Timmy Ho Bo Seng ~~~~~ Yeung Chi Fong
Wayne Lai Yiu Cheung ~~~~~ Teng Nye Keung
Joyce Chan Yin Heng ~~~~~ Wah (Yeung Chi Fong's sister)
Angie Cheung Wai Yee ~~~~~ Yeung Chi Fong's ex-girlfriend

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Kathy's Review
Plot

This series is about the story of a girl who faces many obstacles and difficulties in both her love and career lives. Chu Yan Ping (Nnadia) grows up in a family which included her father and her three brother -- one older and two younger. Since Yan Ping's mother has passed away long ago, she has to take on the role of the woman of the house, taking care fo the whole family ever since she was quite young.

Yan Ping's family lives in this small village. She has two very close childhood friends -- one is Yeung Chi Fong (Timmo Ho Bo Sung), son of the owner of the restaurant which Yan Ping's father worked for, and the other is Tang Nai Keung (Wayne Lai Yiu Cheung), the future-to-be leader of the village. Both Fong and Keung love Yan Ping dearly, but her heart belongs only to Fong. And so soon, Yan Ping and Fong got married (despite the many obstruction from both families ^^). As for Keung, he later went out with Fong's younger sister, Yeung Yuk Wah (Joyce Chan Yin Heng).

Problems began to approach the family after the day Fong received his two years imprisonment term (he was trying to help his mom's restaurant business to not go bankrupt and got involved in some illegal operation). To make matters ever worse, Fong's older sister at the same time stole all of the family's saving money and fled with her husband. Yan Ping's parents-in-law then moved in to live with her family and Yan Ping had to work extra hard to support all of them from that point onward.

Yan Ping's mother-in-law and her own father have never gotten along well with each other. After the day they started living together in the same house, these two constantly had arguments. They often ended up pulling Yan Ping in to settle the matter. At this very same time, her younger brother was also failing his classes in school because he didn't care about studying anymore and instead, only spent his time to talk on the phone or go out with his girlfriend. Sorrowful echoe of her husband's imprisonment, tense pressure at the workplace, and the unending stress having to deal with family's conflicts all mounted up within her and she suffered serious emotional damage during this period of time. The poor girl then ended up having a miscarrage and was hospitalized afterward.

Luckily, Yan Ping's good friend, Keung, came back from his world tour trip in time and he helped Yan Ping gain back her valiance to overcome obstacles with his comfort, support, and encouragement. As a result, she regained her courage and decided to enter the business of making sui cao (a type of Chinese dumplings). In the beginning, Yan Ping was seen selling sui cao on the street... Then as more people began to really enjoy her sui cao, the business grew bigger and biger and Yan Ping soon ended up owning a major sui cao company of her own, also earning herself the title of Sui Cao Wong Hau (Queen of Chinese Dumpling) from the media and the people.

By the time Fong got released from prison, Yan Ping has already turned into a well-known and famous public figure. She was asked by TV companies to participate in different cooking shows and commercials. At first, Fong was still okay with this. However later on, his ex-girlfriend, Angie (Angie Cheung Wai Yee) -- who has always wanted to get back with him ever since the day he got married -- began to create all sort of troubles and misunderstanding between Fong and Yan Ping. She purposely made Fong look like a weaking and useless person to his own family many times. In the end, Fong's "masculine pride" was provoked and he finally turned into a jerk toward his poor wife... (*sigh* I will never forget that one scene when Yan Ping caught her husband kissing his ex-girlfriend in the rain... this part always puts tears into my eyes every time I watch it ~.~).

Keung witnessed this whole unfair deal that Yan Ping was facing and he got fumed up in flame. He then confronted Fong and used a mixture of both forcing and persuasion to talk him into leaving his ex-girlfriend.

Bing Bing, on the other hand, continued to love Fong with all her heart and never forced him to do anything out of his desire (such a rare wife she is to find nowadays in real life ^^). Awakened by his friend's words and touched by his wife's sacrifice, Fong then realized the only person whom he truly loved was no one else but his wife. He and Bing Bing then got back together, in the joy of all the ones around them.

In the end, though Fong and Yan Ping were happily together, Keung sadly died due to a tumor in his brain. He did married Yuk Wah before passing away though and the two of them have a cute son. As for Fong and Yan Ping, they also have two children of their own. The closing scene shows the three kids playing together (just as how Keung, Fong, and Yan Ping used to in their childhood), with Fong and Yan Ping standing next to a small tree that was believed to hold the spirit of their true friend, Keung.

Character analysis

If you scrutinize carefully, then you will see that Nnadia's character in here, Chu Yan Ping, is not exactly a perfect goody character. She was not always a weakling who gives in unconditionally to the desire of others. I actually find Yan Ping to be a very strong and persevered character... she sure was tough when she had to be, like in that one scene when Yan Ping was arguing and fighting with the gangster man on the street for a place to sell her sui cao, unwilling to let him bully and take advantage of her natural kindness. Yan Ping is not a blind wife who gives in to fate 100% or listens and forgives her husband no matter what also (though she might seemed like she is in some parts of the series ^^). When Fong went back with his ex-girlfriend, Yan Ping did not have any wild or violent reaction as expected by others around her and instead, she only remained silent and only spoke to Fong whatever or whenever needed. This was actually a very effective method since many times, silence can be just the most painful punishment. And her method worked well, for that Fong did felt very guilty afterward and he did went back with her in the end. *~*

Personal opinion on Nnadia's performance

A perfect casting choice!!! Nnadia never stops to amaze me with her ability to portray delicate and sacrificing characters. Many people might say that there is nothing hard or extraordinary about being able to handle this type of "goody-two-shoes" role. However, I think this is only a false assumption. In my opinion, acting out this type of role is just as difficult as any others. The artists have to truly "live out" their characters and be convincing and consistent, while at the same time trying to maintain the realistic traits as much as they could to reduce the amount of "exceeding righteousness" that has originally been given to their characters.

Nnadia definitely played her role as Chu Yan Bing to her fullest potential. She was everything that she could be in here, and her performance was simply beautiful and marvelous. You can really see the joy or the pain in her eyes and through her facial expressions without even the use of words (oh I just LOVE how Chung Chung can do her "speechless tears" scenes in here -- they were all soooooooo good and real =0). Her chemistry with Timmy Ho was quite sparkling as well -- they seemed pretty comfortable with each other and endearing every time they appeared together on screen. Overall, Nnadia truly breathed life into her character and made it as real as it could has possibly been. Her tears, her smiles, her gestures, her body language... they all weaved together so nicely to make Chu Yan Bing such an unforgettable character in here.

To Love With Love is my all-time favorite series of Nnadia. Nnadia was everything that she could be in here... definitely a very applause-worthy performance given by her. There are 3 parts in here that are my most favorites. The first part is the night Nnadia and Timmy spent together, dancing on the city tram before he was imprisoned. This was the classic romantic scene of the series. The second part is the emotional breakdown Nnadia went through right before she lost her unborn baby... a very powerful and poignant performance that will just pierce through your heart. And then of course, the last part is when Nnadia caught Timmy kissing his ex-girlfriend in the rain - this was another a major tearjerker scene that might causes you to end up using some tissue papers. ^^ Overall, just make sure you don't miss out on these 3 parts if you are planning on checking out this series. =)

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