A Prophet - Chapter 14 (Part 7)
Chapter 7 - Mysteries of Palmistry
The fifth to take the stage was Long Yufeng of the "Yaochi Path" from Tianjin. Long Yufeng was in her forties, possessing peach-blossom eyes and a cherry mouth, with a tall figure and quite the air of an immortal maiden. She had nearly a hundred disciples under her banner, all of them female, and she often compared herself to a fairy of the Jasper Pool (Yaochi), which was why her hall was called the "Yaochi Path." The "Yaochi Path" made its name through physiognomy, and Long Yufeng was a renowned expert in physiognomy in Tianjin, highly proficient in both palmistry and face reading.
Palmistry involves analyzing a person's palm shape, palm lines, texture, and coloration. Reading palms means examining these elements, particularly the palm lines, which have historically been regarded as one of the primary reference indicators most revered by physiognomists.
Ancient methods dictate observing the left hand for men and the right hand for women. When opening the palm, over 99% of people will see three distinct major lines. The line running from the base of the index finger down to the center of the palm's base is the life line; the one running from beneath the middle finger to beneath the little finger is the heart line; and the line situated between the life line and the heart line is the head line. Ancient people believed these to be the three major lines of human life: the life line governs health and longevity, the heart line governs marriage and romance, and the head line governs a person's intelligence or foolishness. Of course, different individuals also possess various other palm lines, such as money lines and horizontal lines. Palm-reading predictions are primarily based on the depth, thickness, coloration, length, and presence of breaks in these palm lines to determine auspiciousness or disaster. Traditional Chinese medicine can also deduce illnesses based on the characteristics of palm lines.
Face reading, in the narrow sense, refers solely to a person's face and the organs attached to it: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and eyebrows. In the broad sense, face reading encompasses not only the face and its facial organs but also moles on the body, limbs, and skin, as well as a person's manner of squatting, walking, sitting, lying down, moving, and even defecating or urinating. Physiognomists judge a person's poverty, prosperity, premature death, or longevity based on their facial and bodily proportions, the size, height, and coloration of various organs, and their deportment and behavior.
A bizarre phenomenon once occurred in Chinese history: during certain periods when the country desperately needed talent, or when for various reasons few people passed the imperial examinations, supplementary admissions were required. The basis for these supplementary admissions was not high test scores, age, or moral character, but rather the quality of one's physiognomy. A group of failed examinees or people who had never even taken the exam would be summoned, and several chief examiners would sit in a room and have these candidates interview one by one. First, they would check whether their faces possessed an official's physiognomy; then, they would listen to whether their speech carried an official's cadence; and finally, they would make the person walk a few steps to see if they had an official's gait. Under such circumstances, those wine-sacks and rice-bags who generally looked bloated, with puffed chests and raised heads, were basically all accepted—which amply demonstrates the dark stupidity of the feudal imperial examination system.
Physiognomy originated in the pre-Qin period and matured in the Han Dynasty. To this day, no one has been able to propose who the founder of physiognomy was, nor are there related historical records, but academia generally agrees that the emergence of physiognomy was a protracted process and certainly not something accomplished by a single generation.
That physiognomy was able to link a person's appearance with auspiciousness and misfortune must be an experience derived from massive amounts of practice and empirical evidence. For example, people whose eyes resemble those of a sheep have short lives (sheep eyes mean short life), while those with long philtrums and deep nasolabial folds (the two trenches on either side of the nose) enjoy long lives, and so on.
In ancient times, there was no imaging equipment, and transportation was inconvenient; the only way to investigate and research was by relying on two legs and two eyes, summarizing the commonalities and particularities caused by the similarities and differences in eyes, noses, ears, teeth, body hair, as well as speaking, eating, and defecating across tens of thousands of cases. This is where the precious ingenuity of the ancients lies.
Speaking of discussing physiognomy based on eating and defecating, Grandpa Zu once recounted historical materials on this aspect to the brothers of the hall. Ancient physiognomy books contain physiognomic methods regarding eating, defecating, and urinating, which roughly mean the following:
Regarding dining deportment, anyone who sits upright and steady, with a body that does not lean, acting without haste or impatience, and practicing "bringing the food to the mouth" (meaning that when picking up food with chopsticks, the upper body remains straight without leaning forward, slowly conveying the food into the mouth) possesses an auspicious physiognomy. Anyone who shifts restlessly in sitting or lying, devours food hurriedly, and practices "bringing the mouth to the food" (meaning that while eating, the upper body bends downward, lowering the head to crowd the mouth against the bowl, using chopsticks to shovel food into the mouth) possesses an impoverished and base physiognomy.
Grandpa Zu once said with a smile, "Utter nonsense! What kind of deportment one has when eating depends entirely on whether the person eating is hungry or not. Wealthy and noble people have food to drink and eat; the previous meal's food has not even finished digesting before the next one begins, so of course they can sit steadily, eat slowly, and bring food to the mouth in an orderly fashion. Poor commoners have nothing to eat and no drink, unable to secure the next meal after the current one, sometimes going hungry for days on end. When they finally get a meal, naturally they hunker down over the rice bowl, bringing the mouth to the food and devouring it ravenously. If you were to starve a certain landlord for three or five days, see if he still sits upright and steady and brings food to the mouth!"
Regarding defecation, ancient books state that anyone whose stool is fine, long, soft, and glossy yellow possesses an auspicious physiognomy, while anyone whose stool is dry, black, thick, and shriveled possesses an impoverished and base physiognomy.
Grandpa Zu laughed heartily again and said, "What kind of stool one passes depends on what kind of food one eats. Aristocrats and landlords eat three meals a day with proper proportions of meat and vegetables, enjoying fresh peaches and orchard fruits without interruption, so naturally they do not suffer from constipation. Slaves and the peasant class eat coarse grain, tree bark, and weeds, and when driven to extreme hunger, they eat temple incense ash and Guanyin clay, so naturally their stool is black, thick, and coarse. Putting the cart before the horse—this is truly putting the cart before the horse!"
When talking about physiognomy, there is one person who must be mentioned. Her name is Xu Fu. Grandpa Zu deeply admired Xu Fu and told us many stories about her.
Xu Fu was a famous female physiognomist of the Western Han Dynasty and the premier talented woman in the Chinese physiognomy circle. Legends surrounding her are numerous, and evaluations of her are also very positive. In particular, the legends of Xu Fu reading the physiognomies of major figures like Empress Lü and Liu Bang are nothing short of miraculous.
Grandpa Zu once said that Xu Fu does not refer merely to a single individual, but rather represents a group of people in the Western Han era. These people played a tremendous role in the inheritance and development of physiognomy, causing physiognomy to gradually become systematic and standardized starting from the Han Dynasty.
According to the mindset of the ancients, an extraordinary person must possess extraordinary experiences, otherwise it would do a disservice to history. Since Xu Fu was so formidable, her birth ought to be out of the ordinary as well. She was not an emperor, so her mother could not witness dragons flying and phoenixes dancing when giving birth to her. Thus, an even more beautiful legend was born.
Legend has it that Xu Fu was born holding a piece of white jade in her mouth, and the white jade faintly bore the image of the Eight Trigrams. Upon hearing of this matter, Emperor Qin Shi Huang considered it an auspicious omen, rewarded Xu Fu's parents with a great deal of money, and declared that she was born well!
Two people in China were born with jade in their mouths: one is Jia Baoyu, and the other is Xu Fu. One male and one female, one fictional and one real. Whether a person can truly be born holding a piece of jade is a difficult question to say, but the possibility of "jade" forming within the human body does exist.
The "jade" spoken of here is not real jade, but rather a type of calculus (stones). When calculi appear inside the human body, over a long period, some calculi will display vibrant colors and smooth surfaces, and some can even be expelled from the body. There was such a case in the early Republic period: a young girl constantly felt distending pain in her lower abdomen and difficulty urinating. One day during urination, amidst a sharp pain, she expelled two small, bright red particles. Frightened, the girl told her family. A "learned" relative claimed that this was the legendary human mystical jade, worth a king's ransom, and warned her never to breathe a word of it, while encouraging the girl to urinate a few more out.
Later, the girl died. She was not choked to death by calculi, but rather because the news of the human mystical jade leaked out; the girl was murdered, and her abdomen was sliced open to extract the "jade." What an absurd murder case! What ignorant people!
Following this principle, it can be concluded that anyone born holding jade in their mouth does so simply because their mother had calculi within her body, and by coincidence, this calculus dropped into the fetus's mouth, and moreover, happened to be as smooth and lustrous as jade. Xu Fu's mother was miraculous in just this way.
Long Yufeng swayed her body and arrived on the stage.
"Please enlighten me!"
"Trust you have been well since we last met, Sect Leader Long!" Ding Zixia of the Manchu "Zixia Hall" was the first to stand up, asking with a clever smile.
Long Yufeng smiled faintly and replied, "Thanks to Master Ding's concern, Yufeng is doing well!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd sensed that these two families seemed to have a grievance.
Grandpa Zu smiled slightly, content to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.
Ding Zixia said resentfully, "Whenever the 'Yaochi Path' meets people, it claims their faces bear the peach-blossom aura, with nine out of ten people carrying a peach-blossom bane. Moreover, within three days, this person is bound to have a woman throw herself into their arms, after which they will either ruin their health for the sake of lust or ruin their wealth for the sake of lust, ultimately being forced to ask Sect Leader Long to eliminate the disaster. Could it be that apart from bearing a peach-blossom face, a person has no other traits?"
This question clearly carried heavy gunpowder, insidiously pointing out that Long Yufeng had all along been setting up schemes to attract dupes with sex appeal and then dropping the "merciless blade" upon them!
Long Yufeng let out a cackling laugh, fully displaying her flirtatious charm, and retorted, "Wine does not intoxicate men, men intoxicate themselves; beauty does not bewitch men, men bewitch themselves. Which man does not love beauty, and which woman is not passionate? All you gentlemen seated here are researchers of occult arts; whether in palmistry, face reading, six yao, or bazi, the peach-blossom bane is a major baleful influence. Male affection and female love are human nature—nine out of ten men have peach-blossom, and the remaining one goes off to become a monk. What wrong is there in that? Grandpa Zu, tell me, am I right or not?" As she spoke, her bright eyes shifted, gazing at Grandpa Zu with affectionate tenderness.
Grandpa Zu felt a slight flutter in his heart. Before Grandpa Zu could speak, Huang Farong grew anxious and abruptly stood up. "Wine is a poison that eats the intestines, and lust is a carved-bone saber. Those who bewitch all living beings with sex appeal all descend to the unceasing hell! Those who study the I Ching should edify all living beings to stay far away from romance and lust—this is the righteous path! Furthermore, Sect Leader Long is quite wrong! The meaning of the peach-blossom bane is broad and does not refer solely to romance and lust. Peach-blossom is further divided into inner-wall peach-blossom and outer-wall peach-blossom. Inner-wall peach-blossom governs beauty, handsome facial appearance, and also governs intelligence; only outer-wall peach-blossom is about scattering affections everywhere, promiscuity, and lust! Sect Leader Long is generalizing from a single instance, which lacks refinement!"
Long Yufeng glanced sideways at Huang Farong and immediately said, "I see that your face bears the peach-blossom aura, and furthermore, it is outer-wall peach-blossom with extremely heavy baleful energy. Your husband had better be careful..."
At this moment, a Japanese judge in the audience spoke in broken Chinese, "In debates, stick to the matter at hand and do not engage in personal attacks. If Sect Leader Long has no defense, she may step down."
Both Long Yufeng and Ding Zixia had made their fortunes by relying on major Chinese traitors in the Three Northeast Provinces and possessed no genuine skills. Participating in this debate competition this time, they had both sacrificed their physical charms in exchange for advancement quotas. Yoshiko Nishida saw it in her eyes and kept it in her heart, having already agreed with several chief examiners to let them enter the top ten and then eliminate them—thus giving the traitors face while avoiding any disruption to the grand scheme.
Long Yufeng flicked her long sleeves and stepped down from the stage in resentment. Ding Zixia chuckled inwardly, yet she did not know that her own ending shortly would be identical to Long Yufeng's.