Your Distance

86 - Bai

Zhu Ao said, “You stayed up late last night?”

Zhu Wenjia sat down and was in a daze for a while before he answered, “Mm.”

It was a good day. Autumn was in full bloom and the air was refreshing. After their meal, the nurse pushed Zhu Ao out for a walk.

From a distance, Zhu Wenjia looked at the side profiles of the nurse and Zhu Ao in the yard, and said to Ting Shuang, “I received a call from my mother’s lawyer. The court trial will start next Wednesday.”

“Mm.” Ting Shuang said, “Are you going to watch?”

“Mm.” Zhu Wenjia said, “Ge, how about you?”

“I can’t go.” Ting Shuang added water to the teapot and asked the nanny to take out the hot dim sum in the steamer for Zhu Wenjia to eat, “I have to go to work.”

Even if he had work, he could still apply for a day off one day in advance; it wasn’t impossible. But Zhu Wenjia didn’t question him further, and only responded with an “mm” before he started eating. Over this period of time, he’d felt quite suffocated, and although he could still joke around with Ting Shuang without mentioning Weng Yunyi, he would become quiet whenever Weng Yunyi was mentioned.

He still didn’t know how to face it.

He didn’t know how to face Zhu Ao, after everything that had happened with the personal seal; he didn’t dare to visit Zhu Ao in the hospital; and when Zhu Ao returned home, he often hid from him. That was until Ting Shuang told him, “Regarding what happened after Dad’s accident, be it about the company or about your mother, or about me, you don’t know anything. During this period of time, you’ve been preparing the materials for your university applications, nothing else.”

At that time, he was stunned, “You didn’t tell Dad…”

No. Ting Shuang thought to himself, it was unnecessary and not worth it.

“So you’d better apply to a university seriously for me,” Ting Shuang said to Zhu Wenjia.

The night before the trial, Zhu Wenjia couldn’t sleep and knocked on Ting Shuang’s door.

Ting Shuang was using his computer for a video call. The computer was on the table with the camera facing the window, and he was sitting by the window in pajamas, reading. The night breeze caused the cypress trees outside the window to rustle softly. On the computer screen was the side profile of Bai Changyi as he was cooking dinner. From time to time, the warm yellow light of the oven reflected on his hand, and there would be soft sounds of the knife on the chopping board from the computer.

The two of them were doing their own things. Occasionally, Ting Shuang called out to Bai Changyi, and he would raise his eyes to look at him. After looking at each other for a while, Ting Shuang would laugh and lower his head to continue reading, while Bai Changyi went on cooking.

When he heard the knock on the door, Ting Shuang took a look at the time on the computer. He hadn’t been paying attention to the time while he was reading, and didn’t expect it to be almost 1am already.

“Why didn’t you ask me to go to bed?” Ting Shuang asked Bai Changyi as he put down the book in his hand, getting ready to open the door.

“I didn’t want to interrupt you.” Bai Changyi said.

Ting Shuang smiled at Bai Changyi, “Then, I’m hanging up first.”

Bai Changyi said, “Okay.”

“You’re this relaxed?” Ting Shuang teased Bai Changyi, “Are you not worried about me meeting up with someone else in the middle of the night?”