Your Distance

What kind of experience is it, living with your professor?

On the first day of cohabitation, Ting Shuang expressed: Living with your professor is the most cruel test of human nature.

It happened twenty minutes after Ting Shuang first stepped into Bai Changyi’s house. Bai Changyi was cooking in the kitchen, and Ting Shuang was bringing in various items he‘d brought over.

“Bai Laoban, can I use your study?” Ting Shuang held on to a few comic books and stretched his head into the kitchen from the outside. “I want to put some books onto your shelf.”

Bai Changyi was cleaning up the fish, didn’t look up as he said, “You can use anything in the house freely, you don’t have to ask me.”

Use anything freely?

So Young Master Ting went over to use him…

Ting Shuang tiptoed over and squeezed Bai Changyi’s ass.

Bai Changyi didn’t have any free hands to deal with Ting Shuang, and only coldly glanced at him with those eyes behind the lenses.

Things like the look in one’s eyes; different people would have different interpretations of it based on their perspective. If one used Bai Laoban’s language to interpret that look in his eyes, it would be: Don’t make a fuss.

If one used Ting Shuang’s language to interpret it, it would be: Do you want to get fucked?

It was a look of elegance that many would admire.

“And you still said to use anything freely… Stingy…” Ting Shuang continued whispering bad things about Bai Changyi as he slipped into the study.

After entering the study, Ting Shuang put the comics in place and was about to bring in more books, when a huge folder amongst a row of many other folders on the shelf attracted his attention.

Very noticeably on the spine of the folder read: Robotik Past Year Papers (2012-2018).

It had arrived, the moment that tested human nature.

No one was around as Ting Shuang stood in front of the bookcase, staring at the folder for a long time. But he didn’t do anything to it.

What kind of questions did they set in the past…

People with decency wouldn’t look at it.

After all, even if he took a look, he wouldn’t be able to do it…

Ting Shuang slowly stretched his claws out for another folder next to the “Robotik Past Year Papers (2012-2018)” one——

Robotik Past Year Papers (2012-2018) (With Answers).

How was this just the answers to the exam questions?

It was simply the answer to life.

If he mastered the contents of this folder, he would keep the rest of the Earth in mind, helping all the common people. He would teach all the students in class how to answer the questions, and lead everyone in passing the exam together.

Feeling like he was Prometheus stealing fire, Ting Shuang flipped open the folder–

The first page was a 2018 exam question. It was about designing. The question alone took up a full A4 piece of paper. It took Ting Shuang more than ten minutes to read the question, and sure enough, he couldn’t do it.

He flipped to the back for the answer——

There was only one line: No standard answer.

Fuck, didn’t he feel embarrassed writing “With Answers” on the folder?

Didn’t the old professor feel ashamed?

This was practically deceiving him of his expectations.

Student Ting Shuang, who had been tricked once, angrily continued to flip towards the back. This time, it was a calculation question. It couldn’t be that there was no standard answer for that too, right?

Again, it took him several minutes to finish reading the question, and sure, he still couldn’t do it.

He turned to the back for the answer——

This time, the answer was: a matrix so complex that it occupied half of the page, looking as if it wanted to use up all the Greek letters so badly.

There was no problem-solving process, except for a single word above the matrix: Obvious.

Obvious???

Ting Shuang flipped that page back and forth, looking at the answer after reading at the question, and then looking at the question after reading the answer. He spent so long reading that he started to question his life, and still couldn’t figure out how the answer was obvious.

At that moment, footsteps sounded from outside the study. Ting Shuang quickly closed the folder and put it back in place.

It felt like Ting Shuang didn’t have the time to completely retract his hand from the folder before Bai Changyi’s voice rang out from behind him, “Come out for dinner.”

“Okay okay…” Ting Shuang replied guiltily, “Coming.”

His heart was beating at a rate of one hundred and eight bpm, and his back was a patch of cold sweat. Of all things, he only remembered two lines of words, the first being “No standard answer” and second being “Obvious”.

It was equivalent to going to the Forbidden City to steal cultural relics, but in the end only stealing half a roll of toilet paper from the Forbidden City’s toilet.

He couldn’t feel more vexed.

Ting Shuang turned around and saw Bai Changyi’s gaze sweep across that row of folders.

Ting Shuang followed Bai Changyi’s gaze and exclaimed pretentiously, “Bai Laoban, you have Robotik‘s past year papers in your study…”

Bai Changyi said, “Those won’t be tested in the future.”

Ting Shuang: “…”

What are you keeping them in your study for you aren’t gonna test them?

Do you not know how to spell ‘rubbish bin’?

Damn, was it that older people were all reluctant to throw away the old and useless things they had at home?