by Dragon King
“Should we… take you to the infirmary?” Zhao Jiayi also got serious as he saw Hao Ren’s facial expression.
“It’s fine. I fell by accident on my way to the corner store.” Hao Ren pointed at his chin that swelled a little. It was hit by that girl’s head.
“Then get some rest. Since it is not going to rain, we are going to go to the internet cafe,” Cao Ronghua, the third roommate, said.
“Yeah, you guys go ahead.” Hao Ren waved at them. He wasn’t in the spirit.
Zhao Jiayi was still a little worried. “Just call me if you need anything,” he said.
“Ok.” Hao Ren took off his slippers and got in his comfortable, cozy little bed.
The four of them were all single. Except for gaming and playing cards, they didn’t have any other passions. Hao Ren sighed as he fell asleep; he was exhausted for some reason.
When he woke up, it was already 6 in the afternoon. There was a box of takeout food on the table; it was the dinner that the three of his roommates got for him.
Through the doors, Hao Ren heard the noise of card playing in the dorm room across from his. His roommates were afraid of being loud, so they went next door.
“Real bros…” Hao Ren scratched his head as he got down from his upper berth to get the food.
When he reached out his hand, he was shocked! His body froze in place. In the dark room, he saw a circle of green skin on his right wrist!
Hao Ren felt like his heart stopped beating for five seconds. He opened the curtain to shed more light on his arm.
A green fish scale-like tattoo covered his right arm from wrist to shoulder!
Hao Ren thought he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes, and it was still there. He then tried to smear this green matter off of his body, but it didn’t work as well.
Chill… Hao Ren felt a chill down his spine. He quickly undressed and stood in front of the full-length mirror. He wanted to see if there was anything like this on other parts of his body.
Creak… The door opened, and the three roommates walked in.
“Damn! Are you a pervert?” Zhao Jiayi shouted as he saw Hao Ren who was continuously turning around in front of the mirror.
“No… no…” Hao Ren quickly picked up his clothes and covered his body. “I feel a pain in my body, and I was just checking if any other parts of my body are injured,” he explained.
“If you are not feeling well, we should take you to the infirmary,” Zhao Jiayi frowned as he said earnestly.
“It’s ok. Nothing serious.” Hao Ren didn’t want to tell them about the weird thing happening to his skin. After all, he didn’t know what was going on and how to deal with it.
“I think you have a desire to run naked. How about we go to the public bathhouse tonight?” Zhou Liren came up and said to Hao Ren.
“I think it is you who has a desire to run naked!” Hao Ren said back to Zhou Liren as he got dressed and covered up his arm with the sleeve.
“I’m going to head out for a bit. You guys can chill in here now.”
“Not going to eat?” Zhao Jiayi pointed at the takeout and said, “I bought it just for you!”
“I’m not hungry yet!” Hao Ren said as he rushed out.
“Damn, is this kid in a relationship?” Cao Ronghua asked after seeing Hao Ren’s irregular behavior.
“Him? He is not as charismatic as me, he is not as fit as Zhou Liren, and he is not as handsome as you. Do you think he has a chance? If he can find a girlfriend in three years, I will give you 1,000 Yuan***!” Zhao Jiayi said firmly.
* Hao Ren also means a good person in Chinese.
** Horse stance, A.K.A Mabu pose is a martial art pose where the practitioner stays in a half squat position for a long time to train the legs.
*** Yuan is the Chinese currency.
2 The Arrogant yet Pretty Girl
Just as Zhao Jiayi and the others in the dorm were predicting how no girls would lay their eyes on Hao Ren in the next three years, Hao Ren had left the school frantically. He waved down a taxi and was on his way to the hospital that had the best department of dermatology - Huaxi Hospital.
There, Hao Ren went through a series of cumbersome administrative procedures and tiresome checkups. After, while handling a pile of reports from the equipment, the expert dermatologist determinedly told Hao Ren that the streaks on his arm were caused by a type of dye, as in the discoloration of some bad quality bed sheets.
According to the reports, there was no mutation in the cells in his body. All of the results from the various tests had indicated no abnormalities. Moreover, the green color was not a result of pigmentation. As for the scale patterns, it was only accidental - the color happened to spread out in a relatively regular pattern. Most importantly, it was definitely not contagious.
Although unconvincing, this explanation was enough to assure Hao Ren and calm him down temporarily.
Upon receiving the reports, Hao Ren left the hospital and returned to the school. As he began forcefully scrubbing his arm with soap, he noticed that the color did seem to lighten a bit. After scaring and exhausting himself for half a day over nothing, he replaced his bed sheet with a clean one and fell into sleep.
The Saturday afternoon sun shone through the curtains and found home on Hao Ren’s butt.
“Ren! Ren!”
At that moment, the door of the dorm room was loudly banged on.
“Heck! Who is it!?” Zhao Jiayi who was the occupant of the lower berth grabbed a pillow and threw it right onto the door.
“Ren, there is a pretty girl waiting for you!” On the other side of the door came the voice of Gu Jiadong who lived in dorm room 301, right across from theirs.
“Pretty girl? Pretty girl!?” As confused and dazed as he was, Zhou Liren abruptly woke up from his dream and arose to an upright position. Ever since Zhou Liren was rejected by the most popular girl at the university, he had lost the courage to pursue a relationship. However, he managed to retain his passion for admiring pretty girls.
“Ren, get up already! Cao Ronghua told me to come and get you. Because of the pretty little girl who is waiting for you there, so many people have already gathered around the entrance of Green Hill Cafeteria! You have quite an audience!” Gu Jiadong continued shouting on the other side of the door.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Gently rubbing his slightly aching stomach, Hao Ren thought of something. As he raised his arm, the trace of the winding green marks came into sight. It did not fade away, but it did not expand either. He felt a little relieved.
Thump, thump, thump! The knocking persisted.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Hao Ren jumped off the bed and went to get the door.
By this time, Zhao Jiayi who was on the lower berth could not sleep anymore and rose from his bed grudgingly. On the other hand, upon hearing the words “pretty girl”, Zhou Liren had already started to get dressed excitedly.
“So many people have surrounded the entrance of Green Hill Cafeteria. Cao Ronghua and I were on our way to get food and thought an incident had occurred. We went over to take a look and found that it was a pretty girl waiting for someone.” Seeing that Hao Ren had finally opened the door, Gu Jiadong explained feverishly.
“F*ck, that doesn’t necessarily mean she is waiting for me, does it? This kind of fun is more suitable for Zhou Liren. I’m not interested.” Hao Ren stared at Gu Jiadong in annoyance. He had a very upset stomach yesterday and did not fall asleep until midnight. Now, being awoken by this meaningless commotion had only irked him more.
“Let me finish!” Gu Jiadong grabbed onto Hao Ren. “That pretty girl had a portrait in her hands, and it is totally you! She said that whoever brings you to her would get awarded 500 Yuan!”
“Me?” Hao Ren looked lost. He then locked his eyes on Gu Jiadong, “You are here for the 500 Yuan, aren’t you?”
“Heehee…” Gu Jiadong’s smile was a little too bright.
At this time, a growing uproar was approaching the outside
of the dorm building. Hao Ren walked over to the balcony and saw a big group of male students he was acquainted with running wildly towards his dorm room. He could tell that they were all coming after him for the reward. Therefore, he quickly threw on some clothes and shoes and followed Gu Jiadong down the stairs.
As the dorm captain, Zhao Jiayi worried about any unexpected mishaps. Hence, he readily gave up the comfort of sleep, got dressed, and accompanied Hao Ren to wherever they were headed. Zhao Jiayi was closest with Hao Ren. Even though he was usually foul-mouthed and liked to bug Hao Ren a lot, he was also the one who cared about Hao Ren the most.
As for Zhou Liren, he would not miss the chance of meeting pretty girls. In
The southern dorm building was situated outside the campus. As the four walked along the southern entrance and entered the campus, they saw many bulletin boards on their way, big or small - they were all filled up by wanted posters with pencil-sketched portraits of Hao Ren on them. Underneath the portraits, written in a conspicuously big font, it said, “500 Yuan reward for bringing the above person to me - come to claim your reward by the entrance of the cafeteria!”
Going by the number of bulletin boards there were in the school, there had to be at least a few hundreds of these posters. This was no less than the scale of being wanted nationally!
“What did you do to that girl to make her come all the way to our school to make you a wanted man!?” Zhou Liren asked Hao Ren curiously as he anticipated in enthusiasm.
“How am I supposed to know? I don’t even know who she is!” Hao Ren responded impatiently.
Escorted by the big crowd, Hao Ren unwillingly walked towards the cafeteria. In a situation like this, there was simply no leeway for him.
“He’s coming. He’s coming!” Seeing that the wanted person had appeared, some students started calling out tauntingly.
As a result, the previously crammed crowd had automatically split to make way for Hao Ren.
Under the gazes of a few hundred people, Hao Ren awkwardly walked towards the door of the cafeteria, and… saw the pretty little girl from yesterday.
She was wearing a white shirt and a pair of washed-out jeans. It was a very common outfit; yet, it looked outstanding on her. Strands of her hair were drifting in the wind. However, underneath the fluttering hair, there was an angry face.
“Ohhh… Ohhhh…”
Someone started jeering.
“Such a pretty little girl,” Zhao Jiayi who self-claimed to have countless girlfriends whispered into Hao Ren’s ear.
“When did you meet such a beautiful girl? Give us an introduction!” Zhou Liren turned around and winked at Hao Ren as he said that. He was itching to have another shot with a pretty girl.
Seeing that Hao Ren finally showed up, the pretty little girl pursed her lips.
Suppressing the awkwardness he felt, he walked up and asked under the many piercing glances, “I heard you were looking for me?”
“Did you take something from me yesterday?” Staring right into Hao Ren’s eyes, the pretty little girl questioned unflinchingly.
“What? What thing?” Hao Ren was not expecting this from her. He felt surprised and confused.
Now that they had started their conversation, Gu Jiadong quickly came forward and interrupted them. Rubbing his hands, he said, “Well…”
The pretty girl glanced over at him and drew out her wallet. From the purse, she took out 500 Yuan and handed it to Gu Jiadong.
The students in the crowd were dumbstruck by this. They did not really believe that this little girl would fulfill the reward. Besides being shocked, they also regretted missing such a chance.
Gu Jiadong held onto the money tightly and contently squeezed out of the crowd. He had no intent to take part in this commotion anymore as he was afraid the pretty girl would regret her decision in giving him the money.
“What a generous and rich little girl! No wonder she is so arrogant…” Hao Ren secretly thought to himself.
“You! Did you take something from me yesterday?” The pretty little girl continued to question Hao Ren.
“What thing?” Hao Ren stared at her with eyes filled with gloom. He knew with the commotion that she has caused, he had now become “famous” in the school.
“It was a bead, a blue bead.” She replied.
“I didn’t see it. You must have dropped it somewhere else,” Hao Ren answered without a second thought.
The audience was a little disappointed by their conversation. They thought that the pretty girl had been bullied in some way and had come to seek revenge. The fact that she was only looking to recover a lost item was hardly entertaining to them.
“That bead is soft and bouncy.” The pretty little girl added, “I’ll give you two more minutes, think harder.”
“Can we talk somewhere else?” Browsing the watchful eyes surrounding them, Hao Ren couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“Just give her back whatever you took from her! How shameless are you to steal from a pretty little girl!” Craving chaos and trouble, a few male students started yelling at Hao Ren.
“Shut up! You have no place to talk here!” The pretty little girl was immediately enraged by their words.
The male students went blank for a second. Although upset, it did not feel appropriate for them to lose their tempers here.
“The show is over, guys! Go away already…… Go!” Zhao Jiayi assessed the dispute and figured that it would be a rather small one. With the help of Zhou Liren and a few other friends, they started to scatter the crowd.
Regardless of others’ actions, the pretty little girl only focused on Hao Ren. “That thing is of utmost importance to me, so I hope you can return it to me.”
“But I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Before he could finish, the little girl put out her hand and covered his mouth.
“I can feel it here, right where you are.” As she finished, she furrowed her brows and looked as if she was listening carefully to something.
Suddenly, her hand reached for Hao Ren’s stomach.
As Hao Ren tried to move his belly away from her clutch, the pretty little girl abruptly clasped onto his wrist instead and rolled up his sleeve - the green colored dragon-like tattoo was revealed!
3 I’m Not a Good Person?
Not wanting to disclose the strange tattoo on him, Hao Ren Immediately withdrew his hand.
Suddenly, the pretty little girl reached out her hand again and placed it on Hao Ren’s stomach as if she was trying to feel for something.
“We are in public, is it really necessary for you to be touching my stomach?” Smacking her hand off, Hao Ren seemed helpless.
At this time, the crowd had not completely vanished yet. Many were still waiting for more to happen. For a little girl at that age to use such startling measures to find someone in a university would make others think of all kinds of stuff.
“You two, whatever your problem is, resolve it somewhere else.” Since he was unable to fully break up the crowd, Zhao Jiayi was trying to find another way to help Hao Ren out. “Little girl, you have found Ren now. I think there must be some misunderstanding between you two. He is Hao Ren, what is your name?”
“First off, do not call me little girl! And humph, he is a good person? I don’t think he looks one bit like a good person!” Glaring at Hao Ren, the pretty little girl demanded, “You’re not leaving until you give me back what is mine!” (Reminder, the pronunciation of ‘Hao Ren’ is very similar to the pronunciation of ‘good person’ in Mandarin Chinese.)
“Fine, fine. Let’s talk somewhere else!” Hao Ren grabbed the pretty girl by her wrist and rushed towards the academic building.
Since the excitement and interest had died down, no one tried to go after them. After a short while of jogging, Hao Ren let go of the pretty girl’s delicate small wrist and said, “Oh please, why did you have to cause such a big commotion? I really didn’t take anything from you.”
“Who are you trying to fool? How do
you explain the patterns on your wrist then?” Her eyes locked onto Hao Ren. Her expression showed no sign of willingness to give up.
“This has got to be the so-called generation gap, gotta be…” Looking at this unreasonable little girl who was apparently four or five years younger than him, Hao Ren felt that there was no way for him to get through to her.
“First, I did not take anything of yours. Second, I saved your life yesterday - not only were you not grateful, you hit me. Third, you alerted the whole school and caused an uproar to find me, how am I supposed to live here after this?” Hao Ren argued.
“Just give that thing back to me and all of this will go away,” she continued to stare at Hao Ren as she restated stubbornly.
Her continuously repeat of the same demand had driven Hao Ren to the edge of insanity.
“Ay… whatever. I am going to go eat.” Deserting the girl, Hao Ren turned to Clear Stream Cafeteria which was closest to the academic area.
However, the pretty little girl followed him closely and maintained her persistent facial expression.
After he entered the cafeteria, Hao Ren stood in line to buy food. Still, the pretty little girl was stuck onto him like a nougat, following his every step.
Even when Hao Ren took out his Prepaid Cafe Card to order, she had her eyes glued to him.
“I really don’t know what to do with you…” Taking out his Prepaid Cafe Card again, Hao Ren sighed, “Chef, one more order of the beef combo, please.”
As he carried his tray of food to the table, the pretty little girl also carried her tray and followed right behind him.
As he sat down, she sat down right across from him.
She was now copying his every move. She would take a bite of the food if he did; and when he stopped eating, so did she.
“Big sister… I’ll call you big sister, how is that? I really, really did not take anything from you.” Hao Ren couldn’t help but look at her helplessly. He certainly did not expect such trouble to stem from his attempt to save a life.