Your Distance

After class, Bai Changyi was surrounded by several students with queries as he walked out of the classroom, and Ting Shuang could not find a chance to return the pen.

Song Xin walked to the first row of tables and asked, “Ting Shuang, are you going to the library?”

Ting Shuang said, “Oh, no, I forgot to bring my backpack.”

Song Xin said, “What’s the matter with you? How could you even forget your bag for school.”

Ting Shuang said, “I just… left the house in too much of a rush.”

“Okay, then I’ll go to the library first.” Song Xin thought of something, and added on, “You sure did it today, dude.”

“Did what?”

Song Xin glanced at the door to confirm that the professor had really left, and then continued in a low voice, “You actually dared to plead for everyone’s lives. You really tanked for everyone there, complaining about how the exam’s too difficult in front of the professor.”

In his heart, Ting Shuang thought: If I told you that I even called the professor stupid right to his face, wouldn’t you be surprised to death?

Wait.

Ting Shuang thought over it again. That actually wouldn’t be too terrible. If he told Song Xin that he had just spent two good nights with Prof. Bai, Song Xin would probably die from shock.

“It was okay,” Ting Shuang responded casually.

Actually, after Bai Changyi announced that the difficulty of the exam would be appropriately lowered, all the way until the end of class, he had been a little flustered inside. It was a fact that the exam was too difficult, and he did bring it up, but he didn’t expect Bai Changyi to consider this opinion seriously.

This came after Bai Changyi made the teaching assistant print lecture notes for everyone, and it seemed like he was making an exception for Ting Shuang again. That was not a democratic victory at all, but…

Spoiling–

Cough, stop.

It was favoritism.

Earlier on, he had just told Bai Changyi that he didn’t want to make their relationship so complicated. But now that Bai Changyi did that, he kept feeling like Bai Changyi had, in the end, showed favoritism towards him…

He didn’t know how he could pay him back.

He was feeling like one butt wasn’t enough to use.

His bottom started to hurt slightly.

He didn’t have class afterwards, so Ting Shuang took a bus to Freesia, where he worked part-time on Saturday, and rode his bicycle home, the one he had parked in front of the cafe over the weekend. After arriving home, he sorted out the day’s lecture notes and the notes he had made previously, and then lazily leaned back on the chair, propping his feet up on the desk.

He suddenly saw the fountain pen on the desk.

The pen’s black and blue body, and its gold and silver nib.

He picked it up and looked at it for a while, then placed it above his upper lip as if he had nothing better to do. He sandwiched it between his nose and his upper lip, and remained in that posture as he sent a message to Bai Changyi with his phone.

Frost: Anata.

Frost: Do you have time for a date today?

Frost: I have something to tell you.

Ting Shuang glanced at the time displayed at the top of the phone. The time was 12:17, which meant they had been apart for 2 hours and 32 minutes.

Frost: I feel like I haven’t seen you in a long time.

Frost: Feelings will fade if we don’t meet for a long time.

Frost: If you are a man, you should take more initiative.

The pen felt like it had stayed by Bai Changyi for many years.(1)

It was slightly provocative.

Ting Shuang waited for a while but didn’t receive Bai Changyi’s reply, so he took a selfie with the fountain pen and sent it to him.

Frost: [Picture]

Frost: Bai Laoban, your fountain pen is still here with me.

Frost: Do you still want it?

Frost: I’m doing tricks with your pen.

Frost: Its life is in danger.

Frost: Hurry and come to save it.

After more than an hour, when it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon, Bai Changyi replied: I don’t have time today.

It was just one sentence, with no other explanation.

The emotionless(2) Bai Changyi.

Ting Shuang inwardly uttered a complaint, then recalled what happened in class that day. In the past, when there were students who wanted to ask him questions, Bai Changyi would stay in the classroom to answer them before he left at a comfortable pace. But today, Bai Changyi answered the students’ queries while walking out of the classroom, looking like he didn’t have much time.

He should really be busy.

Frost: Then I’ll let you work.

After replying, Ting Shuang stretched, getting up to make lunch for himself.

After nine o’clock in the evening, Ting Shuang waited until the distance between him and Cycle shown on Distance had changed to 4.8 kilometers before he sent a message asking: You’re home?

Bai Changyi started a video call and untied his tie while saying, “Mm, go on.”

Ting Shuang stared at Bai Chang’s hand as it untied the tie, Adam’s apple bobbing, “… Go on about what?”

Bai Changyi said, “During the day you said you had something to tell me.”

“Oh…” Ting Shuang got what he meant. During the day, he wanted to talk to Bai Changyi about the favoritism thing, but it seemed too abrupt to talk about it as soon as they started a call. “It’s just… Um… Why not let’s talk face to face?”

Bai Changyi looked at Ting Shuang from the other side of the screen and said, “Isn’t it face to face now?”

Ting Shuang hesitated, “Can I go over to yours now? I can ride my bicycle there pretty quickly.”

If he was so persistent about it, it should not be an insignificant matter.

Bai Changyi glanced at the time and said, “I’ll go over.”

“No, no… Actually…” Ting Shuang thought about how Bai Changyi would have to drive over after being busy all day, and felt like he was troubling him too much. “Let’s forget about it, I have class tomorrow. Afterwards… I’ll talk to you about it again.”

“Ting, I don’t like to drag problems on to the next day.” In the span of those few sentences, Bai Changyi had already opened the garage door. “I’ll drive over. Wait ten minutes for me.” He hung up right after.

Ting Shuang wore slippers out, and braced both hands on the low wall next to the gate of the courtyard. Then he jumped up to sit on it while waiting for Bai Changyi.

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While in his car, Bai Changyi saw Ting Shuang sitting on the wall under the streetlamp from afar.

The young boy was swinging his legs in the night breeze, not caring if one of his slippers fell to the ground. He waved spiritedly at him.

As if he was afraid that his smile wasn’t enough to attract his attention.

Bai Changyi parked the car, walked over, picked up the slipper that had fallen to the ground and passed it to Ting Shuang.

Ting Shuang watched as Bai Changyi bent over, breath hitching, before he dazedly took the slipper, put it on, and jumped off the wall.

“Let’s… take a walk? We can talk while walking?” Ting Shuang said.

“Mm.” Bai Changyi responded.

“If we walk seven or eight minutes in that direction, there’ll be a river. There’s a grass field and the woods on the side of the river. The trees there are all very tall and straight, and they look pretty nice in the morning and evening when there is sunlight.” Ting Shuang said, “But I’ve never been there at such a late time.”

Bai Changyi said, “Mm, I know. There is also a kayaking club over there.”

Ting Shuang said, “Hey, you’ve been to this area?”

Bai Changyi said, “Mm.”

From the road, the two crossed a bridge, then walked down to the small and quiet path beside the river that was meant for pedestrians and bicycles only. This path had no street lamps, and light was shining through the windows of the kayaking club. On the driveway across the river, there were golden-orange street lamps that sparsely reflected in the water of the river. The sky was so blue it was shining, as if it had gems and as if it was satin. It was a colour that was unique to a night sky in an area with high latitudes, occurring between late spring and early summer.

A few mallard ducks floated beneath the overhanging reeds by the river. Squirrels and hedgehogs were jumping around in the woods and grass.

There were no people around, and there weren’t any houses too. Thousands of lights shone from across the river, and they were far away.

The night sky felt emotional, and Ting Shuang didn’t want to destroy the atmosphere.

“Right… Here.” He reached for the fountain pen in his pocket and handed it to Bai Changyi. “Thank you.”

Bai Changyi took it, put it back in his pocket, and said, “No problem.”

Ting Shuang said, “This pen… Have you been using it for a long time?”

Bai Changyi said, “Mm, I bought it when I was in college.”

Ting Shuang said, “Then it has been a good ten years… You grow quite attached.”

He just didn’t know if it was the same in other aspects…

Bai Changyi smiled, “You just wanted to tell me this?”

“No…” Ting Shuang didn’t know how to start, “Just, the thing you said during class today… Um…”

It sounded like there was something he didn’t understand in class, and was looking for the professor for some clarifications after class. Bai Changyi glanced at his watch and gave a low laugh, “I’m not working anymore. It’s almost ten o’clock, don’t treat me as a professor now, hear me?”

""

The corners of Ting Shuang’s lips also curled upwards, “I’m not treating you as a professor. I’d be losing out if I treated you as a professor even now… Come here.”

While saying that, he pulled Bai Changyi over to a small grass hill that was beside them and made him sit down. Then he sat on Bai Changyi’s lap and kissed him.

In the past, Ting Shuang didn’t actually have the bad habit of sitting on other people’s laps, but after he met Bai Changyi, he didn’t know what happened. It could be that Bai Changyi’s lap was just too nice to sit on, and he especially liked to sit on his lap with both arms around his neck, legs crossed around his waist. It was extremely satisfying.

After kissing him in this comfortable posture, Ting Shuang slightly panted on the side of Bai Changyi’s neck, “What… Um what you think of me…”

As soon as he asked that, he changed his mind and said, “No, I didn’t mean to ask that…”

“If you have anything you want to say, just tell me.” Bai Changyi reached into Ting Shuang’s shirt and stroked his spine, moving down the ridges.

“I…” Ting Shuang shivered from Bai Changyi’s touch, “Mm… I wanted to ask… When you made the teaching assistant print the lecture notes for everyone… Was it because of me?”

Bai Changyi’s hand halted, “…Yes.”

Ting Shuang said, “But…”

Bai Changyi said, “For fairness.”

Ting Shuang said, “I know you did it for fairness, but…”

But he always felt like it wasn’t really fair…

It was just to make him feel like it was fair…

“I…” Ting Shuang looked into Bai Changyi’s eyes, “If I said that I don’t like you doing these things for me… Would it make me ignorant of your good intentions? Would it make me especially… hypocritical?” After he spoke, he was afraid that Bai Changyi wouldn’t be happy, so he continued explaining, “I really… um…like you quite a bit…”

Bai Changyi said, “Mm.”

“Then…” Ting Shuang’s heartbeat became faster and faster, and he didn’t know if it was because it was cold at night or because he was too nervous, but his hands were getting colder and colder, and the muscles in his chest and abdomen were gradually tensing up. “Do you… Also like me a little? I mean… sincerely…I’m not talking about letting you do me for one semester, so you’ll lower the difficulty of the exam, just so I can get a 1.0[1]…”

“What exactly do you think of me?” Bai Changyi smacked Ting Shuang’s butt, “Get up.”

Ting Shuang hurriedly got up from Bai Changyi’s lap and stood to the side.

Bai Changyi also stood up and looked down at Ting Shuang, “There are many considerations to make regarding the decision to lower the difficulty of the exam. Plus, does the lowering of the difficulty of this semester’s exam have anything to do with you?”

Ting Shuang thought about it, but didn’t figure it out, “Why doesn’t it matter to me?”

Bai Changyi reminded him, “Ting, you need to retake the course.”

Need to retake the course.

Retake the course…

Re… take…

Ting Shuang realised that he took Bai Changyi’s class too seriously and completely forgot that he needed to retake it next year.

Early, the beast surnamed Bai was surely deliberately fooling around with him…

Ting Shuang said angrily, “Then, what about printing the lecture notes? You didn’t show even the slightest bit of favoritism?”

Bai Changyi said, “I had some students feedback to me about the difficulty of taking notes, so I asked the teaching assistant to print one copy of the lecture notes for all students. Anything wrong with that?”

Ting Shuang said, “Well, if it wasn’t me who had sent in feedback about the difficulty, but someone else, would you still do the same?”

Bai Changyi looked at Ting Shuang for a while without answering, then turned around and started walking back.

Ting Shuang followed him, and pestered him for an answer from behind, “If the person wasn’t me, would you still do the same?”

Bai Changyi had a headache.

Why did this kid have so many questions?

Today, he had decided to reduce the difficulty of the exam, and managed to find an excuse to justify it at the last minute. Things like how there were many considerations to be made…

As if it wasn’t hot-headedness from seeing how the kid had answered his questions with his face flushed in class.

Fortunately, after class, the great Professor Bai remembered that Ting Shuang had to retake the course, so he hadn’t completely burnt away from being hot-headed.

On this day, because of that few minutes of hot-headedness, Bai Changyi had spent all day in school looking at how to reasonably lower the difficulty of the exam while maintaining the standards of the previous questions.

He seriously regretted the over-time that he did.

Since when did he do such ridiculous things?

Within a day, the wise and godly Bai Laoban had fallen off his altar, and planted himself in the pile of mortals.

The great Professor Bai did not want to admit this fact.

But now, Ting Shuang, unknowingly, kept reminding him over and over again: Did you lose your intelligence and showed favoritism because of your lust for me?

Bai Changyi stopped walking and said to Ting Shuang, “You keep quiet for two minutes.”

Ting Shuang closed his mouth and walked quietly beside Bai Changyi before saying in a low tone, “I just don’t want to make our relationship–“

Bai Changyi interrupted him, “This amount of bias isn’t allowed?”

“… Huh?” Ting Shuang was stunned.

A bit violently, Bai Changyi grasped Ting Shuang’s chin, and forced Ting Shuang to look at him. “Your expectations of me are too high. Liking you and being impartial, choose one.”