Page 46 of Worth Fighting For

“She told you before, she is a dragon,” Auntie Jiayi says.

“Oh yes!” Auntie Chuang claps. “James here is a rooster, very good match for dragon.”

I’m also not a stranger to these avenues of conversation, but the fact that it’s James who’s being pushed on me makes it that much more awkward. I try to keep a straight face as I heap more food onto Auntie Lulu’s plate.

“Pah, you are speaking rubbish. We’ve settled this a long time ago,” Auntie Lulu says to Auntie Chuang. “My Thomas is a rat, a rat is the best match for dragon. The rat is the smartest animal in the Chinese horoscope, it is fast and thinks outside the box. It will lead the dragon to big success.”

“Hah!” Auntie Jamie says. “You two don’t know what you talking. The best match for dragon is my Ryan. He is also a dragon. Two dragons, oh my, can you imagine what fire?” She grins meaningfully at Ryan and me, and just in case we didn’t get the message, she adds, “There will be much passion.”

“Mom!” Ryan moans.

“Oh god,” I murmur. I scoop more food onto Auntie Lulu’s plate, only to find that I’ve filled her plate to overflowing. “Sorry!” I cry, grabbing napkins.

The aunties all laugh. “Oh dear, Jamie, you and your dirty mind have embarrassed poor Zhou!” Auntie Chuang says. Then she turns to me and says, “Zhou, don’t be so shy, we know you young people are filled with the hormones. It is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s what leads to grandbabies.”

“Stoppp,”James groans. “If you guys don’t behave, we’re going to go eat at a separate table.”

“What about me, aunties?” Mushu chirps. “I’m a monkey, who’s a good match for me?”

“Ah, you are a monkey!” Auntie Jamie cries. “Christopher is a snake, you two are the perfect match! Your babies will be so intelligent, will definitely get into Harvard.”

Mushu eyes Christopher, who sips his whiskey sour quietly, his cheeks burning red. “Why not?” she says cheerfully, and, picking up her plate, she goes and sits next to him. The aunties and uncles burst out laughing and cheering.

“Wah, Jamie, maybe you will have a daughter-in-law by next year, eh?” Uncle Hong calls out.

Despite how embarrassed I’m feeling, I can’t help laughing along with them. My family is on the quieter side, and I relish the lighthearted raucousness of the Li family. I pick up my plate and find an empty seat, which happens to be next to Shang. On Shang’s other side is his mother, and he’s cutting up her food into bite-size pieces.

“Zhou, are you doing okay?” Auntie Jiayi says. “Shang says you help him out a lot with the cooking.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say I helped out ‘a lot.’ I mostly just stood there and watched.”

“She helped descale the fish and clean the goose,” Shang says.

“Hence why I’m not having any of the goose,” I say, gesturing to my plate.

Auntie Jiayi laughs. “I remember when I was little, I saw my mother kill chicken for the first time. There was so much blood! I didn’t eat chicken for a whole year after that.”

I laugh, too. “Yep, exactly.”

“There you go, Ma,” Shang says, pushing the plate of neatly sliced-up food toward her.

“Thank you, Er zi.” Auntie Jiayi gazes at him with obvious fondness. “He is a very good boy, he cuts up food for me because of my arthritis, you know.”

My heart swells. The thing with mama’s boys is that they’re known to be spoiled and self-centered, never thinking of anyone other than themselves. But Shang is a mama’s boy in the best possible sense of the term, looking after his mom with such understated kindness, never once calling attention to the way he takes care of her. Maybe I was wrong to judge him as a toxic alpha male. I watch him for a bit and notice the way he subtly does this and that to make things easier for Auntie Jiayi, like placing extra napkins next to her plate and moving her drink closer to her. He does all of it without saying a word, giving his mother the dignity of feeding herself but making her aware that he’s there to help if she needs it. Okay, I should definitely not be noticing such things about my potential business partner. Pretending to be Baba is already so unethical. Going down the romance route with Shang would only make everything worse. I force myself to drag my gaze away from him.

The food is, as always, sumptuous. I have second and third servings and by the time we’re done, everyone is leaning back in their chairs and rubbing their stomachs while groaning happily.

“Shang, you’ll make someone a lovely wife,” James calls out.

“It’s the twenty-first century,” I snap, “are you really still stuck in such old-fashioned gender roles?”

“Aw, come on, loosen up,” James says. “I’m just kidding. Good job cooking, Shang. Whatever girl I marry, I hope she cooks as well as you do.”

“Thanks,” Shang says, and gives me a quick wink. He’s obviously unbothered by James’s heckling.

After a few more minutes of chatting, the uncles and aunties get up, stretching, and start shuffling back into the house, leaving the cousins and Mushu and me behind.

“All right, boys, saddle up, we’re off to the Squealing Pig,” James says. Then he seems to remember my and Mushu’s presence, and adds, “And girls.”

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