Wong Tai Sin lot 85 of 100
Liu Xiang achieves his aim
High (上吉). 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.
太乙燃藜照讀書
十年窗下苦功舒
揚眉吐氣袍穿錦
駟馬高車擁道隨
Taiyi lit a stalk of goosefoot to light his reading.
Ten years of hard work at the window bear fruit.
He raises his brows and breathes out, in a robe of brocade.
A high carriage and four horses, with crowds following along the road.
What this lot says
Long study is rewarded, with a splendid public turn. The verse is a picture of recognition after years of effort.
It is graded high. Read it as a lot about effort that has been steady and is now being noticed.
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
Liu Xiang achieves his aim (劉向得志)
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)
太乙燃藜照讀書 / 十年窗下苦功舒 / 揚眉吐氣袍穿錦 / 駟馬高車擁道隨
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
太乙燃藜照讀書 / 十年窗下苦功舒 / 揚眉吐氣袍穿錦 / 駟馬高車擁道隨
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
太乙燃藜照讀書 / 十年窗下苦功舒 / 揚眉吐氣袍穿錦 / 駟馬高車擁道隨
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- The allusion in the lot title: fortunesticks.org and luckeyes.com name it 劉向得志; andy.hk names it 劉向淂志.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.