Chapter 3553: The Great Dao Is Simplest

Lin Waner stared at the hexagram formed by the nine copper coins, her heart growing increasingly puzzled.

She had never encountered such an ambiguous situation, or rather, a half-and-half case.

Among the nine copper coins, four happened to have their obverse and reverse, as well as their positions, exactly at the Gate of Life; another four happened to be exactly at the Gate of Death; and the crucial one, however, happened to fall exactly at the position that could be either life or death.

This state of being either life or death does not refer to the copper coin itself, but when it is considered together with the four coins of the Gate of Life, the five copper coins can simultaneously form a hexagram of the Gate of Life.

But if it is considered together with the other four coins of the Gate of Death, it can also form a hexagram of the Gate of Death.

It is like when two nations are at war, and a baby of mixed heritage happens to be born, and the national strength of the two nations is completely equal, so only by relying on this baby to change the balance—if the baby takes the nationality of the father's country, it becomes an enemy of the mother's country, and vice versa.

Lin Waner had calculated hexagrams for hundreds of years, and she had never seen such a strange hexagram before.

She silently picked up the nine copper coins and threw them again; although the positions of all the copper coins had changed this time, Lin Waner, through interpreting the hexagram, again arrived at exactly the same conclusion.

Ye Chen saw her frown tightly knit and could not help but ask again: "Miss Lin, how does this hexagram appear this time?"

Lin Waner shook her head: "Same as before, no change at all."

Ye Chen was astonished and asked her: "I just recorded the obverse and reverse of all the copper coins and their positions; compared to the previous hexagram, every coin's position has changed, and the obverse and reverse have also changed—why is the hexagram the same?"

Lin Waner smiled and said: "Young Master has studied feng shui from the Nine Profound Heaven Scripture, but it seems there is no divination there; hexagrams are not interpreted by appearance, but by their unique logic—although the two hexagrams appear unrelated on the surface, the actual results derived from them are identical."

Ye Chen sighed: "Indeed, the Nine Profound Heaven Scripture does not contain any profound divination techniques."

Lin Waner explained: "Divination is mysterious because its underlying logic is equivalent to a set of software that can simulate computation."

"Young Master, now that you are involved in automobile manufacturing, you should know that modern car crash simulation, besides actual crash tests, can also be performed in software; the software itself has already set the physical properties of Earth as constants, and during simulation, one only needs to input the vehicle's weight, speed, anti-collision design, material strength, collision position, collision object, and other parameters, and then the collision result of this car can be simulated roughly."

"I, as a humble woman, divinate relying on the Zhouyi Eight Trigrams; although ancient people had no computers, they used years of observation to grasp the underlying logic of the world and even the universe's operation, and then created the Zhouyi Eight Trigrams; the core of the Zhouyi is 'yin and yang,' which is actually the earliest binary, remarkably similar to the 0 and 1 in the computer world; I use copper coins for divination, and the obverse and reverse of the copper coins, like yin and yang, are also a form of binary."

"These nine copper coins of mine are like the nine important parameters in a computer simulation; giving these nine parameters to the Zhouyi Eight Trigrams software for simulation allows one to predict the development and outcome of events, as well as the variables involved; as long as the development of things does not deviate from this world's operational mode, the simulation result will not have too much deviation; although the positions and obverse/reverse of the thrown nine copper coins differ, the reason divination requires nine copper coins is that divination does not lie in the state of a single coin, but in the relationship among the nine coins; in other words, whether the nine copper coins are thrown on a table, or in a room, or scattered throughout the entire courtyard, it does not affect the result."

The Zhouyi Eight Trigrams are not feudal superstition, but the Great Dao is simplest.

0 and 1 can constitute the virtual world of computers, and yin and yang naturally can constitute all things in the world.

However, truly mastering the Zhouyi Eight Trigrams and being able to perform calculations and simulations with nine variable parameters—there may be only Lin Waner in the whole world.

Both times being like this, Lin Waner could not figure it out.

Whether Tang Sihai, or the people behind Tang Sihai, all belong to the Gate of Death.

Li Yalin is Ye Chen's person, and thus naturally belongs to the Gate of Life.

Ye Chen himself must also belong to the Gate of Life.

Then, who exactly is this person caught in the middle, wavering uncertainly?

In her doubt, she said to Ye Chen: "Young Master, please remain calm and give me a little time; let me think carefully about the connections; once I have results, I will inform you at once."

Ye Chen lightly nodded; Li Yalin would even need one or two years, or even three to five years, to track this down; even if Lin Waner is miraculous, she cannot possibly find clues overnight—this matter naturally cannot be rushed.

Recalling that Xiao Churan had left a note for him at home when she left, Ye Chen suddenly felt a strong urge to return home, so he said to Lin Waner: "Miss Lin, it is getting late, and I will not disturb you further; if there are any discoveries or conclusions, please trouble Miss Lin to contact me first."

Lin Waner nodded and smiled: "Young Master, rest assured."

After speaking, although she felt reluctant in her heart, she did not utter words to retain him, and smilingly said: "I, your humble servant, will see you off."

Ye Chen left Zijin Mountain Villa and hurried back to Tang Chen Yi Pin without stopping.

The situation at home was exactly as shown in the video call with Caicaizi.

The vast majority of furniture and objects had not been moved; overall, it was the same as when he left.

Returning to the bedroom, the note left by Xiao Churan was still quietly placed on the bedside table.

Ye Chen opened the note and read it again; a layer of mist once again appeared in his eye sockets.

After six years of marriage, he had thought marital life had finally entered the right track, but he never expected it to come to an abrupt end at the most beautiful moment.

Now returning home, everything remains as before, except for the absence of Xiao Churan; in this environment, seeing objects and thinking of her makes Ye Chen's heart feel even more extremely sorrowful.

After hesitating repeatedly, he still took the note given by Xiao Churan and left Tang Chen Yi Pin.

Living alone in such a large house is inherently lonely, and everywhere here is the shadow of Xiao Churan, making people feel even more oppressed.

Thus, Ye Chen left Tang Chen Yi Pin and went alone to the half-mountain villa of Xiangxieli; he felt he needed some time to calm down, short as three to five days, long as one or two months.

Afterwards, he separately left messages on WeChat for Li Yalin and Lin Waner, telling them that if there is any news, they should contact him by phone immediately; as for WeChat, he planned to temporarily disconnect the internet, and his phone would only allow Li Yalin and Lin Wanar through the whitelist, while all other calls and messages would be blocked.

When Lin Waner saw Ye Chen's message saying to contact him by phone if there is news, she knew Ye Chen definitely wanted to be alone to calm down and digest the fact of Xiao Churan's departure.

She felt concerned in her heart, fearing Ye Chen might collapse completely, or suffer from long-term lovesickness.

Thus, she also told Old Zhang and others not to disturb her, and decided to personally sort out the recent events Ye Chen has encountered, as well as determine who the variable in the hexagram depends on.

She opened a Go board, placed a black stone on the far left, and murmured: "All causes and effects have their origin; then the origin of all this should be the Qingzhao An at the edge of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, right?"