The lyrics attributed to Shi Chong are included in the guqin melody section of Yuefu Shiji (Folio 58, #1).⁸ The entry there begins with several prefaces, then has lyrics by three poets, Liu Xiaowei (496-549) and Zhang Hu (8th c.), as well as Shi Chong himself.

The Yuefu Shiji entry is as follows:

Yuefu Shiji then has the poem attributed to Shi, followed by the two others with the same title. These other two are as follows,

There is an entry in Wen Xuan entitled Longing to Return Prelude (Si Gui Yin Xu), by Shi Chong.¹³ The Yuefu Shiji preface attributed to Shi Chong seems to be a condensed version of this. In the preface Shi Chong, after saying he worked in office for 25 years, describes his estate at Heyang. He then writes that his family had musicians there and that while there he himself enjoyed playing qin and reading books. However, he adds, he is now away from this and longs to return. Having heard a melody called Prelude to Longing to Return, in which men of old expressed the same feelings as his, he decided to write lyrics for the melody. He ends by lamenting that he could not find anyone knowledgeable enough to create a new melody for it, and set it for string and bamboo instruments. What Shi Chong wrote here suggests that whatever string melody he may have found was lost by then.

Perhaps the most consistent conclusion one can draw from all of this is that the original melody concerned a woman of Wei, but then Shi Chong added lyrics about his own longing to return home. However, for this to apply here would require the melody to predate Shi Chong, and there is no evidence for this. So in the end we can only read all the stories, then imagine the actual source of the present melody as well as when and how it came to be paired with these lyrics.

 
Preface¹⁴
The preface here follows the same basic outline as in Yuefu Shiji (q.v.), but omits the Yuefu Jieti comments and shortens some of the others.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Longing to Return Prelude (思歸引 Si Gui Yin)
My understanding of the Shi Chong poem and its background was greatly assisted by The Estate of Shi Chong, an article sent to me in November 2011 by David Knechtges written for "a volume on Six Dynasties texts edited by Wendy Swartz and others. It is scheduled to be published soon by Columbia University Press."

10734.260 思歸引 Si Gui Yin says it is a qin melody also called Li Ju Cao (離拘操 Leave Detention Melody); there is no mention of a 離鸞操 Li Luan Cao. It quotes the Yuefu Shiji preface (which gave Li Ju Cao as an alternate title), Qin Cao, and another poem of this title said to be in the Old Yuefu. Si Gui Yin is in various melody lists, such as here, as well as being the fourth prelude in Qin Cao.

Variants on the title "Longing to Return" can be found elsewhere. References on this site include the phrase Confucius Longs to Return (仲尼思歸 Zhongni Si Gui) in Cai Yong's Rhapsody on the Qin (see further comment below). And Qinshu Daquan Folio 13 includes amongst its list of melodies quite a few with "Longing to Return" in the title. These are, in order:

1. Si Gui Cao (思歸操)
2. Si Gui Zuo (思歸作)
3. Si Gui Yin (思歸引)
4. Si Gui Tan (思歸彈)
5. another Si Gui Cao
6. another Si Gui Tan
7. Ying Ke Si Gui (郢客思歸)

Some of these are also in the Qin Yuan Yao Lü . However, the only Longing to Return Intonation (思歸吟 Si Gui Yin) I have found is the melody mentioned below.
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2. Tuning and mode
Taigu Yiyin does not group pieces by mode. My transcription treats the first string as do (1). This makes melody largely pentatonic (using the notes do re mi so la, i.e., 1 2 3 5 6), though fa (4) occurs 3 times. Most phrases end on 5 or 2, making these the primary tonal centers. However, in the closing harmonics the tonal center changes to 1. The mode closest to having these characteristics is zhi diao.
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3. Image
Suitable image not yet selected.
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4. 石崇 Shi Chong
A wealthy man known for hosting luxurious banquets at his villa in 金谷 Jin Gu, but he also had a second villa at Heyang (north of the Yellow River). He has a mixed reputation as a poet; see further.
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5. Zha's Guide, 14/146/253
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6. Longing to Return Intonation (思歸吟 Si Gui Yin
In addition to being better known as Cherish Antiquity Intonation (懷古吟 Huai Gu Yin), in its earliest publication it is called Calmly Expansive Intonation (夷曠吟 Yikuang Yin). It is discussed here under the Huai Gu Yin of 1549.
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7. Leave Detention Melody (離拘操 Li Ju Cao)
43079.xxx. The 拘 ju in the title is the same word used to describe her situation in the palace: 拘於深宮 she was detained deep inside it. Presumably, having played "Longing to Return (Home)" on the qin she left this detention by hanging herself. This title can be found in some melody lists, e.g., here, but it is not in Qin Cao and is not otherwise connected to Si Gui Yin,
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8. Chinese edition p. 838
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9. Qin Cao Preface in Yuefu Shiji
Si Gui Yin is one of the Nine Preludes in the Qin Cao attributed to Cai Yong. The preface in the Qin Cao as included in TKW Qin Fu, p. 744, is almost the same, adding at the front "衛女之所作也 it was created by Wei Nü" (see Qin Shi #52.); a double column commentary then says, "一曰離物操。案古交苑蔡邕琴賦注琴操有離鸞。離物疑即離鸞之譌。", i.e., that it was also called Li Wu Cao but that Liwu was a mistake for Li Luan. Li Luan is actually a title listed in Qin Li as well as in an alternate list of Qin Cao.

The Qin Cao preface as copied in Yuefu Shiji is:
《琴操》曰：衛有賢女，邵王聞其賢而請聘之，未至而王薨。太子曰：「吾聞齊桓公得衛姬而霸，今衛女賢，欲留之。」大夫曰：「不可。若賢必不我聽，若聽必不賢，不可取也。」太子遂留之，果不聽。拘於深宮，思歸不得，遂援琴而作歌，曲終，縊而死。
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10. Shi Chong Preface in Yuefu Shiji
The Shi Chong preface here is:
晉石崇《思歸引序》曰：「崇少有大志，晚節更樂放逸。因覽樂篇有《思歸引》，古曲有弦無歌，乃作樂辭。」
To this is added: 但思歸河陽別業，與《琴操》異也。
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11. Yuefu Jieti comment in Yuefu Shiji
The original Chinese is:
《樂府解題》曰：「若梁劉孝威‘胡地憑良馬’，備言思歸之狀而已。」
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12. Xie Xiyi comment in Yuefu Shiji
For Li Ju Cao see above.
The original Chinese here is:
按謝希逸《琴論》曰：「箕子作《離拘操》。」
To this is added: 不言衛女作，未知孰是。
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13. Shi Chong's Preface to Sigui Yin (思歸引序 Si Gui Yin Xu)
See the Haixiao Chubanshiye edition of Wen Xuan, pp. 2187-9. It is not clear to me why the poem itself was not included.

The original text of the preface in Wen Xuan is as follows:
思歸引序
余少有大志。誇邁流俗。弱冠登朝。歷位二十五。年五十以事去官。晚節更樂放逸。篤好林藪。遂肥遁於河陽別業。其制宅也。卻阻長堤。前臨清渠。柏木幾於萬株。江水周於捨下。有觀閣池沼。多養魚鳥。家素習技。頗有秦趙之聲。出則以游目弋釣為事。入則有琴書之娛。又好服食嚥氣。志在不朽。傲然有凌雲之操。歘復見牽羈。婆娑於九列。困於人間煩黷。常思歸而永嘆。尋覽樂篇有思歸引。儻古人之心有同於今。故制此曲。此曲有弦無歌。今為作歌辭以述余懷。恨時無知音者。令造新聲而播於絲竹也。

This preface, as well as the Shi Chong poem, are translated in the article by David Knechteges mentioned above. In another preface, also translated by David Knechtges, Shi Chong describes a scene at his estate at Jin'Gu, outside of Luoyang, where numerous guests wrote poems during an event in 296 CE that sounds very much like a 修禊 Xiu Xi (see Xiuxi Yin): if the poems were not adequate the guests had to drink a measure of wine. The preface mentions that there were music instruments playing there, including "琴瑟笙筑": qin, se, sheng mouth organ and zhu bowed zither.
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14. Original preface
The original Chinese preface in Taigu Yiyin is somewhat abridged from Yuefu Shiji (see above). Its text is as follows:

15. Original lyrics
Regarding the arrangement of the lines after the present one, the overall rhythming pattern of these lyrics suggests that the last six phrases of the melody should considered as [3+3] x 3 . By tying this with the previous 7-character phrase it is possible to arrange the musical rhythm so that the melody ends with a neat 4-line passage that follows the rhyme, as follows:
    終日周覽樂無方。
    登雲閣，列姬姜。
    拊絲竹，叩宮商。
    宴華池，酌玉觴。
However, the musical phrasing in the 1511 tablature, with the last three phrases played in 泛音 harmonics, the tonal center changing there to do, and the fingering paralleling that of the three previous phrases, suggests that 終日周覽樂無方 was intended to connect musically with the previous line, and then the melody should end with two lines arranged as [3+3+3] x 2 , as follows:
    登雲閣，列姬姜。拊絲竹，
    叩宮商。宴華池，酌玉觴。
Qin tablature indicates only how to play the notes, thereby specifying pitch but not directly indicating note values (rhythm), which would have been learned from the teacher. Based largely on my own understanding of the lyrics (there is more flexibility in interpreting the music) my tendency is to prefer the former interpretation.

Regarding the "exemplary women" (列姬姜 lie Ji Jiang), this is stated by referring to two famous women mentioned in the Biographies of Exemplary Women (列女傳 Lienü Zhuan): 莊樊姬 Fan Ji wife of King Zhuang of Chu and 姜后 Queen Jiang, wife of the King of Zhou.
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