Like you, Master Chi is someone who naturally loves to enjoy life — and by “enjoy,” I mean in the most literal, material sense. This is why, no matter how busy work gets, I always make a point of traveling with my wife at least once every six months, with each trip lasting two weeks or more. Everything about these travels — every experience, every meal, every night’s stay — is chosen from the higher end. Not extravagant for the sake of it, but deliberately good. So on nearly every trip abroad, our hotels start at six or seven thousand a night. And domestically, Aman’s properties — the Nuo Beijing, Amanfayun, Amandayan, Amanyangyun — have become our regular weekend escapes. Of course, this kind of spending is nothing compared to many others, but I only ask that I honor myself. And that’s enough.
But today, Master Chi doesn’t want to talk about the pleasures these luxuries bring. Because speaking from lived experience — the older you get, the more you realize: this kind of enjoyment can spark novelty and joy from time to time, yes. But it cannot give you the feeling of truly restoring your vitality.
It’s the same with career success. No matter how much you’ve achieved, no matter how celebrated your name has become — you cannot lie to yourself and pretend you’re no longer exhausted after the battle. That fatigue that hovers over your head, that takes up residence in your heart — it simply cannot be erased. Master Chi knows this feeling intimately. It cannot be replenished by sleep. It cannot be covered over by happiness. Mental exhaustion truly hollows out your Chi (vital energy), your spirit, your drive.
But does that mean there’s no remedy? Not at all. Some people never experience this kind of soul-deep tiredness. What’s their secret? It comes from family — and from the companionship of love.
We Chinese love to say: “When the family is in harmony, all things flourish.” When Master Chi was young, I genuinely never understood what that meant. I thought it was just one of those platitudes used to keep couples stuck in mediocrity, going through the motions. But now? I believe it completely. A warm, comfortable, harmonious family is the perfect answer to restoring your vitality.
A few days ago, a friend invited Master Chi to take a look at his newly rented apartment. Why renting? Because in the years prior, aggressive investments and expansion had caused his business to run aground and his net worth to collapse. Now he’s living off some assets he fortunately had preserved overseas. Life is still far more comfortable than the average middle class — but compared to the peak of his success, the drop has been steep. Out of old friendship, the consultation fee I charged for reading the Feng Shui and his destiny framework (格局) was only the standard rate. The apartment itself was rented through another friend in our circle who wanted to help him out — a place that would normally go for over forty thousand a month in rent, being offered to him for just over ten thousand as a gesture of solidarity.
The trouble, though, is that his destiny framework still shows nearly three more years in a decline period ahead. He’ll need to quietly weather it before the tide turns.
What I found deeply admirable: when I finished the reading, his wife showed not a trace of dejection or gloom. Instead, she wrapped both hands around her husband’s arm and said — It doesn’t matter. As long as the family is together, whole and well, that’s worth more than anything.
And looking at my friend — there was none of the gray, defeated energy you’d expect from someone in a difficult stretch. His complexion was healthy and flushed. He looked nothing like a man in decline. He even laughed and said: Consider it a three-year vacation — spend time with family, enjoy life together.
(Here’s something worth sharing: if you ever meet someone and notice that compared to usual, their complexion has turned ashen and grayish-blue, with a faint, indescribable foggy quality about them — that is a sign someone is entering a period of misfortune. You don’t even need to read their BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny) to know.)
Yes. A warm and loving home, and the steadfast support and companionship of family — these are the one true remedy that allows a person to rise again from any setback and rally for another round.
This is also why, as you move up in life and gain real standing, you’ll find that the higher the circle, the more people value family harmony. In social settings, married men and women consistently receive more trust and respect. Because everyone understands: life is unpredictable, ups and downs are inevitable, fortunes at the table rise and fall — that’s just how it goes. But a man or woman with a good family behind them is simply more dependable, more resilient, than someone who lives freely and unattached.
The reason is simple: when you’ve been beaten down in the business arena, like a great beast soaked through by rain and mauled by its battles — it is that warm home, that bowl of warm congee, that restores you far more than any feast or grand mansion ever could.
Nothing — nothing at all — is warmer or more powerful than love.
This is precisely why, when Master Chi reads a client’s destiny framework, I pay particular attention to the weight of “family” in their chart.
You may, because of fate (缘分), find that you cannot marry the one you truly love. I have seen countless such cases — the connection exists, but the destiny to be together does not. It is genuinely heartbreaking. But you must love — or at the very least, earnestly try to love — the person you have sworn to share your life with.
As a man, you may have savored the company of many. As a woman, you may have been loved by many. Master Chi doesn’t judge any of it. The wild years of youth are forgivable — I have no quarrel with the indiscretions of your younger days.
But once you have built a family, be a husband. Be a wife. Give the person you have sworn to spend your life with your most genuine love and warmth. Not for them. Not for anyone else. Only for yourself — so that you have a home to return to, one that replenishes your vitality and sustains your will through every storm.
And beyond that — Master Chi hopes you will spend more time with your children. Spend more time with your parents. Not just showing up when it’s obligatory. Not just fulfilling a duty. But in those quiet, unhurried days — simply being present with the people you love, savoring life together, letting time pass gently.
Don’t let so-called important work or pleasures become excuses to give only a token appearance. On every weekend, be physically and fully there — side by side, under the same roof, eating together, moving through a day or two at an unhurried pace.
Do this, and you will understand what Master Chi means by today’s title:
Because I love you — I fear no crumbling mountains.