In Jiankang in the seventh month, the autumn sun was still fierce. The drought in Yangzhou and Jiangzhou showed no sign of easing; instead, it was growing ever worse. Rivers and canals had run dry in many commanderies and counties, the fields yielded nothing, and even drinking water for people and livestock was hard to obtain. Wealthy households with substantial reserves could barely hold on despite their heavy losses, but owner-farmers who depended entirely on Heaven for their livelihood were ruined at a stroke. In some commanderies and counties, large numbers of famine refugees had begun to appear, dragging their children along-
It was an autumn of troubles. While court and commoners, gentry and ordinary folk in Jiankang were still debating whether the young lady of the Lu Clan would enter the palace, an even more astonishing piece of news spread overnight-the young lady of the Chen Commandery Xie Clan, the supremely gifted Xie Daoyun of the Catkins Verse, had actually dressed as a woman while being a man and entered office: she was Zhu Yingtai, currently Military Adviser of the Western Headquarters!
Like a single stone stirring a thousand waves, this caused an even greater sensation than the Lu Clan woman's entry into the palace. A woman holding office was unheard of throughout the ages, and this was a Lady of the Chen Commandery Xie Clan. Although Wei-Jin Mystical Learning held sway over Confucianism, and there were many unconventional men who condemned Tang and Wu, slighted Zhou and Kong, and cast aside moral conventions to follow nature, all this was confined to men. A woman doing something so shocking to the world and its conventions was truly unheard of!
Moreover, the rumors pointed straight at Chen Caozhi, claiming that Xie Daoyun had entered office for his sake. Thus, the