Rich People Problems

Su Yi looked around at the thousands of white pillars in the Adinatha Temple, located in “the remote Aravalli Range between Jodhpur and Udaipur” (111). A voice behind her asked if she spoke English. She turned to see a young man looking back at her and replied that she did. His name was Jai, and he was a priest at the temple. His grandfather was the high priest—a position that his father would soon inherit and later pass on to Jai.

After finding out that Su Yi was from Singapore, Jai commented that they seldom get visitors from that island. He had seen Su Yi enter with her chaperon and noticed her look of sadness. She confessed that she was exiled from her family and that Singapore was at war. Jai told her that he sensed that her sadness had a deeper root. Su Yi then admitted that her brother Alexander—also known as Ah Jit—was missing, which prompted Jai to reveal that Alexander had a message for her. Su Yi was confused. Before she could respond, the priest began speaking to her in Hokkien. She heard her brother’s voice emerge from the priest’s mouth, telling her that there were too many Japanese soldiers coming ashore, too many to fight off. He then told her that, if she trusted her instincts, she would know what to do—how to atone for all that her ancestors had done. His words led Su Yi back to Tyersall Park, where she insisted on helping those who were suffering or in danger.

Su Yi suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. It was her daughter, Victoria, telling her that Bishop See had arrived to see her. Su Yi realized that she was in Tyersall Park all along, dreaming. She was irritated with Victoria for interrupting the dream and asked her for water.

Captain Vikram Ghale had the unpleasant task of defying the man who had hired him for his job 32 years before—Philip Young. Philip and his wife, Eleanor, were parked at the gate of Tyersall Park. Their son, Nicky, was in the car, and it was he whom Vikram could not allow into the house. Philip sped into the driveway and saw that most of his relatives were assembled at Tyersall Park. Philip announced that he was going up to visit his mother. When Victoria tried to stop him, saying that Su Yi wasn’t to have any more visitors, Philip corrected her—he was no visitor, he was Su Yi’s son. The reminder of his favored status as Su Yi’s only son irritated Victoria.

Philip and Eleanor entered Su Yi’s bedroom. Philip was surprised by how small his sleeping mother looked in her bed. Alix was present. Philip asked her to tell their mother that he and his son were there. Alix was ambivalent about revealing this information after her mother awakened, but she also wanted Su Yi to mend her rift with Nick.

Jacqueline Ling was visiting Harlinscourt—Alfred Shang’s 6,000-hectare estate in Surrey. Singapore’s elite families gossiped about the Shangs, who were rumored to have become so grand that they believed themselves to be British. He and his wife, Mabel, spent most of the year at Harlinscourt, where they saw their children and grandchildren regularly.

Currently, they were at breakfast, accompanied by one grandchild—Lucia Shang, who was 12. Cassandra Shang, Lucia’s mother, entered the room. She was looking at her iPad and suddenly gasped at the blaring headline announcing Charles Wu’s proposal to Astrid Leong. She showed Jacqueline. Mabel was disgusted by what she perceived as Charlie’s attempts to invade her family. Cassandra, on the other hand, was sympathetic, reminding her mother of how much Charlie had always loved Astrid. Then, Mabel reminded Cassandra of how Irene Wu, his mother, had tried to steal her seamstress back in 1988—a woman that Mabel insisted could replicate Parisian haute couture, though Jacqueline knew that the seamstress had no such talent.

Mabel pitied Su Yi and how she must have reacted to the gossip, saying it was no wonder that she changed her will again. Jacqueline and Cassandra were surprised by this news. Jacqueline wondered if this was why Alfred had gone back to Singapore. She had assumed, until the photos of the grand Indian proposal leaked, that Astrid might have inherited Tyersall Park. Mabel disagreed; Su Yi was far too traditional to leave her property to a woman. This made Jacqueline think that Nicky might have been reinstated. Mabel nixed this idea, too, reminding her that Nick was still banned from the house. She was disgusted with his decision to give up Tyersall Park for what she considered an ugly girl. Jacqueline and Cassandra agreed that Rachel lacked style. Jacqueline thought that her hair could have been longer, and Cassandra said that Rachel’s nose was too round and her eyes not big enough.

Lucia, fed up with their gossip, wondered what it mattered how Rachel looked when she and Nick loved each other. She then said that she knew what would happen to Tyersall Park, and none of their theories were accurate. After she stormed out of the room, Mabel said that Bedales was all wrong for the girl; the teachers kept “encouraging her confidence” (134). Jacqueline, however, began to think that Lucia might have been on to something.

Supreme Court justice Godfrey Loh was scandalized by what sounded like someone having phone sex “in the stall next to his in the men’s room of the Pulau club” (135). It turned out to be Eddie Cheng who was talking to his shoemaker, Carlo Marini, about the new loafers he was having made in Marini’s atelier.

Eddie pulled up his pants, flushed the toilet, and walked back out to the table where he and his family were preparing to have lunch. He had not washed his hands. His wife, Fiona, told him that no one had yet ordered. Everyone was looking at his aunt Felicity, who was crying. Alistair handed Eddie a cell phone, where Eddie saw paparazzi images of Astrid and Charlie in India. Eddie was delighted the sight of his “perfect, goody-goody cousin” immersed in a scandal (137). He then remembered that Freddie Tan had visited his grandmother earlier in the week. After emerging from Su Yi’s bedroom, Freddie stopped to talk briefly to Eddie, who was hovering outside. He admired Eddie’s outfit and, particularly, his watch. He then called Eddie the “man of the hour” (137). Eddie wondered if Freddie was suggesting that Su Yi had made him the heir to Tyersall Park.

Eddie fanned the flames of Astrid’s scandal, reminding his relatives of how shameful it was to appear on a cheap gossip site. After all, Astrid was supposed to be in Malaysia, representing the family at Prince Ismail’s wedding. Instead, she had run off to India with Charlie Wu who was behaving like a maharaja. He sniffed at how he had seen Charlie at Davos, not even wearing a proper suit to the world’s most important conference. Victoria agreed that Charlie was common and shouldn’t dare set foot at Tyersall Park. Felicity went further and said that Astrid wouldn’t be welcome either. Eddie tried to hide the satisfied smirk on his face.