Tattoo刺青

Chapter 9

( Offline reading purpose only. Please support the translator by readig on Chrysanthemum Garden 👉 https://chrysanthemumgarden.com/novel-tl/tattoo/ )

Lu Xiaobei hadn’t been making stuff up. He had only said that because he had stayed by Zhou Zui’s side for a long time and understood his personality. Anyone with eyes could tell that Xiao Ke was interested in Zhou Zui; of course, he also hadn’t even bothered hiding it. Sometimes, customers coming in for tattoos would think Zhou Zui handsome and stick around for a bit, but none of these advances ever came to fruition.

Xiao Ke wasn’t annoying. He understood how things worked. Every time he came, he didn’t say much and didn’t bother their work. People truly were different after receiving a higher education. Even those who didn’t really understand him but had interacted with him a few times felt that he was pretty well-mannered.　　 

Later on, Xiao Ke visited a few more times. Normally he would come on the weekends and never told anyone beforehand. He would show up when he felt like it, regardless of if Zhou Zui was in or not. If he was, Xiao Ke would chat with him for a bit. If he wasn’t, then he would talk with Lu Xiaobei and Xu Lin. Xu Lin was the manicure girl who manned the front desk. She really liked Xiao Ke, so was willing to converse with him.

With enough time, Xiao Ke became familiar with all of them. He had met the other tattoo artists too, except for a couple who had gone overseas to learn. They wouldn’t be returning until next year. The two computers in the shop belonged to Lu Xiaobei and the guy who had gone overseas. Xiao Ke had always thought one of them was Zhou Zui’s.　

Lu Xiaobei smiled and said, “Forget it. My big bro is like a god or something. He doesn’t even really check his phone, much less play games.”

At the time, Xiao Ke had glanced at Zhou Zui. Zhou Zui was tattooing someone in the back chairs. It was a whole sleeve, so took a lot of time.　 

Xiao Ke asked Lu Xiaobei, “Then what does he normally do?”

“Just tattooing. Or drawing. If he’s really bored, he’ll craft or something.” Lu Xiaobei removed his gaze from his phone screen and looked at Xiao Ke. He smirked, “Or shoo off his pursuers.”

Xiao Ke laughed at his words. His eyebrows raised in a joking manner. “How does he shoo them off?”

“By ignoring them.” Lu Xiaobei looked down at his phone again, but the smile was still on his face. “When they’re sitting around, he hides in the art room to draw. When they speak to him, he doesn’t answer.” 

Xiao Ke could tell that Lu Xiaobei was warning him, but he disregarded this. Xiao Ke was still laughing. He had already gotten pretty close to Lu Xiaobei; this kid was really interesting sometimes. Xiao Ke knew too that Zhou Zui sometimes purposefully avoided him, so didn’t feel anything upon hearing Lu Xiaobei’s words. He continued chatting with the other.　

Pursuing someone, you know. It wasn’t any fun being able to catch up to them as soon as you started. There wasn’t that feeling of satisfaction. Teacher Xiao had already mentally prepared for a long and tough war. He was determined to successfully woo this person.　

That day, Xiao Ke didn’t end up saying much to Zhou Zui. Zhou Zui spent the whole time tattooing and didn’t really move otherwise. The guy he was tattooing had already taken several naps, but Zhou Zui’s posture still hadn’t changed. Xiao Ke’s back and neck hurt just by staring at him. 　

“Are you guys always like this?” Xiao Ke asked Lu Xiaobei. “Keeping your head down a whole day*?”
*He means 8 hour workdays.

Lu Xiaobei chuckled. “What’s a whole day? Sometimes a big job takes over a dozen hours. After finishing it, all the bones in your body crack and snap. It fucking sounds like your skeleton is about to fall apart.”