Picking the Golden Romance

Singapore

It was dawn, and Nick was still sound asleep.Rachel was awake and looked at the clock to see that she had only slept five hours.But she was too excited to fall asleep again.

She looked around the entire room, and saw that this elegant suite was decorated with light-colored wood, and a pot of fuchsia orchids was placed on the side table against the mirror wall, the only bright color in the room.She couldn't help sighing secretly: I don't know how much it would cost Nick to stay here for one night.

Rachel got out of bed, slipped quickly into the bathroom in terry cotton slippers, splashed water on her face with her hands; then went to the window and looked out through the slit in the curtains.Outside is a manicured garden and a strikingly large swimming pool lined with lounge chairs.A man in a white and light blue uniform, with a thoughtful expression, walked around the pool with a long pole with a net tied at the end, picking up fallen leaves that fell to the water at night.

The garden is set in a quadrangle surrounded by a Victorian pool house.And next to these low houses stood several tall buildings, reminding Rachel that they are now located in the most fashionable Orchard Road area in Singapore.

Rachel could feel the morning heat seeping through the double pane windows.She closed the curtains, walked to the living room, and dug out her laptop.After logging into her account, she wrote an email and sent it to her friend Pei Lin.Within a few seconds, a real-time message popped up on the screen.

Pei Lin: You're awake!are you really here

Me: Of course!
Pei Lin: Yay! !

Me: It's less than seven o'clock, and it's already hot to death!
Pei Lin: Normal!Are you at Nick's parents' house now?
Me: We are at Kingsford Hotel.

Pei Lin: Very good, very close to the city center, but why live in a hotel?

Me: Nick's parents are abroad, and he wants to stay in a hotel during the week of the wedding.

Pei Lin: ...

Me: But I secretly feel that he doesn't want to take me to live with his parents on the first day. LOL!

Pei Lin: You're smart, so can I make an appointment with you today?
Me: OK today, Nick is busy helping the groom.

Pei Lin: Is he a wedding expert? LOL!See you in the hotel lobby at noon?
Me: OK, can't wait to meet you! !

Pei Lin: XOXO
At noon, Pei Lin appeared on the wide steps in front of Kingsford Hotel.When she walked into the gorgeous hotel lobby, everyone's heads turned to her one after another—with a round face, a fleshy nose, and a pair of slender eyes, she is indeed not a natural beauty, but she is that A woman who knows how to highlight her charm.Pei Lin has a sexy figure and wears a confident and bold fashion style.Today she was wearing a white straight dress, which perfectly set off her graceful figure, and a pair of Roman sandals with golden straps on her feet; her long black hair was tied into a high ponytail, and her gold-rimmed sunglasses were covered by Pushed to the forehead, it looks like a headband; a three-carat single diamond earring hangs on the earlobe, and a wide version of a gold diamond watch is on the wrist; a gold grid handbag is casually hung on the shoulder, looking looks like in saint tropez

Get ready to head to the beach club alike.

"Peilin!" Rachel yelled, running towards her with her arms outstretched.When Pei Lin saw her, she yelled loudly, and the two embraced tightly. "Look at you! You look beautiful!" Rachel exclaimed, before turning to introduce Nick.

"Nice to meet you." Pei Lin's voice was surprisingly much louder than her petite figure.She quickly swept Nick from head to toe, thinking: So, it turned out to be a local boy who brought her here in the end.

"It's an honor to serve you," Nick said.

"I know you have to deal with the wedding today, but when will I get my CIA report? You'd better promise that I will see you again soon." Pei Lin joked.

"I promise." Nick smiled and kissed Rachel goodbye.

As soon as he walked away, Pei Lin turned to Rachel and raised her eyebrows: "He looks good, no wonder he made you decide to put down work and come here for vacation."

Rachel just smirked.

"Really, you can't just poach our endangered species like this! He's tall, he's in good shape, and he has that accent—usually a Singaporean boy with a pretty British accent is so contrived, but it matches his Just right."

As they descended the long, red-carpeted staircase, Rachel asked, "Where are we going for lunch?"

"My parents would like to invite you to their house for lunch, they are looking forward to meeting you, and I think you will want to eat some traditional home cooking."

"Sounds great! But to meet your parents, how about I change my clothes?" Rachel asked.She is now wearing a plain white cotton blouse with khaki trousers.

"Oh, that's good, my parents are very casual, and they know you're traveling."

Waiting for them in front of the hotel gate was a golden BMW covered with colored heat-insulating paper, and the driver quickly got out of the car to open the door for them.After the car drove out of the hotel and entered a busy street, Pei Lin pointed to the street view outside and introduced to Rachel: "This street is the famous Orchard Road - the center of tourist gatherings, it can be regarded as the fifth avenue in Singapore .”

"It's Fifth Avenue developed to the extreme...I've never seen so many boutiques and shopping malls at the same time, and it dazzles my eyes!"

"Yeah, but I still prefer to shop in LA or New York."

"That's right, Pei Lin." Rachel smiled, remembering that her friend often went shopping during class time.

Rachel has always known that Pei Lin is the daughter of a wealthy family. They met at Stanford University's freshman training camp.

The first time I saw Pei Lin was in the classroom at eight o'clock in the morning. As soon as she came in, she looked like she had just gone shopping on Rodeo Drive.As an international student who just arrived from Singapore, one of the first things Pei Lin did was buy herself a Porsche 911 convertible, claiming that since Porsches are so cheap in the US, "it would be a sin not to buy one".She soon found out that Palo Alto was a country place, so she tried to get Rachel to skip school with her and drive to San Francisco (where the Neiman Marcus was far better than the one in Stanford Mall).She is very generous, and Rachel often received her gifts during college, enjoying the food at restaurants designated by gourmets, such as Panis House and the Ranch Inn, and taking a spa trip along the California coast on weekends—— Thanks to Pei Lin having a very convenient American Express black card.

Another thing I like about Pei Lin is that she doesn't feel embarrassed about having money—she doesn't shy away from spending money and talking about it.When Fortune (Asia) ran a feature on her family's real estate construction business, she proudly posted the link to that article for Rachel.She would throw lavish parties in her off-campus townhouse, with meals all from the "Horse in a Feather Hat" restaurant.But at Stanford, her style didn't make her the most popular girl.Students from East Shore ignore her, low-key Bay Area
Students thought she was too Southern California.Rachel had always felt that Palin would be a better fit at Princeton or Brown, but she's glad fate ended up getting her friend here.Rachel, who grew up in an overly humble environment, is deeply fascinated by this girl with a free style-although she is rich, she doesn't look down on others.

"Did Nick tell you about the real Singapore real estate boom?" Pei Lin asked as the car whizzed past Newton Circle.

"No."

“The real estate market is really hot right now—everyone is flipping houses, it’s almost a national movement. Do you see that building on the left that’s under construction? I just bought two houses in there last week. I’m using The preferential price is [-] per building.”

"You mean millions?" Rachel asked.It always took her a while to get the hang of the way Perrin stated the prices - prices that didn't sound real at all.

"Of course, this is a preferential price, because my company is responsible for the construction plan of that apartment building. In fact, the apartment there asks for 300 million yuan. After the completion of the project at the end of the year, I can sell one for 400 yuan, which is [-] million yuan. Not a problem either."

"Why are housing prices soaring so fast now? Isn't there a sign that a speculative bubble has emerged in the housing market?" Rachel asked.

"We're not in a bubble because there's real demand. All HNWIs have been willing to invest in real estate lately."

"Well, what is HNWI?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you don't know the jargon. HNWI is an acronym for 'High Net Worth Individuals', and we Singaporeans like to abbreviate words."

"I've discovered that."

At this moment, the car turned into a main road and drove into a community with closely adjacent buildings.

"Do villas really exist in Singapore?" Rachel asked.

"Very few. Only about 5.00% of people are lucky enough to live in villas. This community is actually one of the first 'suburban-style' blocks in Singapore, built in the 70s with the help of my family It was built." Pei Lin explained.

The car passed a tall white wall from which tall, tangled bougainvillea bushes jutted out, and on that wall was a large golden door sign that read "Villa d'Oro."

The car stopped at the entrance, and the gorgeous golden gate slowly opened to both sides, and a magnificent building appeared in front of our eyes: it had a very similar appearance to the Petit Trianon Palace in Versailles, but the building itself occupied most of the land. Its colonnaded portico is blocked by a huge four-tiered marble fountain, from which jets of water gushes from the upturned mouth of a golden swan.

"Welcome to my house." Pei Lin said.

"Oh my God, Pei Lin!" Rachel gasped in shock, "You grew up here?"

"This land belongs to my family. Six years ago, my parents tore down the old house and built this villa."

“It’s no wonder that even the townhouses you rent in Palo Alto feel small.”

“Honestly, growing up, I always thought everyone lived in a place like this. In the US, a house like this can be bought for like $300 million. Guess what it’s worth here?”

"I don't even want to guess."

"It's very simple, 3000 million, and this is just the price of a piece of land - what you buy will only be houses to be demolished."

"I can imagine why land is so expensive. On an island like this, with a population of about 400 million?"

"It's almost five million now."

The door, as wide as a cathedral, was opened by an Indonesian girl in a black-and-white frilly French maid's uniform.

Rachel walked into a circular foyer, stood on the marble floor with white powder texture, looked along the radiation starting from the sun pattern, and saw a huge staircase on the right, with golden railings extending all the way to the upper floor, following the staircase The winding wall is a whole Fragonard

A reproduction of the painting "The Swing" artfully enlarged to fill the forty-foot
High foyer.

"A team of painters from Prague camped outside, and it took three months to reproduce this painting." Pei Lin said as she led Rachel upstairs to the formal living room. "The living room was decorated by my mother after the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles—it's coming," she reminded.

Rachel took the few steps up into the living room, her eyes widening: everything in this cavernous formal living room was gold except for the red velvet satin sofa—arched The ceiling is patchwork of gold leaves, the baroque side tables are gilded, the Venetian mirrors and the candlesticks that line the walls are also gold, the delicate tassels on the gold brocade curtains are dark gold, and even The exquisite ornaments placed here and there are also all gold.Rachel was dumbfounded.

In the center of the room, a huge circular aquarium like a pond is embedded in the marble floor with gold grains, making the whole room even more dreamlike.The pond was brightly lit and Rachel could see baby sharks swimming in the bubbling water at a glance.Before she could take in all the sights, three golden-retriever Pekingese ran into the room, their shrill barks echoing across the marble floor.

Pei Lin's mother—a pudgy woman in her early 50s with short, shoulder-length perm hair—came into the living room.She wears a tight bright pink silk blouse that shows off her cleavage, a belt of interlocking Medusa heads, and black leggings.The only unreasonable thing about her attire were the pink padded slippers on her feet.

"Astor, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, naughty dogs, stop barking!" She reprimanded, then turned and greeted: "Rachel Zhu! Welcome, welcome!" Her accent was very thick. Chinese accent.

Rachel was suddenly embraced by her, squeezed into her plump embrace, and the smell of women's eau de toilette rushed straight into her nostrils. "Oops, I haven't seen you for a long time, change your armor and press water!" she said in Hokkien, holding Rachel's face in her hands.

"She said you have become very beautiful." Pei Lin helped translate, knowing that Rachel could only understand Mandarin.

"Thank you, Mrs. Wu, nice to see you again." Rachel was a little flattered—she didn't know how to react whenever someone complimented her appearance.

"What?" She pretended to be startled and said, "Don't call me Mrs. Wu, Mrs. Wu is calling my horrible mother-in-law! Just call me Auntie Nina."

"Okay, Aunt Nina."

"Come on, come to the restaurant. It's meal time." Nina grabbed Rachel's wrist with her bronze-colored nails, and led her to the restaurant through a long corridor of marble columns.Rachel couldn't help but stare at the large deep yellow diamond in her hand, like a translucent egg yolk, and the three-carat diamond earrings on her ears, which were very similar to Palin's earrings.Like a mother, like a daughter—maybe buy one get one free.

After passing the hellish living room, the dining room finally gave Rachel a respite: wood wainscoting on the walls, and windows facing the lawn, looking out to an oval pool surrounded by There were several Greek statues, and she immediately found two different "Venus of Milos" among them: one was carved in white, and the other was all gold.Beside the huge round table in the center of the restaurant, eighteen Louis XIV-style high-back chairs are placed one after another. The chairs are also covered with the same hand-made lace cover as the table, and the chair cushion of royal blue brocade is added. Makes you feel very comfortable.All the members of the Wu family are waiting for the arrival of the guests in the restaurant.

"Rachel, you should still remember my dad. This is my brother Pei Ying and his wife Xue Rou, my brother Pei Ting—we call him PT, and they are my nieces Alyssa and Camilla." Everyone came forward to shake Rachel's hand, and Rachel inadvertently noticed that none of them was taller than 1.6'[-].The two brothers had darker complexion than Pei Lin, but had exquisite features, and they were dressed almost identically—light blue shirt and dark gray slacks, as if they followed the company manual to decide what to wear on an ordinary Friday. .Cheryl's fair complexion stands out in the family; she wears a pink printed tank top and a denim skirt, showing signs of exhaustion as she busily feeds her two daughters with chicken nuggets.The chicken nugget box comes with the sweet and sour sauce packet on a gold-rimmed Limoges (French porcelain brand) decorative plate.

Pei Lin's father motioned for Rachel to sit next to him.He was a stocky, well-chested man in khaki trousers and a red Ralph Lauren top with a large dark blue polo player logo on his chest, and Franck Muller on his slightly slender wrists. The same pair of padded slippers on the socked feet.His attire, combined with his stocky frame, gave the man an incongruous boyishness in his late 60s.

"Rachel Zhu, long time no see! We are very grateful to you for taking care of Pei Lin in college. Without you, she might not be able to stay at Stanford long ago." He said.

"Oh, no! I've been looked after by Perrin. It's an honor to be invited to lunch at this...amazing...house, Mr. Wu." Rachel thanked her solemnly.

"Uncle Huiming, call me Uncle Huiming." He corrected.

Three maids came in and brought hot food to the already full table.Rachel counted and found thirteen different dishes on the table.

"Okay, everyone, sip, sip. Don't be too restrained, Rachel, this is just a simple home-cooked meal, it's not very rich!" Nina said.Rachel looked down at the plate full of food—it wasn't easy at all. "Our new chef is from Ipoh, so today you will taste some classic and traditional Malaysian and Singaporean dishes." Nina said, scooping a spoonful of beef rendang curry onto the gold-rimmed table in front of Rachel plate.

"Mom, we are done eating, can we go to the game room to play?" one of the girls asked Xue Rou.

"You didn't finish eating, I saw some chicken nuggets left." Their mother replied.

Nina looked over and reprimanded: "Oh, finish what's on the plate, children! Don't you know that some children in the United States have nothing to eat?"

Rachel smiled at the cute girls with twin tails and said, "It's nice to finally see the rest of your family, is everyone on holiday today?"

"That's the beauty of working in-house—we can have long lunches," PT chimed in.

"Hey, it can't be too long." Teruaki retorted cheerfully.

"So every kid in this family works for your company, Mr. Wu... I mean, Uncle Huiming?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, we are a real family business. My father is still working as the chairman, and I am the executive officer of the company, and the other children also have their own roles: Pei Ying is the general manager of the implementation of planning, and PT is the director of the Ministry of Construction. general manager, and Pei Lin is the general manager in charge of new businesses. Of course, our company has more than 6000 full-time employees.”

"Then where is your company?"

"Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Chongqing have all developed. Now we have a branch office in Hanoi, and Yangon will soon."

"It sounds like your company is actively promoting the development of high-growth regions." Rachel said with admiration.

"Yeah, yeah," Teruaki said, "Geez, you're so smart—Pei Lin told me you were doing well at NYU. Are you married? PT, why don't you pay attention to Rachel? We could add another family member!" Everyone at the table laughed.

"Father, you are so forgetful. I told you that she came with her boyfriend." Pei Lin said with a smile.

"A foreigner?" He asked Pei Lin.

"No, Singaporean. I saw him earlier today," Pei Lin said.

"Oh, why didn't he come?" Nina urged.

"Nick would like to see you too, but he has something urgent to do for a friend. We're actually at his friend's wedding, and he's the best man," Rachel explained.

"Who is going to get married?" Teruaki asked.

"His name is Colin Kew," Rachel replied.

Suddenly, everyone at the banquet stopped and stared at her.

"Colin Qiu... and Araminta Li's wedding?" Xuerou tried to ask a little more clearly.

"Yeah," Rachel said in surprise, "You know them?"

Nina slammed her chopsticks down on the table, stared at Rachel and said, "What? You're going to Colin Chiu's wedding?!" she screamed, her mouth full of food.

"Yes, yes...Are you going too?"

"Rachel! You didn't tell me that you came to attend Colin Qiu's wedding." Pei Lin lowered her voice.

"Well, you didn't ask me." Rachel said awkwardly, "What's the matter?...Is there any problem?" She suddenly had an ominous premonition: the Wu family and the Qiu family might be feuds.

"No problem!" Pei Lin suddenly shouted excitedly, "Don't you know? This is the wedding of the century! Every TV channel, every magazine, and probably a million communities are discussing this matter !"

"Why? Are they famous?" Rachel was completely confused.

"My God! Colin Qiu is the grandson of Qiu Defeng, who comes from one of the richest families in the world! As for Araminta Li——she is the super son of Chinese billionaire Peter Lee and luxury hotel heir Annabel Lee Model daughter. This wedding is literally like a royal wedding!" Nina gushed.

"I didn't know about it," Rachel said in surprise. "I just saw them last night."

"Have you seen them? Have you seen Araminta Lee? Is she pretty in person? How is she dressed?" Xuerou asked like a groupie.

"She's beautiful, but very modestly dressed - when I saw her she was wearing pajamas and she looked like a schoolgirl. Is she Eurasian?"

"No, but her mother is from Xinjiang. It is said that she has Uyghur ancestry." Nina said.

"Araminta is the most famous fashion model here! She takes photos for all magazines, and she is Alexander McQueen's queen model." Xuerou was very excited.

"She's a man's dream girl!" PT interjected.

"When did you see her?" Pei Lin asked.

"When she came to the airport with Colin to pick him up."

"They're going to pick up the plane!" PT said in disbelief, laughing exaggeratedly, "with an army of bodyguards?"

"No, they came in an SUV. There were actually two SUVs. No wonder one of them took the luggage directly to the hotel!" Rachel recalled.

"Rachel, Kingsford Hotel is run by Colin Qiu's family! That's why you live there." Pei Lin pushed her arm hard.

Rachel didn't know what to say at this stage, she was amused and a little embarrassed that they were so excited.

"Is your boyfriend Colin Qiu's best man? What's his name?" Pei Lin's father asked.

"Nicholas Young," Rachel replied.

"Nicholas Young... how old is he?"

"32."

"Then he is one year older than Pei Ying." Nina said.She stared at the ceiling, as if mentally flipping through a card case to see if she could remember someone named Nicholas Young.

"Pei Ying—have you ever heard the name Nicholas Yang?" Huiming asked his eldest son.

"No, do you know which school he went to?" Pei Ying asked Rachel.

"Balliol College, Oxford." She hesitated, wondering why they were suddenly so interested in every detail.

"No, I'm asking about elementary schools." Pei Ying said.

"It's elementary school." Pei Lin said more clearly.

"Oh, I don't know."

"Nicholas Young... the name sounds like ACS," interrupted the PT. "Everyone who reads ACS has that Christian name."

"Colin Kew also read ACS, Daddy. I researched when Rachel and Nick first started dating, but no one I know has ever heard of that name," Perrin said.

"What's his father's name?" Teruaki asked.

"do not know."

"After you know the names of his parents, we can help you investigate whether his family is good or not." Huiming said.

"If he is Colin Qiu's best friend, of course his family will be fine." Nina said, "By the way, is there an obstetrician named Richard Yang who is practicing with Dr. Zhuo?"

"No, Nick's dad is an engineer, and he seems to spend part of the year working in Australia," Rachel said.

"See if you can know more about his family's background, so we can help you." Huiming said finally.

"Oh, don't worry about it, it really doesn't matter to me whether his family is good or not." Rachel replied.

"Nonsense! Of course it's important!" Teruaki said firmly, "He's a Singaporean, so it's my duty to help you see if he's worthy of you!"