The Tide Rises in Hong Kong, but It's Not Too Late (1950s)

The entire Si Feiwan family worked as servants for the Cao family, a wealthy tycoon family in Shanghai.

Before she turned seven, Si Feiwan had only a shallow understanding of what it meant to be a "servant." After she turned seven, she understood all too well. The price was losing the hearing in her left ear.

Her father said, "Wanwan, we have to endure it."

The whole family endured everything with utmost caution, all the way until 1948. Forced by circumstances to relocate, the Cao family was moving as a whole, and at last the Sis saw a glimmer of hope. But just then, her twin brother was pushed forward to take the blame, and her father was sent on another assignment, one he was certain to leave for and never return from...

Si Feiwan: "If we can't endure it any longer, then there's no need to keep enduring."

The family stood united, working together from within and without to turn the situation to their advantage, fight back, and flee to Hong Kong to settle there. Just as their lives seemed stable and steadily improving, they ran into their former master again...

Si Feiwan: "We're just ordinary people. We can't win, we can't win... But I refuse to accept my fate."

Nan Huaiyan remembered the first time he saw Si Feiwan, at St. John's in England. She was carrying bags and clothes, walking with her head bowed and eyes lowered right behind the young lady of the Cao family from Shanghai. Though he'd seen her for only a few minutes, she left a deep impression on him. Not because of her beauty, but because of her... flawless fake smile.

They met again at his own family's old residence in Hong Kong.

In that brief glance, Nan Huaiyan caught the barely contained eagerness in Si Feiwan's eyes.

It seemed he had become the prey she had set her sights on.

The heroine isn't a strong, all-powerful lead. Every step she takes is for the sake of survival. She's clever but lazy. She wants to have enough to eat and wear without worry, to be content with a modest fortune, and also to become rich and powerful...

Thesis: When there's no way back, take a step forward and make a way out.