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Cheng Mingqian stated: Chu Cheng said that during sexual intercourse, if the Yin blood arrives first and the Yang essence follows, a male fetus is formed; if the Yang essence enters first and the Yin blood participates subsequently, a female fetus is formed. Believing this statement is correct. However, some people conceive a son by ejaculating before emission, and a daughter by ejaculating after emission; why is this so? Li Dongyuan said: One to two days after menstruation ceases, when the Blood Sea (Xuehai) has just cleared, conception results in a male; four to five days later, when the blood vessels are vigorous, conception results in a female; after six or seven days, even with sexual intercourse, pregnancy cannot be achieved. Believing this statement is correct. However, some women conceive a daughter immediately after menstruation ends, and a son long after it ends; some do not conceive from intercourse within four or five days after menstruation ends, but do conceive from intercourse eight or nine days later; why is this so? Yu Zimu wrote *Guangsi Yaolüe* (Essentials for Prolonging Offspring), establishing prescriptions and diagrams, asserting that solid Yang can enter empty Yin, but solid Yin cannot receive Yang; this is merely an old view of Li Dongyuan. He further stated that slight Yang cannot shoot into Yin, and weak Yin cannot grasp Yang. Believing this statement is correct. In the world, there are emaciated husbands and timid, weak wives who repeatedly conceive, unable to stop even if they wish to; conversely, there are those with robust Qi and Blood and superior vitality who find it difficult to produce offspring, with no one able to save them; why is this so? Zhu Danxi discussed treatment, focusing primarily on women's menstruation. Yet, among wealthy families who have many concubines, are there none whose menstrual periods occur on schedule? Some women, having been frequently pregnant by a former husband, are married hoping for easy conception, yet fail to conceive; upon remarriage, they quickly bear sons. Can it be that they cannot conceive here but can conceive there? I believe that parents giving birth to children is like Heaven and Earth generating all things. The *I Ching* (Book of Changes) states: "The way of Kun (Earth) is its submission, receiving the movement of Qian (Heaven) and acting in accordance with time." (Receiving the movement of Heaven is indeed the highest principle, yet there are barren lands; does this mean the way of Kun is not submissive?). Knowing that the earth generates all things only by submitting to Heaven, we know that a mother bearing a child also only submits to the father. Knowing that the mother must submit to the father, then in seed-conception (Zizhong), is it primarily based on the woman or the man? However, what is meant by "primarily based on the man" is not constrained by age, strength, health, illness, or whether semen is easily or difficult to emit. It depends solely on whether, at the time of intercourse, the Qi of the Hundred Vessels (Baimai) arrives simultaneously. If the Qi of the Hundred Vessels arrives simultaneously during intercourse, even an old, weak, ill person who emits semen easily can achieve pregnancy; if the Qi of the Hundred Vessels is disparate during intercourse, even a young, strong, healthy person who finds it difficult to emit semen will struggle to achieve pregnancy. The blood constituted by the woman, although gathered from the Hundred Vessels, cannot be without distinction in weight compared to the man's essence. Confucius praised the Yuan of Qian, stating that providing origin is called Great; he praised the Yuan of Kun, stating that providing life is called Ultimate. Is there no profound meaning here? As for distinguishing male from female, it is not constrained by the sequence of essence and blood, nor by how many days after menstruation ends, nor by whether intercourse occurs before or after midnight, nor by whether the father is strong and the mother weak, or vice versa. It distinguishes victory and defeat solely by whether the essence and blood each arrive simultaneously via the Hundred Vessels. Therefore, if the simultaneous arrival of the Hundred Vessels in the essence surpasses that in the blood, a male is formed; if the simultaneous arrival of the Hundred Vessels in the blood surpasses that in the essence, a female is formed. Regarding those who miscarry after conception, those who give birth but cannot raise the child, those who raise the child but do not live long, and those who live long with boundless descendants, these are determined by the firmness or fragility of the essence and blood, which dictate longevity. People of the world, failing to observe that the firmness or fragility of essence and blood is fixed at the beginning of endowment, blame miscarriages solely on the mother, inability to raise children solely on the child, and longevity or premature death solely on fate. Is this not erroneous?