Previously in the book, we have seen Fan as having a singular purpose: to find Reg. However, she may have simply trusted the improvisational nature of her will, and been predisposed to adventure and never holding herself back: “She was someone who pursued her project as a genuine artist might, following with focus and intensity as well as an enduring innocence a goal she could not quite understand or see but wholly believed” (182). The narrator admits that it’s possible she had more details and particulars in mind than anyone knows, and was not rash at all. For example, her brother, Liwei, had been long ago promoted to a Charter village, and even though she had never met him, she must have known he was out there somewhere and could be found.

The working-class folks of B-Mor and other settlements can move up in the ranks and become Charters, based on a test they take at the age of 12. If they score within the highest 2% of Charter scores on these standardized tests, it’s possible to be adopted by a foster family in a Charter and have a whole different life, though this is rare.