Your Distance

Zhu Wenjia thought: his brother had already come out, so what was he afraid of?

He replied casually, “Oh, my sister-in-law is back.”

It was a bolt from the blue.

Ting Shuang didn’t even have the time to fly over and cover Zhu Wenjia’s mouth.

“Your sister-in-law?” Zhu Ao stared at the person in the video. He couldn’t have been mistaken. It was his ol’ brother Bai. He hadn’t seen him in just a few months, how did his ol’ brother Bai become his younger son’s sister-in-law? “Zhu Wenjia, make yourself clear, which one of your sister-in-laws is this?”

Zhu Wenjia said, “Which sister-in-law can he be, I only have one—”

Ting Shuang quickly snatched Zhu Wenjia’s phone and quickly hung up on the video.

Ting Shuang himself was also to be blamed for this.

If he didn’t refer to him as “your sister-in-law, your sister-in-law,” in front of Zhu Wenjia all day, and earnestly called him “Bai ge”, the situation might still have been salvageable.

Now Zhu Wenjia also referred to him as “my sister-in-law” all day long. The moment “sister-in-law” made it out of Zhu Wenjia’s mouth, they didn’t have any buffer time to think of a solution.

Zhu Wenjia hadn’t realized what happened, “Ge, why did you steal my phone?”

“Half of your pocket money is gone,” Ting Shuang said.

Zhu Wenjia felt extremely wronged, “What did I do to make you deduct my money again?”

“… Forget it,” Ting Shuang calmed down quickly. Blaming Zhu Wenjia was useless.

He had always been like this – able to differentiate between things worth dwelling on, and things that weren’t.

If Zhu Wenjia had sauntered in front of Bai Changyi stark naked, he could scold him half to death, but now, this situation obviously could not be solved by scolding Zhu Wenjia, so there was no point in doing so.

At that moment, Zhu Wenjia’s cell phone rang again. One didn’t need to look at it to know that it was Zhu Ao.

Ting Shuang hung up again, turned off the phone, and turned off his own phone too.

“What the hell is going on?” Zhu Wenjia looked at Ting Shuang, and then at Bai Changyi who was making his way over.

Bai Changyi put it more euphemistically, “Mr. Zhu is my business partner.”

“So what?” Zhu Wenjia was still dumbfounded.

Ting Shuang didn’t know how to explain it, “… Just, um, oh, actually, your sister-in-law— I mean, your Bai Ge is someone our dad recognizes as a brother at the wine table… But no, they didn’t really become sworn brothers… But, in dad’s mind, their brotherhood must have been decided long ago… Now if he suddenly found out that his brother has be-become…”

What has become what?

His daughter-in-law?

That would be awkward no matter how one said it, and Ting Shuang couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Wait, my Bai Ge is my dad’s younger brother?” Zhu Wenjia pondered for a long time, his brain capacity obviously failing to comprehend these words. He gestured in the air with both hands, and almost wanted to draw a family tree on paper right there and then. “… Ge, you mean, my sister-in-law… is actually my uncle?”

Immediately afterwards, he further reasoned, “Then… then Ge, wouldn’t you become my aunt?”

Ting Shuang opened his mouth, but found that Zhu Wenjia’s logic surprisingly made sense, and didn’t know how to refute it for a long time. 

“… I won’t talk about our positions in the family with you, you return to your own room first.” He shooed Zhu Wenjia away with that sentence, and then asked Bai Changyi, “What do we do now? There’s still time, even if my dad were to fly over now, it’ll take more than ten hours.”

“We won’t delay it.” Bai Changyi said, “I’ll call him back immediately.”

“Immediately?” Ting Shuang was a little worried, “How about we wait two days for my dad to digest this? You know his temper when dealing with me, he’ll definitely explode.”

Bai Changyi said, “He called again, which means he wants to understand the current situation. We’d both be negligent and guilty if we don’t talk about it. If you reversed your positions, you’d also want to talk about it immediately.”

Ting Shuang thought for a while, and realised that it was true. Maybe the more he dragged on the matter, the angrier his father would become, “Then let’s call him back now, I’ll be here too.”

“I just came in, I’ll wash my hands first.” Bai Changyi went to the bathroom.

Ting Shuang poured a glass of water for Bai Changyi, walked to the bathroom door, and saw that Bai Changyi had taken off his glasses, and was washing his face.

“Are you nervous?” Ting Shuang asked.

Bai Changyi laughed, “Do you want me to be nervous?”

Ting Shuang laughed too, “I haven’t seen you nervous before, so I want to see it.”

“I’m done.” Bai Changyi put on his glasses and his expression changed, as if he was about to have a meeting, “Go and change your clothes to prepare the video call.”

Ting Shuang looked down at his loose and casual T-shirt, and then raised his head to compare it with Bai Changyi’s shirt and tie, realizing that family affairs were like national affairs. As soon as the camera was turned on, they’d be waging a war, and couldn’t afford to mess up their formation.

“In the living room or in the study?” Ting Shuang asked while wearing a tie, “How about we go to the study?”

Although the study didn’t have a large screen, its atmosphere was more serious.

Bai Changyi: “Mm.”

In the study, Ting Shuang looked like he was about to conduct an online interview. He first found a good angle for the laptop. He chose a bookshelf full of academic books to be in the background, and put two books by Bai Changyi as well as a fountain pen on a desktop that could be captured by the camera. Finally, he even looked for two equally long walnuts to place beside them.

Which senior wouldn’t be pleased with this setup?

“What should we say later?” Ting Shuang asked, “Should we develop a tactic?”

Bai Changyi smoothed down Ting Shuang’s slightly messy hair and thought about their approach.

After thinking deeply for a while, Ting Shuang nodded, “Then I’ll send a video request over now?”

He put his index finger on the left mouse button and waited.

Bai Changyi: “Mm.”

The left mouse button was pushed down, and the dialing sound ensued.

Waiting for the other party to connect.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

“Ting Shuang, explain this matter to me—”

Zhu Ao’s voice stopped abruptly.

He originally thought that the other party was his son, and didn’t expect to see two foreign ministry spokespersons of high standing sitting on the other side of the screen.

Zhu Ao was still wearing his home clothes.

It was a bad start.

However, Zhu Ao was used to playing against the wind his whole life, and didn’t mind such small details. He immediately sat upright, as stable as Mount Tai, and nodded slightly to Bai Changyi on the screen, “Professor Bai, long time no see.”

Ting Shuang was a little surprised. His dad surprisingly didn’t get angry, but after Ting Shuang thought about it again, that was normal. After interacting with other people and developing relationships, both parties’ attitudes towards each other would be hard to change. Zhu Ao was used to always being respectful and polite to Bai Changyi, and even though he’d already made speculations about the situation, he couldn’t treat him with the same attitude he’d had towards Liang Zhengxuan in the past.

Bai Changyi was straightforward, “Mr. Zhu, long time no see. Today I mainly wanted to talk to you about my and Ting Shuang’s matter.”

“… About yours and Ting Shuang’s matter.” Zhu Ao paused, then turned his head and said, “Yunyi, bring my quick-acting heart-relief pills.”

Chinese was an implicit language with profound meanings behind every word. When Bai Changyi said ‘my and Ting Shuang’s matter’, and Zhu Ao immediately understood it as ‘my and Ting Shuang’s marriage.’

Ting Shuang panicked, “Dad, are you okay?”

Zhu Ao said, “For now, my blood pressure is a little high, so that’s just in case.”

In the past, Ting Shuang was especially daring in his quarrels with Zhu Ao. The more he stood in the weaker position and the stronger Zhu Ao was, the more he dared to argue. He probably knew that no matter how much they fought, he couldn’t really change Zhu Ao’s mind. He could only get angry with him and fight for what he wanted. But since the last time they’d met, he realised that Zhu Ao had gotten obviously older, and didn’t dare to quarrel as hard as he’d had a few years ago.

Now that he found out about how Zhu Ao normally prepared quick-acting heart-relief pills, he didn’t dare force it, “Dad, let’s talk about it slowly.”

Zhu Ao picked up the cup of tea and slowly drank a sip, “You two can start.”

Bai Changyi said, “Mr. Zhu, what do you think of the psychiatrist I had recommended last time?”

It was all good before he mentioned the psychiatrist, but now Zhu Ao felt like Bai Changyi had long since planned to abduct his son, so obvious displeasure also appeared in his tone, “Professor Bai, when you recommended a psychiatrist to me last time, was it just for this day?”

Bai Changyi’s attitude was still very gentle, “No, Mr. Zhu, because of our friendship, you confided in me about the difficulties you encountered. Of course, I was obliged to provide help within my abilities.”

Confided in him?

Zhu Ao thought about it for a while. It seemed like he’d really taken the first step, asking Bai Changyi what he should do if his son was gay. Moreover, after the months during which he’d seen a psychiatrist, the rational part of him also realized that homosexuality was not a disease, although emotionally there was still no way to overcome the uncomfortable feeling.

But the crux of the problem now did not lie in whether his son wanted to spend his life with a man. The crux of the problem now was that his son wanted to spend his life with his brother.

What father could bear this?

“Friendship?” Zhu Ao asked, “So you, too, know that there’s friendship between us? Because we’re friends, you also can’t… Can’t…” Can’t abduct my son, right?

After a few consecutive ‘can’t’s, anger fueled Zhu Ao’s displeasure, “I treated you as a brother!”

Ting Shuang said, “Isn’t it better, adding more kinship on top of kinship?”

Zhu Ao: “What?!”

Bai Changyi pushed up his glasses, “Cough.”

Ting Shuang: “Oh oh… I mean, Dad, you’re not blood brothers after all… And, honestly… Dad, think about my achievements, then think about my professor’s achievements. You have to admit, I’m now involved in someone of a higher social status, right? Say, wouldn’t our family score in such a situation(1)?”

Zhu Ao was subconsciously brought in by the logic behind Ting Shuang’s words. That was for sure, this marriage would be considered one in which someone of a lower status married another with a higher social status. Professor Bai was an expert in the industry, and a tenured professor. With Ting Shuang’s achievements, Bai Changyi would probably be worth 8 or 10 of him, right?

If someone had scored, it was definitely Ting Shuang…