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Brief summary:

Imperial Household Bureau is responsible for managing and directing all household services to the Emperor and the Imperial family in Tong Dynasty. It is composed of four departments, namely Jewels, Attire, Food and Furnishings. Lau Sam Ho (Charmaine Sheh) and Yiu Kam Ling (Tavia Yeung) are introduced into the bureau in their tender age and brought up in the disciplines of the palace. The two girls are diligent. Yuen Tsui Wan (Susanna Kwan), Head of the Jewels, and Chung Suet Ha (Michelle Yim), Head of the Attire, are both very fond of Ho for she is a kind-hearted young girl. Soon, they start fighting for the fellowship of Ho.

Brief summary:

Sophisticated banker Cheuk Yat-yuen (Ray Lui) mistakes con artist Sha Fu-loi (Gallen Lo) for his half brother Cheuk Yat-ming, fortuitously elevating the swindler to one of the leading figures in the banking industry. The lost and found brotherhood has blinded Yuen to Fu-loi’s real nature and intentions.

Brief summary:

Military Governor Choi Ngok (Lau Chung Yan) has been attempting to overthrow the Yuen Sai Hoi government. To facilitate his plan to stage an uprising in Yunnan, he pretends to be fooling around with the highly sought-after courtesan Cheung Feng Wan (Chow Hoi Mei), nicknamed Siu Fung Sin, to avoid detection. Yuen Sai Hoi (Law Lok Lam), who is suspicious of Ngok, sends the Chief of Staff Mok Yik Tin (Lam Ka Wah) to spy on him. Later he even lures Ngok's wife Pak Sz Ting (Tin Yui Nei) to Beijing, hoping that this will force Ngok to pledge his loyalty to the government. To ensure the success of the revolutionary movement, Ngok carries on with his affair with Wan as a camouflage, without realizing that she has seriously fallen in love with him. Wan is ready to give up everything just to be with Ngok while he remains cold and distant towards her. Soldier Yue Yam Kwok (Ma Kwok Ming) is also in love with Wan and would like to get her out of her predicament. Sadly Wan turns him down, for her love for Ngok is so much stronger than one can ever imagine.

Credits: Wikipedia

My thoughts: Seems like an interesting plot and can also refresh some history stuffs.

Brief summary:

Upon returning from a trip with her husband NG MAN TAK (Chung King Fai), cookery teacher LO SIU LAI (Lee Sze Kei, Louise) is shocked to find that her little daughter NG CHOI NI (Chen Fala) has started cohabiting with a homosexually inclined colleague LAU TAT YAN (Hung Tin Ming) while her divorced sister LO SIU MEI (Ng Wing Mei) is seemingly caught up in a love triangle between tenant YAU KAI (Mak Cheung Ching) and her ex-husband. By and by TAK is forced to retire early and stays at home all day with nothing to do. LAI, on the other hand, is lucky enough to have the opportunity to host a culinary show on TV. Everything seems to have happened too fast but this does not leave LAI frustrated and accursed. Instead she tries to get round every problem with even more patience and dedication, which however is not appreciated by TAK. The bickering continues until LAI eventually thinks of a good way to tackle TAK.

Ratings:

Themesong: "愛怎麼說" by Steven Ma & Tavia Yeung

*Contains spoiler*

Episode 1 to 25:

Steven Ma (Nip Ji-Yuen 聶致遠) and Tavia Yeung (Dau Sing-Suet 竇勝雪) were once a couple but because of Tavia's family selling illegal salt and Steven, being a government official, was forced to capture their family. In the end, both Tavia's parents died and she put the blame on steven and seek revenge from him. Tavia was saved by Raymond Wong (Wu Ting-Hin 胡亭軒) when she was on the run from the government official. Raymond was undergoing a long-term illness that is said not to be recovered. To repay the Wu family for saving her, Tavia decided to help the family with the salt trading business.

A lot of events happened in the salt trading business. There was a critical event which forced the Wu family to give up the rights to sell salt. Since Raymond was very ill at that time and his father was jailed as he was being wrongly accused of murder. There is no one in the Wu family to support the salt business. In the end, Tavia and Raymond got into a "fake marriage" to save the family from the crisis.

   

After a long time, Tavia found out that Steven was under the influence of his godfather, Felix Lok (To Ying-Lung 屠應龍) which cause him to carry out the government official duties to capture her parents. Meanwhile, they also found out that Felix was engaged in illegal salt business. Steven, Tavia and Raymond gathered evidence against Felix. Unfortunately, Raymond was killed by Felix. In the end, Felix was captured and killed by government official with the help of Tavia and Steven. Steven and Tavia then got married but during the wedding day, Steven could not bear to hide from Tavia the truth that it was him who killed her parents indirectly. Tavia ran away and lived in some mountain tops where it was snowing heavily. She come across Steven in a mountain cave and the series ended there.

My thoughts:

The storyline was quite good but it is quite sad that Steven and Tavia did not get married in the end. It is very similar to Rosy business 巾幗梟雄. One is about rice business and the other about salt business. For those who watch Rosy business, you may want to watch Sweetness in the Salt, but don't expect it to be the same standard as Rosy business.