Nina and I - Chan lifts lid on colorful life with Asia's richest woman

Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum, Asia's richest woman, took along Peter Chan Chun-chuen on a visit to a construction site and told him to get a university degree as she trained the feng shui master to be her right-hand man.

Chan now plans to publish a book after his release from Stanley Prison next July. That will talk about his 15-year relationship with Wang, who died at age 69 on April 3, 2007.

The 60-year-old Chan was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2013 after being convicted on one count of forgery and another of using a false document. He will be released early for good behavior.

And Chan took several courses with the Open University and Baptist Theological Seminary while in prison.

According to Sing Tao Daily, The Standard's sister newspaper, Chan's manuscript offer details of Wang teaching him the ropes of business.

Wang was 54 when they got together, Chan recounts, and she told him her company employees were not good enough. But she was also worried she could not handle people who were more capable than her.

"You need to know that the No 1 taboo for a boss is that the employer is weak while the employees are strong," she told Chan. "It will definitely not end well.

"I am not that awesome, I knew that. If I hire some lions and tigers [a reference to talented people] and get swallowed into their stomachs I might think I am swimming in a swimming pool.

"Even those foolish staff, they will still want to trick you."

She said tycoon Li Ka-shing and the Sun Hung Kai Properties' brothers - the late Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen - hired talented people.

"It's not that I can't recruit talented people, it's because I don't want to hire them," Wang said. "You think those talented people won't ask for a sky-high salary? And I can't manage them. What's good?"

Wang told Chan one day she wanted to take him to a construction site of her Chinachem Group in Sha Tin. She asked Chan to be at the Chinachem car park in Wan Chai at 8am.

She also gave Chan a dozen files the night before and told him to study. But Chan was still at home when Wang called him that morning, and Wang said she was not waiting for him.

Chan explained he was reading the documents she gave him, but Wang was not satisfied with his answer and tested him on which two construction sites they were going to visit.

Chan could not answer and was scanning the files when Wang hung up the phone.

But they later made it to a construction site in Sha Tin, where Wang introduced Chan to the site agent. She asked the agent to report on the project's progress and to give Chan a copy of the site map.

Wang then held his hand and they walked around the construction site together.

Chan also writes that after knowing Wang for around 10 days they went for a picnic on a weekend and took along Wang's dog and monkey.

But Wang did not like to go places that were crowded so she took up Chan's suggestion that they go to Beas River Country Club at Sheung Shui to take pictures.

Chan was carrying a camera with him at that time, and Wang asked him how many girls he had impressed with his photography skills.

"I had attracted many girls before when I was young and didn't have a car," Chan says in the manuscript. "A camera is my best weapon.

"Kung Yu-sum [Nina Wang] then told me that's great and thoughtful and asked if I had taken many sexy photos and nudes."

Wang then started posing at the country club and Chan took pictures of her for almost three hours that day.

Their picnic plan was dropped when an employee of the country club recognized them, so they drove to the Peak on Hong Kong Island.

When the car was on a roundabout at the Peak, Wang told Chan about her late husband's abduction case.

She then told Chan to "pinky promise" her that he would be with her until her death. He replied: "I promise you, no matter who dies on that day we will be together."

Chan also says Wang told him he was the only person who ate a meal she had cooked, and that she was never a housewife.

And she also told him: "It would be good if we never get old."

Before she died, Chan says, Wang felt aggrieved as she got sick after the legal dispute with her father-in-law.

Chan also recalls how he met Wang in March 1992.

He was introduced to her by former lawmaker Gilbert Leung Kam-ho.

Leung recommended Chan to Wang as she was looking for her husband, Teddy Wang Teh-huei, who went missing in April 1990 after being kidnapped.

They first met in a Chinese restaurant in Chinachem Golden Plaza in Tsim Sha Tsui, where Wang asked him if his feng shui skills could help to find her husband. But Chan says he was unsure whether he could help.

Wang was disappointed and asked Chan to leave.

But he did not want to leave and told her: "I've just ordered a bowl of stir-fried beef with flat noodles. Can I finish it first?"

Wang then responded warmly and said yes. She also told him to order more food if he wanted.

"It only took one second for this woman to change [her attitude from being like] a cold winter to a warm spring," Chan writes.

Wang also asked Chan whether she was having good luck that day.

Chan said he did not know, but he believed she did not sleep well the night before and she must have a serious headache. Chan then said he could treat the headache.

Wang later asked Chan to go to her office, which was at her home, and Chan gave her a head massage in her office.

Chan told her: "Don't waste your time, and rest your head with me. I will make sure you will not be in pain anymore."

Wang responded with a smile and said: "I will cut my head off and give it to you. Then the pain will be gone."

She then praised Chan for making her headache go away.

"I made a promise to take your pain away," Chan said. "I am good at treating headaches."

Their relationship continued with Chan going to her office every night to give her a head massage.

Chan says he wrote the book as he felt he has a responsibility to let people know "the real Nina Wang."