From L to R: Eugene Sum Yut Kan (Fala Chen), Morris Lee Ming Yeung (Moses Chan), Sheila Luk Sze Ying (Christine Ng), Wilson Yu Ying Wai (Wayne Lai), Ching Ka Ming (Jason Chan), and Nana Lo Siu Lo (Sire Ma)
No, I am not working for TVB nor our local 8TV station. I am also without the benefit of preview or review of parts which I missed or got distracted. For those really keen, they could have accessed it from the internet or from a PVR which can record any tv show for viewing later. Just like playing Sudoku, it is more to exercise my mind and prevent dementia. So here's my description of earlier episodes with some guesswork thrown in.
Briefly, a super rich man, Sung Chuen Fu, left a will with 3 parts: first provides for HK$300,000 per month living allowance each to widow, Fung Yue Fei (Susan Tse) and her two sons, Sung Ka Cheung (Power Chan) and Gilbert Sung Ka Yiu (Vincent Wong); second provides for any business proposal by the sons, so long as approved by a committee of trustees; and third is to remain a secret, to be opened 3 years after death.
Even though his entire business empire was handled by a law firm headed by ShumYik Wo, the will was prepared by his old lawyer friend, Lo Sam Bo (Elliot Yue), who specialises in Wills and Trusts.
The unusual structure of the will was because of his secret mistress and love child which reasons are being unfolded as the story progresses.
Shum's law firm has his ex-pupil and now partner, Morris Lee Ming Yeung (Moses Chan) who had made a name for himself as an outstanding lawyer.
Shum's daughter, Eugene Sum Yut Kan (Fala Chen), knew the rich man's younger son, Gilbert Sung Ka Yiu in UK, and have been together when they came back to HK, encouraged by Shum because of his firm's long dependence on Sung's business empire, being their biggest client. At one point when Sung's widow, Fung Yue Fei (Susan Tse), fell out with him, she wrote a cheque for HK$100 million as settlement and for prompt and personal professional services rendered over the years, just to give an idea of the size of the legal business involved.
Lo's firm has his ex-pupil, Wilson Yu Ying Wai (Wayne Lai) as partner. He is another well known lawyer. His ex-wife, Sheila Luk Sze Ying (Christine Ng), happens to be the judge involved in all the cases shown. Where there is conflict of interest, like when Wilson took on a case as public prosecutor, they would ensure no private meetings between them.
It was only later that audience would find the reasons why Sung chose to have his will in 3 parts, the last part with specific condition that it can only be opened 3 years after death. The main reason being to maintain the secrecy of his mistress, Ching Shuk Hing (Mary Hon) and their love child. But more important to him, is the fact that Ching Ka Ming (Jason Chan), his secret son is his, unlike Gilbert Sung Ka Yiu (Vincent Wong) who is his wife's illegitimate child. Though Sung has an elder son, Sung Ka Cheung (Power Chan), but being autistic, Ka Ming is his only hope of a descendant able to manage and maintain his vast business empire in future, as well as responsible enough to look after his autistic step-brother.
Soon after the birth of his first son, Ka Cheung, it was discovered that he is autistic. He was most disappointed that even though he is among the richest man in HK, there are certain things he cannot control nor wish for. He felt depressed and found solace in drinking liquor until drunk before he reached home. As if blaming his wife for bearing him an autistic child, he ignored her and refused to have dinner at home. Out of frustration, his wife went out to a bar to drink. While until the influence of alcohol, a ship captain befriended her. She kept saying she doesn't want to go home and he took her somewhere else. The sexual liaison resulted in her getting pregnant. After the birth of the second son, Sung must have suspected whether the child is his. He secretly asked the doctor (Dr Lai) who delivered the baby, to do a DNA test.
We have a situation where the first wife and the younger son were smug with the feeling that the whole estate will be shared among only three of them. Who would have thought that her late husband's secret when known, unintentionally and prematurely, would change everything? Lo had to give up his position as keeper of the 3-part will and as trustee of Sung's estate because of his unprofessional behaviour towards Ka Yiu. He was badly affected by the rape of his daughter by him especially despite his vast experience as lawyer, was unable to help her to bring him to justice.
Earlier Ka Yiu, got to know Lo's daughter, Nana Lo Siu Lo (Sire Ma) who is a models agency manager. While under the influence of drugs, he raped her. Shum took the opportunity to disqualify him in a court hearing (for having assaulted Ka Yiu), as he was most anxious to get hold of the third part of the will and curious to know its details, as well as to administer the vast estate which he felt should have been rightly his, to administer.
When the details of the third part of the will was known. it caused shock and disbelief to Sung's widow, not so much because of knowing her husband had a mistress (she knew just before she had an affair), but that the mistress's son, Ching Ka Ming, was to be sole executor of the estate! The twist to the story was when Morris thought it was wise to bring up the fact that Ka Ming was a witness during the trial on the validity of the will. Being a beneficiary, even though it was unknown to him, Ka Ming should not have acted as a witness. For knowing the fact and allowing his chambering student to do so, Lo had acted unprofessionally, and for that, he could be disqualified as a lawyer, and even be jailed.
But at the time, Lo did not have a choice. Without Ka Ming's testimony, Sung's will would have been invalidated. He had promised his old friend that he would follow his instructions faithfully to the end. During the trial, Morris was brilliant in bringing up the fact that Sung had a herbal patch (with alcoholic content) to an open wound, which was medically confirmed to have the effect similar to being too drunk to be able to draw up a valid will. When the herbal concoction was shown in court, Ka Ming remembered the strong smell on the day when he just got back from overseas, and got into hospital room 203 intead of his mother's 302. At the time, Sung was startled by his intrusion, and was pleasantly surprised, especially when told his name, and he knew that he was his love child. He asked him to remove the herbal patch. This act helped to disprove Morris's claim that Sung was under alcoholic influence, and the verdict was in favour of validity of the will.
Instead of being happy with the verdict that the will was invalid, Shum admonished Morris for bringing up the fact that Ka Ming should not have acted as witness. Without a valid will, the estate will be divided according to the law: half to the widow, and the remaining half, to be shared equally among the 3 sons. This would mean, Ka Ming is entitled to 1/6 (1/3 of 1/2) of Sung's estate. To give an idea of the amount, Ka Yiu was most upset that his father's estate will be reduced by tens of billion HK$ because of the bastard son's share!
Sung's widow, knowing her own dark secret, was worried sick that it might be found out. Meanwhile, Sung's mistress was very upset that her son's involvement in the trial of the will (not so much disclosurre and publicity of his existence and entitlement), could cause Lo to be disbarred and even jailed. All along she had been most noble in not wanting anything from Sung since the birth of their son. As a compromise, she accepted a shop as gift which she used as a cafe for business and to earn enough to bring up the child and sent him overseas to study law, without him knowing who is his father. That they managed to keep the secret for the past 28 years and avoid any connection with Sung and what many believe, could have taken advantage to gain much monetary advantage, shows their sincerity. Both mother and son agreed that to avoid Lo getting into professional trouble, they are prepared to give up whatever that is due to Ka Ming under the law relating to intestacy. Sung's widow, when approached by the mistress to consider her proposal for compromise, on the condition that they will not take action against Lo, could not believe her luck. She was more than happy to agree and accept her proposal.
However, without her knowledge, Ka Yiu approached old Shum and wanted him to ask the court for an order for a DNA test on Ka Ming. Shum actually contacted the doctor (Dr Lai) who delivered both Ka Yiu and Ka Ming. There was an apparent miscommunication about the DNA test and result and Shum got the impression that it confirmed Ka Ming instead of Ka Yiu as not Sung's son. Thinking that he has a golden opportunity to hit back at his old rival, Lo, he made a surprise entrance during the court hearing on the compromise proposal. Just before the judge was about to announce her verdict, Shum said he had evidence to show that Lo had been scheming elaborately right from the beginning, even though he knew that Ka Ming is not Sung's son. He said Lo's objective was to turn the court verdict to his client's favour so that the law of intestacy would apply. He insisted that to prove that his theory is right, there should be a DNA test on Ka Ming, so sure was he.
Upon hearing his testimony, the widow fainted out of anger and fear. She was not privy to her son's instruction to Shum. When she recovered, the moment she saw Shum, she scolded him for not acting according to her instructions. When asked why he did not discuss with her first, Shum said he thought it would have been better as a secret so that even the opposing side would not have the opportunity to be prepared for such a revelation. She told him that from now on, he is not to be involved with their legal matters. For the big blunder and loss of his biggest client, Shum had a mild heart attack.
Fung Yue Fei then turned her anger on her son, Ka Yiu. Ka Yiu could not understand why his mother could be so upset at what he had done. Reluctantly, Yue Fei told him straight to his face, that he was the illegitmate son instead of Ka Ming! Ka Yiu realises that his world falls apart for the fact that he could not inherit his father's vast estate. For someone brought up as a spoilt and spendthrift rich kid, that must have been a great blow. He took to drinks and drugs. Ka Cheung tried to stop him and he ended up being bundled into his car boot. As Ka Ming and Nana were walking back, Ka Yiu drove his car to stop them and insisted that if he is man enough, he should go with him in his car. Ka Yiu took him to their father's tombstone and forced him to admit that he is not Sung's son. They started fighting. A spade was used during the fight, and just as Ka Yiu was about to make a final fatal blow to Ka Ming, he was stopped by Ka Cheung. When Ka Yiu turned on Ka Cheung, it was Yue Fei who used the spade to kill her own illegitimate son, Ka Yiu.
She had her reasons for doing so, even though it must have been very difficult on her. Well, by killing off her own son, she could prevent the truth about his illegitimate status from being known. She also took the opportunity to blame the murder on Ka Ming. For this part, she appears to have Shum's legal advice on how best to plant incriminating evidence on Ka Ming.
Eugene discovered her father was not at home that night and saw him coming into the house early the next morning. When asked, he was evasive and gave the excuse that he joined a friend to watch the sun rise.
The incriminating evidence were all pointing towards Ka Ming's guilt as the murderer. Wilson was in despair in not having anything to help his case. He even approached his ex-wife who is judge at the trial about how she felt about the case. When asked between legality and truth, which would she choose? She replied that as a housewife, she would choose truth, but as a judge, she has to follow the law, based on evidence put forward in court.
The only link were two strips of coloured paper found in Ka Yiu's car. These were used to make lucky stars for good luck. They were traced to Ka Cheung when Elly Yip Nga-lai (Samantha Ko) brought two jars of lucky stars to Morris and Eugene, who were later joined by Wilson. It was Wilson who noticed the connection. Earlier, Morris and Eugene were already suspicious of Shum's behaviour. When Eugene saw Yue Fei with her father in the office, she took the opportunity to visit Ka Cheung. But before she could find him, Yue Fei already got home and told her he has moved to another place.
Morris and Eugene's suspicion and behaviour upset Shum. Eventually, Morris confronted Shum and told him that he is not prepared to continue working on Sung's case. Morris asked him if winning is so important that he can put aside his conscience. He told him that he values his conscience more than winning a case. He even handed him his resignation letter. Shum admitted that to him, winning is all that matters. As a compromise, Shum accepted his resignation but he has to finish off Sung's case on legality of his will, before leaving the firm.
Eugene shares Morris's views on this. They had been together since she broke up from Ka Yiu. She had a heart to heart talk with her dad and he remained stubborn to his belief and expressed regret that she as a lawyer is not like him and does not agree with him on this.
Since the murder at the graveyard, Ka Cheung was afraid of his mother, having seen her using the spade to hit Ka Yiu. He holed himself in the house and refused to see his mother. Knowing what to expect, he was grilled by Shum the day before trial. He acted out all the likely questions expected from the defendant's lawyer. At the murder trial, Ka Cheung was put on the witness stand. Ka Cheung was a nervous wreck in court when questioned by Wilson. He even peeed in his pants. He was allowed to stand down.
One good thing about TVB's serials is that eventually, good triumped over evil. Despite being fiction, credit is due to the scriptwriter for making it interesting. So don't miss the final episode this evening at 7.00 pm on 8TV.
