Chinese parents typically inserted themselves into every aspect of their children’s lives, but not Ba. Having interpreted his silence to mean he just wanted me to be happy, I’d felt lucky to have him. Now, taking in Ba’s gleeful expression, I realized that what I’d always read as contentedness was simply an indifference toward any choice I made that didn’t involve working at Lin’s. If I wasn’t going to join the family business, he really didn’t care how I spent my time.
