Ivy Lee stars as a divorce lawyer torn between her husband and her true love. For one who despises people who view marriage lightly, she might just become the person she hates most. Also stars Thomas Ong, Terence Cao, Cynthia Koh, Chen Shucheng, Lin Liyun, Wang Yuqing, Nick Shen, Benjamin Ng, Ann Kok, Zheng Geping.
From Sept 11, every Mon-Fri @ 9pm
YOU CAN CATCH THE LAST FIVE EPISODES OF FAMILY MATTERS BEFORE TELECAST ON CHANNEL 8!
Just sign up as a member with MOBTV and you can catch the last five episodes of Family Matters from Sept 25 before the actual telecast on TV.
Shu Yang (Ivy Lee) is an up-and-coming female lawyer. Held in high esteem by her mentor Zheng Zhigang (Chen Shucheng), Shu Yang is often given divorce cases to handle. Although she came from a broken family and has been in frequent contact with all types of divorce cases, she still believes in love and marriage. She looks forward to have her own family, especially when she has a devoted boyfriend Zheng Weilun (Terence Cao).
Weilun and Shu Yang have known each other since young. When Shu Yang’s parents remarried soon after their divorce, Weilun’ parents, Zhigang and Li Chunling (Lin Liyun) adopted Shu Yang, to allow her to grow up in a complete family unit.
Weilun has always cared greatly for Shu Yang and has his mind set on marrying her. While she does not love Weilun, Shu Yang is deeply aware that Weilun is good husband material. Influenced by Zhigang and Chunling, Shu Yang has always regarded Weilun as her future husband. However, things change when Gao Ming (Thomas Ong) comes into the picture …
Although Gao Ming appears carefree and easygoing, his guileless demeanour belies a guarded nature. He is the lawyer engaged by Zhigang’s arch rival, Xie Changfeng (Wang Yuqing), from abroad. The first time Shu Yang meets Gao Ming is in court where they take on opposing sides in Kiki’s (Ann Kok) divorce from her infidel husband (Zheng Geping).
Shu Yang and Gao Ming are frequently thrown together as they face each other in court as opposing lawyers in the divorce cases they represent. Notwithstanding the verbal battles in court, they become deeply attracted to each other.
Weilun soon realizes that he has a love rival. He detects Gao Ming’s animosity towards him and discovers that he has an ulterior motive in getting close to Shu Yang: to destroy his happiness. This is because Gao Ming is none other than Zhigang’s illegitimate son.
Many years ago while on a business trip, Zhigang had an affair with Gao Wei (Lin Meijiao), a lady from China. Even when Gao Wei was pregnant with Gao Ming, she was contented to remain as Zhigang’s mistress. Unwilling for this extramarital affair to jeopardise his marriage, he ended the relationship with Gao Wei. After giving birth to Gao Ming, Gao Wei suffered post-natal depression. Luckily for the young and defenceless Gao Ming, Xie Changfeng stepped in to support him financially. As such, Gao Ming has always bore a grudge towards his irresponsible father, and even though his animosity towards him has abated with time, his bottled angst and grievances come to a head when he runs into his half-brother Weilun.
When he discovers that Weilun is in love with Shu Yang, the first thought that crosses his mind is to compete with his brother for Shu Yang’s attention. However, with increased contact, Gao Ming soon finds himself falling for Shu Yang.
Shu Yang has always been open about her feelings for Gao Ming, yet, she also feels insecure about Gao Ming’s behaviour and mannerism. Their relationship is unstable. Weilun, fearful of losing Shu Yang, proposes to her the same time that Gao Ming decides to propose to her. Shu Yang’s eventual decision on who she marries is influenced by two incidents.
The first is the appearance of Guan Jie-er (Cynthia Koh), Gao Wei’s student. Jie-er is liberal and has been married and divorced eight times. Her longest marriage lasted no more than three years and the shortest, three weeks.
This time, she has even broken her own record where she serves her husband of one day with divorce papers because she is unable to accept the way he squeezes his toothpaste. Gao Ming is bemused, and in the process of trying to mediate, he becomes Jie-er’s next target. Once she has her sight set on Gao Ming, Jie-er pursues him relentlessly. When Shu Yang finds that Gao Ming has not made any attempt to resist Jie-er’s advances, she is unable to accept the way Gao Ming handles affairs of the heart and decides to reassess her relationship with him.
Following this, Zhigang and Chunling, whom Shu Yang has looked upon as the golden couple, suddenly decide to divorce when Chunling discovers Zhigang’s previous brief fling with Gao Wei. Seeing that even Zhigang and Chunling are now heading for divorce, Shu Yang’s confidence in the marriage institution is badly shaken.
Changfeng, who has been waiting for a chance to sabotage Zhigang, makes use of Gao Wei to reveal their previous affair. Consequently, Gao Ming’s real identity comes to light. Shu Yang then realizes that that she is only a pawn in Gao Ming’s revenge against Zhigang and Weilun. She is devastated and in an act of rashness, she accepts Weilun’s proposal, and registers their marriage within a day in the desperate hope of denying her feelings for Gao Ming.
Unhappy with Changfeng’s underhanded manner, Gao Ming confronts Changfeng. Gao Ming has his hands full. On one hand, he has to calm down his mother whose unhappy memories of the past are evoked by Changfeng’s meddling, and on the other, he has also to deal with his mixed feelings for his Zhigang, his long lost father. At the same time, he has to stop the marriage between Shu Yang and Weilun, and to convince Shu Yang his true feelings for her.
Gao Ming’s persistence soon pays off and Shu Yang is won over. However, she is now in a dilemma as Weilun refuses to divorce her. For one who despises those who view marriage lightly, it seems that she is now on the brink of divorce. Just at this time, she discovers that she has a terminal illness and her days are numbered. While she yearns to spend her remaining time with the man she truly loves, she also cannot bear to hurt the man who loves her. Faced with this difficult decision, what would Shu Yang do?
