It is the year 1971, and the Narrator and Luo have just arrived at the Phoenix of the Sky mountain with his compatriot, Luo. We join the two just as they were having their possessions looked over by the village headman. He noticed the Narrator's violin, initially dismissing it as a toy, but changing his mind once he hears the narrator (a violinist when he lived in the city) play a Mozart tune presumably named, "Mozart is Thinking of Chairman Mao."
When they settle in to their new environment, Luo shows the narrator
a small clock that he managed to
sneak past guards. The headman is fascinated by this technology and thus consults the boys for the beginning of the working day and the end. Taking advantage of their clock, the boys frequently changed the time to suit their own needs.
Later on, we find out that Luo was a very talented storyteller and captivated the entire village with his performances. Thus, to entertain, the headman frequently sent Luo and the narrator to see movies so that they could retell them to the village. The boys welcomed this as it gave them a couple days off grueling field work.
In their new home the boys are also introduced to the village beauty, the Little Seamstress. She was the daughter of the village's tailor which the boys encounter en-route while traveling to meet their friend Four-Eyes. The boys are captivated by her beauty. She later helps heal Luo from a bout of malaria that was caught while working in the dreaded coal mines.
