifts that he had given her were always returned to him untouched, and Shen Xixi also made it very clear to him that she was not interested in being in a relationship right now.

This rejection, though, seemed to only fuel Cheng Cheng’s zeal. He even toned down his lordly attitude. Shen Xixi’s parents had always taught her to be polite and respectful. Now, when she found herself in an exasperating situation, she found it difficult to be abrasive, ergo, causing her to continuously be the recipient of Cheng Cheng’s persistent badgering.

There were even rumors about the both of them going around the school, which gave Shen Xixi a massive headache.

What’s more, she seemed to be running into Cheng Cheng a lot recently. How did he find out about their plans to go camping? Was it not too much of a coincidence that he showed up just as they were about to depart?

Shen Xixi glanced at the girl called Wang Huan who was standing behind Xu Jing. The girl shot an embarrassed smile back at her. Wang Huan hailed from a middle-class family but a few days ago, a stick of YSL lipstick magically appeared in her drawer. The aspiring detective of a Xu Jing looked the up the price of the lipstick and found that to own one, a princely sum 700 – 800 yuan would have to be forked out.

Owing to that, everyone jeered at Wang Huan, asking her if she was a mistress to some wealthy merchant. But now, it seems that her lipstick had come from somewhere else.

Against the odds, Shen Xixi had no intention to pursue this issue. When she saw that Xiaoxiao had left the dormitory and was approaching them, she turned to Cheng Cheng and stated sternly, “Cheng Cheng, haven’t we already talked on Monday? I don’t really drink coffee, and we’re leaving right about now.”

“Never mind, they can go first. I’ll send you there later. Don’t worry, I won’t take up too much of your time,” retorted a relentless Cheng Cheng.

Chen Huadong could not hold it back any longer and was about to speak up when Wei Jiangyang shot him a sharp look.

“Don’t provoke this guy,” Ao Jiangyang said under his breath.

Chen Huadong pursed his lips. “Why? Isn’t he just a fuerdai? Look at our Childe Zhang – now that’s the model fuerdai.”

Zhang Heng shook his head. “Nonsense. I’m not a fuerdai.”

Zhang Heng came from similar financial circumstances as Shen Xixi – both intellectual types, comfortable enough to not worry about what they ate or wore. They were considered pretty well-off compared to the average person, but they were not in the same league as those ultra-rich tycoons.

Wei Jiangyang smiled acridly. “This Cheng Cheng is not an easy person to deal with; he’s a troublemaker. He’s our senior by a year. When he first came to university, he got into a fight with a senior. His family appears to be in the hotel business. He spends lavishly and has quite a following. The student union is a disorganized mess of a pestilence thanks to him. Xiao Xiao was so averse to his ways that she quit the student union.”