Chapter 21 Part 1

If it were before, Xu Zhinan couldn't have imagined that Lin Qingye would one day show such an expression in front of her.

The arrogance and brilliance had faded. Now he was dejected, lonely, as if he had been abandoned.

She hardened her heart. Before the words admitting she no longer liked him could come out, there was a sudden commotion at the door.

Outside the door were four or five girls in high school uniforms, pointing at the tattoo shop's sign, laughing and talking about something. It looked like they were about to come in.

Xu Zhinan couldn't worry about anything else. The age group that paid the most attention to Lin Qingye these days was probably young girls like these.

What if they really recognized Lin Qingye and found him in her shop? If word got out, she wouldn't know how to explain it.

Xu Zhinan didn't want to be known by everyone in this way.

She grabbed Lin Qingye's arm.

The young woman's palm was a little cold. Without a word, she pulled him directly to the workstation, then drew the outer curtain completely shut, not leaving even a tiny gap.

"You stay here for a bit first."

After Xu Zhinan finished speaking, she glanced at him, lifted the curtain to go out, and then closed it again without leaving any gap.

As soon as she went out, the girls came in.

They were wearing high school uniforms. Xu Zhinan glanced at the words on their chests—No. 7 Middle School.

By that logic, they were Lin Qingye's junior schoolmates. She remembered that Lin Qingye had also gone to No. 7 Middle School.

"Sister, are you the owner of this shop?" one of the girls asked.

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

Xu Zhinan glanced nervously at the workstation to the side, afraid that the drunk Lin Qingye would cause some trouble.

Fortunately, he seemed to be quiet now, not making any sound. He was so still, it was as if he wasn't there.

"We came to your shop to get tattoos, of course," the girl said.

Xu Zhinan looked at them. "Are you of age?"

The girl was taken aback. "Is there a law that says minors can't get tattoos?"

"There's no law, but my shop doesn't do tattoos for minors." Xu Zhinan calmed down from her earlier emotions, her voice softening again as she explained to them, "Although tattoos are also a form of art, you'll find that many jobs have restrictions against them when you look for work in the future. So, I don't recommend you get tattoos at such a young age. It will be very troublesome if you regret it later."

After hearing her out, the girl smiled, resting her chin on her hand and leaning against the table. "What a coincidence, sister. I just turned 18 a few days ago. That should be okay, right?"

Xu Zhinan's expression didn't change. She asked, "Did you bring your ID card?"

"..."

The smile on the girl's face froze. Helpless, she couldn't help but complain, "Why are you stricter than bars and internet cafes?"

Xu Zhinan was good-tempered, speaking softly and slowly, "This is for your own good. It might also affect your college entrance exam physical. When you're older and have thought it through and still want a tattoo, you can come find me then."

Hearing her say this, the girls couldn't get angry at all and could only leave.

Xu Zhinan flipped the "Welcome" wooden sign on the doorframe over to "Closed for a Break," finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Half the lights in the shop were turned off. She walked back to the workstation and pulled open the curtain, intending to ask Lin Qingye to leave, only to find that he had already fallen asleep.

He wasn't lying on the workstation but was sitting on a chair, his head resting against the surface of the bed.

Xu Zhinan paused, standing to the side and looking at him for a long while.

The young man looked somewhat haggard, with dark circles under his eyes. His face seemed a bit thinner too, his features more defined. The narrow corners of his eyes were drawn in, making him seem even colder and more aloof.

She remembered what he had said while looking at her just now—Ah Nan, you don't like me anymore.

Xu Zhinan gently exhaled. "Lin Qingye."

No response.

She pushed him lightly. "Wake up."

Still no response.

Waking up a drunkard was even harder than waking up someone pretending to be asleep.

Xu Zhinan tried for a while and failed. Jiang Yue sent her a text asking when she would be back at the dorm. She replied: Soon.

Just as she was about to leave, she caught a glimpse of the corner of an ointment tube sticking out of Lin Qingye's pocket—a purple soft tube. Xu Zhinan was very familiar with this ointment. She had previously given it to a customer whose tattoo had gotten inflamed and infected.

She should have a few tubes of it in her cabinet here too.

Xu Zhinan frowned, her gaze falling on his back.

Was it inflamed?

She looked at his current state again. He had anti-inflammatory ointment in his pocket, yet he was dead drunk. It would be hard for it not to get inflamed.

Out of professional ethics, Lin Qingye had gotten the tattoo from her. Xu Zhinan couldn't just let it continue to get inflamed. If it reached the point of a skin infection, it would be very troublesome.

She walked behind Lin Qingye, hesitated for three seconds, and finally took a deep breath, carefully rolling up the hem of his shirt.

The skin around the tattoo was severely red, and there were even some small rashes.

Against the smooth and beautiful lines of his back, it looked even more alarming.

The two characters "Ah Nan" lay quietly on his undulating shoulder blade. The black font and smooth lines refracted a slight gleam under the light.

Xu Zhinan opened the ointment tube from his pocket. The seal was still intact. The inflammation was so severe, yet he hadn't applied the ointment even once.

She squeezed a little onto her index finger and gently applied it to the red rashes around the tattoo.

The minty scent of the ointment spread out. It seeped coolly into the skin, causing a stinging sensation when it touched the wound. Lin Qingye's eyes remained closed, but his shoulder flinched.

Xu Zhinan's movements paused. She subconsciously wanted to blow on it while applying the ointment, but she held back.

She pressed her lips together tightly and applied a thick layer of ointment with a straight face.

She screwed the cap back on the ointment, placed it next to Lin Qingye, and went to the inner room to wash her hands. When she came out, she saw the ointment had dried, so she lowered his shirt.

Before leaving, Xu Zhinan wrote him a note in her elegant handwriting.

—The spare key is on the table. You can leave after you wake up.

She placed the note under the ointment tube, organized her schoolbag, turned off the lights, and walked out of the shop.

After the lights were turned off, the shop grew dark.

Because this was a commercial street, it was always bustling with noise late into the night. The clamor of the city outside could still be heard.

It was amidst these noisy sounds that Lin Qingye had a dream. He dreamt about what happened at the bar that night.

After he shamelessly said, "Want to come back with me?" Xu Zhinan didn't answer him. Instead, she threw up, leaning over the sink.

Lin Qingye watched her, furrowing his brows. He walked over, about to support her, but Xu Zhinan swatted his hand away.

Her voice was soft and glutinous, very concise: "Dirty."

When she threw up just now, her clothes had also gotten stained with some filth.

Lin Qingye retracted his hand and stood to the side for a moment before saying, "Wait here for me for a bit."

She didn't answer. She felt like throwing up again, but couldn't bring anything up, her face just flushed red.

Lin Qingye walked a few steps out before stopping. Remembering the man who had hit on her earlier, he walked back, grabbed a few paper towels to place on the steps, and took her arm to make her sit down. Then he took off his jacket and draped it directly over her head, covering her face.

Xu Zhinan froze, raising her hand to pull it off, but then feared she would dirty his clothes. Her hand stopped mid-air, and her voice came from underneath, "What?"

Her voice was thick with drunkenness, making it sound like a soft Southern dialect.

Lin Qingye didn't waste words on her. "Wait."

After three seconds, she seemed to have processed his words, and the hand she had raised mid-air was lowered.

Lin Qingye turned and walked out of the restroom's entryway, casually placing the "Under Maintenance" sign from the side at the entrance.

The performance on the stage outside had ended. The heavy metal music was deafening, and men and women on the dance floor were pressed extremely close together. Lin Qingye strode through the crowd, stepping directly onto the stage and going around to the backstage.

"Ji Yan," he called out.

Ji Yan was chatting with some others. She turned her head with a smile. "What's up, Captain?"

"Do you have any clean clothes here?"

"Yeah." They had to wear stage costumes for performances, so Ji Yan had a suitcase with clothes backstage. "What's wrong?"

"Give me a set."

"My clothes?"

"Yeah, hurry up."

Seeing him like this, Ji Yan didn't ask any more questions. She went over and opened the suitcase. "What kind do you want?"

"A dress."

Ji Yan pulled one out, a purple slip dress with sequins.

Lin Qingye furrowed his brows. "Get another one."

Ji Yan said while rummaging through her clothes, "I think this is the only dress I have here."

"Then this one will do." Lin Qingye took the dress from her hand. "I'm not returning this dress to you. Send me links to other clothes you like, and I'll buy them for you." With that, he left directly.

Lin Qingye took Xu Zhinan and left through the side door.

It was unclear what kind of alcohol she had drunk to have such a strong aftereffect. When they were leaving, she couldn't even walk steadily. Lin Qingye held her arm and asked in a low voice, "Carry you?"

The alcohol had numbed her nerves. Xu Zhinan's reaction was very slow. She only shook her head after a while, and a moment later, she added, "Thank you."

She couldn't even walk straight, but she still hadn't forgotten to say thank you.

The corner of Lin Qingye's mouth curved into a sarcastic arc. He wouldn't be sentimental anymore.

Lin Qingye brought her back to the studio, turned on the light, pushed her into the bathroom, and hung Ji Yan's dress on the rack. "You take a shower first."

The bathroom door closed again. Lin Qingye sat on the sofa outside and lit a cigarette.

The nicotine calmed him down. He began to realize that he might have done the wrong thing. He shouldn't have just brought Xu Zhinan back like this. He didn't have any reasonable justification for bringing a strange girl back from a bar.

It was just that in that instant, he suddenly remembered the scene of the first time he saw Xu Zhinan.

He had been obsessed for so many years that his actions at that moment were completely impulsive, without thinking whether he should have done it.

Ji Yan sent him another message, asking if something had happened.

Lin Qingye glanced at it but didn't reply. He tossed the phone aside, and it slipped into the crack of the sofa.