A Search in Passing
- One night, Ji-li's dad's friends Uncle Tian and Aunt Wu stop by. The kids are never allowed to stick around to listen to the grown-ups, but Ji-li knows something is wrong.
- After the guests leave, her dad tells her that she'll go to the park tomorrow with her grandma for a picnic, where she'll have fun. Um, okay… Demanding she enjoy herself kind of takes some of the fun away.
- At the park, Ji-li's younger siblings run around chasing each other while she talks to her grandma.
- She confides in her grandma that she's scared. She doesn't want the Red Guards to search their house. What if they are searching when they get home?
- Ji-li's grandma tells her not to worry. Her dad has come up with a signal. A mop outside on the balcony will mean not to come back.
- A couple days later, Ji-li is told to go play outside while her parents burn pictures.
- Simply having photos of four olds can get you in trouble now, so her parents are burning anything that might be incriminating. A picture of her dad as a kid on a camel and her grandma wearing a fur coat has to go. The kids don't see why.
- A week later, Ji-yong comes home with his clothes ripped and dirty.
- He threw a couple punches at a guy who made fun of his class status and stole his army cap. Ouch.
- The next day, he doesn't make it to dinner. Understandably, everyone starts getting worried.
- Eventually, he comes home with his cap… and a black eye to boot.
- Ji-li is annoyed at her brother for being so immature. People are getting hurt and he's worried about some stupid cap? Ugh.
- The next day, someone finds a knife in the trash. No, not that kind of knife. Just your regular dinner knife.
- Since they aren't allowed in Mao China, it's a big deal, and the Red Guards decide to comb through the rest of the dumpster.
- In it, they find an old burned photo and decide to toss Ji-li's place for good measure.
- The Guards search high and low, messing everything up along the way.
- They take Ji-li's stamp collection, half her clothes, and a bunch of other stuff from the house, whether it's a four old or not.
- Ji-li fights back tears. It's not right for people to trash their house when they haven't done anything wrong.
- Besides, someone went through her sanitary belt (read: tampon drawer), which embarrasses her. That's private.
- An Yi helps her clean up her stuff, but Ji-li's too embarrassed to look her friend in the eye.