Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The narrator wears a copy of Chairman Mao's jacket, made by the Little Seamstress, and a green army cap. Luo borrows an army uniform and poses as a translator and they head for the Thousand-Meter Cliff. When they arrive at the mill, the narrator greets the miller in Mandarin rather than the provincial dialect. The man doesn't speak Mandarin, and Luo explains it's the official language of Beijing. The miller doesn't know where Beijing is, startling the boys with his ignorance. Luo explains that Beijing is the new name for Bai Ping, and at that, the old man looks at the narrator with respect.

Luo tells the miller that the narrator has traveled from Beijing to collect folk songs from the region. The miller looks suspicious and says that the folk songs aren't "proper songs." Luo assures him that the narrator is hoping to collect "authentic, robustly primitive" songs. The miller tries again to convince Luo that the narrator won't want to hear the songs, but a group of peasants arrive with grain to be milled.

The narrator helps the peasants with their heavy loads and the miller tells the peasants proudly about how revolutionary the narrator is. Luo translates the narrator's Mandarin responses and the peasants shake hands with the narrator.

When the peasants leave, the miller leads Luo and the narrator upstairs. He offers them liquor and motions for them to sit on the bed. The narrator's skin crawls thinking about the lice, and Luo suggests they sit outside. The miller refuses and the three sit on the bed and drink. The narrator can feel the lice as the miller fetches a platter of rocks with a bowl of saltwater and three sets of chopsticks. Hesitantly, the narrator and Luo join the miller in dipping the rocks in the saltwater, sucking on them, and spitting them across the room.

The miller stops the grindstone and closes the windows to improve the acoustics of the mill. He fetches an instrument with three strings and begins to sing. The narrator and Luo are captivated by the miller's contorting and rolling stomach as he sings a song about lice and nuns. The song is crude and funny, and the narrator and Luo laugh. Luo fills their glasses and raises a toast to the miller's stomach. The miller allows the boys to touch his stomach as it rolls and undulates. They all drink and, breaking character, the narrator asks in the local dialect what the alcohol is made from. Luo, the narrator, and the miller spit out what they drank: lamp oil, not alcohol.