Your Distance

Just like that, they drove all the way to the north.

Along with the twenty-four year old Ting Shuang, they rushed back in time towards the twenty-four year old Bai Changyi.

When they passed by a deserted river bank, they leaned against the car while they shared a bretzel, drinking from the same bottle of water and talking about what civilisations must have grown because of the river in front of them, and which sea the river water would flow to. When they passed by the uninhabited mountains, they did not exercise restraint, but comfortably made love in the mountains under the starry sky, whispering together afterwards about how they’d wait until a clear night in winter to take pictures of the star trails.

Then they finally arrived in Lübeck.

Ting Shuang had slept for less than three hours, before Bai Changyi woke him up, and they set off on a boat.

They were on a small fishing boat. There were seven or eight other tourists on board, all wanting to see the sea on a boat early in the morning, watching the sunrise and the fishing process.

The sky hadn’t brightened yet, and the sea was a patch of black.

The rolling waves split to make way for the ship. The howling wind brushed past their ears.

They were truly braving the wind and the waves.

“Are you cold?” Ting Shuang asked.

Bai Changyi said, “If you’re cold, we can go into the cabin.”

Ting Shuang said, “If you’re cold, come into my arms.”

Bai Changyi laughed, “I’m not cold.”

Ting Shuang hugged Bai Changyi, “I think you’re cold.”

The sky slowly brightened up.

A white dot. A golden circle with rough edges. Two orange horizons.

Suddenly, very close to the fishing boat, a small mound rose up from the surface of the sea. With a loud sound, a spout of water sprayed up high from the top of it, creating a curtain of mist. The golden morning light shone from the horizon through the curtain of water, creating a rainbow.

In the blink of an eye, the mound dipped down, and a huge tail rose up from the waters.

It was a whale.

“… This is the first time I’ve seen one at sea–“

Ting Shuang’s voice stopped abruptly.

It turned out that there was not just one mound, but dozens of them.

It was a group of whales.

They surfaced one after another, spraying spouts of water, one rainbow after another descending upon the sea.

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All around them, people were exclaiming in delight, but Ting Shuang was speechless.

Rainbows appeared and disappeared over and over again. Huge tails rose up, and then dipped under again.

The whales swam away, and calm returned to the sea, as if nothing had happened.

Ting Shuang looked around. Everyone was like him, still immersed in the magnificent scene that had occurred just now. No one even thought of taking pictures.

At this moment, he suddenly understood the words of Bai Changyi’s mother — not from the perspective of others, but an understanding that truly came from the depths of his heart — a ‘moment’.

The scene at sea just now was one of the countless moments they had.

Ting Shuang looked at Bai Changyi and said, “So many whales… Have you seen that before? Did you see it a long time ago?”

“No.” Bai Changyi looked into Ting Shuang’s eyes for a while, then laughed, “Don’t think that being old means you’ve seen all there is to see.”

“That’s good.” Ting Shuang also laughed, “I’m afraid that you’ve already experienced everything I’m experiencing now, so you’ll feel bored.”

After that, he asked again, “Then, what if you encounter this kind of situation in the future? Like, if you’ve seen everything that I want to see, then what will you do?”

Bai Changyi said, “Then I’ll watch you.”

An hour later, the fishing boat returned to the pier.

 The signal that had disappeared while they were out at sea now returned to everyone’s mobile phones.

Not long after Ting Shuang’s phone found a signal, it rang. He looked at the screen, and saw Zhu Wenjia’s name.

Bai Changyi looked at him, and Ting Shuang said, “My brother.”

He answered the phone with one hand and held the other out to Bai Changyi, the two of them holding hands as they walked to the parking spot.

“Ge, I’m seeking asylum with you.” Zhu Wenjia sounded like he had had a huge burden placed on him, and coming to Ting Shuang was his last resort.

“What’s up with you?” Ting Shuang said, “You’re not here yet, right? I’m not at home.”

“I haven’t gone yet. I can’t go. The old man froze my card. Help me book a ticket. I’m in Amsterdam.” Afterwards, Zhu Wenjia made a lot of requests. He wasn’t willing to take a good number of airlines, and didn’t want any bad timings. As for the fact that he didn’t want to take economy class, he didn’t mention it, because no one had ever booked him an economy class ticket.

“Why did he freeze your card?” Ting Shuang was a little overwhelmed by Zhu Wenjia’s request. “Did you come out too?”

“I’m not that suicidal.” Zhu Wenjia was aggressive, “You’re responsible for this too. Because there was a basis for comparison, the old man froze my card. I just spent a little more money last week, and the old man called me saying ‘Your brother didn’t ask the family for money when he was your age’…”

“He’s your dad, he only froze a few of your cards, don’t call him ‘old man’.” Ting Shuang asked, “How much did you spend last week?”

Zhu Wenjia: “Two hundred thousand I guess.”

Ting Shuang: “Renminbi?”

Zhu Wenjia’s voice weakened, “… Euros.”

Ting Shuang couldn’t believe it, “Zhu Wenjia, what the fuck did you spend the money on? I can’t even spend that much money in three years.”

Zhu Wenjia said very softly, “… Red Light District.”

Ting Shuang couldn’t believe it, “Which red light district costs so much money? What else did you do?”

Zhu Wenjia said, “… I also rented a castle. My friends and I called a group of beautiful boys and girls over to play with us for a few days.”

Ting Shuang: “…”

Zhu Wenjia: “Ge, in any case, before dad changes his mind, please take me in. My wallet only has… Let me count… 35 Euros and two five-cent coins. I can’t even eat anything.”

Ting Shuang glanced at Bai Changyi, “Mm… I have exams coming up, I’m quite busy. How about I buy you a return ticket to China, so you can go home. Auntie definitely won’t leave you alone.”

“It’s not like you don’t know my mom. She’ll listen to dad. Then she’ll definitely force me to either go to school or work for the company. I’m not going back. Ge, I only have you left…” Zhu Wenjia tried all kinds of methods to convince Ting Shuang, even bringing up things from god-knows-when, “Do you remember when I was a kid, you pushed me and I fell, so now I have a scar on my head… If we start a video call, I will immediately lift my bangs to show you…”

Ting Shuang was really worn out, “Let me think about it… If you come to live here…”

He asked Bai Changyi with his eyes: Is it possible?

Bai Changyi nodded.

“Mm, I’ll book you a ticket,” Ting Shuang thought for a while and decided to prepare him first. “There’s something I have to tell you in advance. I’m not living alone, um… You just take note.”

“You have a new partner?” Zhu Wenjia didn’t take this person seriously, and didn’t even think about Mr. C who had matched Ting Shuang at that time.

“Mm.” Ting Shuang warned Zhu Wenjia, “He’s not the kind of messy person you usually deal with… Don’t spout nonsense when you see him, be polite, you hear?”

“I know I know, how could I embarrass you?” Zhu Wenjia was very confident, “Don’t worry, I’ll demonstrate the full set of traditional Chinese virtues later. You’ll definitely be satisfied.”

Feeling uneasy, Ting Shuang hung up and asked Bai Changyi, “You really don’t mind? If you find it inconvenient, I’ll rent him another house for the next few days.”

Bai Changyi asked, “Can he live alone?”

Ting Shuang had a headache, “… I guess I have to hire a nanny for him.”

Bai Changyi said, “Let him live with us first, we’ll solve any problems that arise later.”

Ting Shuang felt a little sorry, “… Didn’t we set some rules before, saying that we won’t bring other people to the house.”

Bai Changyi smiled, “It’s okay, the rules at home are mainly set for me.”

Zhu Wenjia’s plane arrived at seven in the evening.

On the way to pick him up, Ting Shuang was worried, afraid that Zhu Wenjia’s habit of running his mouth about anything and everything would make Bai Changyi upset.

At the airport exit, Ting Shuang kept looking at his watch.

Bai Changyi said, “The plane landed on time, so he should be coming out soon.”

As soon as he said so, Ting Shuang saw a person waving to them from a distance away.

Zhu Wenjia had white shoulder-length hair, a white T-shirt, a pair of linen pants, and a pair of flip-flops. His face was haggard.

As soon as he approached, he couldn’t help but complain about Ting Shuang’s outrageous act of buying him an economy class ticket, but as soon as he saw the proper and graceful Bai Changyi, he immediately remembered Ting Shuang’s warning.

He had to be polite.

Thus Zhu Wenjia bowed to Bai Changyi very politely and kindly, “This is my sister-in-law, right? Good day sister-in-law, good day.”