Call Me Daddy

“You, child, haven’t come home in so many days. Are you still sulking with your dad?”

The old lady saw her grandson standing right before her eyes, alive and well, and only then did she realize that the house had been missing someone for these past days. Feeling guilty, her eyes darted around, unable to look directly at her grandson.

“It’s good that you’re back. There shouldn’t be lingering grudges between father and son overnight.” Su Quangen also awkwardly added a sentence.

Blame it on his son, who had been too good at playing the absent-minded card these days. He had actually forgotten to call his grandson, who had been away from home for several days.

Su Tianyuan felt wronged!

He used to be the apple of his grandparents’ eyes, their treasured little one. Whenever he returned home after a few days away, they would all fuss over him, fetching towels for him, bringing him drinks.

But today, upon his return, all those past courtesies were gone. From his grandparents’ words, it seemed they still thought his leaving home was all his fault. Clearly, their hearts were completely won over by Dad!

Unconsciously, Su Tianyuan thought of the words his father had said before.

‘Your grandparents love you because you are my son. You came after me. If the grandson is gone, I can still have more grandchildren, but if the son is gone, can your grandparents at this age still have another one?’

So, his grandparents’ affection for him was only because he was his father’s son. His father came first, and he came second. If his father remarried and had more children, he might even be pushed to third or fourth place in their hearts.

Su Tianyuan clenched his fists.

No!

He shook his head. My grandparents must have loved me the most. It’s just that these past few days when I wasn’t home, Dad found an opportunity to deceive Grandma and Grandpa.

“Grandpa, Grandma, let me show you something. I haven’t been idling around or sulking about my Dad these days. Remember I told you? The leader of an organization recognized my talent and wants to promote me. I’ve made some achievements these days.”

Proudly, Su Tianyuan took out his phone and found the short video he had liked, which had received over a hundred thousand likes. He handed the phone to his grandparents.

The video itself wasn’t particularly special; it was a script hastily put together by a team, blending recent popular themes from the Douxiong short video app. Combined with his good looks, it garnered some likes, though most of them were bought.

The elderly couple found it interesting, watching their grandson looking respectable in the video, with many compliments in the comments, feeling like their grandson had accomplished something.

“Heh.” Su Aobai sneered, glancing sideways.

This mocking laugh reminded Su Tianyuan of his several failed attempts at live streaming. His father knew the screen name he used for streaming.

Su Tianyuan blushed, lost in his thoughts, worried that his father might tell his grandparents about that embarrassing history.

“Over 140,000 likes but only a hundred or so comments. Your organization bought those likes. Why didn’t they spend a bit more to boost the comments?”

Su Aobai saw through the trick at a glance.

“Bought? These likes are all genuine achievements!”

Su Tianyuan was angry. Just because he couldn’t livestream well didn’t mean he couldn’t make short videos. Brother Zhang had said he had a talent for short videos, and the organization only helped him by boosting his visibility. All the likes and comments were genuine.

It was precisely because of the hundreds of thousands of likes overnight that Su Tianyuan believed in his potential to become popular.

“You’ve been on the internet for some time. Do you think it’s normal for a short video to get over a hundred thousand likes but only have a hundred or so comments?”

Su Aobai was very familiar with Su Tianyuan’s account backend.

“Even if it were normal, which isn’t impossible, let’s say it’s a minority of silent viewers. But with 150,000 views and over 140,000 likes, do you really think every person who watched your video liked it?”

Before this point was raised, Su Tianyuan hadn’t even thought about the issue of view-to-like ratios.

Now, he was speechless.

As a teenage internet addict, he knew deep down that a nearly one-to-one view-to-like ratio wasn’t normal.

Clearly, Zhang Lang must have spent money to buy enough likes to achieve this ratio and boost Su Tianyuan’s confidence in himself.

“How much did you pay them? At least make the data look authentic, and why not boost the comments a bit to make it look more lively.”

Previously, they had been vague about this, but now, both grandparents understood.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Isn’t it always like this at the beginning? Son, don’t be too hard on Xiao Yuan. Even with your livestreams, you had to spend money initially to get viewers. Isn’t it going well now?”

The grandparents still loved their grandson. Seeing their son criticize him, they quickly stepped in to defend him.

“Yeah, son, show Xiao Yuan those comments. Haha, kids these days are really funny, calling us grandpa and grandma and saying they want to be our grandchildren.” When talking about those adorable internet friends, Miao Yinhua’s face also lit up with joy.

Amidst the chatter from his grandparents, Su Tianyuan distilled a few key points:

–  His dad had really started messing around with live streaming.

– His dad’s live streams seemed to be doing pretty well.

Su Tianyuan had a somewhat proud personality. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have refused Zhang Lang’s proposal or gained attention with his quirky singing voice. Hearing that his father’s live streams might be more effective than his own recent attempts, Su Tianyuan couldn’t help feeling a bit disgruntled.

“Dad, it’s not the same thing. One is buying exposure, the other is buying engagement.” Su Aobai wanted to explain the difference to his parents.

***

“Dad, so you’re really doing live streaming?”

Su Tianyuan interrupted his father’s explanation. In fact, when he had just returned home, he had noticed several fixed setups in the dining room. At that time, he had thought those things were just his father’s attempt to impress.

“Haha, your dad has done it properly this time. He’s already earned 1,800 yuan these past couple of days.”

As soon as the topic of his son making money came up, Su Quangen couldn’t stop talking about it for 3 days and nights.

“Your dad also spent a thousand yuan at the beginning, and now he’s already made it back. Xiao Yuan, it’s okay to spend a bit of money at the start. If you do it well, you’ll earn it all back. By the way, how much did you spend on this? Are you tight on cash now?” Su Quangen thought his grandson was doing the same thing as his son.

Su Tianyuan: “…”

A thousand! Why is that o unbelievable!?

“Aren’t the promotion costs for these live streams clearly marked by the platforms? Haven’t you seen them?” Su Aobai looked surprised and then looked at his innocent son with a hint of amusement.

“Come on, how much money did you get fooled into spending to come up with this nonsense?” His attitude clearly showed disdain, thinking his son knew nothing and must have been deceived.

But the more he looked down on him, the more stubbornly Su Tianyuan refused to admit it.

Actually, at this point, he was feeling unsettled himself, constantly recalling what his dad had just said.

He had given Brother Zhang 30,000 yuan, and they had agreed that he would give Brother Zhang more later to invest in his own career. But had Brother Zhang really spent all that money on him? If he had thought it through, how did even his father see through the problem with the video’s data at a glance?

And about the platform’s clearly marked promotion costs that his father mentioned, Su Tianyuan really hadn’t known about that beforehand. He had already decided to check the backend later to see what the actual prices were.

“Mom, Dad, think about it. Can I really trust him with your money when he looks so clueless? I’m afraid he’s just being taken advantage of, thinking everyone’s acting in his best interest.”

Hearing his father’s dismissive remarks, Su Tianyuan, who was already half-believing, suddenly exploded.

“How could Brother Zhang deceive me like this? Even a stranger believes in me more than you.”

It was partly defiance, unwillingness to admit that he might actually have been deceived, and partly feeling aggrieved, thinking his father had always looked down on him and believed he couldn’t achieve anything.

Su Tianyuan thought to himself, “You’ve never really cared about me since I was young. Why is it that when I want to start something of my own, you come out to deny and discourage me? Are you even my real father?”

“If you want me to believe in you, you first have to do something that convinces me you’re capable.” Su Aobai didn’t soften his stance despite seeing his son’s eyes well up with tears; instead, he pressed harder with each step.

“What exactly do you want me to do for you to believe in me?” Su Tianyuan’s eyes reddened, his neck stiffening as he stared at his father’s gaze, which felt as if he were looking at a class enemy.

“Stop arguing. Can’t father and son have a civil conversation?”

The elderly couple felt most conflicted in the middle.

“Fine, is there anything I can ask you to do? As long as you accomplish it, I’ll admit I was wrong. I jumped to conclusions and underestimated you. You wanted to ask your grandparents for money, right? As long as you succeed, I won’t stop you.”

Father and son’s eyes sparked with fire in the air, completely ignoring the elderly couple’s attempts to mediate.

“Who’s afraid of who!” Su Tianyuan couldn’t stand the provocation, especially when he felt indignant and wanted to show up his father.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Who knew what his father would ask him to do? What if he made demands that were impossible for an ordinary person to fulfill? He would be at a loss whether to advance or retreat.

“Fine, starting today, you stay home and help out for a month. During this time, if you can complete all the odd jobs assigned to you and successfully cook three dishes and a soup that are both diverse and tasty on the last day, I’ll admit you’re capable. After that, if you manage to ask your grandparents for money and get it, I won’t stand in your way.”

Su Aobai wasn’t giving him any chance to back out.

Different children require different methods of teaching. Su Tianyuan had sailed smoothly through the first 20 years of his life, indulged by his grandparents and neglected by the original owner. With such a personality, if you treated him too leniently, he might end up as unruly as a monkey leaping to the sky, utterly lawless and unrestrained.

Therefore, Su Aobai had to suppress him, provoke his rebellious spirit, and make him believe in overthrowing this metaphorical mountain, gradually bringing about change.

“If you can’t do it well; Well… I should have known who you are. Forget what I said just now.”

Initially hesitant, Su Tianyuan was provoked by these words.

“Who can’t do it?!” He shouted loudly, then looked excitedly at his grandparents beside him.

“Grandpa, Grandma, bear witness. If I stick it out this month, learn to cook three dishes and a soup, Dad has to apologize to me. From now on, you can’t withhold money from me just because Dad tries to stop it.”

Su Tianyuan panted like a young bull, confident he could handle a month of helping out in the shop. As for cooking three dishes and a soup, that seemed even simpler; any normal person could succeed following a recipe.