高僧傳 10.45

10.45

Regional Inspector Xiao Huikai, Liu Mengming, and others all revered and served him. Mengming dressed two concubines in men's garments and tested Shuo, saying: 'Could these two be given to you, master, as attendants?' Shuo was fond of rhymed speech, so he said to Mengming: 'Rather beg for wine to moisten the throat, / Than end one's years with a false-faced bloke.' Later, one morning, he suddenly went to visit Mengming wearing a plain cloth cap. Shortly thereafter, Mengming died. Prior to this, Mengming's Aide-de-Camp Shen Zhongyu had revised the regulations on whipping and flogging, making the ordinary penal code harsher. Shuo said to Yu: 'The howling of heaven and earth began from this; if you abolish the whipping regulations, you will become Regional Inspector.' Yu believed him and abolished them. When Mengming died, Zhongyu indeed took charge of provincial affairs.