Wong Tai Sin lot 46 of 100
Zuo Ci plays a trick on Cao Cao
Lowest (下下). Grade as given on the named web transcriptions. We have not seen it on a temple printing, and we do not know that the temple prints one.
黃柑數盒獻曹公
剖看原來肉盡空
怒動奸雄揮鐵斧
奔忙身入萬羊中
A few boxes of yellow oranges were offered to Lord Cao.
When he cut them open, the flesh was all gone.
The scheming hero angrily swung an iron axe,
but the giver rushed away and hid among ten thousand sheep.
What this lot says
A gift turns out to be empty, the angry recipient strikes out, and the giver slips away among ten thousand sheep. The verse reads as a story of being made a fool of.
It is graded lowest and reads as a warning against rage and against taking things at face value.
A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
The story behind it
Zuo Ci plays a trick on Cao Cao (左慈戲曹操)
A traditional allusion named with this lot. We have not traced the story to a source we could read, so we do not retell it here.
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author, here read from named web transcriptions. We compared the sites character by character and show every difference. We could not establish whether the sites are independent of one another, and we have not read a temple printing.
Fortune Sticks (fortunesticks.org) (the text shown above)
黃柑數盒獻曹公 / 剖看原來肉盡空 / 怒動奸雄揮鐵斧 / 奔忙身入萬羊中
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
黃柑數盒獻曹公 / 剖看原來肉盡空 / 怒動奸雄揮鐵斧 / 奔忙身入萬羊中
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
黃柑數盒獻曹公 / 剖看原來肉盡空 / 怒動奸雄揮鐵斧 / 奔忙身入萬羊中
Retrieved 2026-11-09
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.