JUSTICE PAO (1995)
SERIES REVIEW CASE NUMBER 3
There is a parade through the streets to celebrate the return of Yeung Ka Bo who topped the exams and is given the title of "Jong Yin Long", by the King. Amongst the crowd an old mother and her son watches on proudly. Once Yeung Ka Bo steps out of the carriage the old mother is so happy that it brings a tear to her eye. Ah Kip the son of the old woman decides to take her away from the crowd as Yeung Ka Bo enters to see Justice Pao. Today is a proud day for Justice Pao because Yeung Ka Bo is one of his law students. Yeung Ka Bo arrives to request Justice Pao's assistance in investigating the person responsible for the fire that killed his farther 20 years ago. The blame has always been put on, his farther's second wife Do Wai Teng, who has been missing ever since. Upon hearing this Justice Pao orders Jin Chiu and Kung Sin Chuk to investigate the files dealing with that case. Yeung Ka Bo then makes his journey back home where the King sends his household a message and a sign to hang on their house. The old mother and her son Ah Kip is amongst the crowd still. The old mothers seems so proud of Yeung Ka Bo. The crowd begin to praise Misses Yeung for having such an intelligent on. These words seem to upset the old mother a little as Ah Kip persuades her from leaving the crowd. Jiu Wong Yer also visits Yeung Ka Bo and offers the hand of his daughter, Wah Yuk, to Yeung Ka Bo. They have been lovers since childhood so Yeung Ka Bo is very pleased. The next day Yeung Ka Bo goes to visit Princess Wah Yuk, his future mistress. She was painting pictures of her To Fai garden when Yeung Ka Bo arrived and showed off his kung fu skills. Yeung Ka Bo returns in the evening to make promises infront of his dad's plark to uncover the truth behind the fire that killed him 20 years ago. His mother, Misses Yeung hears this and looks very nervous upon hearing this. Yeung Ka Bo decides to build a house on top at the same place that his farther use to live before the fire destroyed it. Ah Kip and his mother would become hard laborers to construct the house so they could see him everyday. At the work site the old mother finds an old burnt insignia, and starts to cry. Ah Kip rushes in to comfort her. Later Yeung Ka Bo arrives with refreshments for the workers. The old mother does not have anything that he brings, so Yeung Ka Bo is curious and follows the old woman. Yeung Ka Bo then realized that she's brought her own cakes to eat. The cakes look very familiar and Yeung Ka Bo requests to try some of the old ladies cakes. He tasted the cakes and told the old lady that he not tasted something like that since 20 years ago. The old lady then offered to those cakes for him everyday. Meanwhile Kung Sin Chuk, brought out the old files and suspects that Do Wai Teng and Siu Kiu are responsible for the fire 20 years ago. However they have been missing since that date. Justice Pao then instructs Jin Chiu to locate these two people if possible. The old lady spent all night making a variety of cakes for Yeung Ka Bo to eat. In the morning she rushed to work early to give them to Yeung Ka Bo. Ah Kip followed her and realized that she had not slept all night. Along the way they spot Princess Wah Yuk and Yeung Ka Bo together by the mountainside. The old mother stops to ease drop in on the conversation. Wah Yuk hands over a piece of Jade over to Yeung Ka Bo as a pre-marriage gift. Meanwhile Justice Pao visits Misses Yeung to discuss the fire 20 years ago in the hope of getting some clues. The blame is put back on Do Wai Teng, by Misses Yeung. At work the old mother gives Yeung Ka Bo the cakes that she made for him. At this point Misses Yeung spots her and requests that they meet at an old mill in the evening. Yeung Ka Bo sees them secretly talking and becomes curious. Misses Yeung's brother, Cheng Hong, persuades her to frame Do Wai Teng that evening. When they meet it is revealed that the old mother is Do Wai Teng, Yeung Ka Bo's real mother. It was also revealed that Cheng Hong had been the one who set the fire, which killed their husband. The blame for the fire was then put on Do Wai Teng, so that Misses Wong would inherit all that Mr. Yeung owned. Misses Wong wanted to get rid of Do Wai Teng because her son had died at birth whilst Do Wai Teng gave birth to a healthy son. Mr. Yeung had also grown to love Do Wai Teng more than her. Therefore Misses Yeung claimed Yeung Ka Bo as her son and opened a forum so that everyone in town thought that it was her real son. It was also revealed how Misses Yeung treated, Yeung Ka Bo, when he was ill. She attempted to drive both Do Wai Teng and Yeung Ka Bo out of the house. Yeung Ka Bo then called Do Wai Teng mother because she treats him the best. Upon hearing this Misses Yeung attempted to kill do Wai Teng. Her brother then set the fire, which killed Mr. Yeung. Siu Kiu, Do Wai Teng's servant uncovered their plans and told Do Wai Teng who managed to escape. Yeung Ka Bo stepped out from behind the statue of Buddha upon hearing this, and called Do Wai Teng mother. At once Misses Yeung and Do Wai Teng clash. Yeung Ka Bo attempted to help his real mother and pushed Misses Yeung away. She lost her balance and hit the statute of Buddha. A sword then fell from the statute, which killed Misses Yeung. Cheng Hong arrived with some policemen to capture Do Wai Teng. Yeung Ka Bo returns home and attempts to burn his clothes, which have been stained with Misses Yeung's blood. Cheng Hong discovers this and grabs possession of the clothes to blackmail Yeung Ka Bo, from revealing that he started the fire that killed Mr. Yeung, 20 years ago. In return Cheng Hong offered to keep secret Yeung Ka Bo's involvement in his sister's death. In the morning Justice Pao questions both Do Wai Teng and Cheng Hong over the death of Misses Yeung. Justice Pao then realized something was odd as Do Wai Teng admitted to the charge of setting the fire and murder too easily. Also Justice Pao noticed that Do Wai Teng's hands where not stained with blood. Another cause of concern was that Yeung Ka Bo was not present during the trail. Justice Pao then decided to lock up Do Wai Teng for further questioning and went to visit Yeung Ka Bo. Yeung Ka Bo wanted to tell Justice Pao the truth but held back, because he wanted to retain his social standing as he was due to marry the Princess Wah Yuk. Cheng Hong then cut in to prevent Justice Pao from finding out the truth. Upon hearing that his mother had been captured Ah Kip visits the temple in an attempt to find evidence to clear her name. He manages to find a piece of jade that belonged to Yeung Ka Bo, and was now certain that his mother was innocent. He takes the piece of jade and visits, Do Wai Teng. In order to prevent Yeung Ka Bo, from being captured by Justice Pao, Do Wai Teng, informs Ah Kip to throw away the evidence and to return to the country. She herself would take the blame for killing Misses Yeung. Ah Kip was against the decision but decided to listen to his mother and left. Meanwhile in a meeting, Jin Chiu, establishes that a third person must have been at the mill on the night of the murder. Justice Pao, Kung Sin Chuk, and Jin Chiu all come to the agreement that Do Wai Teng was simply taking the blame for someone else. When Cheung Lo returned to inform Justice Pao that Do Wai Teng was visited by her foster son, Do Yan Kip, he became the suspect. Jin Chiu was ordered to locate Do Yan Kip. In the morning Lord Jiu, paid Justice Pao a visit in order to speed up the resolution of the case. Yeung Ka Bo realized that he had lost the piece of jade and went to the mill to search for it. He did not find it and thought that Justice Pao must have it and went to visit Justice Pao. Upon visiting Justice Pao, Yeung Ka Bo, was going to tell Justice Pao the truth until Lord Jiu reminded him of the importance of his current social position. In the evening Wong Chiu returns with information that Do Wai Teng is a very kind person, incapable of murdering another human being. Jin Chiu also made some investigations of his own. He too found that Do Wai Teng was seen as a very kind hearted person. He also found a plark with the name of Master Yeung, at Do Wai Teng's house. With this in mind, Justice Pao, certain that Do Wai Teng was not responsible for the murder of Misses Yeung, and for lighting the fire 20 years ago which killed Master Yeung. They now Misses Yeung, who had much to gain. Jin Chiu was then sent to investigate into the background of Do Wai Teng and Misses Yeung. The results of the investigation confirmed Justice Pao's theory. Justice Pao thought it strange that Do Wai Teng treated Yeung Ka Bo much better than his real mother Misses Yeung. Infact it was also odd that Do Wai Teng's baby died the same night that Misses Yeung's baby was born. Jin Chiu was sent to investigate the cause behind this incident. Jin Chiu went to visit Doctor Tong, who was murdered before his arrival. From his records Jin Chiu discovered that Yeung Ka Bo was infact Do Wai Teng's son, and not Misses Yeung's son. In order to cover the truth Cheung Hong, tells Yeung Ka Bo to track down and kill Do Wai Teng's servant Siu Gin. Justice Pao realized that Siu Gin was going to be the next target and requested that Do Wai Teng reveals her location so that Jin Chiu could save her. Do Yan Kip, had waited for twelve days for Siu Gin to arrive so she could clear his mother's name. Siu Gin found out that Doctor Tong had been murdered. When Ah Kip informed her that Yeung Ka Bo was at the mill, she began to get worried. She told Ah Kip everything about the past between Misses Yeung and Do Wai Teng. Ah Kip then handed Ah Kip the piece of jade and they made a run for it. At once Yeung Ka Bo tracked Ah Kip and Do Wai Teng down. Whilst Ah Kip went to fetch some water, Siu Gin was killed, by Yeung Ka Bo and the piece of jade was lost. Jin Chiu and Cheung Lo then took Do Yan Kip in for questioning. During the questioning Ah Kip accused Yeung Ka Bo of killing Doctor Tong, and Siu Gin to cover his real identity. Justice Pao believed Ah Kip but without evidence it was hard to prove that Yeung Ka Bo was the murderer. Upon this Justice Pao goes to visit Yeung Ka Bo giving one final chance to reveal the truth. Instead Yeung Ka Bo attempts to cover everything up when Justice Pao visited him. Justice Pao then decided to release Ah Kip in order to cause some confusion and locate the piece of jade, which places Yeung Ka Bo at the murder scene. Lord Jiu visited Justice Pao once more unhappy with the progression of the case. He went to see the king with Justice Pao. The king put his trust on Justice Pao and gave him full jurisdiction over the case. Later Ah Kip arrives back looking for Justice Pao with the piece of jade. Cheung Hong spots Ah Kip and informs Yeung Ka Bo, ordering him to kill Ah Kip. At once Yeung Ka Bo seeks out Ah Kip and attempts to murder him. By doing so he had fallen into Justice Pao's hands. Jin Chiu arrived and battled with Yeung Ka Bo. He removed Yeung Ka Bo's facemask as Justice Pao emerged from behind the bushes with a disappointed look on his face. At once Yeung Ka Bo captured Ah Kip and made a run for it. Ah Kip was released later, and went to inform Do Wai Teng of what had happened. Do Wai Teng became distressed that Yeung Ka Bo had killed two innocent lives. Yeung Ka Bo was now on the run. Cheung Hong met Yeung Ka Bo at the mill, and attempted to kill him personally. He hired a hitman, Lee Chiu, to pursue Yeung Ka Bo who managed to escape. Jin Chiu then caught Cheung Hong trying to burn Yeung Ka Bo's stained clothes. He also located the lost treasure as well as captured Lee Chiu. In the morning Cheung Hong was taken in for questioning. Justice Pao then freed Do Wai Teng for the charge of murdering Misses Wong and for the accusation of setting the fire 20 years ago. Do Ah Kip was rewarded by Justice Pao who gave him 100 taels for providing assistance to solve the case. Cheung Hong had his head removed for master minding the fire and master minding the murders carried out by Yeung Ka Bo. Lord Jiu was then informed by Justice Pao that Yeung Ka Bo was now wanted for murder. He returned and wanted to capture Yeung Ka Bo who was visiting Wah Yuk for the last time. Wah Juk made a move to commit suicide, which allowed Yeung Ka Bo to escape. He went to hide in the mountains. Do Wai Teng managed to locate Yeung Ka Bo in the mountains. At first Yeung Ka Bo put the blame on his mother Do Wai Teng for all his troubles. After passing out, Yeung Ka Bo realized that he was wrong to blame his mother. Despite being sick, Do Wai Teng, did everything to ensure that Yeung Ka Bo recovered from his injuries. Having been healed Do Wai Teng located Wah Juk who was living a monastery after refusing to marry someone else. With the help of Do Wai Kip, they planned to escape with Yeung Ka Bo. Having nearly escaped Do Wai Teng becomes sick and passes out. Instead of escaping Yeung Ka Bo turned around to locate a place so that he could cure Do Wai Teng. Upon doing this he showed that he had changed his ways. Despite this when Justice Pao located Yeung Ka Bo was taken away to be punished for his crimes despite the request of Ah Kip and Wah Yuk. In snowed heavily on the day of his execution. Despite being ill, Do Wai Teng arrived to spend some final moments with her son and baked him his favorite cakes. With a flick of his wrist, Justice Pao, threw the wooden execution order on the floor. Wong Chiu then pressed down on the blade and removed Yeung Ka Bo's head. Once the crowd had gone, Ah Kip, Do Wai Teng and Wah Yuk remained behind to cover Yeung Ka Bo's body. RATING (5) So far this story is one of the most boring cases that I have come across in the Justice Pao series, and it was also the longest. It had a lack of action, minimal fight scenes. Instead this story focuses on the concept of family versus fortune. In order to keep his fortune and fame, Yeung Ka Bo, attempted to cover his identity by killing all those who knew his secret. In the end his efforts are in wasted as he is caught by Justice Pao. He looses the respect with Lord Jiu. Despite loosing everything he still had family. Do Wai Teng sacrificed everything and nearly her life to save him. His true love still wanted to be with him regardless of his standing in society. Thus Yeung Ka Bo lost out big time and wasted his talents. Had he told the truth all that would have happened was that he would been poor. The acting in this story was okay. At times emotions were lacking in the scenes that required it. I must say this is one of the few roles that Sunny Chun Kam Hung plays very well. To sum the story was okay, but nothing superb that it really stands out.
SCENES
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