Your Distance

They waited for ten minutes. Both of them had finished their wontons, and Yan Liqian had yet to respond.

“This fish isn’t easy to catch.” Ting Shuang drummed his finger on the table, “But if it’s really like what I’m guessing, the R&D department will have to rush that FND project — although we don’t know exactly what it is yet — before monday. If it’s technology capital that they’re relying on for some kind of negotiation during the shareholders meeting, then Yan Liqian will definitely insist on discussing the new project with you on Sunday. Let’s continue waiting.”

After paying the bill, they left the wonton shop. Ting Shuang went to the small supermarket beside the shop and bought a lollipop. With it in his mouth, he asked Bai Changyi, “Has he replied?”

Bai Changyi: “No.”

“He hasn’t replied even after such a long time… What is he worrying about…” Ting Shuang paced back and forth in front of the school gate, “If he really was anxious, then he would insist on meeting tomorrow… Why isn’t he replying…”

Bai Changyi thought for a moment, “Maybe he suspects that I know something, or he knows about our relationship.”

“How would Yan Liqian know about my relationship with you… Fuck.” Something clicked in Ting Shuang’s mind, and something he hadn’t been able to comprehend suddenly made sense, “I should have thought of this long ago. When Weng Yunyi spoke so unpleasantly to me, I didn’t think much about it, and just wanted to talk back to her. After all, at that time, she didn’t directly say everything… I thought she wouldn’t tell anyone outside of our family about it.”

But what if, long ago, Weng Yunyi had already told Yan Liqian about him and Bai Changyi?

Or worse, Weng Yunyi might have already told all the high-level and senior employees of Roborun the so-called “truth”. After all, besides Weng Yunyi, there was also Yan Liqian whom she had brought into the ICU. The others couldn’t meet Zhu Ao, so they could only believe her.

She had been with Zhu Ao for so many years; of course they’d believe her.

No wonder.

No wonder his father’s old secretary and other older employees were unwilling to talk to him. If they really thought that he was the one to anger his father and had come back to fight for the family property, then on the flip side, it would be strange if they had replied earnestly.

“I’m so stupid, I’ve only been thinking about who’s the good guy and who’s the villain because I knew that none of the older employees would betray my dad.” Ting Shuang kicked the sides of the pavement, “Damn it, after this long, I turned out to be the villain.”

Then wouldn’t he be like a mouse crossing the street when he visited the company on Monday?

And his dad was currently unable to say a single word…

He still had a bunch of things that he hadn’t thought through clearly. On the night of his dad’s accident, who was the executive, or who were the executives that he ate with? Was Yan Liqian among them? What exactly did Yan Liqian want?

He thought about it, but came to no conclusion. After all, everything now was just a speculation. Was he thinking too poorly of Weng Yunyi?

It was a mess.

The pressure he felt suddenly increased, and his cigarette addiction flared up. The sugar wasn’t enough to keep it away.

But he really didn’t want to smoke anymore.

He was beyond irritated.

He had to vent it out; he had to let himself loose.

“I want to go in.” Ting Shuang looked at the black iron gate of the school. He seemed to be looking past the trees and around the teaching blocks, following the straight path and up the steps to the side of the plastic runway, “I want to go to the field.”

At this time, it was impossible to enter through the school gate. He had to climb over the wall.

When he came back to China, Bai Changyi had followed him. When he went to eat wontons, Bai Changyi had also followed him. To think that Bai Changyi would also follow him as he climbed over the school wall.

The field was empty, street lights lighting up automatically at night.

Ting Shuang took off his coat and threw it to Bai Changyi, “Wait for me.”

Then he started to run.

The wind whistled in his ears.

The first lap.

Some fragments of his memories appeared before his eyes.

Twenty years ago, from a low viewpoint, he had secretly looked up at Ting Yun’s back figure through the crack of the door.

“Zhu Ao, I don’t want any of your children.” Ting Yun’s voice was cold.

“Okay, it just happens that I want to raise one.” Zhu Ao sucked in a breath of the cigarette.

Soon after, another woman moved into the house, as well as a nanny.

“Can you educate Ting Shuang?” Weng Yunyi confronted Zhu Ao, her voice soft and sad, “He calls me aunt, just like how he calls the nanny. I am your wife, with your son in my belly, not a nanny you hired.”

""

“If he doesn’t want to call you ‘mum’, what can I do?” Zhu Ao said, “If you treat him as a son and treat him well, as time passes he’ll naturally be willing to call you ‘mum’.”

When he was in elementary school, Zhu Wenjia kept on pestering him, so he’d impatiently pushed Zhu Wenjia away. He didn’t expect Zhu Wenjia’s head to hit the marble steps.

He carried Zhu Wenjia to the doctor on his back.

“Lil’ Jia had to get five stitches on his forehead.” Weng Yunyi burst into tears with distress. “And it’s his forehead, too. What if it was his eyes?”

Smack.

Zhu Ao slapped Ting Shuang’s face, “Who taught you to bully the weak?”

“I didn’t!” He held his cheek and roared at Zhu Ao.

He didn’t say a word to Zhu Ao for many days after that.

One night, Zhu Ao knocked on his door with a football, “Haven’t you always wanted this? Let’s play football tomorrow, how about it? Just us father and son.”

He stared at Zhu Ao, “… I don’t want a football, I want you to apologize.”

Zhu Ao laughed, “You’re a boy, so what if you feel just a little wronged? Be a little less uptight.”

With red eyes, Ting Shuang insisted, “I, want, you, to, apologize.”

""

Zhu Ao stood by the door for a while, and sighed, “You’re just as unreasonable as your mum.”

That sentence sounded very familiar.

Once, Ting Yun had promised to take him to the aquarium, but did not turn up due to something that had cropped up.

He lost his temper over the phone.

Ting Yun felt a little helpless over the situation, “Why are you just as bad-tempered as your dad?”

His stomach hurt.

Ting Shuang felt severe pain from his stomach.

Possibly because he ran right after they had eaten wontons.

But he couldn’t stop.

He ran desperately, as if by doing so, he could get rid of those meaningless pieces of memories.

The second lap.

Finally, he ran away from his childhood and into his teenage years.

It was the same plastic runway, and in the centre of the runway was the same green field.

“Liang Zhengxuan, do you or do you not know how to defend the goal?!” He cursed.

They had lost the game.

“What exactly were you doing just now?” He was eating wontons at the wonton shop in front of the school, drinking soda, and getting angry.

One by one, Liang Zhengxuan picked up the wontons in his bowl with chopsticks and dropped them into Ting Shuang’s bowl, “… I was looking at you.”

“Shut up, damn it.” Ting Shuang lowered his head, his ears flushed, “If you’re like this again, I won’t play football with you anymore.”

In the empty school campus, under the dark sky, he also once made some ridiculous promises.

“We’ll have our own home. A complete home of our own. Just us, and no one else.”

His stomach was turning over violently.

Ting Shuang couldn’t help but rush to the trash can at the side of the field, vomiting out all the wontons he had just eaten.

Along with all the trivial incidents that he’d experienced since childhood, year after year, he vomited them all out.

After that, he went to the sink to rinse his mouth and wash his face. Then he continued running.

The third lap.

The fourth lap.

Ting Shuang ran faster and faster.

So fast that the shape of everything around him blurred and disappeared, leaving only darkness surrounding him.

Everything, and everyone, was like this. At the start, they all look their best. But as you run and run, they become completely unrecognizable. Or, as you run, they’d disappear, off to somewhere no one knew.

The fifth lap.

The sixth lap.

Gradually, a faint light appeared.

The seventh lap.

The eighth lap.

…

He wasn’t sure which lap he was on when he realised that Bai Changyi was running beside him.

After running five more laps like that, Bai Changyi pulled one step ahead and stopped in front of him.

“All right.”

He slammed into Bai Changyi’s arms.

“I can keep running…” he said, panting, “I feel like I’m flying.”

“I know.” Bai Changyi lowered his eyes, looking at him, “But you have to take care of me. I’m old, I want to go home sooner and go to bed.”

“Oh…” Ting Shuang’s tone involuntarily softened, “Then let’s return quickly.”

“Yan Liqian replied just now.” Bai Changyi said.

“What did he say?”

Bai Changyi handed the phone to Ting Shuang.