River of Wine

All members of the wine industry in Jiujiang are busy preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival ritual, yet the Wine Guild Chairman SUNG CHING-YIU has not yet turned up, causing a chorus of grumbles from his uncles SUNG TO and CHU KWOK-HUNG. YIU is actually having an audience with the Canton Prefect CHOW SAI-FUN, in an attempt to enlist his help in fighting against the corrupt Magistrate TSANG KIN-LEUNG. LEUNG CHING-HONG, LEUNG SAU-YIN and KWAN WAI-LAN of the Leung Kei River Food Stall are busy cooking, in the course of which LAN encounters a problem but HONG manages to get it round soon afterwards. Leung Kei and Tsui Yau House are bidding for the catering contract for the Dragon Boat Festival and both agree to take part in a cooking competition. The two entrants are neck-and-neck and YIU is about to cast his deciding vote. Leung Kei ends up winning the bid……

TO reminds YIU that he is no longer a member of the LEUNGs and should stay out of the dispute for the sake of the SUNGs. YIU comes to see LEUNG with the supporting documents, urging him to release HONG as soon as possible. His request is not granted, so YIU offers to pay LEUNG a sum of money, with which he hopes the dispute will soon be resolved. LEUNG is so angry with YIU that he has HONG beaten up severely, in a bid to coerce him into making a confession. PIK is shocked to learn that TO has incited the manager to store up all the necessary food ingredients so that the LEUNGs will not be able to make decent dishes for the Dragon Boat Banquet. LAN has prepared an array of dishes for the banquet but the attendees insist on trying HONG’s cooking. Luckily YIU and HONG manage to come back just in time. The LEUNGs arrive at Sze Yuen Winery which they purchased earlier, and are all surprised by its remoteness and inaccessibility……

CHING burns her dowry after returning home, saying that she has no more expectations of marriage, which worries YIU no end. HONG is heading for Canton to purchase rice. Along the way he runs into CHING again, who has secretly run away from home. To protect her from being harmed, HONG decides to stay with her. YIU discovers that all the essential ingredients for wine making have been withheld by LEUNG. Although LEUNG allows YIU to get them back, the ingredients end up being all destroyed by the magistrate in secret. CHING is sent to the brothel by the abductors, but finally gets rescued by HONG with the money he was going to use for the purchase of rice. YIU locates CHING’s whereabouts and decides to go to Canton at once to look for her. CHING is completely shocked when she sees the famine victims fighting for the rice. Among the famine victims is a little girl, who is wandering around looking for her mother……

YIU finally finds out the truth and the misunderstanding between the brothers is soon resolved. While enjoying the tea eggs together, both YIU and HONG recall their childhood days with LAN. The brothers get inspired by the food stall owner and decide to make wine yeast with bay leaves. CHING has dropped her wallet, and HONG offers to help look for it and the bamboo tag kept inside. CHI-TSUN who has stolen CHING’s wallet is shocked to see the bamboo tag. Immediately he recognizes it as a gift he made for his younger sister when he was a kid. Knowing that his family is still alive, TSUN is resolved to go back to Jiujiang to seek reunion. YIU is still having a bad cough, so PIK offers to cook him some herbal soup. YIU notices that PIK’s bracelet has gone. Although PIK does not say much, YIU quickly realizes that the bracelet has been passed to CHEONG for debt settlement……

YIU is still having a nasty cough, which worries PIK no end. In the name of the Jiujiang Wine Guild Chairman, YIU has bought HONG a set of wine utensils as a gift to celebrate the grand opening of Sze Yuen Winery. This has come as a great thrill to LAN. Due to its remoteness, Sze Yuen Winery has failed to achieve satisfactory sales on its first day of operation. But instead of grumbling, HONG asks NGAU and YIN to look for a fresh water source for wine making. YIN and NGAU find the severely injured TSUN at the riverside and immediately bring him back to their house for recuperation. TSUN notices how YIU has rejected a winery owner’s credit request outside Tsui Lung Winery, leaving him a very bad impression of the man. As a token of thanks for the wine utensils, HONG treats YIU to a glass of fresh-brewed wine. YIU coughs up blood all of a sudden and is said to be suffering from tuberculosis……

KAM asks PIK which girl YIU would like to marry but PIK explains that YIU is not ready to tie the knot yet, as this would ruin the girl’s life for sure, whoever she may be. CHING who passes by has overheard their conversation. She suggests doing charity work in the name of the SUNGs, believing that this is another great way to ward off bad luck. TSUN sees CHING distributing free rice in the street and tries to reunite with her at once. Unfortunately he is regarded as nothing more than a con man and gets beaten up again. LOK-TO manages to get YIU some western medicine through his friend in Hong Kong, and YIU seems to be feeling better after a few doses. LEUNG reveals that he is going to attend the birthday banquet for the Honorable TUNG of the Imperial Household with the wine produced by the twelve wineries, taking it as a great chance to promote the Jiujiang wine. His proposal is enthusiastically supported by all winery owners……