“You’re kidding, right? You’re really going to have that tattoo removed?”
Lu Jian was sitting at his desk, his eyes lowered as he reviewed plastic surgery information from major hospitals. He let out a soft, “Hmm.” On the crystal ornament in front of him hung a necklace with an ‘S’ pendant. He held a cigarette in his left hand, his expression clouded with anxiety. “He looks so well-behaved. If I have a tattoo, what if he rejects me because of it?”
The man lounging on the sofa diagonally across from him scoffed. “Well-behaved?” he teased. “Are you going to start putting on an act, too?” On his phone was the registration form for the latest boxing championship. “Tattoo removal leaves marks; he will spot them as soon as he sees them.”
He was genuinely shocked. Since they were in vocational school over a decade ago, he had never once realized that Lu Jian liked men. Now that the iron tree had finally blossomed, Lu Jian was even willing to remove a tattoo he had worn for so long.
Tattoo removal is painful; it is no less so than getting the ink in the first place.
“I have looked into it. Cold tones like black and blue are easier to remove.” Lu Jian took off his suit jacket, unbuttoned his cuffs, and slowly rolled up his sleeve. A black and blue totem covered his entire arm. He stared at it for a while, regretting for the first time that he had gotten the tattoo when he was young. He wondered if it could be fully cleared; if not, even if he managed to win him over, the marks would be discovered the moment his clothes came off.
Cheng Shixu’s family had very upright values, so he would likely be sensitive to this kind of tattoo.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
The special assistant walked in and nodded upon seeing the man on the sofa. “Mr. Jin.”
Jin Yi waved a hand. “Don’t mind me; just do your work.”
The assistant then walked up to the desk. “Mr. Lu,” she said, handing over the files. “These are from several top-tier plastic surgery hospitals abroad. I have inquired, and since your tattoos are all in cold tones, they are easily broken down by lasers. Furthermore, because your tattoos are only in the superficial dermis, they can also be broken down through metabolic processes.”
Back then, he did not have any money and just went to a random tattoo parlor. Over the years, the ink had faded quite a bit, so it was not as deep as it used to be, but the design remained the same: an ancient Greek totem, the “Wheel of Time.”
“Then please help me schedule a consultation as soon as possible. Attend the meetings and banquets for the next two weeks on my behalf. If there is anything you cannot resolve, call me,” Lu Jian said, closing the folder.
The assistant acknowledged the instruction and left.
Lu Jian took a deep drag of his cigarette and gazed toward the residential high-rise in the distance; that was where Cheng Shixu lived.
He glanced at the necklace on the table. He was truly grateful to Cheng Shixu for giving him that necklace back when he needed money the most. He had pawned it for 300,000 to cover medical expenses for the dean, and it had taken him a lot of effort to redeem it later.
He had found Cheng Shixu a long time ago. He knew Cheng Shixu had attended West University, watched him graduate, and start his career at a company. He had set up his office in a location where he could see Cheng Shixu’s home. At first, he could only afford to rent a small room, but eventually, he bought the entire building and named it himself: “Shijian Building,” “Time Building.”
If he arrived at the office at 8:00 AM, he could see Cheng Shixu rushing out of the residential complex around 8:40 AM to ride his little e-scooter to work. At 6:20 PM, he could see Cheng Shixu returning to the entrance of the complex, biting into a shouzhua bing.
Occasionally, he would see him get into a friend’s sports car to go out.
He knew which clubs Cheng Shixu liked to frequent, that he enjoyed horseback riding and racing, that he liked to drink, that he had a high tolerance for alcohol, and that he loved all kinds of Patrick Star merchandise.
However, running into Cheng Shixu at the Western restaurant last week was an accident. He had a meeting with an engineer from a rival company to discuss a salary offer, and he had stayed for a while afterward in a good mood.
It was within those few minutes that Cheng Shixu sat down in front of him and said, “Hello, I’m Cheng Shixu. You are the one introduced by Engineer Li, right?”
He repeated those three words in his heart over and over, staring at Cheng Shixu for a long time. The young man carried a small black bag with a pink Patrick Star plushie hanging from it, and his soft hair clung slightly to his cheeks. He was so well-behaved.
But he had known all along that Cheng Shixu wasn’t actually “well-behaved.” The way the corners of his mouth turned up was exactly like that boy from over ten years ago, hiding an untamable spirit.
Would a “good boy” go drinking at a bar while still a minor? Would he hang out so wildly with a group of youths who looked like local hoodlums? People who have not experienced much in life never really change their temperament or character.
Coincidentally, Cheng Shixu was one of those people who had never weathered any real storms.
He realized in an instant that Cheng Shixu was there for a blind date.
Lu Jian always sat with impeccable posture, and his attire and stoic expression made him look very serious. When he looked into Cheng Shixu’s eyes, which were filled with pleasant surprise, he ridiculously hid the fact that he was not the blind date and started chatting with him.
During their idle chatter, every sentence Cheng Shixu said seemed to veer toward the flirtatious. Taking the opportunity to take a sip of coffee, Lu Jian glanced at his reflection in the water, suppressing his fluttering heart, and asked softly, “Do you have any plans for the future?”
Cheng Shixu held his coffee with both hands and said, “I do. I plan to spend the rest of my life with someone.” He could not see his own expression, but he was staring intently at the collarbone exposed at Lu Jian’s neckline. It was Lu Jian who felt uneasy, so he did not chat any further and left, saying he had something to attend to.
Back home, for the first time, Lu Jian could not focus on his documents. He could not even read a single word of the new financing project data his assistant had sent; his head was filled with the thought: Would it be too flippant if I agreed to spend my life with Cheng Shixu right now?
Cheng Shixu had acted so serious coming to a blind date; he probably wanted to find a partner who was just as serious.
He called Jin Yi to his home that night. Jin Yi had been his desk-mate in vocational school; he used to dye his hair pink, but after a boxing coach forced him to dye it black, he had wailed for a long time.
He called him because he had “dating experience.”
It was said that when he was young, he had an online relationship, loved so deeply that it hurt, and they would leave their mics on every night to sleep together. Later, they broke up for some reason. Jin Yi said that the other person went to college and they were not on the same path, and he had been dejected for a long time.
During that time, Lu Jian had been too busy to deal with his own head, but he still listened to Jin Yi’s rambling every day.
After hearing the story, Jin Yi said sarcastically, “You are not thinking of repaying a debt of gratitude with your body, are you? That is outdated, buddy. No serious person repays kindness by offering themselves.”
Lu Jian pondered his words for a long time. Was he wanting to take things further with Cheng Shixu because of that 300,000? He shook his head. “No. It is not because of that.” That incident was just the catalyst that allowed him to get to know Cheng Shixu, but his obsession tracking every step Cheng Shixu took like a stalker was something entirely different.
In fact, he could not mock Cheng Shixu for being attracted by looks, because he was the same. At sixteen, in the bar on the first floor of the Crown Club, when Cheng Shixu bumped into him, his eyes were hazy, he was dizzy and leaning against him, looking up and smiling at him with drunken intent. He had felt a strange stir of emotion even then.
It was only today, having close contact with Cheng Shixu again, that the inexplicable emotion floated back up, and he finally understood why he had been staring at Cheng Shixu’s every move like a creep for so many years.
He loved Cheng Shixu; there was no doubt about that. His heart only began to surge with love at the age of thirty.
He loved the pride Cheng Shixu showed when he stood next to his parents during his graduation banquet at West University; he loved his dashing posture while horseback riding; he loved the look of adoration in Cheng Shixu’s eyes when he squeezed the Patrick Star merchandise in boutique shops; he loved the relaxed, carefree look Cheng Shixu had when he was with his childhood friends.
These were things he never had.
Things he envied; things he wanted.
It was just that in the past, he had not dared to, and he was not qualified to. But now…
He put down the necklace and looked at the model of the ‘Shijian Building’ on the cabinet. He was qualified now.
He wondered if Cheng Shixu would remember him, if he remembered that year after graduation, when he held a bouquet of flowers outside the auditorium at West University, pretending to be a delivery person to hand them to him. There was a small card in that bouquet:
‘I will come to see you when I am qualified.’
When he wrote that, he did not even understand his own feelings; he just wanted to see Cheng Shixu.
Now, he understood everything.
So, if tattoo removal was painful, it did not matter. If it did not come off cleanly, he could just carve out the skin and get a graft. He wanted to be at his best when standing by Cheng Shixu’s side.
He had undergone several laser removal surgeries. After each one, he had to wrap it in bandages, so whenever he met Cheng Shixu, he wore a suit, pretending he was not hot, even though he was practically roasting.
After the final laser surgery, the doctor said they should check the situation; it should be almost untraceable now.
But…
When the bandages were removed, he found there were still tiny traces. So he said in English, “I want to have skin graft surgery. Can you help me carve out these areas and transplant skin from elsewhere on my body? Is it possible to have no traces at all?”
The doctor said there would still be a little bit and did not recommend it because it was already invisible unless you looked closely, but he insisted.
Nearly a year had passed since he and Cheng Shixu started dating. Cheng Shixu had hinted, both directly and indirectly, that they could get a hotel room, and had even acted drunk, leaning in to kiss him. But he still refused and booked two separate rooms.
It was not just because his arm had not fully recovered; it was that he did not want to be so flippant. He was afraid that if they slept together after only dating for six months, Cheng Shixu would think he was a man who thought only with his lower body.
He always wanted to make the best impression on Cheng Shixu.
After his surgery recovered, they had been dating for nearly a year. During a date, a condom “accidentally” fell out of Cheng Shixu’s wallet. He saw it and tried to pretend he had not, but he was caught red-handed.
In fact, he was quite greedy; he wanted to meet Cheng Shixu’s parents, he wanted to win their approval, and only then did he want to cross that line.
It turned out that Cheng Shixu had even saved his name as “Old-fashioned Husband” in his phone. Sometimes in his dreams, he would even murmur, “You are so old-fashioned,” leaving the real him beside him unable to laugh or cry.
Snow in June. It was truly unexpected.
If you insist on acting well-behaved, I have no choice but to play along.
After all…
He had been an orphan since he was a child, never having been loved, so he could only carefully learn how to love someone else. His assistant said that to love someone, you must first have respect.
So, when kissing, he had to respect Cheng Shixu’s opinion and ask if it was “allowed.”
So, when they went to bed, he also had to respect Cheng Shixu’s opinion and ask if he “could.”
Baidu said that semen can cause a fever in the body, so he was determined to use protection.
Yet, he did not want Cheng Shixu to wear it.