Jin Zizai’s Fortune-Telling: What Your Lip Shape Reveals About Life’s Turning Points

In face reading, the mouth represents speech, signifies wealth and fortune, and reflects one’s children and later-life destiny. Hence the saying that “children are seen in the mouth.” The period associated with mouth-related fortune spans ages sixty-one to seventy. Mouth width is assessed by comparing the nostrils to the corners of the lips: if it’s narrower than the width of the nostrils, it’s considered narrow; if it extends beyond the width of the pupils, it’s considered wide. Ideally, the lips are rosy, full, well-defined, and lightly lined. In practice, the mouth can be read across three areas: family fortune, career fortune, and character and health. A brief overview follows.

First: Family Fortune

Family fortune related to the mouth mainly concerns children. Traditionally, people valued having children and grandchildren to rely on in old age. A well-shaped mouth suggests good fortune in later years and avoidance of loneliness. In short:

• Rosy lips indicate many offspring; pale lips suggest few children.
• A pointed lip shape and prominent upper lip, together with a shallow philtrum, indicate weak ties with children.
• A well-proportioned mouth with red lips and white teeth signifies a loving marriage.
• A mouth crooked to the left or right suggests conflicts with a spouse.
• Downturned corners of the mouth point to loneliness in old age.
• An upper lip that covers the lower lip indicates poor character; a lower lip that covers the upper lip suggests an unhappy marriage.
• A mouth that resembles a blowing flame indicates a firstborn daughter and loneliness in old age.
• A man with a left-leaning mouth may harm his wife; a woman with a right-leaning mouth may harm her husband.
• Thin, pale lips suggest the parents’ family business is not prosperous.
• A woman with prominent gums and a voice like a man may harm her husband.
• Those who like to pout are prone to infidelity.
• A lower lip that turns outward indicates weak marital ties.
• Rosy lips and a tall, slender build suggest the birth of a son.
• Exposed gums indicate an unsatisfactory marriage.

Second: Career Fortune

The mouth represents a person’s livelihood—how society sustains you. For career fortune in later life, it should be considered together with the indicators of land and food storage. In brief:

• A very large mouth without defined corners makes it hard to accumulate wealth.
• A very large mouth with small eyes is ill-suited to pursuing official positions, i.e., government work.
• A very large mouth with a small nose suggests career disputes arising from one’s words.
• A large mouth with red lips indicates career fortune that improves with age.
• If teeth aren’t visible when speaking, one is likely wealthy or noble.
• A large, well-shaped mouth points to good fortune between fifty-one and sixty-five years of age.
• A small, pointed mouth with dark lips indicates poor fortune in old age.
• A small mouth with a large forehead suggests unfavorable fortune.
• A small mouth with a large nose indicates hard work with little reward.
• A mouth that resembles a blowing flame suggests a life of hardship and poverty.
• A frequently red, dry chin indicates poor financial fortune.
• A short tongue and long lips suggest a harried old age.

Third: Character and Health

The mouth’s shape reflects one’s attitude; for example, a crooked mouth suggests insincerity, and pointed mouths tend to gossip. Lip color is also thought to mirror spleen and stomach health; pale lips indicate poor condition. In brief:

• A well-defined mouth with full lips indicates a warm personality and strong verbal skills.
• The mouth relates to the spleen and stomach, the tongue to the heart, and the teeth to the bones. Pale lips suggest weak spleen and stomach function, while a red tongue indicates excessive heart fire.
• A mouth with upturned corners and well-defined lips is best, indicating good financial and overall fortune.
• Excessive salivation after age seventy indicates longevity; before seventy, it suggests a short life.
• A mouth that resembles a blowing flame indicates a lifelong tendency to stir up trouble.
• A large mouth with a small face suggests a tendency to take advantage of others.
• Moles at the corners of the mouth point to hurting others with words—argumentative and gossipy.
• Blue, black, or purple lips are all inauspicious.
• Lined lips indicate ancestral virtue and compassion.
• Lips without lines indicate arrogance, lack of humility, broken promises, and unreliability.
• A short tongue indicates poor character and ultimately a bad end.
• Dimples on the face indicate poor digestive health.
• White or very pale lips suggest difficulties in childbirth.