01 / THE EARLY TEXT
The words themselves.
An interpretive English translation. Read the translation notes. Six and nine name line types; positions run from bottom to top.
否之匪人，不利君子貞，大往小來。
Pi: Blockage involving the wrong people. Unfavorable to the noble person's determination. The great departs, the small arrives.
初六，拔茅茹以其彙，貞吉。亨。
Six at the beginning: Pulling up thatch grass, its clustered roots come together. The determination is auspicious. Success.
六二，包承，小人吉，大人否。亨。
Six in the second place: Bearing and accommodating. For the petty person, auspicious; for the great person, blockage. Success.
六三，包羞。
Six in the third place: Bearing shame.
九四，有命，无咎，疇離祉。
Nine in the fourth place: There is a command. No blame. Companions share the blessing.
九五，休否，大人吉。其亡其亡，繫于苞桑。
Nine in the fifth place: Blockage eases. For the great person, auspicious. “It may perish! It may perish!” Tie it to a clump of mulberry trees.
上九，傾否，先否後喜。
Nine at the top: Blockage overturned. First blockage, afterward joy.
02 / A POSSIBLE CONTEXT
What might the question have been?
If routes or political channels are closed, can someone still obtain an audience, enter service, or advance an affair?
A possible setting
A capable person meets rejection, broken relations, or failing institutions. The great departs and the small arrives. The question is whether to endure, withdraw, or wait for the obstruction to change.
How the words respond
The judgment is unfavorable to the noble person's determination. Early lines suggest association and endurance. Later lines introduce a command, the easing of blockage, and its overturning. The reading depends on changed conditions rather than optimism alone.
Obstruction, endurance, reversal, and recovery belong to the core text. Later ethical explanations are a separate layer.
This scenario adapts the Chinese edition's historical reading. It is a possible reconstruction, not an established single event or the only interpretation.