The narrator asks his sister which of the three princesses she thinks has the best chance of being chosen by the Emperor and Empress. He doesn't want to speculate about the Emperor's and Empress's preference as all of the young ladies in the palace are beautiful, but he does want to know if the girl he's talking about is the Prime Minister's daughter, who got ignored earlier by everyone. He's already overflowing with ambition and schemes. The princesses have arrived, and the narrator is overjoyed to see that they are not the princess's students, but rather a kindergarten teacher. The tenth princess is so beautiful that she can charm anyone. The narrator tells the girls that she's from the PM's family and is here to serve as their study partner. She's also the most favored of the princesses. The girls are shocked to find that the girl they're talking about isn't the princess they've been talking about. They're all ignoring the narrator. He tries to feed the princess, play with her, and coax her into sleep, but it's too late. The beast wakes up and needs to be fed. He remembers that chu-jiuge is a prisoner in the emperor's palace, and that wang-yulang is a coward who subdued him. He wants to give him some food so that he can eat to please the emperor.