"Elder, elder, it's me, it's me."
Liu Acheng had barely stepped off the boat in his Shu brocade robe when he ran straight into someone he knew. He hurried over and embraced the man before he could actually bow to him.
Meanwhile, Gao Jian, the officer guarding Jiangcheng, had already grown alert at the sight of such a large fleet and ridden over at speed. Once he arrived, the haughty Black-Clad Guards informed him that these were the household boats of Huan Wen, General Who Attacks the West, and that a young master of the family had come to Jiankang to travel and study. His heart pounded with alarm. Just as he was wondering whether to retreat, a figure in colorful Shu brocade, clearly still only a half-grown youth, began issuing instructions as he came ashore.
How could he dare neglect such a person? He had better lower his head and bow first.
And so Liu Cheng caught him in an embrace.
Then his mind went blank, and he could not remember who the other person was... The embarrassment only eased a little when Liu Huzi was mentioned, but his head remained muddled. Especially when the youth then took him straight aboard and pointed: this was Huan Awu, General Huan's third son; then to the left, this was Master Zhai Ren, General Huan's Xun Gongda; then to the right, these were Master Fu Xuandu and his son Fu Xizhi, the crown of literary talent among your émigré clans from Qing Province.
Gao Jian could do nothing but bow in frantic succession, scarcely daring to look at their faces. Yet these people actually showed him considerable respect. Hearing that he was Liu Acheng's family elder, they all returned his greetings, and the young master of the Huan family even came over