The narrator tells us that he and his father-in-law were just coming back from an artillery factory when they heard the commotion coming. It was said that whenever the emperor got angry, he'd execute his ministers. The narrator wonders if this is true. He asks if the emperor first reacted to the call as a military donation, but his real intent was to support his majesty. The minister chou says that he gave a lot of gold to the girl as a tip, and now he's only giving a year's worth of salary. He's shocked that the minister would give such a small amount of money to the royal family. He says that as a minister grind teeth, he would be willing to give all the crops harvested from his field this year as a donation to relieve the emperor's burden.