The sky was filled with flames, and cries and shouts echoed everywhere!
The Princess Royal’s residence, once a paradise of song and dance, bustling with visitors and prosperous as a fairyland, had now become a scene from hell. Servants screamed and ran for their lives, iron-armored soldiers slaughtered with bloodshot eyes, bodies lay in a gruesome heap, and blood covered the ground, filling the vast courtyard with a thick, metallic stench.
Yet the killing continued, and the tragedy was not over!
Just yesterday, she had celebrated her grand ninth birthday at the Qionghua Villa outside the capital. Her mind was still filled with the countless peach blossoms in full bloom, their beauty intoxicating. But when Mu Yunyuan awoke early this morning, everything had changed. No one came to help her wash and dress. No one put her in exquisite silk robes. No one came to comb her hair and set her crown. Barefoot and dressed in plain sleeping clothes, she ran out of the Yinghua Pavilion where she lived, only to see blood and flames, and a scene of utter devastation.
A powerful sense of helplessness swept over her. Overnight, all the splendor she had known for nine years had vanished!
