Your Distance

The day Zhu Ao realised that Ting Shuang was wearing a ring on his hand was the day he was transferred to the general ward. At that time, Ting Shuang was peeling oranges, and the platinum ring kept moving along with his ring finger, its flash catching Zhu Ao’s eyes.

Zhu Ao immediately made a few comments on that ring.

He was speaking a little better than before, but most people still couldn’t understand him. Ting Shuang had been coming to the hospital every night and spending more time with him, so he could understand a little bit better than the average person. His level was around that of the nurse in charge of the ward, but there were often times when he couldn’t understand. For example, now, Zhu Ao was talking about the ring, but Ting Shuang thought he was saying that he didn’t want to eat oranges, so he replied, “I’m peeling it for myself.”

Zhu Ao said, “You come here just to eat fruits every day.”

Ting Shuang half heard and half guessed this sentence, and understood its meaning, “I’ll bring some back home in a while. These days, there’ve been many people coming to see you. If the fruits aren’t finished here, I can bring them back and share them with the neighbors. Don’t waste them.”

Zhu Ao said, “What the hell are you wearing on your hand?”

When that sentence came up again, Ting Shuang once again failed to understand. He stuffed an orange into his mouth and guessed, “Dad, you want to eat oranges now? Then, I’ll peel another one?”

Zhu Ao suspected that his son, that bastard, had selective hearing. He was so angry that he shook his beard and raised his voice, “Ting Shuang, you took the chance to secretly marry someone while I was in the hospital?”

He said that several times until Ting Shuang understood, not allowing the kid to take advantage of the situation and dodge the question.

“Dad, back then the situation was like this.” Ting Shuang put aside the unfinished oranges, and sat properly and respectfully. “At that time, you couldn’t wake up. I didn’t know which god to pray to, which god to beg, or even where to do it. I was really desperate, and wanted to give you a happy occasion to scare away the evil spirits, so I bowed to heaven and earth with my professor(1). I admit that it was superstitious, and I believe in science, so I really shouldn’t have done that kind of thing, but the situation at the time… Even modern science couldn’t say anything for certain. I really panicked, and turned to whatever means I had. I tried everything I could think of. I was afraid that something bad might happen…”

A happy occasion to scare away the evil spirits? Bowing to heaven and earth?

Zhu Ao grabbed a cup at the head of the bed with his non-paralyzed left hand and threw it at Ting Shuang’s head, “My ass!”

It was a pity that he was too weak, so it didn’t hit its target.

Ting Shuang hurriedly caught the cup, scared that his dad would be too angry and aggravate his heart condition. He didn’t dare talk nonsense anymore, “Dad, really, this time our family… went through a lot of changes. I thought about quite a lot, even about all the issues that you told me to consider back then.”

Ever since Zhu Ao transferred to the general ward, Ting Shuang had slowly filled him in about the situation with Weng Yunyi and Yan Liqian. In addition, when someone from the company came to visit, they couldn’t avoid mentioning the company’s current situation, so Zhu Ao also roughly understood what had happened while he was sick. But after all, he’d been through storms and rough waters before. He didn’t have much of a reaction after hearing those things. He was silent for a long time, then asked how Zhu Wenjia was.

Ting Shuang deliberated before saying, what could Zhu Wenjia know? That kid doesn’t know anything, and is still thinking about what college he wants to go to at home.

With great effort, Zhu Ao said, look after him, that silly boy isn’t reliable at all.

Ting Shuang said, that’s for sure, no matter how unreliable he is, he’s still my brother.

Zhu Ao was a little relieved.

After that, Ting Shuang came to see Zhu Ao every day, and he would talk about how Roborun was doing recently, how the lawsuit between Weng Yunyi and Yan Liqian went, and how Zhu Wenjia was busy preparing to apply for college… And he also talked about himself. He’d canceled his remaining exams this semester, and applied for a half-year leave of absence from the academic affairs office to take on an internship in the company. He learned a lot from his internship, and it wasn’t a waste of time. Zhu Ao didn’t ask about Bai Changyi, so he didn’t take the initiative to talk to Zhu Ao about it.

But now that Zhu Ao asked, he thought it was time to talk about it.

“Dad, do you still think… one has to get married and have children?” Ting Shuang said, “The key would be to look at who you’re doing it with, right.”

Zhu Ao thought of Weng Yunyi and made a sound in reply, but didn’t speak.

“It’s really inappropriate for me to say this at this time, but I can’t help it.” Ting Shuang put down the cup in his hand, pulled the chair closer, and sat next to Zhu Ao. “Dad, after going through this, do you still think about what would happen when you turn seventy or eighty? You still have twenty years before then, and I have fifty. Who knows what the future holds? On the day you went drinking, you couldn’t even anticipate anything that would happen that night. So, let’s not think too far, and just think about the present.”

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Zhu Ao closed his eyes and didn’t speak for a long time.

“If you really want me to talk about my seventies and eighties…” For a moment, Ting Shuang imagined, a faint smile on his face, “Isn’t it something to be happy about, taking care of someone you love? Why do you have to think about it like it’s so miserable… If he gets old and I’m not that old yet, then I can serve and take care of him. It seems pretty nice. I can’t even be sure that I’ll have someone to take care of me.”

Zhu Ao opened his eyes and looked at Ting Shuang, the look in his eyes seeming to say: At least you’re aware of it.

Ting Shuang said, “To be honest, forget about who takes care of who. I think it would be especially amazing if two people can stay together until they reach the age at which they need someone to take care of them.”

His father and his mother, his father and Weng Yunyi, didn’t they all fail before reaching that age?

After hearing this, Zhu Ao was stunned for a while, and when he recovered, he scolded Ting Shuang, words unclear, “Don’t bring your old father into your argument.”

But when Ting Shuang left, he looked at the ceiling of the ward and let out a long sigh, finally at ease.

After leaving the hospital, Ting Shuang made a call to Bai Changyi on the way back as usual. His night happened to be Bai Changyi’s afternoon.

As soon as the call connected, he said bluntly, “Checking the post.”

Bai Changyi gave a low laugh, “At the post.”

The corners of Ting Shuang’s mouth were tipped up high, but he forced himself to sound serious, “Prove that you are at the post.”

Bai Changyi said, “Vico.”

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Vico: “Woof.”

Ting Shuang praised, “Bai Changyi, you’re performing well. You get home on time every afternoon.”

Bai Changyi said, “Well, I am just a left-behind old man.”(2)

Ting Shuang laughed for a long time, “Don’t pretend to be pitiful. Tell me honestly, do you miss me?”

Bai Changyi said, “Vico misses you very much.”

Ting Shuang was dissatisfied, “My son is the only one who misses me?”

Bai Changyi said, “If a bicycle passes by outside, Vico will run out to see it. He always thinks it would be you.”

“When you say that, I feel like my son is also a left-behind child.” Ting Shuang asked, “Did anything else happen?”

Bai Changyi thought for a while, “Freesia‘s coffee isn’t as good as before.”

Ting Shuang: “What else?”

Bai Changyi: “The latte art isn’t as good as before.”

Ting Shuang wanted to laugh, “Mm. What about the workers? Are they different too?”

Bai Changyi said, “They are far from being as good as before.”

The corners of Ting Shuang’s mouth couldn’t be raised any higher than they were now.

The other side of the call was quiet for a long time before Ting Shuang heard Bai Changyi whisper, “I miss you very much.”

A few days later, Ting Shuang received a package, and the sender was Bai Changyi.

He opened it, and the contents of the package were very simple. Two books that Bai Changyi had just finished reading; they were in German, with a note sandwiched between the pages:

Don’t forget your German.

Bai

Ting Shuang read the words on the note several times, and couldn’t stop feeling like when Bai Changyi said “Don’t forget your German”, he was secretly telling him “Don’t forget the people in Germany”.

So he went to the bookstore to buy two Chinese books and sent them back to Bai Changyi with the note:

Don’t forget your Chinese.

Ting

A few days later, Ting Shuang received a postcard with a picture of the Rhine River on the front. At the back, aside from the address and zip code, there were only three words written on it.

Business trip.

Bai

Ting Shuang took a photo of himself at work, printed it as a postcard, and sent it to him. At the back of the postcard he had written:

Internship.

Ting

(P.S.: Professor, could you please write a few more words?)

Once, while Ting Shuang was having lunch at the company at noon, it happened to be time for breakfast for Bai Changyi.

Ting Shuang was eating while typing and chatting with Bai Changyi: What are you eating?

Bai Changyi: Steak.

Ting Shuang: The kind you often fried for me?

Bai Changyi: Yes.

Ting Shuang: Damn, I want to eat it too.

Ting Shuang: I’m eating in the company’s canteen now. It’s free. Our company’s food really needs some improvement. Fuck, capitalism is stupid.

Ting Shuang: Hey actually it’s fine. Maybe I’m just used to eating your cooking.

Bai Changyi: What else do you want to eat?

Ting Shuang: Ice cream.

Bai Changyi: Anything else.

Ting Shuang: Your pork ribs and corn soup. Sweet and sour pork ribs are fine too.

Bai Changyi: Anything else.

Ting Shuang: Coffee cake.

Ting Shuang: Two days ago, it was a colleague in our department’s birthday, and he invited us to eat cake. I think it’s not as delicious as the coffee cake we bought on your birthday.

Ting Shuang: I won’t talk anymore, I can’t finish eating like this.

Ting Shuang: I’m getting ready to carry and move bricks.

After a two-hour shift, Ting Shuang suddenly heard the voice of the delivery man coming from the door of the R&D department, “Food delivery for Mr. Ting.”

Ting Shuang didn’t think it would be him at all, but a colleague called out, “Ting Shuang, is it yours?”

Ting Shuang ran a simulation of the robot’s path of motion on the computer, not even lifting his head, “I didn’t order anything.”

The colleague said to the delivery man, “Did you bring it to the wrong place? There isn’t anyone else with the surname Ting here.”

The delivery man looked at the address on the receipt, then looked at the food he was meant to deliver, before saying, “That’s right, it’s here, the sixth floor of the Roborun building. They made me run to a few places to buy steak, pork ribs and corn soup, sweet and sour pork ribs, ice cream, cake…”

Ting Shuang was stunned, and stood up, “… It seems like mine.”

The delivery man put down the number of things he was carrying on his back and in his hands, while his colleague teased, “Why, can’t get used to cafeteria food?”

“No, um…” Embarrassed, Ting Shuang lowered his voice, “They were all bought by my partner, I didn’t know.”

While talking, he opened the packages delivered, and realised that in addition to the things he said he wanted to eat at noon, there were dozens of cups of milk tea, just enough for him to share with his colleagues in the office.

Several colleagues helped Ting Shuang split the milk tea and the cake, teasing Ting Shuang as they did so “What kind of partner would spoil you so much? Why not introduce someone to these brothers here too? For this group of bachelors in the R&D department who can’t find a match, we do nothing but overtime. We lack nothing, except for someone to spoil us.”

Ting Shuang just laughed, letting them tease him without answering.

Seeing Ting Shuang respond that way, some people got even more curious, “For you to hide and tuck her away like this, is she a fairy?”

If Ting Shuang had come to the company as Zhu Ao’s son, no one would tease him and gossip like that, but Ting Shuang had not. He was doing his internship as an ordinary student. He had specially selected the sixth floor, the R&D Department. No workers here had seen him before. Although there were various rumors that everyone would have heard of here and there, Ting Shuang didn’t use Zhu as his surname, nor did he mention his own affairs. Every day, just like everyone else, he went to work, got off work, and went to the cafeteria to eat. He was willing to do anything, too. After a while, everyone just treated him as one of their own.

The R&D department was mostly filled with young guys who were a few years older than Ting Shuang. Usually, anyone who found a girlfriend would have to treat the rest to dinner. While doing so, they’d see if the woman had any other female friends she could introduce to the others. Now they knew that Ting Shuang had a fairy as his partner, how could they let that opportunity go?

Just then, someone said, “Really, the men in our department are not bad, it’s just that we normally don’t meet any girls. If we really get to meet one, we can just program a robot or something, she’d worship us.”

Worship?

Ting Shuang looked at that guy, thinking inside: If you programmed a robot for my partner, forget about being worshipped, you’d be lucky if he gave you a passing score.