The chapter opens with a description of the winter of the year before. It's cold outside, but the body feels the coldness, and the house is warm. Lijun goes up to the mountain every morning to pick firewood, and she sneaks some firewood under the roof. The little girl always gives way to the road, and when she sees the gang of men teasing her, she carries the firewood. The narrator tells us that the house isn't warm enough to block the wind, and that he can't vent his frustrations. He asks if the family no longer wants to help him pick firewood for him. The family's honor was unaffected, and no one dared to compete with them for favors. A year later, Lijun dies of illness. The doctor says that she co-opted with the family and poisoned the empress. The emperor takes the title of queen back, and shu is demoted to cold palace.