The next morning, Lin tells his brother that he has heard from sister-ning that he is doing well in his fight against the banshan. Lin tells him that he should hurry up and sell the house that he and his sister have been living in, because there are no more houses left in the city. Lin says that he heard that the woman who answered the couplet was a teacher at the jinghua Academy in the capital, and that she is even a top person in the guozijian. Lin agrees with him, saying that they must eliminate the bandits, so that the people like them can continue to make babies and fill their pockets with money. He adds that he brought troops personally from the emperor, or else, he would have to use the imperial decree. Lin asks where he learned all of the tricks of storytelling, and he says that his mother died early, so he learned some of them himself