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墨書 Inktalez
The winter break was indeed a fun time, not only for us students who could set aside our books, but also for our parents who had more leisure time. For several days now, my mother had been suddenly putting down her tasks to flip through a small notebook, mumbling to herself as if searching for some answers within its pages.
Today marked the fourth day of this routine. It seemed that a particular question in that notebook had stumped her. She flipped through the pages repeatedly, jotting down notes while her furrowed brow remained tense. Perhaps she felt that having another person would lend her strength; she finally handed me the precious notebook, opened to the middle, and said, "This is a method I copied from someone else to calculate luck. You add up all the numbers from a person's birth date and divide by seven. The remainder corresponds to a certain type. I've used this method to calculate the fortunes of our family and some relatives, and it seems quite accurate. However, when I used your grandmother's birthday, it turned out to be exactly divisible, meaning there was no remainder. Which type should we consider for her?"
Taking the notebook from my mother, I didn't immediately calculate using my grandmother's birthday; instead, I eagerly read through the text. The method was quite simple, categorizing people into seven types with descriptions of only two or three hundred words each. They spoke of hardships in childhood, wisdom in youth, prosperity in adulthood, and happiness in old age, among other things. Some special types even included phrases like "more children bring more blessings." After about ten minutes of reading from start to finish, I calculated my own birthday and felt a small sense of vanity swell within me (it seemed slightly better than some other types). Only then did I ponder my mother's question.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—how should we interpret my grandmother's calculation? I repeated it twice silently and suddenly burst into laughter. My mother had indeed gotten stuck in a corner; there was a "seven" involved here, so it clearly belonged to the type that could be evenly divided.
Upon hearing my answer, my mother quickly reclaimed the notebook and scrutinized the few lines of text as if trying to glean everything about my grandmother's future from them. She wanted to fulfill her filial duty by helping and protecting her. Especially when she saw the description stating "to live until eighty-five," her excitement was evident on her face. It was worth noting that in our entire Bamboo Mountain Bay Long Family Courtyard and even throughout the New House where the Long Clan resided, finding an elder who lived past eighty was exceedingly rare.
After confirming my explanation and feeling assured that she hadn't made any calculation errors, my mother happily said, "Songzai, although you don’t engage in sports anymore, fortune-telling and analyzing birth dates fall under Confucian teachings. In the past, they were criticized as feudal superstitions; they still can't be considered proper texts today. Don't go talking about this outside."
After saying this, perhaps feeling that I had an innate connection with these Confucian concepts, my mother handed me the notebook again and said, "There’s also a method for calculating fate based on Ba Zi according to one's birth date. Each year, month, day, and hour corresponds to a specific weight. By adding up these four weights for a person, you can determine their fate's weight and refer to the descriptions at the back to see what their life holds. You should take a look too."
Once again taking the notebook from my mother, I quickly immersed myself in new readings and experiences:
This was a traditional system of Fate Calculation that had been slightly modified for ordinary rural people with some knowledge and had spread widely. The weights for years spanned sixty years in total and corresponded to a cycle of heavenly stems and earthly branches; however, it began not from the Year of Jiazi but from 1930. This arrangement puzzled my mother for quite some time because both my grandparents were born before 1930; without this table, she couldn't find their corresponding weights until I researched it further and explained how to adjust by adding or subtracting sixty years.
The months were arranged from January to December simply; however today’s understanding reveals that this isn't entirely accurate since each month varies according to the lunar calendar each year. The days were organized into thirty-day segments similarly but thankfully we used the lunar calendar; otherwise my mother would have been confused about how to handle the 31st day.
As for hours, they were divided into twelve segments; my mother struggled with determining an accurate time for me as her eldest son.
With this Fate Calculation Book in hand, I was most concerned about my own fate. Based on two possible times provided by my mother, I calculated two potential weights for myself. To my dismay, regardless of how I calculated it, my fate weighed only "three taels plus less than four taels." While this was significantly better than the lowest category of "two taels four qian," it still fell far short compared to the lofty "six taels eight qian." The only consolation was that this method didn’t seem entirely complete; perhaps it wasn't accurate after all.
Thus began my introductory journey into Fate Calculation during my first winter break of high school—a practical demonstration that laid the groundwork for future interests in Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, River Luo Geography, Facial Features and Bone Structure.
Note: My mother always attributed knowledge like Fate Calculation and geographical surveys to Confucian teachings because during the Cultural Revolution's criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius era—where all Four Olds were blamed on this "Great Sage"—she believed firmly in this notion despite being one of the few educated individuals in our rural area.
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