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Plot Rating: 9/10

Artist Rating: 9/10

I believe Leon once said that his favorite character out of all the characters that he has played is his role in the Challenge of Life as Lam Yic Lung. In this series, Leon plays a gang member. He is the cousin of Jacqueline (Jacq), Lau Ching Wan, and Frankie.

In the beginning of the series, Leon and his cousins are still little kids. They have a very good relationship. However, one day Leon's dad shows up and wants to stay at Jacq's place. Leon has never met his dad before. His aunt hides Leon's identity to protect him because his dad is evil. Leon's dad borrows money from them and tries to rape Jacq's mom. They run away in time and because of his behavior, their family accuses Leon's dad of pushing a man off the building. Leon does not know all of the details and only knows that his aunt accused his dad. Therefore, he runs away from them.

The kids grow up soon. Jacq and Frankie are very smart. Jacq gets into HK University and Frankie gets into Harvard for his MBA. Lau Ching Wan is their eldest brother and he works at the juvenile center as a cop.

Jacq goes to the karaoke place with Kitty and another friend one night and get into some trouble. Leon saves her. J starts to fall in love with him. Later, she finds out that he is her cousin.

Kitty and Ching Wan become friends of sorts when she finds a job as a secretary at the juvenile center. He ends up taking care of her at work because she's so clumsy most of the time and treats her like a younger sister. Kitty, however, starts to like him.

Leon gets into a fight with some bad guys and ends up being thrown in the juvenile detention center (kind of like a juvenile jail, I guess) with his friend, "Cockroach". In jail, he meets Ching Wan and realizes that Ching Wan is his cousin. Because of the misunderstandings about his dad, Leon dislikes Ching Wan and purposely starts some uproars at jail. Ching Wan discovers who Leon is after going through his files.

Monica comes into the scene when an inmate tries to commit suicide and wishes to speak to her (she's a radio DJ). They were able to save him and that's how Ching Wan first meets her. At first, she misunderstands him and thinks he's an amoral man (because of what the inmate says to her). Later though, they run into each other again and become better friends. Ching Wan even starts to like her a little.

After Leon gets out of jail, Jacqueline purposely seeks him out and tries to get to know him better. They become good friends. However, Ching Wan finds out and prevents them from dating. He is afraid that Leon might harm Jacq to avenge his father's death. (In reality, Leon didn't even know that Jacq was his cousin. I guess in HK its ok for first cousins to date and marry??!!??) Well, Leon gets really pissed at Jacq and tries to avoid her. She's very persistent though and one night when she goes to look for him, she sees him in a fight and tries to interfere and she almost gets killed but Leon saves her. He still ignores her though, even though he likes her.

When their mom realizes that Jacq and Ching Wan know where Leon is, she begs them to tell her. In a way, she feels that she has wronged him and deprived him of a happy childhood. Therefore, she sneaks into Jacq's room and looks at her address book but only sees part of his address. Therefore, she goes out every morning to that area looking for Leon, hoping that she'll find him. She sees Leon (but doesn't recognize him) and asks him if he knows who "Lam Yic Lung" is (Leon is Lum Yic Lung). He says that he's Lam Yic Lung's roommate. However, when he sees how much she cares about him, he finally gives in and tells her that he's her nephew. This is sort of a reconciliation scene. After this point, Jacq and Leon officially date.

Frankie comes back from the US after he's kicked out of the country for illegally working. Ching Wan is really upset at him for giving up an education at Harvard. Frankie doesn't admit his faults and instead tries to pursue Kitty when he realizes that her dad has money.

Ching Wan and Monica begin to date. However, their relationship is hampered by Kitty's rape (It was inadvertently Ching Wan's fault b/c she went looking for his tie and got raped) . Jacq tells Ching Wan that Kitty likes him and he feels extremely guilty about her rape. In court, the guy who raped her is acquitted b/c of Frankie's testimony. Ching Wan and Monica begin to drift apart and she leaves for England. Ching Wan takes care of Kitty out of guilt and soon starts to date her.

Leon's dad comes back to Hong Kong looking for his son. Leon's dad's godson is the guy who raped Kitty. Frankie accidentally kills him because of some money issues. Leon's dad finds out about his godson's death and Frankie is extremely scared that Leon's dad will seek revenge. However, Frankie's mom, in order to save his son, lies to Leon's dad and tells him that Frankie is his son. Therefore, he mistakes Frankie for his son and Frankie continues to play along with the role because Leon's dad is extremely wealthy. Later, his mom wants to tell Leon the truth, that his dad is back, but in order to continue his identity, Frankie even kills his mom. Ching Wan was in England taking some classes, but upon hearing about his mom's death, he rushes back to Hong Kong, accompanied by Monica.

Frankie later frames Leon for a crime and he ends up in jail. Later, Jacq and Ching Wan realize that Frankie framed Leon in order to prevent Leon from finding out that his dad was back and interfering with his plan of getting Leon's dad's money. Ching Wan and Jacq try very hard to prove that Frankie is their brother and not his son, but he doesn't believe them and even sends someone to jail to kill Leon. Luckily, Leon isn't seriously hurt. While Leon's in jail, Frankie also kills his friend "Cockroach".

Leon's dad's godson's body is found and he's accused of the crime. He admits to the crime in order to save Frankie. Therefore, he sneaks out of Hong Kong and goes to China. However, in China, he kills a cop and gets caught. He's about to receive the death penalty so therefore, he leaves his money to Frankie.

In Hong Kong, Leon gets out of jail and heads immediately for China with Jacq. They get there but Leon's dad refuses to see them. He gets executed the next day. Leon is unable to control his anger and he steals the will from Frankie and his men. He runs with Jacq and Frankie's men are chasing after him. Because he thought he was going to get caught, he stuck the will in someone's bag. Leon and Jacq do escape though.

In Hong Kong, Frankie sends his men to beat up Ching Wan. Kitty and Monica were with him at the time and Monica gets a concussion. Frankie kidnaps Kitty and threatens to kill her if Leon doesn't return the will. Everyone searches frantically for Kitty and after a few days, Ching Wan and Monica find her, still alive, in a truck.

The islander has returned the will to Frankie (Leon stuck the will into the guy's bag). Leon has finally reached the limits of his patience. He decides to put an end to the affair, ie…he plans on killing Frankie. Jacq fears for his safety and publishes news of their marriage all over the newspapers, hoping to draw him back. Unfortunately, he doesn't see the papers. During, the day of their "wedding", Leon goes to find Frankie. He burns the will, and draws out his gun. Frankie, in desperation, shows him the wedding announcement in the papers, hoping to draw his attention to other matters so that he could pull out his own gun. They end up shooting each other at the same moment. Frankie dies instantly.

Leon rushes to the church and gets there just in time. However, as he walks down the aisle, he falls to the ground. He was actually shot in the chest by Frankie. Ching Wan and Jacq resuscitate him. In the hospital, Jacq tells Leon that she'll wait for him. He's sentenced to six years in jail (I think?).

Kitty has applied to a university in Australia and she leaves Ching Wan telling him that she's finally "grown up" after all that she's been through. She tells him to follow his heart and go back to Monica. He and Monica end up getting married and they have a son.

Six years have finally passed. Ching Wan, Monica and Jacq go and pick Leon up from jail so that they can begin their new life together…

9/25/98 updated

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