When the award winning actress Zhao Xunyin announced that she was married, she did it just like that—decisively, without warning. The news blindsided everyone, stunned the public, and left the programmers at Old Wave Weibo on the verge of tears. Meanwhile, netizens erupted into a frenzy of celebration.
Before long, a new Weibo account appeared under the name “Did Zhao Xunyin Get Divorced Today?”
The account’s very first post read:
“No.”
Netizens flooded the comments:
“Hahahahahahaha this poor soul must be heartbroken—she just announced her marriage and people are already checking in for her divorce!”
“Followed! Let’s all work together—one day, we’ll see Zhao Xunyin divorced!”
“Crying, crying, it’s another sour lemon day for me.”
“Whoever Zhao Xunyin’s wife is must have accumulated lifetimes of good karma to marry such a stunning woman. [lemon emoji] I’m crying again.”
After Zhao Xunyin’s marriage announcement, Weibo practically collapsed under the traffic. The site was down until nearly ten that night despite programmers working overtime and Old Wave frantically paying for server expansion.
By then, Zhao Xunyin’s post had racked up 230,000 comments, and no fewer than ten trending hashtags were all related to her marriage.
From the initial explosion of #ZhaoXunyinGotMarried to the fervor of #ZhaoXunyinShuYu, then the hysteria of #WhoIsZhaoXunyin’sWife, and finally #ZhaoXunyin’sEx, each tag climbed higher than the last.
Old interviews from Zhao Xunyin’s early career even resurfaced on the trending list—proof of just how deep her popularity ran among the masses.
Shi Nanbei, unlike the devastated fans, didn’t feel heartbroken—though she did feel a bit guilty toward her roommate, Wu Lili. Especially now, watching Wu Lili sitting on her bed, silently crying in front of the poster of Zhao Xunyin hanging on their dorm wall, Shi Nanbei couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d stolen someone else’s wife.
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Damn.
Aggrieved +10086.
Feeling a bit fragile, Shi Nanbei sent Zhao Xunyin a WeChat message while getting ready for bed: “I just finished night study.” Zhao didn’t reply—probably busy—so Shi Nanbei put down her phone and went to wash up.
When she came back, Wu Lili had already climbed out of her heartbreak and was watching an old interview of Zhao Xunyin at her desk. Curious, Shi Nanbei leaned over to peek at the screen.
It was obviously from years ago. Zhao looked much younger, her features still holding a trace of innocence.
Back then, she was still a controversial “black-and-red” celebrity—not yet the “double-vision queen,” nor the untouchable goddess she would later become.
In the video, the host asked Zhao about her ideal partner.
Shi Nanbei’s heart skipped a beat.
Zhao smiled lightly and said, “No specific standards. As long as they look good.”
Then, half-jokingly, she added, “I might never get married. I just want to bring happiness to all the girls in the world.”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Wow. Flirty much.
Just as Shi Nanbei finished watching, feeling a mess of emotions she couldn’t name, Wu Lili sighed dramatically, as if mourning life itself.
“I never thought my goddess would actually get married.”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
She knew exactly how obsessed Wu Lili was with Zhao Xunyin. After hesitating a long time, she finally tried to comfort her.
“Don’t be too sad. I mean, Zhao Xunyin is thirty-four now. It’s about time to get married.”
Wu Lili clapped her hands over her ears. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear it! She’ll always be twenty-eight!”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Forget it. There was no reasoning with her.
She quietly dried her hair, wiped her face, and climbed into bed. But before she could even get comfortable, Wu Lili suddenly threw her head back and wailed to the heavens:
“Oh, Heaven! Please, I beg you—let me know who stole my goddess! I, Wu Lili, swear to avenge this stolen wife!”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
A chill crept up her neck.
She shivered, thinking of those horror stories she’d read about college roommates and poisonings.
Why, oh why, had she ended up marrying a public lover?
Aggrieved +1008611.
Fuming with nowhere to vent, Shi Nanbei finally took it out on the root of the problem—Zhao Xunyin. She opened WeChat and messaged the contact saved as “Old Woman”:
“My roommate wants revenge.”
Zhao replied almost instantly:
“?”
Shi Nanbei: “She’s avenging her stolen wife! 😭😭😭”
Old Woman: 😊
Old Woman: “Don’t be afraid.”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Yeah, this marriage was doomed.
She buried herself under the blanket, sulking, while Wu Lili kept muttering at her desk about Zhao Xunyin’s mysterious wife. The more Shi Nanbei listened, the more anxious she felt for her own safety.
Gathering her courage, she whispered, “Lili”
Wu Lili turned around, eyes still red.
Shi Nanbei gulped. “What if—just hypothetically—what if Zhao Xunyin’s wife was me?”
Wu Lili stared at her for a full thirty seconds—so long that Shi Nanbei almost started crying. Then she finally said slowly,
“Have you heard of the Fudan Roommate Poisoning Case?”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Wu Lili’s tone turned grave. “Sisters are like limbs. Wives are like clothes. Whoever steals my clothes, loses her limbs.”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Sorry to bother you.
Yang Shan, their other roommate, couldn’t watch any longer. “Enough, Lili. Why are you scaring Nanbei like that? She’s still a kid—how’s she supposed to sleep tonight?”
Wu Lili sniffled dramatically. “I can’t sleep either! Oh, Zhao Xunyin, do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered tonight? You say you’re married and that’s it—did you ever think about how your ex-wife would feel? You’ll lie awake tonight, won’t you, Zhao Xunyin?”
“You’ll lie awake, Zhao Xunyin!”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
She didn’t know whether Zhao Xunyin could sleep or not, but she was definitely not sleeping tonight.
“Don’t mind her, Nanbei,” Yang Shan comforted her. “Even if you were Zhao Xunyin’s wife, Lili wouldn’t really poison you. You know what she’s like.”
“I’d just throw you off the third floor,” Wu Lili added softly.
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Seeing how pale Shi Nanbei turned, Wu Lili finally burst out laughing. “Alright, alright, I’m joking! I just can’t get over it, that’s all. She’s been single for three or four years, and suddenly—bam, married? It’s too much for my heart.”
Shi Nanbei peeked out from under her blanket, voice trembling. “Really? You’re just teasing me?”
Please don’t lie to me, Lili.
Wu Lili softened at the sight of her pitiful face. “Really. Honestly, I’d be thrilled if Zhao Xunyin’s wife were you. At least then I could meet her through you.”
Shi Nanbei eyed her warily. “So, no poisoning?”
“No poisoning.”
“No tossing me out the window?”
“No tossing.”
Shi Nanbei exhaled in relief, grinning. “Good.”
After a pause, she asked, “Lili, if you ever met Zhao Xunyin in person, what would you say to her?”
Wu Lili thought for half a second, then replied earnestly,
“Take me.”
She added, dead serious, “Take me from the front.”
Shi Nanbei: “…”
Yeah. Time to sleep.
Zhao Xunyin’s marriage dominated Weibo’s trending list for two whole days. Paparazzi even camped outside her building, blocking her way home.
Unable to go back, Zhao sat in her car for a minute before deciding to turn around and hide out at her boss’s house.
Her boss came from a powerful conglomerate family—the kind that owned an actual estate in Shanghai. Sheltering a star like her would be nothing.
But when she arrived, her boss wasn’t home. She was still at the office, so Zhao called her wife instead.
The boss’s wife didn’t comment much on the phone, but when the housekeeper led Zhao to her, she took one look at the exhausted, paparazzi-hounded actress and burst out laughing.
“So, your wife didn’t come with you?” she teased.
Zhao entered the room, voice flat. “You really have to joke about this now?”
Her boss’s wife, An He, had long since retired from acting after marrying into wealth. She spent her days lounging in luxury, claiming that acting wasn’t worth it: ‘Why work when I can earn more from my allowance than any film could pay me?’
“Don’t be like that,” An He said with a grin. “You’re incredible—you just got married, announced it to the world, and now my wife hasn’t even come home from the office. I can’t tease you a little?”
Zhao flopped down on the sofa. “You say that like your wife actually cares about me.”
An He’s expression twitched slightly green. Because truth be told, her money-hungry wife did care—a lot—about Zhao Xunyin, one of Qitian Entertainment’s biggest moneymakers.
Stay calm, An He reminded herself. Don’t get angry. She’s the company’s golden goose.
“Alright, spill it,” An He said, reclining beside her. “What’s with the sudden marriage? My mother-in-law actually called me asking what happened.”
“Your mother-in-law?” Zhao blinked. “Senior Shi Nian?”
“Don’t call her senior like that—she’s your fan, for god’s sake.” An He sighed. “She’s in a horse ranch in the Netherlands right now, absolutely heartbroken. She called me sounding like she was about to cry.”
Zhao Xunyin: “…”