Cross the Boundary GL - Chapter 2

Qin Song’s work hours are quite flexible. She can work for a few days straight and then have several days off, but when she’s busy, she doesn’t have a minute to spare.

She doesn’t have a good reputation at the company and is categorized as “eccentric and unconventional.” She’s the type of person you can’t miss if you pass by.

The company is a large private enterprise. As a landscape design major with a master’s degree, Qin Song stood out and became the superior of both new and old employees.

So, no matter how outsiders evaluate her, they still have to obediently nod and say, “Teacher Qin” when they face her.

But what’s unique about her isn’t just her appearance; her behavior is also extraordinary. For example, she never attends team-building events or dinners, and she never interacts with any colleagues. She’s like stagnant water, completely devoid of any vitality.

Today was another team-building day. The team members stood outside the office, jostling each other and betting on who would dare to go and ask the woman inside to join them for dinner.

After a long time of pushing and shoving, a bespectacled boy finally stepped forward and cautiously twisted the doorknob. The crowd behind him held their breath and whispered, “Chang Jing’an, you can do it!”

Qin Song, who had been staring at her computer, raised her eyes slightly. Her gaze was still emotionless as she waited for him to speak.

Chang Jing’an was so nervous his hands and feet were cold. He uncomfortably pushed up his glasses and said, “Teacher Qin, are you… going to the dinner today?”

As usual, Qin Song replied, “No.”

After saying that, she turned her gaze back to the screen without looking at the boy again.

Normally, Chang Jing’an would have left dejectedly by now, but today seemed different. “You’ve been at the company for five or six years and have never participated in a single event. Are you really not going this one time…?”

Qin Song frowned.

Since last month, it seemed like people were always arguing with her.

The tattoo artist was one, and now her team members were too.

She didn’t like to be contradicted.

“Put this energy into your work,” Qin Song said as she turned off her computer. Her high heels tapped rhythmically on the carpet. “Then your performance wouldn’t be so bad.”

She always hit the nail on the head, killing people with a single, devastating blow. Chang Jing’an had been at the company longer than Qin Song, but he was still in a fixed position, neither up nor down. His annual salary was less than Qin Song’s monthly income.

Qin Song didn’t quite understand what benefits useless social activities could bring.

She clocked out and left under the watchful eyes of everyone.

On her way back to her apartment, she passed by “kiss.me.” Qin Song got out of the taxi and noticed the sign wasn’t lit up.

She glanced at the time, ten past eight, and then opened a chat window and typed, “Come down.”

A moment later, Li Chu appeared at the door in her pajamas, looking sleepy, her hair tied in a crooked bun.

The girl’s face was bare, her eyes were blank and dazed, and her lips were still pale, except for her philtrum, which was flushed from being bitten.

“I haven’t had enough sleep yet,” she complained.

Qin Song was wearing black wide-leg pants. A gust of wind lifted one pant leg, revealing a scar on her calf.

Li Chu rubbed her eyes. “There’s a scar here too?”

Qin Song had just lit a cigarette and took a drag. “My leg needs a tattoo too.”

Li Chu’s spirits perked up. “The ankle will hurt more.”

“Then let’s do the ankle today.”

“…” She couldn’t understand her.

If it were for a specific design, Qin Song’s action of grabbing a rose and asking to be tattooed on the spot wouldn’t make sense.

If it were to cover scars…

—Why would she choose to go for the most painful spots?

Qin Song finished her cigarette and pointed her chin at the storefront. “Let’s begin.”

Li Chu had no choice but to swallow all her curiosity.

The skin on the ankle is thinner than on the back and is right against the bone. Li Chu had been a tattoo artist for a few years, and this was the first time she had tattooed someone from head to toe.

The moment she inserted the needle, the owner of the leg took a sharp breath. Li Chu thought she was in pain and stopped after drawing the outline. “Are you okay?”

Qin Song looked at her with indifference.

This girl was really strange. As a tattoo artist, she was always concerned about her clients’ sensations. When she asked with her gentle, rounded eyes, it was as if she could melt a person.

“Don’t ask,” Qin Song said, clenching her fist. “Hurry up.”

The buzzing continued. The pattern was very intricate. The girl lowered her head and carefully outlined each stroke. The more detailed it was, the more needles were used, and this kind of pain brought Qin Song a different kind of… pleasure.

Yes, all her abnormalities came from the stimulation of pain.

It was like having a delicious meal placed in front of you when you were hungry.

The craving for pain compelled her to cover large areas of her skin with color and get piercings all over her body—ear piercings, belly button piercings, and a tongue piercing. However, to avoid damaging her face, she didn’t choose any overly obvious locations.

Her face was different. Qin Song relied on it to get many benefits and shortcuts in life. This kind of transaction was a good deal.

She just vaguely sensed Li Chu’s curiosity.

—A normal person couldn’t accept this kind of pathological psychology.

So she reminded and warned her not to want to know everything.

But Li Chu didn’t seem to get the message.

“Did something happen to you?” The tattoo artist wiped the surface with disinfectant. “That’s a huge scar. Is your back and foot full of them too?”

The eyes of the person who was being infinitely stimulated became greedy and blurred. The faint, prickly pain shot from her ankle bone to her heart and brain, gnawing at her nerves like a crawling insect.

Li Chu looked up at that moment and was caught off guard, meeting her gaze.

Qin Song didn’t have time to compose her expression. In her chaotic state, she bit her lower lip with her teeth.

Being obsessed with something is not shameful, but being obsessed with pain is abnormal, a problem on a psychological and spiritual level.

The person opposite her’s pupils gradually dilated, and her hand lost its strength.

The electric-powered tool in her hand fell to the ground. Qin Song followed the falling equipment with her eyes and said calmly, “Do you understand now?”

There was nothing to hide, but it was better to conceal it if possible.

Li Chu seemed to have woken up from a dream. She fumbled to pick up the tool and cut the power. She finally had her answer.

But this answer seemed to be a big problem.

Qin Song didn’t give her a chance to ask anything else. She covered her pant leg and stood up to leave. “Next time we’ll tattoo.”

The wind chimes swung wildly before stopping. Car headlights interspersed with the drizzling rain. Li Chu chased her to the roadside but couldn’t see Qin Song’s figure. The rainy night was silent and still.

Just like Qin Song herself, silent and desolate.

She was indeed shocked because pain is a protective mechanism. Pain is the body’s way of holding on. It was unimaginable what could cause a person to like pain and become addicted to it.

Judging from Qin Song’s current condition, it had become extremely pathological.

Her earrings, the metal in her tongue—they all screamed of her infatuation with pain, an inescapable addiction.

Li Chu suddenly felt a bit of anticipation for the “next time” Qin Song had mentioned.

Qin Song waited for the sign to go dark before she walked out. Li Chu’s action of chasing her was puzzling—wasn’t the transaction between a normal customer and a business enough? Why did she want to know so much? And why did she stand in the rain for two hours?

Maybe it was because she had been sick for too long, or maybe Li Chu also had a problem. They had only known each other for a little over a month, and objectively speaking, they were still strangers.

How much genuine emotion could a stranger feel for another stranger?

Qin Song never believed in human relationships.

So, in the following days, she no longer took that route. Coincidentally, she had a lot of work these days. She would work overtime past midnight, and for a week straight, she would ask the driver to stop at the intersection and then get out to take another, longer path back to her apartment.

Coincidentally, there was another tattoo shop on this path. It was much bigger than “kiss.me,” and the neon lights could be seen from afar, a red, yellow, and blue display that attracted attention.

One day, Qin Song walked in. A man with a full arm tattoo came up to her, sizing her up. He asked in a nonchalant manner, “Where do you want to get tattooed?”

The shop was filled with the smell of disinfectant, cigarettes, alcohol, and tea. The tattoo artists sat in a row, waiting to be chosen. Some were suited for small, fresh designs, while others were for large areas. Everything was orderly and very commercial.

Qin Song suddenly missed “kiss.me” for a moment.

At least Li Chu kept it well-organized. Although the space was small, even the smell of smoke couldn’t mask the subtle, hidden fragrance.

“Little sister, where do you want to get tattooed?” The man with the full arm tattoo crossed his arms and pulled out a menu. “The cheapest one here is 280.”

Qin Song chose to have them continue filling in the color on her back.

When the needle went in, the pain came, and the pleasure was like an electric current that made her eyes turn red. This feeling was different from a physiological one; it was a form of spiritual self-comfort.

The tattoo artist was also a girl. She worked with her eyes down, not saying a word.

Qin Song suddenly thought of Li Chu. This girl was both concerned for her clients and curious about everything, sometimes chattering like a myna bird.

But as the pain intensified, she couldn’t help but think of the girl’s face. Her eyes were very large, round, and long, and when she smiled, they curved like a new moon. Her facial features were all very gentle, incredibly soft.

Li Chu’s appearance was not aggressive. You could tell just by looking at her that she had a good temper, unlike Qin Song, who was not only flamboyant with her pink hair but also had earrings and studs covering almost her entire ear, as well as a strange and large-scale tattoo.

Her very style of dress was sharp, let alone her particularly intense appearance.

This was the word that Qin Song received most often when the company asked for feedback on their superiors during a meeting.

They said she was intense, like a proud and cold frost flower in the cold wind. She had sharp edges from every angle and seemed unapproachable.

In simpler terms, she was radiant.

A kind of radiance that could burn a person at first glance.

“Little sister, where did you get this detailed tattoo?” The man with the full arm tattoo had been studying her for a while and finally spoke. “We can’t do this kind of detail here. Your tattoo artist’s skill is pretty good.”

Li Chu’s craftsmanship was indeed quite interesting. The details were drawn very delicately. Even just a single jellyfish could be tattooed with a sense of movement.

Qin Song suddenly realized that she couldn’t reach the pinnacle here.

She felt that this place was so commercialized that everything was insipid.

She wanted to go back to the small shop called “kiss.me” at the street corner, a place that could satisfy her pathological needs.

Because of the exquisite craftsmanship, the designs could be more detailed and intricate.

And the pain could be endless.

Like a person drowning who finds a life preserver, Qin Song was eager to extract a deeper level of pleasure.

She told the current tattoo artist to stop, paid, and walked out of the shop in the opposite direction, eventually returning to the familiar alley.

Inside, Li Chu was sitting with her head tilted, tattooing a girl’s arm. Her long hair hung over one shoulder, and a halo of light enveloped half of her face.

She was as quiet and gentle as a spring welling up from underground.

Qin Song was startled by her own momentary trance but quickly recovered. She wanted to find a person who could consistently provide her with this feeling.

Li Chu was the best choice.

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