Hard to Escape

Chapter 6

Yin Li handled things in an extremely swift and decisive manner. That very night he called over a tattoo artist. Leaning on my crutches, I watched a group of people carry various equipment into the house, which they then set up in Yin Li's room. Prompted by my curious expression, the tattoo artist turned to me and introduced each apparatus.

Tattoo gun, needlepoints, needle grips, liner machine, shader machine, tattoo inks, ink cups, vaseline, green soap;1 I stared at everything, stupefied. When I inadvertently glanced at the tattoo artist, I noticed that aside from the Azure Dragon on their left arm and the White Tiger on their right arm,2 there was also a Mickey Mouse. Although I knew that tattoo artists, early on in their careers, often practiced various designs on themselves, I still suddenly felt a trickle of cold sweat for Yin Li.

1 green soap is a kind of medicinal grade soap used by tattoo artists
2 Azure Dragon (Qinglong) and White Tiger (Baihu) are creatures from Chinese/East Asian mythology

"Mr. Yin, what section are you thinking of tattooing? Do you have any design or phrase in mind? Do you want to discuss the position and placement of the tattoo?" With a slight bow, the tattoo artist respectfully questioned Yin Li.

"Tattoo her name. The "yan" (颜) from "countenance", the "xiao" (笑) from "smile." Yin Li gave me a nonchalant look.

"Mr. Yin, forgive me for being blunt, but these two characters are both complex and the result may not look good. I suggest that you choose one of them, and I'll help you come up with a design incorporating it." The tattoo artist pulled out a paper to draw ideas.

I irrelevantly joked, "Why not make it simple, directly draw a smiley face. It just so happens to match my name's "xiao", plus it has a nice and sunny feeling, so even if other people see it, they won't associate a smiley face with someone who has connections to gangs."3

3 Being tattooed is usually associated with gangs/mafia in China

I secretly looked at Yin Li and continued, "Where to tattoo it? Hm, I think tattooing it on the butt or the lower back is good. There's more meat there so they should be the least painful spots, but most likely there's still going to be quite some blood." While I spoke my eyes were spinning. The tattoo was only something that I had blurted out off the top of my head, in order to get Yin Li to step back and stop pushing to continue our relationship. In my heart I didn't actually want Yin Li to tattoo my name on his body. Yin Li's plan to use this as a reason to tie me down, proved that he really was determined to stay with me, because he didn't give me any opportunity to escape.

And once he got the tattoo, I knew that I'd no longer be able to liberate myself from the position of fiancée unless Yin Li got fed up with me first. The difference in our strength was too big, so regardless of whether he loved me or not, and what had happened between us, as long as he wanted to continue, there was no way I could quit in the middle.

I just needed to thicken my skin and continue to lobby. "Yin Li, think for a moment! Once you get a tattoo, it'll be on your body for the rest of your life. Right now you might like me enough to get my name tattooed, but if we split up, my name will be left behind on your ass or your lower back. When you roll around in the sheets with your future wife, won't this be a huge eyesore,4 potentially becoming a crisis in your marriage!"

4大煞风景 is a chengyu meaning something that spoils the otherwise nice scenery

"Mr. Yin, I've finished drawing." The tattoo artist suddenly stood back up and passed the paper over to Yin Li, and then gave me a look full of pity, "Erasing old tattoos is not impossible, but there's a tradition among us tattoo artists, that every person who works with tattoos must respect. If a person's name is tattooed, it represents a kind of contract. Only if one party passes away, can the tattoo be removed."