Xiao Siyu was a paternal grand-nephew of the Liang Emperor Wu (464-549 CE, r. 502-49). His father, Que, was killed by Hou Jing,[1] and due to his father’s death he refused to enter public life. He often yearned for the Way, and wished to meet the immortals. He was thus named Siyu (‘Desiring Encounters’), with the courtesy name Wangming (‘Expecting Illumination’), and said he hoped to encounter divinities. His residence was in Dongshan, within Huqiu, by nature he was frugal and quiet, and he loved music and books. Whenever the wind rustled the pines, he would stop playing and utter a long cry, startling all those dwelling in buildings on the mountain, and he would often sit on a rock in the rain and sing.
Suddenly, hearing someone knocking at the wicker gate, Siyu suspected that this was something strange. He ordered a servant to ask who was there. The answer came: “There is no need to ask.” The voice seemed, however, to come out of the rain, along the [2596] washing-brook. When the servant-boy opened the door, he saw a beautiful woman, followed by two dark-robed maids, all of celestial appearance. Siyu donned his reclusive scholar’s clothes and greeted them politely, saying: “Just now the lady’s speech was heard coming along the washing brook, from a distance through the rain. I don’t know whether you came by carriage?” The woman said: “It is said the gentleman treasures a different path, and is simple and clean of intent. I do not ride a carriage, but arrived on the wind.” Siyu said: “If you arrived via the washbrook, must you not be Xishi?[2] The woman turned to the two youths and laughed, then asked the gentleman how he had known of her. Siyu said: “There’s no need to worry; we should just go to bed.”
When dawn broke and they were about to part the woman left a gold bracelet as a parting gift. Siyu said that his heart would stay true without such things. The lady told him: “That is extremely rare.” Siyu asked: “If the lady leaves now, when will she return?” She then wept and said: “I dare not promise a time, or speak empty words of affection.” Siyu was also sorrowful. Once they had finished speaking, she mounted the wind and departed. Before long, she had disappeared from sight, leaving only a fragrance lingering in the bedchamber. This was the second day of the second month in the first year of the Chen Wen Emperor’s Tianjia era (560 CE).
From Bowuzhi (Note: the Chenjiaoben reports that this comes from the Xubowuzhi)
Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 327.2595-96:
蕭思遇
蕭思遇。梁武帝從姪孫。父慤。為侯景所殺。思遇以父遭害。不樂仕進。常慕道。有冀神人。故名思遇而字望明。言望遇神明也。居虎丘東山。性簡靜。愛琴書。每松風之夜。罷琴長嘯。一山樓宇皆驚。常雨中坐石酣歌。忽聞扣柴門者。思遇心疑有異。令侍者遙問。乃應曰。不須問。但言雨中從浣 [2596] 溪來。及侍童開戶。見一美女。二青衣女奴從之。並神仙之容。思遇加山人之服。以禮見之。曰。適聞夫人云。從浣溪來。雨中道遠。不知所乘何車耶。女曰。聞先生心懷異道。以簡潔為心。不用車輿。乘風而至。思遇曰。若浣溪來。得非西施乎。女回顧二童而笑。復問先生何以知之。思遇曰。不必慮懷。應就寢耳。及天曉將別。女以金釧子一隻留訣。思遇稱無物敘情。又曰。但有此心不忘。夫人曰。此最珍奇。思遇曰。夫人此去。何時來。女乃掩涕曰。未敢有期。空勞情意。思遇亦愴然。言訖。遂乘風而去。須臾不見。唯聞香氣猶在寢室。時陳文帝天嘉元年二月二日也。出博物志。陳校本作出續博物志。
[1] Hou Jing 侯景 (d.552 CE, courtesy name Wanjing 萬景), was a northern commander under the Wei 魏, but submitted to Emperor Wu of Liang, who named him Prince of Henan 河南王. In 548 CE he seized the Liang throne to rule as Han Di 漢帝 until suffering defeat and being executed by his own troops.
[2] Xishi 西施, also Xizi 西子 (lived around 450 BCE), a famously beautiful woman reportedly presented by Gou Jian 勾踐 of Yue 越 as concubine to the King of Wu 吳 in a plan to seduce him and destroy that kingdom. This seems to be a play on xi 溪 ‘brook, creek’ and xi 西 ‘west, western’ in the woman’s name, but I’m sure I’m missing something else obvious to readers here.
Zhiguai Translations 