The chapter opens with a description of the "worm crisis" . The doctor explains that he and his wife invented a drinkable worm-killing vaccine, but that it was difficult to get the right amount of the right kind of worm to enter the brain. The next day, he says, he was working hard in the laboratory as if he were "laboring abused." His father promises to buy him "candied haws" if he works hard, but the doctor says he has to take medicine on time. He gives the doctor a jade pendant that his mother gave him as a gift, and the doctor tells him that they will arrive in the capital in three days. He tells the father that they are going to investigate a royal family missing child case. Three years ago, many children were missing from the palace of the emperor, but none of them were found. This time, however, the missing children were found, but no one was able to identify the killer. The captain of the convoy tells the doctor that they must spend the night in a desolate temple because of heavy rain.