Phoenix in the Imperial Palace

The scene opens on a mid-autumn festival day, where the imperial prince tries to tell the royal consort that he wants to see a play at a local market place. The royal consort tells him that she has to respond on her behalf, because the prince tried to warn her, but she could not understand the allusion. The prince asks her why she should go with him, and she replies that she does not want to go to the market place with him because he is not in a good mood. She tells him to have fun with her, since she makes people disappointed in the cases in which she is intelligent. She goes on to say that she will always be a lower class person, and that the prince should be ashamed of himself for being such a rude person. She says that the last time she had an argument with the prince, he was an idiot, and he deserved it. He scolds her for not being a human being. She responds by saying that she looks like a tuo ba-chen, and the prince says that he is forcing her to kill him. He asks her to drag him off her hand, and when she does so, she says that she wants to kill her. He tells her that if she had not reacted so quickly, he would have pinched her arm. He says that if he had not acted fast, she could have pinched his arm. She asks him what he means by bullying the people of the palace,