Three

Second Year of Reestablished Peace · AD 197

Having settled the Dongcheng townsmen, I am seated with Zijing's bosom friend Zhou Yu in the drawing room of the magistrate's residence in Juchao. Master Zhou had welcomed us warmly, delighted to be reunited with Zijing, who is presently attending to the elders in the family; Zijing had asked me to take a rest after a strenuous day.

'Has Zijing told you how we met?' Master Zhou enquires, breaking the ice.

I shake my head. 'My husband said that I should be acquainted with you before hearing the story.'

'Is that so?' Master Zhou asks, amused. 'Shall I relate the story to you, then?'

I acquiesce, and Master Zhou begins his narrative.

'It was the fourth month last year. At that time, Yuan Shu was preparing to battle Liu Bei for control of Xu Province, indifferent to the fact that because he had stashed away much of the grain in the area for his army, the people in the area between the Great River and the Huai River would starve. He wished to engage me in his army, but seeing his incompetence, I requested to be appointed as magistrate of Juchao and put in charge of alleviating the famine, desiring to use the opportunity to join my sworn brother Sun Ce in the Southland. The men I was leading and I had trekked all the way to the boundary of Xu Province but had procured almost no grain despite our efforts; by the time we reached Dongcheng, we were ourselves out of provisions. When I called on Zijing, all I could think of was a meal to fill our stomachs.

'When Zijing saw us, he instructed the servants to prepare porridge for us without a second thought. He sat down with us ravenous men, eating the same porridge as us, and regarded me expectantly, as though anticipating that I would make a request. When I, enheartened, requested provender, he agreed without a second thought, laughing and telling us to have a full meal before he led us to the storehouse. We were so invigorated by his words that we wolfed down the rest of our porridge!

'We would have been more than grateful for a few hundred hu[1] of grain. Zijing led us to the two granaries his family owned, indicated one of them and said, "Take it." We stood still for numerous seconds, uncomprehending, and I stupidly asked, "How much?" Smiling and without blinking an eyelid, he replied, "All of it."

'All of it!—that was three thousand hu of grain!' Master Zhou shakes his head, as though he cannot believe it even now. 'I cannot recall a single one of us who could stifle tears from welling up. In that moment, I knew that I wanted Zijing to be a lifelong friend.

'I paid my respects to grandaunt and aunt and told Zijing about my intention to join Ce, enquiring if he intended to remain in Dongcheng for much longer and inviting him to join me. And now, you are here,' Master Zhou concludes, beaming widely.

'I now understand why Zijing wished for me to be acquainted with you before hearing this tale,' I comment, smiling. 'Zijing had intended to use his store of grain to relieve the looming famine from the beginning, but he did not know to whose hands he could entrust it. When he set eyes on you and saw your sincerity, he knew that he could entrust it to you.'

Master Zhou blushes. 'I was just doing my duty to the people,' he demurs.

Later in the night, Zijing asks me, 'What do you think of Gongjin?'

'Concerned about all under Heaven, a natural leader—a hero of our time,' I reply.

'A granary cannot compare to the preciousness of such a friend. When Gongjin departed that day, I was richer, for all that I had given away,' Zijing reflects.

'The richness of friendship does not lie in a sash of plain white silk or a robe of grass-cloth[2],' I respond.

Zijing smiles broadly, and we bask in the crisp air of our first night in Juchao.

Footnotes:

[1] 斛。An ancient unit of measurement of volume. During the Han dynasty, 1 hu was approximately 20.42 litres.

[2] In 544 BC, Jizha 季札, the youngest son of Shoumeng, the nineteenth ruler of the Spring and Autumn period state of Wu, visited the various vassel states on a diplomatic mission to open communications between the ruler of Wu (his elder brother Yumei) and the other rulers. When Jizha visited the state of Zheng, he met Gongsun Qiao 公孙侨, a high minister of Zheng. Although this was their first meeting, the two were as if old acquaintances, with Jizha presenting Gongsun Qiao with a sash of plain white silk, and receiving from him a robe of grass-cloth (silk being prized in Wu and grass-cloth being prized in Zheng). Later, people used the term 'Qiao and Zha 侨札' to denote extremely good friends and 'a sash of plain white silk and a robe of grass cloth 缟纻' to denote deep friendship or exchange of gifts between friends.

See endnotes for chapter notes.