At the beginning of getting the tattoo, it didn’t hurt much, and Shen Renxing could still endure it. But as time went on and the pain spread, it didn’t feel as comfortable.
Sheng Renxing quietly hissed in pain, not wanting Xing Ye to notice, but the tension in his body still caught his attention.
Every once in a while, Xing Ye would pause to ask him, “Does it hurt?”
“It’s okay,” Sheng Renxing replied.
“Need a break?”
“No need.”
“Should I slow down?”
“You…” Sheng Renxing looked at his boyfriend, who was focused on the tattoo machine, and his impatient tone immediately softened. “Hurry up! Finish it early so we could go to sleep.”
“I’m not going back,” Xing Ye said with his head down, focusing on the tattoo gun. “There’s still a few more hours so I’m sleeping here tonight.”
“?” Sheng Renxing looked around.
“But you don’t have a bed here.” Even though the surface he was lying on was technically a bed, it was designed for tattooing and was particularly small. It was a struggle for one person, let alone two.
Xing Ye: “There’s one in the next room.”
Sheng Renxing: “Huh?”
Xing Ye clarified, “Initially, it served as an intern’s space, but Brother Liang left, leaving the room unoccupied.” Ignoring Sheng Renxing’s insistence, he halted, bowed his head to blow on the tattoo area and casually mentioned, “It ended up costing me less.”
“Oh.” Sheng Renxing nodded, squinting his eyes with a hint of fatigue as he looked at Xing Ye for a while. Suddenly, he thought, ‘So he could stay here at that time?’ He wouldn’t have to go to his place.
However, Xing Ye never mentioned this option from the beginning to the end.
“Xing ge, something’s not right.” Sheng Renxing teased him.
Xing Ye was taken aback, not having thought of this himself, and reminded Sheng Renxing, “To go to Thirteen Middle School from here is quite a long way. It takes more than half of Xuancheng to cross from here.” If he stayed here, they might only see each other once a week.
“Tsk.” Sheng Renxing grumbled, “Can’t you just pretend? Coax me a bit.”
Xing Ye chuckled, “What’s there to coax?”
Sheng Renxing thought for a moment and realized it made sense.
His phone, placed aside, had its network turned off, but it was still ringing incessantly.
It felt like he was about to let his phone run out of battery.
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.
“Should I answer it?” Xing Ye suggested.
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On the other end, Qiu Datou’s voice was particularly loud and excited.
“Xing Bao! Happy Birthday!” There was some background noise, and it seemed like he was at some lively place.
“Thank you,” Sheng Renxing quickly replied in a formulaic manner and hung up the phone.
Xing Ye laughed for a while until Qiu Datou called again.
“Do you need something else?” Sheng Renxing was impatient.
“Hello? Hello!” Qiu Datou repeated several times, “Xing Bao, your network is not good. Why did you disconnect just now?”
“Yes. It’s a bit weak, so hurry up and get to the point.” Sheng Renxing responded confidently.
“Oh, okay, I’m just here to wish you a happy birthday!” Qiu Datou said, “I’m so happy!”
Then, Sheng Renxing heard a commotion on the other end, and someone started singing “Happy Birthday.” After that, Qiu Datou hushed them, saying, “Stop making some fvcking noise! Let me have a heart-to-heart talk with Xing Bao.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a burp.
“Xing Bao, can you hear me?”
Sheng Renxing: “…”
Sheng Renxing: “You seem to be a bit drunk.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare to act this way.
“Yeah, I am, how did you know? I’m drinking right now. Come on, join me!” Qiu Datou spoke to someone on his end. “Everyone, wish my Xing Bao a happy birthday!”
“Happy birthday, Sheng Ge!”
“Thanks, Sheng Ge! Happy birthday, Sheng Ge!”
A group of people were wishing him a happy birthday, and it sounded like a choir. This made Xing Ye glance at Sheng Renxing.
“What are they thanking me for?” Sheng Renxing was puzzled.
Qiu Datou: “We’re here, throwing you a birthday party!”
Sheng Renxing: “?”
Qiu Datou: “Come on, get excited! Sister, open another bottle of Vodka. Sheng Ge‘s treating, stand up, let’s toast to Sheng Ge!”
The group of people: “Jingsheng Ge!”
Sheng Renxing: “???”
For a moment, he was speechless. On the other side, Qiu Datou was still unaware of his impending doom: “Did you know? As soon as we mentioned throwing you a birthday party, most of the people in the group chat joined in! Who would dare not to come? That’s like giving you a slap in the face!”
It took Sheng Renxing a while to find his voice. “You guys threw me a birthday party, and I, the person in question, didn’t know?”
“Exactly! We wanted to surprise you!” Qiu Datou belched again. “I even invited Uncle Sheng, but he said he was busy, so let’s enjoy ourselves! He also transferred ten thousand to me!”
Sheng Renxing: “Is that so?” He smiled, his voice softening. “Then you guys have fun!”
If Qiu Datou were still sober, he would know that the right thing to do now was to kowtow to him immediately to admit his mistake and plead guilty for forgiveness. But unfortunately, he was already quite intoxicated and chuckled proudly. “Great! I’m having a blast today!”
After hanging up the phone, he exchanged a look with Xing Ye.
The other side had been so loud that Xing Ye had heard everything clearly. He held back a smile and said, “Your friend is quite interesting.”
Sheng Renxing pouted. “I got swindled out of money!” He looked at Xing Ye. “Boyfriend, give me a kiss.”
Xing Ye leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.
Sheng Renxing immediately grinned. “Now I feel better!”
Sheng Renxing then called Qiu Datou’s mother. “Hey, Auntie, I guess you’re not asleep yet, not even young people can stay up this late.”
“It’s not a big deal. I’ve just been tight of cash recently. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked for it back. What does it have to do with Huaixin?”
“Yeah, but why has everything been transferred to that account lately? Won’t that leave Huaixin with no money?”
“He has been spending a lot recently. I think he might be pursuing a girl. Last time, when he went to Paris, he bought a bottle of perfume to give to her as a gift. I didn’t receive any gifts myself. I only found out from others. Maybe he forgot, after all, the scent of that perfume is different from what you usually wear.”
“Okay, thank you, Auntie. Good night!” Sheng Renxing laughed heartily. “I’m not playing games tonight. I’ll bring you along next time to win some rounds.”
Understanding the art of manipulation, he made the phone call, and after successfully portraying a poor and pitiful image, he looked at the amount that had been transferred to his card and said with a touch of compassion, “Poor thing, how will my big-headed son survive the next month?” While speaking, he generously transferred two hundred yuan back.
He blacklisted all of Qiu Datou’s contacts in one go.
Xing Ye watched this drama unfold and laughed so hard that he could barely hold the tattoo gun. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at Sheng Renxing and, now that he had finished, reached over to pinch his cheek. “Why are you so good at sweet talking?”
Sheng Renxing proudly showed him the balance page: “If my mouth isn’t sweet, where would I get the money to treat my boyfriend?” He took his phone back. “I’ll buy some sweets for my boyfriend.”
Xing Ye was momentarily stunned by the amount he saw and then smiled. “I’ll be eating sweets for a lifetime then.”
“Does he really owe you money?” he asked.
Sheng Renxing thought for a moment, uncertain. “He might owe me more or less than this, I forgot.”
“Why does he owe you so much money?” Xing Ye furrowed his brow.
“He likes riding motorcycles. His skills aren’t great, and he’s addicted to it. He likes racing with others,” Sheng Renxing said without expression. “Last time, he crashed one of my motorcycles, and he still hasn’t compensated me.” At that time, Qiu Datou was going through a financially tough period at the end of the month, so he might have paid a little, but definitely not much.
“Adding interest, it’s about this price now.”
Xing Ye nodded, looking at the scar on Sheng Renxing’s arm, a result of a motorcycle accident.
Thinking of the way Qiu Datou behaved when racing, he even arrogantly waited at the finish line, toying with the others.
“What’s wrong?” Sheng Renxing asked him.
Xing Ye said, “After our last race with Chen Ying, you haven’t ridden, have you?”
“Ah?” Sheng Renxing recalled. “Yes, I haven’t. Racing on my own is too boring. The people I met last time were trash. So, until now, the bike has been parked in Wei Huan’s garage, untouched.”
He glanced at Xing Ye’s expression. “Are you interested?”
“Hmm?” Xing Ye’s expression didn’t change.
“Let’s ride a bike,” Sheng Renxing looked at him with anticipation.
“No.”
“I’ll teach you!” Sheng Renxing became more enthusiastic, finding this interesting, just like sharing something he loved. “I’m really good at it!”
Xing Ye agreed with a nod.
They chatted aimlessly for a while, and then Xing Ye thought about the phone call earlier. He suddenly asked, “Did your father give you a birthday present?”
“Hmm?” Sheng Renxing’s excitement faded away, and he felt tired, especially since he didn’t want to use his phone. Fatigue sets in more intensely. However, when he heard that name, he perked up, “Sheng Yan? No.” He frowned.
He thought for a moment, “He might have called, but then he realized he was still on my blacklist, so he was barking up the wrong tree. Maybe he went somewhere to cry.”
Xing Ye was amused by his description and laughed, “You haven’t told me about your family.”
“I haven’t?” Sheng Renxing tilted his head to look at him. “There’s not much to say.”
After a while, he said, “Let me tell you about my mom instead.”
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TL: Hi! Happy New Year Everyone! 🥳
Happy new year
Thank you for the chapter!!
poor qui….haha
thanks for the chapter!!