How to Choose a Career Path? See How Feilian of the Yin and Shang Dynasties Broke Through the Situation via the Second Yang Line of the Qian Hexagram

Towards the end of the Yin and Shang dynasties, the wind in Zhaoge always carried a faint scent of copper rust. Fei Lian squatted on the earthen slope outside the government office, clutching half a leftover wheat cake in his hand, staring blankly at the toes of his straw sandals. He had muddled along in King Zhou's chariot and horse team for three years, rising from a lowly horse feeder to deputy chief of chariots—a decent post by any account. Yet only he knew how suffocating his life was: his superior, the chief of chariots, was a useless sycophant who dumped every strenuous task on him and took all the credit for himself.

A few days earlier, he had accompanied the king to the Deer Terrace. The chariot axle nearly snapped on the way, and Fei Lian risked his life to rein in the spooked horses. Yet he ended up being blamed for "failing to properly guard the sovereign" and had three months of his salary docked. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he grew. He couldn't help wondering: What line of work would be better? He couldn't spend his whole life taking abuse from a fool, could he?

Just as he was wallowing in worry, he spotted an old man in coarse linen cloth walking up from the foot of the slope, leaning on a thorny staff and humming a tune as he went. Fei Lian recognized him: the old man had come from Xiqi a while back, was said to know something about the I Ching, and often told fortunes at the market in exchange for food. He felt the three copper bei coins left in his bosom, gritted his teeth, and ran down the slope. "Old sir, wait a moment! I'd like to ask you something."

The old man squinted at him for a moment, then drew two lines on the ground—one long, two short—and then another long line. "The Qian hexagram, line nine two. The dragon appears in the fields; it is favorable to see the great man."

Fei Lian scratched his head. "What does that mean? I just want to know how to turn things around when I feel like I'm out of luck. I can't stay this unlucky forever, can I?"

The old man chuckled and tapped the ground with his staff. "When the dragon is hidden in the deep pool, no matter how great its abilities, they are useless—it can only bide its time. But now the dragon has reached the fields. It's not that you lack ability; you just haven't found the right place. If you stay in a pool that can't hold you, all your thrashing will be for nothing."

Fei Lian's heart skipped a beat. He remembered that a while back, Ji Chang of Xiqi had sent envoys to Zhaoge to pay tribute. When they passed the stables he managed, they had stopped specifically to praise how well he kept the horses, and even asked him a few questions about horse rearing. Back then he'd thought it was just ordinary polite chatter. But looking back now, the look in the envoy's eyes before they left had clearly been a gesture of recruitment.

"Old sir, do you mean... I should go somewhere else?" Fei Lian's voice was a little tight.

The old man folded up his staff and brushed the dust off his clothes. "When the dragon is in the fields, what it seeks is not a bigger field, but the wind that can carry it to the sky. A 'great man' is not someone of high position and great power, but someone who recognizes you, employs you, and tolerates you. Find the right person, and choosing a career direction will no longer be a problem at all." With that, he turned and left. Within a few steps, he had melted into the crowd of the market and was nowhere to be found.

Fei Lian stood frozen in place for a long while, until the wheat cake in his hand had gone completely cold. That very night, he packed a simple bundle, folded his official uniform neatly on the table, and slipped out of Zhaoge under the moonlight, heading all the way west to Xiqi.

What happened next is recorded only briefly in the history books: Fei Lian was swift of foot, and both father and son served King Zhou of Yin with their strength and ability. Later they submitted to Zhou, and their descendants took Fei as their clan name. No one knows that he once met an old man on an earthen slope, nor that he tossed and turned for half the night clutching three copper bei coins. Only he himself would occasionally recall how the wind of that year blew from Zhaoge to Xiqi, and the dragon, rising from the fields, finally found the wind that could carry it soaring into the sky.

As for that half wheat cake? It's said he left it on the earthen slope, and the next morning a stray dog carried it off.