Once Zhou Ran finished the last stitch, he stood up and took off his gloves: "Lao Lu, come over and help."
"Alright."
Zhou Ran turned his head to look at Xia Mian: "Go wash your hands."
Only then did Xia Mian snap out of her daze. The popsicle in her hand had melted into a complete mess; she didn't know whether to give it to him or throw it away.
"There's another one, I'll go get it for you."
Zhou Ran took it from her hand, his fingertips brushing against hers, and took a bite of the popsicle.
"This one is fine."
Zhou Ran's fingertips were warm, the exact opposite of the cold popsicle from just a moment ago. This slight touch felt like it had ignited a tiny flame.
Xia Mian hurriedly pulled her hand back, rubbed her fingers, and followed the direction of Zhou Ran's hand into the restroom.
The faucet made a splashing sound. As Xia Mian washed the sticky feeling off her palms, she couldn't help but think of Zhou Ran's hand as he took the popsicle.
With the gloves removed, his slender, fair hands were traced with light blue veins. As he hooked his fingers, the lines were clear and distinct.
Xia Mian raised her hand to touch her face. On such a hot day, she couldn't be getting heatstroke, could she?
Separated by the restroom door, she could still hear the sound of wind chimes.
Pi Tao'er's crisp voice came through: "I'm going out to play!"
Xia Mian leaned against the inside of the door, trying to gag slightly behind the sound of people.
She didn't want to vomit.
She didn't have heatstroke.
Then why was she so hot?
When she walked out, Zhou Ran had already finished the popsicle. He looked at Xia Mian and tilted his chin.
"The drawing room is on the second floor, go on up."
She hadn't expected the small Tattoo Shop to have a second floor.
Xia Mian followed Zhou Ran upstairs. As soon as the door was pushed open, she saw a bedroom. It wasn't large, and the bed was quite low, barely higher than a tatami mat. The quilt was messy, and the curtains were half-drawn, letting in only half the sunlight.
It had the air of a lived-in space.
Zhou Ran opened the sliding door to a partition. The space inside was even smaller, just a computer desk with a computer, a chair next to it, and the table was covered in drawings.
He took one from the pile of drawings and handed it to Xia Mian: "Like this?"
Xia Mian took it. The exquisite green butterfly seemed to leap off the paper, its wings spread as if it were dancing.
Around the butterfly were a few lines; those scribbled strokes were clearly drawn by Zhou Ran at will.
"The silver-white lines you mentioned yesterday, is this what you meant?"
Xia Mian had originally meant that it should look like a butterfly breaking free from its shackles, but the way Zhou Ran drew it, it looked more like the butterfly was surrounded by a halo.
She liked it very much.
Just as that Mr. Lu said, Zhou Ran's designs were always satisfying, with a hundred percent positive feedback.
"That's it," Xia Mian said, "Can we tattoo it now?"
"The drawing isn't finished yet, it needs more adjustments."
Xia Mian nodded. Before she could speak, she caught a glimpse of Zhou Ran's hand reaching over.
He pinched his two fingers together and plucked at a strand of hair by the side of her face.
Xia Mian was startled and stared at Zhou Ran with wide eyes, only to see him grab a tissue from the side to wipe his hand, cleaning off the tiny white water droplet from his fingertips.
He chuckled, his voice low and pleasant.
"Are your strands of hair greedy too?"
She had even gotten the popsicle on her hair.
Xia Mian's face turned red in an instant.
She stared blankly at Zhou Ran. The drawing in her hand was taken away, but Xia Mian's gaze didn't move.
Zhou Ran looked back at her, the smile from just a moment ago already gone.
"What are you looking at?"
Xia Mian came to her senses, blinked, and quickly changed the subject.
She pointed to the green butterfly on the table and said: "The Mr. Lu downstairs said you shaved your head because of this."
Zhou Ran first raised an eyebrow because of the way Xia Mian called him "Mr. Lu."
He thought it sounded a bit strange.
Zhou Ran raised his hand to touch his hair, his tone very casual: "Don't listen to his nonsense, I was already sick of that green hair."
"If you don't like it, why didn't you dye it back?"
"Too lazy."
It was much more convenient to just shave it off.
He had shaved it himself, not close to the roots, so the hair still looked a bit long.
Zhou Ran said: "It's cooler shaved."
His hair had been dyed on a whim after losing a bet with someone a while back. He hadn't intended to dye it green; he had just sat in a chair and taken a nap, and when he woke up, it was this color.
The final solution was that Zhou Ran gave the culprit a beating.
And so, the green hair was left as it was.
Until yesterday, when Xia Mian came and pointed at his hair, saying she wanted one in that color.
Zhou Ran thought about it and let out a short laugh.
Quite interesting.
Outside the drawing room, there was a gray sofa next to the tatami mat. Zhou Ran pointed to it and said to Xia Mian: "Sit there and wait for a while. It takes time to revise the drawing, and it's hot downstairs."
The little girl probably couldn't handle the heat; she had only been downstairs for a while and her face was already flushed, red all the way to her earlobes.
The second floor was shaded, and the windows were kept open for ventilation, making it much cooler than downstairs.
Xia Mian looked around the room. The floor was covered with a carpet, and the whole room had a gray color scheme, clean and tidy. When the sunlight shone in, the entire room looked clear and bright.
There were a few soda bottles on the balcony, with various small flowers stuck in them.
Xia Mian sat on the sofa. The room became quiet, with only the "rustling" sound of a pencil coming from the partition.
Zhuang Zhong's voice came from downstairs from time to time, still as jumpy as ever; she didn't know what he was shouting about.
As Xia Mian waited, her head tilted to the side and she fell asleep.
Zhou Ran spent less than fifteen minutes on the drawing. When he came out, she was already asleep with her neck tilted.
That strand of hair stained with popsicle water was slightly stuck together and drooping. Zhou Ran looked at her sleeping face; she really couldn't handle the heat, her cheeks were still slightly red.
She was just sitting there, her head not resting on the cushion. Zhou Ran checked the time and saw it was still early, so he didn't think to wake her.
He opened the door, ready to go downstairs, but as he took a step, he pulled back.
Zhou Ran walked back and pulled the cushion from the side to tuck it behind Xia Mian's head.
If she slept like that, she would definitely get a stiff neck.
He held up Xia Mian's head with one hand and used the other to stuff the cushion in, thinking his movements were as gentle as could be.
A gust of wind happened to lift the curtain, and a large patch of sunlight shone in.
Xia Mian opened her eyes and immediately saw the man extremely close to her, supporting her head with his hand, looking like he was up to something sneaky.
She blinked, thinking she was still groggy from sleep.
But when she woke up and saw who was in front of her, Xia Mian's eyes widened.
Zhou Ran's body stiffened, and all his movements stopped.
The two were so close that he could see the fine fuzz on Xia Mian's cheeks.
...And her face, which was rapidly turning red.
Damn.
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