Short End of the Stick (; literally "Eunuchs Leave the Palace") is a 2016 Hong Kong period comedy television drama produced by TVB. The drama is TVB's 2016 Lunar New Year drama, starring Wayne Lai, Nancy Wu and Edwin Siu as the main leads. It premiered on February 9, 2016, airing every Monday to Friday on Hong Kong's Jade and HD Jade channels during its 8:30-9:30 pm timeslot, concluding March 27, 2016 with a total of 35 episodes. 《公公出宫》新年播出 黎耀祥寄望口碑 orientaldaily.com. Retrieved February 2, 2016
Short End of the Stick is an indirect sequel to TVB's 2012 drama The Confidant. Short End of the Stick also stars most of the same cast from The Confidant. Both dramas centers around the lives, struggles and betrayals of eunuchs, but unlike The Confidant which was a melodrama, Short End of the Stick is a light hearted comedy. The Confidant main protagonist Li Lianying, played by Wayne Lai is mentioned as part of the plot in Short End of the Stick.
The drama is a comedic depiction of the lives of eunuchs after the fall of the Qing dynasty and their eviction from the Forbidden City by the last Emperor of China, Puyi.
Synopsis Eunuchs Lee Suk-gung (Wayne Lai), Dan Tin (Power Chan) and Chan Siu-fung (Raymond Cho) lived a peaceful life serving the Emperor and the royal family in the Forbidden City. Suk-gung worked in the kitchen as a cook and master carver, Tin worked in the Physician quarters and Siu-fung was a beautician who made the ladies in waiting presentable. After the fall of the Qing dynasty and eviction of all eunuchs and servants in the Forbidden City by the last Emperor of China Puyi, for constant theft of valuables, the three Eunuchs band together to survive outside the Forbidden City as civilians in Beijing. Life as civilians is harsh for the three as they face constant prejudice from revolutionists for being associated with China's imperial past while making a meager living working as kitchen help at an alleyway food stall and rent a small room living together in a dingy neighborhood.
At a rally held by Yip Ching-yee (Ram Chiang), a cruel revolutionist bent on eradicating anyone associated with the Qing dynasty, the three witness a former high-ranking eunuch they were acquainted with during their time in the Forbidden City, being humiliated and abused by Ching-yee and his group of revolutionists. They are told by Ching-yee to join in on humiliating the captured eunuchs. Not wanting to because they are afraid, they meet and befriends Chiu Jun-sing (Edwin Siu) who tells them he is also "one of their own" and that better them doing the abusing of the eunuchs being persecuted than by Ching-yee's group. Chiu Jun-sing is actually a pretend eunuch living off his relative, the former high-ranking eunuch being humiliated by Ching-yee because the high-ranking eunuch has many priceless valuables taken from the Forbidden City in his possession. Jun-sing helps the eunuch illegally sell these valuables, which is a national crime.
Their troubles begin when Siu-fung is seduced by a prostitute who tricks him into selling himself as a slave to the Americas. Suk-gung and Tin save Siu-fung in time before he signs his life over but before doing so Siu-fung had divulge to the prostitute that he is a eunuch. While walking by they see Jun-sing being prosecuted by Ching-yee for being a eunuch but Jun-sing does not want to blow his cover as a pretender since he has priceless valuable in his possession. Suk-gung, Tin and Siu-fung pretends to be vengeful cheated husbands out for revenge against Jun-sing to save him from Ching-yee but they're outed as eunuchs by the prostitute who earlier tried to trick Siu-fung.
Now wanted criminals by authorities for having a national artifact in their possession and Ching-yee for being eunuchs, the four escape to Shenzhen. During their escape, Siu-fung was hit by a bullet. Once they arrive in Tianjin they take Siu-fung to a hospital where the staff refused to treat Siu-fung unless they have money. In order to save Siu-Fung, the three decide to mug someone. After looking at possible victims they decide on a cruel looking woman beater who happens to be a female dressed like a man. During the struggle to rob her, she suffers an asthma attack. Worried that she could die from her asthma attack, they take her to the same hospital that they took Siu-fung. They soon find out that she is Kam Dai-nam (Rosina Lam) from the powerful and rich Kam family. Hearing that her niece was bullied, Dai-nam's aunt Kam Heung (Nancy Wu) comes to the hospital with her servants to seek revenge.
Kam Heung lets them go and pays for Siu-fung's medical expenses when she realizes that the trio only robbed for money to save their friend's life. However Siu-fung's medical expenses was not a charity and the three are sent to work as servants for the Kam family until their debt is paid off. Suk-gung and Tin are satisfied with this arrangement since life as a Kam servant is similar to the life they had in the Forbidden City.
Kam Heung is head of the Kam family and manages the family rice merchant business because she is the only child alive born to the main wife of her father. Her older brother and Dai-nam's father Kam Cheong (David Chiang), has no status in the family since he was born to a concubine and his offspring are all daughters. Besides managing the family business, Kam Heung has to deal with a bickering household where her late older brother's wife gets her way and belittles everyone in the family because she gave birth to the Kams current heir, and she also has to deal with a trouble making business rival who steals from them and constantly makes fun of the Kams for having insufficient male heirs.
Suk-gung and Tin's professionalism, intelligence, obedience, patient and complementing words soon prove to be the perfect servants to the Kams. Dai-nam also take a liking to Siu-fung and showers him with luxury when he brings her good luck in gambling. But the trios secret as eunuchs could affect their standings with the Kams when they find out the Kams have an hatred for eunuchs because the family was cursed by legendary powerful imperial eunuch Lei Lin-ying, because the Kams ancestors had offended Lei. Afraid they will be facing prejudice, Suk-gung and Tin decides to revert to their dirty eunuch tactics, along with the help of Jun-sing they steal valuables from the Kams to fund for their passage escape.
When strange things starts happening on the Kam family grounds, everyone in the village start to believe the Kam curse. The eunuchs who have seen this kind of situation in the Forbidden City between the Emperor's consorts know that someone is up to no good and secretly warns Kam Heung, In order to prove the curse is just a saying, Kam Heung encourages all the single females over thirty to get married. Her plan however backfires when the Kams enemy Tsui Tai-Fu, pushes her to get married herself. Suk-gung, Tin and Jun-sing sees this as an opportunity to ripoff more of the Kam fortune by hiring a stranger to enter into a fake marriage with Kam Heung. Meanwhile, Suk-gung, Tin and Jun-sing's roommates find their stolen stash and reports it to Kam Heung, however ironically Suk-gung and Tin had donated all the money they pawned from stolen goods to the local western doctor who needed it for his son's medical expenses. This makes the eunuchs reputation in the Kam family even better since they think the eunuchs stole to help save a life and Suk-gung soon becomes Kam Heung's personal advisor.
On the day of Kam Heung's husband competition everything goes wrong. Tsui Tai-Fu sends his nephew to beat the man Jun-sing hired to win the competition, and the man hired is found out as a wanted criminal. Embarrassed by the whole situation, Kam Heung runs away with Suk-gung following her. When the two are found by the rest of the Kam family, the two are in a compromised position due to accidentally consuming a performance enhancer and mistaken by onlookers to have acted in an indecent manner. Not wanting to expose himself as a eunuch, Suk-gung agrees to Kam Heung's idea of going into a fake marriage with her in order to avoid the village punishment of being drowned alive.
Cast Eunuchs Wayne Lai as Lee Suk-gung (李肅恭; homophone to 你叔公, your uncle) A eunuch who worked in the palace kitchen as a cook and master carver. The leader and most masculine of the three eunuchs. His flattering words gets Kam Heung to admire him, and he becomes her personal advisor. He and Kam Heung are forced into marriage when the entire village thinks they had an indecent affair. He soon becomes spoiled like the rest of the Kam family when he starts living their affluent life. Edwin Siu as Chui Jun-sing (崔晉昇; homophone to 催晉升, force promoted) aka Kam Fai (金輝) As a pretend eunuch, Suk-gung, Siu-fung and Tin meet as civilians outside of the palace. He was living off of his maternal uncle Eunuch Chiu by illegally selling priceless artifacts he has in his possession. He is also a womanizer that has affairs with married women and a penchant for prostitutes. He falls in-love with Wong Lin at first sight. He is also Kam Fai, the illegitimate son of Cheung's and Heung's father. Yin-wai devises a plan to frame him for selling tinted soy sauce because she is worried that he will become the new Kam family head. When someone dies because of Yin-wai's lies he is put on death row, but is saved during his execution due to befriending a crime boss in jail. He comes back to the Kams village as a high ranking warlord general under the name Ko Chiu (高超), to seek revenge against the Kams. Raymond Cho as Chan Siu-fung (陳小鳳; nicknamed Sai Gai 細雞, little chicken in Chinese) A eunuch who was a beautician to the ladies in waiting in the palace. He is a romantic who is always searching for someone to love him. He is also the most feminine, gullible and honest of the three eunuchs. Kam Dai-nam takes a liking to him because he brings her good luck. Uneducated, unskilled, unambitious and weak, Kam Heung refuses to hire him. When all the females in the village over 30 are encouraged to get married he helps them look presentable, especially Dai-nam who he helps dress like a female. Power Chan as Dan Tin (丹田; same as pubic region) A eunuch who worked in the physician quarters in the palace. He is the wisest and most educated of the three eunuchs. He finds ways for the three to possibly better their lives. Lee Suk-gung often plots with him. Suk-gung helps him set up a Chinese physicians practice when Suk-gung is fraudulently engaged to Kam Heung. Dan Tin is not happy being a physician as he is not confident with himself and is afraid someone will die in his care.
Kam family Suet Nei as Kam Suk (金淑; homophone to 金屬, metal) The matriarch of the Kam family. Kam Heung and Kam Cheong's aunt. Wanting Kam Heung to get married, she makes the entire village believe the Kam family curse to be true. Nancy Wu as Kam Heung (金香) Kam Suk's niece. She manages the family rice business because she is the only surviving offspring of her father's main wife. Wanting to prove the Kam family curse is false, she encourages the single females in the village to get married only to be pushed into marriage herself by the Kam family nemesis Tsui Tai-Fu. She later suffers from a brain tumor which forces her to hand over the family business to Kam Cheong. David Chiang as Kam Cheong (金昌) Kam Heung's older half-brother. Ng Yin-wai's husband. Kam Dai-nam, Dai-tse and Dai-da's father. He has no status in the family since he was born to a concubine and is often belittled by his half-sister-in-law Wan Tai-tse and enemy Tsui Tai-Fu for having no male off-springs. He loses the opportunity to become head of the Kam family when it is found out that he was behind Kam Heung and Suk-gung accidentally consuming a sex drug. He marries a pregnant Wong Lin in order to raise Jun-sing's child as a Kam. Rachel Kan as Ng Yin-wai (吳賢慧)