Lü Meng
Lü Meng was from Fupo County (富陂縣), Runan Commandery (汝南郡), which is located southeast of present-day Funan County, Anhui. His family migrated to the south of the Yangtze River when Lü Meng was young. Lü Meng lived with his brother-in-law, Deng Dang (鄧當), who served as a military officer under Sun Ce. When he was 14 or 15, he secretly followed Deng Dang to the battles against the Shanyue tribes. Deng Dang was shocked to see his teenage brother-in-law in battle, so he scolded Lü Meng and warned him to stop. Lü Meng refused to listen so Deng Dang told Lü Meng's mother about this. When she wanted to punish him, Lü Meng said: "It is difficult to survive in poverty. If we can prove ourselves through hard work, then wealth will come eventually. How can we catch the tiger cub if we don't enter the tiger's den?" Lü Meng's mother sighed and let him have his way.
Zhuang Cunyu
Zhuang lineage traced itself from the N.Song refugees who had moved south being pressed by the Jurchen invasion. During the Ming dynasty, Zhuangs grew up tp become an influential local elite sympathizing with the Donglin movement (however not recorded as its direct participants). Though some members retired from public life during the Ming-Qing transition, the lineage continued to prosper and produced an outstanding amount of the "jinshi" degree holders: 29 during the whole timespan of the Qing (after producing 6 during the Ming). Father (Zhuang Zhu) and uncle (Zhuang Kai) of Cunyu were Hanlin academicians. As reported by Dai Wang in "Yanshi xueji", Cunyu's father was influenced by the practical teaching of Yan Yuan 颜元 (1635-1704).