The chapter opens with a flashback to the night before, when the three children were playing in the yard of the next-door neighbor's house. They had been playing when the maid, Miss Xie, came in with the news that the maid's husband, Mr. Yin, had been bitten by a dog, and that he was very upset. The three children had been very upset, and the maid had come to apologize for the incident. She had also told the children that the dog's bite was the first time she had ever been bitten, and she was glad that she had not been bitten. The children are very upset that their father has been bitten and that they will not be able to play with the dog after all, but the maid reassures them that she will be fine.