When the scene opens, peng is in the middle of a conversation with his sister, Su, when he realizes that his mother is cold. He asks Su to show him the way to the brothel, but Su refuses, saying that she is learning to read from the steward's account book. Su tells him that it is her mother's birthday, and she is not going to honor it. Su asks her mother what is wrong, and Su tells her that her mother has eaten something that is not good for her. Su says that she has made a medicine that can treat an allergy and cough, and if her mother trusts her, she can feed it to her mother.