MTL - Wildfire-Chapter 16
"Mr. Di, let me tell you what I mean by getting this tattoo. Listen?" A customer sat cross-legged on the bed and waited. The tattoo artist Di also didn't finish his preparations, so he didn't say a word.
"Listen! Then you get my emotions, and you pour them in!" The customer reached out to grab Di Ye, and Di Ye backed away in fright, his eyes exposed outside the mask looked terrified.
"Look what you're afraid of, I just want you to listen to me." The customer was a little fat, and sat cross-legged in a big lump.
Di is also young, an excellent tattoo artist who joined the year before last, and is just 25 this year. His pictures always have his own ideas and are highly recognizable. But it's also very awkward, and I don't want to listen to the arrangement.
"Tell me," Di also frowned slightly, "I'm listening."
"Okay, then let me tell you a little bit of background." The customer sat there and started talking when he met someone seven or eight years ago.
Not far away, Uncle Europe and Tao Xiaodong looked at each other, and then smiled at each other. Di is also the one who hates stories the most. People who come to get tattoos often come with stories, and they can't wait to write an essay about the meaning behind the pictures. With memories of the past, self-examination, and warnings for the future.
There is nothing wrong with this. Tattoos have their own meanings for everyone. Tao Xiaodong doesn’t mind customers talking about them. It’s a very solemn thing to inject soul and faith into a picture, which is very good. But some tattoo artists don't like it, and feel that telling these stories is a burden for him, preventing him from making pictures freely, such as Di Ye.
Before that brother finished speaking, Di had already started to use it. He showed the other party the drawing again and asked him: "Are you sure there is no problem with the drawing? How about I transfer it to you and have a look."
"I haven't finished talking yet, don't you listen?" The elder brother still didn't talk enough.
Di also said: "You say yours. Is the picture all right?"
"No."
Di nodded too, sat down and started working.
Tao Xiaodong was forced to listen to a story, and the elder brother told it carefully for more than an hour. Tao Xiaodong said to a boy in overalls passing by, "Go get a glass of water."
The boy nodded and poured water.
Tao Xiaodong's client here is a girl, who whispered, "I'm thirsty."
Tao Xiaodong smiled and asked her, "Add some water?"
"No, there is." The girl supported her calf to facilitate Tao Xiaodong's drawing, and she drank water while listening to the story.
After listening to the story, I began to admire the tattoo I hadn't finished yet. I made a black and red tribal tattoo. This kind of picture is printed on the little girl's white skin and has a texture. She "tsk" and said, "My leg has instantly risen to become a work of art."
Tao Xiaodong didn't look up, and said, "Your legs are beautiful too."
The little girl laughed and asked, "Really? I didn't think it was long enough."
Tao Xiaodong said, "Very good."
This is not to make her happy. The skin is fair, the pores are so thin that it is almost invisible, and the muscle lines are smooth and not stiff or slack. In the eyes of tattoo artists, this is a rare piece of good skin.
On the day when both calves were finished, Huan Ge took the camera around the little girl and took pictures back and forth for a long time, sighing while taking pictures, and then took the little girl to the studio on the third floor to take pictures.
Tao Xiaodong originally did tribal tattoos, and many of the pictures created with simple geometric shapes and lines are still hanging in the tattoo artist's atlas.
This set of pictures, Huan Ge, was simply repaired and sent to the accounts of various platforms.
The girl's two calves are symmetrical when viewed together, but form a whole when viewed separately. From below the knees to the ankles are covered in thick colors, the geometric coldness contrasts strongly with the girl's slender ankles, and the tendons on the insteps faintly pull up and connect to the ankles when walking, which is cold and soft at the same time.
As soon as this set of pictures was posted, Huan Ge started to circulate in large numbers, and then they all circulated out of the circle. Even the account of a high-cold studio in the distance was rarely transferred, and that account rarely transferred these things. I don't know who is managing the account, so I said "nb" when forwarding it.
It's not the first time Tao Xiaodong's picture has been out of the circle, and their fans are almost used to it. Taking advantage of the large number of people, someone began to post Tao Xiaodong's atlas. Huan Ge has been very happy these days, and he is busy staring at the few platform accounts he manages every day.
Those people in the circle look down on Tao Xiaodong but are often attracted by his pictures to gain a little favorability. However, Tao Xiaodong can't waste the moment of gaining popularity like this. Huan Ge proficiently sent out advertisements and all kinds of publicity, which made the favorability that was just mentioned drop down.
Tao Xiaodong doesn't even know much about these things, he is famous in the flashy world of the Internet, but in reality Tao Xiaodong is nothing more than a brother who cuts fruit for his brother in slippers and pajama pants.
I have to leave tomorrow, the two brothers have finished packing their things, Tao Huainan really hasn't been out for a long time, at the time he said he wanted to go, but now he is worried that he will cause trouble for Tao Xiaodong.
Chicheng and Tao Huainan were sitting on the sofa, while Tao Xiaodong was cutting fruit in the kitchen. Chi Cheng asked him in a low voice: "Are you sure you don't want me to go?"
Tao Huainan nodded and said, "You have to go to school."
Chi Cheng frowned: "Brother is too busy to take care of you."
Tao Huainan shook his head and said softly, "It's okay."
The next day, before Chicheng went to school, he stuffed Tao Huainan's children's cream in his bag, and said to him, "Remember to wipe it on yourself, the strong wind will blow your face apart."
Tao Huainan answered vaguely while brushing his teeth.
Chi Cheng put on his shoes and left.
Tao Huainan turned his head to touch Tao Xiaodong, and saw his brother was holding his arms up in front of the sink.
"Shave, brother?"
Tao Xiaodong said "um", and touched his chin and neck with his hands. Tao Huainan laughed twice, his eyes narrowed when he smiled, Tao Xiaodong asked him, "What's the fun?"
Tao Huainan said, "You really like to shave recently."
Tao Xiaodong flicked it on his head, nodded slightly and said, "Try to see if it's clean."
Tao Huainan then reached out and touched his brother's neck and chin back and forth: "It's clean, it's slippery."
Because Tao Huainan was to be taken with him, he carried a lot of things this time. Tao Xiaodong carried a suitcase and a bag. Tao Xiaodong was the patron and had a high status. People in the hospital saw him coming to say hello. Many people who were familiar with him also knew Tao Huainan. After all, Tao Huainan often went to the hospital to have his eyes checked.
On the plane, Tao Xiaodong took Tao Huainan's hand to find a seat, and asked Tao Huainan to sit inside by the window. Tao Xiaodong sat next to him, and after a while someone sat next to him. Before Tao Xiaodong could make a sound, Tao Huainan laughed first, and whispered, "Doctor Tang!"
Tao Xiaodong smiled and said to him: "Excellent."
Tang Suoyan greeted him, and patted his head through Tao Xiaodong. Tao Huainan smiled obediently: "I can smell Dr. Tang's scent."
Because Tao Huainan cannot see with his eyes, his other senses are more acute. He likes the mint smell on Tang Suoyan's body, but Tao Xiaodong has never smelled it before, he doesn't have such a sharp nose.
Tang Suoyan must be wearing a shirt, and Tao Xiaodong also wore a shirt on purpose today, Tang Suoyan smiled slightly, and said to Tao Xiaodong, "You should be decent today."
Tao Xiaodong thought for a while before realizing that he was talking about the fact that he was the only one wearing a shirt last time, and said in a low voice: "I can only pretend to be a decent person for a day, and from tomorrow onwards I still need short-sleeved slacks, which makes me uncomfortable. "
"You don't need to wear it." Tang Suoyan glanced at him, then glanced down at his shirt, "It's fine to be yourself."
Tao Xiaodong made a joke and asked, "I don't look good in a shirt?"
The two men were awkward talking about whether they looked good or not, but Tang Suoyan just hooked the corners of his lips and said, "It's fine as long as it's comfortable."
This time, the places they were going to were scattered. They had to go to several county hospitals, and they had to change places several times along the way. Tao Xiaodong has always been generous in doing these things. He has several equipment trucks and popularized basic equipment in remote areas with backward medical care.
Tao Huainan can't see anything. This is the reason why many blind people never go out. They can't see no matter how strange or beautiful the scenery is.
Tang Suoyan knew that Tao Huainan liked him, so he took him with him all the time, and took a car with them every time he made a transfer. On the way from the airport to the county seat on the first day, Tang Suoyan asked the driver to stop, and he took Tao Huainan out of the car.
A shepherd on the opposite side walked slowly with his flock of sheep. Tao Huainan took a deep breath and said, "What's the smell?"
Tang Suoyan didn't answer him, and after a while the sheep approached, Tao Huainan heard the cry of the sheep, and said with a smile: "Sheep."
Tao Xiaodong watched them from the car, and when he saw the sheep approaching, Tang Suoyan held Tao Huainan's wrist and led him to touch the sheep, the goat's thin fur, and the two bags hanging from their necks , also touched the whip in the shepherd's hand.
"It doesn't smell very good, right?" Tang Suoyan asked him beside him.
A lamb touched its mouth on Tao Huainan's calf, and it was a little itchy. Tao Huainan hid for a while with a smile, nodded and said, "Smell, it smells like mutton."
After the sheep passed by, Tang Suoyan got into the car and got a bottle of water, and they both washed their hands together.
Tao Xiaodong didn't speak, and listened to Tang Suoyan say to Tao Huainan: "Remember this smell, the sheep you touched just now, the whip of the shepherd, you can also remember the wind just now. The sky here is very blue, and the soil is yellow."
He nodded while talking about Tao Huainan, pursing his lips slightly.
"This is the first day you came to Gansu with your brother and Dr. Tang. On the way, you met a herd of sheep." Tang Suoyan spoke in a gentle, calm and reassuring voice.
Tao Huainan said, "I remember."
Tang Suoyan smiled and continued: "We are going to do something that is not great but meaningful. Your brother is a great person. I may not be able to take you to find memory points like this in the next time , You have to remember to look for it yourself. Every place you have been to is different, feel them, and remember them.”
Tao Huainan nodded again, clasped his palms vainly, and said "OK".