Synopsis

Fresh blood splattered across the general's manor, thick as cinnabar, dotted with fragments of flesh. The steward turned pale, retching at the horrifying sight. Hoofbeats thundered, urgent commands echoed outside the estate, and the grand gates shook as if someone was desperately trying to flee. A princely retainer on horseback roared, "Leave no one alive!" On the garden wall behind the Grand Councilor's manor, sword slashes and bloodstains were still starkly visible. In a nearby woodshed, a blood-soaked steward of the general's manor gazed at two young boys, barely four or five years old. His parched lips trembled, his voice hoarse, pleading: "Young Master, please heed my words, do not venture out. Let Xiao Chu go, let him escape…" Despair was etched onto his mud-stained face, old tears streamed down, as he desperately weighed every possibility. Not long after, the Imperial Guards stormed the Grand Councilor's manor and found the woodshed. Two corpses, one old and one young, lay motionless on the floor. A captain thoroughly inspected them and loudly reported: "No one remains, all are dead!"