Treasure Venture
Starring: Nicky Wu, Zhao Wei

I first saw this series in a Malacca hotel room. Malacca had the wonderful luck of getting Singapore channels, so it was through that that I spotted Treasure Venture. What caught my attention was of course, Zhao Wei, she of "My Fair Princess" or "Pearl Princess". Then it was Nicky Wu, with his serious, sombre expression. Yes, he was dazzling.

Set in the Ming Dynasty, the story starts out when Lu Ding Wen and King Chen raid an Emperor's Tomb for a sacred manuscript. Secretly, Lu's pregnant wife followed and thank goodness for Lu - for she and tomb raider Lin Jin Li manages to save Lu from the evil machinations of King Chen, who planned to use the book to overthrow the Emperor.

Despite the help of male midwife Wu Ma, Lu's wife dies in childbirth. She gave birth to adaughter - Lu Jian Ping - who grows up to be a 100% tomboy who likes to dress up as a guy. At 18-years-old, Jian Ping (Zhao Wei) is playful, spoilt and lazy. With Wu Ma's help, she pretends to have great kung fu and does several 'heroic' deeds in town. It is in one of her "saving" missions that she bumps into Shui Ruo Han (Nicky Wu), a quiet, melancholic scholar.

Jian Ping takes a shine to the handsome young man and invites him to stay in her house as her tutor. She doesn't know that Ruo Han is not as innocent looking as he seemed. Bring in Japanese assassins, 3 gold keys that will unlock great treasure, and we have 31 episodes of sheer fun.

What I like: I have a thing for assassins. Nicky Wu - despite one reviewer's claim otherwise (but everyone is entitled to his / her opinion) - is perfect as Ruo Han. Serious and sombre most of the time, Ruo Han looks as if he's not used to laughing or smiling, which is exactly how Nicky Wu portrays him, and rightly so. He may be a "soft" assassin, an assassin who is reluctant to kill his targets, as one reviewer claimed, but that is not a bad thing in itself, neither is it out of character. If he became an assassin willingly, it would be out of character, but remember, this was a young man who was shipped to Japan to be trained as an assassin at the tender age of 8 after his family was massacred!

Therefore, can we blame him for having a conscience?

Ruo Han's rare smiles are gems in the show. Wu has great chemistry with Zhao and they look great in the still shots my sister has amassed to an alarming degree. The romance between Ruo Han and Jian Ping is very touching and the various barriers that get in their way is simply frustrating! Which is why this story is addictive.

The characters' secrets are what drives the show. There's enough intrigue and plotting between the characters to keep your interest.

What's Iffy: Being a Taiwanese show, there's just too much talking! Too much unnecessary dialogue, if you tell me. And, I agree with TKL - there are a few annoying sub-plots we do not care about, like the romance between Soon Niang and Wu Ma. The jokes are lame, but I've seen lamer. These weak points are just that, points. It does not condemn the show to an awful ranking.

Music: Love the theme song, sang by Nicky Wu and Vicky Zhao. Don't like the constant repeating of the lovely flute song Ruo Han plays almost 99% of the time. Doesn't he know other songs??

Rating: * * * * because we need a good, sappy romance with good-looking lovers once in a while.