He puts a great deal of pressure on her to conform to his ideal of a perfect corporate spouse. Rachel begins to suspect that her father and stepmother are not truly busy, but just avoiding her.Īstrid and Michael’s marriage further breaks down. Rachel’s sweet but irresponsible younger brother, Carlton, and his friend, the fabulous socialite Collette Bing, welcome Rachel and Nick to Shanghai and take them to a wide variety of social activities, but Gaoliang is notably absent from all events. She fears that Rachel’s existence might become a scandal that destroys her husband’s chances of becoming vice premier. Unfortunately, Gaoliang’s wife, Bao Shaoyen, hates the idea of her husband’s illegitimate daughter visiting. Nick accepts Gaoliang’s offer for the new couple to honeymoon in Shanghai and meet Rachel’s side of the family for the first time. Rachel and Nick’s wedding goes off without a single problem, and Gaoliang is even able to attend. Her email and text correspondence with Charlie grow increasingly playful and nostalgic over time. She’s also missing time with her close friend and former fiancé, Charlie Wu. Her husband, Michael, is running a successful business, but their relationship is unsatisfying and plagued with arguments over child discipline. Meanwhile, Nick’s favorite cousin, Astrid Leong, is having difficulties. Eleanor crashes her son’s wedding rehearsal by landing her helicopter at the wedding site, but Rachel forgives the intrusion since Eleanor also introduces her to her true father, for whom she’s been searching for years.

When she notices that the son of a billionaire Chinese politician looks identical to Rachel Chu, she hires a private investigator and discovers that Rachel’s real father is Bao Gaoliang. Nick’s mother, Eleanor Young, tried to sabotage their relationship, which led to Nick being estranged from most of his family.Įleanor is heartbroken to learn that she is not invited to her only son’s wedding, but she still has a few tricks up her sleeve. The journey to the altar hasn’t been an easy one, since Rachel is a commoner and Nick comes from the unfathomably rich upper-crust elite of Singaporean society. Rachel Chu and Nick Young are preparing for their California wedding.

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan