Tattoo

u actually don’t care about those drawings, and I thought so when I took them.
Although I wasn’t around you anymore, and I hadn’t forgotten the ones you taught me, I still took them with me.
Later, Beijing was too difficult to live in.
I had to show my skills in order to stay, and I used them.”

Zhou Zui still looked like he didn’t care.
His hand on the back of Xiao Ke’s chair even caressed Xiao Ke’s ear, “You can’t rely on those drawings for a lifetime and you can only stay in Beijing if you have real skills.
Let’s not talk about this.”

Xiao Ke heard this before he understood that this was a story of a wolf with white eyes.
It looked like the white-eyed wolf was doing well now, and he had become a model tattoo artist with the aura of an important man in the circle.

“I don’t have any real skills.” Feng Lei laughed self-deprecatingly, “Anything that is refined depends on talent, I don’t have any talent at all, and I’m just fooling around with people outside of the circle.”

He placed himself very low, practically burying his head into the dirt.
It was only that Mr.
Feng Lei, who had such a high status in the Beijing tattoo industry could say this.
However, it was only said because he was here for something else.

Sure enough, after Feng Lei said what he meant by the trip…

He wanted to start a company that was a chain of brands and make it big.
He wanted Zhou Zui to do business with him, and Zhou Zui did not have to pay anything as there was no need for him to invest, operate, or any of these things.
He only needed to do one thing which was creative outsourcing.
He was not stingy at all and would give 30% of the shares.

He spoke without Zhou Zui interrupting him, who listened till the end.

“Brother, think about it.
Do not rush to reject me.” Feng Lei took a sip of tea sent by Xiao Lin and said to Zhou Zui, “The market is difficult now, I know you do not value these.
But money does not burn your hands, don’t you think so? Big fish eat small fish.
If we do not fight, sooner or later someone will have to swallow us up.”

He was all done when Zhou Zui laughed and shook his head before he said, “I can’t afford it.
You think too highly of me.”

“If you can’t afford it, no one can afford it.
In fact, I work with a lot of people, but I really don’t have a bottom in my heart.” Feng Lei said.
“I’ll be honest with you, big brother, I often find inspiration from you now, looking at pictures of you.
Of all the domestic tattoo artists, I only recognize you, the others I really do not trust.”

Zhou Zui changed his posture to sit up straight and said, “I don’t want to think about it, I appreciate the offer.
As I get older, I just want to live comfortably.
As for the big fish eating the small fish… Anyone who wants to swallow me can come.
Nothing will happen.
But if anyone can swallow me by creating better tattoos…that’s a good thing, it means the tattoo scene is really developing, right?”

He finished these sentences and also looked sideways at Xiao Ke, and smiled at him before he slowly said, “Besides, I have a leader and I can’t go to Beijing.
I’m not going anywhere, I’m here to put down my roots.”

After talking well and suddenly making such a scene, Lu Xiaobei thundered and stood up on the spot.
Even Xiao Ke did not hold back his laughter, and lowered his head for a long while as he chuckled.

The old man would not be able to be stopped if he wanted to make a scene.
The old thing was very cute recently, Xiao Ke thought to himself.

Feng Lei still asked Zhou Zui to reconsider that day and said that even if he did not go to Beijing, it was not impossible.

Before Feng Lei left, Lu Xiaobei asked him at the door, “Do you know why I didn’t let you call him ‘Big Brother’?”

“Why?” Feng Lei raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile.

Lu Xiaobei said, “You should only call him ‘Teacher.’ After learning, you took his things with you when you left.
Only I can call him ‘big brother’ and I will call him brother for life, I will never leave.
When I was younger, I knew you stole his things and claimed them as yours.
I could only cry then and scold you.”

He rubbed the tip of his nose and looked at Feng Lei before he said, “Now you try calling him brother again.
Someone said I am his dog, no problem, who dares to think about my family’s things, wait for me to bite you, you won’t die.”

After Feng Lei left, Lu Xiaobei didn’t come in again for another 30 minutes and squatted at the door while smoking.
What he just said, Zhou Zui did not hear it, but Xiao Ke heard it.
He came out to accompany Lu Xiaobei to squat for a while and said, “Brother Bei is domineering.”

While smoking, Lu Xiaobei squinted at him, “In the future, Brother Bei will also cover you.”

“Thank you, Brother Bei.” Xiao Ke smiled and stroked his bald head as he said that sentence.

The person who appeared from nowhere did not affect Zhou Zui as the man continued to give tattoos as usual for the rest of the day while Xiao Ke sat next to him and occasionally said a few words to him.
On the contrary, Lu Xiaobei was very sad, and even with a mask on, he did not say a word when he worked on his tattoos.

Xiao Ke whispered to Zhou Zui, “Master Bei is very angry.”

“It’s nothing,” Zhou Zui also whispered back to him.
“These years, as long as he hears something related to Feng Lei, he will blow up.
Right now, he’s even more angry after seeing him in person.
Tomorrow he’ll be fine.”

Xiao Ke asked him, “So are you angry?”

Zhou Zui thought nothing of it and shook his head.
“No, when I first found out, I just felt sorry for my drawings, but I didn’t feel angry.”

In fact, Xiao Ke believed what he said.
He knew Zhou Zui quite well, and he seemed to not communicate with people and was very indifferent.
In fact, he simply did not have a temper and would not get angry at all.
It may be that he didn’t care about anything, and there wasn’t enough to make him angry.

Xiao Ke was satisfied with his personality as he always had a calm and steady atmosphere about him.

That night, Xiao Ke went back and thought about what he heard today.
He felt quite aggrieved, but Xiao Ke didn’t really take it seriously as he could understand what kind of mood Zhou Zui was in.

They were just some drawings, and then they were finished.
Others were using his designs to earn fame and fortune, but that didn’t really affect Zhou Zui, whose open-mindedness made Xiao Ke very happy.

They had been ambiguous for long enough.
Today, the way Zhou Zui had called him “leader” twice truly caused Xiao Ke’s heart to beat faster.
Also, when he was going upstairs, Zhou Zui did not let him, and told him to sit next to him.
This was Zhou Zui’s change that he took sincerely.

This was the piece of cake Xiao Ke had been saving for quite a long time and could not contain it any longer.

Thus, he sat on his bed after showering and sent a message to Zhou Zui, [Teacher Zhou, I remember you don’t have a client scheduled for tomorrow, right?]

Zhou Zui replied to him, [Yes.]

Xiao Ke said, [So what does Teacher Zhou think about our current relationship?]

Xiao Ke put down his phone and decided to put on a facial mask.
An old man still had to pay attention to his skin as he was not sure when he would have to be in close contact with his man so he had to be prepared in advance.

When he was done, he looked at his phone to find some very honest words from Zhou Zui, and Xiao Ke laughed out loud when he finished reading them.

[It’s there.]

[I would like to confirm our relationship, and want to clear up everything.]

[But I’ll listen to you, leader.]

Translator Notes:

领导 means leader; like he’s my boss.
He’s saying that he’s the boss of me.
I listen to whatever he says.