Page 26

“That sounds really complicated.”
“It can be. Speaking of family, you ready for lunch with them?”
“Yeah, I’m starving.”
Shang checks the rearview mirror as he signals to take the exit. “I mean, are you ready to deal with my family? They can be a lot to take in, I know.”
“I don’t know, aside from James the rest seem okay. But give me pointers.”
“Okay. So, the eldest is Uncle Hong. That’s James’s dad. You have to treat him with the most respect.”
“I know that much,” I say. Age is a form of hierarchy in Chinese culture, and every year, during the Lunar New Year reunion dinner, I know enough to always wish my oldest aunt Happy New Year before wishing my own father, since he’s the second oldest in the family, before wishing Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle, and so on.
“His wife is Auntie Chuang. My second uncle is Uncle Jing, his wife is Auntie Jamie, and their two sons are Christopher and Ryan.”
“Are all your cousins male?”
Shang grimaces. “No. I have three female cousins, but they weren’t allowed to get involved in the family company. They’re all on the East Coast.”
Somehow I manage to keep my face straight. I’m not one to judge other people’s families—god knows mine is far from perfect—but everything I’m learning about Shang’s family sounds so sexist that it’s tough to understand why Baba would want to work with them.
“Third Uncle is Uncle Xiaotian, and his wife is Auntie Lulu. Their son is Thomas and their daughters, the ones I mentioned, are Holly, Portia, and Candice.”
“Wow, three daughters,” I say.
“Yeah, they were trying for another boy before they gave up.”
I can’t tell what Shang is thinking based on that statement. It sounds so shitty, the concept of trying for a boy, as though the girls they got along the way are nothing more than a burden they have to discard. No surprise, then, that the sisters left home and flew to the East Coast, as far from the family as they could. I can’t help but feel my animosity toward Shang’s family bleed out onto him as well. I myself have so much resentment about this subject. Again, I recall my aunt’s comment to my mother.She isn’t even a boy!I give myself a mental shake. It’s not my place to judge their family. I’m only here to judge their business. Pure numbers, I remind myself. Nothing more.
“My mom’s the youngest. Her name is Jiayi.”
I nod. Though I’m curious to know more, I also feel overwhelmed by all of this information and truth be told, I’m dreading learning even more about them than I already know.
When we arrive at Little Chang’s, James’s ultra-loud race car is already parked alongside Thomas’s BMW. The massive trailer holding the rest of the family trundles in just as we get out of the car.
Aunties and uncles spill out and immediately lunge into aggressive stretches.
“Wah, that was long journey,” Auntie Chuang says, bending over with her legs spread out and grunting until she touches the tops of her shoes. She looks up and glowers at the cousins. “Eh, you all better stretch, too! Otherwise you will have back pain later.”
“Ma,” James whines, “can you not do that in a literal parking lot?”
Auntie Lulu, who is in the middle of a lunge, shoots him a glare. “James, you want your mother to have back pain?”
“Never mind,” James mutters.
I stand aside and watch as Shang goes up to his mom, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and talking to her softly. His entire demeanor changes when he interacts with his mother, turning soft. To my surprise, Shang’s mother glances over at me and smiles, as though Shang has just said something nice about me. Then she pats him on the arm and gestures for him to do some stretches, too. Looking pained, Shang obliges, and I bite back a grin as he does a few stretches. When I crane my neck, I’m unsurprised to see that Mushu is behind him, hands on waist, lunging with one foot, then the next.
“Hey, Zhou!” Mushu calls out. “Come on, you don’t want a stiff back, do you?”
With a sigh of defeat, I do as I’m told and go into a deep stretch. After all, as Baba has always told me, when doing due diligence for a company we’re looking into buying, it’s good to walk a mile in the board of directors’ shoes.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The owner of Little Chang’s is, in fact, named Gary Lin. As Shang’s mother patiently explains, Gary didn’t think that Little Gary’s or Little Lin’s would go over well as a restaurant name, and so he chose Chang’s. I have to agree with that. Gary, who seems to know the Li family well, greets them warmly, with many arm and shoulder pats and much loud exclaiming over who’s gained/lost weight, hair, and wrinkles. He shouts merrily at us to go to the “usual table” and the big group makes its way over to a massive round table at the center of the room.
To my dismay, I’m seated between James and his mother, Auntie Chuang. I shoot Mushu a look of panic and Mushu shrugs with anOh wellexpression. Easy for Mushu to be all chill; she is fortunate enough to be seated next to Shang’s mom and Thomas, whose gaze hasn’t left his cell phone.
“Now, Zhou, how old did you say you are again?” Auntie Chuang says.