The scene opens in the courtyard of the pavilion, where Ling is locked in with the other guards. He asks the guards to take him inside to "broaden his mind." The guards refuse to let him in, saying that the ladies have not yet woken up. Ling asks if there is something between the guards and the master, and the guards tell him that there is. Ling tries to convince the guards not to leave, but they refuse to listen to him. He tells the guards that he has been serving as Ling's concubine for eleven years, and that he knows the story behind the girl's involvement in the rebellion against the emperor. He says that the girl was innocent, but that she was executed for being an orphan in her mother's belly