Ding Youwei had entrusted her younger paternal cousin Ding Chunqiu with bringing Chen Caozhi a set of winter clothes, a hand-warming stove for his desk, five purple rabbit-hair brushes finely made in Jiankang's White Horse Ward, ten rolls of Zuo Bo paper, some dried venison and persimmon cakes, and a short letter. It merely reminded Chen Caozhi not to read too late on winter nights and, should he catch a chill, to seek medical treatment immediately without the slightest delay. Away from home studying, with no Agu to care for him, he must take good care of himself—some things Ding Youwei had left unwritten. Back then, Chen Qingzhi had thought little of catching a chill, believing a few coughs were nothing, only to die in the end of an incurable lung ailment. Whenever she thought of it, Ding Youwei was filled with grief and regret.
Reading his sister-in-law's graceful, delicate small clerical script in the style of the Cao Quan Stele, Chen Caozhi felt warmth fill his heart. He put the letter away and asked where Ding Chunqiu was staying, suggesting that he find a spare room in a farmhouse nearby to spare himself three trips a day between the city and the countryside.
Gu Kaizhi told Lao Mangtou to go and look, stipulating that it must be clean and spacious.
Anyone who prided himself on his status could hardly avoid feeling inferior before someone of still higher standing. Awed by the Gu family's reputation, Ding Chunqiu was rather stiff at the Thatched Cottage, unable even to flourish the Dust-Tail Fan in his hand freely. His father Ding Yi had once sought the acquaintance of Gu Kaizhi's father Gu Yuezhi, only to meet with a cold reception, yet Gu Kaizhi himself held no prejudices about family rank. Though somewhat eccentric,