Your Distance

66 - Let's Talk About Aging; About Death

The next day, Ting Shuang received a gift from Berlin sent by Su Ping.

Previously, he’d picked out a few cans of special coffee beans, plus the blueberries he’d planted with Bai Changyi, and sent them to Su Ping together with a photo of them. This time, Su Ping sent back two bottles of blackcurrant wine, a box of biscuits she’d baked, two jars of home-made jam, a photo album and some old books with notes.

The notes in the books were left by Bai Changyi in his teenage years.

The fabric photo album contained photos of Bai Changyi as he was growing up. Most were taken before the age of ten, and as he grew older, the number of photos decreased. Ting Shuang looked through it page by page, his attention falling on a photo of Bai Changyi playing tennis. For a long time, he didn’t turn the page.

The date was written below the photo: June 21, 2003.

Bai Changyi was almost twenty years old.

“Damn…” The photo also caught the attention of Zhu Wenjia as he passed by. Standing behind Ting Shuang, he exclaimed, “My sister-in-law was so handsome when he was young.”

“He’s also young now.” Ting Shuang turned the page, “He’s even more handsome now.”

“Fine, I’ll shut up. My sister-in-law is forever young.” Zhu Wenjia thought of something, “Oh Ge, my dad’s economic sanctions on me are over. I’ll go look at schools next month. I want to look at quite a lot of them, so I won’t be flying back here every time I finish viewing one. It’s troublesome, flying all around.”

“Okay, you can figure things out yourself.” Ting Shuang looked at the flip side of the page with the tennis photo. In some desert, 20-year-old Bai Changyi was sitting on the roof of a jeep with his friends. Behind them, the huge and round sun sank into endless yellow sand.

That very day, Zhu Wenjia booked a ticket and flew off, leaving ten thousand euros in cash in the bedroom.

When Ting Shuang called Zhu Wenjia to ask what was going on after realising he was gone, Zhu Wenjia said with a grin, “Ge, I didn’t treat your house as a hotel. That’s for you. You only earn 20 euros an hour. That’s so pitiful, I couldn’t even bear to eat and use anything of yours over the past ten to twenty days.”

Ting Shuang laughed after hearing that, “Come on, you say that, but I didn’t see you eat any less.”

“That’s true, I even gained two jin(1) while I was living with you.” Zhu Wenjia laughed, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up first. I’m boarding the plane already. Greet my sister-in-law for me.”

“Mm, take care.” Ting Shuang hung up, his gaze falling back onto the desktop, where the photo album he hadn’t finished looking through lay. The various other things sent by Su Ping were also strewn on the table.

Bai Changyi’s parents treated him so well, but on the other hand…

Ting Shuang lay on the grass in the yard, looked at the sky for a while, and sent a message to Zhu Ao: Dad, let’s find some time to talk, just the two of us alone.

Take it slowly, he thought to himself, if it can’t be settled at once, then they’d take it step by step.

After Ting Shuang waited for a while, Zhu Ao replied: Think about what I said yesterday, don’t rush to refute it. Think about it for another ten days, or half a month, then talk to me.

Holding up the phone, Ting Shuang stared at the screen. After a long time, he typed out a few words, then deleted them again.

When Bai Changyi came home, he happened to see this scene; all of a sudden, Ting Shuang’s hand shook. The phone hit the bridge of his nose, and it was so painful he sucked in a breath of cold air.