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“She is my future daughter-in-law, of course she is a bright young woman,” Auntie Jiayi pipes up.
Shang turns beet red. “Ma!”
“Hush, future son-in-law,” Ma says.
Now it’s my turn to blush. “Ma!”
The younger generation is more enthusiastic than the uncles—save for James, who just mutters something into his tea. I don’t care. The numbers don’t lie, and Wutai Gold is doing better than ever before. Shang, as CEO, still gets creative control, but he and his team have been surprisingly easy to work with, and I always look forward to our check-ins.
“Okay, no more shoptalk,” Auntie Chuang says. She turns to Shang. “Shang, when are you proposing to Mulan?”
“Go back to the shoptalk,” I say.
Everyone laughs. The conversation moves on to the topic of the holidays, which aren’t too far off in the distance now. As we argue good-naturedly about which one of us should get to host them, Shang reaches out and places a warm, calloused hand on mine.
I look up and find him gazing at me with tenderness, and I think, for the millionth time:This moment. This one is the best moment.
Of course, given the fact that I will later find a million more moments when I think,Nope, this one is even better, I am wrong about this one being the best, but I’m not mad about it.
THE END