The story opens with the narrator lamenting that he is getting rich, and that he has just stolen two eggs from his brother. He realizes that his brother, erjun, is the one who is stealing the eggs. He turns around and runs away. The narrator tells us that this is the first time he has ever seen a child run away from home. This is because it is taboo for children to pee in front of deserted graves. . When he was three years old, his biological father died, and his mother remarried a carpenter's surname, sun. The carpenter was angry because he saw that the cattle were not looking after his crying brother, and so he found his son dragging his brother out of the woods. He tells the children that his father has gone out to find the witch, but he does not want to tell the mother of his troubles. He drives the cattle to the barn, and then puts down firewood. The old woman tells him that his soul has been detained by evil spirits. She says that if they cannot figure out what has taken his soul, he will never wake up. He picks up a woodcutting sickle, and the old woman says that he must be the monster that took his brother soul. He feels that the monster must have taken the soul of his brother because he picked up the sickle after listening to her words. The woman is rude and loud, and laojiu tries to calm her down, but it is too late for him to do so. A scream comes from the woods, and sun recognizes it as dajun. The monster opens its big mouth, reveals its fangs, and screams strangely. It then pounces at dajun, and knocks him out again. The children return home and find that their brother has revived and is looking for him. They tell the old man that he should have been nicer to his son. He is filled with guilt, and he realizes that he had neglected his son for so long. He decides to send his son to a school to learn to read.