Call Me Daddy

Su Aobai was happily rubbing the mud off his body. After experiencing a month of living with nine people crammed into a tube-shaped hut the size of a bird’s nest, the once pampered Young Master Su didn’t mind the rural living environment at all.

As he watched the strips of dirt being rubbed off his body, he, who used to enjoy bathing in a massage bathtub while listening to music, suddenly felt happiness.

After a while…

“The water’s cooled down, let me add some hot water for you.”

While Su Aobai was scrubbing himself, Jiang Lianmei boiled another pot of hot water. Now she carried a small bucket and poured a bath-ladle of water from it into the large wooden tub where Su Aobai was soaking.

The tub for bathing was only as high as an adult’s thigh, so for a child, it was more like a huge bucket. For Su Aobai, sitting cross-legged inside, it only covered up to his chest.

At this moment, he was completely naked. Jiang Lianmei came in without a word, startling him. He quickly covered his lower body with the scrubbing towel.

“That’s about it. I’ll leave the rest of this hot water here for you. If it cools down, you can add more yourself.”

After adding two ladles of water in succession, Jiang Lianmei reached into the tub and stirred a few times to even out the temperature.

Su Aobai, who was pressed against the side of the tub, was tense. His eyes were fixed on her hand dipping into the water, fearing she might touch certain parts underwater. It wasn’t until Jiang Lianmei finished testing the temperature and withdrew her hand that he finally breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

“Why is your face so red? Is the water too hot? Shall I fetch some cold water for you?”

Jiang Lianmei asked nervously, looking at her husband’s flushed cheeks.

“No need!”

Su Aobai’s speech was rapid, his voice loud.

“The water temperature is fine now. I brought back a lot of specialties from Ning City. They’re in the main hall. You should tidy them up so the kids don’t accidentally overeat.” Su Aobai thought; Can’t let you interrupt again with another round of water. So, he found an excuse to send Jiang Lianmei away.

Without much thought, Jiang Lianmei crisply agreed and left the bathroom.

As Su Aobai watched her silhouette vanish behind the curtain, he finally let out a long sigh, and his body relaxed.

At this point, he still didn’t know how to get along with this woman.

Actually, Su Aobai didn’t resist Jiang Lianmei because he had inherited all the memories of the original owner. This phase of life felt like the memories he had just recovered from his past lives, as if it had become a part of his life from one of his previous existences. Emotional involvement also made Su Aobai feel like this might be a sensation from one of his reincarnations.

However, in this phase of life, there were many emotions that Su Aobai was unfamiliar with, and many roles he had never experienced before.

Like being a husband, like being a father.

Ironically, although he had been a second-generation rich young master, a second-generation cultivator, and even a prince or crown prince revered in feudal society… until the end of each of his life cycles, he was still an innocent young boy.

In the world of the second-generation rich young master, his fiancée, beloved by the son of destiny, was the school belle…

In the world of cultivators, he was interested in the female cultivator who divorced the male lead and was later captured again when the male lead made a comeback…

As a crown prince, when defeated, a princess from the enemy country came for a political marriage, but in the end, even the princess, who had been the hope of thousands, would choose the son of destiny, the penniless soldier, and on their wedding day, she would elope with the soldier…

In short, in every life, there was always a fiancée, but he never got her.

Actually, Su Aobai might not really like those women. It seemed as if he was controlled by the will of the world, because only when he loved them like crazy could he be driven to gamble his family for a woman and ultimately be defeated by the male lead.

As the memories of each life were re-imprinted into his brain, Su Aobai, upon reviewing these memories, also found himself somewhat ridiculous at the time. It seemed like he had gone mad upon encountering the female lead, with all his actions contradicting the education he had received since childhood. Not only him, but his parents and family also forgot to read the situation.

Compared to the ‘perfect’ women in his memories, this world’s Jiang Lianmei seemed to be more lively and dynamic.

Su Aobai hastened his scrubbing speed. He knew that as the interaction deepened, the emotions and memories of the original owner would merge with him more. He would gradually become this world’s Su Aobai, but a somewhat different one. At least, he wouldn’t repeat the mistakes committed by the original owner.

***

“Crunch, crunch, crunch.”

“Mom, this smells so good, crunch, crunch, crunch.”

As Su Aobai emerged from the bath with dirty clothes in hand, Jiang Lianmei and her two children were huddled around the table, their backs turned to him. The trio, one big and two small, lowered their heads together, munching on something delicious like hamsters nibbling on food, unaware of his presence.

“Wow, so oily, no wonder it’s so fragrant!”

Su Mingcheng reached out a finger, gleaming with oil. He couldn’t help but retract it, licking his finger.

In these times, households lacked oil. Firstly, each household had a limited amount of cooking oil, and secondly, meat was scarce. Without enough oil, they naturally got hungry faster.

Su Aobai walked over to take a look. It turned out they were eating fried dough twists.

These were specialties he brought back from Ning City, also known as “little twists” in some places. This kind of snack was fried in oil, fragrant, crispy, and crunchy. If it weren’t for the fact that the original owner’s mother worked as a senior accountant in a food factory, he might not have been able to buy such good things at the supply and marketing cooperative.

However, these snacks were in high demand and expensive. Su Aobai didn’t bring back too many, just two flavors in total, each weighing about 2 or 3 catties.

Jiang Lianmei held the original flavor with sesame seeds, which was sweet. Her son Su Mingcheng held the seaweed flavor, which was sweet and salty.

Su Aobai had eaten some freshly fried dough twists, still warm and crispy. But if left out for too long, this kind of snack would lose its taste. When he brought them back, Su Aobai wrapped them in layers of oil paper and dared not open them midway, fearing they would soften if they got damp.

Now, it seemed like they were preserved quite well.

Jiang Mingmei, being small, had small teeth and couldn’t bite this kind of hard food. Jiang Lianmei gave her a small piece that had been crushed, letting her chew on it to exercise her teeth.

Although the little girl was small, she was smart. She put the small piece of fried dough twist in her mouth and held it there until it softened and could be chewed. She didn’t care about the crispy texture; she only knew that this snack was delicious. In her mouth, there was the sweetness of sugar and the rich aroma of sesame, better than any snack she had ever eaten.

After finishing what was in her mouth, the little girl quickly tugged at her brother’s sleeve, her round eyes fixed on the opened packet of fried dough twists, indicating that she wanted more.

When Su Mingcheng picked out a few more pieces that were crushed enough for her to hold in her mouth, the little girl smiled as sweetly as can be.

“Daddy!”

Jiang Mingmei was the first to see her father coming out after a bath.

By now, she recognized him. Mommy said all these delicious snacks were brought by Daddy. Jiang Mingmei tilted her head, recalling that indeed, there was someone she used to call Daddy.

Being a little girl of her age, she didn’t have many thoughts, unlike her older brother who could understand outsiders’ mockery. After eating the delicious snacks brought by her father, she felt a bit closer to Su Aobai and was no longer shy. Clutching a handful of fried dough twists, she toddled over to Su Aobai.

“Daddy, eat, it’s delicious!”

The little girl looked up at him, her small forehead scattered with stray locks of hair, sticking to her pink round face, looking incredibly cute.

Su Aobai, a tough guy who used to avoid all children as little devils, couldn’t help but soften a bit.

“These are for Mommy and Mingmei brought by Daddy, and Daddy has already eaten,” he said, lifting the little girl up and giving her a couple of pats.

This little girl seemed a bit light? Su Aobai thought he should feed her a little more to fatten her up.

Before returning to the city, the original owner had always been a good husband and father.

Because he felt there was no hope of returning to the city and wanted to live a good life, he relied on the Jiang family. Also, Jiang Lianmei herself was a pretty and likable girl, so the original owner had always treated her well.

As for the two children, how could normal parents not dote on their own children?

The original owner was no exception. Even as a high school student, he knew the importance of education. Since Su Mingcheng was sensible, he began teaching him to read and write. When Su Mingcheng was 6, he arranged for him to enter the commune’s elementary school early, leveraging his own identity as a teacher.

The original owner had feelings for this rural home.

***

In the original life trajectory, he did indeed return to the city to visit his mother when she was sick. He had planned to return after, but plans changed. When his parents informed him that they would leave the job to him and he could return to the city, he felt ashamed of his cowardice as he watched his long-awaited hometown and the relatives and friends who were well-dressed and engaged in respectable work. He compared this to the impoverished countryside life, and he retreated in disgrace.

At first, he hesitated, so his parents asked him to temporarily take the job for a while to see if he could adapt to the work.

There were many well-dressed and confident girls in the Food Processing Factory and the Trade Union. They were different from Jiang Lianmei. This difference was not just in appearance but also in temperament. They were two different types of people living in different backgrounds, with entirely different qualities.

The original owner was a high school student and didn’t suffer much during the years in the countryside. On the contrary, this experience made his temperament more mature. Coupled with his outstanding appearance, as soon as he entered the Food Processing Factory, he caught the attention of many girls.

During that time, the original owner felt like he had returned to his youth. He was still the high school senior who was admired on campus.

Gradually, he forgot about his wife and children, and he dared not think about them anymore because it proved his despicability.

After the original owner didn’t return for a long time, the Jiang family came to Ning City to find him. However, they didn’t know the specific address of the Su family, and the files in the brigade only had the original owner’s street address of origin. Perhaps the Su family had intervened, so the Jiang family returned empty-handed.

This trip solidified the original owner’s abandonment of his wife and children. He was certainly vilified, but within the brigade, Jiang Lianmei and her children endured the most gossip.

Many children said in front of Su Mingcheng that he was an unwanted child. Originally just a bit mischievous, his temperament became more irritable, often getting into fights with the other children in the brigade. He also became less interested in studying because his father, who had abandoned them, was known in the village as an educated youth. They said the more educated a man was, the less conscience he had.

Later, Jiang Dajun and his wife passed away one after another. Without the support of her parents, Jiang Lianmei’s life became even harder. Su Mingcheng couldn’t stand the ridicule his two aunts gave his mother, nor could he stand the bullying his cousins subjected his sister to. He vowed to make a name for himself and then find the man who had abandoned them.

But besides fighting, he didn’t know anything else. Single-mindedly seeking success, he ventured into illicit activities and eventually encountered a crackdown, leading to a death sentence by firing squad.

As for Su Mingmei, her outcome wasn’t too favorable either. Because of her reputation, she couldn’t marry into a good family. Fortunately, her intended groom was relatively kind-hearted. Although his family’s conditions were average, he was willing to occasionally support her elderly mother.

Unfortunately, her mother-in-law disapproved and often mistreated her behind her son’s back, making her suffer, looking like an old woman by the time she reached middle age.

***

In this world, Su Aobai’s task was to ensure these two children had a bright and beautiful life, altering their previous life’s outcomes. Additionally, the Good Daddy System had a strict rule; both children’s affection levels towards him needed to exceed 80. 80 was the passing mark, but of course, the higher, the better.

Currently, Su Mingcheng’s affection level towards him was 58, Su Mingmei’s was 66, and the little girl’s affection level fluctuated like a joke, a bite of fried dough twist would increase it slightly. However, this was because she was still young; often, affection could rise quickly and fall just as fast, not to be taken seriously.

Once the affection level surpassed 70, it became relatively stable unless there were significant cracks, otherwise it wouldn’t easily drop back below 70.

Watching his father hold his sister and hearing that the snacks were specifically bought for his mother and sister, excluding him, Su Mingcheng became angry again.

He wanted to stubbornly put down the fried dough twist in his hand but couldn’t bear to part with its delicious aroma.

[Affection level 55, 57, 56, 57, 56…]

Su Aobai, with his head tilted back, sniffing at his son through his nostrils, watched as the affection level stopped at 55.

“We forgot about our Mingcheng. Oh, that’s right, our Mingcheng hasn’t called me ‘Dad’ yet. Ah, it’s a pity I’ve been missing you three.”

With the emotions left behind by the original owner, plus the previous experience of Jiang Lianmei’s emotional fluctuations during her pregnancy, Su Aobai now had mixed feelings towards this thin, dark-skinned little boy.

But Su Aobai’s nature hadn’t changed; he couldn’t resist making a teasing remark to this boy.

Upon hearing that his father hadn’t forgotten about him and had been missing him, Su Mingcheng’s dark cheeks flushed with a rosy hue. His previous father had been gentle yet stern, never speaking such intimate words to him.

[Affection level 55, 58, 59, 58, 59, 60…] Finally settling at 62.

Children were still a bit easy to please.

“Dad…” He hesitantly called out, then tilted his head back arrogantly, as if refusing to face his father directly. Even though I’m calling ‘Dad,’ it didn’t mean I’ve forgiven you yet; Su Mingcheng thought stubbornly in his heart.