Fate
- Since junior high teachers are off helping out with the revolution, classes are cancelled.
- Most students would celebrate, but Ji-li isn't interested; she wants to be in school and learn.
- Besides, it's boring not going to school. There's nothing to do.
- One day, she sees Aunt Xi-wen trip and fall. In the scuffle, Ji-li's cousin Shan-shan (a.k.a. Aunt Xi-wen's son) just passes by his mom without helping her.
- Ji-li is shocked. That's no way to treat your mom. That's when Ji-li remembers that Shan-shan wrote a da-zi-bao against his mom. Ouch.
- Before she can react, she wonders whether she should help her aunt—she doesn't want to be labeled a counterrevolutionary.
- Luckily, Old Mrs. Wang gets to her aunt first and helps her up.
- Later, An Yi and Ji-li see people chanting in the street. They are standing up to Du Hai's mom and calling her out for some bad stuff she did.
- We don't get all the details, but An Yi breathes a huge sigh of relief; she thought it might be people against her mom (since she's a schoolteacher). Phew.
- A couple days later, Ji-yun cries about some kids stealing her backpack at school. They called her a bad name because of her family history.
- Ji-li feels bad for her little sister and doesn't think this treatment is fair. Hopefully their fate changes soon.
- It's Chinese New Year, but no one celebrates. It's also Ji-li's thirteenth birthday, but that doesn't mean much anymore.
- A few days later, one of their friend's dad's is arrested and taken away. Ji-li worries for her own family.
- When Ji-li gets home, she finds An Yi there, crying over her mom. At the factory, all the teachers were forced to climb the chimney.
- The girls cling together, neither really knowing what to say.
- Suddenly Ji-li announces that she hates her grandpa. If he hadn't been a landlord, none of this wouldn't have happened. She's not even sure she believes that anymore, though.