On the eighth day of the eighth month, the sky was high and the air crisp, the breeze gentle and the sun bright. At the beginning of the Hour of the Dragon, the two matchmakers, Palace Attendant Zhang Ping and Attendant Gentleman of the Central Secretariat Xi Chao, called respectively at the Xie Clan's home in Wuyi Lane and the Lu Clan's home in Hengtang. They presented the formal bridal-fetching documents, then delivered the ceremonial gifts: pigs and geese in cages, sheep and wine wrapped in silk, cured meats, dried meats, fruit, and delicacies, all carried in an unbroken stream. Both families had erected green cloth curtains outside their gates to form Green Huts. The unmarried daughters of Jiankang's gentry clans came out in full force, though the northern and southern clans remained as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers. The unmarried young ladies of the great clans that had crossed south-the Langya Wang Clan, Taiyuan Wang Clan, Chen Commandery Yuan Clan, Lanling Xiao Clan, Taiyuan Wen Clan, Langya Zhuge Clan, Runan Zhou Clan, and Yingchuan Xun Clan-went to the Xie Clan's Green Hut in Wuyi Lane to attend Xie Daoyun's wedding preparations, while the young ladies from the gentry clans of the Three Wu, Kuaiji, and Qiantang gathered in the Green Hut outside the Lu Residence in Hengtang to keep Lu Weiwei company-
Three quarters into the Hour of the Dragon, Empress Dowager Chu dispatched two Female Palace Attendants from Chongde Palace, each leading eight Palace Maids, to the Lu Residence and the Xie Residence. They conveyed her decree summoning Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun to Chongde Palace. With the matchmakers leading the way and Lu Na and his wife and Xie An and his wife following, the young ladies assisting the brides all rode in carriages into