Liu P'ei said, "All experience proves that to set aside the elder for the younger is to take the way of confusion. If you fear the power of the Ts'ai faction, then gradually reduce its power and influence, but do not let doting affection lead you into making the younger your heir."
Piao agreed. But the Lady Ts'ai had had a suspicion why her lord had summoned Liu P'ei and what was the subject of discussion, so she had determined to listen secretly. She was behind the screen when the matter was talked over and she conceived deep resentment against Liu P'ei for what he had said. On his side he felt that his advice had fallen upon deaf ears and he arose and walked across the room. As he did so he noticed that he was getting heavy and stiff and a furtive tear stole down his cheek as he thought of the past. When he returned and sat down his host noticed the traces of weeping and asked the cause of his sorrow.
"In the past I was always in the saddle and I was slender and lithe. Now it is so long since I rode that I am getting stout and the days and months are slipping by, wasted; I shall have old age on me in no time and I have accomplished nothing. So I am sad."
"I have heard a story that when you were at Hsucheng at the season of green plums you and Ts'ao Ts'ao were discussing heroes. You mentioned this name and that to him as men of parts and he rejected every one of them. Finally he said that you and he were the only two men of real worth in the whole country. If he with all his power and authority did not dare to place himself in front of you, I do not think you need grieve about having accomplished nothing."
At this flattering speech Liu P'ei pretended that the wine was getting the better of him and in a half maudlin manner he replied, "If I only had a starting point then I would not trouble about any one in a worldful of fools."
His host said no more and the guest, feeling that he had slipped up in speech, rose as if drunk, took leave and staggered out saying he must return to his lodging to recover.
The episode has been celebrated in a poem:—
When with crooking fingers counting,
Ts'ao Ts'ao reckoned up the forceful
Men of real determination,
Only two he found; and one was
Yüan-tê. But by inaction
He had grown both fat and slothful;
Yet the months and years in passing
Fretted him with nought accomplished.
Though Liu Piao kept silence when he heard the words of Yüan-tê, yet he felt the more uneasy. After the departure of his guest he retired into the inner quarters where he met his wife. The Lady Ts'ai said, "I happened to be behind the
