On the afternoon of the sixth day of the ninth month, the autumn sun shone brightly as Chen Caozhi rode out of Gushu City on the Black Steed Lu Na had given him. Ran Sheng followed with twenty soldiers as his escort, along with Shen Chiqian and a dozen or so Shen Clan Private Soldiers. Ding Licheng's family of four and their five servants also accompanied Chen Caozhi to Jiankang. Ding Licheng had already obtained Huan Wen's letter of recommendation and would seek an audience in Jiankang with Wang Biaozhi, Pushe of the Imperial Secretariat and Minister of Personnel, to pursue a post as a county official somewhere near Qiantang. After nearly ten years as an official in Yizhou, Ding Licheng had thought he could not return home before retirement. Never had he expected that a word from his paternal uncle Ding Yi to Chen Caozhi early that year would actually lead Chen Caozhi to have him transferred out of distant Yizhou. How could Ding Licheng and his family not beam with delight-
Lai De sat on the shaft of a Double-Shafted Carriage, grinning from ear to ear. That morning, young Master Caozhi had made a special trip to the Military Armory in the Inner City to request leave for him from the Director of Military Works. The director had granted him four months' leave to return to Qiantang for the New Year. The thought of reuniting in a month with his wife Qingzhi and their son, who was not yet a year old, filled Lai De with boundless happiness. He had served at the Western Headquarters for a year and a half; in another year and a half, he could leave the service and return home. Chen Family Cove was where Lai De wanted to spend his whole life-