On the tenth day of the first month in the second year of Emperor Sima Yu of Jin's Xian'an reign, the Qiantang Chen Clan's convoy set out from the Ding Clan Villa for the capital. Two horse-drawn carriages, eighteen oxcarts, and nearly a hundred maids, servants, and private soldiers filled the road in a grand procession. When people along the way learned that this was the Qiantang Chen Clan's betrothal convoy, they crowded both sides of the road to watch, clicking their tongues in wonder and admiration. The news that Chen Caozhi would marry daughters of two great aristocratic houses, one northern and one southern, had long since reached every ear. Naturally, the common people delighted in discussing this wondrous match, unprecedented through the ages-
On the fifteenth day of the first month, the Chen clansmen reached Huating. This time, Lu Shi appeared. Lu Weiwei's marriage to Chen Caozhi was settled; Lu Shi could hardly keep hiding forever. That would be improper-
Twenty years earlier, when Chen Xian, Clan Chief of the Chen Clan, had served as Chief Clerk of Qiantang County, he had paid his respects to Lu Shi, then Governor of Wu Commandery. Lu Shi had been too proud to show courtesy to such lowborn petty officials. Now, however, Chen Xian could meet him as an equal.
Lady Lu, Zhang Wenwan, knew that Chen Caozhi would be taking up his post in Jingkou after the betrothal and could not afford delays, so she had finished packing two days in advance. On the afternoon of the sixteenth, she set out with the Chen convoy. Early that morning, Chen Caozhi and Ran Sheng had ridden ahead with several soldiers to the Fan Clan Manor in Wu County. At dusk, they crossed the Jing River and entered Bamboo Grove Hamlet to