Call Me Daddy

Since the day Xiao Pang’s exploration of the shop gained traction online, Su Family Snack Shop’s business became increasingly bustling. In just a few days, it had become a popular spot for local young people to check in.

Luckily, following their son’s suggestion, the elderly couple had already stopped their breakfast service. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to handle the current intensity. Even so, they had to make some adjustments to accommodate the current boom in business.

For instance, they set fixed operating hours for lunch and dinner. Previously, the shop had no clear schedule. If occasional customers arrived after 3 in the afternoon, the elderly couple would still receive them, often abandoning their own lunch to return to the kitchen and prepare meals. By the time they finished, their own food had long gone cold.

Now, Su Family Snack Shop operated from 11 to 2 for lunch and 5 to 8.30 in the evening, totaling only 6 and a half hours a day. Not only that, Su Aobai had hired a waitress with a firm attitude to take orders, serve dishes, and clean tables after each customer.

In this way, the shop’s business was busy yet orderly, and the whole family adapted to this busy yet fulfilling work rhythm.

The only ones who had some complaints were probably the neighbors living nearby, who had always treated Su Family Snack Shop as their own canteen. With so many customers now, they had to queue up for a meal, which took more time. This was far less convenient than before, when they could just walk in and eat.

What was even more frustrating was that Old Su’s culinary skills were improving. Despite the inconvenience of dining out, they refused to order convenient takeout and instead faithfully appeared at the entrance of the snack shop, gathering in groups of three to five to discuss which dishes would be sold today.

For those living alone or just a couple eating together, in order to taste more dishes, they simply shared tables with their close neighbors. Every meal was enjoyed on an empty stomach, and they left contentedly, patting their protruding bellies.

Of course, while marveling at Old Su’s rapidly improving skills, everyone still couldn’t help but talk about the father and son pair from the Su family.

It’s really rare. Originally, they thought that father and son were just helping out in the shop to squeeze money from the old couple. But now, more than half a month had passed in the blink of an eye, and they were still busy in the kitchen. This was unprecedented.

Everyone unanimously agreed that it was probably the change brought about by the son and grandson that revitalized Su Quangen’s spirits and gave him a second wind in his cooking skills. Otherwise, how could this old man suddenly improve his skills after his descendants started helping out?

“Old man, don’t you feel like our son and Xiao Yuan have a different vibe in their interactions compared to before?” Miao Yinhua murmured softly to her husband while picking vegetables.

There was still half an hour before the lunch rush began, and the whole family was busy preparing in the kitchen.

Su Aobai and Su Tianyuan, this father and son pair, weren’t as tense as they were at the beginning. Su Aobai was selecting spices from the batch that had just arrived today, letting Su Tianyuan smell and observe their appearance, while he explained the different uses of these spices. They seemed quite harmonious.

Miao Yinhua observed the father and son and felt somewhat pleased.

She had always felt that her son was too indifferent towards his son. From childhood to adulthood, all the big and small matters regarding their grandson were taken care of by the two of them. Her son never asked, and the father and son seemed like strangers living under the same roof. How could this be a genuine father and son relationship?

“You finally noticed,” Su Quangen chuckled and glanced at his wife in silence.

They say women are more observant than men, but after so many days had passed, it was only now that his wife noticed the changes in their son and grandson. Su Quangen thought about his wife’s extraordinary ability to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and wondered if she still didn’t know that every night, their son practiced basic skills with their grandson in the kitchen.

Well, their son and grandson must have been clueless before, all because of this silly wife. As for their son’s excellent culinary talent and their grandson’s handsome face, that must be credited to him.

Thinking of that, the old man couldn’t help but chuckle again.

“You rascal!” Miao Lao Tai scolded her husband with a glare, but seeing the harmonious father and son, she couldn’t help but smile too.

She had always said so, how could a genuine father and son not get along? In the past, they each had their own things to do; one holed up in his room, the other making friends everywhere. How could their bond develop under such circumstances?

But now, things were different. They were together every day, and with time, they naturally came to appreciate each other’s strengths.

Miao Yinhua expressed her relief. Despite their various flaws, her child and grandchild had a deep affection for their family. When it came to loyalty and affection, she was sure her children took after her.

***

Just as the couple pondered in their hearts which traits their children inherited from whom, Su Tianyuan’s phone rang.

It was a call from Zhang Lang.

Seeing the caller ID, Su Tianyuan hesitated for a moment. With everything that had been going on lately, he had almost forgotten about Zhang Lang; forgotten why he had started helping out at the shop in the first place; to secure a promise from his father to stop interfering in his money matters and to get the investment money from his grandparents.

“Dad, I’ll take this call,” Su Tianyuan said nervously, gripping his phone tightly. He wasn’t quite sure where this sneaky feeling of doing something wrong behind his father’s back had come from.

But everything felt off.

“Fine,” Su Aobai glanced at his phone and shot him a cold look.

Now, Su Family Snack Shop’s livestream was gaining some popularity. Besides the delicious food from the shop, the livestream was known for the superb cooking skills of the old man who looked at his grandchildren with indulgence, Su Aobai’s restless hands, and Su Tianyuan’s clumsy kitchen basics paired with his celebrity-like looks.

Zhang Lang had managed to swindle a lot of money from them, exploiting the desires of many young people to become overnight sensations. However, he did have some genuine live streamers under his management and paid close attention to this circle’s every move. So, after a long hiatus of over half a month, Zhang Lang was alarmed to find that what he had thought was a surefire cash cow had unexpectedly caught fire elsewhere.

To be honest, it was embarrassing for him to realize this only now, which certainly made Su Aobai look down on his competence.

Su Tianyuan: “…”

Oh no, now he felt even more guilty, feeling like a fickle person. Like his tail was on fire, he hurried into the restaurant, which was not yet open and completely empty, then answered the phone.

“Hey, Brother Zhang.”

Sure enough, this call from Zhang Lang was a probing one.

Honestly, Su Tianyuan was feeling conflicted at the moment.

What was he asking his grandparents for money for, if not because Zhang Lang had promised him that he could make him famous and live a carefree life earning millions a year?

But the reality was that after spending a few days with Zhang Lang, he wasn’t sure if things would actually take off. Instead, during the livestream, he received a lot of random insults.

Especially that guy who called himself [Your Dad is Still Your Dad,] calling him names like ‘Straw bag Beauty’ and throwing thunder at him. Who was this person humiliating? Did they think he was the kind of person they could insult just because they paid him?

The key point was, if you’re going to pay to insult someone, shouldn’t it be more than just a single yuan? At least give a hundred yuan!

After working hard in the kitchen for over half a month, Su Tianyuan had a deep appreciation for how difficult it was to earn money. He wasn’t the naive guy who used to generously treat his friends to dinner and singing anymore. Maybe he still looked down on a single yuan, but a hundred yuan? He noticed that.

Anyway, it was really infuriating, those days with Brother Zhang were not pleasant at all.

In contrast, now he was helping out in the shop where his father had set up a livestream. His father himself never appeared on camera. It was usually just him and his grandpa who appeared on the livestream because he looked good. Many viewers even said they liked him.

Thinking about that, Su Tianyuan couldn’t help blushing a bit.

Those people online were shameless. Some praised him as cute and wanted to be his mother, while others cried and screamed to have his babies, asking him not to stick too rigidly to gender roles. It was clear his personality charm appealed to people of all ages.

Of course, along with praise, there was criticism. Many people mocked his lack of basic skills. Initially, Su Tianyuan was angry. He loved compliments and couldn’t handle criticism.

On the first day he watched the playback, his mind was full of insults, leaving him feeling suffocated and unable to sleep well that night. By the fifth day of watching, he began to see comments praising his progress. That night, Su Tianyuan read those praising comments over and over again, even taking screenshots and saving them in a folder named ‘Evolutionary History of the Divine Chef’.

Half a month had passed in a flash. Although Su Tianyuan still couldn’t handle a kitchen knife as skillfully as his father, he no longer chopped potatoes into uneven strips; one thick, one thin, one like chopsticks, another like toothpicks.

The praise for his rapid progress kept increasing. Many self-proclaimed cooking enthusiasts even left comments marveling at how he had progressed from zero to his current level in just over half a month. His talent seemed to surpass that of many others.

These compliments boosted Su Tianyuan’s confidence. While his father had natural talent, he was lazy and only willing to teach him a few times. Maybe his talent couldn’t match his father’s, but he practiced much longer every day. It was like the tortoise and the hare race; sooner or later, he would leave his father behind.

Now, Su Tianyuan didn’t actually dislike his father who was willing to teach him basic skills at night. But the desire to win was ingrained in him. Su Tianyuan felt that sooner or later, he would surpass his father in cooking skills and in the affection of his grandparents.

But that’s getting ahead of things.

Anyway, now that he had gained some popularity through Su Family Snack Shop’s livestream, he didn’t feel such a strong desire to return to Zhang Lang.

Zhang Lang sensed Su Tianyuan’s hesitation in his response and felt uneasy.

Because they hadn’t signed any agreement, he had no real leverage over Su Tianyuan. But now that he had discovered Su Tianyuan was gaining some traction, Zhang Lang was unwilling to give up this solid money-making opportunity.

He had already planned things out after noticing Su Tianyuan’s minor rise to fame. They would open a restaurant, hire some chefs, and have Su Tianyuan livestream from the kitchen to boost the restaurant’s popularity.

With livestream earnings and profits from a trendy restaurant, they could make much more than just squeezing the family’s savings for quick profits.