Chapter 101: Daddy is the watchdog of the eldest son’s family?

Chapter 101: Is Daddy the Young Master's Lapdog?

Heaven only knew how panicked Fu Yuchen was when he knocked on his father's door, only to learn that his father had taken Little Dumpling out on a motorboat to the middle of the ocean early that morning.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his father, but Little Dumpling was still so young, and news of childhood accidents was all too common.

Even though Little Dumpling had always been lucky, he couldn’t help but worry.

Holding her cold little hands in his palms to warm them, Fu Yuchen asked softly, "It’s chilly on the sea in the morning. Are you cold, Zhi Zhi?"

Faced with her Second Brother’s concern, Little Dumpling beamed, her eyes crinkling.

She shook her head and giggled, "Zhi Zhi isn’t cold, Second Brother! Zhi Zhi’s good friends have all come back, and they’re going home now."

Fu Yuchen frowned at first, then remembered the recent events in the sea. Looking down at the joy in his sister’s eyes, he suddenly curled his lips into a smile.

"Did the fish all come back?"

"Mm! They all went home! Zhi Zhi even saw Brother Whale!" Little Dumpling’s eyes sparkled like diamonds when she talked about the fish, bright and pure.

She was genuinely happy that the fish had returned to the ocean.

Seeing this, Fu Yuchen chuckled and shook his head. He pulled her closer and frowned at her little nightgown. "Next time you go out to sea, wear a jacket, or you’ll catch a cold."

The moment he said it, Little Dumpling let out a tiny *achoo!*

Fu Yuchen’s smile froze. In the next second, a sharp glare shot toward Fu Cheng, who was lagging behind them.

Fu Cheng, still hopping from stepping on shells, suddenly felt the weight of that glare and looked up to see his second son glaring daggers at him.

Then, Little Dumpling sneezed three more times in a row.

Fu Cheng swallowed hard and rubbed his nose awkwardly.

"Look, uh… it was an emergency, so I forgot to bring Zhi Zhi’s jacket..."

The more he spoke, the quieter and less confident his voice became.

Fu Yuchen gave his incompetent father a dark look and hurried ahead toward the hotel, still carrying his sister.

Once back at the hotel, he immediately asked a waiter to prepare a bowl of ginger-infused cola. He didn’t even glance at his father, who was trailing behind him with a pitiful expression, mumbling apologies.

He pressed a hand to Little Dumpling’s forehead to check her temperature and sighed in relief when he confirmed she wasn’t running a fever.

"Dad, Zhi Zhi isn’t like us—she can’t just endure whatever you throw at her."

"She’s so small, and her immune system isn’t as strong as an adult’s. Going out to sea like this could lead to a cold at best, or a severe fever at worst. When Big Brother calls, how are you going to explain it to him?"

In most families, it was the father who scolded his sons for being hopeless.

But in the Fu family, Fu Cheng, as the patriarch and head of the household, could only bully his youngest son on a daily basis—his eldest and second sons were untouchable.

The eldest was like the Tang Monk (a famously long-winded character)—mature, steady, but endlessly nagging.

The second son had a gloomy temperament, prickly toward everyone who got too close.

Finally, the family had a sweet, fragile little daughter, the family’s treasure. If so much as a single hair on her head was out of place, the whole family would be sent into a frenzy.

Let alone if she caught a cold.

Fu Cheng sat slumped on the other side of the dining table like a dejected chicken, nodding obediently no matter what his second son said.

Seeing his father’s submissive attitude, Fu Yuchen found himself at a loss for words.

He let out a long sigh and was about to turn and urge the waiter to hurry with the ginger-infused cola when a familiar voice rang in his ears.

"Tch. You hit me so hard that day—I thought you were some big shot. Turns out you’re just the young master’s lapdog, huh?"

It was that father-and-son pair again, mirror images in face and frame.

The man seemed incapable of learning his lesson. After seething for days, seeing Fu Cheng acting so meek in front of his second son finally snapped his patience.

He had seen Fu Cheng in the hotel a couple of days prior, but Fu Cheng had been in a hurry, and they hadn’t exchanged a single word before passing each other.

Now that he finally had Fu Cheng in his clutches, the man wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip.

He slid into the seat right next to Fu Cheng, crowding the already tight four-person seating arrangement.

Fu Cheng turned his head slightly to look at the man, the meekness he’d shown while apologizing to his son vanished without a trace. "You again?"

The man sneered. "Back then, I was wondering where you got all that clout, getting the manager to kowtow to you."

He glanced up at Fu Yuchen—the young man stood tall and straight, his looks surpassing even those of popular celebrities, his presence commanding. "Turns out you’ve got a high-class patron backing you up."

Then his gaze shifted to Little Dumpling.

When he saw her face, which bore a striking resemblance to Fu Cheng’s, a disgustingly lecherous glint flashed in his eyes.

"No wonder you wouldn’t give your daughter to me—you’d already secured yourself a patron."

"Young man, I didn’t expect someone your age to be so... shameless."

He winked suggestively at Fu Yuchen, completely ignoring Fu Cheng’s clenched fists beside him.

Fu Yuchen had always been the type to ignore people, but the man’s words made him deeply uncomfortable.

As an adopted son of the Fu family, it was natural that he didn’t resemble his father.

But the way the man spoke was a direct slap in the face to his father’s dignity.

Even though he had just been scolding his father, Fu Yuchen’s respect for him was unwavering.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Fu Yuchen stared coldly at the man, his tone carrying the arrogance of a young master from a prestigious family. "And you are?"

The man took Fu Yuchen’s question as interest in his background.

With a chuckle, he pulled out a business card holder of solid gold from his briefcase and produced a gilded business card.

"My surname is Sun. I’m in Jiangnan-based real estate development. Would the young master be interested in making an investment? I’ve got my eye on a prime property—once it’s developed, I can cut you in for this much."

He held up two fingers, his greasy body trembling with laughter.

The Fu family was also in real estate themselves, with ties to many of the country’s major developers.

Fu Yuchen glanced at the company name on the card and the title of "General Manager" next to the man’s name, letting out a derisive snort.

The man, who had been laughing heartily a second ago, his smile vanished at the sound of that scoff.

He slammed his palm heavily on the table, his tone hostile, "What are you scoffing at?! Young man, I'm only being polite to you because you're good-looking."

"The money I make in a year is more than your lifetime's spending money."

"I advise you not to push your luck. Apologize properly, and if I'm in a good mood, I might just forgive you!"

The man was overweight, panting heavily after every few words.

Her second brother covered Little Dumpling's ears, so she could only look up at the bulky man before her.

His expression was twisted with malice—he was in for some serious bad luck.

Just as she thought this, another familiar figure entered her line of sight.

Manager Qian hurried over eagerly with a tablet, only to notice two additional people beside Fu Cheng.

Frowning, he approached the table and whispered, "President Fu, someone has made an offer to buy the sand mine. Would you like to take a look at the letter of intent they sent?"