Page 15 of Worth Fighting For

“And when our consumers find out that we’ve sold the company to a woman…” James shrugs and raises his hands. “I’m sure you can see why that would be a problem.”

There it is. Sooner or later, people give themselves away. I reach deep down inside me, locate another mask, and give James the sweetest expression I can. “Hmm, no, I’m still not seeing the problem. But what I do see is the value our company can add to yours, a company that I’m sorry to point out has a shrinking profit margin every quarter. By my projections, you will be in the red by quarter three of next year.”

James’s expression goes from smug to angry. “What? You can’t say that.”

God, if only I could tell him,You need to attend more of these meetings, because people have said much worse than that.Instead, I turn to Shang and say, “Do you disagree with my projections?”

“I don’t disagree, no,” Shang says. “It’s a fair assessment.”

“This is preposterous,” his uncle Hong says. “We came here expecting to meet with a man who was interested in buying our company because he saw value in it, not someone who comes in here telling us that our company isn’t doing well!”

“I apolo—” I say, stopping myself in time as I recall Mushu’s rules to being a finance bro. With some effort, I swallow the apology. “I did not mean to offend. But I’m hoping that the numbers make it clear what we bring to the—”

Another uncle talks over me: “You are much too young to be Zhou, my dear girl.”

“Uncle Jing—” Shang says, but Uncle Jing ignores him and continues speaking. “Shang says you grew up on a farm in China!”

Uh-oh. Here we go. As long as we’re discussing numbers, I’m in my territory, but now I’m about to venture into a subject I know next to nothing about. I channel my inner Baba once more. “Yes, I did. I moved here when I was a teenager.”

They all look at me dubiously. Uncle Hong brandishes his phone and says, “Aha, over here, you say: ‘Back home in Yunnan, my family has a large farm that sounds very much like your family’s ranch here. We owned all sorts of animals and grew most of our crops. My fondest memories are of chopping wood and herding cattle. I could ride a horse before I learned how to walk, and the pigs and goats were my friends growing up. One day soon, I hope to visit your family ranch. Perhaps we could even have a bit of a race on horseback’?”

It’s a struggle to keep my expression even. “Yes,” I say finally, “I do miss the simple life.” This makes me want to laugh. Baba does, in fact, often say that he missesthe simple life, though I’ve never thought to ask him exactly what kind of life he’s referring to.

“You say you herd cattle back in China,” Uncle Hong says.

“Um, yes, indeed, that is one of the many things I had to do back home in China.”

“You talk quite a bit about butchering the new year pig with the other villagers,” Uncle Jing says.

Ew. What? The thought of my gentle, bespectacled father butchering a whole pig is a disturbing one. “Y-yes, that is something we do every year, yup.”

“Butchering the new year pig is always done by men of the village,” Uncle Hong says, “while women are busy cleaning and preparing the meats.”

Silence clings to the air for barely a second before my instincts kick in. I raise my chin and smile. “You’re right, of course. But my family has always raised me to defy traditional gender roles and expectations, which is why I’m sitting here before you, as one of the youngest, most accomplished managing partners of this firm.” The uncertainty and wobbliness leave me and I charge forward. “I had to work twice as hard to prove myself back home in my village and I’ve had to do the same here in the finance industry, and I can prove to you that once we acquire your company, we will be working night and day to make sure it turns into the massive success story it deserves to be.”

“It’s already a massive success story,” James says.

I level a calculated, polite smile at him. “Well, I would love to go over the numbers with you to show just how much you are missing out on and what we can achieve together.”

“Ah!” one of the aunties exclaims. “I sense romance! I don’t see a wedding ring.…”

The blood drains from my face. No way I heard the auntie correctly. Surely this cannot be happening at a business meeting, for god’s sake? “Uh—”

“How old are you, Zhou?” the auntie says.

“Um, twenty-eight?” Belatedly, I wonder why my answer came out as a question.

“Wah, good age gap. James here is thirty years old. He is a rooster, which means you are dragon, very good pairing.”

“Oh, uh…” What the hell am I supposed to say to that? I don’t even dare look at James. Never mind my cheeks, my entire face feels singed with embarrassment.

“Tsk,” one of the other aunties says, “what rubbish. She will make better match with Ryan, he is a rat, they complement each other perfectly.”

A young man, probably the Ryan in question, tilts his head back and groans, “Not again, Ma.”

“Ryan did not even go to Ivy League,” James’s mother says. “I think Zhou can do better than that, can’t you, Zhou? My James here went to Brown.”

Ryan’s mother’s chest swells to about twice its original size, but before I can make what would no doubt be a caustic retort, Uncle Jing says, “Jamie, don’t interrupt meeting with your womanly gossip.”

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