XXXV. Worked Example Four: An Old Eighth-Period Shop Entering the Ninth Period

This section is a fictional example, illustrating how an old chart is reassessed for the new period rather than automatically replotted.

1. Data for Determining the Period

Suppose a furniture store opened in 2012, with complete records of its completion and occupancy, placing it in the Eighth Period. In 2025 it replaced the flooring, the lighting, and some movable cabinetry, without opening the roof, changing the main door, or altering the structure — so, by this article's convention, it still uses its Eighth-Period house chart, with the Ninth Period's flourishing and decline assessed separately on top of it. The proprietor mistakenly believed that, with the Ninth Period's arrival, every yellow stone finish and every "eight-piece set" display in the shop needed to be thrown out.

The correction comes first: Eight White shifting from governing to receding does not mean every appearance of an "eight" is now inauspicious; an old house chart is not replotted just because the calendar page turns. One should instead find the palace holding the house chart's Nine Purple mountain-and-facing stars, the palace holding One White, and where Eight White originally activated things, and then check the actual door and path.

2. Redividing the Labor Between Form and Chart

Suppose the original main door's palace holds the Eight White facing star, and the form there still has a gently approaching route; the southeast palace holds the Nine Purple facing star, but currently serves only as a sealed sample storeroom; and the northwest palace holds the Nine Purple mountain star, backed by a solid wall. In that case, the main door can simply continue its normal use — there is no need to seal it off just because Eight White has receded. Part of the southeast sample storeroom can be legally opened up as a themed display, introducing controlled activity; the northwest can serve as the design consultant's and manager's seat, with its stability and support reinforced.

If the old stone finish is durable and does not block the path, keep it. If the main door's palace has Earth qi stacking together with Two Black or Five Yellow, one can reduce extra yellow lighting and pottery there and use a metal structure to drain the Earth, rather than wastefully tearing out every material. Lighting in the Nine Purple palace should be used in moderation, since a furniture store already has a great deal of wood, and Wood generating Fire there could easily grow excessive.

3. Not Adopting a "Fake Change of Period"

Some might suggest that simply leaving the lights on continuously or replacing the carpet is enough to count as changing the house's period into the Ninth — this article does not adopt that view. Only once the whole building undergoes major renovation, has its door changed, or is reopened after a long period of vacancy should it be reassessed under a clearly stated rule. The report should state "fixed Eighth-Period chart plus Ninth-Period evaluation" right on its first page, to keep anyone reading it later from replotting it by mistake.

4. Annual Review

Each year, update the annual star and adjust only the strongly active palaces. If the southeast display area meets Two Black in a given year, reduce fire-themed lighting and use Metal to drain the Earth there, restoring it once the year passes. Moving large furniture pieces is itself an active process, so when scheduling a delivery date, consider clashes against the sitting mountain and construction safety — an ordinary promotional date should not be substituted for proper renovation date selection.