Hearing Yang Yao's words, Li Hao, who stood nearby, asked curiously:
"My lord, you saw through it?"
Yang Yao replied calmly:
"Take a careful look at these twelve people. Do you notice anything unusual?"
At his words, everyone looked over.
They studied the records in confusion, each of them scratching their heads.
At a glance, they could not see anything at all.
But just then, Yang Yao took up a brush and walked over. On a blank sheet of paper, he wrote down their names, ages, and birth dates.
He separated the men and women into two groups and arranged them in rows.
"Now do you see it?"
As soon as he said that, Li Hao's expression changed slightly.
"These ages are strange. There are two seven-year-olds, two nine-year-olds, two twelve-year-olds, two fifteen-year-olds, two eighteen-year-olds, and two twenty-one-year-olds.
"And every pair consists of one boy and one girl. This clearly isn't without a pattern!"
Yang Yao nodded at that.
"Not bad. You have some sharp eyes, at least—you noticed it.
"But... that alone isn't enough. You still haven't seen the key point."
After hearing that, Li Hao continued studying the records.
But when he saw their birth dates, he immediately frowned.
"My lord, there seems to be something wrong with their Eight Characters of Birth!"
Yang Yao said, "You finally noticed. Yes, there is indeed a problem, and it is no small one.
"Although these people's Eight Characters of Birth are different,
"there is one thing they all share.
"They correspond to the yin and yang of each month.
"The men correspond to yang, while the women correspond to yin.
"And they change continuously, beginning with lesser yang and lesser yin.
"The twelve people each fall within one of the twelve months. They were carefully selected.
"Though I cannot yet