Preface
In life, the people you encounter fall into a few distinct categories:
- Fortune Bringers (喜神): those whose presence puts the people around them at ease and in good spirits
- Wealth Bringers (财神): those alongside whom you can build wealth and earn recognition
- Plague Bringers (瘟神): those who ruin every endeavor and have never succeeded at anything
- Decline Bringers (衰神): those who do nothing but lament their own fate and have no agency over their lives
The first two — don’t hesitate, follow them, build with them.
The last two — don’t hesitate, keep a respectful distance and stay clear.
Main Text
Before anything else, read these two messages carefully:
“Master Chi, I have an old classmate I used to be very close with. My impression of him has always been good. But recently he suddenly said he wants to run with me. Normally, taking on one more person wouldn’t be a problem — but after asking around, I found out that in the decade or more since we entered the working world, he hasn’t accomplished a single thing. Do you have any suggestions?”
Hold on, there’s another one:
“Master Chi, I’m a young woman. I’ve recently been getting to know a man whose overall circumstances are fairly decent — he fits your C-3 level and may even have the potential to rise to C-4. But from what he’s shared, he’s had a total of five breakups and divorces throughout his life. So I’m a bit uncertain whether I should pursue a relationship with him.”
Don’t accuse Master Chi of being harsh, but for both of these situations, Master Chi would categorize both individuals squarely as Plague Bringers and Decline Bringers — keep a respectful distance and absolutely do not invite them in. As the old saying goes, it’s easy to welcome a spirit in and very hard to send one away.
Save your saintly compassion for something worthier. A small amount of encouragement, maybe a little money, and then each of you goes your own way — that is the best outcome.
As someone who has been wandering the world for a long time, Master Chi wants to tell you: the longer you have been tested by life, the more you naturally develop certain personal superstitions.
Superstitions — those truths you may not be able to explain logically, yet simply cannot help but believe.
Among these truths, one stands out above the rest: you must distance yourself from the Decline Bringers and Plague Bringers you encounter in life.
What exactly are “Decline Bringers” and “Plague Bringers”?
They are those who have been mired in failure for a long stretch of time. They have never succeeded. They have never risen. They have always let people down. They perpetually need your help, your care, and your understanding.
An occasional act of support toward such people is perfectly fine. But you absolutely cannot spend your days surrounded by them.
If you do, there is a strong likelihood you will be pulled into their dark, murky Chi field (气场) — and you will convince yourself you are doing good, acting with integrity, being a decent person — all while being slowly drained and exploited.
Only at the very end will the realization hit you: you became the scapegoat whose fortune was being siphoned away the entire time.
You will encounter this type of person across every domain — marriage, career, friendship.
Master Chi is not advising you to be selfish. What he wants you to understand is this: to remain truly, persistently down and out for a sustained period of time is actually a remarkably difficult thing to achieve.
Yes, you read that correctly. And this is the shared understanding of many businesspeople and those who have climbed to the top: someone who is chronically down and out, beneath whatever polished surface they present, almost certainly harbors deep and fundamental flaws.
This is not about them being “bad.” It is about them having serious deficiencies that demand genuine reckoning and real change.
Perhaps they are excessively timid, excessively indecisive. Perhaps they are excessively greedy, excessively impatient for results.
In any case — persistent failure represents persistent character flaws that have not yet been rooted out.
Especially those who constantly talk about striving and grinding, yet remain perpetually broke. Especially those who claim to be endlessly searching for the right relationship, yet keep starting things and walking away.
These people are the most dangerous.
Their hidden flaws will not be immediately obvious to you — after all, human beings are skilled at disguise. But those flaws will inevitably surface at the critical moments, because no matter how well someone conceals their true nature, the mask always slips eventually.
In a business partnership, it is only when accountability is demanded and profits need to be divided that you will suddenly realize: “So that is what he is really like. No wonder he has never had a good partner. Who would ever work with someone like this?”
In love and marriage, it is only when real difficulties emerge in life that you will slap your forehead and think: “Now I finally understand why no one ever accepted him. This is who he actually is.”
By the time you realize it, you are already paying the price for your choices and your misplaced trust.
This is precisely why, when Master Chi is examining someone’s destiny framework (格局) and encounters a situation where that person stands at a crossroads of indecision — for example:
This person looks impressive on the surface, but seems to have nothing real to show for it, and their reputation in their circle is not great. Should I partner with them?
This person seems gentle and refined, but their romantic history is a string of separations and reconciliations. According to them, they have always been the victim. Should I be with them?
— Master Chi’s direct recommendation is to decline and let the situation cool. At the very minimum, a long period of deeper observation is required.
The brutal truth is that in nearly 99% of cases, the facts confirm that such people are deeply problematic.
Remember this: the people and resources in society are sharp, even razor-sharp. Anyone who is fundamentally sound, and who genuinely works hard and acts with integrity as they claim — the moment they succeed even once, trust in them grows steadily from that point forward. The noble benefactors (贵人) and connections they attract compound exponentially.
Even if they fail, as long as they can explain themselves clearly and honestly, very few people in this world will hold a lasting grudge. At worst, others stop working with them — and even then, it is their abilities people question, not their character.
Only those with a fundamental character problem ever end up in a place where heaven and earth have abandoned them and everyone around them has turned away.
This is exactly why people who have reached positions of real power, or who have truly made something of themselves, have historically been reluctant to extend opportunities to so-called screw-ups or those perpetually down on their luck.
And when they do give such people a chance, it tends to be the high-risk, cannon-fodder kind of role. (There is no shortage of examples of those at the top sacrificing those below them.)
At the end of the day — who here is naive? Everyone already knows: when someone is that thoroughly beaten down by life, there is inevitably a reason. Even if you cannot exactly blame them, you certainly cannot call them innocent. You must be on guard against such people and keep your distance.
Honestly — think back. Among all those broken, ruined lives you have witnessed, how many of them were truly innocent?
Where there is something pitiable, there is always something worth examining. Here, “worth examining” does not necessarily mean “bad” — sometimes weakness and uselessness are equally problematic flaws.
On the other hand, those who have achieved even modest success are far more likely to attract and receive the support of noble benefactors (贵人).
First, a person who has climbed to that position has proven their ability — and in all likelihood their character is sound as well. Without that, a thoroughly ruined reputation would make it impossible to move a single step forward, let alone hold their position.
Second, to earn trust, a clean slate with nothing to your name is meaningless — who has the time to wait while you prove yourself from zero? But having something to anchor you: a family, a foundation, a base — everyone knows you will not throw away your wife, your children, and your entire livelihood for some petty short-term gain. Only then are you worth trusting. Only then do opportunities and genuine recognition come your way.
The logic here could not be simpler. It is not just true in society — within organizations as well, when identifying young talent to promote, family background and marital status are treated as highly significant measures.
So Master Chi has a few pieces of advice he hopes you will carry with you for the rest of your life. These are hard-won lessons, plain as they come — the kind you only truly understand after you have stumbled and fallen yourself:
1. When it comes to your circle, whenever possible, associate with people who are better and more accomplished than you.
The vast majority of those who are below you can offer nothing but flattery, empty agreement, and endless rounds of eating and drinking — and nothing more.
Of course, if those pleasures are what you are seeking, Master Chi has nothing to say.
But those who are better and more accomplished than you will constantly serve as benchmarks and learning opportunities. The longer you move in those circles, the closer you draw to them. As you continue to upgrade your social network over time, you will naturally keep rising.
This is an unbreakable, ironclad truth.
At the end of the day, humans are social creatures. Those near the red become red; those near the black become black — there are no exceptions. “Emerging from mud without being stained” has always been wishful thinking, a good story and nothing more.
Ask yourself: do you need those rounds of drinks, those words of flattery? No? Then you do not need those people.
Do you need the opportunity to move upward, the fortune to advance steadily? Yes? Then that is what you should be pursuing.
One more note: do not force your way too aggressively into the circles of elite noble benefactors and major players. For one, you will not get in. For another, the gap is too large — you will not learn much anyway. Instead, aim for those friends who are just half a step ahead of you. Everyone feels at ease at that level — no awkwardness — and their skills and approaches are ones you can actually absorb and apply.
2. Walk the world long enough and you will encounter Plague Bringers. When you do, never gamble on luck.
Everyone misjudges people sometimes. Master Chi does too.
But in the end, what life experience teaches us is this: you cannot justify giving every unreliable Plague Bringer a chance to “prove themselves” just because you might have been wrong this time.
This is a mistake that many modestly successful people fall into. They think: now that I have made it to shore, it is my duty to reach back and pull up those old friends who are still struggling below.
Where does the modestly successful person go wrong? They think they are lifting someone up — and that the other person will be grateful and loyal. Instead, the other person simply expects to be carried for life. The result? Give someone a little and they thank you; give them a lot and they resent you for not giving more.
Similarly, many emotional manipulators love to say: “It is precisely because you love me so much that I feel safe misbehaving without consequence.”
So no — Plague Bringers cannot be kept around for long. Let them sort each other out among themselves.
Look at the truly wealthy, the truly exceptional. The best and most meaningful way they give back is by building schools and hospitals for their communities — not by absorbing every neighbor into their own operation and putting them to work.
3. Get clear on what connection (缘分) means, and get clear on where your own ceiling lies.
Life is fascinating in this way: destiny ultimately carries you to the height that is genuinely yours.
But that does not mean you will not be delayed along the way by all the glittering distractions.
Understand this: even marriage and blood ties have their beginning and their end, no matter how much grief that may bring. So what of all the other connections you encounter?
Many people never work this out. As a result, they linger too long at the small crossroads of life — and while they would have risen eventually regardless, they only arrive at what was always theirs in middle age, decades behind schedule.
Of course, the journey of life is meant to take in the scenery along the way. But that does not mean you should linger too long at views you could easily revisit later.
Let go, cut loose, shed what needs shedding. Aside from blood family and the truest of bonds, there is no one in life worth lingering over for too long.
4. With Fortune Bringers and Wealth Bringers, do not grovel. With Plague Bringers and Decline Bringers, do not overreact.
Fortune Bringers and Wealth Bringers are those whose position is clearly above yours. When working and dealing with them, always maintain a degree of boundaries and self-respect.
Human nature is such that the more you make yourself small, the less you are taken seriously. Dignity at the right moment is absolutely essential.
Many people fail at exactly this point. What should have been a partnership becomes servitude to someone else’s whims. What should have been a transaction among equals becomes waiting hand and foot.
Stand a little taller. Flatter a little less. Advance things steadily and with substance — that is how you earn real respect.
Plague Bringers and Decline Bringers are those whose position is clearly below yours. Do not waste too much time on them, but still extend a reasonable degree of courtesy and dignity.
Many who have never been through the grind of the world, who have never tasted real hardship, do not understand this: Plague Bringers and Decline Bringers are useless at building things but highly effective at destroying them. In this world, the petty and the small-minded are the hardest to guard against.
And here is the interesting thing about this type of person: they are particularly sensitive to treatment that is courteous yet firm. Because they are accustomed to being looked down upon everywhere, being treated like a person — being extended genuine dignity — feels like an honor and an affirmation to them.