Your Distance

His life and death all depended on the professor’s mouth.

After Ting Shuang finished putting back his things and returned to the dining area, Bai Changyi was already discussing the latest news with Su Ping and Bai Zhongyan. Ting Shuang sat next to Bai Changyi, and secretly held Bai Changyi’s hand under the table.

“Eat first,” Bai Changyi said.

“Oh,” Ting Shuang released his hand and started eating the cake.

The few of them ate desserts, drank coffee, talked about current affairs and about Ting Shuang’s life studying abroad.

As soon as Su Ping heard that Ting Shuang was studying abroad alone, and was also supporting himself, her heart filled with maternal love. After all, Bai Changyi rarely gave her opportunities to feel so pained like this after he turned 13 or 14 years old. She immediately chose a restaurant, called to book seats, and planned to take Ting Shuang (along with her husband and son) for a meal at noon.

After hanging up she asked again, “Changyi, it’s the end of July now, have you bought Ting Ting any autumn clothes?”

It was so pitiful, the great Professor Bai originally thought that he was a good partner, but as soon as his mother came, she had transformed him from an excellent boyfriend to a failed boyfriend.

“No,” Bai Changyi admitted.

“Then in the afternoon, I’ll bring Ting Ting to buy clothes,” Su Ping said to Ting Shuang, “Does Ting Ting have time? Changyi said that you have exams coming up soon. Are you busy revising?”

“It’s going fine…” How could Ting Shuang refuse, “It’s his birthday today, I didn’t intend to do any revision.”

Su Ping nodded before she thought of something, and asked: “Hey, Ting Ting, I forgot to ask, what major do you take?”

It was coming.

The waves calmed, then came again, it was a life like a roller coaster.

“Mm…” Ting Shuang held up his fork, cake near his mouth, “I’m studying… That…” He hinted very vaguely, “Mm… Auntie, have you seen ‘Ji Qi Ren Zong Dong Yuan’? The English name is ‘WALL-E’.”

“I’ve seen it.” Su Ping nodded, and understood, “Ting Ting’s majoring in film and animation?”

“Cough, cough…” Ting Shuang covered his mouth, “… Cough, what’s the matter with today’s cake? Unexpectedly, I keep choking on it.”

Bai Changyi couldn’t stand it any longer, and handed the napkin to Ting Shuang, “He is a robotics major. He’s taking my class this semester.”

Ting Shuang lowered his head and continued eating the cake, not daring to look at Su Ping and Bai Zhongyan, “… Mm, after conversing online for a while, I realised that he was my professor.”

Both Su Ping and Bai Zhongyan’s expressions turned slightly more serious.

Bai Changyi took a sip of his coffee and waited for his parents to digest the news.

Bai Zhongyan thought for a while and said to Bai Changyi, “You always know what you’re doing, so I won’t say much.”

In dealing with such things, he always had the kind of tolerance and respect that belonged to intellectuals. Intellectuals had always been a little out of touch from social reality. They did not believe in existing ethics and norms easily, nor did they judge others.

What’s more, he’d seen a psychiatrist for half a year after Bai Changyi had come out and gotten divorced, and read a lot of books about sexual minorities.

The old man remained calm in the face of (suspected) imprisonment, (suspected) S/M, (suspected) father and son play, and (a mountain of evidence that suggested, and what he had seen through but did not say anything about) rabbit costume play. Now, a teacher-student relationship issue was just like a small splash after a tsunami. It didn’t pose any threat.

Ting Shuang, who was silently eating the cake, secretly let out half a sigh of relief.

The other half of that sigh lay with Su Ping.

Su Ping didn’t have any other thoughts. In her opinion, whether or not this issue could be accepted depended on whether anyone had gotten hurt from it. The romantic relationship between teachers and students naturally had some power imbalance. Bai Changyi was already older and at a higher position than him, and now that he was even his professor, it was all too easy to bully the kid.

“Ting Ting.”

Ting Shuang looked up guiltily and looked at Su Ping, “Mm?”

Su Ping asked, “Does Changyi threaten you by not letting you pass the exams?”

Of course he does!

He also recorded an alarm ringtone saying I didn’t pass the exam!

Ting Shuang glanced at Bai Changyi.

Should this question be answered truthfully, or answered truthfully…

Bai Changyi realised Ting Shuang’s intentions, a hint of warning appearing in his eyes behind the lenses.

“Auntie…” Ting Shuang put down his fork, moved closer to Su Ping, and said aggrievedly, “When this semester started, a little upset happened between us… And he made me take the exam again next year… Can you tell him not to let me retake the exam…”

This accusation was simply filled with words that had a deeper meaning. If you wanted to accuse him of telling a lie, there wasn’t a trace of fiction in his words.

Little bastard.

Bai Changyi didn’t know whether to be angry or to laugh.

As Su Ping looked at Ting Shuang’s pitiful appearance, her heart was about to melt. She immediately criticized Bai Changyi, “How could you let Ting Ting take the exam next year? It’s not easy for him to study abroad alone. Let him pass the exam this semester, hear that?”

In Ting Shuang’s eyes was a hint of unconcealable delight, and he naughtily kicked Bai Changyi under the table. He knew that it was impossible for Bai Changyi to change his principles because of this, but he liked to see Bai Changyi helpless.

Bau Changyi glanced at Ting Shuang, and said impatiently to Su Ping, “I will ‘discuss’ this matter with him later.”