chapter 227: third party ending
Fanfic 3 Comments »Lam Sin (Yu Yeung) sat in the driver’s seat of his taxi stunned after learning that Ah Fan (Tavia Yeung) was his daughter. No wonder her face looked familiar! He parks his car to the side and runs after her with Ah Biu (Raymond Lam). However, to their dismay, Ah Fan could not be found anywhere. They decided to wait for her back at the motel because surely she would come back there.
Unfortunately, by the time they got to the motel, they learned from the front desk that Ah Fan had already checked out a few minutes earlier. Without a cell phone, they had no idea where to find her or where she had gone. Sin sat down in the motel’s lobby, feeling totally useless.
“I shouldn’t have let her leave the car. I’m sorry,” Ah Biu apologizes.
Sin shakes his head. “It’s not your fault.”
Curious, Ah Biu asks, “Why did you abandon her and her mom anyways?”
“I didn’t want to. I didn’t know she was my daughter after all…”
In the 1980’s, Ah Fan’s mom, Ah Kam (Susanna Kwan), had come down to Hong Kong to work on a working VISA. At that time, Sin was not yet working as a taxi driver. He, like Ah Kam, was a worker for a factory. Due to Ah Kam’s timid nature, she was often taken advantage of by her colleagues and sometimes they even played pranks on her due to her limited grasp of Cantonese. Because he felt injustice for Ah Kam, he started to look after her and protect her against other people.
One time, Sin happened to walk in on one of the managers trying to rape Ah Kam and managed to save her. Unfortunately, the manager twisted Ah Kam’s words and said that she offered to sleep with him to get a raise. Thus, Ah Kam was sadly fired from her job at the factory. Sin quit his job too consequently. Because Ah Kam was in Hong Kong only to work, she had to find another job right away otherwise she’d have to return to the mainland. Sin helped her find a job as a seamstress before he even began trying to find a new job for himself.
Due to Sin’s continual protection and help, Ah Kam gradually fell in love with him despite knowing that he already had a wife and two children. At that time, Fa Kei Sam (Mannor Chan) was treating Sin even more badly than usual because he was unemployed. She kept threatening to leave him with their children if he didn’t have income coming in. Sin sought Ah Kam for comfort due to his home-life stress and the two became even closer consequently. He enjoyed the time they spent together and being with Ah Kam was a refreshing escape from Kei Sam.
Of course, Sin never thought about cheating.
One night, though, after an extremely bitter fight with Kei Sam, he went to Ah Kam’s place and the two got really drunk. Ah Kam confessed her feelings for Sin and the two ended up sleeping together. From that night onwards, Sin began cheating on Kei Sam with Ah Kam. They both knew it was wrong, but they were in love.
Ah Kam never requested Sin to divorce his wife. She knew she couldn’t ask him to do that. He had two children to worry about. She didn’t want to break up their family. Thus, she swallowed her pride and kept her sorrows to herself and willingly stayed the secret “third party”. She only knew that she loved Sin and any precious second that she could spend with him would be enough for her because she knew he loved and cared greatly about her. Without him, she would not have survived for so long working in Hong Kong.
When Ah Kam realized she was pregnant, she tried to run off to the mainland to have an abortion. Luckily, Sin was able to stop her in time. Ah Kam decided to return to her home village in the mainland and raise their baby there. Ah Fan was born months later. In order to see Ah Kam and Ah Fan without Kei Sam knowing, Sin decided to become a truck driver and deliver goods from Hong Kong to the mainland. He was thus able to have this “second family” for 10 years, driving to see them whenever he could make the time. He would secretly send them money and other gifts.
He loved them a lot and found himself longing for this family more than the one he had in Hong Kong. Sin grew increasingly tired of Kei Sam’s outrageous ways and barbaric behavior. He brought up the prospect of divorcing Kei Sam to Ah Kam. Surprisingly, Ah Kam was very mellow about the proposal. She didn’t seem thrilled or excited like he was expecting. In fact, her expression remained puzzlingly neutral. She was very quiet.
On Sin’s next visit to see Ah Kam and Ah Fan, he was rather bewildered that they weren’t waiting for him at the village entrance like they normally did. He was stunned to walk into their house and find Ah Kam in bed with another man. He was extremely hurt and wanted an explanation.
In a cold voice, Ah Kam revealed, “I lied to you for the last 10 years. I was only using you for your money… what little you have anyways. It was my intention to ‘bag’ a stupid Hong Kong man who would willingly take care of me… and another man’s child. I’m sorry you found out so soon.”
“So Ah Fan… Ah Fan…”
“She’s not your daughter. You think you were my first?” Ah Kam laughs in an evil manner. “You think I was so stupid to ‘willingly’ be a third party? I was trying to pursue another man at that time. Unfortunately, I realized he didn’t have potential for long-term use. Thus, I lied and said my pregnancy was yours. Thank you for taking care of us for so long.” She smirks.
“But your feelings…!”
“What can I say? I’m an exquisite actress. What qualities do you have that you think I would so whole-heartedly love you? Would a woman really put up with being a shameful ’second family’ for 10 long years? Would a young and attractive woman like myself be so ‘chaste’ and ‘faithful’ to a man who’s only around a few days a year? Would a woman really do that for someone like you? You’re just stupid. Of course… we can continue this game if you want. I know it makes you feel ‘manly’ being with me and getting away from that wife of yours who emasculates you. What do you say we pretend you never saw anything? Let’s pretend you don’t know anything. Ah Fan will be back from playing soon. You can continue to be her ‘father’. What do you say?”
Sin slaps Ah Kam and runs out, holding back his tears.
That was the last time Sin saw Ah Kam and Ah Fan — 10 years ago. Believing that Ah Kam was an evil woman who had lied to and deceived him, he made himself forget about her. Believing that Ah Fan was not his daughter, he reminded himself that he had only two children — Ah Lo (Bondy Chiu) and Ah Gong (Lam King Kong).
“So that’s why you left us!” Ah Fan concludes. She emerges from the back with her bags. She had been inside of the bathroom and had come out just in time for when Sin recounted his story.
“Ah Fan! Ah Fan!” Sin runs up to her.
“It was mommy all along… she lied to you to make you leave us!”
“I’m so stupid for falling for her trick. I should have known better. I should have doubted and questioned her. I should have known that she’s not that kind of woman…” Sin’s eyes are watery.
“You didn’t want to leave us after all!”
Sin and Ah Fan embrace, crying.
Ah Biu smiles at the reunion between the father and daughter pair.
The three of them went out for lunch. The first question that Sin had was the whereabouts of Ah Kam. Ah Fan tearfully told the news that her mom had passed away a few months earlier.
Sin cries upon hearing the tragic news. “I couldn’t even see her again before she died! Ah Kam… why did you do this? We could have been so happy together. Why did you make me leave you and Ah Fan?”
Sin knew the answers to his rhetorical questions though.
It wasn’t because she wanted him to leave her. It wasn’t because she didn’t want him to divorce his wife. It wasn’t because she was such a selfless saint that she sacrificed her own happiness.
Of course she would have liked to be with Sin. Of course she would have liked to be Mrs. Lam Sin with a proper name and title. Of course she would have liked to see him more than a few days a year.
It was because…
It was because from the very beginning Ah Kam never wished to break up his family. She hatched up the plan to make him leave her after he brought up that he was going to divorce Kei Sam, thereby destroying the Lam family in Hong Kong. Ah Kam did not want that to happen. She didn’t want to hurt Ah Lo, Ah Gong, and Kei Sam. As horrible of a person as Kei Sam could be, Ah Kam didn’t have the heart to break other people’s hearts. She would rather break her own heart. She was wrong from the beginning for loving a married man. She was wrong to willingly be a “third party”. She was wrong for accepting to be a “second family”.
Third parties shouldn’t have “good outcomes”; they should not have “happy endings”… so she did it to punish herself.

I love this CD and have listened to it many times. I think with repeated listening, each song “grows” on the listener and becomes better. My absolute favorite songs though, are the following:
“Swear” [發誓] — I used to be obsessed with this song. This song single-handedly showed how much potential Linda has as a singer when it was released back then and I believe this song opened up the first doors to Linda’s path to becoming a singer. This song made me wait for 2 years to watch Legend of the Demigods. It’s a great, beautiful, and sweet song.






I was first exposed to the “trilogy” back in 2001 with Country. I absolutely loved it! It was an excellent 42-episode series starring Charmaine Sheh, Gordon Lam, and Sheren Tang. It really captivated me with its fantastic characterizations and wonderful, touching storyline and equally good performances. It was an extremely sad but beautiful series. Because I was a total fan of Country, I desperately wanted to see its “parent” (or rather “sister”) series. I then watched the 32-episode Love II with Maggie Cheung, Gordon, Louisa So, and Evergreen Mak and also loved it. The storyline was also great with well-written characters and an engaging, moving storyline.
Who was I rooting for? Ironically, I was rooting for the “other couple” in the love triangle. I really wanted Ah Choi to be with Tin Yam (Eddie). It was clear to me that they had feelings for each other and I was really rooting for them to be together. I was really happy when he returned and wanted to take her away since Sue Gan was treating her poorly (he had gambled her away). “Disappointingly”, Ah Choi decided to be a “faithful wife & mother” and return to Sue Gan. I felt really sorry for Tin Yam. He loved her so much (he actually ended up staying unmarried and only her “good friend” for the rest of his life — now that’s true love)!


I didn’t realize Louise was on stage until I heard music playing. All of Louise’s songs were in Mandarin, if I’m not recalling incorrectly. Ha Yu sang a bunch of old Cantonese songs. Sitting through Louise and Ha Yu’s performances felt really long since I wanted to see Linda & Ray. They weren’t terrible singers or anything and I liked the parts when they talked to the audience. It’s just that their performances weren’t my “cup of tea”. I would much rather see them act.
All hell broke loose when Raymond came out. People ran to the stage, cameras started coming out. There were flashes everywhere. Clearly most people had come to see Ray. I enjoyed Ray’s performance. His voice was fantastic and it was nice to hear songs I actually knew and liked. I was actually kind of “falling asleep” before he came out since it was late and I was rather tired. Ray was funny. He kept asking the audience whether or not he should come off the stage. To this, everyone screamed, “Yes!” He laughed and said that he wanted to, but couldn’t because the security people would yell at him. Whenever he was on stage, he would always “tease” about coming off (which would drive all the fan girls crazy). One time, someone shouted out (in English) “I love you!” and Ray responded back in English, “I love you, too”. Raymond’s introduction before singing “Fond of Searching for You in Memories” [愛在記憶中找你] was funny; I believe he said something along the lines of “All guys should sing this for their girls. It’s a break-up song!”
Linda opened with “Two People World” [二人世界], her debut single. She sang the English song “Hero” which she says she listens to every time she’s really sad (it makes her feel better). She also sang Shirley Kwan’s “Hard to Find a Lover” [難得有情人]. Linda interacted very nicely with the crowd and didn’t look nervous at all (maybe a little in the beginning of “Two People World” though), which was great. She was charismatic and quite charming, which I was pleased with. I was worried that she’d be stiff and anxious so she wouldn’t be able to talk to the crowd much, but this was far from the case. Since 2004, Linda has definitely opened up and become more extroverted — what a transformation! She seemed relaxed, confident, and really nailed her performances. Her vocals were the best live ones from her that I’ve heard yet. She has improved a great deal in terms of singing live since 2006. Before I used to semi-cringe and avoid seeing her live performances, but now it’s quite acceptable and getting better. Linda said it was her first time in the US.
For her 2nd appearance, Linda changed into the outfit she wore at Jade Solid Gold (when her song was announced as the #1 song of the week). She sang her hit single “Actually I’m Not Happy” [其實我不快樂] from her debut album and shared the good news with everyone that the song won the Jade Solid Gold “Golden Song” award. She went on to thank Louise for her kind words and shared a personal story. She said that during filming of Heart of Greed, she wasn’t very acquainted with Louise because their scenes didn’t overlap. Linda says it was very tiring to film Heart and that when she was in the make-up room looking exhausted, Louise would ask her how she was doing, offer her encouragement, and gave her her phone number, telling her to call if she needed anything. She thought Louise was very caring and is grateful for having gotten to know her. 







Watching A Taste of Love makes me realize how much I’ve matured, especially in terms of what I expect from a TVB series.
I loved watching the opening for the Astro Drama Award Presentation 2008 (back in February 2009) in which Linda and Raymond reprised their beloved roles as Seung Joi Sum and Alfred. 









While we’re on the topic of a “new family”, I love how Lap Sang (Marco Lo), Auntie Ho, San Ching, and Ah Jing (Wallis Pang) are forming a very cute 2-generation family. I’ve always loved the mother/son relationship of Auntie Ho and Lap Sang. Young children are expected to take their parent’s new spouse (when their parent remarries due to divorce or death) as their new parent, but grown children obviously are not so it’s really great that Lap Sang is viewing and treating San Ching as his “dad”.
May May (Celine Ma) and Sophie have always been the unconventional mother/daughter pair. May May is always very rude to her mom and always calls her by her name and shouts orders at her. Even though May May rarely calls Sophie “mom” or tells her she loves her, it’s quite clear to me that May May cares a lot about her mother, especially after she was disowned by Na-Duk. I really liked their small family of three (with baby Dan Dan).
Sophie’s death, of course, makes Na-Duk realize how pointless his anger was and he decides to truly forgive and let go of the past. Even if Sophie’s dying wish wasn’t for Na-Duk to reconcile with May May, I think he would have done it anyways. The reunion of May May, Na-Duk, and baby Dan Dan was very touching. I’m really happy that May May is able to have Na-Duk as a dad again because she does love him a lot. With her status as the rich and powerful daughter of Na-Duk restored, I wonder how May May will act in the future episodes. There’s going to be comedy involved, that’s for sure (there’s always some comedy with May May involved). I hope the writers don’t undo or “reverse” May May’s personality too much though because she has grown so much as a person in these last few hundreds of episodes. She’s become a real person with feelings and morals (even though at times she may not act so); I was definitely touched by her love for her son and mom.
Alzheimer’s is possibly the most devastating disease to have. 2008’s The Gem of Life effectively used the disease to its advantage to concoct some extremely powerful and emotional scenes that meshed so well with its storyline. Kindred also addresses the disease with Uncle Hong (Bao Feng) developing Alzheimer’s. Uncle Hong’s condition is often treated more “lightly” in Kindred with comedy spun from his disease, but as with all stories in the series, there’s a time for fun and a time for seriousness. Lap Sang and Ah Jing’s discovery of Uncle Hong’s journal which contained his greatest fears from forgetting and his greatest wish (to witness their marriage) before he was incompetent was quite sad.

Sze Kam (Fiona Yuen) is fast becoming one of my favorite characters. Shocking, right? Not too long ago I didn’t like her because she was so fake, but now, I really like her. The character is very well-written and Fiona’s debut performance is surprisingly good. She ranks up there with Angie Cheung and Joyce in terms of a great debut performance in Kindred. It seems the only bad actress debut is Winnie Yeung (whose performance as Ah Man does admittedly get better as the series continues). Fiona is also looking prettier by the episode (similar with Wallis’ case).
Ah Fat (Leung Gin Ping) gets Sze Kam pregnant, which nearly screws up her plans. In a completely shocking and unforeseeable twist, it is revealed that Ah Fook (Cheung Chi Kwong) had gotten a vasectomy a few years back so that Ah Kam wouldn’t have to get her tubes tied. Therefore, Ah Fook rightfully suspected Sze Kam and wanted to send her away. Luckily for Sze Kam, she had a run-in with an attempted rapist earlier and was able to spin the story to make herself the victim of a rape. Thus, she was able to salvage her plan. Ah Fook, not wanting to disappoint his parents (especially his dad who for whatever reason desperately wants another grandchild), decides to keep his infertility a secret and pretend that Sze Kam’s baby is his. Sze Kam lives another day in the Li household to further her “evil” plans.
The more that Sze Kam interacts with the Li’s, especially with the angelic Auntie Sin, the more moved she becomes by their sincerity and how well they treat her. It’s the kind of love that she longs for — the warmth and care that she desired since she was young. I also surprisingly really love Ah Fook & Sze Kam. Somehow I’m really touched by their scenes. Ah Fook treats Sze Kam so well that I’m really rooting for her to fall in love with him for real even though they are a complete mismatch. The sweet and emotional scenes they share touch my heart. I think Sze Kam lacked true love and care since she was little and was surrounded by too much negativity, which was why she became “evil” in the first place. She believes that everyone has a motive (see the scene in which she asks Ah Jing what it was that she wanted after Ah Jing gave Sze Kam a scarf that she had knitted) and that no one can ever just be “nice” or “kind”. Consequently she became superficial and greedy. It wasn’t until she spent time with the Li family that she got and saw “true feelings” (sorry, couldn’t resist!).

The friendship between Sze Kam and Ah Jing was surprising because all along Ah Jing had doubts about Sze Kam which of course made Sze Kam wary of Ah Jing one day exposing her big secret(s). Of course, their unlikely friendship isn’t nearly as shocking or wonderful as May May and Ah Gwai’s (Angie) turn as friends. Initially Sze Kam was jealous of Ah Jing, but Ah Jing managed to touch Sze Kam and they became friends. Their bonding scenes although short-lived were sweet since the two could relate with both being pregnant at the same time and both in a new marriage (or about to enter one). Their friendship didn’t feel forced or rushed (even if it was rather sudden). Their friendship was used to make what happened to Ah Jing even more powerful.
Ah Jing happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time (or maybe the right place at the right time… depends on how you look at it) and ends up learning the whole truth about Sze Kam. Previously she had caught Ah Fat and Sze Kam in a rather “suspicious” interaction (they were flirting/fooling around) and later she questioned why the “Sze Kam” from the past differed from the “Sze Kam” in the present. She finds out that Ah Fat and Sze Kam aren’t related because Sze Kam actually isn’t Ah Fat’s sister. She was actually “purchased” by Ah Fat’s mom after Sze Kam (the real one) died. Ah Jing is horrified to learn all about Sze Kam’s dirty laundry and evil deeds. 



The main star in Gem I feel is Ada Choi. She anchors the series wonderfully with her multi-facet and captivating performance. It’s amazing how quickly and naturally her expressions can change from one moment to the next. Her Jessica was a complex role that offered Ada a lot to act and she nailed it. She had many scenes of heightened emotions (be it crying or going crazy) and in the hands of a less capable actress, those scenes would come off as over-the-top, but Ada avoids over-acting. While I don’t really like Jessica as a character (she’s too selfish and conniving), I liked watching Ada. It’s rare to see Ada in TVB, so it was a treat watching her for 82 episodes.
Do I think she ends up with Ah Wor (Wong Hei)? I don’t. No matter how much he does for her (his ending was tragic and his speech about being a farmer who plants things knowing it won’t sprout into anything was poignant and sad), she just doesn’t have any romantic feelings for him. I do think, though, that she will treat him a lot better now and appreciate this friendship rather than abusing it like she had before.
My favorite couple was Calvin (Bowie Lam) & Sylvia (Maggie Shiu). Out of the three sisters, I “liked” Sylvia the most though all 3 were annoying and unlikable at one point or another. Bowie & Maggie were great in their roles and they had amazing chemistry together. Their characters were interesting. Their final scene in the finale was very touching. In fact, I teared up. While I wasn’t a fan of how their relationship developed in the middle, I’m glad that they’ll have a happy ending in the future.
Sylvia changed so much from the beginning to the end. At the start, she was a career woman who had no time for love or family. Thus, her marriage fell apart and she found herself alone and desperate. I think part of the reason why she changed so much and sacrificed so much for love was because she wanted to prove that she could be a woman who did things for love. She wanted to prove that she wasn’t cold and only cared for business. Thus, she did many unthinkable acts to help/save Calvin. Sylvia was the only sister to be clear-minded and logical at the start; she thought things through and didn’t act on emotions. Despite her objectionable actions, I could never bring myself to dislike Sylvia. I cried when she kept saying to Jessica, “I’m your big sister!” after learning that Jessica betrayed her darkest secret.
Initially I didn’t like Louise Lee See Kei’s character or performance. I thought her portrayal was lacking something… just didn’t feel right somehow. However, I warmed up to her as the series progressed. Her acting was so realistic when her character was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease! I really loved her performance from that moment on. She is one amazing veteran and truly exquisite. At the beginning I thought she only cared about advancing in the social ladder and was willing to sacrifice her daughter’s happiness to “climb up”, but later on I realized that she does care for them.
Linda Chung successfully does away with her goody-two-shoes image and gives her best performance to date in a truly amazing and refreshing portrayal of “bad girl” Elise. From the moment she first steps onto the screen with the clicking of her high heels and the way she holds her purse, you know that it’s going to be a completely different Linda… and it is! Her performance is not only fun to watch, but exciting and surprising too. It’s hard to believe that the actress playing Elise is the same girl who is famous for her wholesome and innocent roles and image. Linda modeled her Elise after American socialite Paris Hilton and she accomplishes her goal. Her speech, expressions, and movement are all natural and convey those of a spoiled rich bitch. She does it so deliciously well that you love to hate her.

Out of all the characters, I think Elise shows the most growth and development despite her limited screen time. She became spoiled and haughty because she lacked parental guidance and wasn’t given proper morals. Because of her family’s money, she believed she was powerful and could have anything she wanted. She never valued or appreciated anything consequently. She held herself on a high ground because of her status and looked down on others. It was only after she was shown kindness and genuine attention from Ah Wor that she began to change and see things differently. She further woke up when her family lost money (and thus power). From that point Elise started to change because she realized that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t survive. Yes, she continued to scheme for revenge, but I think she did it more to help her grandpa than anything. All in all, an interesting character that’s wonderfully brought to life by Linda.
Moses & Gigi make a good-looking couple and they do have chemistry, but God, their relationship was awful. I liked them at first, but I eventually grew to dislike them. I wanted to roll my eyes every time they talked the crap about them being “fated”. It was a constant cycle of breaking up and getting back together. It was so annoying and repetitive. I didn’t believe in their love at all and I’m not pleased that they will get a happy ending. They hurt everyone around them and made of a mess of things. Their relationship was shallow.
Some of the developments were quite ridiculous. The prime example that ticks me off is the badly-constructed “triangle” of Will (Bosco Wong), Ah Wor, and Elise. All of a sudden, Ah Wor announces to Will (and the audience) that the person Elise loves is actually Will. What the heck? Thanks Ah Wor for if you hadn’t told me, I would have believed Elise loved you from all the scenes you two shared. It was incredulous. It seems Bosco & Linda are not fated as a couple. They were annoying in Moonlight Resonance and in Gem they presumably get a happy ending (I think Will goes to the US to find Elise and they will manage to patch things up), but their love story is poorly written and not given proper time or development.
The themevideo. Ugly! Cheesy! I commend TVB for trying something different with their themevideo, but I hated how horrifically over-done Gem’s themevideo was. I got dizzy watching the scenes of the themevideo zoom horizontally across. I guess TVB got complaints from the way the themevideo was made because they changed it into a much slower-paced and easier-on-the-eyes version (basically screenshots of their original video) shortly after the series began airing. I also thought the title shot with the three sisters on the runway was a really bad picture. Ada is standing too far away from Gigi & Maggie (but I guess that’s to show how her character’s vanity and love for “standing out”). The expressions just don’t work. I would much rather the ending title shot be one with the entire cast — kind of like the poster only Photoshopped better. 













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