Zhu Yu has been following Cheng Yan to learn tattooing for over a year. Although it hasn’t been a short time, he is still considered a newcomer. However, this newcomer has gained the appreciation and favor of Cheng Yan. Everyone in the studio knows that the boss doesn’t talk much, but he is particularly close to Zhu Yu. That closeness is not shown in every gesture, but rather in the ease and tenderness that emanate from their gaze.
Lin Weijing is generally kind and amiable towards people, but he has a cold attitude towards Zhu Yu. Every time Zhu Yu comes to the studio, Lin Weijing always puts on airs and acts aloof with him, this has left Zhu Yu utterly confused, unable to figure out exactly where he has offended this person.
Cheng Yan treats Zhu Yu as if he were his own, and even discerning individuals can see that he treats Zhu Yu better than his own brother, Lin Weijing. It’s as if Zhu Yu is Cheng Yan’s true sibling, while Lin Weijing is just someone who came along with the phone recharge.
There may indeed be reasons why Lin Weijing doesn’t like Zhu Yu, but it is not the primary reason.
He is not a child anymore, so it’s unlikely that he would throw a tantrum just because his brother shows a bit more favor towards someone else.
Not being fond of Zhu Yu is purely because Lin Weijing believes that there are issues with his character and that he is not as innocent and straightforward as he appears on the surface.
Lin Weijing had once encountered Zhu Yu at North City University. At that time, Zhu Yu was walking together with one of Lin Weijing’s junior students. Both Lin Weijing and that junior student were part of the same debate club. During that time, some students in the club mentioned a handsome guy who frequently visited the university to see the junior student. The junior student explained that the handsome guy was his boyfriend.
Lin Weijing finally understood the situation.
However, not long after, on a day when Lin Weijing went to the studio to find Cheng Yan, he saw Zhu Yu being embraced by another man at the end of the street where the studio was located.
He was greatly shocked at that moment, and with just a quick glance, he hurriedly rushed into the studio.
Since then, Lin Weijing’s perception of Zhu Yu underwent a complete transformation. He believed that Zhu Yu was nothing more than a cunning fox who would act obediently in front of Cheng Yan.
Even if Zhu Yu reminds Lin Weijing, “Cheng Yan is your brother, not mine,” it does not resolve the true point of contention between them.
That day, Zhu Yu brought a can of ice-cold Coca-Cola to Lin Weijing as an act of goodwill. Lin Weijing regarded this as “inferior flattery,” but out of courtesy and to demonstrate his refinement, he accepted it.
At that time, he was very thirsty, and moreover, he loved to drink cola.
Perhaps Zhu Yu obtained this information from Cheng Yan. Anyway, the thing he excels at is pleasing people.
After getting a tattoo, Li Sizhi hasn’t visited the studio for a long time. On this day, she suddenly paid a visit, bringing along a friend who wanted to get a tattoo.
Today’s sky is gray and hazy, and the air feels stifling, as if it’s about to rain.
Inside the workspace, Cheng Yan held a pencil while designing a draft for a client. Suddenly, a muffled thunder sounded outside the window, causing his hand to pause in its motion as he glanced outside.
Knock, knock, knock—someone is knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
Mao Mao pushed open the door and said, “Cheng lǎoshī, Miss Li is here.”
Li Sizhi walked out from behind Mao Mao, followed by a young lady.
“It’s been many days since I last came, luckily the young lady didn’t forget about me.” Li Sizhi smiled and looked at Mao Mao, “Little beauty, thank you for letting me in through the back door.”
Mao Mao busily waved her hand and said, “You’re too kind.”
Li Sizhi’s friend asked in a low voice, “What does ‘opening the back door’ mean?”
“The tattoo artist here requires appointments. Today, you benefitted from my connection, so you owe me a meal.”
“No problem.”
Li Sizhi walked over to Cheng Yan and asked, “Are you busy?”
Cheng Yan put down the pen and replied, “I’m working on the draft for a client.”
“The friend I mentioned to you before, who wanted to get a tattoo,” Li Sizhi pointed to the person behind her, “I brought her here today.”
“Feel free to discuss any requirements or preferences with him,” Li Sizhi said to her friend.
Cheng Yan tidied up the drafts on the table and asked, “Do you want to bring your own design, or do you prefer an original design?”
The person smiled and said, “I specifically asked Li Sizhi to bring me to you, so it’s definitely for an original design.”
“My original design has a strong personal style. You can take a look first before making a decision,” Cheng Yan instructed Mao Mao, saying, “Show her the album.”
“Alright.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Vtf iloafv tfg tfjv, ibbxfv ja Jtfcu Tjc, jcv rwlifv. “P qgfofg rbwfatlcu rboafg, atfrf jgf jii abb mbbi jcv fvus.”
Cheng Yan said, “We have an artist here who specializes in that softer style.”
“I think the one you tattooed on Li Sizhi was great, very gentle.”
Cheng Yan understood the implication behind her words. She had specifically chosen him and didn’t want someone else.
“Have you decided what you want to get tattooed?” Cheng Yan asked. “Any specific theme, emotions you want to convey, or particular elements you’d like to include?”
The friend became a bit overwhelmed, “It’s so complicated.”
Cheng Yan felt a bit of a headache. He dreaded encountering clients who impulsively decided to get a tattoo without a clear idea of why they wanted one or what they wanted. In his earlier years, when he was in need of money, he would take any job that came his way. But now that he had financial stability and honed his skills, he had become more selective.
He wasn’t only open to complex projects, he also took on simpler ones. What he was selective about were those individuals who had no clear purpose or understanding of why they wanted to get a tattoo.
If this person wasn’t a friend of Li Sizhi, Cheng Yan would have likely turned them away by now.
Exhausted from explaining, Cheng Yan said, “Take some time to think about what you want to get tattooed.”
Li Sizhi couldn’t bear it anymore, “Miss, you need to tell him what kind of tattoo you want so that he can design it for you.”
The friend looked blankly and said, “Let me think for a moment.”
After about five minutes, the friend had an idea and said, “Li Sizhi got a tattoo of a whale—”
Li Sizhi corrected, “It’s actually an orca, which is a type of dolphin.”
The friend glanced at her, “Then I’ll get a whale tattoo too.”
“But I said it’s a dolphin…”
The friend couldn’t help but laugh and suggested, “How about a humpback whale then?”
Cheng Yan said, “It’s up to you to decide.”
“Then let’s go with that.”
“You’re so indecisive,” Li Sizhi teased.
“Do we need to create a design draft first?” the friend asked Cheng Yan. “How long will it take?”
“It depends on the situation, but it will likely take around three to four days.”
“That’s fast,” the friend exclaimed, sounding a bit surprised.
“Leave me your contact information, and I will notify you to come to the studio and review the design draft when it’s ready.”
“Can you send it to me via WeChat? I will be traveling out of town for a few days and may not have time to come in person.”
Cheng Yan shook his head and said, “That won’t work. It is necessary for you to personally come to the studio to review it.”
“Why?”
Li Sizhi explained, “It’s to prevent leaks and ensure compliance with the rules.”
Cheng Yan added, “If you don’t have time, you can come after your business trip.”
At five minutes past five in the afternoon, the door of Professor Zhang’s office in the Criminal Law Department at Beicheng University was knocked.
Five minutes past five in the afternoon, the door of the office belonging to a professor in the Criminal Law Department at Beicheng University was knocked.
“Please come in,” Jiang Muping said without looking up from the documents he was reading.
The person who entered was Lin Weijing. He called out, “Professor,” and walked up to the desk.
“This is the paper I didn’t submit before,” Lin Weijing placed the paper on the desk.
Jiang Muping responded with a grunt but still didn’t lift his head.
“Then I’ll leave first.”
Jiang Muping seemed to recognize the voice and finally raised his head. He curved his index finger and lightly pressed it against the bottom of the lens, gently adjusting his glasses upwards.
“Lin Weijing?”
“Yes, Professor.”
Jiang Muping set aside the documents and picked up Lin Weijing’s paper.
“I was sick and went home to rest on the day you assigned the paper. This is the one I made up later,” Lin Weijing explained.
Jiang Muping grunted in response and set aside the paper again. He held the pen and pondered for a while, remaining silent.
Lin Weijing couldn’t figure out what Jiang Muping meant and hesitantly asked, “So, Professor, should I leave first?”
Jiang Muping placed the pen between his index and middle fingers and lightly pressed his hand on the desk. He said, “Wait here for a moment.”
Lin Weijing hesitated and stopped in his tracks.
“I want to ask you something,” Jiang Muping said.
“Go ahead.”
“Your brother’s name is Cheng Yan…”
“Ah, yes,” Lin Weijing perked up as Jiang Muping mentioned Cheng Yan. His eyes gleamed with interest.
“Is he your biological brother? Why do you have different surnames? Did you each take your father’s and mother’s surnames?” Jiang Muping asked.
After a moment of silence, Lin Weijing said, “Professor, I used to be called Cheng Jing. Cheng Yan is my biological brother, we share the same father and mother.”
Jiang Muping looked at him, seemingly waiting for him to continue.
“Do you really want to know about him?” Lin Weijing asked, somewhat daringly.
Jiang Muping told him, “Cheng Yan was my high school classmate.”
Lin Weijing was somewhat surprised.
“So I’m very curious about what happened to him after he left school.”
“He didn’t continue his studies, did he?”
Lin Weijing’s head gradually lowered. “That’s right.”
Cheng Yan left school at the beginning of the senior year. In Jiang Muping’s distant memory, Cheng Yan’s academic performance was excellent.
He was just a bit reclusive, so his presence in the class was very low. Jiang Muping remembers that he had a temper, and the few times his presence became more noticeable was due to getting into fights and being reprimanded by the school.
Jiang Muping sensed a hint of pain from Lin Weijing’s expression. He furrowed his brow, not wanting to delve further into the matter. Before he could say anything, he heard Lin Weijing speak up:
“I was originally named Cheng Jing, but when I was young, I was fostered by my current parents and took their surname. I changed my name to the current one.”
“When I was young, my mother held me and jumped into a river in a suicide attempt. I didn’t die, but she did. After that, there was no one left in our family, so my brother dropped out of school.”
“Back then, I was still young and didn’t remember much. My brother took care of me for two years, and later he placed me in the care of my current parents.”
Jiāng Mùpíng silently gazed at him.
Lin stood quietly for a moment, then sighed and confessed, “Actually, I remember a lot of things, but I can’t say it like that. My brother would feel upset.”
Experiencing memories of death, it is unlikely for them to be easily forgotten.
“Professor, my brother is a good person,” Lin Wei smiled, “He has gone through a lot of hardships and knows how to care for others. He used to struggle financially, but now he is quite wealthy and also good-looking.”
Jiang Muping chuckled, “What do you want to say?”
Lin Weijing blinked and said bluntly, “I want to say that he is very suitable for marriage.”
Jiang Muping thought to himself, “You really dare to say it.”
Jiang Muping’s phone, placed on the table, began to vibrate. The caller ID showed it was Li Sizhi calling, so he picked it up and answered.
“Hello?”
“Muping, are you about to finish work?”
Jiang Muping glanced down at his wristwatch and replied, “Yes, I’m about to.”
“It’s raining outside, and I didn’t drive. Since it’s my period today, can you come and pick me up for a while?”
“Where are you?”
“I’ll send you my location.”
Jiang Muping hung up the phone.
“Well then, Professor, I’ll leave first.”
“Okay, it’s raining outside. Did you bring an umbrella?”
Lin Weijing shook his head.
Jiang Muping pointed to the umbrella stand by the door and said, “Use one of the umbrellas there for me.”
“Don’t you need to use it?”
“No, I don’t need it.”
“Thank you. I’ll return it to you another day.”
Jiang Muping followed the location shared by Li Sizhi and arrived at a familiar street. It was only when he scrolled back through their chat history that he discovered that the address where Li Sizhi was located was a tattoo studio in Chengyan.
Jiang Muping finally managed to find a parking space after much difficulty. The rain was drizzling down as he walked into the studio, braving the fine and dense rain.
“Hello, do you have an appointment?” an assistant walked over and asked.
Jiang Muping wiped off the rainwater that had splashed onto his eyelashes and said, “No, I don’t have an appointment.”
“Are you here for a tattoo?” the assistant asked again.
“No, I’m looking for someone,” Jiang Muping replied.
“Um… Who are you looking for?”
The studio had two floors, both with tattoo workspaces. Inside the room, there were tattoo artists busy at work. Jiang Muping glanced inside and saw a familiar figure stepping out of one of the workspaces on the first floor and then entering the adjacent restroom.
“I’m waiting for someone,” Jiang Muping said, turning his head to the assistant.
“Alright, please have a seat on the sofa for a while.”
Jiang Muping sat down on the sofa. After a while, the person from the restroom came out. His face was damp from the water, and he pushed back the curly hair from his forehead. Water droplets clung to his eyebrows. He walked over to the potted plant near the entrance of the workspace, shook his hands, and sprinkled the water from his hands onto the lush green leaves.
Cheng Yan might have caught a glimpse of the figure over here through the corner of his eye. He suddenly turned his head and cast a gentle glance.
In Jiang Muping’s eyes, Cheng Yan appeared somewhat anxious, with a hint of unease in his expression. He had hurried footsteps moments ago, giving the impression of being busy. However, he still looked impeccably groomed, with a stylish hairstyle and well-dressed attire.
Cheng Yan nodded towards Jiang Muping and his lips curved up in a restrained smile, showing a hint of amusement.
Lin Weijing mentioned that Cheng Yan had experienced a lot of hardships, but Jiang Muping felt that Cheng Yan seemed to cherish the gifts of life more than anyone else around him.
He embraced life and loved it freely and passionately.
Thanks for the update ❤️
So that’s the story… :<
Thank You for the new chapter (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡
This is so wholesome ☺️
The cheng brothers have it rough 😭 love how little bro is selling cheng yan’s good points to jiang muping 🤭
Thanks for the chapter!!
Maybe I don’t have enough life experience to understand how you can say just looking on someone what they are “embraced life and loved freely and passionately”
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Ahah selling your brother out “very suitable for marriage” I’m dead
The “you dare to say it” sounded very Pride and prejudice to me for some reason. Thanks for the chapter !
Go Didi! Get your brother his husband!
Thanks 😊❤️