Call Me Daddy

[Do you feel angry? Clearly, you were a favored child of heaven, yet time and again, you became someone else’s stepping stone. Your family was ruined, and your kinship was obliterated…]

Who’s talking in my head…?

Su Aobai didn’t know how long he had been asleep. A long, seductive voice woke him up, and in the next second, his mind was filled with countless awakened memories.

It was indeed pitiful; among so many lifetimes of memories, not a single one had a good ending.

In the first lifetime, he was a rich second generation, yet he caused his family to go bankrupt, and his parents committed suicide.

In the second lifetime, he was a second-generation cultivator, yet he led his sect to destruction, and his father died of rage.

In the third lifetime, he was the heir of a prince’s mansion. He humiliated a servant, who returned with a mighty army, overthrew the dynasty, and exterminated Su Aobai’s entire family.

…

…

Su Aobai thought he was truly unlucky, but perhaps his parents were even more unfortunate. They did nothing wrong, but just because they gave birth to him, their unlucky son, they were dragged down to death.

[Do you want revenge? The Cannon Fodder Face-Slapping System is at your service.]

The tempting voice continued in his mind.

Su Aobai wanted it. How could he not want revenge? He felt extremely wronged in every lifetime. If given a chance to start over, he would definitely be a proper second generation, obediently inherit the family assets, and never go against the favored child of destiny.

[Very well, Cannon Fodder Face… zzz… zzz… System error, system error…]

The Cannon Fodder Face-Slapping System looked in horror at its selected host’s hidden memories of several lifetimes.

No wonder… as a son, he always caused trouble for his father, but in past lives, he always caused trouble for his children…

Now, he even caused trouble for the system. This wouldn’t do. Before completing the main task of face-slapping, those past injustices had to be cleared up.

Suddenly, a chaotic and noisy sound erupted in Su Aobai’s head, like an old radio being interfered with by electromagnetic waves, making a static noise.

[System interference detected, warning, warning, system interference detected…]

Then came a prolonged beeping sound. After an unknown period, another voice emerged.

[Hello, upon inspection, the Cannon Fodder Face-Slapping System is incompatible with your essence. From now on, this system is officially renamed the Good Daddy System. The first task will commence shortly. Have a pleasant journey.]

Wait! Does this system come with an automatic transformation feature?

Su Aobai felt he had been tricked. What kind of system is Good Daddy System?

The name itself sounded quite dubious. He had been a son for so many lifetimes and had never been a father.

But before he could refuse, his head spun and he lost consciousness.

***

“Su Mingcheng, my mom said your dad abandoned your mom and you siblings. How can a fatherless kid like you be our leader?”

In the threshing ground of the Xiazhi Brigade’s lower brigade, two groups of children were facing off.

In this era, chubby kids were rare. Each child was skinny and tanned, like a group of agile little monkeys. The boy who spoke looked about 9 or 10 years old, with a bald head topped with a piece of newspaper smeared with plant ash, possibly from a mishap while an adult shaved his head with a knife the previous night.

At this moment, he stood with his hands on his hips, looking extremely arrogant and hard to deal with.

The boy standing opposite him was shorter, even skinnier, and darker. Upon hearing the boy’s words, he pressed his lips tightly together, his eyes full of anger.

“Get him!”

He raised his arm and lunged at the other boy, wrapping his limbs around him and bringing them both to the ground, wrestling fiercely.

Seeing their leaders fighting, the children on both sides also charged at each other with loud shouts.

By the time the adults arrived to break up the fight, both sides were covered in scratches and bruises, their bodies and heads smeared with the chaff that had scattered during threshing, looking utterly disheveled.

“It was Su Mingcheng who started it!”

The boy with the newspaper on his head shouted. The woman next to him, seeing the teeth marks on her son’s face, was seething with anger. She turned furiously to the slightly chubby woman who had hurried over.

“Jiang Lianmei, how do you teach your children? Look at what your son did to our Tie Zi. This child already has no father to raise him. Surely he can’t be without a mother to teach him too!”

Tie Zi’s mother glared at the woman who had run over, her eyes flashing with a mix of jealousy and ridicule.

Jiang Lianmei, who had just arrived and was still trying to figure out what had happened, was bewildered by the accusations. She had a very pleasing appearance with a round face and well-proportioned, attractive features that were widely considered beautiful in that era. Even now, with her mouth slightly open and a puzzled expression, she looked quite charming to others.

3 months ago, Jiang Lianmei was still recognized as the luckiest woman in the team.

Jiang Lianmei’s father was the former team leader. From her grandfather’s generation to the third, she was the only daughter, and even her uncles and older male cousins from extended families doted on her. Despite the limited conditions of each household, Jiang Lianmei was pampered like a princess.

Despite that, Jiang Lianmei didn’t develop a spoiled temperament. Instead, she had a simple and sweet personality, endearing to the elders.

Jiang Lianmei’s father, Jiang Dajun, was a relatively fair team leader, but he couldn’t help but be partial to his beloved daughter a few times. Whenever work was assigned, he always picked the easier tasks for her. As a result, Jiang Lianmei had a fair complexion, unlike most girls in the village. By the time she was of marriageable age, her good family background, looks, and temperament made her a highly sought-after bride in the neighboring teams.

While the Jiang family was considering finding her a suitable match for a comfortable life, Jiang Lianmei fell for a male educated youth in the team, going against her parents’ wishes for the first time.

This educated youth, named Su Aobai, was a somewhat famous man in the nearby teams because of his good looks. How handsome was he? When the county film crew came to the commune to show a movie, Su Aobai attended with the educated youth team. Many young women and housewives, blushing, couldn’t take their eyes off his handsome face, ignoring the movie entirely.

Everyone said Su Aobai was better looking than the movie’s leading man, with his thick eyebrows and righteous demeanor. However, he couldn’t do physical labor and earned fewer work points than women. Such a man could hardly support a family. So, although his looks were admired, the idea of marrying him meant a hard life.

The Jiang family was dissatisfied with this marriage for two reasons. First, Su Aobai was an educated youth. Second, his personality was more delicate than a girl’s, making him unfit to support a family.

But their daughter was adamant about him. Jiang Dajun had no choice. After a night of smoking his pipe, he finally agreed to the marriage.

When the team members said Jiang Lianmei’s good fortune was ending, Jiang Dajun used his lifelong connections to secure a teaching position for his handsome son-in-law at the commune’s elementary school. Although it was a temporary job, it spared the ‘decorative pillow’ from hard labor and paid 18 yuan a month.

(T/N: decorative pillow = something useless besides being pretty and good enough to hug.)

Knowing this job came from his father-in-law and could be revoked at any time, Su Aobai didn’t dare offend him. He continued to pamper Jiang Lianmei just as he had during their courtship. Even after becoming a mother, Jiang Lianmei retained her sweet and naive disposition, just like when she was a girl at her parents’ home.

For a time, a saying circulated in the team; ‘If you’re going to be someone, be Jiang Lianmei.’ This was enough to prove how happy she seemed in the eyes of others.

Over the years, Jiang Lianmei and her husband Su Aobai had two children.

The older one was their son, Su Mingcheng, who was 8 years old this year. The younger one was their daughter, Su Mingmei, who was almost 3. Due to a difficult birth, Jiang Lianmei didn’t wean her daughter until she was over 2 years old, which meant her body hadn’t fully recovered and she was still chubby. However, she was fair-skinned and looked plump and graceful, a different kind of beauty.

Jiang Lianmei was the beloved daughter born to Jiang Dajun in his forties. Although Jiang Lianmei was still young, Jiang Dajun had stepped down from his position last year due to his age. Now, the team leader of the lower brigade was Jiang Lianmei’s older brother, Jiang Lianjiang.

Having an older brother as the team leader was somewhat different from having their father in charge, but Jiang Lianjiang also cherished his sister, who was almost as young as his own daughter, so Jiang Lianmei’s life hadn’t changed much.

Until mid-year, when Su Aobai’s family sent word that his mother was seriously ill. Because time was tight and train tickets were hard to come by, Su Aobai returned to his hometown of Ning City.

At that time, the team granted him a month’s leave with the agreement that he would send a telegram if there were any developments. But now, 3 months had passed, and aside from a telegram sent upon his arrival in Ning City saying he was safe, there had been no further news.

As time went on, gossip in the team increased. Many people speculated that Su Aobai might have ran away.

There had been precedents in other teams before: educated youths who went back to the city on leave had their families arrange jobs for them and subsequently transferred their household registrations back to the city, abandoning the spouses they had married in the countryside.

The Jiang family had been silent during this period, further fueling the speculation.

***

Jiang Lianmei’s older brother was still the team leader, so no one dared to say such hurtful things to her face. But children weren’t as tactful as adults. They repeated the gossip they heard from the adults, speaking freely in front of their peers.

Su Mingcheng had faced a lot of disdain for being a fatherless child. Similar fights had broken out several times, but this one was particularly fierce, indicating that Su Mingcheng’s mental state was beginning to collapse. He was starting to believe that his father had really abandoned him, his mother, his sister, and their home.

“Tie Zi’s mother, you shouldn’t talk like that. Lianmei’s husband went back to the city to visit relatives. He might come back in a few days.”

“That’s right. How can you say such things in front of the children? Kids fight all the time. Who didn’t grow up like this? They scuffle, and we adults shouldn’t intervene.”

Several nearby members quickly stepped forward to stop Tie Zi’s mother from saying more hurtful words.

“Mingcheng, tell me, did you start the fight? Why did you hit Tie Zi?”

Jiang Lianmei didn’t scold her son despite Tie Zi’s mother’s accusations and Tie Zi’s obvious injuries. She crouched down, looking her son in the eye, trying to mimic her father’s stern expression as she seriously asked him.

She wasn’t a mature adult yet. Even though she was a mother of two, she still had the temperament of a young girl. Before Su Aobai went back to the city, it was mostly her husband who disciplined their children. She enjoyed playing and singing with them, competing with them for treats, and secretly saving some for their father.

Therefore, Su Mingcheng, the precocious eldest son, wasn’t afraid of his mother at all.

Circumstances force people to grow up. Although Jiang Lianmei still didn’t believe that her loving husband, who adored their two children, would not return, the increasing gossip made her change quite a bit.

In the past, if her son fought with other children and their parents came to complain, she would first look to her husband for help. If he wasn’t there, she would turn to her father, feeling helpless and lost, relying on those around her to handle everything.

“He deserved it!”

Su Mingcheng turned his head, lifting his chin high with a stubborn expression.

What could he say? Should he tell them that someone called him a fatherless wild child?

Wouldn’t that be admitting that others thought his father had abandoned them?

His mother had a soft personality and couldn’t handle such matters. Su Mingcheng felt that he was now the only man in the family and had to protect the women in the house from being hurt and saddened.

“That’s not true. Tie Zi first called the boss a fatherless wild child, so the boss fought him.”

Su Mingcheng wanted to be a man, but his little follower wouldn’t let him. The boy loudly repeated Tie Zi’s provocative words.

“How can you say such things!”

“Exactly, children learn from their parents. Tie Zi’s mother, is this what you teach your child?”

The surrounding adults started to criticize Tie Zi’s mother. Jiang Lianmei was well-liked in the team, while Tie Zi’s mother was known for her gossip. Moreover, people wanted to stay in the good graces of the Jiang family. Even if Su Aobai really didn’t come back, Jiang Lianmei was still the team leader’s sister.

“What did I say? Wasn’t it the truth? It’s been 3 months with no news. Educated Youth Su is definitely not coming back. He’s a city person. Who would want to return to the countryside for a hard life if they had a chance to stay in the city? Besides, there are plenty of pretty girls in the city.”

In the Xiazhi brigade, Jiang Lianmei was regarded as the village flower. But in the city, she was just another country girl.

Tie Zi’s mother didn’t say it outright, but her expression made it clear.

“It was your son who started it. Our Mingcheng did nothing wrong.”

Jiang Lianmei stood up, shielding her son, showing an uncharacteristic firmness.

“Whether or not my husband comes back, your Tie Zi, with both parents raising him, hasn’t turned out any better.”

These words almost made Tie Zi’s mother feel faint with anger. She nearly forgot about the Jiang family behind Jiang Lianmei and was about to attack her.

***

“Lanmei! Lanmei! Your Teacher Su is back!”

A woman came running from a distance, unwrapping the red cloth from her head and waving it excitedly.

Su Aobai is back!

Everyone’s expressions changed. Jiang Lianmei’s smile nearly reached her ears. She scooped up her eldest son and ran toward the village entrance.

Suddenly, she remembered something, and after a few steps, she turned back to puff out her chest at Tie Zi’s mother.

Humph, how could my husband possibly abandon me and our two children?

Though she didn’t say a word, the pride on her face was unmistakable. Tie Zi’s mother was both furious and frustrated but had nothing to say in response.

How could Educated Youth Su have come back?!

***

Meanwhile, Su Aobai, carrying a large bag of luggage, was feeling utterly defeated as he walked down the muddy country road.

In every life, he had been a second-generation elite. Even though he often ended up in ruin, he usually met his end quickly. He had never suffered much hardship or pain.

However, the stench of old feet mixed with livestock manure on the green train of that era made Su Aobai feel like he was dying countless times during the 3-day journey.

Su Aobai reflected on how he, a second-generation elite and prodigal in every sense, had ended up in such a miserable situation.

He wanted to break the contract, but the system wouldn’t allow it. Instead, it administered a series of electric shocks that forced Su Aobai to comply. Being a father to two children couldn’t be that hard, he thought. Perhaps I wasn’t great at being a son, but maybe I could excel as a father.

Su Aobai silently comforted himself, then mimicked the original owner by showing a warm and friendly smile to the familiar faces around him.

(T/N: Author has explained in a note that ML just doesn’t know these are also his past lives. However, translator might sometimes use ‘original owner’ and ‘original self’ interchangeably while mentioning past ‘Su Aobai’ to make it easier to understand when he finds out later.)