After his father Sun Jian died, Sun Ce withdrew to the south of the river and gathered worthy men around him. Then, when circumstances changed, he moved his mother and family to Qu’e and went himself to serve Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was very fond of Sun Ce and sighed that if he had a son like Young Master Sun, he could die without regret. In every fight Yuan Shu sent him to, Sun Ce came back victorious.
But at banquets Yuan Shu treated Sun Ce with arrogance. Downcast, Sun Ce walks in the moonlit courtyard. His father was such a hero, he thinks, and here he is, fallen under another man, and he weeps aloud. Just then Zhu Zhi, his father’s old aide, comes in and laughs. Bofu, why are you crying? Why not borrow troops from Yuan Gonglu, go east and plan great things, instead of suffering so long under another man?
Lu Fan, one of Yuan Shu’s advisers, comes in too and offers a hundred of his own men. But they worry whether Yuan Shu will lend troops. Sun Ce says, I have the imperial seal my father left me. I will pledge it. Lu Fan says, Gonglu has wanted that for a long time. He will certainly lend troops.