Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

we do?”
Ah Ling just sighed. “We should stay out of it! Remember, Jiayi, we don’t see anything
and we don’t hear anything. That’s what we do. Now, let’s get the first five courses out to
the dining room. Quickly! The animals are hungry.”
As the rest of the kitchen maids sprang into action, Jiayi instead made a dash up to
Eddie’s bedroom. Fiona had been so sweet to her, she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her.
She crept up the stairs to the hallway where the guest bedrooms were, and as she came to
their bedroom, she could hear someone moaning in anguish. Jiayi opened the door slowly
and whispered, “Ma’am, are you okay?” She looked in and saw Eddie lying on the floor in
a fetal position, his head in Fiona’s lap. Fiona sat on the floor, calm as a pietà, stroking his
hair as he sobbed uncontrollably like a little boy. She looked up at Jiayi, and the maid
quickly closed the door.
—
In the family dining room of Tyersall Park, everyone had gathered around the massive
round mahogany dining table designed by the great Shanghai artist Huang Pao Fan.
Anticipating that this was going to be a contentious meal, Ah Ling and Ah Ching devised a
lunch that consisted of the favorite dishes of the Young siblings when they were children
—pumpkin and prawn noodle soup (Catherine’s favorite), fried rice with lap cheong *1 and
extra eggs (Philip’s favorite), steamed pomfret in ginger sauce (Felicity’s favorite), lor mai
kai *2 (Alix’s favorite), and Yorkshire pudding (Victoria’s favorite). If it made for a slightly
schizophrenic menu, no one noticed except the in-laws.
Victoria threw out the opening salvo as she savored her first forkful of pudding. “Philip,
surely you weren’t serious when you said we should sell Tyersall Park?”
“I don’t see any other choice,” Philip answered.
“Why don’t you buy us all out? You have the majority stake, and we’ll sell you our
shares at a family discount. This way we all can keep our rooms, and Tyersall Park can be
like our private family hotel.”
Alix looked up from her aromatic chicken rice. What on earth was Victoria suggesting?
She had no intention of selling her share at a discount.
Philip shook his head as he swallowed a mouthful of fried rice. “First of all, I can’t
afford to buy you all out, but that’s beside the point. What would I do with this house? I
live in Sydney most of the year—I can’t be bothered to maintain this white elephant.”
“Cat, wouldn’t you like to have Tyersall Park? You can afford it, can’t you?” Victoria
asked her sister hopefully.
“Everything about this place reminds me of Mummy, and I’d be too sad,” Catherine
mused, picking at her noodles without much of an appetite.
Alix spoke up. “Cat’s right. This house just isn’t the same now that Mummy’s gone.
Look, Mummy clearly wanted us to sell it. She knew none of us would really want to take
it on.”