Midsummer had passed, and cool autumn was approaching. Gu Kaizhi, who had arrived in Ye City the previous October, was longing for Jiangdong's garden vegetables, water-shield soup, and sliced raw perch, and still more for his lovely wife and young daughter. He therefore told Chen Caozhi that he wished to return south. Chen Caozhi smiled. "Chang Kang can follow his heart, while I have no choice but to serve in office thousands of miles from home in pursuit of fame and rank!"
Gu Kaizhi had spent more than half a year in Ji Province and witnessed firsthand the hardships of Chen Caozhi's administration. He said, "Zizhong, you aspire to bring benefit to all beneath heaven and spare yourself no toil. It commands admiration. Devote another ten years to this undertaking, and once the realm is settled, retire with me to the woods, to give ourselves freely to mountains, rivers, brush, and ink. What do you say?"
"Excellent," Chen Caozhi said with a smile. "It is a promise."
Zongzhi had written a few days earlier to say that he would come to Ye City in mid-July. He was now serving as Secretary-Assistant in Yan Province, so Chen Caozhi asked Gu Kaizhi to linger a few more days and travel to Yan Province with Zongzhi after he arrived-
On the fourteenth of July, Chen Zongzhi arrived in Ye City to pay his respects to his paternal uncle, Chen Caozhi. Eighteen that year, Zongzhi was handsome and composed. The people of Ye City all praised them: "Chen Caozhi could scarcely be the uncle, and Chen Zongzhi could scarcely be the nephew." They meant that it was hard to rank one above the other; both were equally outstanding and handsome-
Chen Zongzhi had left Qiantang for the capital in early March, then set out