Visiting an Old Friend (訪故圖)

Two old friends sit together beneath a budding plum branch, drinking tea, chatting, listening to birds, in this tender scene of reunion at winter's end. The inscription captures the seasonal transition with quiet poetry: "The cold current silently departs, new warmth quietly arrives." The budding plum symbolizes both the friendship's endurance and life's renewal. In the Chinese literati tradition, the simplest gatherings often carry the deepest meaning, embodying the ideal that "the company of gentlemen is as mild as water."