Tattoo

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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.”