The narrator tells us that he ordered the servants to ambush Ling zhi and kill all the maids. Next, when the emperor returned, he either bought or threatened all the servants and threatened to punish them if they didn't work for him. The plan worked. Ling was grounded for a few days, and the servants switched some genuine things with fakes. The fakes were hidden in coffins of the dead maids. The real things were then replaced with fake ones. The replaced ones were then rebuked by the other servants. The narrator says that he would never have been such a fool as to appropriate the money for buying grains. He says that only when he favors him and his ambitions will he be able to carry out whatever he wants in the royal court. He tells the emperor that he has been risking his life to help him, and that without him, he is just as worthless and dirt as dirt in the ground. The emperor says that the plan works, but that he doesn't think it will work. He thinks that Lingzhi will do a good job of teaching the people who have hurt her a lesson