Steven Ma - Tse Wong Sheung (2)

Posted 20 January 2008 - 02:47 AM

Translation:  Tamaya 

Tse Wong Sheung (Steven Ma)

Tse Wong Sheung is born into a rice merchant family, the son of Tse Chong Tin. To show his gratitude to the Emperor for His Majesty’s bestowal of a 9-Dragon jade bowl, he summarily changed his son’s name to Tse Wong Sheung. Wong Sheung is exceptionally bright, and can’t stand stupid people. He is the current agricultural official in Leung Choi County.


One day, Wong Sheung led his men and Chung Man in an investigation of a corrupt official in Changsa. Sai Mui pursued them, dogging their every move. Enroute, Wong Sheung was persistently pestered by Sai Mui, and because of her, he fell into the sea. Thereafter, he considered her a bane to be avoided.

Shortly, after the brush with Little Butterfly murder case, Wong Sheung is persuaded to hire Sai Mui as a female bodyguard. Over time, Wong Sheung is impressed with Sai Mui’s open and generous nature , thus lessening his aversion towards her. Later, to extricate Sai Mui from a murder case, he assumed a fake marriage with her so that as his ‘wife’, she will be protected by their precious rice bowl heirloom, bestowed upon the family by the Emperor.

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Tamaya:   Steven did not disappoint as the naive, idealistic and not a little spoiled man whose aspiration from young is to be a good official. I'm not quite fond of his yellow top with paisley 'skirt' outfit with the yellow, but he sure looked good in his official robe with that winged hat. I love his chemistry with his parents.. I'm sure I'll grow to love his family as the show progresses.

My favorite scenes in this episode were when Ha Yu tried to placate his son over his lowly bought post with the question of why an itty bitty grain of rice is so called the big rice, and turnaround, in a latter scene, Wong Sheung tossed out that very same question to stump Sai Mui. Such a typical reaction to grab at the closest straw, when caught in a bind. That was great! 

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Posted 23 January 2008 - 12:28 AM

Quick analysis of Wong Sheung’s traits as illustrated in episode 2

A young man still a child at heart; loves drama; histrionic.
1. Ghost scene:
He couldn’t resist playing a trick on his people by pretending to be a ghost; with teeth baring, pallid face, lifeless eyes, long white tunic, moans and groans, spitting water, prancing around with claw like fingers; in short, everything a ghost supposed to be; the works! He was having the time of his life in terrorizing his people. What child hasn’t played that game before. Trite, very trite but oh so hysterically funny. I wonder if Old Master knew beforehand it’s a prank played on them.

2. Oh, how he relishes Sai Mui’s discomfort. Did I mention he loves melodrama.

Extremely bright and highly intelligent, Courageous, Quick-witted, Resourceful
Though not as brainy as Old Master, he is extremely bright and quick on his feet, and luckily for him and his people, is blessed with the gift of gab. More importantly, he is not lacking in courage and composure when under pressure, even when a saber is at his neck.

A Politician in the Making
Although just a rookie in the officialdom, he already knows the art of disingenuousness; a requisite to all politicians on all timeline. He knows when to flatter and he knows when to stick in, all done with aplomb and a smile. Still, he is but a young man who doesn’t yet know “how high the sky is and how deep the earth is,” (不知天高地厚) inflated as he is right now with righteousness and youthful cockiness; and the false sense of security of always having Old Master to get him out of tight spots. As such, he thoroughly relishes pitting his intelligence against his foes and getting the upper hand. Check out his smug and devious look.

Let's see how his character grows in the series.

Episode 5

Honing his ‘impromptu’ skills in how to bite the bullet:
When caught red handed; immediately affect a nonchalant presence; improvise; bluff; be indignant or commanding; most of all, stall. But know when to give in.

Dialogue in the exhume scene:
- You’re a government official? What kind of official?
- An appointed one
- What position?
- Why you so stupid? Of course, those important ones assigned by the Ministry of Personal Affairs.
- What kind of VIPs?
- Those in charge of important issues, of course.
- What important work? Responsible for what?
-Food rules heaven and earth, right?. I’m…(losing his cool) I’m in charge of agricultural issues. That’s important, don’t you think?

When unequivocally cornered ~~submit, eat crow and leave