On May 26, 2020, gambling king Stanley Ho passed away due to illness at the age of 98. He had four wives and 17 children in his life, and in the eyes of the outside world, he enjoyed all the blessings. The second wife Lan Qiongying, the third wife Chen Wanzhen, and the fourth wife Liang Anqi all changed their fates with him and lived a life of fine clothing and fine food. However, as they became more prosperous and wealthy, they became more miserable than the gambling king's first wife Li Wanhua.

Lai Wanhua was born in Macau in 1924. She comes from a prominent family. Her father, Li Deng, is the only notary lawyer in Macau. Her grandfather also served as a high-ranking official in Portugal.

Li Wanhua’s fate changed in 1941, when she was 17 years old. In this year, she met Stanley Ho, who worked as a secretary at CIMB Trading Company through a relative's introduction. Although Stanley Ho was very depressed at that time, he was elegant, handsome, and had extraordinary conversation. Li Wanhua had a good impression of him.

Seeing the beautiful Li Wanhua, Stanley Ho was also moved. In order to pursue Li Wanhua, he studied Portuguese hard. Whenever he had time, he went to date with Li Wanhua near Li Wanhua's house. He successfully captured Li Wanhua's heart.

In 1942, Li Wanhua married Stanley Ho without hesitation despite his poor situation. She was only 18 years old that year.

After becoming Li Wanhua’s husband, Stanley Ho loved Li Wanhua very much, and Li Wanhua felt particularly happy. She was also willing to use her family's resources to help Stanley Ho. In the end, Stanley Ho earned 1 million a year after marrying Lai Wanhua. Later, he got involved in real estate, construction and other industries, becoming a leader in Macau's business community. But this also paved the way for the theory that Stanley Ho took advantage of the Lai Wanhua family to gain power many years later, making this marriage full of conspiracy theories in future interpretations.

In addition to helping Stanley Ho achieve his career, Li Wanhua also gave birth to his eldest daughter, He Chaoying, in 1947, and their eldest son, Ho Youuang, in 1949.

However, Li Wanhua's happy life came to an abrupt end in 1957. In this year, she suddenly suffered from colitis. Stanley Ho took her to see doctors everywhere, but he couldn't cure it. In the early stages of her illness, Stanley Ho was still very attentive to her. He played cards with her, told jokes to make her happy, and said that no matter what she became, he would love her as before.

At that time, Li Wanhua believed everything Stanley Ho said.

But when she had her stomach removed, lost weight to 70 pounds, and lost her beauty, Stanley Ho's attitude towards her changed. What made her even more sad was that Stanley Ho decided to take a concubine. Because in Macau at that time, Portuguese law was parallel to the Qing Dynasty's "Great Qing Code". According to the provisions of the "Great Qing Code", Stanley Ho had the right to take concubines, and Stanley Ho fell in love with 14-year-old Lan Qiong at a dance. Ying, he decided to marry her as his second wife.

Ho Hongshen told Li Wanhua and Li Wanhua's family about his idea of ??taking a concubine. Li Wanhua's family objected to him taking a concubine, but the objection was ineffective because Stanley Ho felt that "I can't be a monk all my life, and besides, my family has a big business. The work is very busy and there are many various entertainments. He needs a woman to take care of the housework and always accompany him."

Ho Hongshen also wanted to get the consent of Li Wanhua in the hospital bed, but this was very difficult for Li Wanhua. It was too cruel to say that she was still alive and well. How could Stanley Ho have the heart to hurt her and take a concubine? But she had no choice but to agree with tears in the end.

With Lai Wanhua’s consent, Stanley Ho officially married Lan Qiongying in 1957. After marrying Lan Qiongying, Stanley Ho and Lan Qiongying moved to Hong Kong, leaving Lai Wanhua in their old house in Macau.

From then on, Li Wanhua's fate was pushed into the abyss of misery. But even so, she gave birth to second daughter He Chaoxian and youngest daughter He Chaoxiong to Stanley Ho in 1958 and 1962.

With the company of her children, Li Wanhua's life can have a little sunshine. But God did not stop torturing her. In 1973, she was involved in a car accident in Portugal and was in a coma for a month. When she woke up, she lost most of her memory and her physical condition became very bad.

Compared with her own car accident, having a car accident caused her more pain than suffering from Stanley Ho's "betrayal".

In 1981, her son Lawrence Ho and daughter-in-law Suki died in a car accident on their way back to their apartment after meeting Stanley Ho in Portugal.

After learning the news, Li Wanhua was seriously ill and hospitalized.

He Youguang

But in this year, Li Wanhua was hit not only by the death of her beloved son, but also by her eldest daughter He Chaoying because of the death of her younger brother, her mother's serious illness, and her own... After divorcing her husband Xiao Baicheng, whom Stanley Ho had arranged, she suffered multiple blows and became mentally disturbed this year.

He Youguang and He Chaoying

The son died, the eldest daughter went crazy, and Li Wanhua suffered beyond measure. Many years later, Li Wanhua's second daughter He Chaoxian said sadly: "She has never done anything bad to anyone, but she has to endure a lot of pain. God is so unfair to her."

God is indeed unfair to Li Wanhua. too much. Three years after He Youguang's death, Stanley Ho and her personal caregiver Chen Wanzhen lived together publicly, and Chen Wanzhen became his third concubine. In 1989, 68-year-old Stanley Ho and 29-year-old Anqi Leung openly lived together, and Anqi Leung became Stanley Ho's fourth concubine.

While Stanley Ho had many wives and concubines and many descendants, Li Wanhua lived a very lonely life. Her second daughter, He Chaoxian, married Danish artist Peter and moved to the United States to make a living selling sculptures. Her youngest daughter, Ho Chiu-hsiung, was originally a beautiful woman who was deformed due to illness and grew into the appearance of a man. Towards Ho Chiu-hsien and Ho Chiu-hsiung, Stanley Ho is much more indifferent to the children of Lan Qiongying, Chen Wanzhen, and Anqi Leung.

He Chaoxiong

It can be said that since 1957, Li Wanhua's life has been black, and she died of illness on February 21, 2004, which was considered a relief.

After Lai Wanhua's death, Stanley Ho did not know whether he was full of apologies to Lai Wanhua. At the age of 82, he personally arranged Li Wanhua's funeral and even went to Macau to select a cemetery for Li Wanhua. In the obituary, he called Li Wanhua "his beloved wife" and did not include the names of his second wife Lan Qiongying, third wife Chen Wanzhen, and fourth wife Liang Anqi in the ranking of his family members to show respect for Li Wanhua.

An interesting thing is that three years after Lai Wanhua's death, Stanley Ho took Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi to participate in an event. At this event, some media asked Stanley Ho who among his four wives ranked first?

Ho Hong-shen replied seriously: "The one I love most has passed away."

This world is really absurd.