The narrator tells us that the richest man in southern China is called "qian baiwan," or "the local richest man" . He's a rich guy who's been bribing officials in the area to make sure he doesn't have to deal with anyone. The narrator says that he's found a pretty young woman and wants to buy her. The rich guy says he can't buy her on the mainland because she's so expensive, but he can buy her in the southern part of the country for five hundred gold taels , or about a thousand dollars. This sounds like a lot of money, but the narrator says it's too much for him to spend a lifetime on a single woman. He says he tried to bribe the prince regent to give him a share of the salt in the river, but didn't succeed. So he decides to find a beautiful woman and offer her to the prince. The prince regent gets a pretty lady with him, and the narrator thinks this is a bad idea.