The Six Rites for Chen Caozhi's marriages to the two ladies of the Lu and Xie clans followed a tight schedule. On the first day of the second month came the Betrothal Proposal, and on the second, the inquiry into their names. The two matchmakers, Zhang Ping and Xi Chao, obtained from the Lu and Xie residences the documents bearing Xie Daoyun's and Lu Weiwei's names and the heavenly stems and earthly branches of their birth dates. Xie Daoyun had been born on the sixteenth day of the twelfth month in the first year of Emperor Kang of Jin's Jianyuan era-a guimao year, yichou month, and guisi day; Lu Weiwei had been born on the eighth day of the eighth month in the second year of Jianyuan-a jiachen year, renshen month, and xinsi day-
On the third day of the second month, Old Clan Chief Chen Xian, accompanied by Jia Bizhi, a Records Clerk from the Genealogy Office, submitted the birth date of his sixteenth nephew Chen Caozhi-a jiachen year, bingzi month, and renshen day-along with those of the two Lu and Xie ladies to an Erudite of the Court of the Grand Augur, to divine whether the marriages were suitable. After divining with the Great Tortoise, the Erudite obtained auspicious omens for both matches, as expected. That very afternoon, Chen Xian and Chen Man prepared gifts and visited the Lu and Xie households to report how the Erudite had obtained the auspicious omens. All three parties agreed to establish the marriages. This was the rite of Auspicious Divination-
The sixth day of the second month was the grand rite of Betrothal Gifts, when the groom formally presented betrothal gifts to the bride's family. As an official of the sixth rank, Chen Caozhi had to provide two leopard skins, ten