An investment chart turns on one relation: Jiazi-Wu, the capital you put in, against Life Door, the return it brings back. Which way those two generate or control each other separates a doubling from a wipe-out, and it is the first thing we read. Everything else refines it. Life Door strong in season with a Wonder and generating Jiazi-Wu is the best case; Life Door controlling Jiazi-Wu alongside an adverse pattern is the loss case. Where the two sit, inner plate or outer, tells you how soon and how far the money is. And Dark Warrior near either of them is the warning that what you have been told about this deal is not the whole of it.
一笔投资，盘上只系于一组关系：甲子戊（你投进去的本钱）对生门（它带回来的利）。二者是谁生谁、谁克谁，分开了倍利与折本，也是我们最先看的一处。其余各节，不过是把它读细。生门当令得奇、又生甲子戊，是最好的一种；生门克甲子戊、再逢凶格，则是折本的那一种。两者落在内盘还是外盘，说明钱来得快不快、远不远。而玄武若临其一，则是提醒你：关于这笔买卖，你听到的未必是全部。
Capital and Return: Two Symbols, One Question资本与利息：两个用神，一个问题
Classical practice puts an investment in two symbols: Jiazi-Wu is the capital, Life Door is the interest it earns. Nothing about the venture, the market or the people enters before those two, because the question you are actually asking is whether money put in comes back larger. That is a relation between two palaces, and it is readable.
古法把一笔投资落在两个用神上：甲子戊为资本，生门为利息。项目、行情、人，都排在这两者之后，因为你真正要问的，是投进去的钱回不回得来、回来得多不多。这是两宫之间的一组关系，而关系是可读的。
The distinction is worth holding onto. Jiazi-Wu is what you put in; Life Door is what comes back. They are not the same thing and they can move in opposite directions, which is why a chart can show a lively venture that still eats your principal, or a dull one that quietly compounds. The venture's noise lives elsewhere in the chart. The money lives here.
这个分别值得记牢。甲子戊是你投进去的，生门是回来的。两者不是一回事，也可以背道而驰。所以盘上会出现"项目热闹却吃掉本金"，也会出现"看着平淡却在滚存"。项目的热闹在盘的别处，钱在这里。
Who's Who in an Investment Chart投资盘上，谁是谁
Four symbols carry the question, and two of them do most of the work.
担这个问题的有四个用神，其中两个承担了大半。
| Symbol符号 | What it stands for here在这里代表什么 |
|---|---|
| 甲子戊Jiazi Wu | The capital: the principal you put in.资本：你投进去的本钱。 |
| 生门Life Door | The interest: what the money earns and brings back.利息：这笔钱挣回来的部分。 |
| 日干Day Stem | You, the one putting the money in.你，出这笔钱的人。 |
| 玄武Xuan Wu | Whether the information is clean. Near the capital or the return, it warns of what you haven't been told.消息真伪。它若临资本或利息，是在提示你没被告知的那部分。 |
Profit or Loss: Five Outcomes赚还是赔：五种结果
Classical practice sorts the capital-and-return relation into five, and the ranking runs from doubling your money to losing it. Read Jiazi-Wu against the Life Door palace and the answer sits in one of these rows.
古法把资本与利息的关系分成五档，由倍利到折本。拿甲子戊对生门宫，答案必落在其中一行。
| Capital and return资本与利息的关系 | How it reads怎么断 |
|---|---|
| Life Door with a Wonder and a good pattern, generating Jiazi-Wu生门得奇、吉格吉星，生甲子戊 | ✓✓ Doubled profit: the return feeds the principal, and the money compounds✓✓ 必获倍利：利回本金，钱自己滚起来 |
| Life Door and Jiazi-Wu in the same element (same-element)生门与甲子戊比和 | ✓ Fair return (中利): neither windfall nor loss✓ 得中利：赚得平实，谈不上暴利 |
| Jiazi-Wu generates Life Door甲子戊生生门 | ◐ Keep feeding it and it returns: profit follows added capital, so the question becomes how much more you want to put in◐ 添加资本仍可获利：钱要不断投，利才跟着走；问题于是变成"你还想投多少" |
| Life Door controls Jiazi-Wu, with an adverse pattern生门克甲子戊，又逢凶神凶格 | ✕ Loss of capital (赔本): the venture consumes the principal you fed it✕ 必赔本：项目把你投进去的本金吃掉 |
| Life Door in tomb-and-extinction ground with an adverse pattern生门落墓绝之地，再逢凶神凶格 | ✕✕ Capital exhausted (capital wiped out): the heaviest reading in this set, and the one to stop on✕✕ 必耗尽资本：这一组里最重的一档，见之当止 |
Note the third row, because it is the one people misread as simply favourable. Jiazi-Wu generating Life Door does return a profit, and it returns it only while you keep adding capital. That is a different proposition from the first row, where the money works without you feeding it. Charts of the third kind are how people end up several rounds deep in something that was never going to carry itself.
留意第三行，多数人会把它读成单纯的吉。甲子戊生生门确实获利，但它要你不断添资才获利。这与第一行是两回事：第一行是钱自己会走，不用你一直喂。第三种盘，正是许多人一轮一轮追加、最后陷在一个本来就撑不起自己的项目里的原因。
How Soon, and How Far钱来得快不快，远不远
A favourable reading still leaves the practical question of when. Classical practice reads that from where the two money symbols sit: the inner plate is near and soon, the outer plate is far and slow.
断出可投，还剩一个实际问题：什么时候。古法从两个财用神落在哪一盘上读它，内盘为近、为快，外盘为远、为迟。
| Where they sit落宫 | How it reads怎么断 |
|---|---|
| Jiazi-Wu and Life Door both on the inner plate甲子戊与生门同落内盘 | ✓ Close and quick: the money is near at hand and moves fast✓ 距离近、速度快：钱就在手边，来得也快 |
| One inner, one outer一内一外 | ◐ Slower: it comes, but not on the timeline you had in mind◐ 迟：会来，但不在你设想的时间上 |
| Both on the outer plate全在外盘 | ◐ Slower still and further off: distance in space as much as in time◐ 更迟、更远：远的不只是时间，还有地理 |
| Jiazi-Wu sharing a palace with Open Door甲子戊与开门同宫 | ✓ The money arrives quickly✓ 得财迅速 |
This section rarely changes a yes into a no. It changes what you commit. A chart that reads doubled profit on the outer plate is still doubled profit, and it is not money you should be counting on this quarter.
这一节很少把"可投"读成"不可投"，它改变的是你怎么投。断出倍利、却全在外盘的盘，倍利仍是倍利，只是这笔钱不该算进你这个季度的账。
When the Information Isn't Clean当消息不干净
One deity does a specific job in an investment chart. Dark Warrior near Jiazi-Wu or Life Door says the information around this deal is not transparent, and it is worth taking literally: something material has not been put in front of you. It does not say the venture fails. It says you are deciding on a partial account, and that verification comes before commitment.
投资盘上，有一位神专管一件事。玄武临甲子戊或生门，说明这笔买卖的消息不透明，这句可以照字面理解：有要紧的东西没有摆到你面前。它并不断言项目会败，它断言的是：你正在用一份不完整的账做决定，而核实应当排在投入之前。
A chart reads the shape of a decision: whether the capital comes back, how soon, and whether the account you have been given is complete. It does not name instruments, tickers or amounts, and no reading here should be taken as financial advice. What you put money into, and how much, stays yours to decide.
盘读的是一个决定的形状：本钱回不回得来、多久回来、你拿到的那本账完不完整。它不点具体标的、代码或金额，本页任何内容也不构成投资建议。投什么、投多少，仍旧是你自己的决定。
Frequently Asked Questions常见问题
The chart says profit. Why does it also say keep adding money?盘断"获利"，怎么又要我不停追加？
Because Jiazi-Wu generating Life Door and Life Door generating Jiazi-Wu are opposite propositions that both read as profit. When the return feeds the capital (生门生甲子戊) with a Wonder and a good pattern, classical practice reads doubled profit, doubled profit: the money works without you feeding it. When the capital feeds the return (甲子戊生生门), profit follows added capital, which means the profit stops when the funding does. Both are favourable. Only one of them carries itself.
因为"甲子戊生生门"与"生门生甲子戊"是相反的两件事，却都断作获利。利回本金（生门生甲子戊）、又得奇得吉格，古法断为倍利：钱自己会走，不用你喂。本金养利（甲子戊生生门），则是添资才获利，也就意味着停止投入，利也就停了。两者都是吉，但只有一种撑得起自己。
Which single placement is the one to stop on?哪一处出现就该收手？
Life Door falling in tomb-and-extinction ground with an adverse pattern. classical practice reads it as capital wiped out, capital exhausted, and it is the heaviest line in the set. Life Door controlling Jiazi-Wu with an adverse pattern is the other one to respect: there the venture consumes what you put in. Neither is a signal to negotiate harder. They are signals to keep the money where it is.
生门落墓绝之地、再逢凶神凶格。古法断为耗尽资本，是这一组里最重的一句。另一处值得敬畏的是生门克甲子戊又逢凶格：项目会吃掉你投进去的本金。这两种都不是"再谈谈条件"的信号，而是"钱先别动"的信号。
What does Dark Warrior near the money actually mean?玄武临财，到底在说什么？
That the account you have been given is incomplete. Dark Warrior near Jiazi-Wu or Life Door speaks to the transparency of the information rather than to the merit of the venture. Read literally, it says something material has not been put in front of you. The useful response is verification before commitment, not a decision either way on the deal itself.
说的是你拿到的那本账不完整。玄武临甲子戊或生门，讲的是消息的透明度，而非项目本身的优劣。照字面读，它是说：有要紧的东西没摆到你面前。该有的应对是先核实再投入，而不是就此断定这笔买卖行或不行。
Can a chart tell me what to invest in?盘能告诉我该投什么吗？
No, and it isn't built to. A chart reads the shape of the decision in front of you: whether the capital comes back, how soon, and whether the account is complete. It does not name instruments, tickers or amounts, and nothing here is financial advice. Bring it a specific decision you are already weighing and it has something to say. Ask it to pick for you and it does not.
不能，它也不是干这个的。盘读的是你眼前这个决定的形状：本钱回不回得来、多久回来、账完不完整。它不点标的、不点代码、不点金额，本页也不构成投资建议。你带着一个已经在权衡的具体决定来问，它有话可说；让它替你挑，它没有。
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