Your Distance

These days, Ting Shuang kept watching dog videos online.

He was evaluating dog breeds, wondering what would be best for him and Bai Laoban to keep.

Firstly, it had to be cool, and secondly, it had to be smart, just like Bai Laoban.

“Bai Laoban, what dog breed do you think you look like?” Ting Shuang asked Bai Changyi.

Bai Changyi, who was reading, lifted his gaze, “I think you want a beating.”

“Please no, quickly, think about it and answer me.” Ting Shuang tossed the mouse to the side and sat on Bai Changyi’s lap, “I’m serious.”

“I’m serious too,” Bai Changyi said.

“Then I’ll think about it myself,” Ting Shuang slunk back to the seat in front of the computer, “… I wanted to discuss it with you first.”

The light on the computer screen kept changing, reflecting in his eyes, making it seem like he was looking forward to something.

Bai Changyi watched Ting Shuang for a while, “I leave this to you, I won’t meddle.”

“Huh? About what?” Ting Shuang’s eyes were still fixated on the dogs on the screen.

“Whatever comes before raising a dog.” Bai Changyi walked over and passed Ting Shuang a credit card, “Deciding what breed to raise, where we should buy or adopt from, where to get the vaccinations and microchip implants, how to pay taxes for the dog, how to buy insurance for the dog… You’re responsible for all these things.”

Responsibility helped one grow.

From Bai Changyi’s view, self-efficacy should be built through continuous efforts to accomplish one thing after another. If there was any way to stop feeling incompetent, it was to experience success. Even a small success would be carved into one’s bones as an important life experience.

Children, they should train themselves more.

With more successes, one would gain confidence and a sense of security.

If those weren’t enough to increase Ting Shuang’s sense of security, it was alright, for Bai Changyi still had enough of love.

“Ah? I don’t have any experience…” Ting Shuang looked up at Bai Changyi.

Bai Changyi smoothed down Ting Shuang’s hair, “You will have, after this.”

After more than a month, Ting Shuang completed all the procedures for raising a dog.

On a sunny Monday afternoon, he brought back a two-month-old weimaraner.

When Bai Changyi reached home in the evening, Ting Shuang was sewing up the sofa, looking as miserable as an old mother sewing clothes for her child under an oil lamp. The carpet in front of the sofa had a bulge in it, and that bulge was even moving around under the carpet.

“Ting, what happened at home?” Bai Changyi’s gaze followed the bump on the carpet.

“I brought our son back.” Ting Shuang turned around, and like he was unveiling some great artwork, he proudly lifted the carpet–

“Woof.”

A puppy with big ears was lying on the ground, looking at Bai Changyi with bright slate grey eyes.

Bai Changyi stood a few meters away from the carpet, looking down at the puppy.

The human and the dog looked at each other for three seconds.

Ting Shuang introduced Bai Changyi to the dog, “This is Papa[1].”

The puppy wagged its tail, running over affectionately and rubbing its head against Bai Changyi’s pants.

Ting Shuang introduced the dog to Bai Changyi, “This is Vico.”

Bai Changyi picked up the puppy skillfully and asked Ting Shuang, “If I am his Papa, then what are you?”

Ting Shuang solemnly announced in a broadcast-like tone, “I am his father.”

“This father here,” Bai Changyi scanned the furniture in the living room, which was in such bad condition it was almost unbearable to look at. “Have you signed your son up for dog school?”

“I’m currently looking at schools online…” Ting Shuang’s energetic voice suddenly died down, “When I got out of the study… The house was already like this. And… this is also your son.”

“Mm,” Bai Changyi said with a smile, “I also have a responsibility.”

Enrolling their son needed to be on the agenda as soon as possible.

Ting Shuang spent another two days choosing a dog school.

When selecting a school, he was like a parent with a kid just old enough for school. He looked up information and picked carefully, finally choosing a small class with 4 dogs every lesson. This small class was quite special. It required for there to be a couple raising the dog. The introduction of the course very warmly stated: Mom and Dad would participate in the education of the dog together, and accompany it as it grows.

In short, two people and one dog would go to class together, learn together, and progress together.

Class took place every Monday afternoon, starting from the following week.

On the morning of the first day of class at the dog school, Ting Shuang sat in Bai Changyi’s lesson and stayed until all the students had left before reminding Bai Changyi, “Papa, don’t forget to come to class in the afternoon.”

He had gotten used to referring to Bai Changyi in that way over the past few days.

As long as others didn’t hear, it didn’t matter what he called him.

It was more troublesome when he got used to calling something else by another name. When he took Vico to the dog school in the afternoon, Vico didn’t respond no matter how many times the teacher called his name.

The teacher asked Ting Shuang, “Is he really called Vico?”

Ting Shuang thought for a while and called out in Chinese, “Er Zi?(1)“

Vico ran over happily, pushing his head against Ting Shuang’s calf.

The teacher, “……”

The teacher, “Teach me how to pronounce it… Uh? Zi?”

Ting Shuang, “Er Zi.”

The teacher tried very hard to roll her tongue, “Errrrrrr? Zi?”

Ting Shuang, “Very good.”

The other three German couples who were watching at the side clapped together.

“Okay.” The teacher clapped her hands and signaled the start of class. “Today we must first learn the body language and expressions of dogs and how they are different from those of humans, then learn some commands and practice getting the doggies to obey those commands.”

The learning format of the first part was too different from that of Ting Shuang’s usual classes, but the content was much simpler, so there were no problems.

When it came to the second part of class, the problem appeared.

The four couples who had just practiced “sit down” and several other commands with their dogs led their dogs to stand on the grass patch.

“Now we’ll practice letting the dog run from that side to this side.” The teacher gestured, “Okay, now, the papas will stand on my side, and the mamas will bring the dogs 50 meters away. There is a mark there.”

The three women led their dogs to the mark that was fifty meters away.

Ting Shuang and Bai Changyi stood in place.

Seeing that Ting Shuang and Bai Changyi weren’t moving, the teacher suddenly realized the problem using such titles. She had previously met only heterosexual couples in class, so she was used to using “papa” and “mama” to separate the couples.

“… You go over.” Ting Shuang said to Bai Changyi, “I want to be in the papa group.”

Bai Laoban didn’t care about this kind of small problem, and immediately led the dog to where the mamas were.

“Please wait.” The teacher stopped Bai Changyi, “Sorry, I’ve never encountered this kind of situation before. I think we should choose another grouping method. With the situation we have now, it’s very rude to use gender for the groupings.”

The teacher thought for a while, and came up with a way to satisfy everyone (except Bai Changyi), “How about this –  mamas, please come back. Now, the younger of each couple will stand on my side, and the older one will lead the dog fifty meters away. This is the younger group, and over there is the older group.”

Bai Changyi, “…”

“You go over,” Bai Changyi said to Ting Shuang, “I want to be in the younger group.”

Ting Shuang gazed into Bai Changyi’s eyes, the corners of his mouth rising.

Bai Changyi said, “What are you laughing at.”

Ting Shuang kissed Bai Changyi on the lips, “You’re so cute.”

Then he led the dog to the older group.

Back home at night, Ting Shuang and Bai Changyi were both in good spirits, and the dog was exhausted.

The weimaraner was usually more active, and wouldn’t stop tossing and turning every night. Today, Vico had had too much fun with his companions on the grass, so he started resting shortly after returning home.

Usually, families with children would let the kids sleep earlier if the couple wanted to do ‘adult’ things.

This was the situation at home now.

The time, place and relationship (between dog and humans) were all in their favour.

Ting Shuang, who had just listened to the dog’s snoring while squatting for two minutes, ran to the study and said in the tone of an old father, “Our son is asleep.”

Bai Changyi was replying to his emails, which was part of his routine, “Hold on.”

Seeing that Bai Changyi was still working, Ting Shuang opened his laptop and checked his mailbox.

Once he checked, he realised that starting this Monday until next Friday, these two weeks were the period for students to give their course evaluations. Although there were still a few weeks before the actual end of the semester, he could already evaluate all the courses he had taken this semester, regardless of whether you end up taking the final exam.

He had taken a few courses, so which professor should he evaluate first…

Cough.

To be fair, he would do it in alphabetical order.

The first of the thirty alphabets in German was obviously… B.

The first of the twenty-six alphabets in English was also obviously… B.

That’s right.

Coincidentally, Prof. Bai just so happens to be the first professor whose surname starts with B.

Ting Shuang clicked on the Robotik evaluation page.

When he was doing the course evaluation last semester, he thought that this questionnaire was long and irritating, and it was annoying just to fill out one page. Now he just wished that the questionnaire was longer, best with more subjective questions, so that he could write a short essay about Bai Changyi.

Part One of Evaluation: Course Content.

Does the professor integrate the content of the course well into reality?

Yes.

Is the course content taught by the professor outdated?

No.

Is the content of the professor’s course compatible with other course content?

Yes.

Does the professor expect too much from his students?

Yes.

Wait.

How should he answer this question…

Ting Shuang hesitated.

“What are you looking at?” Bai Changyi’s voice came from behind Ting Shuang.

Ting Shuang was about to close the laptop, but Bai Changyi had already read the words on the screen out loud, “Does the professor have high expectations for students? Ting, you filled in ‘Yes’.”

“Um… No…” Ting Shuang didn’t dare to turn his head, “I’m still thinking about it…”

“Thinking about what.”

“… Thinking about which is more important, love or righteousness.”

Bai Changyi kissed the top of Ting Shuang’s head, “Think carefully.”

“… Love, of course, it’s love.” Ting Shuang immediately changed “Yes” to “No”.

He reached the last question about the course content: How difficult is the course?

There were five options: Too Easy, Relatively Easy, Moderate, Relatively Difficult, and Too Difficult.

Ting Shuang slowly moved the cursor to “Too Difficult”.

He turned his head to look at Bai Changyi, who was looking at him with eyes full of kindness.

Ting Shuang slowly moved the cursor from “Too Difficult” to “Relatively Difficult”.

He turned his head to look at Bai Changyi again. Bai Changyi’s eyes were still full of kindness.

Ting Shuang slowly moved the cursor from “Relatively Difficult” to “Moderate”.

He clicked, confirming his answer.

Ting Shuang had a hunch that these were the top two questions that tested his conscience, and they had both been answered today.

He could live out the rest of his life honestly.

The rest of the evaluation sheet was easy to fill out. Course structure, class content and teaching methods, the professor’s level of professionalism, teaching attitude, charisma… Love and righteousness were completely consistent.

He could just give all the perfect answers.

Ting Shuang continued down the evaluation questionnaire.

Hm?

Why were there not only questions about professors, but also questions about students?

Could it be that the evaluation questionnaire for this semester had been revised…

Question 1: For this course, do you usually read up before class?

Options: Never, Occasionally, Often, Always.

Ting Shuang’s heart shriveled.

“Why aren’t you choosing?” Bai Changyi asked in Ting Shuang’s ear, “I want to know too.”