Title: My Son Might be a Villain
Translator: Fringe Capybara
Chapter 186 - “He just might have siblings in the future.” (3)
Zhou Qin walked over when she overheard their conversation.
“Eh? Su Han’s father’s surname is Lu?” said Zhou Qin, surprised. She had wanted to ask when she heard the way Su Ran had referred to Father Su Han earlier. She thought perhaps she had misheard.
“That’s right.” Lu Shao nodded.
“Then, Su Han got his mom’s surname?” asked Zhou Qin as she looked at Su Ran.
“Uh, yes.”
“Oh, I see. Father Su Han is so liberal. If we have a second child, I’d want them to have my surname too,” said Zhou Qin. Then, she sighed and said, “But it was hard enough to have just one child in my family. We probably won’t be considering a second one anytime soon.”
“Does Su Han have an older brother then.” She had never heard of Su Han having an older sibling.
“No.” Lu Shao was the one who answered that question.
But, he might have a young brother or sister in the future.” After pausing for half a second, Lu Shao added, “Preferably a sister.”
Su Ran was baffled by Lu Shao’s words: That was not funny at all, Mr. Lu.
As for Zhou Qin, she had a look of disbelief.
“My gosh, the very first child took the mother’s surname??”
“That’s because the surname Lu is cursed.” Su Han, who nobody noticed had walked up to them, said coldly.
He picked up a tool next to them and went back to his tent.
“Oh?”
“Haha, he was just kidding.” Su Ran interjected immediately to nip the subject in the bud. “We should head over to pick our vegetables. If we go any later, all the good ones will be gone.”
“True. They only allocated based on the number of participants.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Lu Shao as he looked at Su Ran.
“It’s alright. It’s not that difficult to pick some vegetables.” Su Ran declined him nicely.
The more he said the worse it got. She worried that this Mr. Lu would throw out some more startling words later.
“She’s right. We can’t let you do everything, Father Su Han. Us ladies can take care of picking the vegetables.” Zhou Qin smiled and said, “If you like, you can go over to the range and see if you can add some meat to our meal.”
“Alright.” Lu Shao nodded and quite liked Mother Du WenTao’s suggestion.
Immediately after that, Lu Shao looked over at Su Ran and asked, “What would you like to have?”
“Chicken stew, Sichuan boiled fish,” replied Su Ran reflexively.
That was all reflex for her.
Mainly because the restaurant next to her house that these two amazing dishes had been closed the last few days due to their daughter’s wedding and Su Ran had been missing them for a while now.
By the time she noticed what she had said and was about to wave her hand to dismiss them, Lu Shao had already nodded.
“Alright.”
“No, um…”
“Then look for these over at the vegetable section: potatoes, onions……”
Su Ran, “!”
Are you serious, Mr. Lu?
Not noticing the look on Su Ran, Zhou Qin had already grabbed two baskets and shoved on into Su Ran’s hand.
“Don’t worry, Father Su Han, we’ll bring back everything that you need!”
“C’mon, Mother Su Han, let’s go.”
Su Ran had no recollection how she was dragged over to the vegetable garden by Zhou Qin.
All in all, when she was standing in front of the not-so-big greenhouse with all different types of vegetables, she missed her old assistants whom she hadn’t thought of for a long time.
“Mother Su Han?”
“Huh?” Su Ran recollected herself when she heard Zhou Qin calling out to her.
“Who usually cook at home?” asked Zhou Qin as she picked the vegetables that Lu Shao had mentioned and placed them inside of the basket.
It seemed that Father Su Han was quite the chef.
“Uh…” There no groceries in her house, not even a pan.
If she must say though… Su Han?
Not having an answer for that question, Su Ran gave Zhou Qin an awkward smile.
Looking at Su Ran, Zhou Qin felt that she knew the answer already.
“I guess it’s Father Su Han then.” Even though she had somewhat guessed it from their earlier interaction, Zhou Qin was still surprised by it.
Zhou Qin did think about another possibility: they might have a maid?
Afterall, judging from the appearance of both Father and Mother Su Han, they looked more well-off than a normal family.
Su Ran: No, we don’t have those.
Yet, before Su Ran could explain herself, Zhou Qin continued with a look of envy. “You are such a lucky woman, Mother Su Han!”
“Haha, mainly because I am not a good cook,” said Su Ran as she gave her an embarrassed smile.
She didn’t know what else she could say.
That just means you are a lucky one. It’s awesome that you don’t need to cook. Let me tell you, I’ve read online that the grease from the kitchen is a woman’s worst enemy. Besides……”
As Zhou Qin digressed further and further, Su Ran decided to just remain silent.
Oh, right!” As though recalling something, Zhou Qin stopped all of a sudden and looked at Su Ran.
“Mother Su Han.”
“What?” The there’s-something-going-on-therelook at Du WenTao’s mother gave Su Ran a bad feeling.
As Su Ran was hesitating, she saw Zhou Qin leaning in toward her and asked, “I seemed to have heard you referring to Su Han’s father as Mista Lu?”
Su Ran, “!”
It was just out of habit for her but she had not considered how odd that sounded in front of others.
Su Ran frowned a little and, just when she was debating whether she should elaborate on the fact that Su Han’s father was his father and mother, his mother, and that they did not belong in one family, she heard Du WenTao’s mother said with a smile, “That sounds quite romantic.”
Su Ran: WTF?*
What was so romantic about such an official way of addressing someone?
Besides, she said ‘Mr.’, not ‘Mista”, alright??
Then again, she figured that Du WenTao’s mother had already had the misunderstanding so what was the point in clarifying it? She chuckled dryly a few times and glossed over the subject.
Su Ran refused to talk to Du WenTao’s mother but, truth was, when two woman were walking side by side of each other, there was always something to talk about.
“Su Han’s mother. Is horoscope part of the reason that Su Han had taken your last name?” asked Zhou Qin.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
“Let me tell you. This was what happened in my family,” said Zhou Qin. “When Du WenTao was born, we consulted a fortune teller. He said the earth element (rhythms with “du”) was bad for him and he lacks gold in his life (rhythms with “qin”). So my idea was to have him take my surname instead. But his grandfather rejected the idea adamantly.
“Aye, your family is so much better.” In Zhou Qin’s mind right now, the fact that her son wasn’t doing well academically had a lot to do with him not taking on her surname.
“There are many men out there who are as progressive as Su Han’s father.”
“Haha, I guess so…”
“I think these should be enough?” said Su Ran as she looked at the vegetables that filled half of the basket in an attempt to change the subject.
Mainly, she was really unconvinced that Mr. Lu could cook. She didn’t want to waste too much vegetables. That would just be a shame.
“Yeah, I think so. There’s no refrigerator here and they probably won’t keep. We can always come back for more tomorrow.”
The two walked out of the greenhouse as they talked and immediately saw the two teenage boys standing outside.
When they saw Su Ran and Du WenTao’s mother walking out, Su Han immediately walked up and took the basket from Su Ran.
“Let me help you carry this, Mom.”
“Oh, wow. My boy is so mature today.” Zhou Qin had a big smile on her when her son took over her basket. “How come you are over here. Is your tent all built?”
“We were done a long time ago. Liu YangYang was test sleeping inside, even,” said Du WenTao with a look filled with pride.
He felt very mighty right now.
That they were able to complete such a crazy complicated task.
“What about your dad?” ask Su Ran to Su Han.
He didn’t really go to grab chicken and fish, did he?
“Did you talk about spicy fish and stew chicken? I figured Father Su Han was over at the ranch side. Chicken is probably not that difficult to catch a chicken but fishing may be more challenging,” said Zhou Qin when they returned to the campground and Lu Shao was nowhere to be seen.
“Catch chicken? Fishing? Him?” Su Han raised his brows and snickered in disdain. “Hah. Being gone for so long, he is probably waiting for the chicken to die on its own and the pond to dry up before he could lay a hand on them.”
And that old man had the audacity to make fun of how long it took him to put the tent together. He was the one who was taking forever!
Did he drive to buy them somewhere else because he couldn’t catch them? How else could he be gone for so long?
Su Han had all sorts of disrespectful thoughts.
Lu Shao had, indeed, went over to the ranch.
Except that he was intercepted half way there and was invited over to the principal’s office.
“Mr. Lu, we are so glad that you can attend this Quality Development Outing in person,” said the principal to Lu Shao in the lounge after pouring him a cup of tea.
This Mr. Lu sitting in front of him right now was their biggest trustee. When he sent the Quality Development Outing plans to him previously, he had only received a reply that said “doable”. The principal had been a bit nervous this entire time.
He hadn’t expected Mr. Lu coming to observe the school’s performance in person.
Lu Shao’s hand that was holding the cup of tea paused in mid-air.
“I am here for my son this time,” explained Lu Shao. There was a shred of impatience in his voice as though he was saying that he really didn’t have time but only made himself available but his son really wanted him there.
He really wasn’t there to surveil the school.
After all, it was never part of the Lu’s plans to invest in No. 7 High School and he never paid it that much attention.
Lu Shao’s explanation startled the principal.
“Your son is studying at our school?” The principal’s eyes widened, apparently finding that very difficult to believe.
“Mmhmm.” Lu Shao nodded but wasn’t going to elaborate on it.
“I had not been doing my job properly then.” The principal gave an embarrassed smile, wiped off his sweat, and said, “Dare I ask who your son is…”
“That’s not important,” said Lu Shao. Recalling that snotty look on Su Han, Lu Shao narrowed his eyes and said in a cold and stiff tone, “And he definitely does not need any special treatment.”
“I get it, Mr. Lu. Don’t worry. Our school will treat all of our students equally,” said the principal as he nodded.
That being said, the principal had made up his mind that he would be visiting the campground to have it all figured out.
“Then, Mr. Lu,” said the principal after a slight pause. “Is there anything that you think is deficient during this Quality Development Outing? Or anything that we can get for you?”
“That would not be necessary.”
“Then you…”
“I am going to head over to the ranch,” said Lu Shao as he stood up, interrupting the principal’s sentence.
***
Over at the campground on the other end.
Not seeing Lu Shao returning after quite a while, Su Ran had already given up on her ideas of stew chicken and spicy fish.
No, what she meant was, she never should have asked for those in the first place.
Chicken and fish, that weren’t even reasonable to begin with.
“Tsk tsk. I think we can give up on waiting already. The self-heating hot pot that my mom brought with her is perfectly fine,” said Su Han with a look of contempt.
Nevertheless, the teenage boy was looking over at the direction of the ranch as he talked.
“Uh, I guess so.”
As Su Ran talked, she could see Lu Shao returning from the direction of the ranch.
He had already taken off his jacket, his sleeves were rolled up and he was carrying a chicken in his hand.
“Wow, Daddy Su Han, you really got a chicken. And it is already prepped. How thoughtful is that?” Zhou Qin was pleasantly surprised when she saw the chicken in Lu Shao’s hand.
“Hrm, how do we know that he didn’t just buy that from a supermarket nearby? We just might be able to find a barcode or something on the chicken’s feet.” Su Han, standing nearby, turned his head to one side and grumbled in a low voice.
Except that the little bit of nervousness in his eyes that even he wasn’t aware about had disappeared miraculously.
“Of course not. You can tell this this chicken was just processed,” said Zhou Qin with a smile.
Lu Shao gave Su Han a cold look before he looked away. Turning over to Su Ran and the others, he said, “I’ve already taken care of the chicken’s blood and gizzards. If you don’t know how to clean and chop it, just leave it to one side for now. I can do it in a little while.”
Su Ran: Nope, I dunno how.
“Haha, you have already done all the hard work, Daddy Su Han. Of course we can take care of the rest. Just leave it here. We will take care of it,” said Zhou Qin with a smile.
Lu Shao nodded and finally looked back over at Su Han’s direction.
“Do you know how to fish?” Lu Shao’s tone was nonchalant but his look was full of judgement, much like a parent asking “what did you score on your examination this time”.
Su Han was taken aback a little by that.
“What so difficult about that?” said Su Han, refusing to show his weakness.
“Alright then, follow me.” Having said that, Lu Shao tossed over to him a set of equipment in his hand.
It was now that Su Ran had noticed that Lu Shao was carrying two sets of fishing gears in his hands.
“Fine!” said Su Han as he stood up.
“Wow. To catch fish? I am coming with!”
“Me too!”
Liu YangYang and Du WenTao, sitting to one side, both bounced up when they heard that they would be going fishing.
“Okay. We can all go. Just be careful.”
“Okay, Father Su Han. Thank you for keeping an eye out.”
“No worries.”
***
Su Ran thought they would be gone for quite a while but the few of them returned from the direction of the fish pond not too long later with something in their hands. It looked like they have had quite a haul.
“You guys got some fish?”
“Yeah! Three in total!” said Liu YangYang complacently.
“That’s pretty good,” said Su Ran with a smile.
With Su Ran’s compliment, Liu YangYang felt a little embarrassed.
“Hehe. Mostly they were from Daddy Su Han and Han-ge.” As for him and Du WenTao… Well, see that crap on one side that was slightly bigger than the size of a coin? That was theirs.
Su Ran looked over at her own son in surprise when she heard Liu YangYang’s words.
“Su Han got some too? My son is so awesome.” Su Ran was not frugal when it came to dishing out compliments.
Su Han had never fished before. What did it mean that he was able to catch a fish on his first try? It meant that she had given him great genes.
Though Su Ran to herself feeling no shame whatsoever.
Su Han, on the other hand, curved his lips a little after hearing Su Ran’s words and turned his head away snottily.
“It was too easy,” said Su Han with a I-am-not-feeling-proud-of-myself-at-all look.
As for the others.
Hrm. He would never admit that he had peeked over at the old man’s technique when he was fishing.
The old man was so low in his movement that he saw what he saw against his will.
***
Lu Shao gave Su Han a look and snickered. But he didn’t say anything beyond that.
Before the teenage boy had a chance to stare back at him, Mr. Lu had already brought the fish with to one side to prepare them.
Descaled, gutted, cut into thin slices… his seemed very familiar with what he was doing.
“Em, Mr. Lu?”
“Lu Xun.”
“Huh?”
“You can just call me Lu Shao,” said Lu Shao.
Su Ran was taken aback a little when she heard that. Then she felt that that made a lot of sense.
They were at the Quality Development Outing after all and her referring to him as Mr. Lu would certainly sound odd to the others.
Besides…
After what Mother Du WenTao had said earlier, she now felt awkward about the whole “Mista” thing.
“Okay then, Lu Shao?”
“Hmm? What is it?” asked Lu Shao. His slightly curved lips suggested that he was in a fairly good mood right now.
“Do you need any help?” asked Su Ran.
“No need. You just wait,” said Lu Shao. Then, giving it a little bit more thought, he said, “Or you can start getting the utensils ready.”
“Oh, okay.”
What Su Ran had wanted to say was: It will be okay if you want to pass on the chicken stew.
Then again, after seeing the confident look on Lu Shao, she decided against it.
Lu Shao was very efficient. It didn’t take long and, under the stare of five pairs of glistening eyes, the chicken dish looked more and more real under Mr. Lu’s magical touch.
On top of that, it looked very tasty.
Even from five meters away, Su Ran could detect its delectable aroma.
“Son,” said Su Ran suddenly as she turned to look at Su Han next to her.
“What?”
“Perhaps, you should learn how to cook too.” Su Ran’s eye beamed as she said that. Looking at the baffled look on Su Han, she added, “I feel that men who can cook are particularly handsome!”
The way Su Ran was looking at it: Her son was already so handsome. Learning how could cook would make him even more so. This skill would very likely help him attract a lot of young girls in the future and perhaps even his future mother-in-law.
Nevertheless, Su Han had a very different interpretation on what she had just said.
“You think that old man is handsome?” asked Su Han in disbelief with his eyes widened.
Then, he turned and gave Lu Shao, who had just finished two solid dishes, a very resentful look.
What was so handsome about him?!
He was much more handsome than him!
The little teenage boy suddenly felt a little threatened.
To the point that, all the way until the dishes were serve, he had been staring at Lu Shao as though he was watching out for a thief.
The way Su Han was staring, from Su Ran’s perspective, naturally turned into: Why was my son in a daze?
“What you thinking about? Hurry up and eat!” said Su Ran as she waved her hand in front of Su Han.
With the two main dishes courtesy of Mr. Lu, their group dinner couldn’t be any fancier.
Did you see all the envious look from all over?
They better hurry up and eat. They were outdoor right now after all. If they didn’t eat fast enough, they would turn into dinner for the mosquitoes.
That being said, Su Ran was utterly surprised by how delicious the two dishes that Lu Shao made were.
It could almost rival the little restaurant by their apartment.
Su Ran even overate accidentally.
She could even feel her canker sore coming on.
Unfortunately, she had brought everything from outdoor survival kit to antihistamine to cold medicines and fever reducers… everything but something that could treat canker sores.
That night, Lu Shao took a trip out.
He was going to go straight to Su Ran when he returned but was stopped by Su Han before he could reach Su Ran’s tent.
“Why are you still up? What is it? Are you pondering about the meaning of life?” asked Lu Shao after he had lifted his brows a little when he was faced with Su Han who was sitting outside of his own tent and staring intently at him without even blinking.
“I should be asking you that. It’s the middle of the night. Why are you wandering around instead of staying inside of your own tent?” asked Su Han in a deep voice as he stared at Lu Shao.
Having heard that, Lu Shao snickered.
Then again, realizing that this was probably a bad time to go look for Su Ran, he handed the package over to Su Han.
“Take this over to your mother.”
“What is it?”
“Why? Are you illiterate?”
“You are the one who is illiterate!”
Having said that, Su Han turned and walked over to Su Ran’s tent angrily.
***
“Mom, are you sleeping?”
“No, what’s the matter?” asked Su Ran as she walked out of her tent.
“This is for you.”
“Eh? For canker sores. You brought this with you, Son?”
“No, it wasn’t me…” The old man drove to buy it.
***
“Eh? How come it’s just the two of you? Where’s Du WenTao?” asked Su Ran the next morning during breakfast when she only saw Su Han and Liu YangYang walking out of their tent.
“Oh, Tao? He’s still in there,” said Liu YangYang as he pointed at the tent with a peculiar look.
“He should, em, probably, be debuting soon. HAHAHAHA…” Liu YangYang finally couldn’t hold back anymore but busted out laughing with his hands over his stomach. “It was so memorable. Even more 6 than it was in the photo. For realz. Oh my gosh, laughed so hard that I can’t even breath…”
Even Su Han, who had always maintained a cool image in front of others, couldn't help but had his lips curved up while holding back his smile.
“Why? What is it?”
“Oh mi, Mother Su. You will have to see for yourself.” Having said that, he called toward the direction of the tent. “Lao Du, c’mon out already. Stop dilly-dallying. You think you are a bride waiting to wed? If you don’t come out soon I am going to eat your share of the breakfast too!”
“Get out of here! Don’t you dare!” Du WenTao finally walked out of the tent.
And on him was… the floral sports outfit that his mother had shared in a photo in their chatroom.
Truth be told, there were probably filters applied on that picture. Looking with one’s naked eyes, the outfit appeared to be even brighter in colors.