Janelle LiAfter disappearing from local TV screens for half a year, MediaCorp artiste Rui En will be counting down to Chinese New Year with her new Channel 8 drama series, Happy Family. The soon-to-be-28 Rui En sheds her career woman image to portray Yang Xiao Dong, who co-owns a shop in Chinatown with her grandfather Dong Jianye (played by Chen Shu Cheng). Jianye, who’s 70 years old, is known to have no family members other than his adopted granddaughter Xiao Dong.
(All images courtesy of MediaCorp Channel 8) Rui En overturns her career woman image to portray “plain Jane” Xiao Dong.
Next to Xiao Dong’s business premises is a store that sells ladies’ garments and lingerie, where university graduate Chen Haojie (Shaun Chen) temporarily helps out at after being retrenched during the economic recession. Although Haojie is already attached to a girl he’s known even before he completed his tertiary education, Xiao Dong admires him with a teenager’s pure innocent heart.
Shaun Chen plays Haojie, a retrenched university graduate temporarily helping his uncle sell lingerie.
One day, a young Japanese man Noguchi Nariyasu (Remus Kam) drops by Xiao Dong’s shop, and explains that his father Dong Jinxing (Chen Tianwen) is Jianye’s son. Jianye chases him away immediately, while Xiao Dong keeps her confusion and suspicions within her. On his second visit, Nariyasu reveals that Jianye actually has 2 sons, Jinxing and Muxing (Darren Lim), as well as a daughter named Shuixing (Ann Kok).
In this family-focused drama series, it wasn’t just Rui En who had a makeover for the show, but MediaCorp actress Cynthia Koh also had to get a perm with huge curls and put on a fat suit under the harsh sun and humid weather for her role as Muxing’s wife, Mei-e.
Cynthia Koh also changes her appearance drastically for her role Mei-e in Happy Family.
The plot develops when Jianye confides in Xiao Dong and Nariyasu in hospital that he wants to see his family again and take a family portrait. The 2 main characters embark on a journey together to look for Jianye’s children and fulfill the old man’s wish.
Happy Family premieres next Tuesday and airs every Monday to Friday at 9pm on MediaCorp Channel 8.