48 Hours a Day

Wendy saw the scene before her, and her expression suddenly changed as she stared at the old cowboy.

For some reason, her gaze caused the sheriff to be embarrassed to look at her. He turned away. “I am doing it for your own good. If your father were here, he would’ve agreed with me.”

“Oh, I thought it was going to be something new this time. It turns out it’s all the same thing again. Stop telling me that you are doing this for my own good. Do you know what annoys a woman the most, sheriff?”. “What could that be?”

“Making assumptions,” Wendy snapped coldly. “You have no right to force yourself into my life, sheriff.”

“I know that you can make yourself sound convincing, but no matter what you say, ma’am, you can’t change what will happen next. I will ask Joseph to send you home, then Jonathan and I will invite Mr. Zhang to stay in town for three to five days. He will get to enjoy the best that Glen Town has to offer. Until I finish the matter at hand, I will help you to find your father. As for Mr. Zhang, he is free to go anywhere he wants.” “How dare you do such a thing?!” Wendy yelled in a burst of anger. “I can understand your resentment and disappointment. Sometimes, the world disappoints us. It is the price of growing up,” the sheriff said and waved at Joseph.

The deputy was still a young boy with a small mustache, probably only seventeen or eighteen. Upon hearing what the sheriff said, he tidied up his messy hair before walking down from the rock wall.

“It’s good to meet you, ma’am. Although I may not look like one, I can guarantee that I am also an excellent gunman. I learned my way around the gun from the sheriff. I will be responsible for your safety when you head home.”

“Okay, you can tell her the rest while you escort her home,” the sheriff urged.

Wendy then glanced at Zhang Heng, who nodded at her.

“Don’t worry about me. Precinct coffee should taste good. I will...”

“Dolan,” said the sheriff.

“I’m going to spend a nice week with Sheriff Dolan,” Zhang Heng added, blinking at Wendy.

The latter took a deep breath and looked at the sheriff, “I will not give up like that. Watch me.”

“With all due respect, if you were my age, you wouldn’t have cared about those meaningless words. Send my regards to your mother for me. Well, time to go.” The sheriff nodded at Joseph.

It wasn’t until the two exited the river valley that the sheriff turned around to look at Zhang Heng, “I know some people don’t like yellow-skinned men, but today is your lucky day. I am not that kind of person. As long as you stay put and obey my orders, I will guarantee your safety in the town. But if you dare mess with me... I don’t mind turning you into a corpse in this river valley. No one in this land will care if you are alive or dead. Don’t forget how you just got onto Bacchus’ bad side last night, and everyone in the bar saw it. If you died here, the people would think that it had to be Bacchus’s people who killed you.”

“It seems that you are not as innocent as you look, sheriff,” Zhang Heng said. “When you first showed up in front of us, I thought you were an upright law enforcer.”

“Upright law enforcer?” the sheriff snorted. “No one in this land can be upright forever. Otherwise, I would have been a corpse long ago. People are very complicated. Everyone has a secret they want to keep to themselves. I bet you have some secrets as well... I forced the kid to go home for her own good, and for your own good, I suggest you shut your mouth for the time being.”

Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows and said nothing after that.

The sheriff dismounted his horse and walked towards him. At the same time, he warned Zhang Heng, “Jonathan is a sharpshooter. He can shoot a running hare from fifty yards. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to put his marksmanship to the test.”

Zhang Heng looked up, seeing the young man who was holding a rifle.

Jonathan was obviously nervous, stiff as a scarecrow as he aimed Zhang Heng. There was a high chance that the sheriff was just bragging. The sheriff first unbuckled the holster around Zhang Heng’s waist. Then, suddenly, there was a frown. “Hold on, don’t you have two guns? Where is the other one?”

“You don’t want to know the answer to that,” Zhang Heng replied. The next moment, he dropped down from Radish and hid behind it.

The sheriff’s reaction was quick. Having not the time to pull out his pistol from his waist, he drew Zhang Heng’s revolver from its holster and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Unfortunately, it wasn’t loaded.

The scene where Zhang Heng fell to the ground after getting shot would remain only an imagination. At the same time, a knife was placed against the sheriff’s throat.

“Did you really think I would have handed you a loaded revolver, sheriff?” scoffed Zhang Heng.

After he successfully threatened the sheriff, he quickly hid behind him. Radish was still blocking Joseph, and as a result, the deputy could not take his aim at Zhang Heng no matter how sharp of a marksman he was. Zhang Heng did a quick take at the terrain, then dragged the sheriff to the back of a giant stone, drawing out the sheriff’s revolver at the same time.

“Do you know what you are doing?” The sheriff asked, panting.

“Of course, one of my specialties is that I always know what I’m doing.”

“For a child, you are willing to turn into a wanted criminal?”

Zhang Heng laughed when he heard those words. “Take a wild guess here. When I stand before the judge, don’t you think the jury might be interested in that hidden side of yours? I don’t know what the hell you did with Matthew, but you obviously have a more sordid past than mine. You know, you should work on your lying, sheriff. Now, I don’t think you will escalate this matter. Am I right?”

The sheriff was rendered speechless.

“Also, if you don’t want to watch that child die on the rock wall, I advise you to ask him to put down his gun and surrender.”

Right after Zhang Heng said that he heard the sound of a horse galloping from afar, Wendy and Lighting were back at the entrance of the river valley.

“How is that possible?”

The sheriff and Zhang Heng were bewildered.

Wendy was also taken aback when she saw what was happening. She almost dropped the revolver in her hand.

“Why are you here?” Zhang Heng asked.

“Ah, didn’t you give me the revolver to take care of the enemy and to help you out?” Wendy was at a loss.

“Did you kill deputy sheriff Joseph?! Wait, since when did I ask you to kill him? I gave you the revolver to protect yourself, in case that guy had some malicious intent.”

“You blinked at me, and I thought it was a signal to do it.”

Zhang Heng was at a loss too. Initially, he planned to save Wendy after dealing with the problem here. Since Wendy was now here, he decided to kill the sheriff and the gunman in one go.

“Also, I didn’t kill that guy. I just tied him up and left him where there was no one.” Wendy then said to the sheriff, “I hoped when you told me that there are no wolves and bears here, it is not a lie. Otherwise, you are probably going to pay the price for your lies.”

Zhang Heng breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Wendy didn’t kill the young deputy sheriff. In other words, it was not too late to change the plan. He realized that Wendy was different from the ordinary girl. At such times, ordinary people would choose to treat the gun as a last resort. However, Wendy took the initiative to attack her enemy, but she also rushed back to “rescue” him. Zhang Heng could not reprimand her for it and could only sigh in the end.

“You are really braver than I thought, ma’am.”