Lin yaoyue complains to zhener that his mother has not been allowed to protect her. He says that he has been working very hard to protect his mother, but that those who plotted against her have succeeded. Lin says that the whole family is not mourning for the dead first wife, but he fears that grandmother will be known as a "wicked mother" the next day. Lin tries to explain that the family management is the responsibility of both Lin and his mother. He asks the second son to put on mourning clothes. The second son refuses, saying that he washed the mourning clothes the other day and they are not dry yet. Lin asks the other family members to take the plain mourning clothes for his grandmother, the second uncle and the second miss. The family members argue that they do not follow the etiquette of mourning, but Lin says he will sue them for being un-filial if they refuse to mourn for their dead mother. The old woman tells Lin that she has been punished for harboring a fang and confined to her room for the rest of the day. She tells him to go back to his own room.