Shen Yilun

"We swear! We'll survive together, and make Ever-Normal for All! Everyone will be free from hunger!" The first time Shen Yilun heard this vow, he was barely twelve or thirteen. Back then, he didn't truly grasp what "Ever-Normal for All" meant. Perhaps even Zheng Ruan, who'd said it with such bright laughter, didn't either. Yet something in those words called to the boy's heart. And since following Zheng E had long been his habit, he nodded fervently, eager to match his friends' hopes. He heard the vow again the following year, when the Later Han army collapsed and General Guo Wei seized the capital. Chaos bred famine, and families like the Shens faced starvation, until A'zheng and A'ruan saved them with their own rationed grain. Clutching the coarse bun they'd given him, he nodded even harder. Ever-Normal for All now tasted as sweet as this humble bread. Then his elder brother shattered that innocence. "The strong devour the weak in times like these! If they don't die, how do we live?" Shen Yiren and his Later Han comrades, hunted by Guo Wei's forces after defeat, had been starving in the mountains. At the sight of food, they seized A'zheng and A'ruan, stormed the Zheng estate, and left only ashes and blood behind. That night, the Zheng estate burned in a blazing inferno. The screams and blood opened Shen Yilun's eyes to the weight of those words, "Ever-Normal for All," far heavier and harder than he'd imagined. And as he began to understand, he lost the right to turn back: A'ruan was dead, his brother was dead, and so many others. Four years later, Shen Yilun left home. The Dawn-to-Dusk had ravaged eastern Kaifeng, and despite his efforts, he'd received news of A'zheng's death. Their vow to survive together had crumbled, leaving the boy consumed by grief and a desperate urge to move forward. He had to force himself ahead, even though walking alone, after years of following A'zheng and A'ruan, terrified him. He refused to let their promise become a joke, and now, he was the only one left to carry it. So the young Shen Yilun packed his bags, ready to leave his hometown. The night before departure, he visited his friends' graves again. "We swore to make Ever-Normal for All and everyone free from hunger." He whispered to the departed, turning away with newfound resolve. Though he sensed the trials ahead, he never imagined this vow would consume his entire life.

What will a man sacrifice to atone for a lifetime of regrets? For Shen Yilun, the answer was simple: Everything. And so he did. For twelve solitary years, he trudged toward that vision of "Ever-Normal for All". Until the Ever-Normal Granary rose tall over golden wheat fields. Until carts of grain from all directions filled them to the brim. For a fleeting moment, his friends' long-ago vow seemed almost within reach. Then the court handed Plainfield to monsters and rationed the grain for war. Cold reality doused the flames of idealism, leaving only embers. Still, he persisted. On his return from a southern inspection, he plotted memorials, strategies, and relief efforts until a sudden kidnapping interrupted everything. As he was seized, he braced for death, consumed by regret. Then, shocked, he recognized his "old friend". From the moment he left Kaifeng, Shen Yilun had never dared to hope for a reunion with A'zheng. So when the initial shock faded, his heart was overwhelmed by grief at his friend's descent into darkness. But in a hidden corner, a tiny flicker of joy began to grow. Part of this joy came from the sheer miracle of A'zheng's survival, but another part was selfishly personal: for the first time, he saw a chance at redemption, a way to undo the mistakes that had haunted him for twelve long years. Unfortunately, events soon spiraled beyond Shen Yilun's control. The towering Dawn-to-Dusk Blossom laid bare a cruel truth: the friend he remembered had been buried by chaos, by villains, and... by himself. Shen Yilun refused to accept the shattered promise, especially when it was his grown friend who'd destroyed it. So in those endless dark days, he sought and prayed, until fate led him to another honest, kind-hearted boy, just as it had twelve years before. And so the towering flames rose again. Twelve years prior, fire had reduced the Zheng family mansion and the teenagers' innocence and kindness to ash. Twelve years later, an even hotter blaze consumed both present-day sins and past obsessions. Gazing at his disoriented old friend, Shen Yilun found that the man's shadow at last overlapped with the boy he had once known. "From now on, you are the true Master of Grain." With those final words, exhaled on his final breath, Shen Yilun knew: This is the end. When he'd begun this path, he'd been certain he'd give everything without hesitation. Yet now, with his wish fulfilled, what surged up wasn't peace, but regret. Regret and apology. For as his eyes closed, he thought he'd stepped back into the past or forward into an unknown future. There, the "Master of Grain" stood alone in endless wheat fields, while young, kind boys laughed and raced through the golden waves, the air thick with the sweet, gentle scent of grain.