After the palace banquet, officials who had harbored thoughts of letting their daughters enter the palace to vie for favor all rested those ambitions.
In the heart of the palace women, however, desperation had already taken root.
Many were of an age when they blossomed like flowers, yet their bloom was unappreciated, and they would soon wither and then die alone within these walls.
There used to be hope, but now there was none at all.
Despair was all that lay within their hearts.
No one had imagined that this palace banquet would be Emperor Yan Cheng's last public appearance.
Neither Jun Yuyan nor Murong Jiu had foreseen that a palace banquet would hasten the Emperor's demise.
The incident occurred at dawn the next day, shortly after the doors between the palaces were opened. Palace maids and eunuchs poured in, one team with washing utensils to attend to the Emperor's washing and dressing, another with food boxes for the morning meal.
