Josei has mice in his house, and sends Shou to get a cat from the Cat Lady, who feeds hundreds of strays at her house. But Shou finds her dead, and her house in disorder. A prosperous madam from the pleasure quarters appears, having heard that her old friend has died. The Cat Lady was once a famous courtesan, and as is the way of prudent courtesans, in her glory days made sure to get hold of a valuable treasure to see her through her old age. The treasure seems to have been stolen by the thief- but what was it?

A Japanese samurai, Tomita, is sent to China by the Shogun (Yoshimune, to judge by his constipated attitude; and the dates are right) to learn the military arts taught there. His guide is a cheerful Chinese merchant, En, whose family has ties in Nagasaki, the one Japanese city that was open to foreigners at the time. But there is unrest in China itself. The native Chinese chafe under the yoke of their Manchu conquerors, and have revived the secret society, the White Lotus, in order to organize a revolt against their overlords. As Tomita and En travel northwards to the land of the great swordsmen, along with En's young nephew, they come across the army of the White Lotus. And not, as it turns out, by accident...

The White Lotus has already taken the capital of Szechwan by digging underground tunnels and sending a child to light explosives below the walls. Josei's former superior Shukujin is in the castle on his round of inspection of the territory. The castle captain flees, and the defence of the city is left to Shukujin, the dilettante and amorist, who now shows his true mettle. "I hate looking bad," he says to the assistant who tells him to flee himself. Puts on his robe of office, and goes out to meet the rebels...

And here I have a dilemma, because I can't begin to tell you what this story is about without spoiling the previous one. Sorry, you'll just have to read it for yourself.