This chapter's epigraph comes from a famous line in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, in which Hamlet asks, "What brings you here? Your highness prince?" . It's a reference to the highness of the prince's family, who have been loyal to the prince for generations. Hamlet asks the prince why he's here, and the prince answers that the prince has broken the law. He's afraid that if an official breaks the law, they'll rebel against him. The prince asks the mother why she's there, and she tells him that the doctor has told her to kill the jiuqing. The mother tells the prince that she'll have to give the plate to her son-in-law, the general, in secret. She's worried that the general won't be able to watch over his daughter as she dies, so she wants to make sure that he doesn't betray her. She also says that she thinks the general will want to save his daughter's life, so he'll probably be thinking about a way to do so.