Less than two weeks since he learned about and started practicing meditation and visualization, Jason was on time attending his cousin’s wedding, hosted at the Prime Royals Hotel in San Francisco.

 

The hotel was quite historic, with a lot of elegant and high end decorations and a very limited parking space. This means that the cost of holding a wedding here is also unimaginably expensive.

 

But it was all paid for by the future husband of his cousin, who was a high exec of a tech company that just went public. It was one classic pride of the family Chinese son.

 

The wedding’s reception was beautiful and elegantly decorated with traditional Chinese decorations - tons of red flowers, traditional Chinese “happiness” hung all around. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were all at the reception handling check ins and taking wedding red packets as per tradition.

 

Jason was still saving up money to replace his camera that he shattered on a gunman’s head. Caroline did offer to buy a new one for him, but considering Caroline was on the same pay grade as him, he insisted that he will accept half of the original price. 

 

And the half the price for that camera? He still needed to save for 3 months, or for 1 month if he just sewed his wallet shut and did not spend money on anything extra. 

 

“Little Jie, you came.” just as he put his red packet down in the basket at the reception, he heard a voice that he was looking forward to hearing.

 

“Uncle Bu.” Jason turned to the one that called out to him and went straight up to him and greeted him in Mandarin, “How’s your flight here?”

 

“Bumpy, long, luckily I got some sleep.” after a few years apart, Jason noticed that his uncle had grown older, yet his kindness seemed not changed, “How’s your animation journey doing? Are you Studio Ghibli level yet?”

 

“Not yet, I wish.” Jason sighed and laughed as he walked with Uncle Bu towards a pair of chairs at the back of the lounge, “How’s everything with you? How’s Little Yu?”

 

“She’s doing Ok, just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and planning for an internship so she cannot come.” Uncle Bu waved his right hand in a “what can I do with them” kind of way, “So I just came for both her and her mom. Where are your parents?”

 

“They are picking up Little Yan, so they will be late, the traffic just got way worse.” Jason chuckled and shook his head, “Who knew San Francisco traffic is bad?”

 

“I watched all of your animations, they’re really good!” Uncle Bu smiled and patted Jason’s shoulder, “Sometimes a little too dirty for me and I don’t get a lot of the references. But your animation skills have really grown over the years. I hope you keep going!”

 

“Thanks! Uncle.” Jason smiled wider than he ever had in the past few weeks, “I also make short videos now, with some buddies of mine. And even though times are tough for small internet influencers right now, I can still make a little bit of money on the side.”

 

“Great! That’s wonderful! ” Uncle Bu nodded and said: “Are they on the same channels?”

 

“Ah, no, we uploaded them to a new channel. I can send you the link to it later. It is quite new, we are not entirely sure on our direction yet, so it might look a bit shattered and inconsistent.” 

 

“Hey, Little Jie, Uncle Bu.” the bride came into the room Jason and his uncle was in and greeted them, “Welcome! I am so happy to see you, how have you been?”

 

“Hi, Elaine, congrats!” Jason stood up and said to the bride, who was in a red and pink dress.

 

“Just call me Yuxin, my husband’s family is not here. It’d be too awkward if we are speaking in Chinese and you call me by my English name.” the bride said with a bright smile, “Uncle, how was your flight? You Okay with the jetlag?”

 

“Oh, you know, I just got off the flight, it had not started yet. I’ll take my sleep tonight.” Uncle Bu laughed and gave Elaine a “you know how it is” look, “Congratulations on your happy day! How’s your parents?”

 

“They are doing really well, very glad that I finally got married to a young and rich perfect son. The kid that your parents keep telling you about and comparing your achievements to?” Elained laughed half sarcastically.

 

“Don’t say that. You two are pretty great together, which means that you are also really accomplished on your own. ” Jason smiled and pointed at himself: “At least you’re not making videos on the internet to buy your coffee.”

 

“Well, hey, Chinese parents don’t like artists, but they will suddenly love you and be proud of you when you bring home the big bucks.” Elained heard a sound from the reception and she had to excuse herself: “Looks like my parents are here, nice chatting with you, let’s catch up later.”

 

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The wedding ceremony was heartwarming, traditional, passionate, and --

 

“...so loud!” after the flamboyant ceremony, Jason couldn’t help but complain to Uncle Bu at the dinner table, who was arranged to sit by his side at the same table, “I didn't know that they allow this kind of stereos in the hotel. This is a historic hotel after all.”

 

“Yeah well, times are tough for the hotel business, even a hotel with this many years of history.” Uncle Bu took a sip of his red wine, took a long look at Jason’s parents, who were paying attention to Jason’s younger brother Yan Lin, and said: “You know, being in the business myself, looks like the younger generation - starting from your generation actually, like to go to simpler, cleaner and more modern hotels and venues for their special occasions and their stays during travel.”

 

“Hmm, interesting. So now, people are for some reason ditching classic hotels like this?” Jason asked curiously, “Is it the same everywhere?”

 

“It is more common in areas where the population is younger and the culture is more modern. Places like the Bay Area, and Irvine California.” Uncle Bu’s minute drunkenness made him a tad braggy and chatty: “You know, when I was first developing my hotels, I would never thought this would be the case. So I tell you this, Little Jie, the experience of an older generation, they can help guide you and provide you with some wisdom, but don’t dwell on it and reject change and new ideas.”

 

“Yeah of course, Uncle.” Jason smiled and kept drinking his wine, with a little tears in his eyes.

 

“Brother, stop with your life lessons, it’s a wedding ceremony.” Jason’s mother shifted her focus from her younger son to her older son and her brother: “Little Jie is doing fine!”

 

“All right, all right, I’ll stop.” Uncle Bu chuckled and he laid back to continue with his wine.

 

Throughout the dinner, Uncle Bu was the one Jason engaged in conversation with the most, his mother and father were not paying as much attention to him as his younger brother, who was carrying out his parents’ wishes almost perfectly.

 

Jason was still glad the conversations with his parents and especially with his father were not as awkward as they used to be - at least they could exchange some basic life updates without much judgment from his father’s part.

 

Among the dishes served were some really expensive and luxurious ones, like Kobe steak, lobster sashimi and Chinese style lamb stew. For some reason, they were not as filling as Jason thought they would, and they were not as half delicious as the lunch offerings back at the inn.

 

“My, my, you looked like you are having another growth spurt.” a distant aunt was impressed that even though they were close to the end of the night and the dinner, Jason was still able to eat, and was cleaning up all the dishes at the table. 

 

“He’s still young with tons of potential.” Uncle Bu smiled over his third glass of wine, “And he’s apparently very environmentally aware! You know we ought to save food and not waste them.”

 

“High, Uncle Bu, Jason, sorry to come to your table so late.” right now, the groom, Donovan Lau, with Elaine by his side, came to the table and greeted everyone at the table with a cup of small glass of wine in his hand and accented Mandarin, “Thank you very much for coming! Elaine and I are both very grateful for your presence. Now please feel free to drink as much as you want, I will finish mine. Cheers!” Then, he drank up all the funny looking wine in his glass.

 

“Does that look like grape juice to you?” after sitting down and watching Donovan and Elaine walk to another table, Uncle Bu whispered to Jason.

 

“Yeah, but he’s the groom and he still has 3 to 4 tables, let’s not fuzz.” Jason chuckled, then he picked another lobster claw and put it on his plate.

 

 

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Note:

For those who are not totally familiar with the customs of the wedding:

In modern/semi traditional Chinese style weddings, there is no tradition of bride and groom being forbidden from seeing each other. Instead, bride and groom are expected to greet the guests. 

It is also a custom for the bride and groom to visit each table during the dinner, and give a toast to the whole table. If there were many guests and thus many tables, sometimes the grooms will toast the guests with juice or soft drinks, while pretending as if it was alcohol.