Wiping the Dust at the Five-Hundred-Stone Grotto Heaven, Vol. 5

My reputation for madness was also established at that time. There were people in the village who came to know me because of this madness: the Observational Commissioner Wu Nanqing Lianxun, the Senior Licentiate Wang Guanluo Guoxian, and the government student Qiu Zezhu Da of Zhangpu. There were also those who became friends with me because of my madness: the District Magistrates Ma Ruishu Zhaolin and Xie Youxin Ximing, the government student Fang Ying'an Zhizhou of Pinghe, the government student Tang Moting Kai of Zhangpu, and the government student Yang Shaoting Tingbang of Longxi. Then there were the three sons of the Zeng clan of Longxi: the student Weizhao Zonghuang, the provincial graduate Lishi Zongzao, and the scholar Leinong Zongfan. They were even more intimate with my madness and appreciated me, yet this appreciation lay outside of the madness itself.

In a flash, nearly ten years have passed. Every time I think of it, I still feel as attached as if it were yesterday. But the wind and clouds have scattered, north and south are far apart, and the happy times of wine and poetry are now too distant to continue. Lishi was multi-talented; in seal carving, music, qin, and chess, he seemed to have innate knowledge. He died prematurely at only thirty-one. His wife, Zheng, the granddaughter of the salt controller Yunlu Kaixi, actually sacrificed her life for him. How heroic! Shuyuan’s Superfluous Talks records this event.

Luo was seasoned and experienced, and was respected by the age. After passing the age of sixty, he went to "cultivate literature" euphemism for dying, and now there is already grass growing on his grave. Weizhao sat for the provincial examination five times without success; his heart for fame is as faint as a boat in a shallow stream. Recently, he received a mandate to dredge the river and teach...