Beginning on the second day of the eleventh month in the third year of Shengping, Chen Caozhi moved into the thatched hut in the Chen Clan Cemetery on Jade Emperor Mountain and began his two years of mourning. He remembered the first day of the eleventh month last year at the Xu Clan School in Wu Commandery: early that morning, Lai De had placed a thick padded robe and a new pair of hemp-cloth shoes beside his bed, saying that the old mistress had left instructions-the first day of the eleventh month was the young master's birthday, and he was to wear new shoes and a jade zhang pendant-
Yet on his birthday this year, Chen Caozhi had escorted his mother's coffin far into the countryside. His mother now slept forever beneath the earth. The mother who remembered his birthday and prepared his winter clothes and shoes well in advance was gone forever. Through the long, sleepless nights, tears fell whenever he thought of her.
Only low shrubs grew around the grave of Mother Chen Lady Li. On odd-numbered days, Chen Caozhi spent two hours clearing away the shrubs and weeds; on even-numbered days, he went over to Nine Luminaries Mountain to find young pines and cypresses and transplant them beside the graves of his parents and elder brother. Two years from now, this would be a knoll lush and green with young pines.
Chen Caozhi kept to his old routine from Chen Family Cove. In the mornings, he reviewed the Confucian classics and practiced calligraphy and painting; in the afternoons, he studied the Xuanxue of Laozi and Zhuangzi, took reading notes, and wrote philosophical essays; at night, he read or copied books-
Observing mourning did not mean remaining in the thatched hut without taking a single step away; he