Zi Yu is the other half of the lead couple in Chinese BL drama Revenged Love 逆爱 who has recently risen to fame because of their drama, finding himself go from little known actor to being chased by countless fans at the airport. Prior to this, the 22-year-old actor was an aspiring idol who joined survival shows like We Are Young and Youth with You 3 and debuted as a member of now-disbanded boy group Guanghe Shaonian. His idol dreams eventually left him in debt as his current agency Rui He Entertainment reveals he’s still paying off debt from his former agency.
Idol Dreams That Left Him in Debt
Zi Yu (also known mononymously as Ziyu) left his former management company, HKBX Entertainment, back in 2022. Because of this, the singer had to pay a penalty of RMB 600,000 ( ~ US$ 83,700) for his early exit which he had to pay back in 5 years. To this day, it seems the 22-year old is still paying off his debt although it is expected that he’ll finally be able to pay it all off shortly.
In 2022, Zi Yu claimed that he was being bullied by his teammate Zheng Xingyuan. From being physically assaulted to being forced to live in the basement for half of the year, he said that was the main reason for his abrupt exit from the group. HKBX Entertainment, his company at the time, brushed it off and denied the bullying allegations, saying the idol’s injuries were a result of training.
To make ends meet, the 20-year-old took on all sorts of jobs and lived frugally. Aside from working as clerk in a clothing store, he also worked various odd jobs such as taking on short roles in dramas, appearing in commercials and even serving as a “one day” store manager to pay back the fixed monthly repayment of around RMB 10k on top of his rent and living expenses. To reduce his expenses, he often rode a shared bike and walked to the subway.
These days, whenever someone brings up the bullying, it looks like he has well and truly left everything in the past. “There’s no need to delve into what happened in the past”. Now it seems all his hard work and tenaciousness is starting to pay off; with his acting career finally having a breakthrough in 2025 in the web drama Revenged Love, which saw interest in Zi Yu soar.
Source: 1
HL
Be very careful when signing any contract…
Lisa
Yes, if his injuries were just from training, would he agree to live such a frugal life and incur so much debt just to break the contract. People aren’t stupid.
Zion
I will always support him I pray he will get over this ,my poor boy 🥺