It's three o'clock in the morning, and the Empress is celebrating her birthday. The weather is cold, windy, and rainy, so she's going to have to wear a hat. The hat is a gift from jiang, and jiang says he's not disappointed. He also says that they've recently given him a coat of "white fox fur" , but he can't act freely in Dongchang because the whereabouts of jiang's lover are kept a secret, so he couldn't figure out who sent the coat of fur. He's also worried that jiang is trying to seduce hongqiu with the hat, since there are no men present to do so. He says that the sooner the affair with guangzhou is resolved the easier it is for him.