The ultimate blue sea

Chapter 84

The phone rang three times. It was an unfamiliar number. Su Chengde didn't pick up. After three rings, the caller hung up.

So Su Chengde could relax for today. This was the secret signal Su Qing had arranged. No matter where Su Qing was, no matter what means of contact he had, he would dial this number at 7 AM every day and hang up after three rings. Su Chengde would know that the call came from him; it amounted to reporting that he was safe and sound.

In the end, Su Chengde hadn't been able to entirely work out what it was his wastrel son did. Su Qing had sworn two things up and down. First, that he wasn't doing anything bad. Second, that he would come back alive.

Behind him came the sound of kicking and clattering. Su Chengde turned his head and saw Tu Tutu hugging a big Garfield pillow nearly taller than he was. He ran over wearing pajamas. "Grandpa, grandpa, was that my Imperial Uncle calling?"

The call of "grandpa" made Su Chengde's heart go soft. He opened his arms and picked Tu Tutu up, putting the pudgy child on his knees. Tu Tutu rubbed his head against Su Chengde's shoulder. "When will my Imperial Uncle come back?"

Su Chengde slapped his chubby butt. "What, do you miss him? You don't like living with Grandpa?"

Tu Tutu was much more astute than Su Qing had been at his age. He knew very well how to flatter. He had cut a swath through the RZ Unit headquarters before, taking everyone down. He immediately blinked his big, shining, dark eyes. "Grandpa is good. Yeah...it's much better living with Grandpa than with my Imperial Uncle. Grandpa has a good temper and never gets angry or spanks me, and he buys me tasty snacks. Grandpa is the best."

Su Chengde was over the moon. He immediately thought that compared to Tu Tutu, his own home-abandoning son was nothing.

Tu Tutu observed his expression and continued, "But, still, even though my Imperial Uncle has no patience, and he's a dictator, it's been days since I last saw him, so I miss him."

Moved, Su Chengde thought, Such a young child, and he has so much conscience. Truly a rare treasure. He said, "Tutu, you can be my very own grandson."

Tu Tutu immediately beamed with joy. "All right, so I'll have an uncle and a grandpa!"

Su Chengde was getting on in years and was susceptible to melancholy. Seeing the kid's joyful look, his heart began to sting—the first time Tu Tutu had seen Su Chengde and been asked "Where are your parents?", he had surreptitiously pinched himself on the thigh, forcing out two tears. Howling, he had begun to cry, "Bad guys killed my mom and dad!"—so Su Chengde had taken him for an unloved little cabbage, doting on him to no end.

Tu Tutu continued to exert himself. He climbed out of Su Chengde's lap and very properly said, "Grandpa, I'll go read! My Imperial Uncle stipulates that every day I have to read for two hours, do math problems for two hours, draw for one hour, memorize words for one hour, then..."

As soon as Su Chengde heard this, his eyebrows went up—what? A child barely ten years old, just at the age when he wants to play, and he isn't even allowed to rest for a moment? What's the meaning of making him study this and study that? Trying to work the child to death? Why didn't I push you like that when you were little, brat?

So he pulled Tu Tutu back. "We won't listen to him. It's Sunday today. Why should you read first thing in the morning? Grandpa doesn't need you to study so hard. Come on, we'll go out and play."

Tu Tutu raised his head pitifully. "But my Imperial Uncle will thrash me..."

"Would he dare? If he dares to thrash you, I'll thrash him." This was how Su Qing, out risking life and limb, got shot lying down.