Not long after, the hashtag #ZhaoXunyinShuYu shot up to the top of the trending list — along with #ZhaoXunyin’sTasteHasFallen and #ZhaoXunyinHasAGirlfriend.
Shi Nanbei clicked into the first one, and the first post she saw came from a blogger titled “Did Zhao Xunyin & Shu Yu Make Up Today?”
Their most recent post, from thirteen minutes ago, read simply: “No.”
But perhaps due to the sudden revelation today that Zhao Xunyin now had a girlfriend, the blogger had updated again just three minutes ago:
“Shu Yu, for heaven’s sake, if you don’t file for divorce soon, Zhao Xunyin’s going to run off with someone else!”
The comment section had already exploded past a thousand replies.
Shi Nanbei clicked in. The most-liked comment was a moving GIF of Zhao Xunyin and Shu Yu from years ago — Zhao, visibly younger, leaning against the arms of a stern-looking woman and laughing up at her with reckless brightness.
Rumor had it that Shu Yu was the CEO of a major corporation, cold and aloof by reputation. Yet in that picture, the gaze she turned toward Zhao Xunyin was unmistakably soft.
The poster had added a caption:
“The legendary Double Queens couple — how did it all come to this?”
Replies were full of sighs and heartache over their breakup. Reading through them, Shi Nanbei finally recalled — Zhao Xunyin did once have a publicly acknowledged girlfriend, Shu Yu.
Even though the two had long since gone their separate ways, their story was still dragged out time and again by online writers to wring tears and torture fans. Readers flooded Shu Yu’s company’s official Weibo daily, begging her to divorce her “good-for-nothing husband.”
Back then, Zhao Xunyin was at the height of her fame when news of her relationship with Shu Yu — the heiress of Tianhao Entertainment — broke out. Their CP (couple pairing) became an internet phenomenon. Wherever there were queer fans, there were “Double Queen” shippers. After all, who wouldn’t want to watch two breathtaking women fall in love?
Yet no matter how wildly the public speculated, both of them steadfastly denied it. Zhao Xunyin would only smile during interviews and say, “We’re just friends — it’s not like what people think.” Shu Yu, on the other hand, dismissed the reporters with a cool, “I’m not that close to her.” One line was enough to shut down an entire press corps.
Later, rumors started circulating that Zhao Xunyin was being kept. The tabloids claimed to have all the evidence — even her horse-riding accident and the months of recovery afterward were spun into “she secretly gave birth to an illegitimate child.”
The scandal grew so out of control that people forgot the original rumor — that Zhao Xunyin’s supposed benefactor was, in fact, a woman. After all, no matter how capable Shu Yu was, she couldn’t have made Zhao Xunyin bear a child, could she?
As gossip escalated, Shu Yu — who had always been reserved and untouchable — personally stepped in on Weibo and publicly confirmed their relationship.
She posted a photo of herself with Zhao Xunyin and three simple, declarative words:
“She is mine.”
Zhao Xunyin reposted it and commented:
“Kiss me.”
The newly upgraded Weibo system crashed within seconds of those posts going live. For days afterward, users mocked the company’s “cheap servers” and “useless engineers.” Even the CEO of Weibo, when later interviewed, jokingly complained:
“If I’d known they were going to do that, I wouldn’t have boasted about our expanded servers. That was a total ambush.”
He even tagged Shu Yu, writing:
“President Shu, I expect an invite to your wedding after that crash! Otherwise, that server meltdown would’ve been for nothing!”
Shu Yu replied coldly — just two words, yet so firm:
“Of course.”
She promised Zhao Xunyin, again and again: “Once I’ve taken over the company, we’ll get married.”
And Zhao Xunyin believed her. She believed it so much that she let herself be deceived.
Because later, Shu Yu did get married — only not to the woman she had once publicly claimed as “hers.”
There was no bitterness left in hindsight — only a rueful sense that fate had played a cruel joke.
Time, after all, is a strange thing. Its magic doesn’t lie in granting what we desire, but in its merciless way of crossing wires and missing chances.
After reading through the long, tangled history of Zhao Xunyin and Shu Yu, Shi Nanbei just sat there staring blankly at her phone.
Back then, anyone with an internet connection could recite the story by heart — a wealthy heiress falling for a black-and-red actress. Even the wildest soap operas or danmei dramas couldn’t compete with that kind of real-life drama.
Shu Yu was a bona fide heiress, no question. But she wasn’t an only child — she had an older half-brother, Shu Ren. Rumor had it that Shu Yu refused to publicly acknowledge her relationship with Zhao Xunyin because she hadn’t yet secured her footing in the Shu family. Her half-brother kept her under close watch, and as long as the question of succession at Tianhao Entertainment remained unsettled, the two siblings would never stop fighting.
And her father — the old Mr. Shu — had once said bluntly in an interview:
“I can’t control what outsiders do, but as long as Shu Yu bears my surname, she can forget about bringing some third-rate actress home.”
At the time, Zhao Xunyin was an up-and-coming actress who had just won her first Best Actress award. That kind of public humiliation from one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful men was devastating.
When the “Double Queens” scandal was at its peak, Shi Nanbei was still in high school. Reading old articles and online gossip now, she thought — back then, Zhao Xunyin must have truly loved Shu Yu.
No one doubted Zhao Xunyin’s feelings. Their love and heartbreak were the stuff of legend, talked about endlessly across forums. The two of them broke up, got back together, broke up again. Zhao Xunyin went on to win every major acting award, while Shu Yu took over her father’s empire. Both reached the pinnacle of success.
And just when everyone thought they’d finally marry, Shu Yu announced her wedding — to someone else.
She posted the news at eight in the morning, when most people were just getting ready for work. Everyone’s first thought upon seeing the headline “Shu Yu Got Married” was: They finally did it!
But when they opened the photo — the person standing beside Shu Yu wasn’t Zhao Xunyin.
Holy shit.
Her comment section was immediately flooded. Netizens demanded to know why the bride beside her wasn’t Zhao Xunyin. Shu Yu said nothing — no explanations, no clarifications — just like she had in the early days of their rumor. Cold and silent to the end.
Reporters rushed to Zhao Xunyin’s door, shoving microphones in her face, asking how she felt about her former lover’s marriage.
The famously brash Zhao Xunyin seemed momentarily stunned, as though she’d only just learned the news herself. After a long pause, she said softly:
“I wish her happiness.”
After spending her youth loving someone, that was all she could offer in the end — a simple blessing.
I wish you happiness, even if the one giving it to you isn’t me.
When that interview aired, anyone could see the sorrow in Zhao Xunyin’s eyes. The internet went wild. Long-time “Double Queen” fans were heartbroken, wailing online as though suffering their own breakup. But no matter how loudly people begged them to reconcile, neither woman ever mentioned the other again.
It was as if they had become strangers.
Apart from a few old photos, who even remembered they were once in love?
Years passed. Zhao Xunyin starred in one hit film after another, winning awards until her name became synonymous with excellence. Shu Yu expanded her business empire across cities and continents, evolving from “heiress” to “Queen of Commerce.”
They both achieved everything they once dreamed of — just not together.
The seas had yet to turn to fields, yet their love had already faded into memory. Years later, when people mentioned them again, the only word left was “once.”
After more than an hour of scrolling through the detailed timeline — thank goodness for those meticulous fans — Shi Nanbei finally understood their five-year-long entanglement.
But when she finished, she couldn’t help sighing. From an outsider’s perspective, especially reading through all those nostalgic Weibo posts, even the sentimental Shi Nanbei had to admit — Shu Yu and Zhao Xunyin were a perfect match.
Who doesn’t love seeing two stunning women paired together?
Who doesn’t adore a “CEO falls for an actress” storyline?
Shi Nanbei asked herself honestly: she liked it too — even if one of those women happened to be her wife.
Her wife.
The thought made her freeze.
Wait. Had she just spent the whole afternoon getting emotional over her own wife’s tragic ex-girlfriend storyline?
Shi Nanbei: “…”