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Big Sister blames Yen Jun-ling(Adeline) for their moms death
"'If you had not been born, Mama would still be alive. She died because of you. You are bad luck.'" -
Adeline starts kindergarten at Big Sister's school
"Big Sister had been going there for years and years and was already in the fifth grade." -
Adeline's father leaves
"Now there was talk that the Japanese were demanding to become Father's business partners." "One morning, Father left the house to buy stamps at the post office down the road. He never came home." -
Naing leaves with Fourth Brother
"A few months later, our stepmother, Niang, took our younger brother (Fourth Brother) and also left the house." -
Adeline and her siblings see their father again
"Ye Ye took Big Sister, Big Brother, Second Brother, and me for an outing. To our suprise, our car stopped first at the railroad station. Ye Ye marched the four of us onto a crowded platform marked with a sign: TO SHANGAI. There,in our first-class compartment, we came face to face with Father, sitting by himself." -
Adeline's first day of school
"I saw Cook wheeling his bicycle through the hallway to go to the market. He spotted me watching him. 'Who is taking you to school?' he asked. 'I don't know.'" They had forgotten about her. "Eventually, I was the only one left. Nobody had come for me." -
The kids get tired of Niang and Father spoiling there kids and not them/Chinese New Year
Adeline, Big Sister, and the other siblings start plotting but are overheard by Niang and she decides to get the brains of the operation over to her side ;Big Sister. -
Adeline makes a friend
"Wu Chun-mei and I became friends and partnered each other when we played doubles in Ping-Pong or badminton. She lent me her books, and I helped her with arithmetic." -
America defeated Japan
"America dropped the atom bomb on Japan. This ended the Second World War. America was the new conqueror." "We ate hard biscuits, canned meat and chunks of bittersweet chocolate. After each meal we prayed and thanked our America allies for winning the war." -
Big Brother takes advantage
"Father takes Niang, Big Sister, Fourth Brother, and Little Sister north to reclaim his Tainjin properties. They stayed away for three months." "Big Brother pushed aside his usual congee and preserved vegetables and told the maid his palate needed a change." "'I'm tired of preserved vegetables and salted duck eggs. Bring me a big omelette, made with lots of chicken eggs! Put some ham on it! That's what I feel like eating.'" He took advantage of Father, Niang, and Big Sister being gone. -
Adeline gets PLT
Father and Niang came back and once they did, Mr. and Mrs. Huang came to visit. They bought gifts and they ended up being little ducklings. They all got to pick which one would be theirs and the only one left for Adeline was the smallest. She named him PLT(Precious Little Treasure). -
The fall of PLT
Father wanted to test Jackie's(their dog) obedience and asked Big Brother to go get a duckling from the pen to use. He came down with PLT. Father left PLT in the middle of the lawn and ordered Jackie to stay six feet away. Jackie attacked and PLT's blood was seen. Adeline cradled her and took her upstairs. She fell asleep next to PLT and woke up the next morning to see a dead PLT. -
Big Sister becomes engaged
Niang told everyone that Big Sister met someone(Samuel Sung) and that she was getting married. Adeline knew she would never marry a man she just met, especially on that was twice her age. Samuel was 31 and Big Sister was 17. -
Adeline is invited to a birthday party
Wu Chen-mei invited Adeline to her birthday party but she knows she can't go because of rules so she decides to pretend like she's going to school on a holiday and goes to the party instead. Once it is time for her to go home, she gives Wu Chen-mei her phone number without thinking and gets figured out by Niang after she gets a call asking when she was returning. -
Adeline's classmates visit her at home
Adeline gets a big surprise when her classmates show up at her house to congratulate her on winning class president which just annoys Father and Niang so she gets in trouble and is accused of planning for them showing up. They say it was Aunt Baba's influence so they make her move back to Tianjin the next day to stay where Niang stayed as a child. -
Niang's sister takes Adeline out of the boarding school
Niang's sister Reine Schillings shows up and says she's going to take her back to Niang and Father's house in Hong Kong. While Adeline was still in boarding school, Tianjin ended up in the communists hands. Father and Niang don't know she's coming home so once she gets there, she is not fully-surprised when they forget about her. -
Victor stands up for Adeline
Victor, Reine Schillings' son, asked why Adeline never came with them anywhere and Niang kept trying to get him to be quiet and get in the car but he wouldn't so he just stayed behind with Adeline. -
Adeline starts boarding school in Hong Kong
Niang gets a maid to tell her to pack up all of her stuff so she can leave while Ye Ye(Adeline's grandfather) was having his afternoon nap. -
Adeline gets Pneumonia
She gets sent to the hospital only to find out that she has pneumonia. Once she is cured, Niang told the chauffeur to pick Adeline up because she was staying at the house again for a week. -
Adeline gets a letter from Aunt Baba
Aunt Baba started the letter off with"My precious little treasure,"