Call Me Daddy

Unfortunately, he encountered a man who sold expensive egg fried rice. The man defeated him with his extraordinary cooking skills.

Originally, one failure wouldn’t have meant much to him. However, after that incident, he seemed to have lost his mind and insisted on confronting that man. Eventually, the restaurant went bankrupt, and he lost his right hand, the one used for stirring.

His father had to give up the family’s inherited recipes to save his life.

After being selected by the system, Su Aobai realized that it was a life planned by the will of the world, and he wasn’t really inferior to that man.

The essence of the system’s existence was to resist the predetermined fate. Su Aobai actually harbored a lot of dissatisfaction in his heart. Despite occasionally complaining about the system, he was actually very willing to be bound by it.

Even if it didn’t change his past lives, it was still a form of resistance.

This hundred kilograms of smoked fish was made by Su Aobai’s mother. The quality of the ingredients itself was very high, with rich and fatty meat, carrying the unique aroma of eel fat. The fried fish meat was shaped, and when chewed, the pieces of fish meat burst with flavor.

Su Aobai evaluated in his mind; the fire was a bit too strong, making the fish meat slightly burnt. This heavy burnt taste overshadowed the sweetness of the sea fish. When seasoning, a little sugar could be added; sugar could enhance the freshness and highlight the original flavor of the sea fish.

Apart from that, the quality of the soy sauce used for coloring was not good enough, possibly for long-term preservation; there was a bit too much salt…

Of course, these were flaws that only appeared under his overly critical tongue. In the eyes of the vast majority of people at the moment, this freshly cooked, extremely crispy smoked fish was a rare delicacy.

Especially in inland areas, sea fish were rare, which increases their value several times over.

After finishing a piece of fatty belly meat, Su Aobai took another piece from the tail. The tail didn’t have much meat, but it was easier to fry to a crispy texture. When he took a bite, it made a crunchy sound that several nearby people could hear.

What is he eating?

***

A man sniffed and caught a whiff of the sauce and oil fragrance.

A lean man walked up to Su Aobai with his hands in his pockets, which seemed quite full. Su Aobai remembered this man; he often frequented the black market and seemed to make a living as a secondary dealer, with a higher volume of transactions than most people. The original owner had bought some meat coupons from him before.

This time, Su Aobai’s main purpose was him.

Selling individually would yield a higher price, but Su Aobai didn’t want to go through that effort or endure the anxiety. He planned to sell off this batch of smoked fish all at once, which might lower the selling price a bit but would also avoid more risks.

Seeing that the bait had taken, Su Aobai decisively stuffed the remaining piece of smoked fish into his mouth, and the man’s saliva started flowing faster from the crispy chewing sounds.

“Brother Hei.” That was how others addressed the man.

The thin man raised an eyebrow; He knows me? But Su Aobai had disguised himself, so Brother Hei didn’t recognize the man. However, he also noticed that Su Aobai had dressed up intentionally.

“I got a batch of sea fish from the south and turned it into cooked food. Have a taste.” He handed a piece of sea fish to Brother Hei.

In the black market, there were often things brought in from out of town. Because some foods were inconvenient to preserve, they would be made into semi-finished products or cooked food. This wasn’t unusual.

Brother Hei had been craving it for a while, so he took the smoked fish that Su Aobai handed over without hesitation.

He had eaten a lot of seafood before, but in these times when transportation wasn’t well developed and he wasn’t a big shot, most of what he ate was already frozen seafood. The taste couldn’t compare to the freshly killed and deep-fried sea fish like what Su Aobai had.

“Wow, it’s even deep-fried.”

Brother Hei took a few bites of the smoked fish and spat out a main bone.

He thought; This fish is good, with hardly any small bones. Even kids could eat it. Plus, the fish meat was slightly salty and oily, especially suitable as a snack with drinks.

“How is it?”

Su Aobai adjusted his hat brim and, after handing a piece of smoked fish to Brother Hei, noticed that several people in the distance seemed a bit restless.

Brother Hei also noticed this and promptly said, “How much in total? If the price is right, I’ll take it all.”

How could someone as shrewd as him not figure out that the person in front of him was there for him? This showed that Brother Hei also had some reputation in the underground world.

Su Aobai asked for 1 yuan and 22 cents per pound, plus meal tickets or other equivalent tickets. This price was a bit high; right now, first-grade meat was only 72 cents per pound.

But this was cooked food, not only deep-fried but also made from locally scarce sea fish. Su Aobai proposed that if the tickets weren’t enough, they could use money instead.

The price per pound was then changed to 1 yuan and 35 cents. In this day and age, tickets were more valuable than money. Many working-class families had enough money but lacked tickets.

Hearing that Su Aobai had over 90 pounds of smoked fish, Brother Hei felt that this was a big customer. Maybe there would be more business for him later, so he didn’t haggle too hard on the price.

In the end, they settled on 60 pounds at 1 yuan and 33 cents per pound without tickets, and the rest at 1 yuan and 5 cents per pound plus meal tickets or other equivalent tickets.

Brother Hei had to gather money and tickets with his companions, so he bought all the smoked fish from Su Aobai’s basket. Since Su Aobai also needed to “go back,” he took out the remaining smoked fish.

At the end of the transaction, they rounded down, leaving Su Aobai with 2 pounds of smoked fish in his space and an extra 110 yuan in loose change and a stack of tickets in his wallet.

***

When he returned from town, the back basket of his bicycle was once again filled with things he had bought from the supply and marketing cooperative.

After leaving the town, Su Aobai found a small stream and washed off his disguise. He hurried on his bicycle and coincidentally caught up with the school’s dismissal time.

As soon as Su Mingcheng saw his father on the bike with one foot on the ground, he ran out with his classmates.

“Dad!”

Seeing his dad holding a military-green shoulder bag, his face flushed with excitement.

During the Lunar New Year, when he went to town with his mother to buy New Year goods, Su Mingcheng had seen that bag in the supply and marketing cooperative. The military-green canvas was sturdy and durable, with a big red star embroidered on it, looking very impressive.

Jiang Lianmei saw her son’s enthusiasm and asked about the price.

78 yuan, without cloth tickets.

At that time, Jiang Lianmei felt a bit reluctant to spend money, so she told her son that she would make him a similar shoulder bag from military-green fabric in the future. However, because it was difficult to buy military-green fabric, Jiang Lianmei had never fulfilled that promise.

Su Mingcheng was quite sensible and never brought up the matter again.

Now, seeing his father holding the shoulder bag, he immediately felt that it was bought for him.

Su Mingcheng was so moved that he completely forgot about the strict supervision from his father last night while doing his homework.

[Su Mingcheng’s affection level: 65, 68, 71, 72.]

The standoffish son overtook the curve, and his affection level unexpectedly surpassed that of his little sister.

In Su Aobai’s mind, he also saw the reward for his son’s affection level breaking 70.

One hundred new primary school tutoring textbooks!

Su Aobai looked at his son, who was foolishly circling around him, his eyes fixed on the shoulder bag in his hand, and suddenly felt a bit fond of him.

Why fond? Well, obviously, who else could use elementary school textbooks?

***

“Teacher Su.”

Several teachers coming out of the school also saw Su Aobai and greeted him.

Su Aobai got off his bicycle, held onto the handlebars, and stood to the side.

He had been somewhat hesitant before, but now that he had received such a reward, Su Aobai felt that perhaps his future life plan had some direction.

After those teachers appeared, Su Mingcheng, who had been excited just moments ago, calmed down a bit.

He stood by his father’s side, clutching his clothes tightly, and, facing the direction of the teachers, raised his voice, saying, “Teacher Wang, my Dad’s back, and my Mom isn’t someone stupid who couldn’t control a man like you said.”

As soon as he spoke, the atmosphere instantly froze.

The gazes of several teachers all turned to one female teacher among them.

And she seemed not to have expected Su Mingcheng to suddenly say such words, blushing with embarrassment, wishing she could find a hole to hide in.