Your Distance

When Bai Changyi returned, he was holding a bag of biscuits. Apparently people were giving out biscuits and mulled wine outside the classroom since Christmas was approaching.

Ting Shuang closed the browser page and casually opened the bag of biscuits, “Babe, do you also have a two-week Christmas holiday?”

“I have seventeen days off this year.” Bai Changyi just stood and watched Ting Shuang eat the cookies, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know.” Ting Shuang suddenly hugged Bai Changyi after eating two biscuits, “Why are you so good?”

This sentence seemed to come out of nowhere. Bai Changyi smiled, “Did you just realise that?”

Ting Shuang didn’t speak, just continued breathing in Bai Changyi’s scent.

“Think about what you want to do later.” Bai Changyi picked up this week’s schedule, planning how to change his working hours.

“Are you making preparations to skip work?” Ting Shuang maintained his posture, hugging Bai Changyi, as he looked up at the schedule in Bai Changyi’s hand, only to see a very simple memo amongst several complicated ones for this week: Return 50 Euros to Prof. Weller.

Bai Laoban owed someone else money?

Ting Shuang pointed to the memo and teased, “You actually owe another professor fifty dollars? What did you do?”

Bai Changyi said, “Ting, you gave me a very beautiful bouquet of flowers last Friday.”

Ting Shuang: “Mm?”

Bai Changyi: “It was pay on delivery. I was about to attend a meeting, and didn’t have cash on me.”

Pay on delivery.

Pay…. On delivery…

“Were many professors there at the time…” Ting Shuang imagined Bai Changyi holding the bouquet of flowers, asking to borrow money from the other professors, and almost suffocated, “T-then, Prof. Weller’s pretty nice… Heh… Hehe… Is he also a professor in our LRM Institute? I keep finding the surname Weller familiar…”

Bai Changyi remained silent for a moment before saying, “Ting, Prof. Weller is the principal of the university you are currently in.”

In an instant, a strange silence settled over the office.

Ting Shuang looked at the schedule, then at Bai Changyi. He suddenly pointed to the biscuits on the table, saying stiffly, “Those are pretty delicious.”

Bai Changyi laughed and passed the biscuits to Ting Shuang.

Ting Shuang lowered his head and continued eating the biscuits, pretending that nothing had happened just now. But when Bai Changyi brought him out of the LRM building, he couldn’t help but ask, “Then, what would the other professors think…”

They were surrounded by German teachers and students. Bai Changyi replied in Chinese, “Who cares what those old men think.”

Ting Shuang was amused, “Would you dare say that out loud in German?”

Bai Changyi said calmly in German, “I don’t care what those respectable, old, gentlemen think about my private life.”

When the two of them exited the school, Bai Changyi asked Ting Shuang where he wanted to go.

Ting Shuang spent a while in the car thinking, before saying that he wanted to go home and eat Bai Changyi’s cooking.

Just like any other working day in the past, they went to the supermarket to buy groceries together, and then returned home. As Bai Changyi cooked, Ting Shuang picked up Vico and followed behind Bai Changyi, saying, “Oh my God, I am an irresponsible father. My son has grown into a big dog, I missed his childhood.”

Bai Changyi laughed, “Don’t you see him often in our video calls.”

“He never appeared so tall in them… His legs are so long… Like father, like son. One look at him and you’d know he can’t be anyone else’s but ours.” Ting Shuang said while patting Vico, “Vico, my good son, tell your father, while your father was away, did your Papa bring other uncles home?”

Vico: “Arf, woof.”

Bai Changyi glanced at Ting Shuang amusedly.

“Cough,” Ting Shuang let go of Vico, keeping a straight face, “Bai Changyi, you sure are self-conscious.”

Smiling, Bai Changyi continued preparing the ingredients.

Ting Shuang walked up behind Bai Changyi, wrapped his arms around his waist, his hands moving down slowly until he grabbed it, “You haven’t handed in all the homework you owe me over the past few months. If you haven’t handed it in to someone else, shouldn’t you quickly hand it over to me for checking?”

Bai Changyi put down the ingredients on hand, “Do you want to eat or check the homework?”

Ting Shuang said, “As a person who loves studying, of course I’d forgo sleep and food for homework.”

There was lots of homework.

Because he hadn’t checked it in a long time, it was painful at first. So painful that Ting Shuang cursed at the old beast, saying he wasn’t human.

But after the first time, he sat on the old beast, filled with the strong spirit of learning, and asked to check the homework two more times as he held onto the old beast.

They continued checking the homework from morning to afternoon. It was still snowing outside, and Bai Changyi started a fire in the fireplace as Ting Shuang nestled on the sofa beside him. His voice hoarse, TIng Shuang said, “I’m so hungry.”

Bai Changyi said, “I’ll go cook.”

Ting Shuang was so comfortable that he felt a little tired, “Then call for me later.”

Just after he said that, he suddenly remembered something, “By the way, I remembered something today and almost forgot about it again.”

As he said so, he got up from the sofa and took out his wallet from the pocket of the pants that had been tossed aside. He opened it and passed a card to Bai Changyi, “Here you go.”

Bai Changyi took it, “What is this.”

Ting Shuang said, “I remember there being about two million euros in it. I didn’t touch the other assets. If that’s not enough money, then I can just sell them. Then, let me think… I’ll also give you the dividends from RoboRun every year in the future. Then you won’t have to accompany others next time, just accompany me.”

Bai Changyi slowly looked at the card in his hand, “I, won’t have to, accompany others, next time?”

Ting Shuang nodded, “If you don’t have enough funds for research in the future, just tell your husband here.”