The chapter opens with a chirp, and the narrator asks if he's jealous of what's going on around him. He says that he has been compared with Lu Qian since he was born, and that's the only reason he seems to have been born in the first place. Why does his mom always mention this? Because they can have a "better life" than each other, he says. He's been working hard to beat Lu Qian, but he can't beat him because he has a better life. Mr. Su, the narrator's father, is glad that his son is doing so well. He tells the narrator that he took the side of Lu Qian anyway, because no one in the world shares his sorrow like he does. The narrator doesn't believe him, and says that Lu Qian is just like a "perverse little tiger" , afraid to get hurt again, and so he just hides and licks his wounds. He adds that jealousy and "abomination" can help people improve, but you can only do so out of "jealousy or abomination" . If you're not the winner of the competition, you'll be overwhelmed by "the darkness inside ," the narrator says, and then you might as well quit working. He asks the narrator if he can give him a little gift, and he says yes.