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Relationship drama has taken centrestage in Chinese entertainment as actor Xu Kaicheng, 32, has been accused of being a serial cheater.

Rumours of him cheating on 33-year-old actress Crystal Zhang (also known as Zhang Tianai) with another actress, Gulinazha, 30, were reported by Chinese media on Aug. 24.

On Aug. 25, Zhang released an audio recording of Xu admitting to having a drunk hookup. In her caption, she called him a "serial offender" and called for women to be "clear-eyed".

Xu is best known for his roles in dramas such as “Well-Intended Love”, “Novoland: Pearl Eclipse” and “The Female Student At The Imperial College”.

Xu and Zhang starred in the drama “Young And Beautiful” together, while Xu and Gulinazha filmed a series together, but it has yet to air.

The audio recording

The recording, which lasts seven minutes and 33 seconds, started off like this:

Xu: I want to say 'I love you' just once. I feel so bad. I went to a friend's house, and I kept drinking when I got there. I had too much to drink...

Zhang: Was it a male or female friend?

Xu: A male friend.

Zhang: You scared me.

Xu: I said earlier that I'm no longer the pure person you think I am.

Zhang: What do you mean?

Xu: After drinking... I had a drunk hookup.

Zhang: With that male friend?

Xu: Of course not.

Zhang: Didn't you say that you were at a male friend's house?

Xu: It was a male friend's house but he asked a girl... he asked a lot of people (over).

Xu talked about how the incident has been "torturing" him, and he admitted that he lied about having contractual obligations with his company, not allowing him to go public with their then-relationship.

The actor also said that he "can forgive (himself) as a human, but not as someone's partner".

Saying that he is "too weak", he pleaded: "I can't leave you, because it's only when you're here that I won't make mistakes."

Zhang broke down in the midst of the conversation, and Xu said, "Come back to me. I'm living in pain every day and have been punishing myself (...) One day, I'll tell you everything, and that might be the last second you'll love me."

He added that he's always known that Zhang is "the right one".

Xu's apology

Shortly after Zhang released the audio recording on Weibo, Xu posted an apology on his personal Weibo.

He claimed that he and Zhang broke up multiple times in the course of their relationship, with their history looking something like this:

• Dec. 16, 2021: Zhang initiates breakup
• Somewhere in between: Xu has the drunk hookup he spoke of in the recording
• Dec. 24, 2021: They get back together
• Jan. 16, 2022: Zhang initiates another breakup
• Jan. 18, 2022: Xu tells Zhang about the hookup (which is the recording content, released by Zhang)
• Jan. 19, 2022: They get back together again
• May 17, 2022: Zhang initiates yet another breakup
• June 6, 2022: Xu and Zhang stay in contact for about a week before cutting all contact
• Around July 10, 2022: Xu initiates breakup

Xu added that he "truly loved" Zhang, apologising for the "misunderstandings" and "hurt" he has caused.

He also apologised to Gulinazha, who had been blasted by netizens for being a third party in Zhang and Xu's relationship.

Gulinazha has since reposted Zhang's audio recording with the added caption:

"I'm not the third party. I was never one, and I will never be one! Even when faced with comments all over the internet calling me a third party, I didn't believe that you were a liar. This audio recording has shown me who you really are."

Top photos from Xu Kaicheng & Crystal Zhang's respective work studios' Weibo accounts