Your Distance

Older people also had some other habits.

For example, putting the toilet seat down.

One morning, Ting Shuang hurriedly jumped out of bed in a haze. He rushed to the bathroom, taking his thing out before even fully opening his eyes. He was about to release everything before he realised that he had almost urinated on the toilet seat. He cursed, quickly putting the toilet seat up before shouting out the door, “Bai Laoban, why do you always put the toilet seat down? Isn’t it troublesome to always put it back up?”

Bai Changyi walked to the bathroom door, “I’ve always had a female partner by my side. Putting the toilet seat down was basic etiquette.”

Ting Shuang turned his head as he released, dissatisfied, “You will never have a female partner by your side again in the future. Your male partner is telling you: Putting the toilet seat down is a bad habit. It’s a terrible habit, so quickly change it.”

Bai Changyi hugged Ting Shuang’s waist from behind. He didn’t say anything, just glanced down and let out a low chuckle.

He was laughing again!

Ting Shuang’s face flushed, “It’s a bad habit, I didn’t say anything wrong. It’s not me… that um… it’s not that I have problems aiming… or that I can’t regulate that, or keep it in, or am bad at… It’s just, there’s only the two of us at home, wouldn’t it be much more convenient to leave the toilet seat up…”

Fuck.

Bai Changyi was still laughing.

Laughing at what?

He made it seem like Ting Shuang had problems and needed to see the andrologist.

However, ever since that morning, the toilet seats in the toilets at home remained straight up all year round.

Older people also had another habit: putting things back in their original positions.

Ting Shuang did not have this habit.

Before cohabiting, incidents that happened usually went like this–

On a day where he needed to go to school, Ting Shuang would realise that he couldn’t find his phone/key/student card/experiment report/pen/razor…

After cohabiting, the incidents became extremely terrifying——

On a day where he needed to go to school, the great Professor Bai would realise that he couldn’t find his glasses.

On the headboard, only the wooden holder for his spectacles remained.

Before going to bed last night, the glasses were still placed safely on them.

Since the kid moved in, the occasional thing would go missing from its original place in the house, then reappear in another strange place. Every time Bai Changyi saw it, he simply put them back in place, and didn’t say anything to Ting Shuang.

But this time, not saying anything was impossible.

Bai Changyi’s gaze shifted from the spectacle holder to the sleeping Ting Shuang’s face, “Ting.”

Ting Shuang struggled, half asleep and half awake, “Let me sleep for a while longer… I don’t want to skip class… I know whose class I have today… I was chasing a show last night and slept too late…”

Bai Changyi said, “Ting, where are my glasses.”

Ting Shuang shrank into the quilt, face full of resistance, “Salute… What kind of salute… I don’t want to salute…”(1)

Bai Changyi: “…”

“I’ll yell at you again at seven.”

He’d ask after he woke up.

Fortunately, Professor Bai had a pair of spare glasses. He put on his spare glasses and went to wash up. As he entered the bathroom, the first thing he saw was the missing glasses on the sink.

Second, he caught a glimpse of two books casually placed on the toilet cistern.

Ting‘s toilet reading material?

Bai Changyi took a closer look–

The book at the top was a manga.

Looking down——

Under the manga was a thick book with a book cover. There were no words on the spine.

Bai Changyi walked over and opened the book——

It was teaching material, signed by: Changyi Bai.

Quarter past seven.

After Ting Shuang washed up, he put on one of Bai Laoban’s casual shirts without thinking much. After wearing a pair of jeans, he looked at himself in the mirror, feeling especially handsome.

So he was in a good mood, humming all the way down the stairs to eat breakfast.

When he entered the dining area, Bai Changyi was reading the newspaper and waiting for him.

Why did he feel like Bai Laoban’s aura wasn’t as strong today…

“Dear…” Ting Shuang sat next to Bai Changyi, graciously pouring coffee for him, “I’ve made you wait.”

Bai Changyi folded and put it aside the newspaper, “Ting, I have to tell you about a problem.”

Ting Shuang immediately put down the coffee pot, straightening his back. He put his hands on his thighs respectfully.

Bai Changyi said, “Last Monday evening, I saw my car keys in the freezer.”

“Ah…” Ting Shuang spent a while recalling, and was very embarrassed as he explained, “You asked me to get the drone from the trunk… I felt very hot after bringing it back… So… Um… I went to grab an ice cream…”

Bai Changyi: “This morning, I saw my glasses in the bathroom.”

“Your glasses…” Ting Shuang took out his phone from his pocket, “I took a picture of us yesterday while you were sleeping… Look.”

It was a selfie. On the left was the sleeping Bai Changyi, and on the right was Ting Shuang who was wearing Professor Bai’s glasses.

“Doesn’t it look good?” Ting Shuang intended to make up for it with the picture.

Bai Changyi said, “Mm.”

“Then I’ll send it to you,” Ting Shuang quickly sent the photo to Bai Changyi, “Hey, Bai Laoban, can I use this photo as my screensaver?”

Bai Changyi said, “What do you think?”

Probably not…

If his classmates saw it, it would be terrible…

Bai Changyi said, “Also, I saw two books in the bathroom this morning.”

“Oh oh that…” The time both events happened were close, and Ting Shuang immediately remembered, “I was reading a book while taking a bath last night… Then after I finished, I think I put the book somewhere in the bathroom…”

It was a book he read while in the bath.

Then it didn’t count as toilet reading material. Okay.

Bai Changyi grabbed a loaf of mixed grain bread for Ting Shuang, “How was the book?”

Ting Shuang felt like Bai Laoban’s mood seemed to have improved a little, so he introduced the book as he ate breakfast, “That manga’s super good. The show I chased last night was its anime adaptation…”

After listening patiently, Bai Changyi casually touched on the topic, “How about the other book.”

“The other one?” Ting Shuang thought for a while, but couldn’t remember it, “What is the other book? I took a random one. I was afraid that the manga would get wet as I took my bath, so I just grabbed a thick one to wedge under the manga.”

Afraid of getting the manga wet.

So he just grabbed a thick book to wedge under the manga.

…… Very well.

“Ting, those two books are still in the bathroom upstairs.” Bai Changyi took off his glasses and said while wiping them. “After breakfast, put them back in place.”

“Oh… I’ll do it now…” Ting Shuang wiped his mouth and ran upstairs, “In the future I’ll definitely take precautions and refrain from casually leaving things around…”

Going to the bathroom, Ting Shuang realized that he had put the book on top of the toilet cistern.

Oh God, how could his manga, so magically, be placed on the toilet cistern?

Didn’t that mean it had become toilet reading material?

Ting Shuang washed his hands and wiped them dry. One hand held his manga respectfully, while the other hand very casually grabbed the thick book underneath as he went downstairs.

Bai Laoban had asked how this thick book was…

What book was it…

He couldn’t see what it was with the book cover…

When he reached the study, he put back the manga properly before casually flipping open the thick book——

Title: Grundlagen der Robotik

Mm, “Basics of Robotics”. it turned out to be a piece of teaching material…

It didn’t seem like a good practice, using professional teaching materials to place under his manga…

But why was there a teaching material about the basics of robotics in Bai Laoban’s study?

Bai Laoban still needed to read them?

Who wrote such awesome teaching material?

The next moment, Ting Shuang saw the author’s name.

Changyi Bai…

Changyi……Bai……

Bai…

B……A……I……

“… B-Bai Laoban, um…” Ting Shuang hugged the thick book as he dragged himself step by step to the door of the dining area, “I recently found a book that I really want to read… Do you want to know who the author is…”

Bai Changyi glanced at his watch, “Grab your bag, we’re going to school.”

Ting Shuang put on his backpack and followed behind Bai Changyi, chattering on endlessly, trying to salvage the situation, “Bai Laoban, look at you, it’s such an excellent book, what book cover is this… Oh no, this little student was clumsy and didn’t recognize it…”

After getting in the car, Ting Shuang was still trying to salvage the situation, “Um… Actually, your book cover is also very good. When I first touched it, I thought it was waterproof… Um… Bai Laoban, this misunderstanding that we had, it’s mainly caused by this book cover, and has nothing to do with the book itself… If I knew the content of this book earlier, I would have already been able to recite and transcribe the whole text from memory… Isn’t that so…”

Bai Changyi was driving and looking ahead, “Is that so.”

Ting Shuang nodded as if pounding garlic, “It has to be so.”

Bai Changyi: “Then I will wait for you to recite and transcribe the whole text from memory.”