Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces - Introduction 3

Ah Tou was born in a teacher’s family with a strict upbringing. Her parents were both university professors. Compared with other families, she was more strictly disciplined when she was little. Her parents didn’t believe in drawing lots (1), so it was her grandmother who secretly set up the lots for her on her first birthday. When she crawled over to the items at that time, she looked at them for a long time but didn’t pick any out. Instead, she crawled over to the other side and grabbed onto the pack of cigarettes in her father’s pocket.

To some extent, this predicted Ah Tou’s future.

Ah Tou was a rebellious child, but her parents had the willpower of intellectuals and kept her disciplined regardless. Now that Ah Tou thought about it, she realized how impressive it was that she could maintain her independence and powerful personality under that kind of environment. It was all because of her father’s tremendous willpower and perseverance that she was a well-behaved child and teenager.

But she wasn’t destined to be what her parents wanted her to be. She showed an amazing talent for painting when she was fourteen and became an apprentice of a traditional Chinese painting master. At the age of fifteen, she was won the National Fine Arts Award. The price for that art piece was over six hundred thousand yuan. A lot of people believed that she would become a quiet female painter in the future, but on her fifteenth birthday, Ah Tou sold her art piece and used the money to declare her independence.

She tattooed a pair of carp among plum blossoms on her arms and appeared in front of her parents with a pack of cigarettes in her hand.

“I love you, but I’m not yours,” Ah Tou said to her stunned parents. She then took the rest of the money and left home.

The pain from tens of thousands of needles and the tattoos on her arms representing her freedom wouldn’t allow Ah Tou to regret it. She remembered all the years she had endured living restrained in that family. No one knew how long it took Ah Tou and her parents to reconcile, but ever since that year, a small tattoo shop was opened in an abandoned historical street in Hangzhou. The tattoo artist there could create magnificent tattoos in a style similar to traditional Chinese ink wash paintings (2).

Ah Tou soon became a master in that area. Her eyes were as clear and bright as a deep pool, and human skin was like a canvas to her. The charm she exuded when focusing all her attention on tattooing was breathtaking.

But she was just an innocent teenage girl after all. In the realm of human beings, a goddess with clear, deep eyes would eventually attract demons.

When Tu Dian appeared in the tattoo shop, there was no fear or admiration in his eyes like all the other people had shown before. Ah Tou had been used to admirers, pursuers, bullies, fans, and competitors. As long as someone entered her shop and saw the photos of her works hanging on the wall, their eyes would immediately change.

But Tu Dian’s didn’t. When he walked into the shop, he was so tall that he had to bend over to avoid hitting his head on the doorframe. His eyes swept across all her works without a single ripple.

Ah Tou wasn’t planning on taking a new customer at midnight, but Tu Dian’s eyes had her bewildered for a moment. They were completely calm, as if the patterns were like blank pieces of paper to him.

“Ah Tou?” Tu Dian looked at her. “I need a tattoo. I heard you can do anything.”

“What tattoo?” Ah Tou asked him. “Don’t you think it’s too late?”

Tu Dian glanced at her. Ah Tou looked into his eyes and felt that there was nothing there.

Beautiful, ugly, willful, boring…

There was nothing. It seemed that Tu Dian’s body was here, but his soul wasn’t at all.

He pulled out his phone, sliding his long, thin fingers over the screen until a photo popped up.

The long fingers manipulating the phone screen gave off a sense of pleasure, a kind of flexible maturity. The photo he pulled up was of someone’s back with a scar on it.

“This is my back. There’s a scar on it. Do you see it?” Tu Dian asked her. “I need a tattoo to cover it.”

“What kind? I don’t offer sample designs for you to choose from. I improvise everything. Are you okay with that? I’ll give you three seconds. If you can’t tell me what you want, I won’t do it.” What couldn’t be decided in three seconds often couldn’t be decided in three hours. Ah Tou didn’t like to waste time, so she chose to be harsh and only give an unprepared person three seconds to decide on their tattoo. Most people couldn’t decide in three seconds, so she often got off work early.

Tu Dian sat down on the tattoo chair. Ah Tou lit a cigarette and said, “Three.”

“Your face.” Tu Dian said without thinking.

Ah Tou was stunned as Tu Dian proceeded to take his shirt off, “Tattoo the left side of your face.”

****

TN Notes:

(1) A traditional Chinese birth celebration held on a baby’s 1st birthday. Parents will put goodies in front of the baby for the baby to crawl to. Whatever the baby grabs onto first predicts the baby’s future career. Goodies may include a pen (implying a writing career), a ruler (lawyer), a calculator (businessman), money (banker), a seal (governor), a dictionary (scientist), a stethoscope (doctor), a shoe (traveler), a flute (musician), etc. More info here

(2) An East Asian brush painting technique that uses the same black ink used in calligraphy. It’s typically monochrome and focuses on the shades, blending, and ink concentration. Examples are here