Call Me Daddy

A group of soldiers below rubbed their eyes. It hadn’t been long at all, just a few swallows of saliva.

One, two, three… seven!

That’s right. Lying at the bottom of the arena, groaning and moaning, were none other than their Officers.

Gulp—

The sound of swallowing was especially heavy and prolonged. Everyone’s eyes turned to the only person still standing in the arena, a man as sturdy as an ox and as strong as a bear. In the face of absolute strength, the so-called fighting skills had no room for resistance.

Su Aobai showed the soldiers below his signature smile, as always kind and honest.

QAQ How frightening. This is the smile of the King of Hell! A group of weak and pitiful soldiers just wanted to huddle together, to seek strength from their companions.

Wang Chunmu was also stunned. He recalled what Su Aobai had said before they arrived.

I haven’t practiced martial arts, but I’m very strong …

That statement wasn’t an exaggeration at all. It was truly an immense power. I’ve struck gold!

As for the latter part of the statement, he still didn’t believe it. It was the old saying; big chest, no brain.

This guy’s chest muscles were even larger than when my wife was breastfeeding. How could he possibly have a brain?

*****

“Granny Lin, are these gifts we prepared appropriate?”

On the other hand, Er Niang was preparing some return gifts with Aunt Lin.

They had originally planned to visit the nearby neighbors the day after settling in. However, several neighbors who lived relatively close came over with food at noon. Er Niang thought it would be better to send the gifts over while they still had the dishes.

The gifts weren’t anything valuable; just some dried mushrooms and pickles they had brought from their hometown. The southern cuisine was different from the local taste, but it had its own unique flavor.

Aunt Lin allowed Er Niang to make the decisions herself, only offering careful reminders when she made mistakes.

However, from her perspective, her young miss handled things very well. Although she was previously just a common country girl, she was neither arrogant nor impatient. She worked meticulously and was also humble enough to accept some of Aunt Lin’s advice. Her temperament was much better than Aunt Lin had expected.

“That’s enough. The three families who visited us at noon live closer to us. We can add an extra portion of dried fungus for them. For the other families, just follow this standard for the gifts.”

Aunt Lin added a little something extra to the three gifts for the closer neighbors, as a gesture of reciprocity.

Er Niang nodded. Her father had mentioned that this old lady had once worked as a wet nurse in a wealthy household, raising a noble young lady from that family. She knew many of the proper etiquettes. She was no longer the country girl she once was; some rules needed to be learned.

Er Niang remembered the unpleasant words spoken by that woman at noon.

Her father had long since decided not to remarry, so in this situation, she couldn’t afford to make any mistakes in etiquette. Otherwise, people would think her ill-mannered due to her lack of a mother.

Because of her childhood experiences, Er Niang was somewhat sensitive. She preferred to keep her thoughts to herself, reflecting slowly rather than speaking them out loud. Even though she had grown closer to her father now, she still maintained that habit.

Er Niang didn’t like Wang Shi, but etiquette couldn’t be neglected. She silently watched as Aunt Lin added extra weight to three of the gifts.

Since she disliked Wang Shi the most, Er Niang chose to visit the Xu family first. This would allow her to use the excuse of visiting other households to leave quickly.

Before setting out, Er Niang had learned some information about these neighbors from Aunt Lin.

For instance, Xu Wang Shi, who lived next door, was a cousin from her maternal side of Xu Baifu. They had married in their hometown, and when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Xu Baifu went off to serve in the military. After 3 years, for the sake of offspring, she had traveled a long distance to Lin’an with her eldest daughter. She then gave birth to four more daughters and one son.

Wang Shi treasured the son she had so laboriously given birth to. The five older children, except for the eldest daughter, were treated little better than servants. At home, Wang Shi was like an empress dowager, doing no work herself, and simply acting as a hand-off manager.

When Wang Shi saw Er Niang arriving with the return gifts, her smile was radiant. At that moment, she forgot all the unpleasantness from noon.

She knew that a family able to afford servants would, after receiving half a dish of pickled vegetables from her, likely return something more valuable. She looked over the dried wood ears and mushrooms, which were rare locally, and felt quite satisfied.

“Look, look, what kind of gifts did they bring? There’s nothing much to offer in the house. Wu Ya, go pour some tea for our guest.”

Wang Shi gathered the mushrooms and wood ears and quickly walked towards her room, planning to lock the items in her cabinet to prevent the girls from spoiling them while she was away.

She didn’t think it was impolite to leave the guest alone in the main hall. After casually instructing her youngest daughter to serve tea, she disappeared, leaving Er Niang awkwardly sitting alone.

Er Niang could only carefully observe the Xu family’s daughters.

The eldest and second daughters weren’t at home. The third and fourth daughters were in the courtyard washing clothes. This work was brought in from nearby alleys; washing a bucket of clothes earned 5 wen. The Xu daughters had to wash dozens of buckets of dirty clothes daily, regardless of the weather.

When Wu Ya brought the hot tea, Er Niang noticed her fingers, which had become unusually thick from years of soaking in water and scrubbing clothes. Some of her finger joints were even deformed.

After bringing the tea, Wu Ya silently returned to the courtyard to join her two sisters in washing clothes.

Three faces, all the same numbness. Wu Ya, who had just served her tea, was actually around the same age as Er Niang, which reminded her of her former self.

With the monthly silver earned by Xu Baifu, while it didn’t make them wealthy, it was enough to keep the family fed and clothed.

In those times, having many children was common. In the countryside, there were even larger families relying on the grain produced from renting land from landlords. Xu Baifu’s monthly silver far exceeded the income of such families.

Yet, even with enough food to eat, Wang Shi still made her daughters take on a lot of washing work, reflecting her harshness as a mother.

No, this was only her harshness towards her daughters.

In this alley, Wang Shi was the only wife of an Officer who made her daughters do such work. With similar family conditions, the Xu daughters had to help clean the clothes of other households’ daughters. How could they hold their heads up when they played?

***

“Wuwuwu—“

Suddenly, the sound of a child crying came from a distance, growing louder as it approached.

The moment the crying began, the expressions on the three girls’ faces changed abruptly. They were no longer just numb; there was now anxiety and concern.

“What’s wrong with Xiao Bao?”

“Is Xiao Bao okay?”

The three sisters wiped their wet hands on their aprons and surrounded the little boy, who was crying and walking into the house.

The little boy, around 3 or 4 years old, was exceptionally chubby, resembling a little ball of flesh. His level of obesity was beyond the cute baby fat stage and was more like swollen flesh, with his eyes nearly disappearing.

It was said that a plump child was a blessing, but Er Niang felt that such extreme fatness looked quite frightening.

Wang Shi, who had heard the commotion from the bedroom, hurried out and quickly ran to her chubby son. She pushed aside the daughters who were trying to soothe the boy, not holding back her strength. The three young girls were all knocked down to the ground.

“What happened? Who bullied my Xiao Bao? I’ll go find them. Is there no law? Bullying such a small child.” Wang Shi was furious and struggled to pick up her chubby son, preparing to head outside.

“If they don’t play with me, if they don’t play with me… I’ll tell Mother to beat them!” The little boy cried and complained, nearly out of breath from his sobs.

“Oh, oh, oh, don’t cry, darling. Don’t cry, darling.”

Wang Shi quickly patted his back, trying to help his breathing become smoother.

Once she learned that her son hadn’t been beaten or scolded, Wang Shi’s anger subsided a bit. However, she still held a grudge against the little rascals in the alley. Why didn’t they include her well-behaved little treasure in their play?