Four Eyes has left the mountain and the headman has gone to a meeting for the Communist Party. The narrator and Luo neglect their work in the fields without much complaint from the villagers, reading the books in their stolen treasure trove. The narrator develops a consuming passion for the book Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland. Luck seems to be on their side, however they continually see a dreadful raven on their way to the Little Seamstress' place. The journey across the ridge to the Little Seamstress is steep and treacherous, and the narrator finds that he cannot cross, while Luo is more afraid of heights than he is and forces himself to cross to make his daily trip.
The next night, the narrator has a dream about the Little Seamstress and Luo.
The headman returns with a sour disposition because the Yong Jing dentist pulled out the wrong tooth and the one that's ailing him hurts very badly. The Seamstress's father, the tailor, comes to the narrator and Luo's village, turning down many other offers to state that he wishes to lodge with the narrator and Luo. The house on stilts soon becomes a miniature trade center with people coming and going often for the tailor's service. The narrator tells the tailor the story of the Count of Monte Cristo for nine nights, until one night he is caught by the village headman, who blackmails Luo into fixing his tooth.
Later, the old miller tells the narrator about seeing Luo and the Little Seamstress at a pond coupling. Luo describes his romantic "dates" from his own perspective, as does the Little Seamstress. The stories are consistent in that the Little Seamstress enjoys diving from dangerous heights and playing a game of fetching Luo's keys underwater. Both have slightly different views about the turn of events that leads to the Little Seamstress getting bitten by a snake. Luo never wants to think about it again, and the Little Seamstress is upset but none too ruffled.
