Lady Chen 陳氏

In Chapter 34 of the Romance, Liu Bei, who is staying at Xinye, urges Liu Biao to make a surprise attack on Xuchang while Cao Cao has taken his whole army north on campaign, but Liu Biao refuses, saying that it is enough for him to sit holding his nine commanderies. Liu Biao invites Liu Bei into the rear hall to drink and, heaving a long sigh, says that something weighs on his mind but is not easy to speak of openly; when Liu Bei is about to ask again, Lady Cai comes out and stands behind the screen, and Liu Biao lowers his head and says nothing. Romance, Ch. 34 §14–15

That winter, after Cao Cao has returned from Liucheng, Liu Biao again summons Liu Bei to Jing Province, holds a banquet in the rear hall, and regrets having missed a good opportunity by not listening to him before. When the wine has taken hold, Liu Biao sheds tears and confides that his eldest son Qi, born of his first wife Lady Chen, is worthy in character but weak and unfit to accomplish anything, while his young son Cong, born of his second wife Lady Cai, is quite clever. He fears that setting aside the eldest to raise the younger would offend against the rites, yet if he makes the eldest son heir, the whole Cai clan holds military affairs in its hands and disorder will surely follow, and so he cannot decide. Liu Bei answers that since ancient times setting aside the eldest to raise a younger son has been the road to disorder; if he is worried that the Cai clan's power is too great, he need only pare it away gradually, but he must not be swayed by affection into raising the younger son. Romance, Ch. 34 §15–18

Lady Cai, who has always distrusted Liu Bei and secretly eavesdrops whenever he talks with Liu Biao, hears these words from behind the screen this time too and inwardly resents him bitterly. When Liu Biao parts from Liu Bei and withdraws to the inner quarters, Lady Cai tells him that Liu Bei means to swallow Jing Province and that if he is not removed now he will surely become a trouble later; when Liu Biao only shakes his head without answering, she secretly summons Cai Mao and discusses how to carry out the plot. Cai Mao says that he will first go to the lodging and kill Liu Bei and then inform their lord. Romance, Ch. 34 §19 · 23–24

In Chapter 35, Sima Hui, who has given Liu Bei lodging, tells him of a ditty sung by the children of the commanderies of Jing Province and Xiangyang: 'In eight or nine years then begins the decline; by the thirteenth year not one will remain.' He explains that the song began at the start of the Jian'an era: Liu Jingsheng losing his first wife in the 8th year of Jian'an (203), with strife arising in his household soon after, is what 'then begins the decline' means, and 'not one will remain' means that before long, when Jingsheng passes away, his civil and military officials will scatter until not one remains. Romance, Ch. 35 §13