Chapter 22 The Yin Tattoo

Zhang said: “Every night at twelve, I would always see a ghost come out from my wife’s body no matter whether I was sleeping or stayed awake.”

“A ghost?” the presenter said suspiciously.

Zhang replied: “Yes…It was a ghost. She lay on my ear and said that if I didn’t accept any requirement of my wife, she would teach me a lesson. Then I just began to think that maybe that ghost was right…I was under great pressure every day and got worried that I couldn’t satisfy my wife anymore.”

“Why?” the presenter asked.

Zhang said: “During the past half month, my wife bought so many things .She spent millions only on bags…Some were one hundred thousand Yuan per each. Besides that there were clothes, gorgeous cars, and treasures. She cost me nearly twenty million Yuan in half a month.”

“Are you that rich?” The presenter didn’t believe it.

Zhang opened his hands, saying: “No…l just borrowed it. When I divorced my first wife, I lost 40% of the total property. Now I really don’t have too much money. I spent all of my cash flow and now I have already left my house and cars as pledges too.”

He said: “I have done so much, but my wife told me…’I have no use for someone as poor as a wretch’, so she wanted to leave me.

“I cannot live without her, so I killed her and covered myself with her skin. Then I felt much more comfortable.” Zhang said.

The presenter asked: “Why didn’t you let her go, since she had spent so much of your money? It must have been a good thing for you if she left.”

“I cannot leave her, or else I would have done it earlier. Actually I didn’t use to have this kind of feeling, but it came just half a month ago,” Zhang said.

The presenter asked again: “What happened half a month ago? Why couldn’t you leave her?”

“I don’t know. I just starting feeling that I couldn’t leave her ever since she got the tattoo on her back,” Zhang said helplessly.

…

Miao Weiwei died because she wanted to leave her husband, Mr. Zhang. Zhang got so angry that he killed her and removed her skin.

On that day, the police came to me for investigation and asked some questions since I had given the tattoo to Miao Weiwei.

But the police didn’t believe in Yin and Yang Tattoos, so they didn’t hassle me. They told me to make a statement for the record, then let me go.

I felt very sad. I didn’t expect that my first order of a Yin Tattoo would cause someone’s death. Though it was Miao Weiwei’s insatiable, greed nature…I still felt sad, as I felt that I shouldn’t have done it in the first place.

It was true…In my whole life, I hadn’t made great contributions, nor did I do bad things. Every time I rode on the bus, l always gave up my seat for the elderly. Now I couldn’t imagine…that I was involved in this death.

For this reason, I got the cigarette and the wine to turn to Liu the Sixth.

Sitting by the table, Liu the Sixth drank the Blue Sky liquor I brought and told me, saying: “Shui, for us in this field, it is unavoidable to have a relationship with human life, but…anyway…it was just a little…Let’s talk about the result. Well, if they want to have a Yin Tattoo, we have to comply…It is their choice, and they have to accept the consequences…We had given them all of the warnings…”

I just sighed.

Then Liu the Sixth continued: “Just be cool…For the matter of Miao Weiwei, she brought it upon herself. She shouldn’t have done it like that. She should have been ashamed of herself; she was as greedy as a wolf when she wanted to leave her husband. She has only herself to blame for her death; nobody else should be blamed.”

Hearing that, I felt much more comfortable. In any case, I shouldn’t do anything related to Yin Tattoos anymore.

Before my master died, he told me: “Don’t provoke Yin and Yang Tattoos, or else, you will be in big trouble.”

I didn’t know what on earth the trouble was…but…would it come?

Though I could earn a lot through Yin and Yang Tattoos, I didn’t do them so much.

I was there filling my head with nonsense, then Liu the Sixth took the wine glass and said: “Shui, don`t worry about this. The Yang Tattoo was a good thing. As for the Yin Tattoo…usually, when you finish it, you wouldn`t be in trouble unless you antagonized the ghost… In Miao Weiwei’s case, there was a female ghost warning her husband, Mr. Zhang–nothing would happen if he satisfied Miao Weiwei… However, Zhang couldn’t find any way to do it…That’s why this terrible thing happened.”

“So it is.” I nodded, and then a sudden thought came to my mind- how did Liu the Sixth know so much about Yin and Yang Tattoos?

Did he really have some hidden agenda?

I stared at him with some sense of defensiveness, seeing the trace of a strange smile on his face.

But I didn’t worry at all- I had the full volumes of Yin and Yang Tattoos; they were all in my mind and nobody could steal them from my mind unless I revealed them.

Thinking about this, I dropped the wine cup, told him that I had something else to do, and said goodbye to him.

Actually, I was afraid that I would have a big mouth and blab about the secret of the Yin and Yang Tattoos when I got drunk.

My master told me that the Yin and Yang Tattoos had always been transferred to the males in the family. I would feel very guilty before my master if I disclosed it.

…

Miao Weiwei’s story came to an end, but actually, she gave me some help.

Let’s talk about what happened half a month prior, on the second day after Miao Weiwei was given the ‘Invisible Connection’ Yin Tattoo.

That day, when I just got up, I got a message. I was thinking that it was too early in the day to do business, since I had just earned forty two thousand yesterday. I quickly picked up the phone but was stunned.

“Brother Shui.”

There were only two words in the WeChat conversation.

I took a look at the WeChat user name. It was ‘A Senior Driver’.

I didn’t know who it was, so I replied to this person: “Hello, this is Yu Shui, the inheritor of Yin and Yang Tattoos. Can I help you?”

‘A Senior Driver’ replied with a voice message.

I clicked it, and then a familiar voice came out: “Oh, Brother Shui, you’ve learned so much; you were talking so formally.”

I immediately recognized the voice: “Niu Xiao’er”?

“Yes, it’s me. So you still remember me,” Niu Xiao’er laughed.

Niu Xiao’er was my classmate when I was a junior in high school. He was my best friend. One time, we were going to swim with other classmates and dug an “earthen jar” near the riverside.

The “earthen jar” was actually a very big hole under the water. Inside was a layer of floating quicksand.

I couldn’t swim at all. I carelessly stepped on it and started drowning, but luckily Niu Xiao’er was an excellent swimmer. He dove into the water and quickly saved me.

For the life-saving grace, we became sworn brothers.

But in the next school year, he transferred to another school in Hunan. At first, we always wrote to each other, but eventually we lost contact. I didn’t know why he became a member of our high school QQ group and sent me a message via WeChat.

I spoke to Niu Xiao’er: “Brother Niu, it’s been a long time since we last met, so where’re you now?”

Brother Niu mentioned the city where he lived, which was not so far from my city.

Then he said to me: “Brother Shui, l have one question.”

“Go ahead.” I replied.

Brother Niu said: “I got a new golden iPhone 6 yesterday, and wanted to do something with it. I searched in our class group, and I saw that Miao Weiwei was there talking about “Yin and Yang Tattoos”, telling everyone how amazing they are. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I want to know, is that true?”

At the time, Miao Weiwei had just finished getting the “Yin and Yang Tattoo” and was so satisfied with it that she told the whole world about it. Now that it really worked, Brother Niu came to ask about it.

I said to Brother Niu: “It’s fair to say that it is really effective…So, Brother Niu, do you want to try?”

“Yes.”Brother Niu said: “Several years ago I was a big man, but in the past two years I got involved with gambling. Now I’ve lost everything in my house and want to die. Well… do you have any good “Yin and Yang Tattoo” that could help me with good luck for making money? I want one.”

“So you are gambling?” I was a little surprised. There were several underground casinos near my tattoo studio, and I saw so many gamblers who lost all of their family properties…It’s better not to gamble, or else, you would get your family broken up and your relatives dead.

I also wanted to help him when I heard that he was gambling, so l told him: “Brother Niu, what about like this: you come to my place in the morning and we can have a face-to-face talk. If it’s OK, we can discuss what kind of Yin and Yang Tattoo will suit you.”

He agreed, I put down the phone, and got up. After breakfast, l rode my electric bike to the tattoo studio.

In the old street, I was about to go upstairs when I met Mimi at the gate.

“Oh, hello, Mimi. What are you doing here so early?” I talked to Mimi.

“It’s not so early, I just finished my work and now I’m waiting for you.” She smiled atme.

She told me that she was the top girl in the shop and earned the most money in one night.

She continued: “Yesterday, there were several bosses who wanted me; they paid double the price and wanted to take me, all thanks to your Yin and Yang Tattoo…That tattoo was really a bargain.”

“Really? You must earn a lot.” I smiled to Mini.

Mimi put one hand over my shoulder and whispered, “Brother Shui, come to my place and visit me tonight. I will get some girls for you.”

“Oh, is it OK?” I escaped from her hand. Her chest was right on my arm. How shameful it would be if I was erected by her breasts in the morning, when there were so many people having breakfast and waiting for the buses.

“OK? Why not?” Mimi said, “Just come tonight.”

“Ok, I will come tonight.” I felt that it would be a very exciting night.

After saying goodbye to her, I went upstairs to the studio by myself.

I took a nap in the studio and waited for Niu Xiao’er.

Around ten, Niu Xiao’er called me, saying that he was already at the railway station and that I should come to pick him up.

I got on a taxi and met him at the railway station.

I was very surprised the moment I saw him- was this Niu Xiao’er? The one I knew before?