At this moment, where was Ning Ge? He was in his own ancestral home in Beijing, sprawling on a rosewood sofa like a ruffian, one leg nonchalantly resting on top of another, shaking away, the essence of a troublemaker.
Old Master Ning saw this brat and couldn’t contain his anger. He pointed at him, his face dark with rage, and scolded, "Just look at you, no manners at all while sitting, what is this? Was the education you received in the United Kingdom all useless?"
Ning Ge sat up slightly straighter, picked at his fingernails and replied coolly, "My going to the United Kingdom was thanks to whom, Old Master? You wouldn’t be unaware, would you? Everything I’ve learned, it’s all to be expected."
Old Master Ning’s face shifted slightly and his finger began to tremble as he pointed at him.
"Younger brother, how could you speak to dad like that? Apologize right now," a middle-aged man around forty-five or forty-six years old walked in and barked at Ning Ge.
Seeing this man, Ning Ge lost much of his defiant air, stood up, and said, "Yes. Dad, it’s my mistake, I was wrong; please be magnanimous and don’t blame me. I was raised by my father but never taught by my mother."
Old Master Ning stumbled.
"Ning Ge!" Ning Gang, the middle-aged man, yelled.
Old Master Ning pressed his hand, shook his head, and said, "Forget it, forget it, help me back to my room."
Ning Gang dared not disobey, and seeing that Ning Ge was about to leave, he added, "You sit right here and don’t move a step."
Ning Ge sat down again, indifferent.
Ning Gang helped the old man back to his room. If Cheng Su were here, she would have marvelled at the strangeness of fate, because this Old Master was none other than the same Old Master Ning she had ’saved’ back then!
"Dad, the fourth child is just a bit stubborn, don’t be mad at him, he’s not worth your anger. I’ll punish him severely for you later," Ning Gang said as he helped Old Master Ning to bed.
Old Master Ning revealed a bitter smile, "What’s the use? He blames me in his heart; I know it, blames me for not legitimizing his mother."
"Dad, it just wasn’t the right time, and now doesn’t Aunt Xiu’s spirit tablet hang with our Ning family name?" Ning Gang said, "The fourth child is just bull-headed. Don’t worry about it; with me and Xiu Xian here, I don’t believe we can’t straighten him out."
"You and Xiu Xian have raised him like your own son since he was little; he addresses you as the elder brother and sister-in-law, but in his heart, he sees you like parents, I know that you both look at him as if he were your own son," Old Master Ning called him out.
Ning Gang was greatly embarrassed, "Dad, rest assured, times have changed; now that he’s back and grown up, he should settle down and work hard. Whether he goes to the military or a government office, he has to make a clear decision. Don’t worry."
Old Master Ning nodded, his face showing utter exhaustion, "I’m old now, the power that I should have relinquished, I have. It’s all on you now, as for the fourth one, I always didn’t do right by him and his mother; you must put in more effort."
Ning Gang agreed, comforted him with a few words, and then left.
Once he’d left, Old Master Ning got out of bed, walked over to the bookshelf in his room, took out a thick notebook, and flipped to a certain page; there, a black-and-white old photograph was tucked away. It was a picture of a woman with kind, gentle eyes and a smile on her lips.
Upon closer inspection, there was a striking resemblance between the woman and Ning Ge.
"I failed you and our son, if only I had been braver back then, the child wouldn’t hate me so much today!" Old Master Ning caressed the image of the woman in the photo, murmuring to himself.
However, the only response was the faint smile and the gentle gaze from the photograph.