The narrator is overjoyed to learn that the princess of western Shu is also the general of the western kingdom. In the novel, after the conquest of the northern kingdom by Ching, Ching sends troops to attack the southern kingdom. Ching decides to marry the princess to protect her people. Ching plans to unite the southern kingdoms through marriage. The narrator wishes to toast Ching to his favorite female character. Ching is looking for a gift among the gifts, and he finds a piece of wax that he thinks is poisonous. Ching asks the narrator to taste the fruit, but Ching says that he would never ask him to act as a taster for him. Ching tells the narrator that the fruit is called lychee, a local fruit to western Shu, and Ching guesses that Ching will bring it as a gift to establish diplomatic relations. Ching takes the narrator on a tour of a tower in the snow, where he finds Princess yongning.