Red Scarf Girl Chapter 13 Summary

Half-City Jiangs

  • By the time they get news of Ji-li's dad, it's already May. He's cleared of the trumped-up charge of listening to foreign radio.
  • It turns out Uncle Zhu made up the story about listening to radio when he was detained, so they held Ji-li's dad.
  • Ji-li is angry with Uncle Zhu. That guy is bad news.
  • Unfortunately, none of this means that Ji-li's dad gets to come home. The Guards let him go home to grab some extra clothes, but then he has to go right back.
  • Ji-li doesn't get it. The guy didn't do anything wrong, so why is he still locked up?
  • A week later, everyone is buzzing about a big story in the local newspaper.
  • It's about Ji-li's family history. The Jiangs were so rich, that people called them half-city Jiangs since they owned half the city.
  • Reading the story makes Ji-li angry at her parents. Her grandpa was a landlord, and a super-rich one at that.
  • She blurts out that she hates her family and storms off to her room.
  • Cue the dramatic silence as Ji-li doesn't talk to her mom for two whole days. She can't even stand to look at her mother since she feels betrayed by her family.
  • Ji-li figures things would be better if she changed her name, so she heads down to the city office and asks for the paperwork to start the process.
  • The guard tells her that they fully support her decision to ditch her loser family. In fact, they can arrange some arrests and stern lectures for her parents if they give her any trouble.
  • When the guy goes into the next room to get the forms, Ji-li makes a beeline for the door.
  • Ji-li gets home to see her grandma arguing with Song Po-po. She wants to do chores, but Grandma doesn't want it to cause any trouble. Song Po-po just wants to help.
  • Ji-li suddenly feels bad for being a brat to her mom, so she takes her a bowl of soup in her room.