2: Chapter 2: This book predicts beyond 2000 years.

"Is the tui bei tu really a book of doomsday prophecies?"

These words caused Xiaoyu's heart to skip a beat.

"Rather than a doomsday prophecy, it's more like a deduction of Huaxia's national destiny!"

"All of this begins with the origin of the tui bei tu."

He deliberately paused for a moment before continuing his lecture.

"One day in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin had two extraordinary men under his command: Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang."

"Both were masters of the I Ching, divination, physiognomy, astronomy, and other traditional Chinese studies."

"One day, Li Shimin grew curious about which of the two was superior, so he decided to test them."

"He pointed at the Wei River and asked: [My two dear ministers, which horse will cross the river first—the red one or the black one?]"

Xiaoyu listened intently, her interest piqued by these ancient Chinese secrets.

The restless bullet chat in the livestream also quieted down as everyone began to listen silently.

"Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng were indeed very impressive!"

"I didn't realize it was Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin, who brought this about."

"The red horse and the black horse—how do you calculate which one goes first?"

Jiang Zhe looked at Xiaoyu and spoke:

"Then, Yuan Tiangang picked up his divination tray and did a quick calculation—he derived the Li Hexagram, and the Li Hexagram represents fire!"

"Yuan Tiangang concluded—the red horse would cross the river first!"

"At that moment, Li Chunfeng stepped forward. He also calculated the fire hexagram, but he claimed the black horse would cross first."

"Why would the same hexagram lead to completely different answers?"

Xiaoyu held her breath as she listened.

"So which horse actually crossed first?"

"It's normal for the same hexagram to yield different results."

The viewers in the livestream couldn't help but ask.

"The Li Hexagram is fire; it should definitely be the red horse crossing first!"

"I bet on Yuan Tiangang winning!"

"..."

"As you've seen, it was as Li Chunfeng said," Jiang Zhe revealed the answer directly. "Master Yuan's deduction was correct; both I and he calculated the fire hexagram."

"But!"

Then, Jiang Zhe's tone shifted.

"Before fire appears, black smoke rises first. Smoke precedes fire, and smoke is black."

"Only after the smoke rises does the fire manifest."

"And fire is red."

At this point, Jiang Zhe smiled and looked at his younger sister. "So, do you know who crossed the river first?"

"Hiss—" Xiaoyu gasped.

"Of course, it was the black horse first, then the red horse!"

"Because the black horse corresponds to [black smoke], and the red horse corresponds to [flames]!"

The livestream was silent for a moment, and then everyone had an epiphany.

"Holy crap, that's such a fine detail?"

"Whoa, that's actually pretty interesting."

"Black smoke first, then fire. Li Chunfeng is a beast!"

"What's this smug guy's deal? It's just a fifty-fifty chance. If it were me, I could do it too!"

On the screen.

The aftereffects of Jiang Zhe's previous transmigration were gradually disappearing, and he was becoming more optimistic.

He ruffled his sister's hair playfully.

"Great job, even you could figure that out."

Xiaoyu rolled her eyes at Jiang Zhe.

"Brother, you were so listless just a moment ago, I didn't expect you to recover so quickly."

"And you're being sneaky. Even an elementary student would know that after you explained it so clearly. If they didn't, wouldn't they be an idiot?"

"Do you really think your dear sister is an idiot?"

As she finished, Jiang Zhe asked with feigned innocence, "Wait, isn't my Xiaoyu an idiot?"

"Brother!!!" Xiaoyu pointed at Jiang Zhe with a look of grievance. "You're being too much!"

"Haha, I'm just teasing you."

"Let's continue."

"Hmph!"

Xiaoyu took the opportunity to turn away, coincidentally fiddling with her phone.

She realigned the camera lens, which had slipped, back onto Jiang Zhe.

The number of viewers in the livestream jumped again!

Jiang Zhe's voice rang out.

"After hearing the arguments of the two masters, Li Shimin excitedly ordered his men to observe the horses' behavior."

"A moment later, the red horse walked to the riverbank, took a few sips of water, and stopped. Meanwhile, the black horse walked straight into the river to bathe and soon crossed to the other side."

"Li Shimin laughed heartily and said, 'Both of my dear ministers' divinations were correct. This is truly my good fortune!'"

Seeing Xiaoyu's enlightened expression, Jiang Zhe concluded:

"Now you know."

"The same hexagram, but who was stronger?"

"Naturally, it was Li Chunfeng!"

"Why Li Chunfeng?"

"Because Li Chunfeng paid more attention to detail. Since it was just a red horse and a black horse corresponding to the two parts of the hexagram, his interpretation was more persuasive!"

"Exactly!"

At this time, dissenting comments were popping up in the livestream.

"While the story is nice, it has nothing to do with hexagrams. It's just a fifty-percent probability. If Li Shimin asked me to guess, I could come up with a reason too!"

"Exactly. I could just pick a horse at random and then find a reason to stick to my guns. The answer is bound to be one of the two. There's no technical skill involved!"

"This isn't a book for predicting national destiny at all; it's just a bunch of mystical nonsense used by ancient Taoists to trick Li Shimin!"

"Right, right. The experts all say this isn't some miraculous book!"

"..."

Unfortunately, Jiang Zhe couldn't see the viewers' bullet chat and was unaware of their arguments.

Xiaoyu felt the charm of the tui bei tu.

"Still, it feels a bit like probability theory, yet it doesn't seem like something probability alone can explain."

"What happened next? How did the tui bei tu come to be?"

Seeing his sister's curiosity fully piqued, Jiang Zhe got straight to the point:

"Li Shimin actually thought the same thing you did."

"After this incident, Li Shimin believed he had secured the two greatest masters in the world. If he kept having them calculate such trivial matters, even Li Shimin himself could guess the red or black horse correctly. It wouldn't prove their true abilities, and it would be a waste of their great talents!"

Jiang Zhe paused, his expression gradually becoming serious.

"So, Li Shimin summoned them and spoke solemnly—"

"'My two dear ministers, I want you to calculate the national destiny of our dynasty. See if my Great Tang can truly endure for a thousand ages!'"

As his tone shifted, the small room suddenly fell silent. Only the sound of Xiaoyu's slow breathing remained; even the sound of the occasional car passing by outside seemed to vanish.

Jiang Xiaoyu's expression was incredibly earnest.

Through Jiang Zhe's words, she felt as if she were witnessing that moment from a thousand years ago when the fate of the Tang Dynasty was being decided!

"Then, Li Shimin and his personal guards surrounded Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng in a circle, ensuring the two couldn't look at each other."

"He gave them no opportunity for any physical or verbal contact."

"To prove the accuracy of the omens!"

"So, Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng turned around. Before them was a sandalwood table with a thick stack of Xuan paper—he had them draw diagrams while calculating the future."

"After calculating a few hexagrams, Yuan Tiangang stopped and ceased writing."

"Why did he stop?" Doubt flashed in Xiaoyu's eyes. "He clearly could have kept calculating!"

Jiang Zhe shook his head gently.

"In truth, hexagrams are endless."

"When Yuan Tiangang looked back, he found Li Chunfeng drawing and writing like a madman. His face was filled with horror, as if he were witnessing something terrifying with his own eyes."

"It wasn't that Li Chunfeng was writing slowly; it was that he was writing an immense amount. When Yuan Tiangang went over to look, he frowned—it was a dense combination of images and text."

"Yuan Tiangang felt that Li Chunfeng was revealing too many heavenly secrets, so he gently pushed Li Chunfeng's back and said: [The vast celestial numbers are sought herein; the rise and fall of the world are not free. Ten thousand upon ten thousand things can never be fully told; better to push the back and go to rest]."

"The meaning is: there is no end to divining the future; it can never be finished. Doing so is revealing the secrets of heaven, which should not be spoken of too much."

"When the prophecies of Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng were combined, they became the 'tui bei tu' we know today!"

Having reached this point in the story, Jiang Zhe felt a bit thirsty. He looked around and saw a bottle of sugar-free drink on the computer desk, so he took a sip.

"Why is there an almond aftertaste?"

"Is this potassium cyanide? Xiaoyu, did you poison me?"

After drinking, he looked at Xiaoyu, who had just put down her phone. She looked at him with a face full of astonishment and rolled her eyes.

She really wanted to say...

That's lipstick!

And, brother, I just drank from that!!!

"Guess how many years Li Chunfeng's prophecies covered?"

"2000 years!"

Xiaoyu blurted out with a confident smile.