Chapter 45

◎ Phoenix Skeleton ◎

How could Wen Xu sleep?

Not to mention that the camp bed was hard and narrow, and the scent of Dai Xi's perfume lingered on it. The two women were chatting in low voices not far away, but it was more obvious in the small and quiet room.

He was indeed tired, half-closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, eavesdropping on their conversation.

Indistinctly, he sorted out the relationship between these new names-they were her friends in Shenzhen, and the relationship should be quite good. The content of the chat was not restricted.

Lian Jia was the boss of Jinian, and he should be a single father. His son was in the fifth grade and was about to enter the rebellious period, which gave him a headache; Dai Xi opened a nail salon in the next room, and after Du Ningyang left Shenzhen, she hired a very hardworking sister, which made her worry-free.

Dai Xi didn't like congratulations, and applauded Du Ningyang's decision to divorce; she should have a good impression of herself... otherwise she wouldn't always mention "you rich man" and "new rich man" and other blunt and vulgar words.

Du Ningyang repeatedly reminded, "You call people by their names. He has a name, and he told you."

Dai Xi buried her face in her elbows and laughed desperately.

"It's okay, it's normal. Just don't smoke or drink recently. It's not as serious as I thought." Du Ningyang patted Dai Xi's back, and after a sigh of relief, he was disappointed, "I advised you at the beginning, but you didn't listen and insisted on tattooing that stinky man's name. Now you feel better, right? It's painful to wash it off, but it can't be washed clean and it's ugly."

"Why did you mention that?"

"Just mention it."

"Hey, you finally came here, help me touch up the color, master."

Dai Xi acted like a spoiled child, and Du Ningyang couldn't do anything with her.

She had a phoenix tattoo all over her back, which looked a bit old and the color faded a lot. Du Ningyang glanced in the direction of Wen Xu, and saw that he closed his eyes with a peaceful and satisfied look, so he agreed and went to get the paint from the shelf.

Daixi was semi-self-service, but she was not idle. She skillfully took out a bunch of various tools from the drawer and disinfected them. "You still need to be a professional to color. Now I look down on Lian Jia when he says he wants to touch up my color."

Du Ningyang suppressed his laughter, "You dare to say this to his face?"

Daixi said firmly, "Of course, why not?"

Although when they first met, she and Du Ningyang were both Lian Jia's apprentices, and the apprentice would never dare to confront the master.

-

Lian Jia is not as cool as he looks on the surface. Du Ningyang and Daixi often discuss privately and think he is quite cowardly.

How bad can someone who was invited to participate in the International Tattoo Exhibition in 2010 be?

But he is just a blockhead, he doesn't know marketing or socializing, and he has no idea how to tattoo, what color to use and what pen to use. He is not as successful as his peers, so he just guards his small shop, a small piece of land.

He has been in the industry for a long time and has no bad reviews. He thinks his life is beautiful and good. It was not until his wife dumped him and his son who had just started elementary school without any warning and ran off with a boss who dealt in building materials that he realized that people without money could not even fart when facing rich people.

Before leaving, Li Xin was quite frank, "I will not starve to death if I follow you, but I am going to live a good life now. I will send living expenses to my son, don't worry about that."

Before Lian Jia even had time to retort, saying "I don't need you to send money", Li Xin stepped on the silver-gray Audi with pointed diamond high heels and drove away.

Lian Jia started his journey as a single father and found that it was difficult to raise a child well, and it was even more difficult to raise this child well without money.

He decided to transform himself into a black-hearted tattoo boss who only had money in his eyes and would make any money.

He hung a sign at the door of the store, saying that he was looking for a partner. The way of cooperation was very simple, that is, sharing a shop, each person paid half of the money, each looking for their own customers, and making more or less money was their own.

Dai Xi came to the door first.

After graduating from high school, she took a 10-hour train ride from a small town in the southwest to Shenzhen, officially starting her wandering life. At that time, she had just resigned from a gray factory, and her eyes lit up when she saw a recruitment sign. So Lian Jia waved his hand and took her in, promising to train her to become a master and earn her tuition.

At that time, she was still called Dai Qing, and Dai Xi was the name she later changed herself to because she felt it was too rustic. She thought she was quite fashionable and even used the pronunciation of her English name - Daisy (Daisy).

When Du Ningyang came to find her again, Dai Xi had already pierced several artificial practice skins, calling herself "senior sister" and said to Du Ningyang: "Senior sister will protect you in the future."

But I didn't expect that this later junior sister was a ruthless character who didn't talk much. Not only did she pay the partnership funds on the first day, but she also got started quickly - the weight, strength, and color all improved rapidly with visible rapid progress.

Finally, after Du Ningyang worked desperately to finish a practice skin in an almost impossible time, Dai Xi couldn't help but curse in her heart and asked, "Sister, have you practiced before? You are working so hard."

"No, it's okay," Du Ningyang didn't lie to her, "but I have some basics. I studied oil painting in college."

"College? You went to college?" Dai Xi exclaimed, with an exaggerated expression on her face, "Why are you doing this as a college student? - What university? Is it really a college?"

Seeing Dai Xi's incredulous look, Du Ningyang pursed his lips and tried not to laugh, "Why would I lie to you, I'm from Huaimei."

"What?"

"Huaimei - Huai, Cheng, Mei, Yuan, a school in my hometown."

"Oh, I haven't heard of it. It's not a famous one, right?"

"Yeah, it's not a famous one."

The next day at the memorial, Dai Xi yelled at Lian Jia to refund her tuition. The scene was quite big and she was making a fuss. Lian Jia shook his head and refused, "The tuition fee cannot be fully refunded."

Although they did not sign a contract, he still paid half of the tuition fee in cash and the rest by WeChat. If he was really cruel, Dai Xi would not get a penny back.

"Master, please be kind - the manicure school next door also charges tuition, if you don't pay me back, I will miss the class!"

She ruined so many practice skins for him, and she didn't mention the cost at all.

Lian Jia asked: "You have already learned most of it, why don't you learn it? This makes more money than doing manicure."

Dai Xi pursed her lips and complained: "It's all because of Aning. She is a top student studying oil painting. Huaicheng Academy of Fine Arts is also a top school in China. If she finishes, I will have nothing to do. Why should I compete with college students? Master, there is still you. When she finishes, you will also be unemployed."

She imitated the witch in the TV series, pretending to be mysterious and deep, saying: "Master, the tattoo industry is going to change!"

This is not wrong. Although Du Ningyang has only learned for a few days, his skills are more skilled than many people who have been in the industry for two or three years. Lian Jia has thought about this problem.

But if he is afraid that the apprentice will starve to death, it is too inconsistent with Lian Jia's style.

He comforted Dai Xi: "You two may not have the same style."

Du Ningyang sat on a chair beside him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. This girl is too honest. Why does she say whatever she thinks? She is not cunning at all.

She agreed, "Yeah, we are not of the same style. I promise I won't steal your business in the future."

Daixi continued to practice reluctantly, but her mind was obviously distracted. She couldn't sit at the workbench for a long time. She would always sneak to the next room to chat and eat melon seeds when Lian Jia wasn't paying attention, which made it clear that she had chosen a new way out.

Lian Jia, who was always as silent as gold, sighed at Du Ningyang.

Du Ningyang smiled, "She is still young and has many choices, but I have to tell you the truth - if she really gets started, she will definitely be as good as Rong Mama and can stab the customer to death."

Lian Jia and her didn't get along, and she almost choked to death. He asked, "Which store is Rong Mama from?"

Before the end of the study, a complete work had to be completed to be considered a master. Du Ningyang liked the realistic oil painting style, which was much more delicate and niche than the traditional old school style that was popular at that time, and the audience was not wide.

Besides, this thing is not easy to wash after the tattoo. After waiting for a long time, there was no customer who dared to let her try.

Daixi had a boyfriend who was about her age. He worked odd jobs everywhere. He was generous when he had money and stayed at home when he didn't. His back was full of dragons with dancing claws.

She felt itchy and wanted to be a couple with him and get a phoenix tattoo.

But couples in the passionate love period are inevitably jealous and possessive. Her boyfriend asked: "Don't let men tattoo you. You have to find a woman to do this."

Daixi had to reluctantly become Du Ningyang's apprenticeship.

Although he didn't charge her money and knew that Du Ningyang was good at his craft, she just felt uncomfortable. Why? They were all classmates, why was he so hardworking and so good?

But she still obediently lay on the tattoo bed.

Du Ningyang turned on the speakers, lit the incense, and drew the curtains, prohibiting Lian Jia from watching and guiding. After all, Daixi was still a lively girl.

Approaching, he saw a shallow and prominent scar on her back with hyperplasia around it. Du Ningyang's almost smooth movements paused for a moment.

"It's ugly, isn't it?" Dai Xi's voice was muffled, "I just want to cover it up."

"How did you do it?" Du Ningyang carefully approached and looked at the direction, and quickly modified the sketch in his mind, how to change the phoenix's movements to blend with the scar.

"When I was a child, I was taking care of my younger brother and accidentally made him fall. My grandfather whipped him with a whip."

Dai Xi opened her mouth and complained a lot, but she could not get relief. Du Ningyang listened patiently, and painted the color bit by bit with gentle movements.

"Do you know what my name was before? Dai Qing - red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, and purple. I am the fifth child in the family. The first four are sisters, and the next one is Dai Lan, also a younger sister. The seventh one is a brother."

"We all hope that the seventh one is a brother. Guess why?"

"Because according to this naming order, he should be called Dai Zi - homophonic to "idiot"! But they named him Dai Jiabao."

"Aning, actually I envy you very much, and I am also very jealous of you. You are an only child, you are beautiful, and you have been to college. You know, I could have gone to college too, although it is not a good school, but my family does not have the conditions and would not pay for my tuition no matter what. I said it doesn't matter, I will earn my own tuition, I will repeat my grades, and I will be a college student."

"But making money is so hard and difficult. The machines in the factory buzz so hard that my ears hurt. It hurts when I sleep at night, and I can't read a single word." "

Actually, I'm really confused and don't know where my future lies, but I still want to learn a skill - maybe I'll become a very powerful person in the future, make a lot of money, and have a daughter and give her a nice name."

A drop of warm liquid fell on her shoulder, and Du Ningyang quickly wiped it off with a disinfectant wipe, "Sorry."

"Why are you crying? This has nothing to do with you," Dai Xi was flustered, "I didn't mean to make you cry, and I didn't mean to gain sympathy."

"You're very good, and Lian Jia is also very good. He is better than all the bosses I've met before. I turn on the air conditioner as soon as I arrive at the store. He doesn't say anything even if I turn on the maximum wind speed of 23 degrees. In the past, factories didn't allow air conditioning to be turned on, and people would get heatstroke in summer..." "

The tuition fee for studying here also includes lunch, and every meal has meat. It's really delicious."

"Wait a minute."

Du Ningyang took off her gloves, took out a few tissues to wipe the tears that had already covered her face, went out to smoke a cigarette to calm down, and came back to continue her "graduation work."

"You want to learn nail art, right?" she asked Daixi, "Do you really want to learn this time? Can you stick to it?"

Although Daixi was a spontaneous person, she really couldn't do tattooing, so she just mumbled "hmm".

"I'll pay your tuition, and you can pay me back when you make money," Du Ningyang said in an unquestionable tone, "I just went out and talked to the boss next door, Xu, and I'll give her the money tonight."

Before Daixi could answer, Du Ningyang said, "I won't lend it to you for free. I'm not as stupid as Lian Jia. I'll write you an IOU, don't try to default on it."

Somehow, probably influenced by Du Ningyang, Daixi's eyes also became wet, and the music in the store randomly played "One Like Summer and One Like Autumn" sung by Christine Fan.

The song sang, "I didn't like you when I first met you, but who knew we would become so close later."

The whole back was printed, which was time-consuming and laborious. When she sat up from the tattoo bed, the twisted scars turned into the skeleton of a phoenix.

At that time, Du Ningyang's technique was far from perfect, and many details were immature and rough, but she really liked this work.

"You are my first customer, I will be responsible for you to the end, and I will not charge you for color touch-ups in the future."

Well, that's it. From now on, we are good friends.