Chapter 809: Mr. He's Character Divination for Yang Tao

He Zuming's sigh left us all speechless.

Our culture over the past one or two hundred years has indeed been very inferior.

This inferiority stems from the gap between our technology and wealth and that of the West.

Moreover, scholars have fanned the flames, blindly admiring the infiltration of Western culture.

Nowadays, films, cultural works, songs, and so on are mainly about fawning over foreign things.

In order to win international awards, they even self‑deprecate.

They use imagination to self‑deprecate their own nation.

As long as they can win an award, they will write however they like to disparage.

This has made us completely lose confidence in our culture.

A nation without cultural confidence,

then even if it has plenty of money, it is a nation without roots.

A nation has both advantages and disadvantages.

One must not magnify one's nation's shortcomings, for that easily leads to inferiority.

Likewise, one should not magnify one's nation's strengths, or else one becomes arrogant and complacent.

Moreover, some rich second‑generations, as long as they have money and opportunity, will emigrate and live abroad.

They transfer our social resources overseas,

they have no confidence in their own nation, which creates a very bad influence in society.

As far as I know, Zhou Renfeng has savings overseas for his son Zhou Jie.

The Wang Family is also busy transferring its assets.

Liu Yong's two older brothers both live overseas.

They profit domestically and enjoy life abroad.

Forget it, sigh, let's drink.

I raised my wine cup,

"Mr. He, our situation is much better now; many places have opened classical studies classes.

Children are studying the classics. In the future, our culture will become confident. Mr. He, let's have a drink."

"Jianqiang, by all means avoid metaphysical stuff. Actually, if children study too many classical studies classes, it will mislead them.

In our traditional classics, some things are meant to be learned only after adulthood.

Because when the sages wrote them,

they did not consider giving them to children; much of their content is overly self‑protective.

Even in weighing interests, it is about how to maximize one's own gain.

Some content is opportunistic and cunning.

Thus, children unconsciously also learn these methods.

I have also come into contact with Western foreigners in Sijiucheng; their open‑minded thinking is something we lack.

Their character is more straightforward,

moreover they believe in contracts, they believe in law.

whereas we are lacking in some respects.

Of course, I, this old fellow, am a person given to random thoughts.

I hope we keep getting better.

Over these years, our development has been so rapid that this old fellow of mine feels very gratified.

Come, have a drink.

Let's drink to a better life in the future.

"I hope that in my lifetime I can go abroad and show them some feng shui and divination." After He Zuming finished speaking, he laughed heartily.

I clinked cups with He Zuming, and we drained the wine in our glasses.

I did not expect He Zuming to say that,

in fact what He Zuming said is quite right; he can look at problems rationally.

Why has our technology of the past two hundred plus years not developed?

Mainly, some ideological shackles bind us,

everyone's energy is poured into those so‑called classics,

repeatedly studying them,

solely for the purpose of gaining official rank through examinations.

then one can glorify one's ancestors and bring honor to the clan.

Actually, why did ancient emperors create those eight‑legged essays? Primarily to better rule the common people.

A small portion of literate people are loyal to the ruler,

the majority of illiterate people blindly follow. Even they have no thought.

What these scholars have spent their lives reading amounts to nothing but loyalty to the ruler, love for the emperor and his family, and that love is unconditional.

No matter whether the emperor is a scoundrel or a foolish monarch, one must love him—and even be willing to die for him.

Under such conditions, thought is bound,

how could there be any idea of science and technology?

Nobody wants to change the status quo.

That is merely to live while waiting for death.

Because some content in the classics talks about how to abide by rules and how to become a person of righteousness and justice.

Actually, a confident nation is one that welcomes the world with an open mind.

Not a narrow-minded ideologue. That's getting a bit off-topic.

I quickly pulled my thoughts back.

At this moment, Yang Tao held up her wine cup,

"Mr. He, you want to go abroad for divination; that's not difficult—I'll take you to the United Kingdom when I have time.

They also popularly practice fortune-telling and prediction there.

They just believe in astrology.

They like to use playing cards for fortune-telling."

"Actually, astrology mainly focuses on predicting personality.

As the saying goes, 'Mountains can be moved, but nature is hard to change'—that's the principle.

It's similar to how we read faces here.

"What kind of facial features correspond to what kind of personality and luck—there is a causal relationship; appearance arises from the heart." He Zuming accepted Yang Tao's toast.

"Then Mr. He, please do a divination for me.

I've been having a rough time lately." Yang Tao pleaded with He Zuming.

"That's easy to say; since I've had wine at the table today, reading faces wouldn't be accurate.

Let's use character divination.

You say a character, and I'll help you divine its meaning." After saying that, He Zuming drank the wine in his cup.

Character divination—I've seen it on TV before; fortune-tellers can judge what kind of person someone is from a character, and whether they succeed at it.

I've never actually seen it done in real life.

"Great,

I'll go first." Yang Tao said happily.

Shi Yong said, "Yang Tao, what character are you testing? Are you asking about love?"

"What I ask, what does it have to do with you? It's really none of your business, like a dog meddling in a mouse's hole." Yang Tao said angrily.

"All right, Shi Yong, let Mr. He give Yang Tao a reading first.

Let's see." I immediately became interested.

Yang Tao said to He Zuming, "Mr. He, I want to test the character 'peach' to ask about my fortune."

I looked at He Zuming, thinking in my mind how to interpret this character 'peach'.

He Zuming smiled slightly,

stroking his beard, he said, "Yang Tao, may I speak openly?"

"Mr. He, whatever you say, just say it openly. We're just doing it for fun." Yang Tao said.

"Well, as the poem says: 'Peaches, young and bright, their blossoms blazing.' The original meaning is just peach blossoms lush, vivid, and in full bloom. Soon you will have peach-blossom luck." He Zuming paused slightly while looking at Yang Tao.

Yang Tao's face turned red; she was very happy looking at He Zuming.

He Zuming continued, "The character 'peach' can be split into two parts: one is 'wood', the other is 'omen'.

'Wood' corresponds to the Xun trigram, representing wind, governing the southeast. Yang Tao, you should go more to the southeast.

'Wood' can also be broken down into eighteen, indicating that a girl at eighteen is like a flower; this shows that the person undergoing character divination is very beautiful."

Yang Tao became even more pleased.

"As for 'omen', in ancient times it meant a great deal of money, indicating that you will have lots of money in the future.

We often say 'auspicious snow heralds a fruitful year', indicating a good omen.

The two strokes of the character 'omen' combined become a single stroke, forming the character 'water',

which carries the meaning of 'beauty brings disaster'. Relying on beauty can earn a lot of money, but it also brings misfortune.

The left and right strokes of the character 'omen' combined become a single stroke, forming the character 'north',

In ancient times, the character 'north' meant two people facing away from each other.

There is a possibility that things will turn out contrary to one's wishes." He Zuming finished speaking and looked at Yang Tao.

After hearing He Zuming finish, Yang Tao's complexion was not good,

"Mr. He, you haven't said yet whether my future fortune will be good or bad."

"Both good and bad exist; if you seize the opportunity, it's peach-blossom luck; if you don't, it's beauty bringing disaster." He Zuming stopped explaining.

Yang Tao still wanted to ask something,

Shi Yong, standing beside, became anxious,

"All right, Yang Tao, didn't Mr. He say you'll be beauty bringing disaster? Why ask again?"

"Shi Yong, shut your stinking mouth." Yang Tao became angry.

Shi Yong still wanted to say something,

I immediately stopped him with a glance.

Shi Yong then said nothing more,

At this point, Yang Tao, very angry, stood up from the wine table and left.

He Zuming didn't mind either; he just smiled and watched Yang Tao leave.

Then Shi Yong said, "Mr. He, now it's my turn—I'll also do a reading.

I'm a rough person; I don't know many characters,

So, there are tea leaves in the tea cup before me,

I'll just divine the character 'tea'."