Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

CHAPTER TEN
TYERSALL PARK, SINGAPORE
“Which bottle?” Jiayi asked in Cantonese as she stood on the third-highest step of the
wooden rolling ladder.
“Um…look for any bottle from before 1950,” Ah Ling instructed.
The maid squinted her eyes at the ancient yellowing labels affixed to the front of the
large glass canisters, looking at the dates. She remembered going to a fancy herbal shop in
Shenzhen when she was a teenager and seeing one precious golden tin of yen woh in a
locked glass cabinet in the pride of place behind the cash register. Her mother had
explained that the container was full of edible bird’s nest—one of the most expensive
delicacies in China. Now she was looking at an entire shelving unit lined with them. “I
can’t believe that all these bottles are filled with yen woh. It must be worth a fortune!”
“That is why we keep this larder under lock and key,” Ah Ling said. “All of these bottles
came from Mrs. Young’s father. Mr. Shang owned a company that supplied the finest yen
woh in Asia, taken from the most prized caves in Borneo.”
“Is this how they became so rich?”
“Hiyah, you can’t build a fortune like the Shangs’ on yen woh alone. This was just one
of the many companies Mr. Shang owned.”
The maid climbed down from the ladder hugging a huge bottle almost as big as her
entire torso. She stared through the musty glass at what looked like dried white husks,
marveling at the precious treasure inside. “Have you ever tried it?”
“Of course. Mrs. Young always has a bowl prepared for me on my birthday.”
“What does it taste like?”
“I can’t quite describe it…it’s like nothing you’ve ever had. It’s more about the texture…
it’s sort of like snow fungus, but much more delicate. But here, Ah Ching makes it into a
dessert soup. She cooks it in a double boiler with dried longan and rock sugar for fortyeight
hours, and then puts shaved ice over it. It’s marvelous. Now, third rack from the
bottom on that shelf over there. Get me three cups of dried longan,” Ah Ling instructed,
as she carefully marked the amount of bird’s nest she had taken out of the canister in a
ledger book.