With the recount of events by old manNing, everybody had learned of the manners of those from School of DivineCondor, especially their behaviors in front of the Cheng’s. They made all theelders frowned.

“I can’t believe their mannerism havedeteriorated so much in merely several dozen years. What have they been feedingtheir students?”

“Whatever happened to the most prestigeschool in Dafeng? At this rate, it is going to turn into a school for rich,spoiled children before we know it!”

“Ridiculous! So ridiculous! School ofDivine Condor really need to beat their students into shape. They should beashamed of their behaviors as it stand!”

The three old men were very upset at thebehaviors of those from School of Divine Condor.

Old man Ning nodded and sighed, “Yeah, Ifound it hard to believe too. I would never have believed it myself if theyweren’t living in my house. I couldn’t believe this is true!”

“Hrm, School of Divine Condor is surelygoing downhill. It’s is going to get even worse over time!” shouted old Duangrily.

The other three nodded in agreement.

“Well, we couldn’t worry about thatright now. Let’s put that aside!” Old man Lin changed the subject and said toOld man Ning next to him, “Say, Ning

laodi

, regardless of those from School of Divine Condor. In my opinion, youneed to rein in your grandson Xunzong. Otherwise, he is going to bring aboutthe destruction of the Ning’s sooner or later. You know, you always hearstories where a small bickering or conflicts go entirely out of hand andbrought down the entire family. This is serious matters!”

“That’s right, Ning

lao de

, from your story it sounded like your grandson had changeddrastically. He was a simple child, how did he get like this? Lin

lao ge

was right. He just might bringabout disasters to the family, this is not a joking matter!”

“Exactly, you need to be careful, Ning

lao de

!”

The words from his three brothers madeold man Ning nodded. He understood that they meant well and this was, indeed,serious matters.

“Okay, how should we proceed?”

Old man Lin had already thought aboutsomething else, “Your relations.h.i.+p with the Cheng’s had already been soured.It’d be difficult to mend the fences anytime soon. Ning

lao de

, you have any thoughts?”

“Oh, my fellow brothers, my thought isto have you establish some sort of an agreement with the Cheng’s. I will payyou secretly and you can help me acquire some of their goods, that way I willbe able to benefit some as well. What do you think?”

When old man Ning expressed his idea, heunderstood clearly that he would no doubt need to invest some on the three.Otherwise, he would have no chance getting his hands on any of the Cheng’sgoods.

It’d only make sense that the Cheng’shate their guts right now.

Upon hearing old man Ning’s words, thethree of them exchanged a look. They seemed somewhat surprised and alsosomewhat expected it.

After a long while, old man Lin finallysaid, “Ning

lao di

, we promise wewill help you out, but I will say it upfront that we can only share a littlebit with you. After all, we have to report back to our respective sect. I hopeyou’d understand!”

“Of course, of course. I don’t want toput you in a bad position. Anything you are willing to part with will be fine!”

“Don’t mention it. What we need to donow is to discuss how to approach the Cheng’s. Ning

lao de

, why don’t you describe what it’s like at the Cheng’s so wecan plan for it?”

___

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Note:

1. Means “old little brother”. “Old” because he was old in age. “Di” is younger brother, old Du still referred to him as younger brother because he was older Du was older than Ning. I chose to go with Chinese p.r.o.nunciation here as “old younger brother” just sounds very awkward in English.

2.

3. literally translates as “Rivers and Lakes”, but figuratively refers to the “underground world of martial arts”. A section of society consisting of martial artists, gangsters, thieves, beggars, prost.i.tutes, merchants, entertainers, and anyone else wanting to operate outside of mainstream society or in the grey area of the law.