Your Distance

In class that day, Ting Shuang was once again called upon to answer an extremely difficult question.

As they were leaving the classroom after class, Song Xin teasingly said, “Say, Ting Shuang, this professor can’t have fallen in love with you, right?”

Ting Shuang was drinking from a water bottle, and almost choked upon hearing his words, but on the exterior, he replied calmly, “… Is there a pit in your mind.” 

Song Xin said, “It wasn’t me who said it. The two girls who were next to me the previous time also said that this professor must have fallen in love with you. Whenever there is a difficult question, he always calls on you. Whenever you answer a question, he stares at you the entire time, and the look in his eyes… If you’d answered the question very well, then that’s fine. Thing is, even when you can’t answer the question, he still looks at you like that, like he’s watching his son.”

Ting Shuang had been a little worried about whether the others had seen through them as he listened to the first half of it, but after hearing the later half, he straight-up spit out a mouthful of water, “… Fuck, you said that he looks at me like he’s looking at his son?”

Song Xin ducked to the side as he continued joking about Ting Shuang, “From his gaze as he looked at you, didn’t you just feel… Fatherly love that’s as steady as the mountains?”

Fatherly love?

And it was even as steady as the fucking mountains?

Ting Shuang said, “Did you guys do a paternity test just from observing the look in his eyes? You found a father for me? You guys are just so amazing.”

“Ting Shuang, let me reenact it for you,” Song Xin approached Ting Shuang. He looked into Ting Shuang’s eyes, Song Xin’s gaze exuding tenderness and love, or so he thought. “Look, the way Prof. Bai looks at you is the way I’m looking at you now. Do you see the fatherly love in it?”

What kind of puppy eyes was Song Xin giving him?

Since when did Bai Laoban ever look at people like that?

Ting Shuang jokingly cursed, “Screw off, don’t come so close to me, it’s disgusting.”

Just after he said that, Ting Shuang suddenly realized that a few steps away, Bai Laoban was looking at them after tidying up the lecture notes and exiting the classroom. His body immediately stiffened and quickly distanced himself from Song Xin.

When Song Xin, who was imitating Prof. Bai, saw Bai Changyi himself, a chill ran down his spine. His expression immediately changed into a serious one, and he greeted him very politely,  “… Professor.”

Bai Changyi nodded to the both of them and walked towards the outside of the teaching building.

Ting Shuang did not have a good feeling about that.

“… I suddenly remembered that there was something I didn’t understand in class just now. I’ll go ask, you should go first.” After talking to Song Xin, Ting Shuang rushed to catch up with Bai Changyi and said in German, “Professor, I have one question.”

Bai Changyi kept walking, “Go on.”

Ting Shuang did not speak, only walked beside Bai Changyi in a very proper manner. After walking for a while, he saw that there were no Asian faces around, so he put on a serious expression as if discussing a purely academic matter and said in Chinese, “Babe, let’s eat lunch together at noon?”

Bai Changyi looked ahead, his expression just as serious, “I have time before 1pm.”

Ting Shuang said in an agent’s voice(1), “Then we’ll stick to that time. See you in the same old place?”

Bai Changyi gave Ting Shuang an employee card with access to the LRM.

Ting Shuang knew he had a history regarding the misplacement of items, so he carefully put the card in his shirt pocket, patted his chest, and swore, “I won’t lose it carelessly. Where the card is, I will be. If the card dies–“

“If the card dies, then you no longer have to graduate.” Bai Changyi said flatly.

Pledging on his academia, Ting Shuang brought along Bai Laoban’s card to the library for self-study.

Bai Changyi walked to the bottom floor of the LRM department and pressed the metal doorbell, on which “Prof. Dr.-Ing. Habil. Changyi Bai” was engraved. This doorbell was directly connected to his secretary’s office, and was usually used by people who had an appointment with Bai Changyi in the LRM department.

Bai Changyi said to the secretary who was connected to the intercom, “Marie, please open the door for me.”

Marie opened the door, feeling as if recently, the professor hadn’t been acting the same as before.

The professor before: A situation where he didn’t bring his card wouldn’t occur even once in two years.

The professor now: In less than two weeks, this was already the third time he’d asked her to open the door because he didn’t bring his card.

On the other side, Ting Shuang studied in the library for a while, and couldn’t help but pull up the photo he had taken the previous night again.

Bai Laoban was so handsome when he was sleeping, so fucking handsome…

In addition to that one, there were other photos of Bai Changyi in his phone, such as Cycle’s profile picture on Distance that he’d saved, photos of Prof. Bai that he could find on the Internet, and several photos he had taken secretly before and after class.

Ting Shuang looked through them one by one.

That spectacle chain…

Perfection.

That nose bridge…

Perfection.

That figure as he washed his hands after writing on the blackboard…

Perfection.

That hand as it loosened his tie…

Fuck, he got hard.

Ting Shuang wanted to use all of them as his mobile wallpaper, but he didn’t dare to.

If he accidentally let his classmates see it, then he really wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly.

But he really fucking wanted to…

Ting Shuang stared at the picture of Bai Laoban taking off his tie, and suddenly a notification from a WeChat group appeared at the top of the screen.

He clicked it and realised that someone had created a WeChat group for those in the Robotik course. The group name was “We must pass Robotik“, and it was full of Chinese students taking the course this semester. There were currently five people in the group.

Song Xin: Welcome, big boss.

Ting Shuang who had just entered the group:?

Song Xin: The person who just joined is the little prince who often sits in the middle of the first row, answering questions. Everyone, welcome him.

He Le: You’ve worked hard at answering questions, little prince.

Ting Shuang: ?

Guo Ping: You’ve worked hard, enduring the love of the perverted professor every lesson.

Ting Shuang: …

Ting Shuang: … Hello everyone.

Three seconds later.

He Le: Hello, thighs(2).

Song Xin: Hello, thighs.

Guo Ping: Hello, thighs.

You You: Hello, thighs?

He Le: This group is for talking about the Robotik course~ You can send notes to each other or ask questions or anything, and you can also talk about how to prepare for the exam~

He Le: I hope you thighs will send more warmth and light into the group [cute]

Guo Ping: I hope that you thighs will send more warmth and light into the group [cute]

Song Xin: I hope that you thighs will send more warmth and light into the group [cute]

He Le: [animated emoji]

Originally, when Ting Shuang saw that several people were spamming the group, he’d turned off notifications for the group, planning not to look at his phone. He didn’t expect He Le to send two hilarious memes in a row.

The first one was Bai Changyi standing on the podium and looking down at the audience, with the caption: The grim reaper is looking down on all beings.

The second one was Bai Changyi holding up the list of students and taking attendance, with the caption: It’s become chilly, it’s time to cross out the name of this student.

Song Xin: trembling.jpg

Guo Ping: trembling.jpg

Ting Shuang hugged his phone and tried his best to hold in his laughter in the library, and added to the formation, replying with a: trembling.jpg

He didn’t expect Bai Laoban to be made into a meme.

He hurriedly saved the meme, so he could show it to Bai Laoban later…

He didn’t know what expression Bai Laoban would have after seeing it…

Wait.

Since other students could make memes of Bai Laoban, then why couldn’t he make a wallpaper of Bai Laoban and send it into the group?

That way, he could openly use Bai Laoban as his mobile wallpaper.

This young master was so smart.

Ting Shuang searched his photo album for a long time and found the photo of Bai Changyi washing his hands after writing on the blackboard. After thinking about it, he downloaded a photo editor app and added a caption to the photo: After washing hands in a golden basin, fails will no longer be given.

After changing to a new wallpaper, Ting Shuang smiled at the lock screen for a long time, then took a screenshot and sent it to the group, pretending to be an ordinary student begging for blessing: I will use this as my screensaver before graduation~ I hope I will never fail the subject~

Guo Ping: Begging for the wallpaper.

Song Xin: Begging for the wallpaper.

He Le: Begging for the wallpaper to be made into a meme.

Ting Shuang happily sent the picture to the group, but the moment he sent it, he suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

After self-study in the morning, Ting Shuang went to the coffee bar and bought two chicken breast sandwiches to bring up to the roof of the LRM department. Most people would have gone for lunch at this hour, so there were fewer people in the department building. The roof was a place where no one usually went.

He swiped the card and went upstairs. It was a familiar door and a familiar route with no obstacles.

Bai Changyi stood in front of the fence with creepers on it, and two cups of coffee had been placed on a platform the fence had. There were no other buildings in the direction the fence was facing, so it wouldn’t be easy to see someone standing there.

The afternoon sun shined from the sky and bathed the roof in vibrant colours.

Bai Changyi was wearing the sunglasses clip that they had bought in Hannover, his eyes hidden behind the light blue lenses. The thin golden frame and spectacle chain gave him a subtly attractive feel.

A conspicuous yet secret place.

A conspicuous yet secret lover.

It was a 45-minute date, as the two of them stood on the top of the building, eating sandwiches, and drinking coffee together. Bai Changyi listened as Ting Shuang talked about what happened in the chat group just now, and the two of them looked at Ting Shuang’s new wallpaper and collection of memes, laughing. They then looked at the blue sky in the distance, and shared a mint cigarette.

The scent of mint, the scent of smoke, and the scent of the plants as the sun shone on them.

The feeling of wind as it blew across the skin, the feeling of the sunlight as it shone on the skin, and the feeling of the other’s fingertips touching the skin.

“Bai Laoban…” Ting Shuang turned his head to look at Bai Changyi’s side profile, “Can I ask you a question.”

“Go on,” Bai Changyi tapped off the ashes into the mug with only a thin layer of coffee left on the bottom.

“Just now I also showed you the memes that they’d made… Though I think they’re quite funny, and though you weren’t angry after seeing it and even laughed with me, I think these memes still reflect a little… Um… A little of the students’ dissatisfaction…” Ting Shuang took the cigarette between Bai Changyi’s fingers, took a puff, and passed it back to Bai Changyi, “Bai Laoban, don’t you care about the student’s dissatisfaction? Such a high failure rate… I heard that it was 90%… Actually, I don’t want to talk about the high failure rate, I know that it’s because the exam is difficult. I just want to ask… Why is the stuff you test so much harder than what you talk about in class? I think it’s understandable if the exam is difficult, but if it’s so different from what is previously taught in class, then… Don’t all teachers want to teach students everything they know?”

Bai Changyi said, “Forty-five minutes, just enough time to eat lunch and smoke a cigarette, and you still have no intention of letting me rest for a while.”

“Then, if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to answer. I didn’t say you had to answer…” Ting Shuang turned around and leaned his back against the fence, “I just… Bai Laoban, I’ve scolded you before, but today, when I saw other people call you a perverted professor, I… I can’t say that I was angry, but at that moment, I felt like those two words were just that little bit… Painful.” Ting Shuang held Bai Changyi’s hand and smoked the cigarette with his other hand. His voice became even lower, “… Because I know you’re not like that. Seriously, I don’t think you’re annoying, nor do I think you’re narrow-minded. I have so many problems, yet you aren’t irritated. You are willing to teach me everything… In fact, you’re better than anyone else.”

Bai Changyi tapped off the ashes, smiled, and said, “You talked so much, just to say that you’re unhappy others are cursing me. I hear you call me an old beast quite naturally all day long. What, is it that only you can curse me? “

Ting Shuang said, “No, it’s not. When others scold you, it’s because they misunderstand you. When I call you that… It’s…” He couldn’t bear to continue that sentence, “I… just want to know what you think about it.”

Behind every adult’s behavior was a set of established principles. At an age when people are afraid of being misunderstood, and feel the need to be recognized and approved of by others, people would always talk about their own set of principles in order to explain their behavior.

Bai Changyi was already past the age at which people talked about their principles.

While Ting Shuang was still young.

Children, of course, liked to talk.

He’d talk, then.

Many years later, Ting Shuang would still remember that afternoon on the roof of the LRM building. The sky was clear and summer was in full swing as Bai Changyi stubbed out the cigarette, and asked him calmly, “Ting, what do you think university is?”