Summary Plot of TVB Cantonese Drama "No Regrets"

I just finished watching episode 1 of No Regrets aka Rosy Business II on Tudou. Whoah. Lots of drama already, as usual. I sense a stronger smell of dramatico as the plot advances. This sequel features majority of the original cast. They're Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung (黎耀祥), Sheren Tang Shui-man (鄧萃雯), Hui Ying Hung (惠英紅), Yueh Hua (岳華), Susan Tse (谢雪心), Pierre Ngo (敖嘉年), etc. New cast include Raymond Wong Ho Yin (黃浩然), Fala Chen (陳法拉). This epic drama is set in the late 1930s in Canton, China, which was then in a state of political turmoil. It centers around Miss Kau's triad family, who manages vice businesses, i.e. opium,  gambling, and prostitution. Although their business is being closely watched by the Canton police force (Lau Sing is one of the constable), both parties are beginning to feel threatened by the Japanese occupation of the city. The Chinese title literally translates to "Veiled Heroine, Ruthless Hero: Righteous Sea and Lofty Passion", referring to both the chaotic period of war and the complicated relationship shared by the two main characters, Miss Kau and Lau Sing.

Sheren Tang: Portrays Cheng Kau-mui (鄭九妹). Known as Miss Kau (九姑娘), she is the only daughter of Cheng Long-kwan, the most powerful drug tycoon in Canton. Despite helping her father manage the family's opium and other underground businesses, she has a deep hatred toward drugs. Tang expressed that it took a while for her to grasp Miss Kau's character. "Her character is extremely complex. She doesn't abide to one direction; she may be doing one thing, but she's actually thinking of doing something else in her head. She's an extremely manipulative woman." Miss Kau will also develop a romantic relationship with Sing, and Tang describes their relationship to be "extremely complicated; there's love and hate, right and wrong; and most of the time, they oppose each other."

Wayne Lai: Portrays Lau Sing (劉醒), the leader of a police crew, who develops a peculiar affection towards Miss Kau. Although Sing is known to be very agitating, always talking in a sharp and harsh tongue, he is hard-working, intuitive, and heroic. According to Lai, he considers No Regrets to be his representative work. He describes Sing to be "experienced, but [he] has a sad fate." In contrast with the main characters in Rosy Business, Sing is seen as the protector of Miss Kau, similar to the way how Hong Po-kei protects Chai Kau in Rosy Business.

Elliot Yue: Portrays Cheng Long-kwan (鄭朗軍), Miss Kau's father. After many years of patience and hard work, he successfully establishes a opium den and drug trading business in Canton, becoming one of the biggest drug dealers in the county.

Raymond Wong: Portrays Yeung Yeung (楊陽), Sing's good friend and subordinate. Yeung, who has been best friends with Ching since they were children, develops a crush on Ching, but is too shy to express his feelings to her.

Nancy Wu: Portrays Ma Lai-wah (馬麗華), Kwan's young concubine. She's narrow-minded, bears grudges, and has very high self-esteem.

Susan Tse: Portrays Cheng Long-hei (鄭朗喜), Kwan's younger sister. She often questions Miss Kau's ability to be a leader, and tries her best to help her nephews gain power within the society.

Kara Hui: Portrays Ng Lai-sim (吳麗嬋), Yeung's mother.

Pierre Ngo: Portrays Tong Kat (唐吉). Nicknamed Pai Kwat Jai (排骨仔), which literally means "skinny weakling", he is Sing's good friend and subordinate. Pai Kwat Jai is the foil character of Ngo's character in Rosy Business. Pai Kwat Jai is a much simpler and kinder character. He has no ambition in life; he is good-natured, insipid, and becomes a police officer only because he wants to live a steady life and raise his family.

Kelvin Leung (梁証嘉): Portrays Che Wing-on (車永安), Sing's subordinate.

Fala Chen: Portrays Lau Ching (劉晴), Sing's younger sister who has a heart disease. She and Yeung mutually have feelings for each other.

Elena Kong: Portrays Chiu Tung-nei (趙冬妮), Sing's wife. She has an affair with a government official.

Evergreen Mak: Portrays Leung Fei-fan (梁非凡), Sing's superior.

King Kong: Portrays Mukaiyama Tetsuya (向山鐵也), a Japanese general.

Henry Lee: Portrays Wong Luk (黃綠), a doctor.

Kwok Fung: Portrays Cheng Long-hung (鄭朗熊), is Kwan's younger brother.

Ben Wong: Portrays Cheng Siu-hong (鄭少康), Kau-mui's younger brother. He was adopted by Kwan at a young age.

Lee Ka: Portrays Kyoyama Kosei (喬山鋼星), Tetsuya's subordinate.

Lee Sing Cheung (李成昌): N/A
Kwok Fung (郭峰): N/A
Helen Ma (馬海倫): N/A

Kiki Sheung (商天娥) is not taking part in the production, she was really busy this year with TVB's 掌上明珠; as well as her other Drama series, including her wedding during the time of this film. - scheduling conflicts.

Ron Ng (吳卓羲) - Did not take part in the second production, due to scheduling conflicts. (He was in China with 米雪 during the time).

Suki Chui (徐淑敏) - Did not take part in the second production, due to scheduling conflicts.

Source: No Regrets Facebook Fanpage

Watch No Regrets episode 1 below

HK TVB hit drama "Rosy Business"

(photo source: TVB.com)

The sequel to one of my favourite Hong Kong TVB Cantonese dramas "Rosy Business" (Chinese: 巾幗梟雄) is showing now in Hong Kong. Yee-haw! The drama "Rosy Business" has caused a sensation in the HKdrama audience and created a big trend in Hong Kong, and Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung's portrayal of Chai Kau (Chinese: 柴九) has earned him a huge following among fans and much praise for his excellent acting.

I really enjoyed watching Wayne Lai (Chinese: 黎耀祥; born 4 May 1964) acting in the "Troublesome Night" film series (Genre: Horror/Humour) and TVB dramas "Journey to the West" I and II (a 1996 Hong Kong TV series produced by TVB, based on the classic Chinese novel of the same name). But he didn't gain much fame until "Rosy Business", which skyrocketed his popularity so much so he won the Best Actor in 2009 TVB Anniversary Awards (Chinese: 萬千星輝頒獎典禮) an annual awards ceremony that celebrates the best in TVB programming. I was in a hotel room in Hong Kong when I watched him received his due reward on the TV. I was so excited and happy for him, I was almost moved to tears when the audience, including all the showbiz people, gave him a standing ovation. I wished I was there among them to cheer for him.

I hope his much anticipated sequel "No Regrets" (Chinese: 巾幗梟雄之義海豪情) earn him another award in the upcoming TVB awards ceremony (to be held in December 3rd). And I hope some production house will consider a spin-off movie to spread his fame across Asia and beyond that! That would be great :D

Watch Wayne Lai received the much coveted Best Actor award in 2009 below


For those who don't understand Cantonese, let me do some translation here.
The other five nominees were Moses Chan, Bosco Wong, Dayo Wong and Steven Ma. On stage Lai said, "I'm very nervous and felt thankful to TVB and the bosses for providing us such a good platform to dream our dreams. Actually, I've been in this line for so long, and in fact, have never dreamt of such great achievement. I cannot claim all the credit to myself because without my colleagues, I could never succeed with my sole effort. I hereby wish to express my gratitude to all of my colleagues from the artiste team, production team, setup team, outdoor shooting team and <inaudible> team. Thank you for setting up such a conducive platform for the artistes to live in. I would also like to thank Steven for giving me so many opportunities. Your praise and appreciation was a great motivation to me. And thank you Miss Lok. I have to clarify that, she had never forced me to sign the contract. Thank you for your concern and tolerance.  I'm very grateful to Zan je (note: je means elder sister, spoken here as a respect for a senior) and have to especially thank her, because it was her, I returned to TVB a few years after I left. And I also thank Director Chiu. He was the middleman who called sis Zan. She then called me and told me, "Come back to act again". Actually, I was thinking, I have always been acting, outside. But not many people were watching. So I'm really thankful that you asked me back. If not for you, I would not be standing here. Many thanks, sis Zan. I once again thank Tim gor (note: gor means elder brother, spoken here as a respect for a senior), my respected mentor. More than 20 years old, he made me an actor. And  more than twenty years later, he produced "Rosy Business" which now earns me so many achievements . Thank you, Wah-biu, Zeng-yi and a team of scriptwriters and directors. Many thanks to all the staff. And I also like to thank all the media friends for showing strong support for Chai Kau and also concern for me. I also like to thank the audience, including those who appreciate me. I think that, your support is my biggest achievement in my lifetime. My acting is meaningless without the audience, so many thanks to you all. Finally, I will like to share my glory with the three most important persons of my life. They are my mother, my wife and my son. Thank you so much, everyone."

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