Not Love At First Sight: Hong Huifang Initially Didn't Like Zheng Geping; Thought He Was A Foul-Mouthed "Chao Ah Beng"

Isn’t it fascinating how the people you dislike at first can sometimes end up becoming some of the most important people in your life?

Hong Huifang sure knows how magical that feels.

In Mediacorp slice-of-life drama Old & Dangerous, the 65-year-old plays the patient, understanding and caring wife of Ah Niu (Richard Low), a retired Special Operations Force (SOF) officer. The two met at a bar and fell in love the moment they laid eyes on each other.

How sweet, right? But it appears love at first sight isn't quite something Huifang experienced in real life.

In fact, the actress told 8days.sg that she disliked her husband, Zheng Geping, 63, when she first met him.

Recalling how they met at the TV station back in the '80s, Huifang described Geping and his friends as "what [they] call the Hokkien clan" who cussed a lot.

"I thought they were very boorish. I didn't like it," she said.

Geping and a few other actors would always sit on the benches outside the make-up studio, which she had to walk past to get to the artistes' holding room.

"I would purposely make a detour because I didn't want to go past them. I hated it."

But as unpredictable as life is, things changed one night when the two, accompanied by a few artistes, including Chen Hanwei and former Mediacorp actress Chen Huihui, spent a night together at a chalet.

"Everyone was tired and went to sleep, but I sat outside the chalet to catch a breeze. He came out, saw me and sat down on the opposite side," she recounted.

"We started chatting and ended up talking all night. That was when I realised we got along quite well and had quite good chemistry."

After that night, the actress' impression of Geping totally changed.

"I thought he's someone who's pretty insightful. He's not like the 'chao ah beng' I thought he was," Huifang said.

Coincidentally, Huifang's car tyres also blew out the next day, and Geping took the initiative to help her with them.

"I felt that this man was quite warm, and I started developing feelings for him," the actress beamed.

Well, the couple, who got married in 1993, also had Huihui to thank for playing matchmaker.

According to Huifang, on one Valentine's Day, the former actress gathered a few couples, plus herself and Geping, who were still single at the time, for a meal.

"That was the day we became an official couple," she smiled.