Call Me Daddy

“Your Uncle passed the examination and you think you’ve become the young lady of the scholar’s family? Bah! You little jinx, let me tell you, your act of playing the pity card won’t work on me!”

Seeing Su Erniang emerge from the room, Li Shi’s triangular, slanted eyes widened, and she immediately began berating her.

She was venting her frustration on this taciturn granddaughter. In this family, besides the old ox, the hardest worker was Second Su. During these busy farming days, the workload was fixed daily, no rest until the work was done. Otherwise, if the rainy season came, the crops in the fields would spoil. Today, Second Su couldn’t work in the fields due to a leg injury, which meant her old husband and their son and niece had to do extra work. How could this not cause Li Shi’s heartache?

“It’s just a matter of fixing the roof. Is a grown man really going to catch a cold just from getting rained on? One might think I’m mistreating him as his stepmother.”

“None of you seem to care about work. Do you want to tire me out? Unfaithful and unfilial wretches. Hurry up and chop the pig feed, chop it fine; otherwise, it won’t cook properly, and the pigs won’t eat it. After chopping the pig feed, go chop the firewood in the backyard. Haven’t you seen that the kindling in the kitchen is almost used up?”

The old woman spat out a stream of complaints, pointing at Su Erniang’s nose.

Su Erniang kept her head down, obeying silently. After the old woman finished, she walked over to the two full baskets of pig feed, picked up a sharp chopping knife, and began chopping.

The pig feed had been cut from the riverbank at the foot of the mountain early in the morning by her and her elder cousin. The Su family’s backyard kept two fat pigs, cared for by the two eldest sisters. They were responsible for cutting the pig feed, preparing the pig food, and feeding the pigs, while cleaning the pigsty was the men’s job. The manure was also used for other purposes; after being shoveled, it was transported to be fermented into fertilizer for the fields.

Su Yuanniang sat on the kang in her room with her embroidery frame, peeking through a small crack in the window to watch the two people in the yard.

For her cousin from the adjacent room, Su Yuanniang undoubtedly felt sympathy. Her father had repeatedly advised her second uncle, both openly and subtly, not to be so submissive to the old woman’s commands. Unfortunately, her second uncle never took her father’s good intentions to heart.

In this family, the one who was most bullied was the second uncle, followed by his daughter.

Su Yuanniang still had her parents to protect her. She did the same work as the village girls, but if the old woman wanted her to do more, her mother would intervene, citing her age and the need to prepare for a future marriage as reasons to pull her back into the house to practice embroidery.

Thus, Su Yuanniang always had some time to rest each day.

Although she felt sorry for her younger cousin, she couldn’t do much to help. According to her parents, if her own father didn’t care about his daughter’s well-being, it was pointless for others to care. If she were to help her younger cousin and the old woman found out, they might think she was also easy to bully and end up exploiting her as well.

Su Yuanniang glared hatefully at the vicious old woman. If her own grandmother had been alive, the two sisters would definitely have lived a better life than now.

Not wanting to watch any longer, she silently closed the window, hoping that not seeing her younger cousin’s suffering might ease her conscience a bit.

***

“Grandma! Grandma, look at what good things I’ve brought back!”

A clear, sweet voice came from afar, as pleasant as the chirping of a skylark.

Li Shi could no longer be bothered with the second branch’s daughter. She immediately turned her head and looked toward the courtyard.

A little girl dressed in a red floral cotton dress ran toward them from the distance, followed by a small boy who had recently learned to run. With his little short legs moving like a duck’s, he pitter-pattered behind his sister.

The siblings were Su Fubao and Su Laiyun, the children of the third family branch.

Su Fubao had very fair skin and still retained some baby fat on her face. Her features had inherited the most outstanding traits from her parents. Although only 6 years old, she already showed signs of becoming a future beauty. Of course, her most striking feature was her eyes, which seemed to outshine even the stars in the sky.

“Grandma’s good baby…”

The old lady welcomed them with a smile, completely shedding her earlier fierce demeanor. Now, she appeared to be the kindest and most amiable grandmother in the world. Seeing her granddaughter emerge, dripping with sweat, she quickly took out her clean handkerchief and gently wiped the sweat from her granddaughter’s forehead.

The previous day had brought a heavy rain, and some children in the village had gone to the foot of the mountain to find the newly sprouted mushrooms.

Su Fubao had always been lucky. Her little basket was already full of mushrooms, and her pockets, as well as her brother’s clothing pockets, were also stuffed with fresh mushrooms, including some rare wild varieties.

“My dear, you’re truly blessed. Tomorrow, I’ll have your father go to town and sell these mushrooms to the restaurant owner. I’ll save the money for you, to be used as your dowry in the future.”

The old woman was always inconsistent when it came to money. She believed that since her granddaughter was so fortunate and earned a lot, the wealth shouldn’t benefit the eldest or second families. How could they take advantage of her niece’s money? It was unacceptable for those two families.

However, when she spoke, the old woman lowered her voice. Er Niang, who was in the courtyard, could hear, but Yuan Niang, who was in the room, couldn’t.

Li Shi wasn’t worried about the second family’s members knowing her thoughts. Those two were as dull as logs and wouldn’t dare object, even if they had opinions. It was the eldest family’s couple who were somewhat restless, especially the eldest daughter-in-law. Had she known, she wouldn’t have supported the eldest’s wish to marry a woman from a well-off family in the village.

As expected, Su Erniang acted as if she hadn’t heard the old lady’s words and continued chopping the pig feed diligently with her head bowed.

“Grandma, there’s a lot of work in the fields right now, so we should make sure everyone at home gets a good meal. Later, could you make some mushroom soup? Everyone could have a bowl to taste, and it would warm our stomachs.”

Su Fubao wasn’t unaware that her family had gained a lot from public resources, so she tried to contribute as much as possible to her parents. It made her feel better.

“Grandma, please? I want to drink mushroom soup, and I’d like you and Grandpa to have some too, as well as my parents, Eldest Uncle, and Second Uncle.”

Fu Bao first mentioned that she wanted to drink mushroom soup, then she brought up her grandparents and parents, and finally, as if incidentally, mentioned the eldest and second family. She knew that her grandmother would be reluctant to give the mushroom soup to the eldest and second families. However, if the soup was shared among her grandparents and her own family, the grandmother would have to give some to the uncles to avoid appearing too unreasonable.

As expected, the old woman was initially unwilling. The mushrooms picked by her beloved granddaughter shouldn’t be given to unrelated people.

But, following the same logic, if she made the soup and didn’t give any to the eldest and second families, rumors would spread through the village. Since she was the one distributing the soup, she could afford to give a bit of the clear broth to those two families, which would be quite fair.

Thus, the old lady nodded in agreement.

“By the way, Grandma, when my father goes to town tomorrow, could he take some to Younger Uncle and Aunt? Let them try these mushrooms too.”

Compared to her sympathy and guilt towards the eldest and second families, Su Fubao genuinely cared for her youngest uncle, who had always treated her like his own daughter. She wanted to share good things with him.

“Okay, okay, okay. If your uncle knows you think of him like this, he’ll be very happy.”

The old lady smiled, pleased to see her fortunate granddaughter being so affectionate toward her most favored son.

Li Shi knew that what truly made her stand tall in the family was her youngest son, who had recently passed the scholar’s examination.

Before this, the old husband had always claimed to favor the two sons she bore. But the old woman knew that he actually valued the eldest son, born from his previous wife, the most.

Previously, the old husband was adamant about having the eldest son care for him in his old age. However, on the night the news of her youngest son’s success reached them, she subtly probed the old husband’s opinion about living with the more successful youngest son in the future.

To her surprise, he didn’t refuse.

It was clear that the old husband’s favorite son had now shifted from the eldest to her youngest child. The eldest son could no longer be as favored as before. She would eventually find a way to drive these two bothersome sons out of the house.

The old woman patted her granddaughter’s head, then took the bag of mushrooms to the kitchen. The fresh, tender mushrooms needed to be handled carefully, or they would spoil and change color by the time they were taken to town the next day.

***

After the old woman left, Su Fubao, like a nimble little rabbit, quickly ran over to Su Erniang.

“Cousin Er Niang, these are mountain berries I found at the foot of the mountain. I saved them especially for you.”

As she spoke, she was about to stuff the wild fruit into Er Niang’s pocket, but before her fingers could touch Er Niang’s clothes, Er Niang had already moved away.

“Be careful the knife is sharp, don’t hurt yourself.”

She kept her head down, speaking in her usual gentle tone.

In truth, Su Erniang could smell the fragrant wild fruit and felt her mouth begin to water.

Su Fubao was a charming little girl; pretty and kind-natured. She was one of the few people in the family who showed her kindness, but Su Erniang simply didn’t like her.

Why should Su Fubao enjoy a life so different from her own and her elder cousin’s? Despite the fact that the reasons for this disparity weren’t Su Fubao’s fault, Su Erniang couldn’t help but feel resentment and jealousy, and she found it difficult to interact with Su Fubao without these feelings.

She felt that her jealousy was ugly, but her long-standing lack of protection had taught Su Erniang to suppress it. She didn’t want to hurt someone who was kind to her due to her own ugly thoughts, but she also didn’t want to get too close and exacerbate her jealousy.

Of course, rejecting Su Fubao’s kindness wasn’t solely about jealousy.

She had previously eaten wild fruit given by Su Fubao. On one occasion, Li Shi had seen her eating the fruit and mistakenly thought that Su Erniang was bullying the innocent Fu Bao. Li Shi had taken off her shoe and hit her hard across the face a dozen times, until her mouth was split and half of her face was swollen, before finally letting her go in anger.

The old lady would never let her granddaughter know about this cruelty. When Fu Bao saw the scars on her face and looked surprised, the old woman had merely said that Su Erniang had accidentally fallen and bumped her mouth. The matter was quickly put to rest.

***

Su Erniang gathered the chopped pig feed into a bamboo basket and then carried the two baskets of chopped feed on her slender shoulders. She still had to go to the backyard to boil the feed along with other feedstuff. Before the others returned for lunch, she needed to make sure the two hungry fat pigs were well-fed. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be allowed to have her own lunch.

She avoided Su Fubao and walked slowly and heavily towards the backyard. As she passed by the room of the eldest family, Su Yuanniang came out.

Feeding the pigs was a task shared by the two sisters. Since Er Niang had already chopped the pig feed, Yuan Niang planned to handle the cooking herself, which would give Er Niang some time to chop the firewood.

Although she couldn’t help Er Niang with the extra tasks she had taken on, she wouldn’t pass off their shared responsibilities entirely onto her.

Fu Bao stood in place, watching as the elder cousin took one of the bamboo baskets from Er Niang. The two figures, one tall and one short, soon disappeared from view, leaving her with a vague sense of loss.

Even though there were only the three girls in the family, she had never been able to fit in between the elder and second sisters.

Fu Bao knew that it was too pretentious to want to be close friends with them while benefiting from their help. But compared to them, she was more reluctant to see her beloved grandmother suffering. She seemed unable to balance this relationship.

Looking at the mountain berries in her hand, Fu Bao felt a deep ache in her heart.

***

In the room, Su Aobai had attempted to cultivate his technique and absorb the sparse spiritual energy in the area. After struggling for over half an hour, he finally felt a slight flow of energy in his dantian.

(T/N: Dantian = Refers to the region in the body where a person’s Qi is concentrated.)

With so little spiritual energy, he couldn’t accomplish much. The nearby spiritual energy had already been depleted and was slowly recovering.

This small amount of energy was barely enough. Su Aobai didn’t immediately use it to cleanse his marrow and remove the long-standing toxins in his body. Instead, he used the energy to gradually move some of the toxins to his injured leg.

In no time, the little bit of gathered energy was exhausted, and his body could no longer support him. He collapsed onto the bed.

Su Aobai barely managed to lift his head to look at his severely injured right leg. The wound, which had been merely red, swollen, and slightly oozing pus before, had now turned into a horrifying shade of blue and purple. The skin from his knee to his ankle was swollen and rotting, with dark red blood and yellowish pus continuously seeping out. The leg looked as though it had begun to rot.

However, Su Aobai knew that he had merely transferred the residual bad elements in his body to his leg injury. As long as he used spiritual energy to expel these elements from his right leg later, it would count as completing the first round of marrow cleansing.

By this time, those who had been working in the fields had returned, and various complaints could be heard in the courtyard.

Because the original owner had not gone to work in the fields, the people had really overexerted themselves.

“Second brother… Second brother…”

Before long, Su Youtian, the eldest of the Su family, pushed open the door. Having heard from his stepmother that his younger brother was awake, he came to see how he was doing.

Although they were biological brothers, they had never been close growing up. At that time, Su Youtian was too young to understand what it meant for a stepmother to enter the family. By the time he realized it, his younger brother had already been so influenced by their stepmother that he couldn’t be corrected.

Over time, Su Youtian had given up. After all, he had his own family, and a foolish younger brother was no match for his wife and child in his heart.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw the blanket that Su Aobai had thrown aside and the leg that seemed to be rotting, exposed to the air.

Su Youtian’s face instantly turned pale.