Hibaku bids farewell to Josei. "We'll meet next year. When the peach blossoms bloom I accompany the Emperor south. Be in Nanjing in the first month, at the house of the Overseer of the Silk Industry." Come the new year and all the governors' staff are a atwitter over the Emperor's coming tour of inspection. "He says, 'make no special preparations for me'-- that means we've got to pull out all the stops!" An old councilor tells them that on a previous tour one official presented him with seven beautiful women. "Ah-hah! That's what we'll do!" "Nonono- the Emperor was *extremely* displeased.' Ahhh, now what do we do? Tough to be an official under an honest Emperor.

Meanwhile Shou has gone back to school in his old town. First thing he finds is a boy being set on by three others. He tells them No fair. They tell him Butt out, short stuff. Shou is sensitive about his size and pounds the three into the ground. The boy, Meishu, takes him home to dinner in thanks.

Turns out the three bullies are his cousins, the sons of his father's younger brother. His father died a year ago and his mother is lady of the house now, but the younger brother's family hold it against her that she was a courtesan before her marriage. After her husband's death they told Meishu about his mother's past, taunting him with being a prostitute's son, and this has created a coldness between Meishu and his mother. But all is not well in the younger brother's family either. He's been borrowing heavily since his brother's death, taking his wife's jewelry to do it. And then murder happens while Shou is in the house. The magistrate, Josei's successor is called in. His way of dealing with a crime is to put all witnesses to the torture. Faced with that possibility, Shou goes all out to solve the crime himself.

Meanwhile the Emperor arrives in Nanjing and takes up residence in the Overseer's house. Josei appears and Hibaku, on guard duty, indicates the garden where the Emperor is, as ever in his spare time, fishing. Josei kowtows. "Fool," the Emperor says. "How long are you going to go traipsing about, abandoning me and your work?" Josei is back in the favour that Shukujin's negligence cost him back in 'Heavenly Maid Mulan.' Of course this also means that Josei is going back to Beijing with the Emperor, and Shukujin is in despair- especially since Josei won't give him even the consolation of a parting hug.

Shou gets the news that Josei is going to Beijing. He remembers all the good food they have there. "I'll go too!" And his best friend Gyokugen (from Willow Spring) declares "If you're going I'm going too!" And so it's decided.

Josei has a cold and all the local magistrates send their servants with the usual healthful and nauseating things one is supposed to drink for colds. A young woman sees the crowds of messengers crowding about Josei's house and asks who he is. When she finds out she comes visiting and insists on seeing Josei, even in the middle of the night and even though he's in bed.

Three years ago she had a child out of wedlock. In perplexity her mother went to consult the two nuns who live in a nunnery just outside town. They knew of a home that wanted a child and so the baby was sent out to fosterage. Now the woman is the concubine of a rich man and wants her child back. The nuns won't tell her where she is- 'She's happy in her new family. You mustn't disturb her'- but that's not good enough for the high-handed and imperious concubine. She wants Josei to go see the nuns for her and negotiate the price they want for information. 'And of course you won't find me ungrateful either.' Josei, still polite in the face of these insults, puts her off- 'I'll look into it when I'm recovered'- but a day or so later Shou sees the woman's body and that of her maid being taken from the river. They were beaten to death and thrown into the water. 'I can't tell Josei,' Shou thinks in an unusual access of maturity. 'He'll insist on getting up to investigate this and he'll kill himself walking about in the cold.' So it's Shou who investigates the deaths and finds the dark secret behind them.

A clerk from Shou's father's business comes to escort Shou and Gyokugen to Beijing in Josei's wake. But on board the boat a woman recognizes Gyokugen as the son of a rich family. She and her accomplice kidnap him, by the simple expedient of throwing Shou and the clerk into the river.

They swim to shore and use a local business connection- a man called Tei, who looks like Doraemon- to discover what's happened. It seems a woman bandit called Hien has been terrorizing the neighbourhood, abducting good-looking young men and killing the soldiers sent to take her. But Hien has no use for Gyokugen, who's just a boy. She's going to have him killed, but she asks if he perhaps he has an older brother. 'Yes," Gyokugen says in desperation. 'And much better looking than me- Kou Josei!'

Tei, who has his finger on the pulse of all the local happenings, learns that a message from Hien has been delivered to the provincial governor- "Tell Kou Josei to come with the ransom for his brother.' This gives him an idea. Off he goes to Shukujin. So far attempts to attack Hien's hideout have failed. Someone has to get inside and undermine her from within- and who better qualified than a gorgeous man like Shukujin himself? 'Kou Josei will be very grateful to the man who saves his younger brother,' he says persuasively, and that settles the matter. So away Shukujin goes, to a very surprising adventure.