The same reading, taken through each animal of the Chinese zodiac.
鼠
Rat
You will read the message for the angle behind it. Today read it for what it says. The three strokes are exact, and the angle is a way of not feeling them.
牛
Ox
You will bear the letter in silence for a month. Today say aloud that it hurt, once, to one person. The card is pain in writing; the answer is pain in speech.
虎
Tiger
You will answer the wound with a wound. Today wait a day. The Three of Brushes is answered by nothing at all for twenty-four hours, and then by something short.
兔
Rabbit
You will assume the message meant worse than it said. Today read the actual strokes. Three is a small number, and the card is precise about it.
龍
Dragon
The letter offends you and offence is not the feeling underneath. Today find the feeling. The strokes were aimed at the heart, and the pride is standing in front of it.
蛇
Snake
You will keep the wounding message as evidence. Today keep it as a wound. The card asks for feeling, not for a file, and the evidence can wait.
馬
Horse
You will leave rather than read the letter. Read it today, once, standing still. Three strokes are survivable and the leaving is not the same as healing.
羊
Goat
You will apologise for the wound you received. Do not. Today the three strokes were someone else's brush, and the feeling is yours without the fault.
猴
Monkey
You will make the wounding message into a joke by evening. Today let it be a wound until tomorrow. The joke is fine on Thursday; today it is a way of not reading.
雞
Rooster
You will reply with corrections. Today reply with nothing. The Three of Brushes is answered by a day of silence, and the corrections are a second letter you will regret.
狗
Dog
The message wounds someone you love and you will strike back on their behalf. Today do not. Sit with them and the letter; the second wound helps nobody.
豬
Pig
You will soothe the wound with comfort and not look at it. Today look. Three strokes, precisely placed; see where they landed before you cover them.