DLRC – Chapter 60 Where’s Your Dad?

The little guy’s milky voice was soft, cute, and adorable—but to Huo Mingwang, it sounded unbearably irritating!

Yu Hui was light, and Huo Mingwang held him suspended in mid-air without feeling the slightest fatigue in his arm.

His arms were strong and solid; if he rolled up his sleeves, you could see the defined muscles. With such powerful hands, lifting Yu Hui was an effortless task.

Just as Yu Hui was about to crumble from the awkward position, the man finally put him down. Then Huo Mingwang grabbed the lunchbox Yu Hui had left on the sink and pulled the boy out of the restroom.

Trailing behind him, Yu Hui was confused and tugged lightly at his hand. “Uncle Huo, aren’t we going to wash my face?”

Huo Mingwang took a deep breath, stopped, and looked down at him. The tear stains on the child’s face and the grease smudged around his mouth were an eyesore—so obvious that he couldn’t ignore them even if he wanted to.

What made it worse was the kid’s innocent, clueless expression. Huo Mingwang nearly choked on his own breath, almost tempted to just toss him out right then and there.

If he threw him out, he wouldn’t have to deal with all this nonsense!

Grinding his teeth, Huo Mingwang finally turned back toward the restroom, lifted his arm, and—without mercy—slapped a wet hand across Yu Hui’s face.

Yu Hui’s little head snapped back from the impact.

“You get grease all over your face just from eating—how did your mom teach you?”

After wiping his face with water, Huo Mingwang washed his hands while shooting Yu Hui a look of disgust.

Yu Hui’s soft, pink face was now flushed red from the rough scrubbing. He sniffled, eyes watery, and answered in a meek, wronged voice, “Mama taught me to eat seriously and not drop rice on the floor.”

He was utterly aggrieved and felt completely wronged. “Uncle Huo, when I eat at home, I don’t get grease all over my face…”

He hadn’t looked in the mirror—there wasn’t one here—so he had no idea what his face looked like. But seeing the disgust in Huo Mingwang’s eyes made his heart sink. He felt silently upset, blaming himself for not being careful and getting food all over his face.

Maybe it was just because they weren’t eating at home today. That’s why he got greasy. But he had really remembered Mama’s words: eat carefully and don’t make a mess.

Still… if someone had let him look in the mirror before washing his face, little Yu Hui would’ve seen that there weren’t really any grease stains at all—just tear streaks!

And after Huo Mingwang’s rough wiping, there were no tear marks left—only a small child’s aggrieved face and a red-tipped nose.

With his face washed, they could finally return to see Yu Wei. The little guy was so excited as he was led out by Huo Mingwang, still clutching the lunchbox. He was thinking happily: Mama probably didn’t eat enough, so the yummy food he brought back would help her feel full!

On the way back, Yu Hui’s affection for Uncle Huo skyrocketed. Especially when he remembered how, when he was helplessly crying in the crowd, Uncle Huo had appeared like a god, pulling him out of the dark abyss.

And this morning, when Mama fainted, Uncle Huo had shown up immediately. Yu Hui admired him a little now.

Uncle Huo always seemed to appear at the most important times.

If Huo Mingwang could hear Yu Hui’s thoughts, he’d probably be gasping again: Kid, what are you thinking all day long? Can’t you tell I don’t like you at all?!

Because Yu Hui’s legs were so short and slow, Huo Mingwang soon got impatient and, resigned, picked him up off the ground.

He was already very practiced at carrying kids. Yu Hui, equally familiar with the process, wrapped his little arms around Huo Mingwang’s neck. Then he sniffled and noticed the sting on his nose from earlier.

“Uncle Huo, my nose hurts a little.”

Huo Mingwang strode forward with him in his arms. “Hurt? So fragile.”

“What does fragile mean?” Yu Hui asked seriously, genuinely curious.

Huo Mingwang didn’t want to explain. Instead, he asked, “…Are you a man or not? If you’re a man, don’t say it hurts.”

Yu Hui looked at his sharp side profile, wide-eyed, and replied in a soft voice, “I’m not a man. I’m a kid.”

Huo Mingwang: “……”

“Your mom really taught you well,” he muttered. What a clear distinction between man and child.

Yu Hui didn’t catch the sarcasm. He didn’t realize there was any hidden meaning in his words. But once Mama was mentioned, the pure-hearted little guy couldn’t stop talking.

He started counting on his fingers: “Mama taught me to sing, taught me to knead dough, taught me to write, taught me to draw… drawing is something I learned on my own.”

Mama wasn’t very good at drawing, but that didn’t matter. She could sing and bake cakes—that was already amazing!

Huo Mingwang: “……”

Step by steady step, he carried the little guy, walking slower than usual—deliberately so, it seemed.

Being carried was so high up. Huo Mingwang was already tall, and even if other kids were carried by their dads, none of them were as high up as Yu Hui!

The view made him excited and curious. If he had a dad… if his dad carried him, it would definitely feel just like Uncle Huo’s embrace.

Warm and firm!

Yes, firm! Totally different from Mama’s soft and squishy embrace. Uncle Huo’s chest was hard. Rock hard. Would he grow up to be like Uncle Huo too—like a rock?

As he let his mind wander, Yu Hui also noticed how warm Uncle Huo’s body was. Just like him! Mama always said he was like a little heater. It turns out Uncle Huo was a heater too—a big heater!

“What are you thinking?” Huo Mingwang asked, exasperated at the grin on Yu Hui’s face.

“Uncle Huo, you’re a big heater!” Yu Hui covered his mouth and giggled, his eyes bright and sparkling under the hospital lobby lights.

“What big heater?” Do all kids say such strange things? Liu Xuehua’s daughter was the same—always spouting nonsense.

“It’s just…” Yu Hui thought about it, still playing with Huo Mingwang’s short hair. Luckily, Huo Mingwang was too focused on the “big heater” comment to notice.

“Big heater means… Mama always says I’m a little heater, but you’re hotter than me, so you’re a big heater!”

Huo Mingwang: “……” He really needed to stop expecting anything reasonable from this kid. Why was a grown man even entertaining such meaningless, childish talk?

Seriously, did he have nothing better to do?

So Huo Mingwang shut his mouth. But Yu Hui’s little mind was now turning. He kept playing with the man’s hair, clearly having fun.

“Yu Hui.” Huo Mingwang suddenly called his name—almost choking on the words as they came out.

That name made him feel unpleasant inside.

Yu Hui’s hand jerked in surprise. He quickly pulled back, pretending like nothing happened.

Then Huo Mingwang asked again, “Your name is Yu Hui?”

Yu Hui sighed in relief. He’d thought Uncle Huo was about to scold him for messing with his hair.

He turned to meet Huo Mingwang’s eyes. In that instant, he saw his own head reflected in those dark irises, surrounded by sparkling lights.

It felt strangely familiar.

He nodded obediently. “My name is Yu Hui. ‘Yu’ from Mama’s name, and ‘Hui’ like light.”

Huo Mingwang: “……”

The atmosphere was no longer as awkward and stiff as before. Not only did Huo Mingwang speak first, but he even asked several more questions.

Like: “Do you live alone with your mom?”

“Mm-hmm.” The little guy nodded.

“Didn’t your mom used to live in the factory residential area? Why’d she move to Changchun Road and open a dessert shop?”

He asked so many questions at once that Yu Hui didn’t know where to begin. So he chose the one that interested him most and answered eagerly.

“Because Mama wants to earn money!” he chirped, clearly excited. “She wants to earn money to buy pretty clothes, buy yummy food for Huihui, and buy a big house! So she makes cakes to sell. When people buy cakes, she gets money, and with money we can buy a big house to live in…”

Listening to his rambling like a tongue twister, Huo Mingwang was both amused and bewildered. He asked, “What about your dad? Doesn’t your dad earn money for you?”

As soon as those words left his mouth, the lively atmosphere froze.

The little guy immediately quieted down, the curve of his lips dropped slightly, though there was no obvious sadness on his face.

He didn’t look upset.

After a while, Yu Hui finally accepted the question and shook his head honestly. “I don’t have a dad.”

He didn’t know who his dad was, and he had never asked Yu Wei about it.

Why did everyone else have a dad, and only he didn’t?

But deep down, he already knew—he had no dad. His grandma used to scold him, saying he was a child no one wanted, abandoned even by his father.

Eventually… he stopped wanting to know who his dad was.

Anyway… he had Mama. He didn’t need a dad.

Huo Mingwang was mildly surprised, though it was somewhat within expectations.

He had privately investigated Yu Wei and didn’t find anything noteworthy—but he did learn that it was just her and her son living together. No other man.

Actually, the first time he met Yu Wei, he had someone look into her background. So he already knew most of the facts. But whether or not Yu Hui had a father…

He thought about it and asked Yu Hui directly—not Yu Wei.

The truth was, Yu Wei really wasn’t seeing any man right now.

But then… if there wasn’t another man, where did Yu Hui come from?

The thought made him irrationally angry again. His previously softened expression hardened back into its usual cold, silent look.

Yu Hui, however, seemed used to this scary, fierce-faced Uncle Huo. He wasn’t as frightened as before. In fact, he was starting to think Uncle Huo was the kind of person who looked mean but was actually nice.

He brought Mama to the hospital, helped Yu Hui find her, and even took him to the canteen to eat lots of tasty meat. He was a good person!

_{Yu Hui: Uncle Huo is such a good person!
Huo Mingwang: I want to throw you out.
Yu Hui: Sniffle o(╥﹏╥)o You mean uncle…}

_{(He’s going to find out it’s his son in just a few days. And yes, I do mean just a few days. [Runs away])}