What to Do When Facing Difficulties? See the Masterful Character Deconstruction of Fortune-Telling Master Xu Ziping

It is said that in the late Five Dynasties period, there lived an eccentric man named Xu Ziping in a cave on the West Tang Peak of Mount Taihua. This man went by the aliases "Master Shadi" and "Old Man of Penglai" — names that sounded like a wandering immortal, but in reality, he spent every day in the cave poring over the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, mastering the art of eight-character fortune-telling. The Ziping-style eight-character divination of later generations traces its origins back to him.

After living in the mountains for too long, one gets bored. Xu Ziping would occasionally go down the mountain for a stroll and trade a few pots of wine. One day, he set up a character-divination stall on a street corner in Lin'an City. No sooner had he spread out his paper than a scholar in a long gown sauntered over. His surname was Yang, and he was known as a local bully who loved making things difficult for fortune-tellers — he could pick out eighty flaws in a single character divination.

Scholar Yang glanced sidelong at the sign in front of the stall, his nose tilted toward the sky. "I hear your character divination is quite effective? I'll put it to the test today." With that, he picked up a brush, wrote the character "屄" (a vulgar term for female genitalia) on the paper, and pushed it in front of Xu Ziping. "Divinate this one. If you do a bad job, I'll overturn your stall."

The onlookers around drew in a sharp breath — this character was far too insulting, clearly meant to pick a fight. Any other fortune-teller would have blushed and bowed in apology, but who was Xu Ziping? He had dealt with yin-yang and the five elements in the mountains for decades; he had seen every kind of situation.

He slowly stroked his beard, stared at the character for three seconds, then suddenly picked up the brush and wrote swiftly on the paper: "This character '屄' — standing, it looks like a novice monk with palms pressed together; sitting, like a lotus petal slightly open. Ignorant lad, stop showing off — this is where you came from."

Scholar Yang's face instantly turned green. He slammed his hand on the table, about to fly into a rage. Xu Ziping waved his hand and continued in a slow, unhurried tone: "What's the hurry? Let me explain it clearly to you. The character '屄' — the '穴' (cave/opening) radical comes from '尸' (corpse/body). '尸' means person; '穴' means dwelling. The place a person comes from is the gate of birth. You wrote this character to ask me, aren't you just wondering where you came from and where you're going?"

These words left Scholar Yang frozen in place, unable to decide whether to lose his temper or not. The onlookers covered their mouths to stifle their laughter, nearly giving Scholar Yang an internal injury from holding it in.

In truth, Xu Ziping was far more than just someone who could hurl insults. He had seen how this scholar had been tyrannizing people on a daily basis and deliberately wanted to humble him. Seeing Scholar Yang's face alternating between green and white, he softened his tone: "I know you didn't come here today just for character divination. Have you run into trouble lately? You're having a dispute over your family's farmland, and you have no connections in the government — you're so worried you can't sleep, right?"

Scholar Yang was stunned — these words hit the nail on the head. Recently, he had indeed been locked in a bitter dispute over land boundaries with a wealthy landlord from a neighboring village. He had filed a lawsuit with the county yamen but gotten nowhere, and he was at his wits' end. He immediately bowed deeply to Xu Ziping: "Sir, your divination is miraculous! Please, I beg you to guide me — what should I do when facing a choice? How can I see the situation clearly?"

Xu Ziping smiled and pushed the paper back. "I won't calculate your eight characters for you. I'll give you four words instead: 'retreat to advance'. That little bit of farmland of yours — even if you win the dispute, it will cost you money; if you lose, it will only make you bitter. Why not give him three feet of land in exchange for peace? The *Book of Changes* says, 'Modesty brings benefit, arrogance brings loss.' Your temperament is too proud; you'll stumble sooner or later. What to do when you encounter difficulties? Lower your head first, then you can see the road beneath your feet clearly."

Scholar Yang was half-believing, half-doubting. But after going back, he did as he was told and voluntarily gave up three feet of land. The wealthy landlord, on the other hand, felt embarrassed and also retreated three feet. In the end, a six-foot-wide alley was left between them, and the two families lived in peace from then on.

Later, when Scholar Yang went up the mountain again to thank Xu Ziping, the cave was already empty. Only a note was left on the stone table, which read "Ziping has gone." Some said he had returned to his hometown in the East Sea; others said he had attained immortality. Anyway, from then on, only the legend of Ziping's eight-character fortune-telling remained in the martial world, along with that witty retort about "where you came from," which people have laughed about for a thousand years.