"Duke Yuan, Duke Yuan, I have long admired you! To meet you today is a blessing earned over three lifetimes."
In the fierce heat of the fifth month, five li outside Shucheng in Lujiang, Xie Xuan, who had already made one trip here, pointed into the distance. Liu Cheng immediately swung down from his horse and began offering compliments from afar.
Yuan Zhen, in his early forties this year, wore loose robes with broad sleeves and a silk headcloth, holding a feather fan in one hand and stroking his beard with the other. Had his complexion not been somewhat dark, he would practically have been an older Xie Wan. He stood beneath a pavilion, and upon hearing this, first turned to cast a smug glance at his sons and the several advisers and officers behind him. Only then did he turn back, raise his fan slightly, and cup his hands in return. "I, too, have long heard Liu Yulong's name."
His feet, however, seemed rooted to the ground.
Liu Cheng paid this no mind. He walked straight up and saluted again before the pavilion. "Duke Yuan, you are both my elder and a pillar of the court. I still remember traveling to Jiangling with Xi Jiabin and Fu Huaizhi years ago. When we heard aboard our boat that you had recovered Hefei, I was simply wild with joy. I told them then and there that your military achievements had already surpassed those of Sun the Great of Jiangdong... Yet seeing you again today, I find only a feather fan and silk headcloth, masts and oars vanishing into smoke and ash-the elegance of Kongming and Gongjin reborn. Even in this fierce summer heat, the mere sight of you from afar feels like bathing in a spring breeze. It truly inspires admiration."