During the Spring and Autumn period, a high-ranking official of the Zheng state named Liang Xiao, also known as Boyou, was known for his extravagant lifestyle and stubborn self-will, which put him in constant conflict with another minister, Zixi.
Bo You was addicted to wine. He built an underground cellar to store alcohol, drinking at night while beating drums and playing music. When courtiers arrived for an audience, he was still drinking. They asked, "Where is our lord?" His attendants replied, "Our lord is in the cellar." The courtiers all left.
One day, Bo You had an audience with the Duke of Zheng and requested to send Zi Xi on a mission to the state of Chu. After securing the duke's approval, Bo You returned home and began drinking heavily.
Zixi, furious, led his troops to attack Boyou and set his home ablaze. Boyou, drunk and disoriented, fled to Yongliang, only realizing what had happened after he sobered up.
More than ten days later, Bo You led his troops to attack the Beixia Gate of Zheng, and Si Dai, the nephew of Zi Xi, commanded a counterattack that ultimately killed Bo You in the sheep market.
After Boyou died, rumors spread that he had been a violent man in life and would become a vengeful ghost. The people of Zheng fled in terror at the mere mention of his name, not knowing where to run. Someone dreamed of Boyou clad in armor, declaring, "On such-and-such a day, I will kill Sidai; on such-and-such a day, I will kill Gongsun Duan." Later, Sidai and Gongsun Duan indeed died on those very days, and the people grew even more afraid.
A month later, Zichan appointed Gongsun Xie and Liang Zhi, Boyou's son, to appease Boyou's ghost, and only then did things settle down. Someone asked the reason for this. Zichan replied, "Only when a ghost has a place to return to will it not become a vengeful spirit. I was finding a home for him!"
Later, the idiom "Xiang Jing Bo You" came to describe people startling each other for no reason.
Source: *Zuo Zhuan*, "Duke Zhao's Seventh Year"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "相惊伯有" came to describe people startling each other for no reason.