Your Distance

When Bai Changyi walked out, Ting Shuang suddenly wimped out, “Where… are we going now?”

Bai Changyi said, “Didn’t you offer a personal service?”

Ting Shuang subconsciously glanced at the sky and said, “Isn’t it a bit… too early?”

Bai Changyi said, “It’s not early. Get in the car.”

Not early???

It was four in the afternoon and yet it wasn’t early?

Then how long was his service supposed to last?

Ting Shuang hugged the flowers as he climbed into the car, already feeling like he had a kidney deficiency.(1)

He did not have any deficiencies, Ting Shuang reminded himself. You’re only twenty four years old, you’re young and strong. He’s a whole lot older than you, as old as Lian Po.(2)

“Uh…” Ting Shuang said, “Are we going to your house now?”

Bai Changyi said, “We’re going to the supermarket first.” He glanced at Ting Shuang, reminding him, “Seat belt.”

“Oh oh…” Ting Shuang quickly fastened his seat belt, “What are we doing at the supermarket?”

Bai Changyi said, “Didn’t you say that you wanted to eat sweet and sour pork ribs? We’re going to buy pork ribs.”

The two of them hadn’t reached the stage where they were officially dating, and Bai Changyi had not planned on personally cooking for him, nor had he planned on bringing him home. But he knew the kid was working part-time to make a living; if he threw a tantrum after dinner and insisted on paying separately again, then whatever little he earned working for the day would be gone after two meals. Thus, Bai Changyi decided to cook at home.

“You’re going to cook?” Ting Shuang started looking forward to it, “Let’s cook together. The mushroom grilled fish I make is especially delicious.”

When they arrived at the supermarket, Bai Changyi realised what exactly Ting Shuang’s mushroom grilled fish was: one of those kinds of frozen fish that had been seasoned and prepared with mushrooms, then packed in a tin carton. After buying, you stuff it, together with the tin carton, into the oven and it would be done after 40 minutes.

If it was this kind of mushroom grilled fish, of course it’d be delicious, even if Ting Shuang wasn’t the one to make it.

Ting Shuang was thick-skinned enough to throw two tin cartons of it into the cart.

When they passed a row of freezers, Ting Shuang suddenly spotted some kind of ice cream, and subconsciously stopped to pick up a box, only realising his actions after doing so. Then, he felt a little regretful, so he wanted to put it back. He had remembered what had happened in the past. This kind of ice cream came in boxes of six, and he really liked eating it. But he also felt that ice cream was something only children eat, so he had always asked Liang Zhengxuan to eat it with him. Whenever he bought a box back, he would eat four and Liang Zhengxuan would eat two.

Seeing Ting Shuang’s hesitation, Bai Changyi said, “What is it?”

Ting Shuang shook the box of ice cream at Bai Changyi and asked, “Do you eat ice cream?”

Bai Changyi said, “If you want to eat it, buy it.”

Ting Shuang said, “What about you?”

Bai Changyi said, “I don’t eat ice cream.”

Ting Shuang put the ice cream back in the freezer.

Bai Changyi took the box of ice cream back out and put it in the cart.

Ting Shuang said, “I thought you didn’t eat ice cream?”

“Don’t you want to eat it?”

“But it’s a box of six.”

“So what if there’s six?”

“One person can’t finish eating them.”

“Leave it if you can’t finish them.”

For a long time after that, every time Ting Shuang opened the door of Bai Changyi’s refrigerator, he would find that there was this kind of ice cream in it, with the same brand and the same flavour. This never changed, up until he got sick of eating it and complained about it to Bai Changyi. This was a story for the future.

The two continued walking on. The checkout area was ahead, and the condoms were there too.

Ting Shuang looked for the familiar packaging, but couldn’t decide whether he should get a box of three or a box of six.

Should he get six…

The next day was Sunday, he didn’t have classes, and three might not be enough …

Six. Okay.

He had just put a box in the cart when Bai Changyi took it out, returned it to the shelf, and picked up another box next to it.

Ting Shuang was puzzled, “Isn’t this one also a box of six? Why did you take another one?”

Bai Changyi said, “The sizes are different.”

Ting Shuang took a closer look, and the box that Bai Changyi returned had “standard” written on it, while the box he picked up had–

Extra large.

Extra large… extra large… extra… large…

Heck.

Ting Shuang said angrily, “E-even if the sizes were different… then you can just take one for yourself, why did you put mine back?”

Bai Changyi said, “You want to use one too?”

“I–” Ting Shuang felt humiliated and asked angrily, “Why wouldn’t I want to use one?”

Bai Changyi thought about it for a while, and didn’t think of any opportunities during which Ting Shuang would need to use a condom, but it was only a box of condoms, and there was no need to argue over it. So he put the box of “standard” sized condoms that Ting Shuang had taken back into the cart.

Ting Shuang stared at the “standard” and the “extra large” boxes of condoms, feeling upset. So when Bai Changyi picked up a blue bottle of lubricant, he quickly took it out of the cart, put it back on the shelf, and exchanged it for a green bottle. This move was made mainly to oppose Bai Changyi, and he hadn’t looked carefully at the difference between the green bottle and the blue one.

Bai Changyi raised his eyebrows when he saw “Stimulating Mint” written on the green bottle.

It was a rather refreshing and cool flavour.

But he didn’t say anything, so what if it was refreshing and cool, it was fine as long as Ting Shuang liked to use it.

He checked out the items, and returned home.

Bai Changyi’s house was also in the suburbs, and the surroundings were quiet. It was a two-story house with an attic and a courtyard. The shrubs in the courtyard were trimmed nicely. In the past, there had been many plants and flowers in the yard, but after Meng Yurong left, only the lawn, which he hired people to help prune regularly together with the shrubs, was left.

After entering the house, Ting Shuang wanted to put the freesia in a vase, but couldn’t find a single one.

Everything in Bai Changyi’s house seemed to have a practical use. The sofa was a sofa, the table was a table, the fireplace was a fireplace, the carpet was a carpet, and the bookshelf was a bookshelf.

“Are there no vases…” Ting Shuang asked, standing at the kitchen door.

Bai Changyi was cleaning up the pork ribs. Hearing Ting Shuang’s question, he glanced at a cabinet and said, “Look inside there.”

Ting Shuang opened the cabinet door, searched for a long time, and found a decanter that resembled a vase. He filled it with water, inserted the flowers, and said, “Where do I put it?”

Bai Changyi didn’t raise his head, “Up to you.”

For a while, Ting Shuang admired the side profile of Bai Changyi as he cooked. Suddenly, a mischievous thought came to mind. He ran over and groped Bai Changyi’s ass roughly, then quickly rushed out of the kitchen holding the decanter.

He scored big time.

Ting Shuang didn’t even have two seconds to be happy before he heard Bai Changyi’s low voice coming from the kitchen, “Ting, come back.”