This line is about the failure of incubation. Why? When the third line moves, the lower trigram of the original hexagram changes from Kan into Xun. Kan represents the egg, while Xun represents corruption, deterioration, and failure. This indicates that the egg deteriorates. Meanwhile, in Transformed L3, when the Zhen trigram moves upward, the Gen trigram presses closely upon it. Since Gen represents an obstacle, this shows that the Zhen side is blocked and has no space for further upward development—that is, embryonic development is obstructed. As for the Dui-Zhen image of Hidden L3, Dui represents impairment, while Zhen represents embryonic development, this indicates that the embryo is damaged. All these images point to a scene in which the egg fails and the embryo is injured. Therefore, this line explains a case of failed incubation.

Then why does the incubation fail? In the original hexagram, lines one through four form a stacked Kan-Zhen image. Kan represents difficulty, while Zhen represents walking or movement. This shows that, during incubation, the bird has difficulty moving around. This is also consistent with the physiology of avian incubation: if the bird leaves midway through incubation, the temperature of the eggs drops and the embryos may die. The common Chinese saying “a brooding hen never moves” captures this principle precisely.

Here, Transformed L3 presents overlapping images of Dui, Xun, and Zhen. Dui means going out, Xun means retreating back, and Zhen means walking, indicating that the Gen-side bird repeatedly walks, goes out, and comes back in. Xun carries both the meaning of benefit or gain and the meaning of retreat and failure. Therefore, the Gen-Xun image in Transformed L3 suggests both that the Gen side obtains benefit and that the Gen side retreats and fails to fulfill its proper responsibility.

In Hidden L3, the image changes into Dui, Xun, Gen, and Zhen: Zhen means walking, Dui means mouth and seeking food, Xun means benefit or gain, and Gen represents the mother bird. This creates the picture of a mother bird walking away to forage.

Taken together, this shows that the mother bird lacks sufficient responsibility: during incubation, she leaves the nest to seek food, and causes harm to the embryo.

Moreover, Xun carries the image of a wife, and it appears in Transformed L3 as a new entity, indicating the possibility of taking a wife, which is why this line gives advice about marriage. the husband here performs a divination. The line statement tells him that, just like a mother bird who goes out to forage, feeds herself fully, but leaves the eggs unattended and causes the embryos to die, this woman may appear initially to bring some financial income. However, she takes the lion’s share herself and the husband cannot benefit from the marriage in the long run. Why is this so? Let us look at the hexagram image.

The husband corresponds to the Zhen trigram, and Zhen is also the side of embryonic development. Xun has both the image of benefit and gain and the image of failure. These two meanings contradict each other: the wife who is taken appears to bring gain, yet she also causes the whole action to fail. Therefore, the line statement integrates these two contradictory meanings through the perspective of timeline change: in the short term there is benefit and gain; but in the long run, nothing brings advantage. The essential issue here is the double-sided nature of the Xun trigram.

How, then, does this double-sided nature of Xun appear? When the third line of the Hidden Hexagram changes into a yin line, it seems at first that the Zhen side has grown from half of a Zhen trigram into a complete Zhen trigram, expanding its energy scope. This is why the text says “brings in money.” But if we look more carefully, this yin line is closer to the Gen side: it follows immediately beneath the yang line of Gen, showing that it belongs to the Gen side rather than to the Zhen side. Zhen is not stacking with the Xun trigram, which is why the text says the money does not reach the husband. Moreover, the appearance of this yin line causes the original Qian trigram formed by lines three, four, and five in the Hidden Hexagram to disappear. Qian symbolizes successful incubation, which is the primary goal of cooperation between husband and wife. Its disappearing means bad result.

With the above understanding, in Hidden L1, Dui should be understood as damage or loss, while the lower trigram Zhen represents the husband. The Dui-Zhen image should therefore be understood as the husband will be diminished in the future.

Of course, “wife” does not necessarily refer only to marriage. It can also be understood more broadly as an allied(ai-laied) energy on the focal player’s side. This may range from finding a business partner to forming an alliance(e-liance) between states. In any case, the ally(ai-lai) found this time does not act properly. Although this ally appears to bring short-term benefit, in the long run things won’t work. This is what the line statement is trying to convey.

The third line stands in the middle of a hexagram. Multiple factors are at work there, and the information is often mixed; it is often the line where mistaken action leads to failure. Here is also the case. The mother bird sacrifices the interests of her offspring and her household for her own short-term benefit, which is a mistaken action.