48 Hours a Day

Instead of going home, as usual, he decided to pay the college hostel a visit. Although the student’s face was covered last night, Zhang Heng could recognize him from his clothes. His Adidas sweatpants and the T-shirt printed with the word “Underground” had exposed his identity. He was wearing the same set of attire when Zhang Heng saw him in the convenience store.

Zhang Heng knew that last night, the college student had to be targeting him because he told no one about his plan to go to the river to investigate the drownings. He had driven his grandfather’s car to the river, not to mention the relatively remote surroundings of the route he picked. While on the way to the river, only an occasional car would pass him by.

Let alone sneak under the bridge pier when he was standing by the riverbank, Zhang Heng clung to the fact that the college student had arrived there than him last night. When the student saw Zhang Heng parking his car beside the river, he quickly hid underneath the pier. Hence, there were now questions to be answered. Why was the college student on the river last night? What was the relationship between him and the three drowned children?

Why was the college student so scared when he saw Zhang Heng? He even risked his life to jump into the water. Probably, he was the only one that had answers to these questions. Zhang Heng knocked on the door of the student’s house, but there was no response. His parents were still at work at this hour, an indicator that he should be home alone now.

If memory served him right, Zhang Heng remembered that the student would practically stay at home all day ever since he was discharged from the mental hospital. Other than buying cigarettes, he wouldn’t go anywhere else. Since he just swam in the river last night, there was no reason for him to wander around today.

So Zhang Heng continued to knock on the door.

After a while, Zhang Heng heard a feeble voice. “My parents are not at home. Please come back later.”

“I’m here to find you,” Zhang Heng did not beat around the bush, “I knew it was you last night. We have to talk.”

As soon as his voice fell, he heard some weird clattering coming from inside, seeming as if things were knocked around. With a hint of panic, the student’s voice came through the door. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Hold on. I will open the door for you.”

Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows and rested his ear on the door.

After listening for a while, he turned around, walked down the stairs, and left the building. After that, he walked to the west, looked up, and saw the window of a college student’s house on the second floor was opened. A man carrying a Sailor Moon schoolbag had his back facing him.

The college student was holding the window sill and was almost completely out of the window completely. One of his legs was on the air conditioner’s compressor, and the other was trying to move it off the window sill.

It seemed the student wasn’t one that fancied exercise. It took him quite some time to complete the action. Zhang Heng watched him struggle for a while and started to wonder if his leg had cramped up. For his safety, Zhang Heng had to speak out loud, “You can move your leg to the left first.”

The student was startled when he heard the voice from behind him, almost falling off the second floor.

Giving up on the idea of getting out from the second floor, he attempted to crawl back into the house. Due to how anxious he had become, the leg that was stepping on the compressor did not exert enough strength, and it caused him to step on the empty space.

Fortunately, someone helped him to get back into the house at this critical moment. It was from Zhang Heng. When the college student started screaming, Zhang Heng quickly returned to the home to give him a hand.

The college student was trembling. Fearing for his life, he repeated the same phrase again and again, “I don’t know anything! I don’t know anything!”

Zhang Heng quickly closed the window after he pulled him back into the house. Fortunately, it happened so fast that no one from the community had spotted them.

Afterward, Zhang Heng took out the newspaper page about the drownings and threw it in front of the college student.

“Tell me, what do you have to do with this.”

The moment the college student saw the headline of the news, he knelt on the ground and cried, “Let me go. I know I’m at fault. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. Maybe I’ve been cooped out in the house for too long. I just wanted to get some fresh air! I’ve been cooped up inside the house for too long.”

Zhang Heng frowned. Although the guy was dressed like a crazy person, it seemed his mind was still sound. And he still knew how to do things logically. When he heard that Zhang Heng was here to look for him, he immediately turned to the window, and he even lied before he tried to escape. If Zhang Heng had not heard his footsteps moving to another room, he might have been deceived by him. “What actually happened to them?” Zhang Heng asked.

However, no matter what he said, the college student only knew how to beg for mercy. And he even took off his pants while he was talking, and his squatting posture gave off the impression that he wanted to perform some hardcore stuff.

Just when Zhang Heng wanted to say something, he heard the sound of the key being inserted into the keyhole.

For unknown reasons, the college student’s parents came home early today. Zhang Heng knew that he could not stay any longer, so he had to escape through the window. However, before leaving, Zhang Heng caught a glimpse of the college student’s face, and he was a little surprised.

Instead of showing any sign of relief, the fear in the student’s eyes had amplified, just like when he ran away from Zhang Heng at the pier last night. All his pores were closed tight. This time, there was nowhere for him to run to.

It was a pity that Zhang Heng could not talk to him anymore because the door was slowly opening. Zhang Heng took advantage of the last minute to jump out of the window, stepping on the air-conditioner’s compressor. With backpack on his back, Zhang Heng and looked back at the window.

He saw a woman there, the mother of the college student. Like all the kind neighbors in the neighborhood, she smiled sweetly at Zhang Heng before closing the window and drawing the curtains.

Zhang Heng could no longer see what was going on in that room.

After Zhang Heng returned home, he threw his schoolbag into the bedroom. At that time, his grandpa also happened to walk out of the yard, holding a container that had some vegetables that had just been pulled out of the ground. He also carried some soil.

Zhang Heng took out a bottle of yogurt from the refrigerator and asked, “Do you know anything about the college student?” “Which college student?”

“The one whos mentally ill.” “Oh, him. It’s a pity.” Grandpa said, “He had so much potential. He majored in mechanical engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology. He was supposed to become an engineer. It’s a shame that he lost his mind.”

“How did he become crazy?”

“I heard that he had a relationship problem. His first girlfriend broke up with him and married someone else. At his young age, he couldn’t get over it. Hence he lost his mind gradually. During his most severe episode, he grabbed a kitchen knife from his house and shouted that he would kill anyone who approached him. His parents had no choice but to send him to a mental hospital for treatment. After he was released, he could finally control his emotions, but he was a broken man,” Grandpa shook his head.