During the Former Yan dynasty, Lady Duan, was the wife and probably princess of Murong Na (慕容納) the Prince of Beihai.
After Former Yan's destruction by Former Qin in 370, the Former Qin emperor Fu Jiān initially made Murong Na a commandery governor, but later Murong Na was relieved from that post and relocated, along with his mother Lady Gongsun and Lady Duan to be with his younger brother Murong De, who was the governor of Zhangye Commandery (張掖, roughly modern Zhangye, Gansu).
Later, after Later Liang surrendered to Later Qin in 403, Huyan Ping, Lady Duan, and Murong Chao were among the populace of the Later Liang capital Guzang (姑臧, in modern Wuwei, Gansu) forcibly relocated to the Later Qin capital Chang'an.
Murong Chao's rule was an arbitrary and incompetent one, and the Southern Yan state suffered greatly, particularly after he provoked Jin by attacking its borders and capturing its people to be trained as replacement musicians in 409.
Murong Chao was executed, and he entrusted his mother and wife to the Jin official Liu Jingxuan (劉敬宣), who had once been a Southern Yan subject.