Ji Kang 嵇康

In Records of Wei 21, Chen Shou recorded the affairs of Wang Can, Xu Gan, Chen Lin, Ruan Yu, Ying Chang and Liu Zhen, who were befriended and treated with intimacy by Emperor Wen (Cao Pi) and Cao Zhi, Marquis of Pingyuan, both lovers of literature; he then added that Ying Chang's younger brother Ying Qu and Ying Qu's son Ying Zhen both won fame for their writing, and wrote that Ruan Yu's son Ruan Ji was brilliant and outstanding in talent and literary grace but unrestrained and dissolute, and took Zhuang Zhou as his model. Records, Wei 21 §9 · 26 · 28

Next Chen Shou said, 'At that time there was also Ji Kang of Qiao Commandery,' and wrote that his writing was grand and beautiful, that he loved to talk of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and that he esteemed the extraordinary and took it upon himself to act as a knight-errant. He then said that in the Jingyuan era Ji Kang was implicated in some affair and executed. Chen Shou did not make clear what that affair was. Records, Wei 21 §29–30

According to the Biography of Zhong Hui, when Zhong Hui repeatedly declined the promotion in rank offered for his merit in putting down Zhuge Dan's rebellion, an edict was issued granting his wish, and he was transferred to Colonel-Director of Retainers. Though holding an office outside the court, Zhong Hui oversaw all the gains and losses of the government of the day and its rewards and punishments, and Chen Shou wrote that 'the execution of Ji Kang and others was all Zhong Hui's scheme.' Records, Wei 28 §100–101

Chen Shou's main text does not record Ji Kang's courtesy name, offices, age or the year of his execution. The assessment at the end of Records of Wei 21 speaks only of the six men Wang Can and the others, and of Wei Ji, Liu Shao, Liu Yi and Fu Gu, and does not mention Ji Kang. Records, Wei 21 §30 · 99