From within his quarantine chamber, Qin Zheng furiously demands to know who leaked the coronation footage, briefly suspecting Yizhi until Zetian deflects suspicion. He orders the production crew threatened with execution unless they identify the culprit, and dictates a harsh new edict requiring every five neighboring households to monitor each other for counter-revolutionary activity, with collective punishment for failures and rewards for informants. Zetian is unsettled by the severity but recognizes the reactionaries' growing reach.

Discussion turns to managing public response. Yizhi proposes filming a sanitized recreation of the coronation, while Sima Yi insists Zetian must bear an heir, claiming motherhood would silence critics far more effectively than battlefield exploits. Zetian retorts that Sima Yi himself has no claim to the chairmanship now that Sage Kong Zhuxi has surfaced; Sima Yi declares he would gladly yield to the Sage if it meant exposing the counter-revolutionaries.

The argument escalates into a furious clash over pregnancy. Sima Yi accuses Zetian of irrational fear; Zetian rages about the impossible standards placed on mothers and the threat of female infanticide, recalling her father's stories about families drowning second daughters and her own mother's traumatic, rapid second pregnancy. Qin Zheng silences them but sides with Sima Yi that Zetian must stop resisting.

Panicked by memories of the invasive maidenhood examination and the prospect of forced insemination, Zetian proposes a compromise: fake the pregnancy publicly, then announce a miscarriage after the reactionary leaders are rooted out. She warns Qin Zheng that a real pregnancy would destroy her piloting ability and tribute generation. Yizhi, with quiet bitterness, supports the facade but advises waiting a few weeks to prevent parentage rumors. Qin Zheng agrees to announce the false pregnancy after Zetian's next battle.