The narrator tells us that the government has been busy with a lot of things lately, and that someone has come to visit every day. First, it's the grand preceptor, then the loyal aide, and then the rubbing aide . The rubbing aide tells the narrator that he's sad that Zhang didn't pass the exam, but that he thinks Zhang has some talent. The narrator asks the censorate chancellor about the strange behavior of the liu during the exam. The liu was supposed to be the one who wrote the paper on the topic of "virtue" , but instead, he wrote a paper on how to buy luxury jewelry from nomadic merchants. The other examiners agreed that the paper was perfect, and they even found a copy of the paper in the room where the exam was taking place. The gist of the argument is that the liau was bribed to write the paper, and the other examiners also agreed that it was perfect. This is why they recommend different people for the exam , the narrator says. He also points out that the clerk in the box with the exam paper is the same clerk who bought the jewelry from the nomadic merchants .