| A Herbalist Affair |
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| Poster courtesy of tvb.com |
| Themesong – Andy Hui & Flora Chan F: There are people who consider themselves lucky There are patients who drink bitter tea but transform the taste to sweetness A: There are lucky people that lost their love but learn to adapt When you first stay, my attraction to you becomes an addiction F: Your kiss yesterday left its mark on me Happiness turns into pain but I endured until now A: We shared our disappointing love But we don’t have to wait any longer B: The days that caused ten times the pain has passed You and I continue to survive diligently A: I drank the bitter water so please give me honey now F: Leave the pain and sickness behind A: Go wipe away these tears F: What we had before is lost B: How can we take this lightly A: How many years can we have F: Will tired of the thing you loved most B: No matter if yesterday was perfect The snow will turn into water F: The tears that fall now will one day leave A: The happiness will quickly come again B: Think back to the snow which will be kept in your heart |
| Synopsis Another short simple series starring Roger Kwok, Charmaine Sheh, Melissa Ng, Wu Feng, Mark Kwok, Eileen Yeow, and a new face by the name of Derek Lee Ho Lum. Wu Feng used to be a well-known Chinese herbalist and owns an herbal store in Hong Kong. His son now runs the place since Wu Feng retired. Roger plays the grandson who is quick-witted, ambition, and loyal to his family. Roger works for Charmaine’s father. Charmaine became Roger’s secretary because she made a bet with her father. Charmaine leaves for Shanghai for business while Roger is in Shanghai for personal reasons and they meet Derek who turns out to be Roger’s younger half-brother. During the time in Shanghai, Roger and Derek become great friends and Charmaine falls for Roger. Melissa lives with Derek and his mother and is a Chinese doctor. Roger thinks Melissa is a cold, too serious, and they didn’t get along. Derek finds out who his real father is and heads to HK to see him. Melissa also heads down to HK for a seminar. At first, Derek stays with Roger’s family as a friend, not daring to tell any one of them that he’s related. He treats everyone with love and kindness and is just plain happy to be part of this family. One day, Wu Feng comes home to see Roger’s older sister going through his stuff and she knocks him out. The dad comes home and blames Derek for putting Wu Feng in the hospital. No one believes that Derek would do something like that. During this time, Derek’s mother and Melissa arrive at the hospital and the truth comes out. Wu Feng wakes up to tell the family that it was the older sister because she needed money to pay off her gambling debts. Roger and Wu Feng are happy that Derek is now part of the family while the dad hides in guilt for the way he treated his son. Charmaine and Roger begins to date but soon, Charmaine’s dad gets Roger fired so he would blame Charmaine with the hopes that they’ll break things off. Charmaine’s father hates Roger’s family because Wu Feng refused to treat Charmaine’s mother some years ago. What Charmaine’s father didn’t know was that his wife was already in the late stages of cancer and nothing could have saved her. Charmaine’s father refused to believe in Wu Feng and claimed that Wu Feng refused to treat her due to lack of money so now he’s out for revenge. In order to pay off his sister’s gambling debts, Roger tries many different ways to get money. Charmaine’s father offers him the cash only if he would break up with Charmaine. Roger agrees but it was all a plot. Charmaine and Roger continue to see each other in secret. In order to secure the rights to this Chinese medicine invented by Melissa’s father, Roger would have to go to Shanghai for one semester and passed all his Chinese medicine classes so Roger and Charmaine decides to spend 6 months apart to do their own thing. She would go to Milan for fashion design while he’ll go to Shanghai. Problems were already starting to appear as Charmaine’s father keeps trying to tear them apart and this separation pretty much ends the relationship even though they both still care for each other. Charmaine leaves for Milan with Mark, a childhood friend who now is pursuing Charmaine. In Shanghai, Roger becomes friends with Melissa as he helps her with her problems. Charmaine comes back from Milan and Roger tries calling her a couple times but either he gets interrupted or Mark picks up the phone and Roger gets the wrong ideas. Charmaine’s father pushes her to be with Mark since he’s going bankrupt and Mark’s family will be able to help out financially. He stages an accident to guilt Charmaine into breaking things off with Roger and to marry Mark. Charmaine finds out and is angry with her father. She tries calling Roger to talk about it but he’s busy with his company and doesn’t have time for her. Of course, Mark is there to support her but Charmaine is still in love with Roger and tells him that they can only be friends. Charmaine asks Roger to leave with her since she can’t forgive her father. Roger disagrees on the grounds that he can’t just run away and leave his family behind. But Charmaine doesn’t believe Roger so she tells him that she’ll meet him at the airport. Roger believes that Charmaine will not have any happiness if she stays with him so he pushes her into Mark’s arms by letting Mark know that he will not leave with Charmaine and that he gives the two of them his blessing. At the airport, Mark tells a hysterical Charmaine that Roger will not show up and that she needs to move on. Charmaine cries on Mark’s shoulder while Roger looks on from afar. Charmaine ends up marrying Mark, thus saving her father’s business. Needless to say, this leaves Roger with Melissa. She begins to help with his business and the two grows closer. Roger accidentally finds out that Melissa has a crush on him and the idea of the two of them together grows on him. They start dating. Unfortunately, Charmaine’s marriage with Mark is falling apart. In order to get his sister out of even more debt, Roger takes a job at Charmaine’s father’s company where Mark’s father now runs. He kicks Charmaine’s father out and puts Roger in charge. Mark grows increasingly jealous as both his father and Charmaine praise Roger. In a fit of jealous rage, Mark goes out to a bar and cheated on his wife while she lay on the street in the rain unconscious. Turns out, Charmaine has cancer but she doesn’t want to worry anyone so she keeps it a secret. She files for divorce and leaves for Shanghai to get treatment. As luck will have it, Melissa is Charmaine’s doctor and Charmaine begs Melissa not to tell Roger about her condition. Roger eventually finds out from Mark that Charmaine is here in Shanghai and tracks her down. As Charmaine’s condition worsens, her dependency on Roger increase. Melissa is jealous of all the attention Roger is spending on Charmaine but understands. Roger reassures Melissa that all they have left is friendship and that his future is with her, not Charmaine. Charmaine is determined to get back Roger’s love so she becomes this crazy woman by refusing to take her medicine. Eventually, Roger’s grandpa is able to talk some sense into Charmaine and she finally realizes that she needs to move on. Charmaine gets better and she leaves for vacation with Melissa. The series end with having Roger’s company be a success and his family is back together. He is still with Melissa and the two remains close friend with Charmaine. Personal note: Very good series. Good themesong and Roger and Charmaine made such a cute couple. I think Melissa is a little too “mature” for Roger looks-wise but they do have a healthy mature relationship whereas Roger and Charmaine have too many differences in their life for their relationship to work. There was just too much sacrificing on Charmaine’s part so she’ll probably hold that over Roger’s head later down the road anyways. This series has a good supporting cast and I loved the scenes from Shanghai. Rating: $$$$ |
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