Your Distance

For Ting Shuang, who still didn’t know what he liked to do, he could still take his time to ponder about the impact the conversation between him and Bai Changyi on the roof that day had on him.

For now, he had two top priorities.

Firstly, Bai Laoban’s birthday was approaching.

Secondly, the exam period was also approaching. He had several exams in early August, and then several exams after autumn vacation, in late September and early October.

Regarding his first priority, this was what Ting Shuang thought of it——

People celebrated birthdays mainly out of filial piety(?), so it was natural that he had to organise something big for this elder of his.(1)

He had looked at the calendar in advance, and July 27 was a Saturday. The advantage of it being a Saturday was that Bai Changyi was usually free, and he could also take time off from the cafe where he worked. But the disadvantage of it being a Saturday was that Bai Changyi was free, so it wasn’t convenient for him to prepare a surprise for Bai Changyi.

After thinking about it, the only chance he had was on Saturday morning. Ever since they’d gotten Vico, they would take Vico out for walks in the morning and evening.

On the morning of July 27, Ting Shuang decided to send Bai Changyi off to bring his son out.

On the night of July 26th, Ting Shuang pretended he didn’t know anything, and spent the full night in the study, revising for the first exam in early August. At eleven o’clock, he told Bai Changyi that he was very sleepy, so he was going to sleep.

On the morning of July 27th, Bai Changyi woke up, kissed him, and was mercilessly pushed away, “Mm… Papa, bring your son out to play today… I want to sleep a little longer.”

Bai Changyi whispered in his ear, “What do you want to eat? I’ll buy it back for you.”

That voice had a magnetism unique to when he’d just woken up, tickling his heart.

Ting Shuang wanted to stay with Bai Changyi, but he held back for the sake of his birthday surprise. He pretended that he couldn’t wake up, turned over, and covered his head with the blanket, exuding drowsiness, “Anything’s fine… Stop talking… I want to sleep…”

Bai Changyi got up, picked up his glasses gently, put them on, and left the bedroom without making a sound.

Ting Shuang waited under the blanket for a long time, not knowing whether he had really left the house. After a few minutes, he tentatively pulled off the covers and observed his surroundings.

Very good, the target had left the bedroom.

On his tiptoes, Ting Shuang got off the bed, leaned his back against the frame of the bedroom door, and stuck his head out.

Next to it, the bathroom door was open, but there was no sign of movement inside.

The target should have gone downstairs.

Ting Shuang quickly slid over to the stairs, observing the situation downstairs through the railings.

The target was drinking water.

Damn, the target was sexy.

Ting Shuang stepped back a bit to avoid being discovered.

From downstairs, there was a soft sound of the drawer being opened. The target was probably taking the leash out.

“Woof.”

Vico knew he was going out when he saw Bai Changyi take the leash out, and was very excited.

“Quiet,” Bai Changyi said softly.

Vico stopped barking.

A few minutes later, Ting Shuang stretched out his head and continued to observe the situation downstairs, because he knew that Bai Changyi would wait for Vico to calm down before leaving.

The target was walking towards the door.

Then, there were the very light sounds of the door opening and closing.

Like a kid waiting to watch TV in secret after his parents went out for work, Ting Shuang quietly went down to the window on the first floor and peeked outside to confirm that Bai Changyi had really left.

When Bai Changyi and Vico disappeared through the courtyard doors, Ting Shuang immediately picked up his phone and started counting down. It was currently five minutes to seven, and he had about an hour. He didn’t tell Bai Changyi that he’d taken leave today, so Bai Changyi would definitely be back before eight o’clock to have breakfast with him and send him off to Freesia.

Ting Shuang silently cheered for his deduction skills, then ran to the wardrobe to take out a bag deeply hidden amongst Bai Changyi’s winter clothing.

He had bought the contents of the bag in advance. Although he already knew what was inside, he still felt his face turn a little hot when he took it out.

(…)

After exhausting all his energy putting the costume on, the first alarm rang, signalling that 20 minutes had passed.

It was too late.

Ting Shuang picked up the mouth gag and birthday card, walking towards the kitchen.

He wanted to prepare breakfast before Bai Changyi returned.

Then, cough, together with the food, wait on the table for Bai Changyi to return.

The toasted bread was placed in a bamboo basket. The boiled eggs were placed on a white porcelain egg holder. The three jams were in a small dish, and coffee and milk were also prepared.

It was the usual breakfast. Bai Changyi’s tastes never changed much.

He didn’t make a cake either, as Bai Changyi didn’t like sweet things.

The second alarm had rung while the food was being prepared. Ting Shuang glanced at his phone. It was 7:49.

He put all the food on the tray along with the birthday card and took it to the dining area.

Just as he stepped into the dining area, the sound of the door opening sounded from outside.

He had made it, fortunately.

He rushed to put on the mouth gag.

Suddenly, all that could be heard was a faint and unfamiliar female voice, “Changyi should be up already, right?”

Then, an unfamiliar male voice also rang out, “I think you should call him first. You know that ever since he was young, he’s liked having his schedule planned out in advance. Aren’t we disrespecting him too much like this?”

The female voice said, “But if we tell him in advance, it won’t be a surprise. It’s his birthday today, and it’s the weekend. Do even his parents need to make an appointment with his secretary in order to see him?”

[A small extra written to make up for the words lost when cutting a scene]

[To highlight: This has nothing to do with the main story]

If Ting Shuang was to be asked to answer a Zhihu question about ‘What kind of experience is it, dating your professor?’ (Part 1)

Ting:

Thanks for asking.

I’m in Germany and I just got off from my boyfriend’s class. Now my boyfriend is going to have a group meeting with his PhD students. I’m basking on the field and decided to just answer this question.

The thing about experiences…

Every professor is different, so each professor should be analyzed in a specific way.

When we first got together, I was very scared, very nervous, and felt somewhat confused. For instance, when you’ve played too much the night before and want to skip morning class the next day, wouldn’t boyfriends usually indulge you and say, “Let’s not go”, or try persuading you with “This class is pretty important, so maybe you should go”, right?

But my boyfriend doesn’t.

My boyfriend would stand beside the bed and ask me flatly, “Do you remember which professor‘s class you have today morning.”

Then I’d remember, oh, I have his class.

Professor is waking me up, telling me to go to class.

Fear instantly woke me up.

But after being together for a while, the situation changed.

It was probably after we’d been together for a long time. One morning I couldn’t wake up, and said that I wanted to skip class. Then he said very gently, “Then I’ll skip class with you.”

That was more terrifying than when he asked me which professor’s class I had. I remembered “She slept till sun rose high, for the blessed night was short. From then on the monarch held no longer morning court”(2), I was so scared that I immediately jumped up and said, “You are a professor, you can’t skip class!”

Then we went downstairs to have breakfast and go to school together.

I’ll just write this much as an answer, I have to go to the library to complete the homework my partner has just assigned!