Call Me Daddy

From now on, Su Aobai would be the head chef at the shop. They would hire a couple of workers to serve and prepare food, allowing the elderly couple to relax more. Occasionally, the old man could lend a hand and guide Su Tianyuan in basic cooking skills. Given Su Tianyuan’s current level, the old man felt he was more than capable of teaching him.

This proposal received unanimous approval from the whole family.

***

That day, Su Tianyuan adjusted the camera angle as usual and started the livestream. His father had already entrusted him with managing their account, which Su Tianyuan saw as recognition of his performance and a motivation to study culinary arts more diligently.

At first, the bullet comments were quite normal. About an hour later, Su Tianyuan stole a glance at the barrage of comments and was shocked to see [Dad!] flooding the screen.

What on earth? Before, there were comments calling him ‘Young Master,’ some calling him ‘Grandpa,’ and even ‘Father-in-law,’ but never before had everyone collectively and uniformly called him ‘Dad.’

Among these [Dad] comments were some other phrases.

Ten waterfront apartments, high-priced legal team… What in the world is all this about?

Su Tianyuan couldn’t understand, so he kept staring at those bullet comments until someone mentioned a vlogger. Su Tianyuan quickly logged in and searched for the keywords, which led him to a video.

The video was filmed at a real estate agency, where someone displayed a thick stack of property deeds and demanded they all be rented out. Based on the video’s audio recording, there were a total of ten property deeds, all for local luxury apartments in Binjiang Garden. Among them, four were large river-view flats.

Su Tianyuan estimated that the total value of these properties could easily exceed 6 billion.

But that wasn’t the main point. The crucial part was the face that appeared in the video; it was unmistakably his father!

Could it just be someone who looks similar?

Su Tianyuan swallowed hard, his eyes fixed firmly on the man in the video.

The clothes, the pants; he recognized them all as his father’s wardrobe. Even the hairstyle was identical. The video even captured the man leaving the agency.

Riding his electric scooter, wearing a matching safety helmet; this tycoon who owned ten luxury apartments left the real estate agency in such a simple manner.

Even the scooter and helmet were of the same style and color!

Su Tianyuan was so nervous he could hardly breathe. My Dad! My real Dad! The dad who had been living off us all this time was secretly the owner of ten luxury homes!

Taking a deep breath, Su Tianyuan calmed himself and continued scrolling through the news on the vlogger’s account.

It turned out that this video was found by a netizen in a friend’s circle. This netizen also followed Su Family Snack Shop’s livestream account, so when he saw the side profile in the video, he immediately recognized Su Aobai.

At that moment, he saved the video and uploaded it to his vlogger account.

Coincidentally, around the same time, a prominent vlogger who had been accused earlier spoke out, hoping that Su Family Snack Shop would give him some leniency.

It turned out that some netizens’ earlier speculations were correct. Su Aobai was the one who sued these big-name internet celebrities for defamation and maliciously guiding public opinion. He spared no expense in hiring a team of top-notch lawyers.

They did not disappoint Su Aobai’s investment. Not only did they find evidence of these celebrities accepting money to spread negative information and hiring online troll armies to manipulate public opinion, but they also uncovered evidence that some of these celebrities had previously spread false information that led to online violence, ultimately causing an 18-year-old minor celebrity to commit suicide.

One of the celebrities not only accepted money to spread false negative information but also used an alias to send private messages to the young celebrity, encouraging them to commit suicide. At the time of the minor celebrity’s suicide, they were only 17 years old and still a minor.

The legal team contacted the parents of the minor celebrity and elevated the case from a civil dispute with Su Aobai to a criminal case, directly accusing the celebrity of inciting the suicide of a minor and suspected murder.

This left the big-name celebrity in a real panic. They immediately begged for forgiveness online because facing such a formidable legal team, their chances of winning the case were minimal.

They had only received a few thousand yuan to target a recently popular food channel minor internet celebrity. Little did they know that while publicly running a small restaurant in the urban village, Su Aobai had quietly spent millions to hire a legal team, thoroughly investigating them and exposing all the dirty deeds they had done for money in the past.

Now, under their vlogger’s posts, there was nothing but criticism, and many people were also sending private messages questioning why such scum hadn’t been the one to die.

They were even doxed, with many people finding their real-life address and those around them, publicizing their actions. The same suffering that the person had inflicted through malicious framing and internet violence was now replaying on them.

This celebrity wasn’t the first to beg for mercy. Many were also surprised that what had originally been common online gossip had led to a crisis involving many big-name internet celebrities.

Even the most vocal public figures were now cautious about speaking out. Some who had done dirty work for money were relieved not to have been involved this time but were now worried about whether they had offended someone in the past or if they would cross paths with someone like Su Aobai in the future, making them all the more careful.

However, before that video in the friend circle was uploaded, many still doubted the claims made by that celebrity.

A family, even when owning two buildings in the urban village couldn’t possibly afford such exorbitant legal fees. If Su Aobai was truly that wealthy, why would they operate a small restaurant in the urban village, enduring the grease and heat of the cramped kitchen every day?

That was until more people started watching and sharing that video.

Ten houses in Binjiang Garden; this was different from the two old buildings in the urban village. Before demolition, these were just two old houses, renting for tens of thousands a month. Moreover, dealing with houses on collective land that legally could only circulate among villagers would require cumbersome procedures if one wanted to sell them.

But houses in Binjiang Garden were different. During the current hot real estate market, if he wanted, he could immediately sell and cash in for several billion by slightly lowering the price.

Also, just look at how casual the person was dressed in the video. The way they handed out the property certificates was as casual as you handing out drafts. Who knows if, besides these ten houses, they have other assets?

It’s precisely because they have such a solid and rich background that they can easily spend tens of millions to fight lawsuits just to vent their anger.

Envy! Countless netizens were envious!

The viewers in Su Aobai’s live broadcast room were the same, but along with envy, there was also a faint sense of satisfaction.

A billionaire cooking for me every day. If I’m in a good mood, I might even tip a few bucks to the tycoon. Come to think of it, my taste seems to have improved.

Su Tianyuan put down his phone and almost numbly looked at the dense [Dad] comments in the barrage of the live broadcast room, occasionally interspersed with [father-in-law.]

Then he walked over to his father, who was cooking, hesitated for a long time before finally saying something.

***

“Dad, do you really have ten houses in Binjiang Garden?”

He asked the question that the audience had been eagerly awaiting. Some were curious why Su Tianyuan, as his son, didn’t know about his family’s assets, but more were holding their breath behind the screen, waiting for Su Aobai’s answer.

Only to see Su Aobai’s hand wielding the spatula paused in mid-air, he glanced at his son, waited for a moment, then resumed frying the vegetables. After a while, he replied in a muffled voice.

“Yeah.”

He admitted it!

Su Tianyuan’s head was buzzing; he could barely catch his breath.

“Ah, you found out after all, Xiao Yuan. Actually, until you matured and became sensible, Dad always hoped you could live an ordinary life like other kids.”

Su Aobai sighed deeply while cooking.

Now the barrage in the chat room became unsettled.

[Ah, come on~ Calling two buildings in the urban village an ordinary life? Boss, with a net worth approaching billions, earning over a hundred thousand a month just from rent isn’t ordinary at all. Are you mistaken about the meaning of ‘ordinary’?]

But then again, what was the life of a tycoon? For the wealthy, this kind of lifestyle might indeed be considered ordinary, perhaps even a bit austere.

Wuwuwuw, I feel like hugging myself.