Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 15 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past

Chapter 15 Part 1

Zhou Tingsheng was originally planning on tattooing the back of her hand
to cover up the bite marks. Ye Qiao, however, responded that she had plenty
of scars on her and took off her top without a second thought. Zhou Tingsheng
wasn’t the kind of person who cared for propriety anyway and didn’t stop her.
With a frivolous smile, he came straight to the point: “I need to cut the outlines
first.”

His eyes looked back to her shapely breasts: “Pain nerves are unevenly located
throughout each person’s body. The part on your chest is usually very sensitive--
--” His voice rose as he spoke.

Ye Qiao believed he was pausing on purpose: “-- --You sure you want to have
the tattoo here?”

She turned a deaf ear to his increasingly blatant flirting: “I’m sure.”

“What do you want?”

“Wuzi said I have to listen to you.”

Zhou Tingsheng laughed. Ye Qiao quietly laid there and the part of her body still
busily working was her brain. She became very sensitive to every sound he made.  
In this state, his laughter sounded full of vitality yet lonely.

He warned her in a casual manner: “Ye Qiao, this is something that will stay with
you the rest of your life.”

She was at ease with her own decision: “One will experience many things in one’s
lifetime yet  not many of them are under one’s own control.”

Zhou Tingsheng had come up with the pattern in his head and said: “Alright, don’t
regret it.” He put on latex gloves, moved the machine in place, and dutifully gave
her an advance warning: “The first step hurts more. Can you handle it?”

Ye Qiao: “I can.”

The pain from cutting the outline was within her pain tolerance level.

He was quite consummate at what he was doing. The cold needle point cut through
the skin, the edges of the broken skin were only faintly red, but without any bleeding.
The sharp pain turned into dull numbness after a while.

Ye Qiao uncaringly closed her eyes, her breathing slightly faster than normal.

She asked: “Have you learned how to paint?”

“Anyone who learns tattooing has to.”

“I mean Chinese painting.”

Zhou Tingsheng was quiet for a moment: “How can you tell?”

Ye Qiao was very sure of herself: “The way you hold the needle is different.”

The needle pinched her left chest. Ye Qiao gasped through her teeth.

He slowly started talking as a distraction: “You good at painting?”

“Not really.” Her voice was still tight yet she tried to speak calmly: “My father knows
how to paint.”

“Painter?” He asked though without much doubt in his tone.
“You can say that.”

He praised: “An artist family.” His tone slightly cynical.

Even casual conversation couldn’t distract her from the increasing pain. In her daze,
scenes of the past seemed to circle around her eyes.

She had lost track of time and finally, the needle left her skin. She was saved.

Ye Qiao breathed out a sigh of relief and started gasping for air.

It was already deep into the night. She was covered in a cold sweat and hadn’t noticed
the rain that was pouring outside the window.

Ye Qiao got up, pulling the bathrobe up around her. The window, with the curtains
pulled aside, faced a deserted beach. The glass on the window reflected the tattoo
on her chest. It was only a blurry outline with tangled vines and twigs, like a thorny
serpent.

Zhou Tingsheng brazenly admired his own work-- --it had never been this perfect
before.

It reminded him of the time he was studying painting under Xu Zang. He was quite
young at the time and heard that his teacher was a very noble painter. Indeed, though
Xu Zang became the most famous contemporary painter, with each painting auctioning
for tens millions of dollars in Hong Kong, he would sometimes donate all the money.
He was only interested in the arts, neither fame nor money.

Who could have known that this painter’s daughter had a body which could be used
as a scroll for painting.

He hadn’t put colors on the pattern, but Ye Qiao’s lips were already turning pale, her
heartbeat quickened, and her organs felt like they were tightening.

She pulled some pills onto her palm and he brought her a cup of water. She thanked
him despite feeling like she was about to suffocate.

Zhou Tingsheng calmly gave her all the facts: “After cutting the outline, if we don’t put
the colors on immediately, we’ll have to wait till 75 days later when the scars are gone
to keep the integrity of the picture.”

Ye Qiao swallowed the pills with water. Though her throat was still tight, she shook her
head and squeezed out a few words: “Finish it tonight.”

He refused: “If we continue, you’ll run the risk of going into shock.”

Ye Qiao didn’t insist on going through with it.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 14 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past

Chapter 14 Part 2

Under a dome light, Ye Qiao lied on a soft Japanese style couch, upper
body bare and a robe casually stuck under her body.

Her long hairs, like a bolt of black silk, messily spread over her shoulders
reaching down to her waist.  Under the light, her skin looked like porcelain,
its sleek luster creating a sharp contrast to her dark hair.

The spotlight shone on her chest warming her body.  She began to swelter
when she heard Zhou Tingsheng ask: “Tattoo on the chest?”

His fingers slowly rubbed her chest in an up and down motion. The scar from
the surgery had faded with time. His fingers were a bit rough from his time as
a soldier. It stung each time he touched the scar.

Ye Qiao calmly nodded and mumbled in her throat: “En.”

About half an hour ago, he had brought Ye Qiao to this place. Said location
was in a not so reputable area as far as she could remember when she was
living in Yang City. There were several clubs here that were famous for their
tattoo parlors. When she was young, she would never have thought that she
would be here someday trying to get a tattoo.

Zhou Tingsheng seemed to know his way around here quite well. It wasn’t
business hours, but he could easily get the keys from the owner.

The owner, Wuzi, was an easy-going person and was rather street smart.
Once he saw Ye Qiao, he immediately announced his status as a fan. Ye Qiao
thought Zhou Tingsheng visited the place quite often, but didn’t see any tattoos
on him. She was wondering about it when Wuzi laughed: “He’s not a customer!
Sheng Ge learned it in the past and is very good at it. But he only serves special
customers.”

Ye Qiao asked: “What do you mean by special?”
Wuzi suddenly blushed: “Well…...especially beautiful ones.”

Ye Qiao was stunned for a second and looked at Zhou Tingsheng. But then she
understandably smiled: “Alright, then let’s try it.”

After she took a shower, Wuzi turned on the light in the tattoo room and showed
her in. Before he left the room, he sighed and said to Zhou Tingsheng: “She’s my
goddess, Sheng Ge, be easy on her.”

Ye Qiao quietly lied down on the couch and asked: “Why did you bring me here?”

Zhou Tingsheng was concentrating on putting the needle in the tattoo machine:
“It’s my personal hobby.”

Ye Qiao looked up at him. He had removed his jacket and the sleeves of his shirt
were folded up to his elbows showing his tanned arms. The arms were clean,
muscular, and without a single tattoo. She tried to find signs of a tattoo on his
body without luck.  She couldn’t see any even though she had peeked at his chest
through his shirt collar where the top there buttons were unbuttoned.

She curled her lips: “Then what about learning this? Also a personal hobby?”

“En.” He nonchalantly replied.

“Did you learn it before or after the military?”

“After.”

“You have quite a resume.” What she didn’t mention was that people who had
undergone many different careers usually had a depressing life. Ye Qiao didn’t
want to know the dark side of his life. She tried to lighten the conversation: “How
many years did it take to learn? How skilled are you?”

Zhou Tingsheng had put the needle in and smiled as if his prey had entered the
trap: “Give it a try and you’ll know.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 44 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 44 Part 4

Tong Yao read the bullet comments and made some modest yet insincere
replies. From the corner of her eyes she noticed the mocking smile on the
lips of the man next to her was getting wider and wider. She took a deep
breath and logged onto the game and began waiting in queue-- --

She got into a match in no time.

Tong Yao, with her higher rank, had the right to ban a champion first. As
she was pondering which champion she should ban first, she saw Lu Sicheng
click open his friend list while holding a coffee mug with the other hand. He
took a look…...then turned his head to give Tong Yao a meaningful look and
slowly said: “Ah Tai is on the team opposite of you.”

Tong Yao’s hand jerked and banned a champion which was hardly used by
any player.

Her teammates sent a “?” on the public channel. Tong Yao hurriedly apologized
saying that her finger slipped and had banned the wrong champion.

Lu Sicheng: “There’s really no comparison to your psychological makeup.”

Tong Yao: “......”

After the game started, Tong Yao chose Ekko as her champion. The opposite
side chose Fizz and kept suppressing her ability to farm. In less than 5 minutes,
Fizz had 15 more minions than Ekko. Tong Yao was struggling…...it was then that
she stopped paying attention to her other teammates and all the bullet comments,
concentrating only on playing her game. When she was finally about to reach level 6,
Fizz had already reached 6 and cast his ultimate on Ekko. Ekko’s health rapidly
dropped, Tong Yao moved Ekko around, ready to run-- --

“One more minion, you’ll be level 6 and get your ultimate. Your jungler is also on his way.
You can still fight, what’s there to panic about?”

She heard the clam voice of the man next to her. Tong Yao hastily killed one minion and
in an instant reached level 6. She used her ability to stun Fizz, then slashed him a couple
times. Before the stun was over, she quickly cast her ultimate while keeping her distance.
Her jungler arrived at the same moment and they easily killed Fizz!

As the game was playing the kill notification and sound effect, Tong Yao was standing at
the foot of her turret, somewhat stupefied. She let out a long breath only after she saw a
string of bullet comments saying “66666666666”[1] “The hand speed of someone being
single for 20 years” “Wife, you’re great. 66666.” She picked up the cup at front of her,
wanting to sip some black sugar water to calm her nerves, and discovered that her hand
was shaking.

…...It was just a ranked game.

Lu Sicheng was now leaning on the back of Tong Yao’s chair. He noticed her tremors
and used his calm but authoritative voice to give her a lecture, like a father to a daughter:
“What’s the matter.  Do you only know how to run away when pressured by the enemy?
Why aren’t you checking your teammates’ position and your own stats? A Silver level
player. Has Ah Tai eaten a person in front of your face or what? Why are you so scared
of him……”

Tong Yao: “You, shut up. Don’t push me.”

Hearing Tong Yao talk back to Cheng Ge this way, the “6”s on the bullet comments
increased rapidly.

Lu Sicheng paused.

Then he flatly said after long moment of silence: “I have to say that I miss the way
you were shivering and couldn’t utter a word while on the bed.”

Then he left.

Tong Yao choked and spat the sugar water in her mouth back into the cup.

The “66666” on the bullet comment was now replaced by “? ? ? ?”-- --

The question marks were so packed on the screen that Tong Yao couldn’t even see
her own cursor.

[1]: Chinese internet slang. 6 sounds exactly like "溜" liu, which means "good/skillful
at doing something."

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 31 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 31 Part 1

Early in the morning, Zheng Dongkai got up and went to the bathroom
in a daze. Each dorm room had its own bathroom. Usually, the boys’
bathroom was messy, thankfully theirs wasn’t.

It was because Lin Chuyan wouldn’t allow it. = =

Yet, Lin Chuyan didn’t bother to clean it himself. The job for cleaning the
bathroom became the responsibility of his three slaves. Every semester,
their dorm room would be on the list of the model rooms.

At this hour of the day, Zheng Dongkai wasn’t fully awake yet. He went to
relieve himself in the cold winter morning.

He saw Lin Chuyan in the bathroom. What was he doing in the bathroom?

“Ah! ! !” Zheng Dongkai cried out, terrified.

The noise woke up the other two roommates.

Lin Chuyan glanced over him then carelessly said: “I heard that the Taikang
Hospital across from school is having a promotion lately. Anyone who’s reached
Master in Kings of Glory will receive 50% off for a circumcision. So-----better
hurry up to Master.”

“What the hell, that’s not the point!” Zheng Dongkai said: “Lin Chuyan, why are
you washing clothes? This isn’t your underwear nor socks; this is-----”

Lin Chuyan abruptly covered his mouth.

Lin Chuyan was taller than Zheng Dongkai. His arm circled around Zheng
Dongkai’s neck to reach over Zheng’s mouth. Zheng Dongkai felt his mouth and
nose were filled with the smell of laundry detergent. His body was brought to the
side, almost tripping over himself.

Maomaoqiu and Dayu happened to pushed the bathroom door open just then.

They had just heard the shriek and rushed to rescue Zheng Dongkai. They were
stunned to see what was going on inside the bathroom.

Zheng Dongkai was disheveled and Lin Chuyan was covering his mouth with a
dangerous look on his face as if he was trying to force Zheng Dongkai to do
something unspeakable.

“Excuse us!” Maomaoqiu shut the bathroom door.

Zheng Dongkai felt helpless.

Lin Chuyan released him and he tidied up his clothes to walk out of the bathroom.
Looking bitter, he said to Maomaoqiu and Dayu: “Can’t you at least hesitate when
selling me out?”

“Dongkai, he really did that to you? I knew it, I knew he would do such a thing
sooner or later! ------But isn’t he a bit too quick……”

“No, no, it’s not like that. Don’t make up stories.”

“Then why did you scream?”

Zheng Dongkai happily reported: “Chuyan is washing clothes!”

“Nonsense, when has he washed any clothes other than his own underwear
and socks? Isn’t he always having the dry cleaner come by for pickup and delivery?
I feel that he has spent more money on the dry cleaner than food.”

Zheng Dongkai had the impression that Lin Chuyan was so lazy that he would
never do anything involving manual labor, even if it meant starving. It would be
hard for a normal person to understand the logic of a super lazy person.

However, today Lin Chuyan was washing a pair of gloves.

“It’s that pair he wore when he came back on Sunday, those little princess gloves.”

-----------

Both Lin Chuyan and Xiang Nuan had arrived a few minutes early at the club’s
regular meeting on Thursday.

Lin Chuyan had a light grey cashmere scarf around his neck. His chin was buried
in the soft and warm scarf, making him look gentle.

Even his hairdo was looking much better today.

Lin Chuyan had his hair parted in the middle, a little fluffy with small curls at the
tails. Xiang Nuan asked: “Where did you get your hair permed? It looks very natural.”

“I didn’t get permed. My hair is naturally curly.”

Xiang Nuan was envious of his naturally curly hair and, cupping her chin, looked
at his hair attentively. Lin Chuyan was a bit uneasy under her gaze: “What are you
looking at?”

Xiang Nuan smiled: “I think if you dyed your hair ash grey, it would look good too.”

“Why ash grey?”

“Then you’ll have the same hair color as Zhuge Liang.”

Games again. She was seriously addicting to that game.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.