Ruan Ji refused the rules not only in court. There is a story telling about him playing chess when he received news about the death of his mother. His chess partner asked him to end the game, but Ruan Ji cold-bloodedly finished the game, then drank two measures of wine and started to groan. On the funeral he wept so violently, that he brought up several pints of blood. He didn't mourn and, despite observing the decencies, ate meat and drank wine. Yet when people came to support him, he showed to all but a favored few only the whites of his eyes. When Ji Kang (嵇康, 223–262) came along carrying with him a jar of wine and the musical instrument known as a "Qin", Ruan Ji welcomed him with his pupils and met him with happiness.