Xie Xuan and Jia Bizhi went to report to Lu Shi on the commanderies and counties dragging their feet over Tuduan. Since Lu Shi did not wish to see him, Chen Caozhi did not go along, but stayed to talk with Xie Daoyun and Liu Shangzhi in front of the covered walkway.
Liu Shangzhi said, "The year before last, back in Qiantang, Zizhong told my father it would be best to surrender our hidden households as early as possible. Our Liu Family Fort had thirteen hidden households altogether, and we entered all of them in the county's Yellow Register that time. Now our record is spotless, and we have nothing to fear from Household Registration Inspection. Before, whenever there was a Household Registration Inspection, we had to bow and scrape before the county's deputy magistrate and commandant and send them money and silk-"
Chen Caozhi smiled. "That is because the current County Magistrate Feng is incorruptible. Otherwise, whether Liu Family Fort had hidden households or not, if you failed to offer money and silk, they would dig up hidden households for you even if you had none."
Liu Shangzhi laughed. "Zizhong, you truly understand the ways of the world. Sometimes I think you have an ice-pure heart, clear and unsullied; sometimes I think you are worldly, astute, and cunning. Ha ha! Brother Yingtai, do you ever feel the same?"
Xie Daoyun's gaze swept across Chen Caozhi's face. Smiling, she said, "An ice-pure heart, clear and unsullied; worldly, astute, and cunning. These are like Ice and Charcoal Cannot Coexist. Can they describe the same person?"
Liu Shangzhi was accustomed to joking in Chen Caozhi's presence. "Hmm, I mean two people: the Lu Clan lady with her ice-pure, crystalline heart, and Chen Zizhong, worldly and astute."
Chen Caozhi smiled without speaking, only