After stealing Four-Eyes's suitcase, the two main characters are rewarded with a treasure trove of banned novels. After reading through them, they are
influenced by the new ideas discussed. Luo, wishing to culture the seamstress, visits and reads her the stolen books.
When he came back to the village, the narrator noticed that Luo was shaken and his knuckles were bloody. Luo had a fear of heights which made the precarious mountain passage to the seamstress's home even worse. After accompanying Luo on a trip, the narrator experiences the same and fears for his life. Back at home, he has a
nightmare where both Luo and the Seamstress fall to their deaths.
When the village headman came back Luo was forced to stop his visits. Knowing that his father was the best dentist in China, the headman, suffering from a toothache, wanted Luo to fix his teeth. Luo and the narrator declined. At the same time, the tailor (seamstress's father) arrived in town. While lodging with the two boys, the tailor wanted to hear stories since he knew from his daughter that the boys were veteran storytellers. Luo and the Narrator end up telling him Alexandre Dumas's
The Count of Monte Cristo. However, the village headman catches the boys spreading the "reactionary filth" and blackmails them into fixing his teeth. While drilling out cavities, the narrator deliberately
slows the drill and tortures the headman.
Here, the story changes points of view and takes on the appearance of three interviews with the
old miller, Luo, and the seamstress.
After the interviews, Luo was allowed one month's leave to visit his ailing mother. At this time, Luo assigned the narrator to guard the seamstress's heart to prevent other village boys from stealing his relationship. Thus, the narrator becamethe seamstress's caretaker and was harrassed by jealous village boys because of his position.
Later on, the seamstress reveals that she was pregnant with Luo's child. In a real predicament, the narrator decided to find help at the local hospital. There, after much work, he tracked down the gynaecologist and pleaded to him to give the seamstress an abortion. He finally agreed to help after he discovered the narrators identity. The gynaecologist was past aquaintances with the narrator's father. The seamstress then had a successful abortion.
The next seen depicted a distressed Luo and narrator burning their beloved texts. The seamstress had left the village in search of the city after being influenced by the books Luo read her.
