Tattooed Whales

The muscles on Chi Jian’s body have to develop fully, but they were rather toned and even his bones developed rather well.

He had rather board shoulders, long arms, a slightly tucked-in abdomen, and it was easy to follow the two inconspicuous marks on his sides which extended into his trousers.

Jiu Lu didn’t know where to look, and turned into the kitchen: “I brought you clothes.”

Chi Jian followed behind her. “I’m not used to wearing other people’s clothes.”

Jiu Lu raised her head and glanced at him. He was standing sideways, and Jiu Lu noticed how long his neck was. It connected to his back which drew out a slightly curved silhouette.

“Just wear it…you don’t look good like this.” Jiu Lu said softly.

Chi Jian tilted his head, turned, and sat on the edge of the table. “Why, haven’t you seen your little first love like this before?”

Jiu Lu lowered her head and served the porridge. “My mom could come in later.”

Chi Jian played around with strands of his hair, and after a few seconds, spoke. “Why don’t you help me get a sweater?”

“From?”

“My grandmother’s room.” He paused after speaking, and suddenly remembered what happened in the old house and the bloody smell of the corridor. “Forget it.”

He got up and went to the living room to get dressed.

“Is your grandmother all right?”

Chi Jian moved his shoulders in discomfort: “She went to bed early today. Took some sleeping pills, so she probably didn’t wake up.”

“That’s good.” She handed him the porridge. “I don’t know how to cook. Uncle Zhou bought it for my mother earlier on. Have some first.”

Chi Jian froze. “Uncle Zhou?”

Jiu Lu lowered her eyes and bit down slightly on her lower lips.

Chi Jian realised, their relationship from her expression, and looked away.

“He bought it for your mother, it wouldn’t be good if I ate it.”

Jiu Lu’s expression reverted. “I don’t think she’s in the mood to eat.”

“That’s true.” Chi Jian nodded, “This porridge smells good.”

“En. Crab porridge.”

The two sat down at the dining table, and Jiu Lu sat across from him, silent for a while, but it seemed inappropriate to just turn around and head upstairs.

He ate slowly, putting down the spoon after two bites.

Jiu Lu had a hunch. “You… can’t eat anymore?”

“Not hungry.”

 “Scared?”

Chi Jian leaned on the back of the chair crookedly, with an arrogant expression. “Who’re you kidding, who can scare me?”

“But you were too scared to even stand up earlier on.”

“That’s just my legs going numb.” His tone was not very good. After a short pause, he clicked his tongue. “Are really smart or dumb? It’s better to pretend to be dumb even when you’re smart to be cute”

After hearing this, Jiu Lu pursed her lips and smiled.

“Any cigarettes?” he asked.

“No.” Jiu Lu said, “Uncle Zhou doesn’t smoke.”

She then remembered the cup of hot water she just poured, and got up to bring it. “The temperature is just right, drink some.”

Chi Jian raised his head and drank it in one breath, and Jiu Lu refilled his cup.

The two were silent again.

Chi Jian crossed his arms and raised his head after a while. “I’m not scared, I’m shocked.” He paused. “Life is so fucking fragile, so much so that the second before and the second after can be two drastically different worlds. Nothing in this world will have anything to do with that man from now onwards, and he won’t have the chance to experience anything again.”

“Was it really suicide?”

“The door was locked from the inside, there shouldn’t be other possibilities.”

Li Jiu Lu sighed softly and whispered, “One hundred people, one hundred ways to die. For him, it could have been a relief.”

Chi Jian raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “You think very clearly.”

“Will it be of any use if I comforted you with things like ‘cherish life’ and ‘life is priceless’?”

Chi Jian glanced at her. “What do you think?”

Li Jiu Lu scratched her nose.

“Let’s not talk about that.” Chi Jian cheered up and coughed lightly. “Are you really going to Hei Long tomorrow night for dinner with them?”

Jiu Lu took a while to absorb his question, and her eyes widened when she realised. “You eavesdropped.”

Chi Jian snorted disdainfully: “A triangle of love debts, do you think I wanted to listen!”

“But you did.” She stood up abruptly.

Her reaction was rather huge. At the mention of the dinner, Jiu Lu remembered the tattoo on her back again. All sorts of emotions whirred up in her heart – a tangled bunch of strings that had no beginnings or ends – and Jiu Lu shot Chi Jian a glare.

Chi Jian raised his eyebrows, surprised at such a rich expression.

“Don’t be agitated,” he smiled casually. “Sit, sit first. I didn’t think that the girl was good news. But then again, your little first love did cheat on you, so she’s not really any good news.”

“It’s none of your business,” she rebutted softly.

“Really?” He tilted his head and looked at her cheekily. “But I ache for you.”

Li Jiu Lu pretended to not hear it, but quickly calmed down, turned around and left.

Chi Jian got up and followed, and continued. “You were bullied because you’re too sapless. Do you need my help?”

“No.”

“Not afraid of losing out?”

Jiu Lu stopped, stood on the stairs and turned to look at him, “Then you still don’t know me very well.”

Chi Jian raised his eyebrows, leaned lazily on the stair’s handrails. “Is it necessary?”

Jiu Lu didn’t turned back. The sentence was uttered too softly, and it was unclear if she did hear it.

Jiang Man and Zhou Ke didn’t finish their work until two in the morning. When he brought her back from the police station, the body had already been carried to the mortuary. They cleaned up all the bloodstains overnight, comforted the nurses and several elderly people who had not slept, and went to the office to go through some procedures.

The original silence in the building was restored, and the only sound came from their heels.

Jiang Man looked back, and when the wind blew, she could not help but to hug her arms.

Zhou Ke hugged her and tightened his embrace. “It’s alright, it’s all over.”

Jiang Man raised her head and forced herself to squeeze out a smile: “Will it be okay?”

Zhou Ke kissed her forehead lightly. “What else could there be?”

“Even with so many police officers coming to collect evidence at the scene, I still have to make a special trip to the police station to record a statement. Do you think they will suspect…”

“Have you done it?”

“No.”

“Then nothing will happen.” Zhou Ke comforted. “You saw it too, the door was locked from the inside, who else could have entered and harm him? The old man had no debts or ties to the outside world, who would have a motive to harm him?”

Zhou Ke gently turned the door handle and stopped to explain. “Someone called the police, and it was an abnormal death. To rule out the possibility of homicide, the police have to do all these.”

Jiang Man was then relieved and hugged him gently: “Thank God you’re here.”

Zhou Ke stroked the back of her head and whispered, “I’m here.”

The two stayed outside for a while, then went in silently.

One of the corridor lights were on, and the sofa was completely occupied by a dark shadow.

Jiang Man suddenly remembered that Chi Jian came, and was about to walk towards him when Zhou Ke stopped her with confusion in his eyes.

Jiang Man whispered, “Lu Lu’s classmate.”

The two looked at one another. Without switching on the lights, Jiang Man took a quilt from the bedroom and covered him with it. It was already more than two in the morning, and although the situation had passed, it was impossible to let a child go home in the middle of the night.

She went upstairs to look at Li Jiu Lu again, and only after seeing that she was sound asleep, did she went back to her room.

Jiang Man didn’t sleep well that night. For two or three hours, she had countless nightmares, nightmares with plenty of shrills and tragic screams.

She woke up abruptly to silent surroundings.

She subconsciously reached for her side, but Zhou Ke was not in bed. The quilt on his side was turned over, and there was no warmth to be felt from the bed.

It was still dark outside, and there was no light seeping through the gaps in the curtains. Jiang Man glanced at the time, it was four in the morning.

She couldn’t fall asleep anyway, so she put on some clothes, washed and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

It happened that Zhou Ke came in from outside. He glanced at her and walked towards the bathroom: “Woke up so early?”

“En.” Jiang Man entered the kitchen while drinking water. “What were you doing?”

“Couldn’t sleep, had a walk around.”

“You couldn’t can’t sleep either?”

Zhou Ke paused slightly and nodded. “After all, it’s not a small matter. There’s bound to be some sort of effect.”

After a while, the morning came slowly.

Li Jiu Lu’s biological clock has always been accurate. She rarely needed an alarm clock to get up on time.

She stared at the calendar as she braided her hair. Today’s day was marked with a big red circle. She put her hands down and sat by the bed for a while.

Downstairs, Jiang Man’s voice could be heard urging Jiu Lu again.

Jiu Lu replied, pulled out a clothing bag from the bottom of the cabinet, took out some clothes, rolled them up, and stuffed them into her schoolbag.

When she went out, she looked back at her desk and threw the folded jar of stars into the trash can.

The atmosphere downstairs was abnormal. Both Jiang Man and Zhou Ke were at the table today, with the addition of another person.

With his ankles resting on his thighs, Chi Jian was just drinking his porridge as he looked out for signs of Jiu Lu.

“Morning.”

Jiu Lu touched her hair: “Morning.”

Jiang Man call her. “Sit down to eat, and later follow Chi…”

“Chi Jian, Auntie.”

Jiang Man patted her forehead: “Look at me, always forgetting names. Hurry up or the two of you will be late for school later.”

Jiu Lu sat down beside Chi Jian, took half of the fried dough stick, and ate it with small bites.

Jiang Man stopped stirring the porridge for a second, looked at Chi Jian, and continued what she was saying earlier.

“I’m sorry about what happened yesterday, and I hope you won’t mention it when you go to school. I’m afraid it will affect Lu Lu.”

Chi Jian smiled harmlessly: “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“That’s good.” Jiang Man heaved a sigh of relief, pondered for a moment, and added, “You should study hard, don’t worry about other things. As for your grandmother, I will tell the nurses to pay her more attention.”

Chi Jian smiled: “Thank you.”

The two, with their shoddy acting, managed to finish breakfast.

Regarding Jiang Man’s misunderstanding, Li Jiu Lu was too lazy to explain at first, but now it seemed even more troublesome to explain. To explain just the reason why she lied to Jiang Man in the first place was already a bother, so she simply kept her mouth shut.

Chi Jian’s motorcycle was still parked under the lamp. He tapped the seat with his gloves. “Do you want me to give you a ride?”

He seemed refreshed today, and his hair was somewhat damp with water, as though the person sitting weakly on the steps last night wasn’t him.

“Don’t bother, I’ll walk.”

Chi Jian nodded, stepped on the motorcycle with no signs of pressuring her.

The speed at which rumours travelled far exceeded expectations. This accident was rather similar to the previous one, and even without Chi Jian’s input, people were already prattling about the events that took place yesterday.

There was a large commotion when Jiu Lu entered the class. Liang Xu’s annoying ass was about to approach her, but he was stopped by Ma Xiao Ye.

It just so happened that the class bell rang, and Liang Xu gave up, irked.

At noon, the students collectively went to the cafeteria to eat as usual.

The two found a quiet corner.

Ma Xiao Ye gave her the chicken wings in his bowl, and asked with concern, “Were you frightened by what happened yesterday?”

Jiu Lu shook her head. “No.”

“That’s good.” He took a bite of his food. “Are you still having maths with Teacher Meng?”

She sighed: “Yeah, tutoring.”

“The teacher teaches well. He doesn’t accept students that easily ever since he retired, you should cherish it.”

Jiu Lu didn’t say anything, just nodded.

Ma Xiao Ye didn’t have a good appetite today, so he only took a few mouthfuls of food. “Then… do you still have time to eat tonight?”

“Yeah.” Jiu Lu raised his head, puzzled: “What’s wrong?”

“N-No, it’s nothing. I’ll wait for you after school.”

Jiu Lu said, “You go first, I’ll find you later.”