Record of Places Outside the Tributaries

Later, there was a play about a smile among the flowers. The villagers often criticized it. I would always say, if one were to tempt others, one must be like Tang Bohu, and the girl being tempted must be like Qiu Xiang a famous legendary romance involving a scholar and a maid. Only then would it be acceptable. The practices of using carriages, horses, and bribes to facilitate such things have long since been wiped from the face of the world.

Now, the song is finished. This spring, while living in my village, I gave it to him.

In the Bingzi year likely 1636 or 1696, he reached the age of twenty. He was indeed a young man, but his heart was already mature and he loved reading the Li Sao and the Nine Songs classical poems by Qu Yuan. He chanted them with the resonance of metal and stone. At that time, I was studying the Poetry Tradition of Han Ying a commentary on the Classic of Poetry, and we would debate and question one another. I never failed to sigh, calling him one of the "three beneficial friends." Because he acted with integrity when alone and did not speak falsely when discussing the world, I trusted him deeply.