When Ting Shuang finished washing up and walked down to the dining area, Bai Changyi had already changed into his clothes and was reading a newspaper.
On the table were roasted croissants, fried eggs, fresh orange marmalade, Nutella and butter, as well as a short glass jug of hot coffee.
Ting Shuang realised that nothing on the table had been touched.
Bai Changyi was waiting for him.
He looked like a parent waiting to send his child to school.
Ting Shuang glanced down at himself; due to not being able to find his undergarments, the only thing he was wearing was Bai Changyi’s pajamas.
There was no way he could go to class like this.
“Where… Where did my clothes go? My jeans and dress shirt?” Ting Shuang asked.
Bai Changyi’s eyelids lifted slightly, and he turned his gaze from the newspaper to Ting Shuang, “Where did you leave them?”
Where did he leave them?
Ting Shuang started recalling.
After being jumped on by Bai Changyi yesterday, his dress shirt seemed to have been thrown on the balcony on the second floor…
Then where did he throw the jeans he was wearing at first…
He was still wearing them after getting off work on Saturday, as well as when they went to the supermarket. He had them on when he arrived at Bai Changyi’s house, and when Bai Changyi went to cook, he groped Bai Changyi’s butt and was pressed onto the counter…
Fuck.
So his dirty jeans and dirty undergarments were still lying unwashed in the bathroom on the first floor?
“Why didn’t you remind me earlier?” Ting Shuang complained to Bai Changyi, then rushed to the bathroom to take a look. Sure enough, the pants he had taken off on Saturday were still there.
Wait, that wasn’t right.
His undergarments were indeed strewn on the floor, crumpled and obviously unwashed, but his jeans were clean and neatly placed on the shelf.
So that meant…
"
"
Ting Shuang suddenly felt horrified. Compared to the thought of having unwashed dirty pants, this was much more terrifying…
Bai Changyi helped him wash his pants?
His pants that were stained with that thing???
It…
It couldn’t have been hand-washed, right?
It should have been thrown directly into the washing machine, right?
Ting Shuang returned to the dining area with his jeans, face entirely red, “You, you washed my pants behind my back? Who asked you to wash them? Aren’t you being creepy?”
Bai Changyi put down the newspaper and said, “I didn’t touch your pants. Change your clothes and have breakfast.”
If Bai Changyi said that he didn’t touch them, then he certainly didn’t touch them.
As Ting Shuang thought, the great Professor Bai would not secretly wash someone else’s pants. Bai Laoban had always openly expressed his lowly tastes, and if Bai Changyi really had such creepy tendencies, why would he only wash his jeans, and not wash his dirty underwear together with it?
Ting Shuang felt a little embarrassed. He made his way upstairs, found some clean undergarments and a dress shirt, then came back downstairs after changing his clothes. He sat next to Bai Changyi and poured coffee for the two of them before asking, “Well, who washed my pants then?”
Bai Changyi said, “I had someone do house cleaning on Sunday morning.”
Sunday morning?
Ting Shuang thought about it; oh, at that time he was still sleeping.
“Sorry, I didn’t know someone came to clean the house.” Ting Shuang stole a glance at Bai Changyi, and seeing the silent and expressionless Bai Changyi, said unabashedly, “Dear…”
Bai Changyi concentrated on cutting his fried eggs.
Ting Shuang said, “Bai Laoban…”
Bai Changyi concentrated on drinking his coffee.
Ting Shuang said, “Honey…”
Bai Changyi concentrated on cutting his butter.
Ting Shuang shouted, “Bai Changyi!”
Bai Changyi’s hand that was holding a knife halted. He glanced at Ting Shuang, “What.”
Ting Shuang shrunk back and said in a soft voice, “Um… Dear… I think you… Mm, you’re more handsome than before…”
Seeing that Bai Changyi wasn’t showing any sign of annoyance, Ting Shuang continued, “Um… Did you change your glasses and glasses chain today, I realised that both gold and silver suit you quite well…”
Bai Changyi’s lips curved up, and he tilted Ting Shuang’s chin up for a kiss, before saying, “Mm, concentrate on eating.”
“… Okay.”
He concentrated on eating.
While eating, Ting Shuang suddenly thought of a problem, “We’re going to class together later?”
Bai Changyi said, “If not, then?”
Ting Shuang said, “This early in the morning, everyone will be going to school. Is it okay if I’m seen getting out of your car?”
Bai Changyi said, “What do you suggest?”
Ting Shuang thought over it, “Why not let me get out of the car when we’re a few hundred meters away from the school? I’ll walk to the classroom.”
Bai Changyi said, “Mm, we’ll leave early today.”
They did have to leave earlier. Prof. Bai always stepped into the S17 classroom at 8:15, but students couldn’t step into the class in the last minute. Not to mention, Ting Shuang still had to walk a distance to school.
On this day, Prof. Bai, who had never once arrived early, entered the classroom at 7:58. All the students who arrived after that time thought that they were late, including Ting Shuang, who reached the classroom at 8:05.
Ting Shuang didn’t expect Bai Changyi to go directly to the classroom. He thought that even if Bai Changyi arrived at the school earlier, he would wait until 8:15 before entering the classroom. If Bai Changyi hadn’t arrived yet, Ting Shuang could have seized the opportunity to choose an inconspicuous spot to sit down in, in case upon seeing him, Bai Changyi remembered to pick him to answer questions in order to get to him used to it.
But now, under the kind(1)(?) gaze of Bai Changyi, his legs didn’t have a choice but to walk automatically to the first row of the classroom, right in the middle, before sitting down properly.
The student Ting Shuang started getting ready, and was going to grab a pen and notebook out of his backpack.
Mm, you should be serious about class and prepare in advance.
Wait.
Backpack?
After work on Saturday, Ting Shuang, who went directly to Bai Changyi’s and spent his weekend in a mess before coming directly to school… Didn’t… Even… Bring… A… Backpack…
No notebook.
No pen.
Just two empty hands.
It was all over. He already didn’t understand anything, and now he couldn’t even make notes…
Ting Shuang looked left and right for Song Xin to borrow a pen and a few pieces of foolscap papers.
Why wasn’t Song Xin here yet…
He could just borrow them from the German classmate next to him and call it a day…
Just as Ting Shuang was about to open his mouth to ask for a pen and paper, a shadow was suddenly cast over the top of his head. He slowly raised his head and saw the belt, buttons, tie, collar, neck, throat, jaw, lips, nose, glasses, and eyes behind the lens…
Those eyes were currently looking at him.
Ting Shuang licked his dry lips.
Bai Changyi quickly turned his gaze away towards the back of the classroom, and said to all the students, “I recently learned that some students have encountered difficulties in taking notes during the course. In order to help everyone here raise their learning efficiency, from now on, our diligent TA will distribute the day’s lecture notes before every lesson.”
After saying that, he glanced at the teacher’s assistant sitting in the seat next to the door.
The assistant nodded and took out a hundred copies of the lecture notes Prof. Bai emailed him to print out in advance yesterday from a paper bag, and started distributing them one by one to all the students.
Bai Changyi’s gaze followed the teacher’s assistant as they(2) distributed the lecture notes, while he silently reached a hand into his jacket pocket, taking a fountain pen out and placing it gently on the table in the middle of the first row.
Translator’s Notes:
(1) the word for “kind” here does mean exactly that, but is mostly used for older people (like, seniors above the age 60 or something)
(2) It’s one person, but it doesn’t say if they’re a male or female, so i’m using “they”.
Take care y’all!
I~ Love~ Bai~ Chang~ Yi~