Hong Kong in the Eighties: Ruling the Four Seas

Chi Pang is a major investor, known as the "Midas touch." She shares a name with the short-lived idealized love from a novel, and read the "rather interesting" 1980s Hong Kong-style wish-fulfillment story. The novel's male lead is a rich young heir to the powerful Wu family in Hong Kong. His idealized love lives in poverty in Kowloon Walled City. When the Wu family suppresses their romance, a stock market crash strikes the family, bringing them to the brink of bankruptcy. The idealized love enters show business, making quick money to support Young Master Wu. She is stunning, and even in Hong Kong's dazzling entertainment scene of the 1980s, she secures an unassailable place for herself. Three years later, Young Master Wu makes a comeback, and the idealized love wins the Best Actress award. Do they live happily ever after? Not a chance! Before the wedding, the idealized love dies in a car accident. Young Master Wu says he loved his late wife dearly, but remarries within six months. The reason the book is called "rather interesting" is that it has a hidden plotline. After Young Master Wu becomes successful, the tabloids report that he "may not actually be a biological son of the Wu family." It turns out that Young Master Wu and the idealized love were switched at birth. The idealized love is the real Wu heiress, while Young Master Wu is an impostor. The question is, was there more to the idealized love's death? Was Young Master Wu, the one who benefited, the mastermind behind it? * * Chi Pang wakes up in 1984 Hong Kong, having become the idealized love from the book. First, Mrs. Wu from the wealthy family shows up and angrily tells her she can forget about marrying into the Wu family in this lifetime. Then Mr. Wu turns up, angrily flings a check at her, and orders her to break up with Young Master Wu. Chi Pang smiles. "Fine, we're breaking up!" And not only that, I'm actually a pretty nice person. You throw a check at me, and I'll give you a paternity test report. Surprised? Didn't see that coming? The truth about the babies being switched throws the Wu family into chaos. Chi Pang dusts off her hands and leaves. Why bother wanting the Wu family? The 1980s are a time of upheaval in China and abroad, full of opportunities. She throws herself into the surging tide of a great era. Starting as a small-time investor, she draws on her extensive investment experience to begin in Hong Kong, buy property, invest in mainland China, and make her mark. [Note: This is an alternate universe! An alternate universe! An alternate universe! She won't enter show business; this is the story of a major investor making her fortune. There is a romance, and the male lead is Huai Rong, not the impostor Wu heir from the original novel.] Theme: Love life