The Nature of You Bi

You Bi and Zuo Fu are a pair: Zuo Fu belongs to earth and You Bi to water; Zuo Fu counts forward from Chen for the first month and You Bi backward from Xu, both placed by birth month. This segment says You Bi 'in its temple' is solid and refined, but neither volume three nor Xingge gives the two assistants a brightness, so 'in its temple' has no counterpart on the chart and more likely means sitting in a good palace or with lucky stars. 'Full of stratagems' is the trait You Bi has over Zuo Fu, and later writers often say Zuo Fu helps openly and You Bi helps behind the scenes. You Bi becomes Hua Ke in Wu years, while Zuo Fu has no transformation in the Quan Shu's table, one of the few real differences between the two stars.

You Bi 「諸宮降福」 and is 「居四墓尤佳」: the four tombs are Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei. Zuo Fu and You Bi share a palace in Chou and Wei, which may be one source of 'especially good in the four tombs'; Chen and Xu are where the two start counting for the first month. The second half, meeting Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Tian Xiang, Wen Chang and Wen Qu, gives lifelong rich blessings. Star Combinations says 「右弼左輔終身福厚」, with the note 「在命宮遷移是也，三方次之」 (Star Combinations: Kui Yue, Zuo Fu, You Bi and Lu Cun), placing it more precisely. The Women's Gu Sui Fu also has 「右弼天相福來臨」 (Women's Gu Sui Fu); in the Quan Shu You Bi and Tian Xiang are often praised together.

The tone of this line is unusual: You Bi meeting malefic stars and Hua Ji means only thin blessings, 「亦不為凶」, at worst blemishes, scars and hidden moles, or maiming and illness. Compared with the Zuo Fu chapter, where malefic stars make a middling or low pattern, You Bi is written as better able to bear them. What Does You Bi Govern? also says 「女人賢良有志，縱四殺沖破，不為下賤」 (What Does You Bi Govern?). Within the Quan Shu, then, You Bi is the lucky star least affected by malefic stars. The help You Bi gives is quiet and soft; in hard times it does not vanish altogether, it just grows weaker.

This line is identical, character for character, to segment 4 of the Zuo Fu chapter. A woman's You Bi meeting lucky stars brings prosperity to her husband and benefits her children; for monks and Daoists, purity. The Quan Shu thinks well of both assistants in women's charts; Star Combinations says 「左右魁鉞為福壽」, with the note 「若女命逢之，旺夫益子」 (Star Combinations: Kui Yue, Zuo Fu, You Bi and Lu Cun). Translated into present-day life: well liked, helped by others, tactful in dealings, the team member who puts people at ease.

The condition in this verse works by exclusion: first make sure there is no Huo Xing, Hua Ji, Qing Yang or Tuo Luo, then add lucky stars, and only then do wealth and office stand out. On a Xingge chart, check that the San Fang Si Zheng of the Life Palace holds no Huo Xing, Qing Yang or Tuo Luo and no Hua Ji in those palaces, and that at least one of Zuo Fu, Wen Chang, Wen Qu, Tian Kui or Tian Yue is there. 'Chief minister' likens You Bi to a prime minister, the same image as Zuo Fu's 'assisting the emperor in giving orders': the two assistants are Zi Wei's two ministers. The trait it points to is someone intelligent, solid and full of strategy, who can rise very high when the surroundings are clean and help is at hand.

This verse's tone differs from segment 3: segment 3 says malefic stars only thin the blessings and do not count as unlucky, while here malefic stars gathering mean mediocrity, and with Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Di Kong and Di Jie in the San Fang one must 'carry an illness' to escape disaster. 'Carrying an illness spares one disaster' is a common idea in old books: a small ailment on the body wards off a great calamity. The two passages can be read together: You Bi meeting malefic stars does not bring great harm to the person, but the blessings are discounted, and mediocrity or a minor illness is the usual price. Rather than chasing perfection, accepting small losses is the steadier course.

You Bi in the luck period is most glorious, and four kinds of people benefit: ordinary people gain money, officials are promoted, monks and Daoists have joy, scholars win fame. It is the most all-round of the Quan Shu's luck verses for lucky stars. You Bi is placed by birth month and is fixed in the natal chart, while the Decade Luck moves one palace every ten years, so a decade with You Bi in its San Fang tends to bring quiet help from others. On Xingge, take the Decade Luck's Life Palace and see whether You Bi is in its San Fang Si Zheng. For people born in Wu years You Bi becomes Hua Ke, and in the luck period its effect on reputation shows more clearly.

You Bi governing the luck period and meeting unlucky stars: the family property swept away, nothing succeeding, servants bullying their master, the family broken and the person forlorn. This makes a sharp contrast with segment 3's 'does not count as unlucky': in the natal chart You Bi can bear malefic stars, but in a luck period meeting unlucky stars it means a broken family. One way to read it: the natal chart is the long-term foundation and the luck period an event in a certain span of time; in the natal chart You Bi cushions, but in a luck period meeting unlucky stars the help one had turns against one, hence 'servants bully their master'. In such a period the danger lies with the people around one, subordinates, partners and those one has entrusted with things, and betrayal or mistakes cost especially dear.