A Proposal with Unforeseen Challenges
Rachel Chu: [on the plane]
Nick, what are you doing here?
Nick Young:
I'm flying back to New York with you.
Rachel Chu:
Don't make this harder than it already is.
Nick Young:
I always imagined what me proposing to you would be like. You know what? I had it all planned out.
Passenger:
Right behind you.
Nick Young:
Don't mind me. I'd bring you to my favorite spot on the island. There's a hidden trail that I used to go to as a child. And there's a cove there that opens up to this beautiful lake.
Passenger: [bumps into Nick]
Sorry, dude.
Nick Young: [to a passenger struggling with her bag; to Rachel; to a passenger; climbs across seats; kneels; holds out his mother's ring]
Give me a second, coming through. When the sun hits the horizon, I get down on one knee. And the rest of the world would fall away. Because it would just be you and... Because it's just you... Sorry, I can help you with that. Right, stay there. Yeah. You too? Watch your fingers. Everybody okay? Cause I just need 30 seconds with this woman. Thank you. Coming through. Sorry. I know this is a far throw from a hidden paradise. But wherever you are in the world, that's where I belong. But I... Rachel Chu... Will you marry me? And make me the happiest man in this world?
Kerry Chu:
Yes! Yes! She will marry you!
Rachel Chu:
Yes! I love you.
Nick Young:
I love you, too.
Rachel Chu:
This is gonna be some flight back to New York.
Nick Young:
Well, I was actually thinking about staying one more night.
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Lessons in Strategy and Negotiation
Rachel Chu:
Thanks for meeting me here.
Rachel Chu: [[w:Hokkien|Hokkien]
Don't worry about them. They're half-deaf and they only speak ].
Rachel Chu: [[w:mahjong|mahjong]
My mom taught me how to play. She told me ] would teach me important life skills: Negotiation. Strategy. Cooperation.
Eleanor Young: [Shows her tiles; [w:Mahjong#Melds|Pong]
You asked me here, I assume it's not for a Mahjong lesson. ]. My mother taught me too.
Rachel Chu:
I know Nick told you the truth about my mom, but you didn't like me the second I got here. Why is that?
Eleanor Young:
There is a Hokkien phrase kaki lang'. It means: our own kind of people, and you're not our own kind.
Rachel Chu:
Because I'm not rich? Because I didn't go to a British boarding school, or wasn't born into a wealthy family?
Eleanor Young:
You're a foreigner. American – and all Americans think about is their own happiness.
Rachel Chu:
Don't you want Nick to be happy?
Eleanor Young:
It's an illusion. We understand how to build things that last. Something you know nothing about.
Rachel Chu:
You don't know me.
Eleanor Young:
I know you're not what Nick needs.
Rachel Chu: [pauses; pauses; pauses]
Well he proposed to me yesterday. He said he'd walk away from his family and from you for good. Don't worry, I turned him down.
Eleanor Young: [sighs]
Only a fool folds a winning hand.
Rachel Chu:
Mm no. There's no winning. You made sure of that. Cause if Nick chose me, he would lose his family. And if he chose his family, he might spend the rest of his life resenting you.
Eleanor Young: [after a long pause]
So you chose for him...
Rachel Chu: [Choking back tears]
I'm not leaving because I'm scared, or because I think I'm not enough – because maybe for the first time in my life, I know I am. I just love Nick so much, I don't want him to lose his mom again. So I just wanted you to know: that one day – when he marries another lucky girl who is enough for you, and you're playing with your grandkids while the Tan Hua's are blooming, and the birds are chirping – that it was because of me: a poor, raised by a single mother, low class, immigrant nobody.
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Secrets of the Past Uncovered
Rachel Chu:
Why didn't you tell me about my father?
Kerry Chu:
My husband wasn't a good man. He hurt me. But an old schoolmate of mine helped me through things and we fell in love and I got pregnant with his baby, that's you. I was so afraid my husband would find out and kill us both, so I just took you and I ran to America.
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Different Perspectives on Wealth and Relationships
Nick Young:
When we first met, you had no idea who I was, who my family were. You didn't care!
Rachel Chu:
Yeah, I don't care about that stupid stuff.
Nick Young:
Well, exactly. You are so different from all of the women that I grew up with.
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Misunderstandings and Accusations in Relationships
Rachel Chu:
I thought I was here to meet your family, go to your best friend's wedding, eat some good food. Instead, I feel like I'm a villain in a soap opera who's plotting to steal your family fortune.
Nick Young:
What happened?
Rachel Chu:
I mean, I met Amanda. She told me that everyone here thinks that I'm the evil person that prevented you from moving back to Singapore last year but, when I didn't even know you were supposed to come home.
Nick Young:
You have every reason to be upset.
Rachel Chu:
I'm not done yet! There was also the gutted, bloody fish that Araminta's friends left for me in my hotel room on my bed next to the words Catch this, you gold-digging bitch'... written in big fat serial-killer letters.
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Friendship Dynamics and Social Discomfort
Rachel Chu: [as they bury the gutted fish from her hotel room]
This weekend was supposed to be mani-pedis, cocktails served in pineapples. This definitely wasn't on the menu. Why would Araminta even have friends like them? They're so mean.
Astrid Young Teo: [as they fill in the hole]
Well, you grow up your whole lives together, you make excuses for people. Specially the morons.
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Inspiration from Unlikely Sources
Neenah Goh: [Showing off her luxurious home; [w:Hall of Mirrors|Hall of Mirrors; [w:Versaillles|Versaillles]
We were inspired by the ] in ].
Peik Lin Goh: [softly, to Rachel; [Donald Trump]
And ]'s bathroom.
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Unexpected Cocktail Dress Discovery
Rachel Chu: [Incredulous]
You have a cocktail dress in your trunk?
Peik Lin Goh:
I'm not an animal, Rachel.
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Wealth Perception in Crazy Rich Asians
Rachel Chu:
So your family is, like, rich?
Nick Young:
We're comfortable.
Rachel Chu:
That is exactly what a super-rich person would say.
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Desire for Privacy Amid Family Expectations
Rachel Chu:
So, if you have all this family there, why are we staying in a hotel? Aren't good Chinese sons supposed to stay with their parents?
Nick Young:
Well, because A: I'm not that good a son, and B: I just want you to myself, just for a bit.
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Planning an Adventure Beyond the City
Nick Young:
So, what about us taking an adventure east?
Rachel Chu: [thinking for a minute]
You wanna get pork buns in the East Village. That's what it is, isn't it?
Nick Young:
I was actually thinking of further east.
Rachel Chu:
Like Queens?
Nick Young:
Like Singapore, for spring break? Colin's wedding. We've been dating for over a year now, and I think it's about time people met my beautiful girlfriend. Come on, I'm Colin's best man. Don't you wanna see where I grew up? Meet my family, my Ah Ma?
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Standing Up to Family Expectations
Wye Mun Goh:
Let me get this straight. You both went to the same school. Yet someone came back with a degree that's useful, and the other one came back as Asian Ellen.
Oliver T'sien:
It's about time somebody stood up to Auntie Eleanor. But you, not me, oh god. She can't ever know I was here.
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The Tradition of Guilt in Parenting
Astrid Young Teo:
God forbid we lose the ancient Chinese tradition of guilting your children.
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Self-Identity and Relationship Expectations
Astrid Young Teo:
It was never my job to make you feel like a man. I can't make you something you're not.
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Family First Over Personal Ambitions
Eleanor Young:
I chose to help my husband run a business and to raise a family. For me, it was a privilege. But for you, you may think it's old-fashioned. It's nice you appreciate this house and us being here together wrapping dumplings. But all this doesn't just happen. It's because we know to put family first, instead of chasing one's passion.
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Respect for Integrity Over Wealth
Peik Lin Goh: [to Rachel]
Good for you. Walking away from Nick and his family's fat-ass property portfolio. You have no one, no net worth, but you have integrity. That's why I respect you.
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Cultural Perception and Identity in Society
Peik Lin Goh: [to Rachel]
She just thinks you're some like unrefined banana. Yellow on the outside, and white on the inside.
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Unconventional Comparison in Social Commentary
Peik Lin Goh:
You kind of look like a slutty Ebola virus.
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Moms and Chanel No. 5 Perception
Peik Lin Goh:
Chinese sons think their moms fart Chanel No. 5.
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Understanding Old Money vs. New Money Dynamics
Peik Lin Goh: [pointing to a globe]
Rachel, these people aren't just rich, okay. They're crazy rich. Look, there's new money all over Asia. We got the Beijing Billionaires, the Taiwan Tycoons. But the Young family, they're old money rich. They had money when they left China in the 1800s. And they went all the way down here. Not there. Here. They came to Singapore when there was nothing but jungle and pig farmers. There was a snake here, eating an apple. You know what I mean? And they built all of this. Now, they're the landlords of the most expensive city in the world. They're so posh and snobby, it's snoshy!
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Cultural Identity and Personal Challenges in Humor
Rachel Chu:
I'm so Chinese I'm an econ professor with lactose intolerance.
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Surprising airport features and unexpected feelings
Rachel Chu: [in [[w:Singapore Changi Airport|Singapore Changi Airport; [w:John F. Kennedy International Airport|JFK's]
Wow, I can't believe this airport has a butterfly garden, and a movie theater. ] just salmonella and despair.
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