《三国志·吴书·张顾诸葛步传》
诸葛瑾揣摩到其中缘故，又不敢直接表达。就请求用孙权的意思来自问，就在孙权面前写信，广泛地阐明万物的道理，趁机用自己的想法推测分析孙权的思想。
瑾揣知其故，而不敢显陈，乃乞以意私自问，遂於权前为书，泛论物理，因以己心遥往忖度之。
Zhuge Jin divined the reason behind this, but dared not say so directly. Instead, he asked if he could present Sun Quan with a letter in his name, in which he wrote about universal principles at length, taking the opportunity to speculate on Sun Quan's thoughts based on his own.