Safe Guards (2006)

Intro:

The story revolves around the Wui Yau Safeguard Agency (會友鏢局), which is the most prominent safeguard and escort agency in Hangzhou. However, the agency was discovered to be close to bankruptcy, due to financial mismanagement. Together with his four sons, the patriarch of the family, Sheung Ching-Tong (Samuel Kwok) must, along with other allies and confidantes, rebuild the agency and save it from near certain death. The series consists of 25 episodes and centers around the character - Sheung Chi who is the third son of Sheung Ching Tong. The series starts off with Sheung Chi having to go to the help of his elder brother - Sheung Chung and their tumultuous relationship. This relationship was severely strained when Sheung Ching Tong had to decide on who will succeed him as the master of the agency. Sheung Ching Tong's indecisiveness by first appointing Sheung Chung and then deciding against it and then to appoint Sheung Hao and then deciding against it too, resulted in a myriad of crisis in the agency which Sheung Chi had to face and manage. That Sheung Chi was the adopted son unlike Sheung Chung and Sheung Hao who are the natural sons of Sheung Ching Tong, made Sheung Chi's actions more questionable and difficult. In the end, after much turmoil, Sheung Ching Tong appointed Sheung Chi as the master of the agency. Surprisingly, Sheung Chung supported the appointment but this is after having accepted that Sheung Chi will make a better leader than he would. This took up almost ⅔ of the series and towards the end - episode 20/21, the character of Sheung Yi was introduced. Having spent his youth overseas, Sheung Yi came back when the father (Sheung Ching Tong) died. He then told Sheung Chi that with the modernisation i.e. building of railroads etc. the agency's method of delivering goods on land will be a thing of the past. Sheung Chi on hearing this decided to embark, together with his brothers Sheung Chung and Sheung Yi, on acquiring the rights to deliver goods via river. This formed the last part of the story. The sub-plots in the series involved the relationship of Sheung Chi with Lei Cheung-Fung (Elaine Yiu) and how Sheung Hao (together with his mother and uncle) tried to destroy everything that Sheung Chi tried to achieve. While the storyline is very light, it does have its dark and serious moments including the death of 3 main characters.