Eternal Happiness

Characters:
Man Lai Kwan: Michelle Yip
Wong Bo Siu Wah: Raymond Lam
Tit Mook Yee/King: Joe Ma
Wing Lan: Rain Lau
Man Chi Yuan: Mok Kar Kiu
Ying Shuet/So Wan: Tavia Yeung
Lau Yeen Yok: Myolie Wu
9th Wong Ye: Liu Kai Chi

The story: (Spoilers!)
The story is about a girl named Man Lai Kwan. Her father was a prestigious palace doctor from the previous dynasty, the Sung. The Man family consisted of Lai Kwan, her older brother (Man Chi Yuan), her father (Man Si Yuan), Lai Kwan's mother and two other maids, Wing Lang and Ying Shuet. Lai Kwan was extremely intelligent and would sneak to attend her brother's school. Man Si Yun was a man of traditional beliefs and tried to instill these beliefs on Lai Kwan. He believes that the parents are the ones who determine the daughter's marriage. He arranged for Lai Kwan to be married to Wong Bo Sui Wah, an honest and righteous man. However, Lai Kwan is a girl of stubborn nature. She believes in finding true love for herself. Lai Kwan rejected the idea of arranged marriage because she found these ideas too old fashioned. She could not make herself love a man that she does not know. So she ran away from her marriage.

Prior to that though, she had already met Wong Bo Siu Wah. He, Lai Kwan and a Mongolian man, Tit Mook Yee, has made a pact to be sworn brothers, but because Wong Bo Siu Wah had used a different name, Lai Kwan did not know his true identity. Lai Kwan, at that time, was dressed as a man and she was known to Wong Bo Siu Wah and Tit Mook Yee as a boy named Ngai Chi Wan, a nephew of Man Si Yuan. Through Lai Kwan's encounter with Tit Mook Yee she began to develop a crush on him. Tit Mook Yee's true identity was a Mongolian prince. He also suspected that Ngai Chi Wan was actually a girl in disguise, but because he was called home because of his father's sickness he was not able to confront her. Tit Mook Yee also develops feelings for Lai Kwan. Lai Kwan also mistakens that he was the person who played the flute she heard many times by her house at night.

She commented that the person who plays this tune on the flute must be a person of exceptional character. However, it was actually Wong Bo Siu Wah who plays the lovely melody that Lai Kwan lingers on. In the town that Lai Kwan lives, there lived a prestigious official, Lau Ji. His son, Lau Fui Bik would often cause trouble in the town and pick on his half sister, Lau Yeen Yok, who is more kind in nature. Lau Fui Bik had seen the maid of Lai Kwan, Ying Shuet, and had fallen for her beauty. However, he had mistaken that she was Man Lai Kwan, so he went to propose to the Man family, but the Man family refused because of his character and because Lai Kwan was arranged for Siu Wah. Fui Bik used his father's reputation and had Siu Wah's father locked up. Meanwhile, Lai Kwan and her maid Wing Lan, dressed as men, met up with mountain robbers. The female leader starts to develop a crush on Lai Kwan. Lai Kwan meets up with Wong Bo Siu Wah and realized his true identity and gets mad at him. Siu Wah, Lai Kwan, and the bandits decide to go save Siu Wah's father. Fui Bik continued to apply pressure on the Man family to have Lai Kwan married over to his family.

Ying Shuet promised him so that he would not harm the Man family. On their wedding night, Fui Bik told Ying Shuet that as soon as he is done with her, he was going to sell her to the prostitute house. Ying Shuet injured him and jumped into the river to commit suicide. Fui Bik had Man Si Yuan arrested for having his "daughter" plot against him. Siu Wah also thought that Lai Kwan was dead is upset by that and wanted to smash the jade bangle that he had originally bought for Lai Kwan. However, Lai Kwan stopped him and said that there's a chance "Lai Kwan" might be alive. In order to save Man Si Yuan, Lai Kwan and Siu Wah, and Wing Lan decided to go to Dai Dou, the capital.

Siu Wah later discovers that Lai Kwan is actually a girl, but he assumes that she was Lai Kwan's female cousin instead of Lai Kwan herself. On the road, they went through many obstacles and Lai Kwan and Siu Wah realized that they like each other. At the capital, Lai Kwan went to take the scholar's exams so she can try to save her father's life. She was able to become a scholar. She finds out that Tit Mook Yee is the King. The King likes Lai Kwan a lot, but Lai Kwan likes Siu Wah instead and finds ways of rejecting the King's offers. Towards the end, Lai Kwan's identity was revealed publicly. The king had no choice but to sentence her to death. So what happens to Lai Kwan? Find out for yourself!

Review:
I loved this series!! I had serious doubts about this series when I first rented it because most of the cast members were newcomers. I thought Michelle Yip was brilliant here, and this was probably her first major role. Raymond Lam was adorable playing the overly honest and slow Wong Bo Siu Wah. Joe Ma had always played minor roles in series, but I'm glad that TVB finally gave him bigger roles, because he does have talent. My favorite characters would have to be the guy who plays Lai Kwan's brother and Rain Lau. They were hilarious in this show. I give this show 4 out of 5 stars.

Some complaints:
The girl who played the female bandit, all I can say was where she come from. She wasn't very good in acting. Also, I didn't like the girl who played Tit Mook Yee's Queen. She spoke as if she was reading straight from the script. She didn't put a lot of emotions in her scenes.

Favorite Scenes:
When Lai Kwan was traveling with Siu Wah

Whenever Lai Kwan got mad at Siu Wah for being so clueless

When Lai Kwan first met Siu Wah and Tit Mook Yee

When Lai Kwan was handling her father's trail

When Lai Kwan finally realize that she actually likes Siu Wah

When Siu Wah had to marry Yeen Yok he was holding the jade bangle and Lai Kwan's handkerchief. He was thinking of all the times he was with Chi Wan (Lai Kwan). He was unable to put them down and put them away. *sigh so romantic

Any scenes with Lai Kwan's brother