CH 5

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Mimosa

In fact, Xiao Ke was feeling a little impulsive at the time that he said it. He was still initially feeling the novelty of it, and his mind could still occasionally recall the man sitting across from him when he was drinking that day. It just so happened that Fang Qimao had mentioned the tattoo, so he instantly said it.

However, when it really came to actually contacting him, he felt a little nervous. After all, he really wasn’t familiar with the man since he had only spent a few hours sitting across from him. The other may even say that he had forgotten him.

“Fess up, Master Xiao.” Fang Qimao couldn’t sit still so he urged Xiao Ke to make a phone call to book an appointment.

Xiao Ke took out the business card in the pocket of his leather jacket which made Fang Qimao suddenly smile when saw it, “I already asked this shop. That was the first one I asked since that’s where Little Tao had his tattoo done. I decided to get one because I thought it was cool.”

Xiao Ke lifted his gaze to glance at him. “He also got it done on his butt?”

“Fuck no. Would I be fucking able to see it if he got it tattooed on his butt?” Fang Qimiao pulled at his own collar and pointed. “He got it done here, on his collarbone.” 

“What was their response when you asked?” Xiao Ke inquired.

Fang Qimiao scoffed, “It was the one that was booked out for the longest, since they told me to wait three months. I’m just trying to get a tattoo the size of my fucking palm, and they told me to wait three months. Who are they kidding?”

Xiao Ke ignored him since he had already dialed the number, and it was ringing.　　

A while later, someone picked up before that person asked, “Who is it?”　 

Xiao Ke’s planned opening statement didn’t work because the voice sounded too young, and it wasn’t the voice he heard that night. The other side saw that he did not say anything, so they felt a little impatient when they asked again, “Who is it?”

“Isn’t this Zhou Zui’s phone?” Xiao Ke looked at the screen to silently check the number on the business card, and it was indeed correct.

The person on the other end said, “Yes, were you looking for him? He’s working right now. If you need anything, I’ll let him know.”

Xiao Ke now felt really awkward, since the relationship between him and Zhou Zui was all right when the two of them called directly, but it felt a bit awkward to pass through a middle-man. He had wanted to refuse, but the other side urged, “Come on, buddy, be quick. I’m also busy. Do you want a tattoo? Or is it a personal matter? If it’s a tattoo, then we’ll…”

As if someone on the other side of the phone interrupted him, Xiao Ke heard him say, “I don’t know, you don’t have the number saved.” He asked again, “Do you want to get a tattoo?” 

Xiao Ke replied with, “Mn.”

“Tattoo, big bro!” He shouted on the other side of the phone before saying to Xiao Ke, “If you want a tattoo without coming to the shop, then just add us on WeChat. Or do you know our big boss? Do you know Zhou Zui?” 

The man should not be too old since he sounded like he was in his early twenties, and Xiao Ke felt like laughing as his mouth burst out like a machine gun. Fang Qimao also laughed next to him, and Xiao Ke said, “I sort of know him.”

“If you know each other, you know each other, if you don’t know each other, forget it, what’s wrong with knowing each other?” This little brother’s mouth was really sharp with a super fast speaking speed, “If you know my big brother, use his WeChat and talk to him directly, if not, then I’ll send you his number on WeChat later. If you want to schedule an appointment, then add me. But after adding me, I’ll only talk about tattoos. No chit-chat.”

Fang Qimiao was still laughing beside him. Xiao Ke kicked him, then said into the phone, “I don’t know if it counts as me knowing him or not. How about you ask him? My name is Xiao Ke. If he thinks that he knows me, then I want to get a tattoo. If not, then forget it.”

The other started directly screaming while still on the phone. “Big bro, do you know someone named Xiao Ke?! If you do, he’ll get a tattoo; if not, then he said to forget it!” 

Xiao Ke could not hear what was said on the other end of the line, but he heard the person say “Wait a minute,” before the phone went silent. After about half a minute, the same voice he had heard before rang out on the phone, “Good afternoon.”

Fang Qimao’s eyes lit up, and Xiao Ke cleared his throat before he said, “Good afternoon, you’re busy, right? Sorry.”

“No.” The person on the phone still sounded pleasant. “You want a tattoo?”

“Not me, my friend.” Xiao Ke said.

“Where do you want to get a tattoo? How big is the design?”

This question was difficult for Xiao Ke to say so he pointed to Fang Qimao before saying into the phone, “It’s around ten centimeters across and ten centimeters high, and the location…near the thigh.”

Zhou Zui didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but he was slightly amused when he spoke again and said, “Ok.”

They made an appointment over the phone for the next weekend, and Zhou Zui asked him to add Lu Xiaobei’s WeChat so he could tell him exactly what design he wanted. Xiao Ke asked Fang Qimao to add the boy’s WeChat himself, and it was only after adding it that he realized that their studio should be really popular.

The circle of friends on WeChat would update pictures almost every day with all the new tattoos from the studio. Xiao Ke scanned a few, and they were all pretty cool. Xiao Ke actually knew very little about tattoos, and his impression of tattoos were black dragon tails and wolf heads or something like that. However, their pictures were beautiful, and he thought these tattoos were not the same as what he had thought.

“I feel like tattooing a dog is a bit of a waste. People this level giving me a dog? Tsk.” Fang Qimao said this with slight dejection, and his eyes glanced at Xiao Ke while wondering about his relationship with the man who was on the phone just now.

“Then don’t go,” Xiao Ke replied.

“I can’t, I have an appointment.” Fang Qimao retracted his eyes to look at Lu Xiaobei’s circle of friends. “I guess for me, after I get it, they won’t post pictures since it’s too unsightly.”

Xiao Ke was too lazy to talk to him again so he left him alone on the couch to talk to himself.

Once the weekend had ended, Xiao Ke had to go back to his bland and boring role as a people’s teacher. He had class on Wednesday afternoon since their school had been in session for two weeks even though other schools hadn’t started yet which made students complain about it as they were reluctant to attend class.

It was not the students’ fault since the weather was still really hot which made even Xiao Ke feel irritated by the heat outside the office. The first class following the lunch break was the most difficult, but that’s how the class schedule was arranged since he had had to give way to a major elective class. It was why he couldn’t steal the prime time in the morning.

“Open your eyes if you are sleeping. In fact, I am also sleepy, but we still have to go to class.” Xiao Ke got his computer ready, but he saw that the majority of the class was asleep when he looked up. He felt slightly bemused, “Now I’m even sleepier because of you guys. Let’s kick each other’s desks and chairs so we can wake up to listen to the lesson, it’s my fault if it breaks.” Xiao Ke used the computer to play a song with the sound of heavy metal rock booms that woke up those that were sleeping.

The class president sitting in the first row of seats was a rather jocular boy, but he was also shaken awake. He sat in a crooked manner on the chair, and he looked at Xiao Ke with half-opened eyes as he said, “Handsome Xiao, don’t be ridiculous. My head is going to explode.”

“Explode? Well, don’t sleep in my class. Then the director won’t say that I’m not engaging.” Almost all the sleepers sat up, and Xiao Ke turned down the volume slightly. “Come on, first listen to this song.”

“You are quite engaging. If it were any other teacher, not even mentioning rock and roll, they wouldn’t even be able to play suona in my ear.” The class president stood up and clapped his hands behind him before he said in a loud voice, “Come on, let’s get up. Don’t trigger a snowball effect.” Xiao Ke looked at him, and he smiled at Xiao Ke. “Handsome Xiao needs a class representative?”

“Forget about the class representative. I don’t have much to do, I’ll just ask the class president if there’s anything.” Xiao Ke also looked at him before putting away the music to officially start the class.

In fact, students in his class were indeed quite enthusiastic because Xiao Ke’s class was not always stony-faced as he occasionally threw in a few humorous jokes. Students loved this kind of teacher, especially since Xiao Ke was young which made the generation gap relatively small. Students also dared to joke with him, and Professor Xiao didn’t mind.

There were very few teachers as young as Xiao Ke in their college, and fresh graduate PhDs usually couldn’t lead class which was why even Xiao Ke now had few classes a week which led to most of his time being spent on experiments, projects, and research. He was one of those who had started lecturing early, and he had only spent a year teaching before an administrator scheduled him for classes. Though it was only an elective course, this was already a pretty good thing. Either way, his salary increased by at least two thousand.　 

Xiao Ke finished his class, and he felt all the pores of his body stretch out as soon as he stepped into the air-conditioned office from the sweltering corridor. He sat in his chair while he tilted his head and breathed out a long sigh of relief.

“Professor Xiao is out of class?” There were two or three other teachers in the office while the others had either gone to class or went home early. Little Liang’s desk was next to Xiao Ke’s. They entered the school in the same year, and they had always had a good relationship.

“Mn, I may have to lie here dehydrated for a while,” Xiao Ke said with a bitter smile.

“Our school arranges for the installation of air conditioning every year, but it might depend on next year since the time for this year has already passed.” Little Liang gave Xiao Ke a glass of water and placed it on his desk.

“Thanks.” Xiao Ke drank half the glass before saying, “I have no hope for the AC. It would just be nice if we could start school a few days later.”

Little Liang smiled as she didn’t have deep knowledge on this matter since she didn’t lead classes anymore.

Xiao Ke still had two hours to go before he finished his work so he spent the rest of the day preparing the coursework for tomorrow’s class. Xiao Ke liked to finish his work in one go, and he was not easily interrupted by anything which was why he casually glanced at the phone. When he saw the number that was on it, the finger that was typing momentarily paused.

He had finished his work before he picked up his phone to check the text message which read, [It was a gift, it’s not expensive.]

Xiao Ke replied to him, [Thanks, no need.]

This number was familiar to him. From the beginning till the end, Lin An had this one number that never changed. After the breakup, the contact was deleted by Xiao Ke, but this number was not unrecognizable to him.

It was probably because his mother had already contacted Lin An to ask him to take back his watch and the other things.

“Professor Xiao, it’s time to go.” Little Liang called out to him.

“Mn, you go ahead, I’ll prepare for class.” Xiao Ke remarked.

He was the only person left in the office. Xiao Ke didn’t have time to be distracted and think about past events. It had been too hot during lunch, so he hadn’t had much of an appetite then. However, he was really hungry now, and he wanted to save this file before he got food.　

Xiao Ke stood up to lock the door and head out when his phone once again rang in his pocket at the inopportune time. He frowned and looked at it to see that it was Lin An.

Xiao Ke hung up the phone to avoid answering it and he then didn’t hesitate to block the number.