CH 30

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Mimosa

Professor Xiao stayed at his idol’s house for one night, but the two of them stayed in their own rooms without even kissing each other. Who would believe this? In fact, Xiao Ke opened his eyes in the morning with some regret in his heart. He was already an old man, and after thinking about the meat right in front of him that he was not able to eat, he felt like he had come down with a disease.

When Xiao Ke woke up, he strained his ears to listen to the movement outside and heard nothing for a while so he guessed that Zhou Zui was not up yet. Xiao Ke himself recalled the conversation last night, which was indeed quite cozy. It turned out that his cool man was a little pitiful so Xiao Ke was distressed and gave his Teacher Zhou a new name.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ke touched his phone and sent a tweet, [When can I open my gift(Liwu)? [Cute]]

This message was unintelligible to others, but would be understood with a glance for the one it was meant for.

Xiao Ke didn’t dare to stay at Zhou Zui’s house that day since it was after all still New Year’s Eve, so he got up to eat breakfast before Zhou Zui sent him back. Earlier, it wasn’t that Zhou Zui wasn’t awake yet, but he was in the kitchen to finish cooking their breakfast. He just hadn’t made any noise for fear of waking up Xiao Ke. As Xiao Ke ate the fried rice given by Teacher Zhou, he was especially satisfied. Tsk, his idol cooked him food to eat.

As a rule, the family had to go to their grandmother’s side on the first day of the month. Xiao Ke waved his hand before getting out of Zhou Zui’s car and saying, “I’m leaving, Teacher Zhou. I’ll find you at the shop tomorrow.”

After that, he opened the door and got out of the car.

Zhou Zui called out to him, “Wait a minute.”

“Yes?” Xiao Ke turned around. “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Zui opened the armrest compartment and took a red envelope from it before he got out of the car to head towards the back seat and grab a paper tube before he then went around to Xiao Ke’s side to hand it to him. “It’s been in the car for a few days. I didn’t expect you to come yesterday, I thought it would take a few days before I could give it to you.”

Xiao Ke smiled at that moment with his eyes curved and asked, “I have a red envelope, too?”

Zhou Zui said, “Of course you do.”

“Then, thank you, Teacher Zhou.” Xiao Ke took it and smiled at him with a tilted head. “I gave you a congratulatory fortune packet, what packet did you give me?”

Zhou Zui looked at him and said quite seriously, “I’m giving you New Year’s money. 1 To suppress evil and fear, so that Professor Xiao will always be safe.”

Xiao Ke’s heart instantly went soft so he put the red envelope into his jacket pocket before he asked with a smile, “Are you really treating me like a child?”

Zhou Zui smiled slightly and said, “You are a child to me.”

This sounded pretty sweet, and Xiao Ke clearly understood this. He waved his hand and said, “Goodbye, Teacher Zhou. You should get in the car.”

After saying that, he turned around and ran away.

What else in the world would be more beautiful than being in love with an older man? There was no such thing.

Xiao Ke arrived home when the old couple had finished packing up and were waiting for him. He didn’t even have time to change his shoes once he got up there and had to directly leave. Xiao Ke put the paper tube carefully into the trunk before going to the driver’s seat to drive.

Old Xiao and Dr. Xu sat in the back seat and didn’t say a word at first as they probably didn’t have the heart to ask. Xiao Ke braked sharply halfway before he frowned and cursed, “Anyone can drive a car now, as if it were their own toy car.”

He spoke up first so the two parents were not as restrained, and Dr. Xu seriously asked him, “Where did you sleep last night?”

Xiao Ke glanced at them in the rearview mirror and said, “At a friend’s house, after drinking so late.”

Dr. Xu asked again, “Was it your new lover’s house?”

Xiao Ke did not hold back his laugh, “Leader, can you not always say new lover, new lover? It sounds awkward.”

Ms. Xu was very cooperative and said “Ok” before she asked, “Then what should we call him?”

Xiao Ke almost blurted out “Zhou Liwu,” but fortunately he stopped in time. “Zhou Li…Zui. Zhou Zui.”

“What does he do?” Old Xiao then asked.

Xiao Ke smiled and said, “Something very advanced. He’s an artist.”

Xiao Ke didn’t say anything more as he really felt that his idol was indeed worthy of the title. He now believed that tattooing in itself was a work of art, and a very advanced thing.

The entire way, Xiao Ke dealt with interrogation. This time, he didn’t hide anything and answered all the questions. Before, he dared to not say it as his heart was not quite sure if he would succeed. However, it was different now as he was now his soon-to-be boyfriend.

While his parents had never met Zhou Zui, they would naturally not be able to evaluate him. The tattoo industry was still not that optimistic, but they didn’t say much about it even though they didn’t understand it.

Dr. Xu finally said, “If you feel good about them and as long as the person is stable, not doing this today and that tomorrow.”

“Mn.” Xiao Ke smiled. “Very good.”

As soon as one gets older, New Year’s was indeed troublesome as more than ten red envelopes needed to be prepared.

At 30, Xiao Ke was still not married so relatives always thought to ask but also tried to introduce him to someone. A cousin just gave birth to her second child this year and was so anxious to see how delayed marriage was for him so she sent three photos to his phone while saying, [These are the three with the best personalities and best looks in our area. Take your pick, they are all either 25 or 26 years old.]

Xiao Ke processed the photo with the face and background blocked with a small cat and bear. In the photo, you could barely see hair, and he sent it to Zhou Zui.

Zhou Zui, who presumably was not working on a tattoo, replied quickly, [What’s this?]

Xiao Ke said, [My cousin asked me to pick one to go on a blind date with.]

Zhou Zui immediately sent, [No way.]

Professor Xiao liked this response too much and sent several lines of “Ha” without any ceremonious attitude. When he sent “Hahaha”, that was when Mr. Zhou looked helpless. The young were privileged and spoiled by others.

Not only were they spoiled, but they also could have New Year’s money and gifts.

Xiao Ke went upstairs and secretly saw the present, which was a painting Zhou Zui promised him before. It was a particularly brightly colored oil canvas that brightened his heart.

The painting was a field of flowers. The painting was full of roses for Xiao Ke.2

Who said old men were not romantic?

Xiao Ke stayed at Zhou Zui’s house on New Year’s Day which was something that Fang Xi, Cao Yuan and Lu Xiaobei all knew. He went to the shop the next day, and Lu Xiaobei’s expression was very ambiguous as he came over to ask in a whisper, “Who is my sister-in-law?”

Xiao Ke smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know, it’s not me anyway.”

“Not you?” Lu Xiaobei was shocked, and did not dare to believe this. “Really?”

Xiao Ke slapped him on the head and said, “I should have taken the hose and flushed it out for you. You’re full of ideas.”

“Don’t tell me you guys just slept?” Lu Xiaobei followed up with a question.

“Yep, we’re that pure.” Xiao Ke asked him, “Where’s Zhou Zui?”

Lu Xiaobei pointed with his chin to a tattoo room on the first floor, “Inside there. Don’t go in there, it’s a girl today.”

Xiao Ke nodded, “Okay.” 

As a rule, others were not allowed to enter a tattoo session like that and were only allowed in if the tattoos were on areas like the arms and legs and not the private parts.

Xiao Ke asked him, “How big is the design?”

If it was a big design, he would not be able to see Teacher Zhou today.

“Not big, just coloring it in so it should be quick.” Lu Xiaobei remarked.

It was indeed very fast as Xiao Ke had not even sat for an hour when both people came out. The girl looked older, and was probably older than Xiao Ke. She came out with a smile and said to Zhou Zui, “Thank you for the hard work, Mr. Zhou. It’s New Year’s Day and you still have to help me with the coloring.”

Zhou Zui shook his head and said, “You’re welcome.”

After she left, Zhou Zui said to Lu Xiaobei, “I just took a picture, do you have time to upload it?”

Lu Xiaobei gave a thumbs up and said, “Cool, my big brother, he knows how to take pictures.”

Zhou Zui said, “She asked me to take the picture, you can send it to her on WeChat later.”

Lu Xiaobei nodded, “OK.”

In fact, the last time she had just finished was when Lu Xiaobei wanted to take pictures, but he had work on his hands at that time so by the time he was done, she was gone. Zhou Zui never wanted to take pictures of people as he did not care to. 

Lu Xiaobei had a really strong impression of the design for the girl today. She had gotten a tattoo on her chest and had previously gotten a mastectomy of one breast that left a scar. The first appointment was with Lu Xiaobei since Zhou Zui’s available appointments had been too far out, but Lu Xiaobei pondered over it for a long time as he was not satisfied so Zhou Zui finally took over.

The girl wanted a black mandala tattoo and had no other requirements but for it to look good. Zhou Zui actually did not do an overly complicated design. It was just a simple flower with some scattered stars and a halo, and he made it a three-dimensional figure to cover up the defects of her chest through the lines, light and shadow. At first glance, her past surgery scar absolutely could not be seen. After the effect, the girl’s eyes turned red. When she paid, she gave an extra 30,000 while saying that she thought it was worth more than just that, but Lu Xiaobei gave it back to her.

At the time, Lu Xiaobei was so impressed that he almost knelt. If someone asked him to do something similar, he definitely wouldn’t have dared to. Even the slightest mistake in the color or thickness of the lines would mean that it wouldn’t achieve the desired effect. And, the three-dimensional appearance needed to match that of the other breast. Black mandalas were also very common chest tattoos, which meant that it was hard to make it unique. 

At first, Lu Xiaobei had designed several versions, but they had all been more complex images. He wanted to use a darker color to cover up the scar; and while these designs looked elegant, they weren’t clean or classy enough.

Cover-ups were easy, but creating a surface without a single extra line or a single extra blot was truly hard.

Zhou Zui was after all Zhou Zui. There were a lot of imitations of Zhou Zui’s style out there, but they were not truly Zhou Zui.

Lu Xiaobei later passed on that picture to the girl and asked: Sister, can you upload the image to our account? Not with the face, just from the shoulders to the waist.

“Upload it! You took the picture, so why not use it? It’s so good-looking that it’d be a waste! Post it and tag me!” The other side replied directly through voice message.

Lu Xiaobei then dimmed the picture and sent it to Weibo. Weibo was usually taken care of by him and Xiao Lin to post pictures and so on while they rarely interacted with others, but there were tens of thousands of fans and hundreds of tattoo artists alone. While he was looking at all the comments, he thought about something and asked Xiao Ke, “Brother, do you have a Weibo account? I want to use the shop account to follow you.”

“Forget it, I don’t play with that, I just scroll through it before I go to bed.” Xiao Ke said.

Lu Xiaobei fiddled for a while before he called Xiao Ke to show him his phone. Xiao Ke took a glance at it, and it was the Weibo of the studio.

In the photo was the little girl that Xiao Ke immediately recognized as the one who came to the shop earlier to tattoo her boyfriend’s portrait on her leg. She posted two pictures of her leg with the text –

[Getting a tattoo really hurts [laughing cry], I had a scheduled appointment with Mr. Zhou just for you. He’s super, super charming, and lives up to all the worship. Today, I also met our Junior there; he was super handsome [sun]! I dreamed of you last night, you scolded me about getting a tattoo, said you already have a new girlfriend over there, and wanted me to live a new life. But I said, I’m going to show you the world. Thank you @Zhou Zui Studio and Teacher Zhou for making you so handsome, my Little Gu will never grow old! I’m so happy!]

Xiao Ke finished reading and was silent for a long time as he did not know what to say since his heart was congested. Considering the quiet and shy appearance of that little girl, it was no wonder she would tattoo such a large personal image onto her leg.

“This is one of the meanings of a tattoo.” Lu Xiaobei said, “If you want to remember something, permanently tattoo it on the body so that it can accompany you for life. Memories scatter and photos fade, but a tattoo is eternal.”

Lu Xiaobei seldom said such serious words as his usual appearance was always the same. After seeing such a rare serious expression, Xiao Ke smiled before saying, “But the death of a loved one, the matter itself has been burned into the heart. To tattoo it is superficial, it has been burned eternally into the heart.”

Lu Xiaobei thought about it and lit a cigarette before he said, “Burns on the heart will fade.”

Zhou Zui called Xiao Ke from upstairs by the railing, “Professor Xiao.”

“Coming.” Xiao Ke tilted his head, and replied to Lu Xiaobei as he walked away, “No, it may fade if the person is alive, but not if they have died.”

Xiao Ke ran up a few steps and smiled before he asked, “Have you finished painting, Mr. Zhou?”

“No.” Zhou Zui lit a cigarette with his head tilted on the side before he looked at Xiao Ke and said after a while, “Paint with me.”