Yang Lian's black hair sways with the wintry breeze that stirs through his office. The cold is growing and he is wearing clothes that warm him. A long cloak, dyed a dark shade of purple, with black hair on the shoulders and sides, is draped over his armour.

Yang Lian has an impassive posture, contrasting with the two clumsy sargeants who are sitting in front of his desk to receive orders. The sergeants endeavour to appear imposing, but only the general's gaze is capable of making them shudder, although Yang Lian's intention is not to be intimidating.

— Colonels thirteen and four led a revolt against the members of the secondary family. They surrounded their main mansion and tried to break in, but when they entered, everyone had already murdered each other. We suspect that the motivation for the killings is a dispute over the power left vacant by the former leader of our clan. The first ten in the line of succession, all members of the secondary family, have already been murdered. The cavalry has already arrested those responsible for the revolt and solved the problem, so we'll be bringing you a detailed report from the intelligence division. Also, another rebellion has started, one led by some civilian called Yang Hong.

— Just arrest Yang Hong and his followers, Major Six will lead this operation.

— Understood.

The sergeants bid him farewell and leave the office.

Yang Lian gets up and watches from his window as the people in the streets shout and fight each other while his subordinates try to calm them down. The murmuring dies down and they quieten down because nobody wants to upset the imposing army that is demanding order.

Although it hasn't been an hour since the riot broke out before it's over, a woman who was working while the disorder was taking place has died and a large number of secondary family members are being murdered by their own relatives, sometimes by brothers who grew up together and have been blinded by power that doesn't belong to them.

Yang Lian sees his master near the clan gate, apparently he will speak out in the face of the fact that most of the Yang want him as the clan leader, especially the military and the elders. The general places his cloak on the table and jumps out of the window. He walks on the rooftops, approaching Yang Wen and the crowd forming around him, and sits down in a favourable position to listen.

Yang Lian puts his left hand to his face to check that the dragon mask is in place, as if he hadn't done it several times that very day.

Yang Wen greets the crowd and falls silent again, keeping the people waiting. It's as if all the information in the universe is flooding into his mind and at the same time he's not thinking about anything. Various possibilities and conclusions are evaluated without him even realising it, which makes him pause for a moment before speaking. And while silence dominates, people wait for at least one word.

— How will we decide our new leader? Yang Cheng left no successor, and the secondary family, which was supposed to take over as the main family, is in chaos, and most of its members are already dead.

— We want you as our leader! — shouts a soldier, accompanied in excitement by his comrades.

— Yeah — shouts a little child, imitating the adults.

— I don't want those savages from the secondary family who can't even look after themselves leading us!

— We want Jin Qiyue as our leader! — this shout comes from the back of the crowd and those close to the man look at him strangely — What? He's good at leading the Jin.

When the crowd starts to cause a commotion, Yang Wen interrupts them.

— The elders will decide who the next leader will be — he quickly leaves.

Yang Lian walks across the rooftops and enters the main military base through the window, to avoid being delayed by the crowds in the streets, heading for the marshal's office.

— How will things be? — he doesn't specify because he doesn't know exactly what he's asking about, perhaps the leadership of the clan? The plan they share? All aspects of the future would be a good definition.

— I don't know exactly, but no matter which possibility comes true, I have a plan for each of them.

— Got it — he lets down his hair, lies down on the wooden floor, takes off his mask and puts it next to him, while Yang Wen sits at his desk.

— I don't have time to meet with my er-shidi¹⁰ today, could you go in my place? — he says as he looks through some papers.

— Yes, what should I talk to him about? — he gets up and grabs some writing materials.

— About the end of our plan, we've been given a valuable opportunity to end the war.

— What opportunity?

— Haven't you heard what happened?

— I don't know what you mean, but I'm out of date, so certainly not — Yang Wen explains the latest events — Really? It's a great advantage, however... The cost was too high — he pauses — And what should I write to tell him?

Yang Wen tells the general in detail everything he wants to communicate with his ally, who takes careful and orderly notes on all the subjects. When he's finished, the side of Yang Lian's face is a little dirty with ink, the marshal wipes it off with his hand and the young man thanks him.

The parchment is stored in an inner compartment of Yang Lian's robes, which he sewed himself, a little badly, but good enough to be safe — he prefers to sew these details himself, because even if he drew them, the tailors wouldn't understand his ideas — and he jumps out of the window.

Yang Lian walks along the rooftops until he reaches his house and climbs down next to a carriage, gets into it and calls out through the window to the driver who was standing nearby.

Hours are spent travelling to the capital Luoyang. All along the way, Yang Lian just distracts himself in his thoughts and rests, revelling in the calmness of the easily boring environment, because life shouldn't be made up of action and waiting for action, all time is a gift to be enjoyed. This is his philosophy of life: don't waste time regretting the past, don't waste time looking forward to the future and just cherish a simple life.

His favourite moments are not those of honour in grandiose fights, but watching a bird sing, playing with his little brothers, cooking and then being scolded by Yang Jingyi for the chaos he has created, reading a book written who knows where centuries ago, finding a strange insect that intrigues him, trying to meditate and accidentally falling asleep, jumping into cool water on a hot day, because even the lives of the most legendary historical figures are, for the most part, ordinary.

In his view, the world is capable of being beautiful, despite the cruelties, perhaps it is evil that emphasises the good things. He who has never suffered is the most miserable of all because he doesn't know how incredible his life is, because he has nothing to compare his experiences to and understand their value.

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Footnotes:
¹⁰ Translated it would be "second martial brother", however I believe that could lose some of the meaning and it would still be necessary to explain the term, as I imagine not everyone knows what it is, I'll say it. "Martial brother" is what the other disciples of his master call him, and "second" means that he is the second oldest of all the disciples.