The chatter among these people was nothing more than an attempt to figure out Lin Jie's "origin, destination, family members, acreage per person, and how many cattle on their land," and other similar inquiries.
Lin Jie engaged with the people approaching him, responding neither intimately nor distantly, maintaining an even tone, and answered the questions as truthfully as possible.
After a while, these people realized that what Lin Jie said appeared to be the truth, yet it didn't match at all with the conditions of the apartment he currently owned.
As a result, those who approached him became even more curious about Lin Jie's identity, suspecting that he deliberately was not telling the truth. They were all people of status, and seeing that they couldn't really uncover anything, they stopped pursuing and dispersed.