He Yan

The one who turns Cao Shuang, in two sentences, from a scrupulous colleague into a rival: 'My lord, you should not let your great powers slip into the hands of any other, or you will repent it', and then the reminder that Sima Yi's temper killed Cao Zhen. Made Chair of one of three boards. Also the man who summons Guan Lu to read his fortune and hears it: he has come to high honours and 'those who esteem you are few and those who fear you, many', the blue flies of his recurring dream gather to foul objects, and the lofty fears a fall. Guan Lu's private verdict on him afterwards is that he is 'bloodless, and what should be solid in him is mere vapor. He looks like rotten wood.'

Leaves the city with Cao Shuang, and is named first when Zhang Dang breaks under interrogation: 'I am not the only one who has tried to subvert the government. He Yan, Deng Yang, Li Sheng, Ding Mi, and Bi Gui are all involved in the plot.' Confesses under questioning that a rising had been arranged for the third month, is locked into one long wooden collar with the other four, and is executed — which the chapter pauses to note is exactly what Guan Lu foretold: 'he perceived the soul of He Yan, / Already in the vale of gloom.'