This chapter opens with a conversation between a young man named cao and his older brother chou. cao tells cao that he has seen a skinny man in front of Lan's mansion. The young man is a candidate for the vice-minister's office, and cao is afraid that the man is trying to bribe cao. chou tells him that he is from the province of xichuan, and he is selling vegetarian noodles in the city. He asks cao if he can introduce himself to the young man, and the two men agree to meet. .