Wing Tai Lung is a large silk factory in Guangzhou and in charge of it is Poons' second daughter, Poon Hau Yee (Akina Hong) and the eldest, Poon Ka Hin (Evergreen Mak).  Even though Ka Hin is the eldest, his father found him incapable of handling the business and so the factory is mainly maintained by Hau Yee.  Third son, Poon Ka Yeung, is a military doctor who's away from home.  Lastly, there's the fourth brother, Poon Ka Seng (Yeung Chiu Hoi), who's dream is to be an opera actor.

The women working in the silk the factory is somewhat divided into sides.  One follows the senior silk worker, Bik Wan (Maggie Siu) and the other works with Tong Bing Bing (Tavia Yeung).  Bing Bing is favoured by Hau Yee.  On the other hand, Hau Yee sees that Bik Wan shows her no respect because she's (Bik Wan) a long-time worker at the factory.  While Hau Yee has Bing Bing's back, Sis Wan seems to have Ka Hin on her side.

I'm really happy to see Maggie Siu back onscreen since it's been awhile.  There's definitely going on between Bik Wan and Ka Hin.  Bik Wan is a celibate and that is probably because of her past with Ka Hin, which will be revealed in the later episodes.

Aside from Bik Wan and Bing Bing, there's also Yin Foon (Cilla Kung) who works under Bik Wan.  Cilla is growing as an actress and it'll help her alot if tvb stops giving her loud/obnoxious roles!  In the later episodes though, her character would become a bit more mature (I've watched up to episode 13 haha) and both her story and Bik Wan's will get alot more interesting.

On the day of the annual festival, Ka Yeung makes a surprising return to the village.  The family was thrilled with his return but things soon turn sour when they found Hau Yee dead in an abandoned shack.  With her, they found a divorce letter from her husband and so therefore they concluded that her death was an act of suicide from shame.  At the sight of sister's corpse, Ka Seng fainted and becomes bedridden.  Ka Yeung doesn't believe that his sister committed suicide and therefore began to investigate the reason behind her death.  Helping along his side is Bing Bing.

Just when I thought Akina Hong scored a big role here, she dies!  I didn't expect her death to be so soon but I guess it does help with the pace of the story.  Hope to see more of her in the flashbacks!

The uncle, Poon Wing Cheung (Joseph Lee Kwok Lun), and cousin, Pang Kwok Leung (Stephen Wong), of Hau Yee's soon stir trouble in the factory right after her death.  While the uncle is happy about Hau Yee's death (because he now have the chance to step into charge at the factory), Kwok Leung obviously shows remorse for her death.  Why?  :P

Originally, they thought that Hau Yee died because she overdosed with opium but Ka Yeung, with his medical expertise, concluded that it was put in there after she died.  Since she was not poisoned, she could've possibly be suffocated.  Another clue they had is the bruises on her wrists.  Bing Bing also said that she couldn't have possibly commit suicide over her husband because Hau Yee once told her that she've already given up hope on him.

Bing Bing's first suspect is Sis Wan because of the feud between her and Hau Yee.  That is ruled out though because on the night of Hau Yee's death, Sis Wan was looking after Yin Foon who had a stomach ache.

While I'm glad to see Stevia Back onscreen, Tavia's Bing Bing can rather be annoying at times.  It almost seem like her character got split personality since she acts so cautious and understanding in front of Hau Yee but in front of Ka Yeung, she's all about the yelling.  Impulsiveness is not a crime but the yelling does get on my nerves haha.  Luckily her character will tone down in the next few episodes and also becomes more likable.
Hau Yee's husband, Po Ching (Stephen Huynh), was not around during her death and they couldn't find him after her death either.  The divorce letter that was found with her corpse wasn't delivered to her by him either.  Instead, Po Ching gave the letter to Ka Hin and it was Ka Hin who gave it to his sister.  No one else knew about the divorce letter until her death (or at least the show haven't shown anybody else beside this trio yet).

Doesn't this make either Po Ching or Ka Hin the prime suspects since they were the only one who knew about the divorce letter aside from Hau Yee?  I don't think Hau Yee will be carrying her divorce around and the murderer did deliberately leave it there to make everyone believe that she committed suicide.

To me, Ka Hin seems like the most likely person to kill Hau Yee.  I'm just praying that he's not though because that'll be way too predictable.

Even though nobody was able to find Po Ching, he suddenly shows up running into the funeral hall on the day of Hau Yee's funeral.  He said he was out of town during the time of Hau Yee's death but Bing Bing actually saw him in the village on the night of her death.  This means that he's very likely to be the one who killed her.

While Ka Yeung tried to investigate further into it, Bing Bing's impulsiveness got the best of her and she charged right into the Poon's house to announce that Po Ching is the killer.  Don't think the case will be solved so easily ;)
No one can come back fine after a war.  When Ka Yeung's thinking alone, he often have flashbacks of what happened when he was on the battlefield.  Looks like he was traumatized from that time and I'm glad that they showed this side of him.  I'm now quite intrigued to find out what happened to Ka Yeung.

Tin Po: I can't stand wide-eyed, short barbarians with a hoarse voice!
Lei Wai: Master Tin Po, that description actually fits you as well...

Here's a quick summary to kick things off:
Prince Yinzhen (Ben Wong) befriends a commoner named Ko Tin Po (Wong Cho Lam) when he was trying to find someone who can cook salted-fish buns for the emperor.  Impressed by Tin Bo's culinary skills, Yinzhen tried to pursaude him to work for the palace but Tin Po refused after hearing Mr. Wu's deviation.  Mr Wu (Ram Chiang), a Chinese doctor and scholar, warned Tin Bo that if he enter the palace he will be doomed as a slave for food (basically a bad omen) and may even lose his life.  If you're wondering why Tin Po is so superstitious to let this once in a lifetime chance go, it's because in the past he didn't listen to a deviation and he believe that is the reason why his father was sent to jail and how they also lost their entire family's fortune.
Aside from Tin Bo, Yinzhen also befriends Mo Suet (Joey Meng), a street performer who's also Tin Po's friend.  May I add though that at this point, neither knows that Yinzhen is a prince but instead have mistaken him for a eunuch.  Poor Yinzhen though since he fell in love with Mo Suet at first sight (that is my assumption haha).  To spice things up, Mo Suet is actually in love with Yinsi (Louis Chueng).

I personally really want Mo Suet and Yinsi to end up together, but we know that is not going to happen.  Yinzhen is super sweet but Louis and Joey just look sooooooooo gooooood together!
Lol in this scene, Tin Po got flour all over his body and face.  Lei Wai (Jack Wu) then comes over to clean him up.  The funny thing is that he wiped the flour off every part of his body except for the face.  Cheesy but it made me laugh haha.

Tin Po: Lei Wai...show them.
Lei Wai: HAHHHH!!  *throws bowl to the ground and rolls up his sleeves*  

Lei Wai speaking in the most stereotypical feminine speech: You two are naughty indeed.  Getting in the way of our business.  You fatso and you fool!  Stop clowning around or I'll slap you on the hand!

Lei Wai: Master, don't pick expensive stuff!  We are short of money!
Tin Po: Don't shout out we're poor!
Lei Wai yells back: I got it! I won't shout out "we are poor"!
Tin Po: Good!

Tin Po: Before I go, Mr Wu, do you have any advice for me?
Mr Wu: I have some words for you.
Tin Po: Please go ahead.
Mr Wu: Weal or woe, there is no avoiding it.
Tin Po: Mr Wu, since we met, this is the first time you've talked nonsense.

For a palace drama, it can never suffice without either A, a cat fight or B, the duel for the throne!  In Gilded Chopsticks, the princes is separated into two groups.  One is the Crown Prince (Power Chan) and Yinzhen/4th Prince.  The other consists of Yinsi/8th Prince (Louis Cheung), Yintang/9th Prince (Derek Wong), Yin E/10th Prince (Matthew Ko) and Yin Ti/14th Prince (Owen Cheung).  During the struggle for power, the Crown Prince made a grave mistake and was stripped of his title.  Thus the title of 'Crown Prince' is now up for grabs!

While all the other princes is joyful about the situation, Yinzhen still felt very sorry for his brother but also know that the treason the Crown Prince committed cannot be forgiven.  Though I don't like Yinzhen's passiveness, especially because he always give into the Crown Prince, I did like their relationship and found the last scene that they shared to be very touching.  The Crown Prince is definitely not a likeable character but at the same time, I do pity him because like he said, everyday he lived with fear because of his status as the 'Crown Prince'.  One who doesn't understand may find the title glorious but to him, everybody was targeting everything he did and all his brothers were looking forward to his downfall.  That is a pretty depressing life to live.

Acting wise, I didn't like how Power Chan moves his hand around alot.  It kinda frustrates me seeing him do that.  On the other hand though, his emotional scenes in episode 6 were really well done!

Mr. Wu: I am sure it was dim and the moon was masked that night.
Tin Po: It sure was dark and so romantic! Mr Wu, some divination!
Mr. Wu: It's deduction. Or else Miss Nian wouldn't have chatted with you for so long.

Siu Yu: You are a man, your career should come first. Don't waste time on meaningless things.
Tin Po: I am not an ambitious man, I put love before career.

After all the drama in episode 6, the next one talks about how the Emperor personally went to Tin Po's restaurant and asked him to come to work in the Palace.  In order to pursuade Tin Po, he also gave him an immunity badge that will save his life if he were ever to be endangered.  Tin Po was honoured and agreed to go.  Another reason he went, I suppose, is to find a way to impress Miss Nian (Nancy Wu), who he has a crush on.  Lei Wai and his mentor, Mai Siu Yu (Stephanie Ho), also join along.

FYI Miss Nian is in love with Siu Yu (who's a woman disguised as a man).

Tin Po: For Miss Nian, I can't give up.
Siu Yu: Miss Nian again? I thought you had put her behind.
Tin Po: Putting her behind and giving up are two different things.
Siu Yu: How is it different?
Tin Po: You can pick up what you've put behind.
Lei Wai: what about giving up?
Tin Po: I don't have to answer that

Some criticize Wong Cho Lam's acting but I find him hilarious.  I love the way he says his line (his sarcastic tone) and his facial expressions.  I'm also happy to see Jack Wu here!  Lei Wai is just an adorable side kick!

So what do you think of the series so far?!  Leave a comment on the post or in the chatbox...it's getting so lonely around here lately :P

At the end of episode 3, Yu Zhai (Tavia Yeung) had an operation to do but during the preparation for it, her legs suddenly got weak and could barely stand.  Onto the next episode, it is explained that her spinal illness relapsed and in order to treat it, Yu Zhai would first have to abort her baby.

I did not expect that Yu Zhai's sickness would come back so early in the series!  It was heartbreaking seeing her tell Yat Kin that she didn't want to give up their baby.

Just a funny moment to lighten up the atmosphere.  The girls are having fun and playing around while the guys are at home baking horrible cakes.  Ben (Benjamin Yuen) made an awful tasting cake, Siu Yat (Derek Kwok) made a salty one and Yat Kin baked a curry flavored cake.  Both Siu Yat and Yat Kin lacks common sense :P

Yat Kin (Kenneth Ma) was against Yu Zhai's decision to keep the baby at first, but he knew that it would pain her more to give up their baby and so therefore supported her even though he didn't want to.

While they were at the hospital, one of Yat Kin's patient played by Ronald Law, wanted to commit suicide because of his sickness and the shock of his girlfriend's abortion.  At that moment, the doctors rushed up there to save him:

[a segment of their conversation]
Ronald: ....she's the cruel one, killing the baby!!!
Yat Kin: Do you truly want to keep the baby?  You really want to take care of it and watch it grow up?  If you don't have the capability to, why can't you let it go?  There are lots of things in this world that is painful to lose but you have to consider whether it's worth it, like your family, friends and the person you love.  You have to think carefully cause once you die, there would be nothing left and there's no going back.  You have to save your life and you will have a chance to start over again!

Even though he's saying these words to Ronald, I think it is what he wants to say to Yu Zhai and she also noticed this.

In order to cheer Yat Kin and Yu Zhai up in episode 5, Onion (Him Law), Mei Suet (Mandy Wong), Ben (Benjamin Yuen) and a few others decided to organize a party.  At the party, they exchanged gifts.  'Coincidentally' all the gifts were baby items and everybody gave their gifts to Yu Zhai.  Towards the end of the party, they also played 'Guardian Angel' in which each person picks out a random name and becomes that person's 'guardian'.  Guess who Yu Zhai got?

I personally really like these scenes of the housemen, doctors etc having a party together since everybody looks like they're having so much fun.

After the party, Yu Zhai and Yat Kin brought the gifts back home and sitting together with her mother-in-law (Gigi Wong), she suddenly reveals to Yu Zhai that Yat Kin and Yat Hong (Nathan Ngai) isn't her only children.  She actually had a baby before Yat Kin but unfortunately had a miscarriage.  Through this, she tells Yu Zhai that there's no need to push it (to have the baby) and that there will be future chances.

Back in her room Yu Zhai started to write in her diary, "even though I really want to look over the baby but at this moment, the one I really want to guard over is you, Yat Kin."  At this point, she pulled out the 'Guardian Angel' card she got at the party and on it was Yat Kin's name.  What Yu Zhai said was really touching.

Yat Kin brought home a hand-model thingy for Yu Zhai, saying that they can make a hand-model for their upcoming baby.  Instead of waiting though, Yu Zhai suggested that they try it out first.  This scene was very sweet and heart wrenching at the same time when Yu Zhai said that she decided to abort the baby.  Though it obviously pains her very much, like she said before, what is most important to her right now is Yat Kin.  Man, I teared up like crazy during this scene and to have Gigi Wong overhear them at the door, it just drove out more tears.  For Yu Zhai to decide to abort the baby is even more courageous than it is to keep it.