Your Distance

44 - The Distance Between Cultures

Over the next two days, Bai Laoban went through a hard time.

The kid seemed to have entered a rebellious phase.

Specifically, his actions included: being extremely picky over the food made by Bai Changyi; dismissing Bai Changyi’s works; expressing doubts about Bai Changyi’s looks; and not cooperating during sex.

The first three could be understood as casual behaviour, but the last one——

Something was definitely wrong.

“Ting, just what is going on.” Bai Changyi asked after being pushed away by Ting Shuang for no reason in the middle of a kiss one night.

Ting Shuang’s jeans were unbearably tight, but he insisted, “What do you mean what’s going on? I just don’t feel like it.”

Bai Changyi was a little irritated, “What exactly is the problem? Tell me.”

As for what exactly the problem was, Ting Shuang didn’t want to say it.

After the house viewing on Tuesday, Jonas had decided on the spot that he wanted to rent Ting Shuang’s apartment, and the landlady had no objections. As soon as he thought of the scene that day, Ting Shuang got a bad taste in his mouth. At that time, Jonas was not the only one looking at the house, his boyfriend was also there. The two of them weren’t shy at all. They were both acting sweetly, and while they looked around, they also discussed how they would renovate the place after moving in. They even smiled at each other from time to time, the perfect picture of a couple preparing to cohabitate.

Ting Shuang had been dealt a fatal blow.

He didn’t plan to tell Bai Changyi about this at all. He wanted to solve it quietly.

After all, even if the house was gone, he could look for another. But if he lost what little self-esteem he had left… he wouldn’t know how to get it back.

In this matter, he rationally knew that Bai Changyi did nothing wrong, but emotionally it was not easy for him to get over it, so he could only express his dissatisfaction in other ways.

This was what “seizing any opportunity to use as a pretext for expressing your own views” meant.

“Your technique has deteriorated, and I don’t feel comfortable.” Standing in front of Bai Changyi, Ting Shuang said stiffly.

If other men heard this, they would definitely feel like they’d been struck by lightning, and their dignity would have suffered.

But now, it was Bai Changyi who was hearing this.

Poor technique?

Impossible.

Not comfortable?

Nonexistent.

When Bai Changyi looked at Ting Shuang, three words appeared in his mind: Stirring up trouble.

Ting Shuang had a past record of doing this sort of thing. Be it making a fuss out of nothing or throwing tantrums out of nowhere around Bai Changyi, no one could do it better than him.

“Is that really the reason?” Bai Changyi raised his eyes and asked.

The look in his eyes made Ting Shuang’s hair stand.

Currently, Bai Changyi was sitting on the sofa while Ting Shuang was standing up. Ting Shuang was clearly looking down at him, but suddenly he felt like he’d been called to the office for questioning by a teacher.

“… Mm,” After a long while, Ting Shuang only managed to squeeze out one sound.

Bai Changyi looked at Ting Shuang for a while, “Okay, then we’ll go with what you said.”