48 Hours a Day

“What’s wrong with my car?” Zhang Heng asked, “In 1983, the Santana resulted from SAIC and Volkswagen’s first joint venture. Pushed out from the assembly line using the CKD method, it was 4546mm long, 1710mm wide, and 1427mm tall and had a wheelbase of 2548mm. With a kerb weight of 1100kg, the sedan came standard with a 1.6L four-cylinder engine that put out a maximum of 87 horsepower.”

The girl in the cap was dumbfounded after hearing a bunch of numbers. She did not understand cars that well. However, she still knew that some of the classic cars were very valuable. She could not help but ask respectfully, “Is your car the first batch of the joint venture?”

“No, this is a 2004 Santana 3000.” “…then why are you talking about the car of the 80s?” The girl in the cap felt as if she had just been brought on a ride by Zhang Heng. Feeling cheated, she became outraged.

“Just to tell you not to underestimate Santana,” Zhang Heng said. “Hmph. The price of any cars that parked here tonight is enough to buy ten of your stupid cars!” The capped girl sarcastically jeered.

“Really? But it’s a pity that they can’t overtake my Santana.” Zhang Heng’s expression remained unchanged.

“Pretty smug, aren’t you? Really think that junk you’re driving is an AE86?” a tattooed man in a Supreme T-shirt asked from the other side.

His words drew laughter again.

When the laughter had subsided, the young man who was on the Porsche 911 spoke again.

“Okay, enough.” Then, he looked at Zhang Heng and warned, “You’d better leave quickly.” “We haven’t raced each other yet.”

“We don’t race with outsiders,” the young man said, “and we are all gamblers here. Do you have money with you?”

“How much?”

“30,000 yuan. The winner takes all.”

“I have no money, but I can bet my car,” said Zhang Heng.

The young man shook his head. “Your car is not worth 30,000 yuan. At most, you can get 10,000 yuan out of it. And you stole this car from your house, right? Does it belong to your dad or your grandpa? When your parents wake up tomorrow, and they find that the car is gone, how is your dad supposed to send your mom to work?”

The crowd broke out in another roar of laughter.

“That means I have to win the race come what may, ” Zhang Heng said. “First, you can’t win. Second… As I said, you can’t even pay the entrance fee,” the young man flicked the ash off his cigarette, “Go home. It’s for your own good.”

Suddenly, the millennial who scolded Zhang Heng spoke up. “I can help him with the money.”

“Hmm?”

Putting his arms around the cap girl, he said, “I want to see him racing his Santana against us. It should be fascinating. My family runs a debt collection company. I will make sure that he pays us.”

“Don’t cause any unnecessary trouble. Since you have joined our circle, you must abide by the rules I’ve set.” The young man sitting on his 911 frowned. “I said, we don’t race with outsiders.”

Clearly, he was indeed an influential character among this group of people. After he dropped the order, the millennial did not dare to say anything

“Consider yourself lucky. Leave now with your broken car.” The tattooed man in a Supreme t-shirt made a shooting gesture at Zhang Heng.

Instead of leaving, Zhang Heng turned off the engine, pulled out the key, and parked the car at the side of the road. “Sorry. I don’t want to leave yet. I feel this place is growing on me, and I plan to stay here a little longer. Maybe I should come here every night to see if there’s a race going on.” “So, you are taking our kind words for granted?” The leader of the group glared at Zhang Heng. “You seem to have misunderstood something. Do you really think that we can’t do anything for you? We will beat you up if you make us! I don’t want to cause trouble because it is troublesome. Don’t you think for a second that we can’t deal with a brat like you.”

After he finished speaking, all the people from the club gathered around, and someone took out a wrench and a portable fire extinguisher from the trunk, waiting for their leader to give the order to smash Zhang Heng’s car.

Most of them were the kind who had the stomach to do anything that would cause chaos. And they were unhappy with Zhang Heng’s attitude ever since he stepped into their territory.

“I will give you one last chance. You better get lost within a minute.”

The leader gave Zhang Heng an ultimatum. Zhang Heng glanced at the people around who were ready to charge at him at any time. He then said to the leader, “So you’d rather fight me than race me. Is this a modified car club or a fight club?”

“Fine.” The leader seemed amused by Zhang Heng’s perseverance and desperation to race. He threw the cigarette butt in his hand and got off the 911’s hood. “If you lose, I don’t want your money or your stupid car. I want you to crawl on the ground in a circle, and you’d better not show up in front of me again.”

To everyone’s surprise, Zhang Heng shook his head when he heard this, “Let’s not apply the rule to the two of us. Everyone here should do it together. The more, the merrier.”

Finally, the leader had become really irked by Zhang Heng. Glaring, he stopped saying anything unnecessary. “Okay, you have the final say. Little K, tell him the rules,” he growled coldly.

A large bosomed petite girl approached Zhang Heng with a sweet smile. “The rules are straightforward. Once everyone is ready, the drivers will go to their respective positions. I will announce the start of the race from here. Use whatever means necessary to win the race! Sounds fair?”

“Where is the finishing line?” Zhang Heng asked.

“Do you know where the stadium is? The swimming pool at the west gate is the finishing line for this race,” Little K went on.

When the two chatted, four cars fetched the girls to the finishing line of this race. They did not want to participate, and Zhang Heng had no intention to force them to do so. There were eight cars left. Since each would have to pay the racing fee of 30,000 yuan, Zhang Heng stood to gain a whopping 240,000 yuan if he won the race.

It was more than enough for him to survive the dungeon.

Before he got to enjoy the money, he had first to win the race.

The capped girl was right when she said that even the cheapest car here could buy ten Santanas. Not to mention that the leader’s car was race-tuned. Taking only 3.9 seconds to make the century sprint, its horsepower and handling both completely outplayed Zhang Heng’s Santana 3000.

And this time, Zhang Heng did not have the time to modify his car because it belonged to his grandpa. He could not do it without his grandpa’s consent, or the old man might suffer from a heart attack the moment he stepped on the gas.

But there was good news. Zhang Heng checked out the route with GPS and discovered this to be an ordinary course. Considering that many of the new townships’ infrastructure was half completed, the road conditions were quite rough. Only a skillful driver would compete and win this race.

Besides, the leader did not seem to want to take untoward advantage. The route that he chose this time was brand new for everyone. That would mean the race was just as tough for everyone.