Yulian Reunited with Shipeng
Auspicious
The poem
Original: 千年古镜复重圆 / 女再求夫男再婚 / 自此门庭重改换 / 更添福禄在儿孙
The story
Qian Yulian chose a poor scholar, Wang Shipeng, over a wealthy suitor. Shipeng went to the capital and took first place in the examinations, but the rejected rival forged a letter of divorce to deceive her, and her stepmother pressed her to remarry. She threw herself into the river and was pulled out by a passing official who adopted her. Husband and wife were finally reunited.
What it means
The image is a broken mirror made whole. The key word is return: what was lost can be regained, what fell can rise, what scattered can gather. The separation, failure or interruption in front of you is not the ending, only the middle. Panning gold out of sand takes work, and your road is hard first and easy afterwards, scattered first and joined afterwards. Matters tend to circle back to where they started, and when they return the situation is better than before, prosperous enough to benefit your children.
By area of life
Wealth
Loss first, profit second. Do not sell out at the bottom in panic; autumn and winter are the seasons to enter and to harvest.
Love
An unmarried couple may separate and reunite before marrying, and the divorced may find a second good match. The chance of an old partner returning is high.
Work
A job you once left may take you back, and this time you will do it well. Business suffers one reversal, and only after the recovery does it truly prosper.
Health
Symptoms rise and fall; do not be alarmed. Chronic illness responds to steady regimen and inner work, and the turning point arrives with time.
Travel
Going and returning and going again. One attempt may not succeed, but after several circuits you arrive where you wanted to be.
Advice
Do not mistake a loss in the middle of the story for the ending; this mirror mends better than it was.