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Chapter 9: Call Dad
If I'm not serious, then we truly look like father and son.
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
The huge living room suddenly fell silent.
Gu Xiao'er realized what he had said and panicked, "Un—uncle, I didn’t mean it like that, I meant, I was trying to say—"
"Brother means exactly that." Gu Wuyi interrupted his younger brother.
Gu Xiao'er quickly turned to look at his older brother.
—What do you mean?!
Gu Wuyi put down his pen and looked at Qin Feng seriously, saying, "Uncle Qin, you’re a good person."
"I know!"
Gu Wuyi paused for a moment, feeling his nervous heart relax, a smile appearing on his face, "You're also a great elder."
"And then?" Qin Feng was confused. What is this kid trying to say?
Gu Xiao'er, who had been hiding his clenched fist under the table, let go, knowing exactly what his brother wanted to say.
Gu Wuyi: "You're more qualified than many fathers I know."
Qin Feng’s heart skipped a beat, could it be?
"We want you to be our dad," Gu Wuyi said, suddenly feeling the heat on his face, more embarrassed than when he had to lower his head to his parents, whom he hated, just to let his younger brother get into the military academy.
Qin Feng already had a premonition. Hearing it out loud, he felt a sense of relief.
Seeing Gu Wuyi lower his head, Qin Feng realized that he was almost ten years old, and it must have taken a lot of courage to say such things.
Qin Feng looked at Gu Xiao'er, who was staring at him with a panicked expression, quickly lowering his head as if afraid of rejection.
At that moment, Qin Feng felt a mixture of emotions. He wished he could find their biological parents and give them a good beating.
Qin Feng: "Wuyi, Qingkuang, you both should know your parents are still alive, and they’re doing fine."
Gu Wuyi lifted his head: "I know. I’ve always known. But they abandoned us. Uncle Qin, you should also know that Grandpa explained everything to the police." He paused, "And had their household register canceled. They’re now considered dead."
Qin Feng shook his head: "You don’t understand. What I mean is that they might come back to find you."
"So what?" Gu Wuyi asked, "We are in my uncle's household registration book. Can the public security agency's register be overturned and then put them back on the register?"
Qin Feng: "Money can make things happen."
"Money isn't everything," Gu Wuyi replied.
Qin Feng wanted to say, You are still young and don’t know how dangerous this world is.
He suddenly remembered how much he hated when people said he was too young to understand things.
"To be honest, whether you call me uncle or dad, it doesn't make much difference to me. But you should know that although my parents are more open-minded than others, they still have some traditional views. If you call me dad without changing your name or surname, they will still treat you as the eldest and second eldest grandson of the Qin family. Later on, when you go back to your biological parents, they'll be very hurt and sad. At that time—"
A sudden thud.
The two brothers knelt down.
Qin Feng was startled and quickly put down his cup, walking over. "What are you doing?"
The two brothers shook off Qin Feng's hand and kowtowed to him.
It wasn’t that their knees were weak, but Qin Feng’s actions over the past month had earned this respect.
Qin Feng sighed deeply. "Alright, I believe you. Can you get up now?"
The brothers looked at each other.
Gu Wuyi’s knees left the ground, and Gu Xiao'er quickly got up upon seeing this.
Qin Feng saw the dust on their knees and couldn't help but bend down to pat them off. "Didn't you know that a man's knees are made of gold?"
Gu Xiao'er blurted out, "Only kneel to heaven, earth, and father."
Qin Feng was taken aback, then speechless, yet amused. "Your brother still thinks I’m not serious."
"I'm not serious, that's why we look like father and son," Gu Xiao'er replied.
Qin Feng raised his hand to ruffle his little head, then pulled Gu Wuyi over to brush the dust off his knees. "How long has it been since this floor was cleaned?"
A robot vacuum would have been really useful.
"Your clothes are dirty, throw them in the washing machine later and wash them yourself. I don’t have time to do it for you."
Gu Wuyi nodded.
This task was familiar to him.
In his previous life, at his aunt’s house, he not only had to wash his own clothes but also the clothes of her whole family, and he had to wash them by hand without hot water.
Thinking about this, Gu Wuyi couldn’t help but recall how Qin Feng had asked them to wash their socks and underwear with hot water, and a warm feeling surged in his heart. He couldn’t help but shout, "Dad!"
Qin Feng was momentarily stunned, and then realizing he might have misunderstood, he quickly responded, "Hm?"
Gu Xiao'er didn’t expect his brother to be one step ahead, and pushed him aside to shout, "Daddy!"
When Gu Wuyi saw his younger brother say more than him, he couldn’t help but say, "Don’t imitate Miaomiao!"
Little Miaomiao looked up at the two older brothers, not understanding what was going on with them.
Gu Wuyi noticed the little one’s gaze from the corner of his eye and felt a bit embarrassed.
Qin Feng, seeing this, laughed, "Now you’re embarrassed?"
Gu Wuyi became even more shy and didn’t dare to look at him.
Qin Feng rubbed his little head, "I really can’t delay any longer at home."
Gu Wuyi, not caring about the embarrassment anymore, said, "Then you should go quickly." He grabbed Miaomiao’s hand. "Let’s go upstairs and wait for Dad in Dad’s room, okay?"
The little one nodded.
Gu Wuyi asked Gu Xiao'er to pack his bag and go upstairs to practice writing.
There was a desk in Qin Feng’s bedroom upstairs.
Gu Wuyi made a hot water bag for the little one, tucked him into the blankets, turned on the TV facing the bed for him to watch, while he and Gu Xiao'er leaned over the desk to practice writing.
The little one had never seen a TV before and was fascinated. He was so engrossed in it that he not only forgot about Daddy but also completely forgot about his two older brothers nearby.
However, the little one usually went to bed early. After watching for a while, he couldn’t help but rub his eyes and look for his master.
Seeing his older brothers still diligently writing, the little one realized he wasn’t in the temple anymore but at Daddy’s house.
At Daddy's house, there were also two older brothers and Grandpa and Grandma, who were very kind to Miaomiao, just like master had said.
The master was getting old, and he couldn’t let master take care of him anymore. He needed to be mature and not think about master anymore.
"Brother, I want to sleep."
Gu Wuyi was startled, looking in the direction of the voice and realizing that he had another younger brother. He quickly put down his pen. "Miaomiao, do you want to pee?"
Miaomiao had forgotten.
At the reminder, the little one climbed down.
Gu Wuyi hurried over to support him. "Second boy, go get the chamber pot."
"Why are you calling me that too?" Gu Xiao'er frowned. "It’s so old-fashioned."
Gu Wuyi: "Don’t you think it’s affectionate?"
"Too affectionate," Gu Xiao'er muttered softly, unwilling to say "no."
Gu Wuyi carefully placed the little one on the floor, thought for a moment, and pulled off his pants to avoid him wetting his clothes, which would need washing tomorrow.
Gu Xiao'er couldn’t help but say, "Aren’t you worried about him catching a cold?"
"It’s fine." Gu Wuyi wiped him with a piece of paper and quickly tucked him back into the blankets.
After all that, the little one wasn’t sleepy anymore and stared wide-eyed at him.
Gu Wuyi thought for a moment, his writing for Qin Feng already done, so he simply took off his sweater and cotton pants and climbed into bed to accompany him.
Gu Xiao'er found the national channel and also took off his clothes, diving into the other side of the bed with Miaomiao.
Before, only master had been with Miaomiao. Now, before Daddy even came back, there were two people keeping him company. The little one happily smiled, calling out "Brother Wuyi" to the left, then turning to the right and calling "Brother Qingkuang."
Gu Wuyi didn’t like his childhood nickname, "Dabao," as it reminded him of the years spent at his aunt’s house, where he felt worse than wild grass. At least wild grass could grow freely and breathe fresh air.
〚"Dabao" (大宝) means big treasure or precious one〛
So, he didn’t allow anyone from the Qin family to call him by his childhood nickname.
He didn’t like his full name either. It reminded him of the scene from his past life where his trusted aide had set him up and others misunderstood him. However, he still used the name. When Qin Feng had suggested changing it a few times, he had refused, afraid that forgetting those things from his past life might lead him to easily give his heart away.
"Miaomiao, don’t call him Brother Wuyi, I’m your older brother. You should call me Big Brother, and call him Second Brother," Gu Wuyi glanced at his younger brother.
Gu Xiao'er quickly followed, "Right. Miaomiao, I’m Second Brother."
Miaomiao was like a blank sheet of paper, so whatever they said, he naturally followed, "Big Brother, Second Brother."
"Yes," Gu Wuyi smiled.
Gu Xiao'er hugged him, "So obedient."
They were happy, and Miaomiao was happy too, repeating, "Big Brother, Second Brother, Big Brother, Second Brother..."
Gu Wuyi was a bit speechless, "Miaomiao, let’s watch TV."
The little one remembered the attractive TV and immediately turned toward it.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Qin Feng returned home under the bright moonlight, and waiting for him were three little heads snuggled together.
Looking at their innocent sleeping faces, Qin Feng suddenly understood why some people loved children so much.
In that moment, Qin Feng had to admit that he liked children too.
His hand brushed the blanket, but he quickly pulled it back, turned off the TV and the lights, gently closed the door, then quietly went downstairs to wash up before heading to the rooms of his two older sons to rest.
The next day, at 5 a.m., Qin Feng opened his eyes and habitually wanted to stay in bed a bit longer. Suddenly, he remembered that he was now the father of three children, a farmer’s son who had changed his fate through learning. He was no longer the rich second-generation who could eat and drink to his heart’s content without worrying about anything as long as he didn’t invest or start a business. He quickly got up.
He went downstairs and turned on the stove, using the warm water from it to wash up.
After washing up, the stove was almost hot enough, so Qin Feng scooped some rice to cook porridge and placed the steamed buns and salted duck eggs his parents had sent him on the rack.
The stove cooked the porridge slowly, so while waiting, Qin Feng went to the public restroom.
On his way out, he ran into the factory director and called out to him.
The factory director waved his hand, "We’ll talk later."
"Just a few words," Qin Feng grabbed him, "I have a son, could you help me get a certificate for him? I need it to register him in my household."
The factory director's urge to pee disappeared instantly. "What did you say?"
"This time, he's really mine," Qin Feng had considered telling the factory director the truth. But the little monk looked so much like him, and with no way to do a paternity test these days, if he said the child wasn't his, the factory director might think he was shirking responsibility.
The factory director was confused. "What do you mean by 'really mine'?"
"The child is four years old, and they say he looks exactly like me when I was young."
The director asked, "They say?"
“Isn’t that the point?”
The factory director retorted, "What do you think?"
"As my parents said."
The factory director asked, "What’s going on?"
"I don’t know if you’d believe me, but I suspect his mother loved the child very much at first. After the child was born, she probably realized that just feeding and giving him water wasn't enough, and she regretted it. By then, she should have already gone back to the country, and I was abroad, so she threw the child at a temple, and told the monk to send the child back to me if he didn’t want to raise him anymore.”
The factory director felt like he was listening to a story. "So now the old monk doesn’t want to raise him?"
"He’s old, almost eighty," Qin Feng thought for a moment. "Actions speak louder than words. If you go to my house, you’ll understand."
The factory director raised his hand. "I’ll go right now."
Qin Feng couldn’t help but point to the restroom.
"Can’t hold it in!"
Qin Feng shrugged and then led him straight to the staff quarters.
Inside the small house, the three children were still sleeping.
In the past, whenever Qin Feng went to the bathroom, Gu Wuyi and Gu Qingkuang would wake up.
Last night, they had stayed up late watching TV with the child and only fell asleep around 9 o’clock.
Normally, they would turn off the lights and go to sleep by 8.
Before, when he felt uneasy, he didn’t dare sleep too deeply.
Last night, after calling him "Dad," he truly became a member of the Qin family, finally able to relax his heart after nearly a month of uncertainty. He slept soundly, oblivious to everything.
Qin Feng pushed the door open and said, "I’ll go upstairs to call them."
The factory director glanced at his watch. "It’s not even six o’clock yet, and it’s still dark. Let them sleep. I’ll go upstairs with you to take a look."
He didn’t say it aloud, but he was also curious to see the two grandsons of Old Engineer Gu.
The factory director led the way upstairs.
Qin Feng pointed to the master bedroom. "They’re in here."
The factory director paused in his steps. "You gave them your room?"
"My room has a TV. They were watching last night and fell asleep in there, so I let them stay in here to sleep." Qin Feng pushed open the door, pulled the curtains, and the room instantly became brighter. Gu Wuyi and Gu Qingkuang's eyelids twitched.
Qin Feng placed his cold hands on the little one's face.
The child suddenly opened his eyes, stared at him blankly for a moment, then reached out his hands and shouted, "Daddy!"
Qin Feng picked him up, pressing his big face against the little one’s.
The factory director was stunned. After a long while, he saw Gu Wuyi and Gu Qingkuang sitting up and preparing to get dressed. Only then did he snap out of it, pointing incredulously at Qin Feng and the child.
After a long pause, he finally managed to say, "The young people these days really know how to have fun."
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