This chapter opens with a flashback to five years ago, when jiu-tao returned from his five-year exile in the Middle East. In this flashback, the rat bird is dressed in a flower-adorned shirt, which he first wears when he was a child. The rat bird tells us that the shirt is his first time wearing such a thing, and that he feels bashful about it. He asks which color the lady in the mask is wearing, and wonders if it is the same color as the one he is wearing now. He then wonders if tao chose the color of the shirt because he wanted to save the lady, or if he chose it because he was afraid of her. He says that he knew tao would do it, but he didn't think he would be so hasty. He also says that after five years of exile, he thought tao wouldn't do it again, but now that he has come back, he thinks he