Eternal Happiness
From Hkadb
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
This is a story, perhaps a true story about Meng Lai Kuan (played by Michelle Yip). It is during the Mango period, the Yuan Dynasty. Michelle is a very intelligent girl, who likes to dressing up like man in order to roam around freely. Michelle met Joe Man and Raymond Lam and the three of them become the sworn brothers. This is a story about love, misunderstanding, false identities and of course, a comedy.
[edit] First Broadcast
- - 2002
[edit] Title
- Chinese: �?生緣
- Cantonese: Joy San Yeun
- English: Eternal Happiness
- Vietnamese: Mạnh Lệ Quân
[edit] Episodes
- 32
[edit] Cast
[edit] Theme Songs
Click To Listen
[edit] Producer
Poon Ka Tak
[edit] Genre
- Romance
- Historical
[edit] Synopsis/Casts
This series revolves around a girl named Mang Lai Kuan and her adventures to save her dad because her dad was framed by Lau Chit and Lau Fui Pik for being a terrorist. At the beginning of the story, she has Weng Lan to accompany her on her journey to save her dad, but later on, she meets with a lot of people along the way, namely the bandit queen and her four bandits. Apart from her adventures, she also has to deal with her love life. She has to choose between Wong Poh Siu Wah and Tit Muk Ee.
Mang Lai Kuan played by Michelle Yip Mang Lai Kuan is a girl who does not believe that only boys are allowed to get education. Because of this, she dresses up as a boy (and goes by the name of Ngai Chi Wan – and later as Lai Ming Tong when she becomes a Mongolian Judge) most of the time to wander around the streets and secretly go to school without her parents’ knowledge. She is the kind of girl who would go all out to show everyone that girls can also do whatever boys can do – and even better. She also does not believe in arranged marriages. Actually, her parents had already arranged her marriage to Wong Poh Siu Wah but she does not want to get married to him because she does not know who he is, plus, she had already fallen in love with someone else. Her only memory of Wong Poh Siu Wah is of a fat kid whom she had met when they were young. This character played by Michelle is, I have to say again, excellent, compared to her past performances. Well, of course she still needs some improvement, especially her crying skills, but overall, a great improvement by Michelle. You can see the difference between her past performances and this performance. Maybe after this, TVB should let this actress play these kinds of role more often in the future. She is very good in playing the strong, opinionated and independent girl. If Michelle keeps up her good work, she will certainly become one of the key actresses for TVB!
Wong Poh Siu Wah played by Raymond Lam Wong Poh Siu Wah is a kind, gentle, brave, courageous, naïve, honest, noble guy. Not only is he all of the above, he is also very loyal towards love. You can say that he is the ‘perfect’ guy whom every girl would fall in love with. He is supposed to marry Lai Kuan and he is very happy about it, although he has never met the adult Lai Kuan. But when they met the first time when they were young he almost fell off this cliff and michelle saved him. while saving him her bracelet breaks. In the beginning, you may think that this character is dull compared to Tit Muk Ee, but I can assure you, by the end of this series, you will fall in love with him because I nearly did. Wong Poh Siu Wah also buys this bracelet that looks exactly like the one that Michelle wore as a kid. This character was very well portrayed by Raymond. His performance in this series is much much better than in A Step In The Past and A Taste Of Love. I think this actor has the potential to be a rising star.
Tit Muk Ee played by Joe Ma As far as I know, this actor always gets small roles or supporting actor roles for any drama series he acts in. Every time Tit Muk Ee appears on screen, I wanna fall asleep. He is the guy Lai Kuan falls in love with in the beginning… but I wonder how can she fall in love with him????? He is SO boring. The on-screen chemistry between the two of them is poor. They do not seem to match because Tit Muk Ee seems to be way older than Lai Kuan – and taller. Anyway, Tit Muk Ee is the Mongolian King, but all I can think about this character is that he is BORING. In my opinion, this actor is not that bad looking, but why is he still forever playing small or supporting actor roles? Is it because of his poor on-screen charisma? His performance in this series is like his other performances in other series. It is just his same old normal performance. It is nothing special, not good, not bad – just normal. Maybe it’s high time that TVB promote him because he seems to have been around for so long already.
Weng Lan played by Rain Lau What can I say about this character? She is sooooo cute and funny. I cannot help but laugh everytime I see Weng Lan in a scene. Her cheeks are so chubby everytime she smiles, it made me want to pinch her cheeks. She is Lai KuanÂ’s maid, but they seem more like friends to me. Although Lai Kuan always seems to be bossing her around, Lai Kuan really cares for her and treats her like a friend at times. Good thing that TVB put her in this series, because I cannot imagine what it would be like without her. I think Rain Lau also played other types of characters in other drama series, but I cannot recall because she always playing either a small role or a supporting actress role. However, she is really good in this series as she adds more comedy to it.
Ying Suet/So Wan played by Tavia Yeung Ying Suet is Lai KuanÂ’s childhood friend, but later on, when she becomes a princess, she goes by the name of So Wan. Her performance in here is good and natural. I am not so familiar with this actress; I have only seen her performance in The Awakening Story before this, so I am not going to comment much on her.
Mang Chi Yu played by Mok Kar Yiu Mang Chi Yu is Lai KuanÂ’s brother. He is very funny in this series. He is very good with his facial expression, which makes him very funny. His acting in here is by far better than his past performances, but I never really notice this actor before, because he only plays very small roles (most of the time the bad guy) in past TVB series.
Lau Chit and Lau Fui Pik They are the baddies in this series. Lau Chit is the father and Lau Fui Pik is the son. Both of them are the enemies of Lai Kuan and Siu WahÂ’s family. There is nothing much to say about their performances here. It is just a normal bad-guy-performance. But about their characters, I have to say that I really hate Lau Fui Pik!!! Always stirring trouble up for Lai Kuan and Siu WahÂ’s family. Even his own father cannot stand his attitude, because he is always causing trouble, leaving his father to clean up his mess. Lau Chit is no more better than his son, but I hate Lau Fui Pik more.
Lau Yin Yuk played by Myolie Wu She is Lau ChitÂ’s daughter and Lau Fui PikÂ’s half sister. She is the only good one in this bad family. She is forever trying to stop her father and half brother from doing bad stuff, but to no avail. And she also secretly admires Siu Wah, which later Lai Kuan becomes jealous of (these are some of the funny scenes). I have seen this actressÂ’s performance in At Point Blank and Legal Entanglement, which I think is good. I like her performance in At Point Blank better. I thought TVB will give her a bigger role after that, but instead, they gave her a small and very stupid role in this series. I think it is because of the script and her role that made her received lots of bad comments about her. Personally, I think that this actress can act, has talent and the potential to be a rising star, but after her stupid role and script in here, letÂ’s just hope that TVB has not ruined her acting career.
Fut Chan played by Natalie Ng Fut Chan is the Queen – Tit Muk Ee’s wife. There is nothing much to say about this character here. This actress is not really good in acting, which explains why TVB always gives her small roles.
[edit] Summary
A girl disguises as a man faces many obstacles and falling in love with 2 men who became her sworn brothers not realising she was actually a girl. Set in early Yuan Dynasty in China.
Plot There is absolutely nothing worthy to say about the so called plot of this series but describe it I must. And so here goes...
Man Lai Kuan is an exceptionally dim .. sorry... bright girl who is as smart, if not smarter and more capable than any man or scholar. Born into a simple but renowned family of physicians, she is adored by her parents and her big brother. She also has a taste for disguising as a man together with her faithful servant, Yuk as that is the only way she can show off ... sorry again ... participate in what women were not allowed to do; scholarly debates, going to school, amongst others. She is also well versed in Kung Fu.
One fine day she meets two men who would change her life forever, if not her exquisite taste in men's clothing.
One was the heroic and idealistic Wong Po Siu Wah who was actually her intended fiancée since they were little children, much to her chagrin. The other is a mysterious handsome bloke who so happens to be a Mongolian named Temur. Both men take an instant liking to Man Lai Kuan disguised as Lai Ming Tong, a young effeminate but smart scholar who is related to the unseen Man Lai Kuan. They became sworn brothers and when Lai Kuan thought it was Temur who played the song which she so liked, she fell in love with Temur, trying her best to tell him she disguising as a he is actually a she. Temur at the same time has feelings for Lai Kuan, until he has to leave for home due to an emergency situation. Lai Kuan was devastated but when she found out it was Wong Po Siu Wah who was the one who played that song, she realised she loved Wong Po Siu Wah and poor Temur was left in the cold, well not quite.
At the meantime, Lai Kuan's father was forced to marry her off to a useless man who was the son of an acquaintance of the powerful 9th Duke (uncle to the future Yuan emperor who so happens to be Temur). Ying Suet, Lai Kuan's faithful servant volunteered to take her place as no one actually saw Lai Kuan to disastrous results; it ended with Ying Suet jumping into the lake and the bad guy accusing Lai Kuan's father of many things; some which landed poor old man into prison in the greatest injustice one can perpetrate.
Ying Suet at the meantime is saved and became very close to none other than the 9th duke who took her in as his own daughter, and so Ying Suet who became So Wan was pronounced a Yuan princess, an attempt by Temur to please his uncle who is close to revolting against Temur.
Temur on the other hand was forced to marry a very considerate princess and though the marriage was quite ok, the princess couldn't help but feel Temur was a bit cold towards her.
Lai Kuan and friends (brother, servant, acquaintance) found out her father was imprisoned and traveled all the way to the capital city with very low funds to seek the help of a powerful relative who is actually no longer powerful. In a last attempt to save her father, she decided to take the place of the relative's sickly son in the national exams and she emerged as 1st in the exams, and given the rank of a minister and married to Ying Suet the princess in a bizarre twist that I didn't witness as I was already this close to quitting this series.
By this time Lai Kuan already loves Wong Po Siu Wah who is still clueless that she is a girl and then she bumps into Temur and realised he was the King. Now the King uses all the tricks in the world to tempt Lai Kuan to confess that she is actually a woman but to no avail. At the same time Lai Kuan successfully saved her father by tricking the evil duo (that is that father and son who suspected Ying Suet was not Lai Kuan and Lai Ming Tong is Lai Kuan) that Ying Suet was pregnant with Lai Kuan's child (please don't go huh? yet). Both are sentenced to become soldiers in the outermost boundaries of the Yuan Dynasty which actually meant death in the most horrible way. Yin Yuk tried to persuade Lai Kuan to let go of her family and it was Wong Po Siu Wah who came to the rescue as that girl once saved his life.
But the King hatches more evil plans to get Lai Kuan when Lai Kuan refuses his advancement which is witnessed by the empress (who is pregnant at this point of time). He betrothed Yin Yuk to Wong Po Siu Wah but that girl realising Wong Po Siu Wah loves Lai Kuan (and I really do not know how she suddenly knew he was a she) ran away to let them be free to love one another. The king refused to let go and so Lai Kuan was trapped; accept the love of the man she did not love or run away and let her family suffer the consequences of the wrath of the king?
Well, the King let Lai Kuan go when Lai Kuan told the King she will die if she is forced to be with him. In the end, Lai Kuan ran off with Wong Po Siu Wah and live happily ever after. What happens to poor Yin Yuk is anyone's guess. As for the 9th Duke, he tried to revolt against Temur mostly because of jealousy as he believed he deserved the throne but his father, that was Temur's grandpa loved him not. At one point he took Lai Kuan as a hostage as he planned his escape but persuaded by his own mother, he let go of all his unhappiness. He didn't mind being sentenced to death and his beloved wife, a woman he loved very much rather die with him than live alone. But they didn't die as obviously Temur let them go and both of them returned to the life they once had before the dynasty was established, then they were mere sheep herders and milking goats. Very touching actually. As for Ying Suet, she still was a princess and there was a hint of a romance with a scholar.
