"We swear! We'll survive together, and make Ever-Normal for All! Everyone will be free from hunger!" The first…
"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.