The chapter opens with a flashback to the beginning of the novel, when the protagonist is a young girl who is pretending to be an older man. She tells the protagonist that she is a girl and that she does not want to marry or have children. She wants to live a peaceful, free life and raise her own child. The protagonist tells the story of how she gave birth to her first child, a boy, and how she wants to have a child of her own. He tells her that the child of his boss must be "absolutely excellent" and that he must work hard so that his child will be "unrivaled in talent" and "brave in brilliance"