A health question isn't read from a single palace. It has a cast of used-gods, and the reading is how they relate. Here the key ones were: the illness itself (Tianrui 天芮, the sickness star); my father (the male-elder stem 丙); Western medicine (Tianxin 天心); the direction to seek care (the Yi 乙 "wonder" stem); and recovery (the Life Gate 生门). Before judging anything, I had to find where each one sat.健康类的问题，不是看一个宫就够了。它有一组用神，解读就在于它们之间的关系。这里的关键几个是：病灶本身（天芮，病星）；父亲（男性长辈，天干丙）；西医（天心）；求医方向（乙奇）；以及康复（生门）。在下任何判断之前，我得先找到它们各自落在哪个宫。

The sickness star Tianrui sat in Palace 9 (Li/离, South), on the outer plate. Li governs the head and face, the eyes, the heart and the blood vessels; on the outer plate it points to something external and visible. That matched his swollen face exactly. Paired with the stem Geng it read as a heavy, serious signal, with Obstruction Gate suggesting blockage. In plain terms the chart was telling me: this is on the head and face, it is external, and it is not minor.

I couldn't tell what disease it was, but I could read severity and location, and that alone mattered, because my father wanted to brush the whole thing off as nothing.病星天芮落在九宫（离，南），且在外盘。离主头面、眼、心脏、心血管；落外盘，指向外显、看得见的问题。这和他肿起来的脸完全对上。天芮配天干庚，是偏重的凶信号，临杜门主堵塞。直白地说，盘面在告诉我：问题在头面、是外显的、而且不轻。

我看不出来这是什么病，但我看出来"严重程度"和"位置"，光是这一点就很重要，因为父亲当时一心想把这事说成没什么大不了。

The palace standing for Western medicine (Tianxin 天心) carried Xuanwu (玄武) plus the Death Gate (死门). Xuanwu is the deity of murky, unreliable information; the chart's note was blunt: verify the truth of any medical information you're given. That line was proven the very next day.

Right next to his hometown stood a local hospital, extremely convenient by distance, but its equipment was only adequate and I didn't trust the doctors' judgment in the slightest. Still, my father insisted on going. From afar I could only agree to let him get basic blood work there while I decided the real direction. Sure enough, the next day that hospital diagnosed "allergic dermatitis," ran a battery of allergen tests, prescribed topical ointment, and sent him home. He was ready to treat it as nothing serious and told me not to rush back. I refused. The chart had already warned me not to trust the information, so I treated that label as a question, not an answer.代表西医的宫位（天心）带着玄武和死门。玄武主信息不明、真假难辨；盘面的提示很直白：要辨别你拿到的任何医疗信息的真伪。这句话在第二天就得到了证明。

老家旁边就有一家本地医院，距离来看是极其方便的，但它只是硬件尚可，医生的软能力我是不敢相信一点的。但老爸还是坚持要去。我人在远处，只能同意让他先在那里做个基础验血，同时由我来定真正的方向。果然，第二天那家医院给的诊断是"过敏性皮炎"，让他测了一堆过敏原，开了点外用药膏就让回了家。他也就真的打算把这当成小事，让我不必赶回去。我坚决反对。盘面早就警告我别信这信息。所以我把这个诊断当成一个"问号"，而不是"答案"。

My first instinct was to bring him back south to the city where I live, where medical resources and transport are far better. But that direction on the chart carried the White Tiger (白虎) and the Destroyer star (天柱), clear malefic signals. Obviously not the right move.

Fortunately the chart did point to one clearly favorable direction: due north (Kan Palace 1/坎一宫): the Yi 乙 wonder stem together with the Open Gate (开门) and Nine Heaven (九天), no malefics, and Kan is water, which directly restrains the fire-illness sitting in the South. Going north meant going toward the force that could hold the illness in check. Due north of his hometown is the provincial capital. The signal was clear enough. I booked a flight immediately, flew straight there, and told him to meet me.我的第一反应是把他接回南方我所在的城市，毕竟医疗资源和交通都好太多。但那个方向在盘上带着白虎和天柱，俱是凶象。明显不妥。

所幸盘面上确实存在一处有利的方向：正北（坎一宫）：乙奇配开门、九天，没有凶星，且坎为水，正好克制落在南方的火之病灶。往北，就是往那个能把病压住的力量走。他老家的正北方，正是省会城市。指示足够清晰，我立即订了机票，直飞过去，让他到那里跟我汇合。