The narrator tells the audience that they are all "her highnesses people" . He tells them that he is the father of seven daughters, and that he cannot bear to see them separated. He says that he issued an edict to justify the relationship between his daughter and his son-in-law, the late emperor. The late emperor did not only raise his daughter as his own, but also treated her equally with his other daughters. The narrator says that this is a rare example of an emperor who treated his children equally. He asks the audience to believe that his daughter is not his biological daughter, but a child of a concubine. He then tells the story of the Buddha's teachings, saying that he encouraged people to drink strange things to celebrate their rebirth into the realm of enlightenment. The Buddha, he says, did not know that his teachings were being used as a political tool. He also says that the Buddha should not have encouraged the public to parade and give them strange things. He wants to tell his daughter that he loves her and wants to be her husband. She says that she wants to marry him, but that she will not be able to do so if he does not propose to her. She asks the narrator to pretend to be surprised by her proposal.