It was TV host Ji Yingnan herself who voluntary went public with her story of being kept as a mistress by high ranking officials in China. She maintained that it was difficult for her, but she wanted to get even with a deputy secretary of the Party who had deceived her. She handed over a CD with some juicy pictures. They were not too revealing, but they should be enough to raise eyebrows in the public.
She described a world of extreme opulence that only highly privileged individuals could enjoy. Her story of being a kept woman of a top party official had an atypical ending.
At 26, Ji Yingnan appeared like the average girl next door. However, she was already an authentic internet celebrity. On Weibo, she had 140,000 followers, most of whom were added after she released her private photos. Corruption of high ranking and powerful people is always a favourite topic with netizens.
Four years before that, when Ji was 22 years old and had just graduated from Jilin Art College. She became a presenter at Travel Satellite TV and then went on to China Communication University for a short course. She seemed to have a bright future ahead of her.
That summer, she celebrated her birthday in Beijing. At the birthday dinner of Dengying Liuyi, someone introduced Fan Yue to her. The one who introduced them said that is Mr. Fan was doing some “big business”. At the dinner, Ji Yingnan was not impressed with Fan Yue. He was 16 years her senior. She described him as nerdy and self-absorbed.
However, after that meeting, Fan Yue courted her with all his might. From Ji’s accounts and from the text messages between them, Fan Yue had indeed tried his best to win her heart. He could talk to her for hours on the phone. He could also send her creative love messages. Of course, he also spent a lot of money. When they started going out, he did not hesitate to bring her to a shopping mall where he could spend 60,000 yuan to buy her a shawl, skirt, and handbag.
The thing that stood out for Fan Yue was his maturity. He was calm and respectful unlike the younger guys who were impatient and constantly pestering her. Ji said: “He knows how to coddle me. He respects me, and respects everyone around me.”
Ji Yingnan recounted that once when she went out to dinner with some female friends, Fan Yue voluntarily helped them prepare the food. He was caring and responsible – attributes she couldn’t find in the younger men. Before long, Ji Yingnan fell in love with Fan Yue. At first, her parents were opposed to their relationship due to the large age gap, but that was before they met Fan Yue. After meeting him, they found him to be a perfect gentleman and they did not object to their relationship anymore.
At age 22, Ji Yingnan was an idealist. She also had plans for a healthy marriage and blissful family life. She wanted to be married by 25. She wanted a 30-year-old husband with a stable job. She wanted a love that could last a lifetime. She planned to be a totally committed and devoted wife.
At the beginning of their relationship, Fan Yue told Ji that he got married just after graduating from university but later got divorced. He claimed that he had no children after less than two years of his first marriage. He claimed that after his divorce, he only had one failed relationship. She believed that she was not the third party.
When Ji Yingnan discovered that she was indeed the third party by the definition of the general public, she suffered from insomnia. She felt wronged. She got angry and she cried incessantly. She denied that she was a third party because she had been cheated and had been thinking all along that Fan Yue was single.
For girls whose dream is to be the mistress of the super rich, the following story should be completely in line with their fantasy. In the news released by Ji Yingnan on Weibo, Fan Yue described a life of extravagance extreme wealth.
Ji Yingnan submitted formal declarations and relevant video evidence to the National Archives Bureau (Fan Yue’s work unit), the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and other units. In the declarations, she recorded Fan Yue’s extravagance in detail.
The list included a high-end apartment with a monthly rent of 9,000 yuan. A kitchen knife is worth 3,000 yuan. Fan Yue will put cash in Ji Yingnan’s wallet, about 10,000 yuan a day. In addition, there were countless branded bags, designer clothes and jewellery. Fan Yue bought a 700,000 Audi for her to practise driving. Later, he bought her a white Cayenne worth more than 1.3 million.
Regarding these extravagant reports, the National Archives Administration responded that “we have noticed that on June 14th, Fan Yuehua disclosed huge sums of money to support Ji Yingnan. He is currently under investigation. If Fan’s source of funds were found to involve violations of the law and discipline, we will take appropriate disciplinary action.”
When the incident first came to light, Fan Yue said in an interview with the media that netizens’ accusations were not true. Everything was purely speculative with malicious intent. He claimed that his lawyer would be dealing with the matter.
In an interview with the Beijing Evening News, Ji Yingnan claimed that Fan Yue spent more than 10 million yuan on her. Ji Yingnan claimed that she was concerned about the source of the funds and that she had once asked him how he got to be so rich. Fan said that he gave scanty details on his businesses and every time he claimed expenditure, it was from a different company.
Ji Yingnan claimed that it was only much later that she learned that Fan Yue was actually a senior official of the National Archives Bureau, but Fan Yue rarely mentioned anything about work. “He claimed that he signed a confidentiality agreement with the work unit and the nature of his work is confidential.”
“Every New Year, he would say that he had to travel to meet up with senior leaders. I never asked him who they were. I don’t understand politics and I don’t care about politics.” Ji Yingnan claimed that she hated Fan Yue’s superiors who always seemed to let him work overtime and write reports so that they had so little time together.
Ji and Fan were soon living together. Mesmerised by the luxurious lifestyle and Fan’s tenderness, Ji was contented to play the role of his wife even though they did not get married. It is interesting that Ji still did not suspect that she was a third party at this point. Ji Yingnan would stay at home on most days, reading books, embroidering cross-stitch, doing housework. She hardly had any contact with friends of the opposite sex anymore. She said that she sympathised with Fan for having suffered emotional injury and so she tried her best to be the best wife that she could be.
Whenever Fan Yue went on a business trip, Ji Yingnan would check the weather forecast for the city he was travelling to and even help organize the suitcases, fold the clothes, match the medicines and snacks so he wouldn’t go hungry after a long night of entertainment. Fan Yue adored her as he would a child and would often play children’s games with her.
Once, when Fan Yue suddenly fell ill with a fever while he was at work, Ji Yingnan was worried. “I rushed to his unit like crazy, then sent him to hospital and kept watching him day and night without sleep.”
However, doubts began to creep into their relationship. Fan Yue always put his phone on silent mode and his screen was always locked. The password was changed every few days. Ji claimed that Fan had proposed to her, but their wedding somehow never took place. Fan’s excuses included his plans to buy a house, some legal issues he had to settle and so on. One excuse was replaced with another. Finally, when Ji gave him an ultimatum, he admitted that he was married.
They moved out of their luxurious apartment. But Fan’s influence had changed her life forever. The 700,000 Audi was still under her name. He wallet still contained a high-end spa and beauty salon membership card from Fan Yue. Ji could never return to life without Fan. She felt cheated and abandoned. She refused to accept the outcome.
Ji Yingnan drove her Audi to Fan’s office and slept inside for three days and three nights. A bottle of mineral water was all that kept her alive. She repeatedly sent text messages asking Fan Yue to meet her downstairs, but Fan Yue didn’t show up. He only replied with a text message, suggesting that his superiors had already known about their affair and that they should not meet anymore.
Finally, Ji went to meet up with Fan Yue and his wife. Ji Yingnan said that Fan Yue’s wife had no makeup, no jewellery and is simply dressed. Apart from a little spot on her face, her temperament and image were very good. Fan Yue’s wife was not surprised when she saw Ji Yingnan, but she said matter-of-factly: “Without you, there will be others.” After she knew that Ji Yingnan hadn’t eaten for 5 days, she ordered a porridge for her. Mrs Fan said: “Don’t ruin your body.”
Ji claimed that she could not remember what was being discussed between the three of them. She claimed that all she wanted was a normal and healthy family life. Apparently, they did not come to an amicable solution.
Later, Ji Yingnan submitted evidence to the Department of Policies and Regulations of the National Archives Bureau. She claimed that her intention was simply to force Fan to meet her. It did not work.
On Ji Yingnan’s 26th birthday, she only received a text message from Fan Yue: “Good luck.”
Ji Yingnan’s sorrow turned into anger. She went online, uploaded a video, made numerous copies of a CD which was distributed to members of the media. She also kept updating her Weibo every day to keep her followers hot on her heels.
In the end, the National Archives official website issued a statement confirming that Fan Yue had previously served as the deputy director of the Policy and Law Research Department of the Bureau and was removed from office in early June because of his lifestyle.
“In late April 2013, Ji Yingnan complained to us that Fan Yue did not divorce his wife before cohabitating with her. After verifying, it was found that Fan Yue and his wife had in fact signed a divorce agreement, but divorce procedures were as yet incomplete. We believe that Fan Yue’s approach is completely wrong as it violates the basic morality and social responsibility of civil servants and should be dealt with sternly. Based on the facts and relevant regulations, our bureau has dismissed Fan Yue from his position as deputy director on June 6. He has agreed to leave public office.”
It was a lose-lose situation. The scandal she exposed on her own forced Ji Yingnan to resign from the TV station and live in a friend’s home. She did not contact her family as she felt too ashamed to do so. While she was saddened by the loss of her career and a dreamlike romance, the biggest blow landed on her self-confidence. She said that with a discerning eye and no shortage of suitors, she had never imagined that she could fail at marriage.
In her daily life, her remaining indulgences were cross stitch and Weibo, representing nostalgia and revenge respectively. Her pace of revenge showed no signs of stopping. Insisting that dismissal was not a true form of punishment, she was still making hundreds of CDs of Fan Yue’s videos and photos with her and distributed them to multiple central units. She said that she now hopes that the Discipline Inspection Commission or relevant departments would take her away, investigate the case and punish Fan Yue further. She said that “Even if I get arrested or jailed, I will will still do it.”
Life as a kept woman had completely changed her. She claimed that she had given too much and had suffered immeasurably for it. Previously, Fan Yue said his mother liked collecting handkerchiefs. In order to please the future “mother-in-law”, she scouted around for several days to buy handkerchiefs in major shopping malls throughout Beijing. Even now, she would unconsciously buy those handkerchiefs.
Ji had no idea what lies ahead. She declared that: “This is a protracted war. I have nothing now, because I have no job, there is no sense of existence in this society. I feel that I live without any meaning. I’m hoping that Fan Yue would sue me. He had threatened to do it.”
Interestingly, netizens were hardly sympathetic towards her plight. Many chided her for not facing the fact that she was a kept woman, fully aware of what was going on and trying to milk Fan for more. They didn’t see her as a genuine whistle-blower.
Ji occasionally reads books, such as Bi Shumin’s “Coronavirus”. Probably because she did not get the support she expected, she feels that the whole world is poisoned. Shortly after her Weibo exposure, a young girl sent her a private message. Ji Yingnan’s story made her laugh and cry. Then the stranger said something interesting: “Why did it happen to you and not me?”
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