Sun Tai's ancestral home was in Langya, the same commandery as the families of Wang Dao and Wang Xizhi. Although the Langya Sun clan could not compare with the Langya Wang Clan, it was still a gentry family that had crossed south during the Southern Crossing. Du Zigong belonged to the lesser gentry of Qiantang, so Sun Tai's marriage to his daughter could be called a match between families of equal standing. Although Du Zigong's daughter was remarrying, widows commonly remarried in Wei-Jin times, and few people looked down on them.
On the third day of the fifth month, Chen Caozhi accompanied Ding Yi and his son Ding Chunqiu to the Du estate north of Qiantang to attend Sun Tai's wedding. Though Sun Tai was a member of the gentry, his family was poor, and marrying Du Zigong's daughter effectively meant marrying into the Du household.
The Ding Clan's wedding gifts were ten bolts of fine silk, ten bolts of plain silk, ten jars of millet wine, and a hundred jin of fish. Chen Caozhi's gifts were two bolts of fine silk, two bolts of plain silk, and two jars of wine, which he had instructed Lai Fu to purchase the day before. There was no need to compete over gifts; one gave according to one's means.
Du Zigong was not yet fifty, but his hair was already entirely white. It was said that his hair had begun turning white at ten and had become completely white by twenty. Though he could not compare with Laozi, who had been born with white hair, white eyebrows, and a white beard, he was still unusual. Since childhood, he had loved the way of ascending into the rosy clouds and soaring to immortality. After thirty, he had sought out renowned masters everywhere and