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.
蠱：元亨。利涉大川。先甲三日，後甲三日。
Gu: Great success. Favorable to cross the great river. Three days before jia; three days after jia.
初六：幹父之蠱，有子考，无咎，厲終吉。
Six at the beginning: Repairing the father's damage. Having a son, the deceased father is without blame. Danger; auspicious in the end.
九二：幹母之蠱，不可貞。
Nine in the second place: Repairing the mother's damage. A determination should not be pressed.
九三：幹父之蠱，小有悔，无大咎。
Nine in the third place: Repairing the father's damage. Some regret, but no great blame.
六四：裕父之蠱，往見吝。
Six in the fourth place: Indulging the father's damage. Going on brings distress.
六五：幹父之蠱，用譽。
Six in the fifth place: Repairing the father's damage. This earns praise.
上九：不事王侯，高尚其事。
Nine at the top: Not serving kings or lords. Holding one's own undertaking in high esteem.
02 / A POSSIBLE CONTEXT
What might the question have been?
Can illness, damaged property, disordered rites, or household troubles inherited from the previous generation be repaired?
A possible setting
A household faces something that has deteriorated over time. The word gu can suggest decay, affliction, or disorder. The undertaking also requires attention to days before and after a jia day in the ancient ten-day cycle.
How the words respond
The judgment names three days before and after jia. The lines distinguish repairing a father's or mother's damage, tolerating it, receiving praise for repair, and finally declining service to rulers. The situations do not all receive the same outcome.
Inherited disorder and a calendrical formula frame a consultation about repair, disease, or disrupted ritual affairs.
This scenario adapts the Chinese edition's historical reading. It is a possible reconstruction, not an established single event or the only interpretation.