Synopsis
The story is set in the early 80s. The protagonist, ‘Xiao Gu’ (Chen Liping), is a young widow with 3 children. Together, the family of 4 set up a street hawker stall, “Happy Restaurant” in Chinatown, selling cooked food. Xiao Gu gets to know a guy, named Ah Jin (Li Nanxing). Although he seems to be trustworthy, in reality he is a robber. On the day of their marriage, Ah Jin’s involvement in the robbery of a blacksmith factory is brought to light, and in the tussle with the police, he is fatally wounded. On his deathbed, he pleads with Xiao Gu to take care of his 2 children, a son and a daughter. With her ever optimistic approach to life, Xiao Gu readily takes on the challenge of raising the 5 children. With Xiao Gu’s capability, she not only succeeds in running “Happy Restaurant”, but also ventures into the coffeshop and wet market businesses. While things seem to be finally looking up for Xiao Gu, her 5 grown up children on the other hand, are either plagued by financial woes or are entangled with affairs of the heart…
Xiao Gu’s elder son, Kaida (Chew Chor Meng) is a medical student while her 2nd son, Kaijie (Tay Ping Hui) is studying law. Her youngest child and only daughter, Kaiqi (Joanne Peh) is also an undergraduate. While her own children seem to have a bright future ahead of them, the same cannot be said of Ah Jin’s off springs. Ah Jin’s son, Jinlong (also played by Li Nanxing) has a carefree nature, and does not have any direction in life. As for his daughter, Jinfeng (newcomer and Miss Singapore Universe 2007 first runner-up and Miss Photogenic Joey Feng), she has her mind set on being a TV artiste, and is therefore not interested in pursuing her studies. Except for Kaiqi, Jinlong has always regarded Xiao Gu and her family with enmity, thinking that she is somewhat responsible for his father’s death and that she has made use of his father’s loot to rise to riches. While he has a secret liking for Kaiqi, as a result of their disparity in station, Jinlong keeps his feelings for Kaiqi to himself.
Although Jinlong is at loggerheads with Kaijie, his sister, Jinfeng on the other hand, is especially on close terms with him. Jinlong suspects that Kaijie has a hand in the sudden drowning of Jinfeng. He breaks away from the Huang family, and goes astray. He joins the secret society, and after some time, rises to be the infamous ‘Loan shark King’. As for Kaijie, he joins the police force after graduating with a law degree. He makes a name for himself in the police force, after having led a number of successful operations. At the opposing ends of the law, Jinlong and Kaijie’s feud continues.
Kaida discovers that Kaijie is responsible for Jinfeng’s death. However, he decides to cover up for his brother. Saddled by guilt, he soon becomes mentally affected, and is unable to fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor. After her graduation, Kaiqi becomes a journalist. While researching the crimes of the underworld, Kaiqi learns that Jinlong is already one of the underworld chiefs. She tries to persuade Jinlong to leave the underworld, but to no avail as he reasons that he has already ventured onto path of no return….
The friction between Jinlong and Kaijie intensifies. Forced by circumstances, Jinlong has to leave Singapore. As for Kaijie, following investigation by his superiors, he has also gone into hiding. After much effort, Jinlong manages to trace the whereabouts of Kaijie, with the intention of killing him. However, in the end, he changes his mind, and instead returns to Singapore to give himself up.
For the past 20 years, in spite of the various challenges that come her way, Xiao Gu has always take them in her stride. She sells all her properties and donates the proceeds to charities. Together with Kaida who is recovering from his mental illness, she re-starts the “Happy Restaurant” business.
Being ever optimistic, Xiao Gu still stands by her personal belief and dictum: “A day passes whether you laugh or cry. So, shouldn’t you choose to laugh your day away instead?”
More info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_of_Gold
Offical website : http://8.mediacorptv.sg/thegoldenpath/
Theme song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGzNZRI5w78
Entertainment journalist,
linda ;P
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