Lady Xu

Historical Record

Pei Songzhi’s annotations cite the Wu Li, which records that before Sun Yi was killed, Lady Xu was quite skilled in divination. Sun Yi planned to host a banquet for the senior officials of the commandery and once asked her about the divination results. Lady Xu said the signs were inauspicious and urged him to choose another date, but Sun Yi thought the guests had already waited a long time and decided to hold the banquet anyway. Afterward, Bian Hong struck Sun Yi down from behind and fled into the mountains. Lady Xu offered a reward for his capture. After Bian Hong was arrested, however, Gui Lan and Dai Yuan laid the blame on him and killed him. Thereafter, Gui Lan entered the military headquarters, seized Sun Yi’s concubines and attendants, and made advances toward Lady Xu. Lady Xu pretended that she would have to wait until the last day of the month, after the memorial rites and the end of mourning, before yielding to him, thus temporarily allaying Gui Lan’s suspicions. In secret, she told Sun Yi’s former officers Sun Gao and Fu Ying of Gui Lan’s intentions, and plotted with them. After the memorial rites on the last day of the month, Lady Xu put off her mourning clothes and changed her garments, showing no sign of grief, which lowered Gui Lan’s guard. When Gui Lan entered, she called out to Sun Gao and Fu Ying, who immediately killed him; someone else killed Dai Yuan. Lady Xu put her mourning clothes back on and offered the two men’s heads at Sun Yi’s tomb. Sun Quan later eradicated the remaining followers of Gui Lan and Dai Yuan and promoted Sun Gao and Fu Ying. The account cited in Pei Songzhi’s annotations portrays Lady Xu as someone who plotted revenge amid a crisis and helped quell the turmoil.^[1]

In the Novel

Chapter 38 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms portrays Lady Xu as Sun Yi’s beautiful and clever wife, skilled in divination and decisive in a crisis. The novel says she divined an inauspicious sign and urged Sun Yi not to attend the banquet; Sun Yi ignored her advice and was killed by Bian Hong after the banquet. This episode, in which Lady Xu foresees danger and directly tries to stop him, is more specific than the wording in the Wu Li cited in Pei Songzhi’s annotations—“the divination is unfavorable; you should wait for another day”—and the novel explicitly says she urged Sun Yi not to attend the gathering.^[2]

After Sun Yi’s death, the novel makes Gui Lan’s attempt to force Lady Xu to remarry the key turning point in the revenge story. Lady Xu appears to agree, setting the wedding for after she has put off her mourning clothes on the last day of the month. In secret, she summons Sun Gao and Fu Ying, weeps as she recounts what has happened, asks them to plan their revenge, and sends someone to inform Sun Quan. On the appointed day, she performs the memorial rites, takes off her mourning clothes, bathes and perfumes herself, then uses elaborate makeup and laughter to put Gui Lan at ease. After Gui Lan enters in a drunken state, Sun Gao and Fu Ying, lying in wait behind a curtain, kill him; Dai Yuan is killed soon afterward. The novel also says that Lady Xu exterminates the families and remaining followers of the two traitors, offers their heads to Sun Yi, and is finally taken home by Sun Quan to live out her years. These specific details—including her elaborate makeup and feast, the killing of their families, and her return home to live out her years—are embellishments in the novel. The historical account’s central elements are that Lady Xu pretended to agree, plotted with Sun Yi’s former officers, and eliminated Gui Lan and Dai Yuan.^[3][4][5][6]

Key Relationships

Lady Xu was Sun Yi’s wife. Both accounts treat Sun Yi’s murder as the starting point for her actions: the historical account says that after his death she sought to protect herself and plotted with his former officers, while the novel emphasizes her determination to avenge her husband.^[1][2] Sun Gao and Fu Ying were Sun Yi’s former officers and the accomplices she secretly sought out for help. The account cited in Pei Songzhi’s annotations says the two agreed to act together, while the novel goes further, depicting Lady Xu weeping as she tells them what happened and asks them to take revenge.^[1][4] Gui Lan and Dai Yuan were her targets: Gui Lan tried to force himself on her, while Dai Yuan conspired with him and was killed afterward. Bian Hong killed Sun Yi and was later captured and dealt with by Gui Lan and Dai Yuan.^[1][3] The novel’s repeated dramatic details of Lady Xu pretending to comply and luring Gui Lan into an ambush are unique to the Romance.^[3][6]

Signature Scene

The scene that best reveals Lady Xu’s resourcefulness is her counterattack after the memorial rites on the last day of the month. The historical account says that after the rites, she put off her mourning clothes and changed her garments, appearing cheerful and causing Gui Lan to believe she had accepted his arrangement. When Gui Lan entered, she called out, and Sun Gao and Fu Ying rose up and killed him. She then put her mourning clothes back on and offered the heads of Gui Lan and Dai Yuan at Sun Yi’s tomb. The scene combines restraint, resolve, and grief.^[1]

The novel turns this account into an ambush in a private chamber and a banquet to lure the enemy: Lady Xu dresses in elaborate makeup, drinks with Gui Lan, and then leads him into a private chamber. Sun Gao and Fu Ying leap out from behind a curtain and kill him, after which they lure Dai Yuan into the residence as well. The ending, in which the heads are offered at the tomb, accords with the historical account, while the banquet, Gui Lan’s drunken entry into the private chamber, and the killing of the families are unique to the Romance.^[5][6]