Your Distance

35 - The Distance to the Crematorium

Area C, 5 minutes before the start of the live report.

Sitting next to Zhu Ao, Ting Shuang, for the first time, felt as if Zhu Ao radiated… doubt about the vicissitudes of life.

It had just been ten minutes, what could have caused such a big change…

“Dad…” Ting Shuang turned his head slightly in Zhu Ao’s direction and said in a low voice, “Did something go wrong with the company?”

“What can happen to the company?” Zhu Ao flipped open a magazine from the exhibition, looking as if he didn’t want to entertain Ting Shuang.

“Oh…” Ting Shuang thought for a while and said, “Dad, I’m taking the train back to school at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Why don’t we talk after lunch?”

They hadn’t reached a consensus yet, so he couldn’t leave just yet.

Zhu Ao didn’t look up, “It’s been a year since we last met, and you don’t even call home. Now that you’re leaving, you suddenly want to talk? What is there to talk about?”

Ting Shuang was just educated by Professor Bai yesterday on good communication and working towards solving the problem, so his attitude was much better than before, “Dad, I didn’t know better before. Today, let’s talk and solve the problem together. My professor came over earlier, so we didn’t finish our conversation. Weren’t we talking about—”

“It’s fine,” Zhu Ao waved his hand, his voice filled with impatience, “I don’t feel like listening.”

The last thing Zhu Ao wanted to discuss was his son’s sexual orientation; the last three words he wanted to hear were “solve the problem.”

Solving the problem……

After living for fifty years, Zhu Ao realized for the first time that he might have a psychological problem.

After so long, it turned out his son wasn’t the problem; it was the old man who had something to solve.

After returning to China, should he or should he not contact those psychiatrists…

Zhu Ao gazed at the magazine, but he couldn’t take anything in at all.

What more did Ting Shuang want to talk about… Zhu Ao kept his voice low and said irritably, “Ting Shuang, can you stop for a while? That thing… I’ll think about it again.”

‘Think about it again’ was, out of everything Ting Shuang had ever heard from Zhu Ao, the closest thing to agreement.

This was something he could settle for. He advised himself to settle for something if it was good enough, and to take it slow and steady.

It seemed like Bai Laoban was right. After communicating better, asking people why, and asking them for their thoughts…

Then maybe they’d be willing to reconsider?

Bai Laoban really was amazing and wise, long live Bai Laoban!

At ten o’clock, Bai Changyi’s report officially began.

Although the number of people there far exceeded the number of people in a regular lesson, and those sitting in the auditorium and standing around were not students, Ting Shuang still felt Bai Changyi’s control over the audience.

The content, his gaze, knowledge in the field, and aura, nothing was missing.

He made people think, and made them bend over.

Time passed by quickly, and before he realised, the report was ending.

Ting Shuang subconsciously felt fear in his heart: the suffocating moment had arrived. Class was over, and Prof. Bai was going to pick him to answer questions again…