Call Me Daddy

Su Aobai calmly picked up the pickled vegetables and fried pumpkin from the plate in front of him, his thoughts already tumultuous from the sudden reminder in his mind.

100 catties of smoked fish!

This was the reward for his daughter’s favorability breaking through 70 points. In the past, Su Aobai would definitely have looked down on such a thing, but in the scarce resources of the 1970s, 100 catties of smoked fish could easily be converted into a considerable fortune.

Moreover, this one hundred catties of smoked fish was just the beginning of the reward. According to the feedback in his mind, after the favorability exceeded 70 points, every 5-point increase would yield an unknown reward.

Because the volume of the rewarded items was too large and their sudden appearance in reality would attract attention, the system stored them in another dimensional space for distribution, where they could be retrieved and stored at any time. Unfortunately, this space could only hold items rewarded by the system; other things couldn’t be stored there.

Su Aobai hastened his chewing speed and finished his meal in a few bites, without asking for another serving.

“I’m done eating. Give me the child, I’ll feed her.”

With that, he took his daughter from Jiang Lianmei’s arms.

This action was somewhat abrupt. In the past, Su Aobai would also take care of the children, but his care was more focused on their education. Like the original owner and the vast majority of men in this era, he believed in the traditional gender roles, with men working outside and women taking care of household chores and children.

“Hurry up and eat, or else there won’t be any vegetables left.” He whispered softly into Jiang Lianmei’s ear. Because he was so close, his warm breath made Jiang Lianmei involuntarily shrink her neck.

Glancing at the dining table, she noticed that there was still half of the vegetarian dishes left, but the meat dishes, including eggs and fish, were scarce. Her two sisters-in-law ate a lot, and there were still leftovers in their bowls. They continued to search for food with their chopsticks.

To be honest, Su Aobai wasn’t accustomed to this habit of picking through dishes. But good things were indeed too scarce in this era. People like the two sisters-in-law in the Jiang family were not uncommon. Every time there was a feast, a group of people, young and old, gathered around, and the chopsticks danced vigorously.

Jiang Lianmei realized that her husband taking the child was to let her eat in peace, otherwise the better dishes would all be eaten by others.

She always felt that her husband seemed more considerate after returning from the city. Was this what they meant by ‘a day apart feels like three autumns,’ or had they entered the phase where even a short separation felt like a honeymoon?

Jiang Lianmei watched as her husband clumsily fed their daughter, occasionally dropping rice grains on the child’s cheeks and bib with a silly expression. After a few attempts, he seemed to get the hang of it, so she entrusted their daughter to him with relief.

Jiang’s elderly parents didn’t know what Su Aobai whispered to their granddaughter, but seeing the affection between the young couple and how caring their son-in-law was with the child, they couldn’t have been happier.

Jiang Lianjiang and Jiang Lianbian, the two brothers, didn’t pay much attention to such details. They devoured the rare mixed rice eagerly, but apart from the smoked fish they had been given earlier, they rarely reached for the meat dishes. The brothers were straightforward; they wanted to leave some of the good food for the elders and the children.

Only Yu Zhao’er and Xia Yaofang felt a pang of jealousy. Why were other men so considerate, knowing to take care of the child and allowing his wife to eat in peace?

The two women shot daggers at their husbands, but the thick-skinned men didn’t feel the intensity of their gaze.

***

After finishing several bowls of rice, they patted their full bellies with satisfaction.

“If only every meal could be like this,” Jiang Lianjiang thought, imagining how wonderful life would be.

“Pfft!”

Jiang Dajun finished his meal and was happily puffing on his rolled cigarette when he heard his son’s silly remark, unable to hold back his laughter.

“Dreaming in broad daylight? Forget about the sea fish your brother-in-law brought. Besides the top leaders, who gets to eat meat every meal?”

To Jiang Dajun, being able to eat their fill without going hungry was already a good life. The thought of having white rice every meal, let alone having eggs, fish, and meat every time, was beyond his imagination.

“Heh heh.” Jiang Lianjiang knew his thoughts were too daring and scratched his head sheepishly.

“This smoked fish is really delicious. The fish from the sea and the river are just different. There are hardly any bones, and each bite is all meat. Sister’s mother-in-law’s cooking is also excellent, and she’s so generous to us. She even fried the fish in oil. I’ve never eaten anything so delicious in my life.”

Jiang Lianjiang’s words resonated with everyone present except Su Aobai.

And this smoked fish had been in the lunchbox for several days. If it had been eaten right when it was freshly cooked, steaming hot with crispy fish meat, how wonderful would the taste have been?

Several younger children couldn’t help but lick their lips unconsciously, reminiscing about the taste they had just experienced.

Such a good thing, but unfortunately, there was so little of it. Not to mention them in the countryside, even workers in the county town rarely got to buy sea fish from the supply and marketing cooperatives. Occasionally, when a batch did arrive, most of it was frozen, nowhere near as tasty as this freshly slaughtered and cooked smoked fish.

They naively thought they might dream of smoked fish tonight.

Su Aobai fed his daughter clumsily, smiling but saying nothing.

Well, he had a hundred catties!

Su Mingcheng had already finished his own piece of smoked fish and the small portion he had been given by his father. He didn’t want to eat it and intended to save it for later.

Now, only his bowl still had smoked fish in it, and his cousins beside him were salivating, eyeing his bowl.

Su Mingcheng felt somewhat proud, the eyes set in his lean, dark face shining even brighter, with a hint of cunningness.

But gradually, in those envious glances, there seemed to be a sticky, uncomfortable feeling, as if some of them were a bit too covetous. Su Mingcheng shrugged his shoulders and looked around suspiciously.

He noticed his father feeding his sister while casting a ‘loving’ gaze at him.

Su Mingcheng instinctively touched his cheek. Why were those eyes so strange, almost like how Grandpa looked at the prey in a trap?

It must be my imagination; surely, Dad’s gaze was just filled with love. He eagerly took the last bite of smoked fish, savoring the delicious taste. This is love!

[Su Mingcheng’s favorability: 62, 63, 65, 63.] After several emotional fluctuations, his favorability increased slightly.

Little did he know, it wasn’t just his imagination. In Su Aobai’s mind at that moment, he was merely a pile of walking smoked fish!

***

Before leaving the Jiang family, Su Aobai proposed borrowing his father-in-law’s bicycle to go to the county town tomorrow.

As he had delayed his return, the commune’s primary school had already granted him a rather long leave. Fortunately, it was during the summer vacation, so at most, he had missed a month of work.

Jiang Dajun, this diligent old brigade leader, still had some face in the minds of some leaders in the commune. Coupled with the fact that the original owner was skilled in teaching, otherwise, this temporary job would have been lost long ago.

Su Aobai suggested buying some alcohol and pastries from the supply and marketing cooperative to give to the commune leaders, so that no one would try to undermine his job by complaining to the leaders.

His idea was considerate. In fact, even if he hadn’t suggested it, Jiang Dajun would have reminded his son-in-law not to return empty-handed.

But Su Aobai’s main purpose was to dispose of the 100 catties of smoked fish in his dimensional space. Although his wife and children at home loved eating it, it was obviously unrealistic to take out these things now.

Su Aobai was more interested in turning these smoked fish into money and tickets. By then, he could also buy some other things, which were much easier to explain than sea fish, such as meat, eggs, and candies.

***

After dinner, when he returned home, Su Mingcheng couldn’t sit still.

Outside the yard’s fence, several lean and dark heads occasionally peeked in, and when they saw Su Aobai, they would exclaim in alarm and scurry away. But as soon as Su Aobai entered the house, they would rush over like monkeys.

Su Mingcheng sat on a small bamboo chair, feeling as if there were bamboo thorns poking his buttocks, twisting and turning on the chair, with his mind not on the textbooks in front of him at all.

With school on break these past 2 days, he knew that once school started again tomorrow, he wouldn’t be able to play freely anymore. However, Su Mingcheng didn’t dare to play now because he had neglected to do any of the homework assigned by his teacher yesterday, being too preoccupied with his father’s return.

Now that his father was back, he knew he would have to finish all his homework before being allowed to go out and play.

At this moment, Su Mingcheng didn’t feel so happy about his father’s return anymore, because the original owner valued his education greatly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have started school 1 or 2 years earlier than his peers.

“Do you want to go out and play?”

Su Aobai finally spoke, looking at his son’s absent-minded appearance.

“Yes!” Wasn’t that obvious? Su Mingcheng’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Dad, some kids in the team said you were fickle and didn’t want us anymore. Now that you’re back, I have to go out and clear your name!”

Su Mingcheng glanced around, feeling that his excuse was quite reasonable.

This kid was quite clever; Su Aobai thought with a hidden smile.

“Can you still finish your homework then?”

He pointed to Su Mingcheng’s blank exercise book.

“I’ll finish it! I’ll finish it! If I come back earlier, I’ll definitely finish it!” Su Mingcheng heard the playful tone in his father’s voice and didn’t even consider if he could really finish it, nodding vigorously instead.

“Alright then!”

As soon as Su Aobai’s words fell, Su Mingcheng wanted to rush out. There were faint cheers heard from outside the yard. However, before he could step over the threshold, his father grabbed him by the collar.

“Why rush? Wait a moment.”

He held onto the rascal and then retrieved a handful of candies from the bedroom.

“Share these with your good friends. But remember, we agreed that you must come back early. If you don’t finish your homework, there will be consequences.”

Su Aobai said with a smile.

He knew that indulging and pampering children was the fastest way to increase favorability. And he was confident that he had the ability to let these two children be happy-go-lucky for decades while he was alive. Even after he passed away, they could still enjoy the benefits he left behind.

But Su Aobai had emotions. He still hoped the two children would become useful people who could take care of themselves.

“No need.”

Su Mingcheng returned the handful of candies that he had just barely grabbed hold of. These were fruit candies his dad had brought from Ning City, very different from the bulk candies they weighed at the supply and marketing cooperative.

Each candy was wrapped in a layer of glutinous rice paper. This thing that looked like thin paper melted in the mouth, with a faint scent of rice, delicious and fun to eat. The taste of the candy was also more intense, especially the orange-flavored ones, which melted in the mouth like fresh orange, leaving a lingering sweetness and fragrance.

Jiang Lianmei didn’t dare to let the children eat too much candy. She had given him two pieces yesterday, and Su Mingmei, being younger, had only gotten half. The remaining half was stuffed into Jiang Lianmei’s mouth by Su Aobai.

Mother and daughter smiled with candies in their mouths, showing that they also liked the taste of these fruit candies.

“They are all my little brothers.”

Su Mingcheng said proudly, implying that as the big brother of the group, he didn’t need to please his little brothers with candies.

“Mom likes these candies, sister likes them, and I like them too.”

Su Mingcheng looked up at his father, his eyes filled with heartache and reluctance. With just this bit of candy, it would be gone once it was finished.

Despite his young age, he was quite shrewd. Su Aobai thought it was both a good thing and a bad thing.

“No problem, Dad will buy you more and better candies in the future.”

Su Aobai stuffed this handful of candies into his son’s pocket. He knew that during this time, Su Mingcheng and some kids in the team had an unpleasant time.

He wasn’t a saintly father; if someone bullied his own kid, he wouldn’t give candy to the other party. The reason Su Aobai handed this handful of candies to Su Mingcheng was to let him distribute them himself. Obviously, Su Mingcheng wouldn’t share them with those kids he had conflicts with.

When adults do such things, others may think they lack tolerance. It’s normal for kids to have preferences. But if Su Mingcheng only gave candies to friends who played well with him. No one could find fault with that.

Su Aobai just wanted those kids who had once said his son was unwanted to drool while watching them enjoy delicious candies.

Su Mingcheng obviously didn’t understood his ‘good intentions.’ He looked at the pocket full of candies, frowned, and couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

How could I have such an impractical father? Sigh! His dad wasn’t as sensible as I am.