Zu Ti was a spirited youth who valued loyalty over bookish learning. Though his brothers worried about his lack of interest in study, he often gave away family grain and cloth to help the poor. One night, sharing a room with his friend Liu Kun, he heard a rooster crow at midnight. “That’s no bad omen,” he said, and rose to practice swordplay. From then on, the two would rise at every cockcrow to train, driven by a shared dream of serving their country. Zu Ti later became a renowned general of the Eastern Jin, and Liu Kun a loyal minister of the Western Jin. Yet both saw their grand ambitions thwarted by the chaos of their times. True resolve is not measured by success or failure, but by the daily discipline to rise, even before the sun, and strive with all your heart. In the ordinary rhythm of life, may you keep an extraordinary purpose alive.