Tattooed Whales

With clear piercing eyes, Jiu Lu stared at Chi Jian. “Where’s the surprise?”

Chi Jian’s fists tightened unconsciously. He coughed and tried to shrug off the matter at hand.

“… …”

After a while of silence, Jiu Lu shook off his hand and walked back.

“Where’re you going?”

“To pay.”

Chi Jian caught up in a few steps and took out his gloves to wear. He had always liked to pretend he was cool and dressed as such. Even in the winter, he tended to wear lesser layers than others; wearing only a puffer jacket zipped fully till his mouth, a black pair of sweatpants and a base layer underneath. He even went as far as to wear a pair of polished leather shoes. This made him look less ‘bloated’ than others in the winter.

It was undeniable however, that he looked somewhat stylish.

Jiu Lu couldn’t be bothered to look at him and went back to the store to pay for the tape.

With his hands on his waist, the owner was fuming when he saw Jiu Lu. “Had a change of heart and brought back the tape? What’ve you been learning at such a young age? If you skimped on those sweets, you could’ve afforded this tape!”

“I don’t eat sweets.”

The person outside the door laughed as he rubbed his brows.

The owner, having heard her reply, could only grit his teeth as he snatched away the money on her hands and threw it into the register.

Jiu Lu pursed her lips and bowed a full ninety degrees. “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to do that.”

Seeing that Jiu Lu held sincere feelings of remorse, the owner snorted.

“I’m a frequent customer and have bought many tapes before. I even rented some of the novels there…… But someone pulled me out of the store urgently…” She tried to explain herself and pointed outside. “That’s why I wasn’t able to pay. It’s really an incident.”

The owner’s expressions softened slightly. “Alright, alright, seeing that you’re a regular, I’ll let it be. Just don’t do it again.”

“Thank you.”

Jiu Lu bowed again and turned to leave.

After closing the doors behind her, a smell of smoke wafted over and she stopped in her tracks.

Chi Jian leaned lazily on the wall as he tapped on his cigarette.

Jiu Lu rolled her eyes at him and stepped into the dark.

“Where’re you going now?”

“Swimming complex.”

“Then let’s eat together after a swim.”

“No, it’s too late.”

Chi Jian buttoned his gloves and continued, “There’s a new hotpot store in Bai Hua Road. I heard the owner there is from Mongolia and specialises in mutton. Since it’s cold, do you want to eat there?”

Jiu Lu shook her head. Chi Jian watched as her little ponytail swayed and he suddenly went up to her, grabbed the hood on her shoulder and pulled it.

As a result, Jiu Lu’s bag and entire body fell into him.

Chi Jian supported her shoulders up and bargained. “You still owe me a treat. Are you going back on your word?”

As he spoke, a low voice came from the top of her head, together with a cloud of fog. Li Jiu Lu unconsciously moved away her head.

She remembered the promise; she had made it after she got the tattoo the other day.

She struggled off his hands, “You let go first.” She then turned and moved a step back. “When do you want to eat?”

“Now.”

Li Jiu Lu was a little hesitant and glanced at her watch. “I told my mom this afternoon I was going for self-study. If I returned late, she’ll definitely ask questions. Can you… consider eating another time? I’ll definitely treat you.” Although her phrasing of words sounded she was asking him, her tone suggested that there was no room for further discussions.

“You lied to your mom, there should be some sort of consequences, no?”

Jiu Lu lifted her head and stared at him till their eyes met.

Shifting away, Chi Jian sighed and backed down.

“Alright, another time then.”

“Alright, see you then.”

“Wait.”

“Is there something else?”

With both of his hands fumbling in his pockets, Chi Jian thought about something for a while.

As Jiu Lu waited, she could hear soft sounds of plastic crinkling amidst the silent alleyway.

Or, it could be something else; it was too dark for Jiu Lu to tell.

Staring vacantly at his pockets, Chi Jian asked nonchalantly, “Your first love also went for self-study?”

Jiu Lu froze for a few seconds. “I didn’t ask. Why?”

“Nothing.” He lifted his head and looked at her. “Then, ask him when you return, if he was happy doing those practice questions in the afternoon.”

Li Jiu Lu didn’t understand what he was getting at.

“Isn’t there an old saying… something like, ‘1Jade can be found naturally within books’?”

“What are you trying to say?”

The surroundings fell even quieter than the alleyway.

Chi Jian’s hands came out of his pockets and Jiu Lu felt something pressing on her lips. “Don’t be irritated, have some sweets.”

Jiu Lu instinctively avoided the sweet by pulling her head away but it remained on her lips; it felt like her actions didn’t matter anyways.

Chi Jian grinned as he lowered his back slightly, “Here, open your mouth.”

She unconsciously opened her mouth at his voice and the sweetness of the candy spread immediately in her mouth.

To be so natural at manipulating the atmosphere, Jiu Lu had a thought momentarily that if he had wanted to chase a girl, she would definitely lose.

She secretly wiped the sweat on her palms. “I don’t like sweets.”

“I heard, earlier.” Feeling cold, Chi Jian retracted his chin back in his jacket. “But this candy isn’t very sweet. It’s mint flavoured.”

“Why do you have this?”

Chi Jian touched his pockets and muttered: “Who knows? It could be from last year, or leftovers from the previous year…”

Li Jiu Lu stopped chewing immediately and stared with her mouth slightly open, dumbfounded.

Chi Jian burst into laughter as Jiu Lu’s expressions stiffened.

Trying to his best not to laugh, he patted her head, “I’m joking. Don’t worry, I got it from a restaurant yesterday.”

“… …”

Li Jiu Lu didn’t felt like speaking another word and turned away.

Just as she was reaching the end of the alleyway, he caught up to her again. “Going swimming?”

“Yeah.”

“Since I have nothing else to do, let’s go together.”

She looked at him.

‘I said before that I wanted to have a little competition.” Chi Jian stared back. “Are you afraid?”

Jiu Lu murmured to herself but didn’t say anything else. Chi Jian followed behind shamelessly.

He first pestered her to stop at the tattoo parlour to grab some swimming gear before giving her a ride to the swimming complex.

The last session ended at 8, and since it was winter, there wasn’t much of a crowd in the complex.

Jiu Lu was still warming up beside the pool after Chi Jian finished a lap. He had a good form; his body seemed especially long swimming in the water and his legs powered his strokes strongly.

He swam beside her feet and stood up. The water level was high but it had only reached up to his collarbones. “You’ve warming up for a quite awhile, isn’t that enough already?”

“You’ll get cramps easily if you don’t stretch.”

Jiu Lu extended her fingers, straightened her legs, and bent down as she tried to stretch her torso. She was very professional in her attitude and movements.

Chi Jian’s gaze fell on her round toes as he leaned against the pool’s wall, observing her perversely.

Jiu Lu didn’t give him much time and quickly finished her warmups. She entered the pool slowly after testing the water with her legs.

She then swam at her own pace and didn’t care for Chi Jian’s taunts.

Time passed unknowingly as Chi Jian followed behind her for the rest of the session, studying her movements. Even though he never got to compete with her, he could tell that Jiu Lu seemed to have been trained before.

Before long, the bell signifying the end of the session sounded and the duo gradually swam up to the walls.

“Impressive, you were trained?”

After exercising, Jiu Lu’s cheeks reddened as she replied, “I was trained when I was young.”

Chi Jian gave her a thumbs up. “Let’s go, there’s 20 minutes left before they close.”

‘You can go first, I have something else.”

Li Jiu Lu submerged herself and pushed her soles against the wall. She didn’t appear for a very long time.

The surface on the water remained still.

Chi Jian raised his eyebrows. He didn’t expect Jiu Lu to do this too. He took a deep breath and followed her under the water.

He lost.

He swam up the pool and wore his slippers. He also made sure to take along Jiu Lu’s pair too.

“How long can you hold your breath for?”

Jiu Lu took off her cap as she walked. “The longest was 2 minutes 50 seconds, but that was when I was 14. I haven’t been practicing recently, so I might have regressed. You?”

“Up to a minute and a half.” He then wiped the water from his chest and continued, “I think that’s good though.”

Jiu Lu nodded. “I was accepting professional training before the age of 14. My dad had the intention of making me a swimmer; I used to practice for at least 4 hours daily.”

“Professional swimming?”

“Sort of.” Jiu Lu answered ambiguously. “My family thought so.”

After exercising vigorously, it made Jiu Lu especially alert and she lost sleep that night.

As such, she had a hard time staying awake in class. In the afternoon, she went to have lunch with Ma Xiao Ye in the school’s canteen. There was still a week left before the semester’s exams and the students were especially jittery walking about.

Ma Xiao Ye poked a hole into a pack of milk and gave it to Jiu Lu. “It’s almost exams again, have some.”

Jiu Lu lifted her eyes and took a look before she rejected it. “You can have it, it’s useless for me.”

“Your mom will be mad again if you don’t do well.”

She poked around at her rice and sighed. “I’m not made for studying, it’s useless forcing me to do so.”

“If you don’t want to study, what are you going to do?”

Li Jiu Lu’s movements slowed down. She took a look at him, but didn’t answer.

The two ate in silence for a while as she separated the carrots from the vegetables. “Ma Ye Ge, you stayed behind for self-study yesterday?”

“Ah.” Ma Xiao Ye’s cheeks widened as she stuffed down his food, with no care for table manners. “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, just felt like it.” Jiu Lu kept back her stare as she took a few more bites.

After lunch, the two went to the small snack shop to buy soda.

When they came out, they met Liang Xu, who came running towards them loudly.

Jiu Lu unconsciously tightened her grip on her bottle and swiftly took a huge sip.

“So that’s where you’ve been.” He panted with his head dripping with sweat and was just about to take the bottle away from Jiu Lu’s hand.

Ma Xiao Ye blocked his hand and teasingly scolded him. “You’re always drinking from the girls, that’s disgusting. Buy your own water.”

“I don’t have money on me now.” He laughed, “Beside, Jiu Lu isn’t a stranger, she can’t finish such a big bottle anyways.”

“Don’t be shameless,” Ma Xiao Ye was out of words and took out 5 dollars from his pocket. “Return me 10 tomorrow.”

Liang Xu took the money and ran into the shop. “Wait for me.”

The two didn’t wait and walked in the direction of the classmates.

Halfway there, Liang Xu caught up, having drank half of the water in the bottle. “You really didn’t wait for me?”

Ma Xiao Ye slapped his hand away. “How’s your revision? You still have the energy to play football on such a hot afternoon?”

“It’s okay. Plus, it’s good to have some balance between studying and playing.” Liang Xu wasn’t affected. “Why? Do you want to play too? How about in the night?”

“I’m not as free as you.”

“Stop pretending. I’ve heard that Mo Ke Yan returned yesterday and that you were with her for an entire day.”

Ma Xiao Ye’s footsteps stopped abruptly and he looked at Jiu Lu, who was looking at him too.

The air fell silent in a matter of seconds but Liang Xu wasn’t aware of the tension. “Why did you stop?”

Ma Xiao Ye then started walking and touched the back of his neck. “I was there with Zhao Hui and the others too. We just hung around and had dinner since we were together.”

Ma Xiao Ye spoke in an indifferent tone, and it was hard to tell if he was explaining something to someone or just narrating the events yesterday.

After a few steps, he looked to Jiu Lu. “What are you thinking about?”

Jiu Lu raised her head and smiled for a second. “Is Mo Ke Yan doing well?”

Ma Xiao Ye stood quietly for a moment. “I guess? I didn’t really ask.”

After a week, the exams arrived.

The exams took up 2 weeks, and would show all the efforts the students had put in for the past 4 months.

Li Jiu Lu didn’t feel anything as she completed the exams in a blur.

The next few days were designated as holidays while the students waited for their results. After which, they would have to go back to school and the next holiday wouldn’t come until next year.

Jiang Man wanted Jiu Lu to relax for a while and allowed her to find her classmates or help around in the home.

Jiu Lu didn’t have much friends and spent majority of her time in the swimming complex or asleep.

This day however, when she was planning to hung around in the home, a call sounded the moment she went down the stairs.

There was no one else beside her and she picked up the call.

“Hello?”

The caller took two seconds before replying, “Li Jiu Lu?”

“It’s you.”

Chi Jian smiled. “You can tell?”

“Yeah.”

There was no reply for a while and Jiu Lu could only hear sounds of some music and conversation. Chi Jian must be in the parlour.

“What do you want?” She then had a thought and quickly asked another question. “How did get this number?”

Chi Jian laughed softly. “Are you dumb? This number is listed on the bulletin’s board in the atrium.”

She kicked the ground with her shoes and continued. “So, what do you want?”

“I didn’t see you for the past few days, and was just thinking what you were up to.”

“I was busy studying for my exams.”

“You’re done studying?”

“Yeah.”

“How was it?”

She sighed softly before replying weakly, “Can you change the topic?” She then took a quick look at the clock and thought about something for a while. “I said that I would treat you to a meal, so when are you free to do so?”

“Anytime.” He seemed to have pushed a door and the background noises disappeared, and Jiu Lu could suddenly hear him breathing.

“Then tonight.”

“That’s fast.” Chi Jian was little surprised.

Jiu Lu fiddled with the hems of her sweater. “After my mom sees my results, I don’t think I’ll be allowed to do anything.”

1- 书中自有颜如玉 (Shu Zhong Zi You Yan Ru Yu) is literally translated to mean ‘Jade can be found naturally within books’.

This saying was first stringed in Song Dynasty to mean that if one were to succeed in studying and become a scholar, they would naturally be able to marry beautiful wives.

Chi Jian is however, using the saying to allude to Ma Xiao Ye being with Mo Ke Yan instead of studying.