Crazy Rich Asians Read Free Page B

bottom of the deep golden Assam. She had never been the sort of girl
     who longed for fairytale endings. Being twenty-nine, she was by Chinese standards
     well into old-maid territory, and even though her busybody relatives were perpetually
     trying to set her up, she had spent the better part of her twenties focused on getting
     through grad school, finishing her dissertation, and jump-starting her career in academia.
     This surprise invitation, however, sparked some vestigial instinct within her.
He wants to take me home. He wants me to meet his family
. The long-dormant romantic in her was awakening, and she knew there was only one
     answer to give.
    “I’ll have to check with my dean to see when I’m needed back,but you know what? Let’s do this!” Rachel declared. Nick leaned across the table,
     kissing her jubilantly.
    Minutes later, before Rachel herself knew for certain her summer plans, the details
     of her conversation had already begun to spread far and wide, circling the globe like
     a virus set loose. After Celine Lim (Parsons School of Design fashion major) e-mailed
     her sister Charlotte Lim (recently engaged to venture capitalist Henry Chiu) in California,
     Charlotte called her best friend Daphne Ma (Sir Benedict Ma’s youngest daughter) in
     Singapore and breathlessly filled her in. Daphne texted eight friends, including Carmen
     Kwek (granddaughter of Robert “Sugar King” Kwek) in Shanghai, whose cousin Amelia
     Kwek had gone to Oxford with Nicholas Young. Amelia simply
had
to IM her friend Justina Wei (the Instant Noodle heiress) in Hong Kong, and Justina,
     whose office at Hutchison Whampoa was right across the hall from Roderick Liang’s
     (of the Liang Finance Group Liangs), simply
had
to interrupt his conference call to share this juicy tidbit. Roderick in turn Skyped
     his girlfriend Lauren Lee, who was holidaying at the Royal Mansour in Marrakech with
     her grandmother Mrs. Lee Yong Chien (no introductions necessary) and her aunt Patsy
     Teoh (Miss Taiwan 1979, now the ex-wife of telecom mogul Dickson Teoh). Patsy made
     a poolside call to Jacqueline Ling (granddaughter of philanthropist Ling Yin Chao)
     in London, knowing full well that Jacqueline would have a direct line to Cassandra
     Shang (Nicholas Young’s second cousin), who spent every spring at her family’s vast
     estate in Surrey. And so this exotic strain of gossip spread rapidly through the levantine
     networks of the Asian jet set, and within a few hours, almost everyone in this exclusive
     circle knew that Nicholas Young was bringing a girl home to Singapore.
    And,
alamak
! This was big news.
    ----
    * Singapore’s most prestigious country club (with membership practically harder to
     obtain than a knighthood).
    † American-born Chinese.

2
Eleanor Young
    SINGAPORE
    Everyone knew that
Dato’
* Tai Toh Lui made his first fortune the dirty way by bringing down Loong Ha Bank in
     the early eighties, but in the two decades since, the efforts of his wife,
Datin
Carol Tai, on behalf of the right charities had burnished the Tai name into one of
     respectability. Every Thursday, for instance, the
datin
held a Bible study luncheon for her closest friends in her bedroom, and Eleanor Young
     was sure to attend.
    Carol’s palatial bedroom was not actually in the sprawling glass-and-steel structure
     everyone living along Kheam Hock Road nicknamed the “Star Trek House.” Instead, on
     the advice of her husband’s security team, the bedroom was hidden away in the pool
     pavilion, a white travertine fortress that spanned the swimming pool like a postmodern
     Taj Mahal. To get there, you either had to follow the footpath that wound along the
     coral rock gardens or take the shortcut through the service wing. Eleanor always preferred
     the quicker route, since she assiduously avoided the sun to maintain her porcelain-white
     complexion, and also, as Carol’s oldest friend, sheconsidered herself exempt from the formalities of waiting