On March 31, 2023, Yao Chen sat in the study, his hands on his cheeks, and his eyes were a little empty. She was staring at the screen of her phone, which kept flashing all kinds of retweeted super words.
These contents are all telling the emergency help information in Shanghai, Jilin and other regions, revealing a heart-wrenching helplessness and anxiety between the lines.
As a high-profile public figure, Yao Chen is well aware of his social responsibility to convey positive energy and lend a helping hand. Her brows tightened, and an indescribable sense of grief and unease welled up in her heart.
In the face of these requests for help, she did not hesitate at all, and immediately clicked to forward, hoping to use her influence to bring a glimmer of hope to those in distress.
After completing all this, Yao Chen let out a long sigh of relief, but he did not calmly remove the gloom between his eyebrows. Her mind began to involuntarily retrace the past, remembering the protracted divorce dispute ten years ago.
At that time, she and her ex-husband Ling Xiaosu and Ling Xiaosu's new love Tang Yifei almost fell into a saber-rattling war of words, the three parties poured accusations against each other, and the public opinion field was once tense.
Recalling those scarred days, Yao Chen was full of emotion. How irrational and impulsive she used to be, she occupied the commanding heights of public opinion at the first time, and smeared Ling Xiaosu and Tang Yifei as "scumbags" and "juniors", causing the two to be unable to argue and their reputations were discredited.
But soon, she also tasted the bitter fruit of the backlash, and was hit hard by the revelations of the mysterious person "Juchun Lei".
Now that he is re-examining, Yao Chen can't help but smile bitterly. In that dispute, no one could be called a winner. On the contrary, everyone is sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of hurting each other, bearing heavy psychological trauma.
Perhaps, they were too impulsive and paranoid back then.
Marriage begins
Dating back to Beijing in the autumn of 1999, that golden season, Yao Chen and Ling Xiaosu met for the first time on the campus of Beijing Film Academy. At that time, they were all young freshmen, and they felt a little uncomfortable and inhibited about the new environment and unfamiliar classmates.
But soon, under the guidance of the teachers, the two began to rehearse together, gradually became familiar with each other, and their hearts slowly opened.
Yao Chen was born into a family of ordinary workers, and his father was a diligent railway worker. When she was 14 years old, she left her hometown in Fujian and came to the High School Affiliated to Beijing Dance Academy to study folk dance alone.
Ling Xiaosu comes from a film family, and his great-grandfather is the prestigious director Ling Zifeng, whose family history makes him full of love for art and culture.
Despite their different family backgrounds, both of them have a passion and pursuit for their careers, and they work hand in hand in campus life, and their careers gradually open a new chapter. After falling in love and getting married, Yao Chen's acting career progressed by leaps and bounds, and she was fortunate to be favored by senior director Shang Jing and starred in the popular comedy "Wulin Gaiden" that year.
And Ling Xiaosu is Yao Chen's most solid backing, he tolerates and supports his wife's efforts, and the two have spent an extremely happy time.
At that time, Yao Chen often appealed on Weibo about the hard work of filming in different places: "Now as long as someone in the family is working outside, it is enough." She also affectionately wrote warm words such as "The passage of time makes you more stable, but I don't dislike you", pouring out her heart to Ling Xiaosu ten years later.
Ling Xiaosu will also respond in a humorous way, ridiculing Yao Chen as a "featureless braised egg".
Looking at the interesting interactions between the two on Weibo, netizens praised one after another: "They are so affectionate!" No one would have imagined that it would not be long before the emotional path of this loving couple would fall into a fog and eventually come to the end of its rupture.
The crisis erupted
However, life is always full of unpredictable variables. In 2010, when Yao Chen's career was in full swing, a fuse was quietly detonated, and a marriage crisis came.
When Yao Chen was filming the movie "Love is Outstanding", the news of his love affair with Cao Yu, the visual artist and master of photography of the film, was exposed. During the same period, during the filming of the TV series "Lang Heart Like Iron", Ling Xiaosu was also accused of having a relationship with actress Tang Yifei, and the two were witnessed many times secretly filming each other's intimate behavior.
This is undoubtedly a major trigger for the marriage crisis of the two stars.
In the face of the sudden blow, Yao Chen seemed a little powerless. She once laughed at herself on Weibo for her upside-down day and night, running around and working hard to shoot her life, and could only watch her husband Ling Xiaosu sleep leisurely at home.
As a new actress, such pressure and exhaustion are obviously too difficult. But Yao Chen's persistent pursuit of career in her heart made her go all out more and more, and she couldn't wait to do it all.
In fact, when Yao Chen left her hometown in Fuzhou at the age of 14, her dance instructor commented on her: "Yao Chen was born with keen insight, and at such a young age, he deeply understood the hardships and complexities of life.
It is this tenacity and courage that has helped her overcome many obstacles along the way to her successful career today.
However, just when his career was reaching its peak, Yao Chen's married life was turbulent and stormy.
Faced with the scandal between Cao Yu and Tang Yifei, she felt helpless and angry in her heart.
As a veteran who is comfortable on the stage, Yao Chen finds himself at a loss in real life and difficult to control.
Divorce war of words
Shortly after Yao Chen's affair with Cao Yu was exposed, her married life with Ling Xiaosu broke down completely. On January 30, 2011, just as the Spring Festival was approaching, the two received the divorce certificate in silence, drawing an end to this seven-year marriage.
Subsequently, they launched a protracted public opinion war around the question of "who derailed first". Yao Chen showed no mercy, accusing Ling Xiaosu and Tang Yifei of being suspected of cheating in a pictorial and textual manner, revealing the interactive relationship between the two, making Ling Xiaosu and Tang Yifei unable to refute.
In contrast, Ling Xiaosu chose to forbear, without mentioning the rumors that Yao Chen might cheat during filming.
For a time, the balance of public opinion was completely tilted to Yao Chen's side. Ling Xiaosu and Tang Yifei were subjected to a stormy verbal criticism, and were branded as "scumbags" and "juniors", and their reputations were almost completely lost.
Yao Chen, as the "Queen of Weibo", has a good relationship with Huayi Brothers and Sina's top management, which gives her the upper hand in this public opinion war.
But just when everyone thought that the incident would come to an end, a mysterious character "Ju Chunlei" suddenly surfaced, and he broke the news that Yao Chen had also cheated many times during the filming of "Love Excellent".
In the face of the sensational effect, Yao Chen did not respond positively, but just reposted the Weibo when he was in love with Ling Xiaosu many years ago, and wrote the words "full of absurd things are people and wrongs", with an ambiguous attitude.
After a war of words, public opinion began to tilt towards Tang Yifei. She was physically and mentally exhausted, so she had to pull into multiple group chats and distribute tens of thousands of yuan in red envelopes, in order to vent her grievances for many years and make a name for herself.
But even if Tang Yifei made many efforts, he could not completely reverse the public's prejudice against her.
This divorce battle has undoubtedly brought heavy psychological trauma to all three parties.
Career after divorce
The divorce dispute undoubtedly had a certain impact on the career development of the three people. Although Yao Chen has performed well in well-known TV series such as "It's All Good" and "Mountains and Seas", her works that have entered the film industry such as "Eight Hundred" and "Find You" have received mere responses.
Especially in the movie "Finding You", Yao Chen not only served as the heavy responsibility of investment and producer, but also overwhelmed the crowd and shouldered the role of the heroine. Although she successfully portrayed the image of a female lawyer looking for a child in the film, and her acting skills were unanimously praised, it is a pity that her limelight was stolen by the supporting role Ma Yili.
What the audience pays more attention to and relish is Ma Yili's superb performance, rather than Yao Chen's role.
It can be said that the divorce dispute has brought certain obstacles to Yao Chen's career development, making her road in the film and television industry not smooth enough. In contrast, the careers of ex-husbands Ling Xiaosu and Tang Yifei are more sluggish and questioned.
Although Ling Xiaosu has occasionally released new dramas in recent years, such as "The End of the World" and "People in Spring", etc., both the ratings and word-of-mouth evaluation are far inferior to the classics such as "The Temptation to Go Home" starring him at the peak of the year.
It seems that the audience has a hard time fully accepting him after the divorce.
As for Tang Yifei, since she starred in the TV series "War" in 2014, she has almost completely retired from the film and television industry, and switched to variety entertainment programs, focusing on the sharing of lifestyle.
Even if there are occasional works, few people ask about them, and the response is mediocre.
The downturn in their careers is undoubtedly inextricably linked to the divorce battle many years ago. The pressure of public opinion, the prejudice of the audience, and even the troubles of their own psychological shadows, all of which are invisibly slowing down their pace of development.
I have to admit that Ling Xiaosu and Tang Yifei chose a relatively conservative and low-key career path to avoid falling into the turbulent rain of public opinion again.
For now, at least, this may be the best way out for them.