Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: Part 2, Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Over the next week, the Little Seamstress listens to her customers' gossip and learns that Four-Eyes' village is planning a grand event to mark his departure—they even plan to slaughter a buffalo. The narrator and Luo aren't invited, which they find convenient, since it provides a perfect opportunity to steal the suitcase. Luo and the narrator fashion a master key from a nail, planning to pick Four-Eyes' padlock.

Several days before the theft, the narrator dreams that he's put in charge of stealing the books. In his dream, he approaches Four-Eyes' house and struggles to pick the lock. When it finally gives way, the narrator enters the house to find the poetess calmly knitting inside, smiling. The narrator makes some excuse to the poetess and leaves the house, locking it behind him.

The day before the celebration, the narrator and Luo hear a buffalo bellowing in a ravine: as it's illegal to kill an animal used for farm work, Four-Eyes' headman caused the buffalo to "slip" off the edge of a cliff. A few hours later, Luo and the narrator go to see the buffalo. It's finally dead, and Four-Eyes and his village headman are crouched next to it, collecting the blood in a bamboo vessel. Someone explains to Luo and the narrator that they'll wait for the blood to congeal so they can drink it as a remedy against cowardice. The narrator and Luo watch the headman slice the blood pudding in half. Four-Eyes slurps his half of the blood.

Luo and the narrator watch as villagers add ingredients to the huge stew pot in the center of Four-Eyes' village. Luo points out five old crones coming to join the festivities as guests of honor. The poetess pays the crones, and one of them reads Four-Eyes' palm. It seems to be a grim prediction, as the villagers fall silent and then talk uneasily. The crones begin a dance around the fire and act out exorcising demons. Luo and the narrator leave their vantage point as the dance reaches its climax.

The narrator and Luo walk through the deserted village to Four-Eyes' house. Luo picks the lock, they enter the house, and they shut and lock the door behind them. Luo lights his torch and they're stunned to see that the suitcase is perched right on top of Four-Eyes' assembled luggage. They remove the rope around the suitcase and lift the lid to find a pile of books by French, Russian, and some English authors. The narrator touches the books and feels as though he's touching human lives.

Luo says the situation reminds him of a film scene in which characters find a suitcase full of money. The narrator asks if Luo is "weeping tears of joy," but Luo says he only feels loathing. The narrator agrees and says that he loathes everyone who wanted to ban the books. He's scared to hear himself say that, as saying such a thing could lead to years in prison.

Luo declares that they need to go. The narrator reminds him that if Four-Eyes says anything, they'll all be at the mercy of the government, but Luo says that the poetess won't allow Four-Eyes to squander his chance to get off the mountain. Luo shuts the suitcase and says that he'll use the books to transform the Little Seamstress.

Luo carries the suitcase and they move into the other room, where they find the window they'd planned to escape through secured with a nail. As they head back into the main room, Luo hears someone outside. The narrator kills the torch, and they hear the sounds of the poetess and Four-Eyes coming back to the house. Four-Eyes is complaining of an upset stomach after drinking the buffalo blood. As the chain on the door rattles, Luo and the narrator dive under the beds. The narrator finds himself next to a full chamber pot.

The poetess finds Four-Eyes medicine for indigestion, and they notice that the rope is no longer around the suitcase. They uneasily discuss whether someone could've broken in, and the poetess tells Four-Eyes that the narrator and Luo are sly. Four-Eyes tells his mother that he stayed friends with them so that Luo's father could someday attend to her teeth.

Four-Eyes puts the buffalo tail in the suitcase and suddenly starts yelling that he has diarrhea. He runs outside to relieve himself in the cornfield, and the poetess runs after him with toilet paper. Once Four-Eyes and the poetess are gone, Luo and the narrator grab the suitcase and run from the house. They stop to rest after an hour and open the suitcase. The buffalo tail appears to be from the buffalo that broke Four-Eyes' glasses.