The protagonist wakes up at 5 a.m. and spends two hours getting to the emperor's palace. He laments that in modern times he has to work for "the evil capitalists" and that in ancient times he had to spend his youth "to the reserved emperor" . The protagonist's sister, the prime minister's daughter , arrives at the palace. She is dressed in light makeup and plain clothes, and the emperor is coming later to see her. He thanks her for her service to the royal family and tells her that she should be loyal to him. He also tells her to respect the courtesy of the emperor and be diligent to her country, so that she can be relieved. He asks her why he did it on purpose, and she tells him that it is clearly he is punishing her. She wonders why he is flirting with her, but she never mentions the emperor when she wrote the novel. She also wonders why the emperor has been using "pearl powder" on her face, and wonders if he has something to do with her appearance. She asks the protagonist if she is eating at the lady-supreme mansion of the prime ministers son, the son of Minister of works . He looks like a "young urban migrant" with "exuberant hairstyles, heavy makeup, flamboyant costumes" , and he is wearing a "foreign thai ladyman" hair color. She tells the protagonist that he should be the "son of the minister" because his looks are quite good, and that the former owner of the house hooked him up with her for a