吾意欲筑一土墙院子,门内多栽竹,树,草,花,用碎砖铺曲径一条,以达二门.其内茅屋二间,一间坐客,一间作房,储图书史籍,笔墨砚瓦,酒董茶具其中,为良朋好友,后生小子论文赋诗之所.其后住家,主屋三间,厨房二间,奴子屋一间,共八间,俱用草毡,如此足矣.或曰,此等宅居甚适,只是怕盗贼,不知盗贼亦穷民耳.开门延入,商量分惠,有什么便拿什么去.若一无所有,便王献之之青毡,亦可携取质百钱救急也.吾弟当留心此地,为狂兄娱老之资,不知可能遂愿否?

I am thinking of building a house enclosed with earthen
walls, in which plenty of bamboos, trees and various
flowers should be planted. There should be a curved path
paved with broken bricks leading to the porch. There are
two spacious rooms behind the porch, one used as drawing-
room and the other as study. Books and paintings, records
and documents, writing-brushes and inksticks as well as
inkstones,wine utensiles and tea-sets are to be put in
these two rooms. My intimate friends and young people may
come here to discuss literature and make poems. Behind
these there is the residence consisting of three bedrooms
for the family, two room as kitchen, and one as servant
quarters, so the total number of rooms in this house is
eight, under the same thatched roof. That will be quite
enough for me. Some one says that such a house is
comfortable to live in, but the trouble is that thieves
might easily break in, too. But he doesn't realize that
thieves are but poor people. If the should come, I would
open the door and invite hem to step in, so as totalk over the distribution of my belongs. They may take whatever I
have. In case there is nothing at all worth taking, I wouldd give them the hereditary blue blanket as what Wang Xian-
zhi had possessed, with which they may pawn for a hundred
cashes to meet their urgent need. You must know ,my dear
brother, that this place will serve as the last resort to spend my peaceful latter years, but I wonder if I could be
able to fulfill it or not.