Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians #3)(168)

The guests rose from their seats in unison as the proud father of the bride, Goh Wye Mun, nervously escorted his daughter Peik Lin up the aisle. The bride wore a strapless gown with a fitted white bodice and a long train skirt of ruffles appliquéd with pale pink silk roses. Her hair was swept up into an elaborate braided bun and crowned with a vintage pearl-and-diamond tiara from G.Collins & Sons.

Jacqueline and Oliver looked at each other and said in unison, "McQueen!"

As Peik Lin glided past them, Jacqueline nodded approvingly. "Sublime. Sarah Burton does it again!"

"We both lose, but we can still have lunch at Daphne's. Of course, you're treating, Jac-you've got more fuck-you money than I do," Oliver said with a wink.

Peik Lin walked up to the middle of the bridge, where she was met by the pastor, who looked a little too disturbingly like Chris Hemsworth, and the man she was about to marry-Alistair Cheng.

Nick and Rachel beamed joyously as the couple exchanged their handwritten vows, while Neena Goh, dressed in a gold-sequined Guo Pei gown with a plunging neckline, wept noisily. The Young sisters-Felicity, Catherine, Victoria, and Alix-glared at the mother of the bride with varying degrees of disapproval while shedding their own discreet tears.

"I can't believe my baby Alistair is getting married," Alix sniffed to her sisters. "It seemed like only yesterday he was crawling into my bed, too afraid to asleep in the dark, and look at him now."

"Well, the boy was smart enough to marry a woman as capable as Peik Lin! I must admit I am quite impressed with what she and Alistair have done with Tyersall Park," Felicity said.




       
         
       
        
"I'm impressed by what they all did!" Catherine interjected. After all, it was she who cast the tiebreaking vote between the sisters one year ago when Nick had come to them with a radical new proposal hours before they were about to sign the sales contract with Jack Bing.

The result of Nick's proposal had now come to life as the just completed Tyersall Park Hotel and Museum, which preserved the main house as a historic landmark while breathing new life into it as an incomparably elegant new boutique hotel run by Colin Khoo and Araminta Lee. Set among nineteen acres of lush gardens in the immediate vicinity of the main house were forty guest villas exquisitely designed by Oliver T'sien in partnership with Axel Vervoordt. Beyond this rose Tyersall Village, a forty-five-acre community of sustainable housing specifically designed for artists and middle-income families, built by Goh Developments-the construction company owned by Peik Lin's family.

"I think Father would be proud of Nicky. I don't think he was ever truly comfortable coming home every night to this decadent palace, when he spent the whole day being a doctor to the poorest people on the island," Alix said approvingly. From the row behind the sisters, Cassandra Shang leaned in and whispered, "I'm told every single house in Tyersall Village sold on the first day of offering, because for so long no one with less than ten million dollars has been able to afford a house with a garden in Singapore! But apparently the people living in those big houses along Gallop Road are furious that the hoi polloi are now moving in to this tony neighborhood!"

"I don't mind what they did with Tyersall Village, but all those Buddha heads in the garden have got to go!" Victoria huffed. "I wonder if Peik Lin had anything to do with that. Those parents of hers look like they could be Buddhist."

Felicity shook her head. "I don't think Peik Lin was involved. I think the Buddhas belong to the secret investor who chipped three billion in to Nick's venture. I just wish I knew who it was!"

When the ceremony had concluded, the guests proceeded to the wedding banquet at Alexander's, the ravishing new restaurant in what was formerly the conservatory managed by Araminta Lee's Sublime Hospitality Group. Su Yi's prizewinning orchid hybrids commanded the space, but now they sprang out of handblown glass vessels suspended from the ceiling. Lit by candlelight, the hundreds of orchids seemed to dance in the air like celestial creatures over the long wooden seventeenth-century refectory tables.

Eddie was the first to clink his wineglass and propose a toast to the newly married couple. "Peik Lin, I want to officially welcome you to the Cheng family, even though you know that you've already been welcomed into our hearts. And Alistair, my baby brother, I've never been more proud of you than I am today, and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you and cherish you! I love you, brother!" Eddie said, crushing Alistair into a tight bear hug as he began sobbing into his collar.