At noon, Xi Chao returned from deliberations in the East Hall at Taicheng. When he reached his lodgings, a servant reported that Chen Caozhi and Zhu Yingtai had called. He asked where his visitors were and was told they had gone to look at the Chen Clan residence beside the Qinhuai River.
Xi Chao put on a sun hat and headed for the Chen Clan's building site with two servants. From a distance, he saw Chen Caozhi and Xie Daoyun standing beneath the shade of a locust tree by the river. Chen Caozhi wore his hair in a mallet-shaped topknot beneath a lacquered gauze cap, with a white ramie summer robe draped over his tall, jade-straight figure, looking ethereally removed from worldly dust. Xie Daoyun wore a silk headcloth and an unlined white silk jacket. Her figure was noticeably slenderer than Chen Caozhi's, and although her robe was loose and her sash slack, her graceful form showed faintly through the thin summer fabric-
Xi Chao also knew that he was looking through the lens of his prior knowledge. Otherwise, delicate, softly beautiful men were plentiful, and Xie Daoyun in male dress was not particularly conspicuous. In his youth, Wang Xizhi himself had been praised for his graceful bearing and light-footed gait-
Presumably alerted by a Xie Clan servant, Chen Caozhi and Xie Daoyun turned around together. Xi Chao saw Chen Caozhi salute him with clasped hands from afar and stride over to meet him, with Xie Daoyun following two paces behind.
Xi Chao slowed his steps, thinking, Since Xie An was willing to let his niece come out, Chen Caozhi's persuasion last night must have succeeded. Xie Daoyun will be joining the Western Headquarters.
When Chen and Xie approached, Xi Chao smiled. "Zizhong, you truly have not failed Lord Huan's