As Chen Caozhi and Ran Sheng followed the Director of the Palace past the left side of Taiji Hall, they saw a group of palace servants setting up long ladders and scrambling about on the roof above the covered walkway, busy with something they could not make out. They asked the director, who replied, "Birds fly all over Taiji Hall and build nests here. When His Majesty discusses affairs with his ministers inside, bird droppings often fall, or the birds caw loudly. There is no dignity or solemnity left in the court. We have driven them away several times, but they scatter and gather again."
Chen Caozhi glanced at the somewhat dilapidated Taiji Hall, shook his head slightly, and walked swiftly past.
In the Central Retreat of Shiqian Palace, the hall was dim. Emperor Sima Yu, nearly fifty and looking weary, sat on the Imperial Couch. Watching the two brothers, Chen Caozhi and Ran Sheng, enter with imposing bearing from the sunlight outside, he could not help feeling somewhat revived. Seeing Chen Caozhi always lifted one's spirits-
After Chen Caozhi and Ran Sheng performed the full ceremonial obeisance, Emperor Sima Yu asked about affairs in Ji Province and Youzhou. They answered his questions one by one. Greatly pleased, Sima Yu wished to reward the brothers, but Ji Province had just presented large quantities of money, silk, and grain. Could he really give money and silk back to them as a reward? He said, "Minister Chen, what do you desire? Protected households or land-speak freely."
Chen Caozhi said, "I wish to return to Jiankang to serve Your Majesty. The Northern Lands are bitterly cold, and I find both daily life and meals inconvenient. Moreover, I am far from my clansmen and family and scarcely see them once in several years. I