X-NINE and former R1SE member, Yan Xujia (焉栩嘉), was involved in dating rumors on February 15 when paparazzi released pictures of him going back to his home with a girl on Valentine’s Day. According to the reports, Yan Xujia and the girl were wearing the same jacket. It’s said she left Yan Xujia’s home by herself the next morning.
After the rumors about Yan Xujia started circulating, netizens speculated the girl in the video looked like actress, Zhang Zifeng (张子枫). They also noticed the girl in the video had the same cell phone case as Zhang Zifeng. In addition to that, Yan Xujia and Zhang Zifeng are classmates at the Beijing Film Academy (北京电影学院).
The rumors about Yan Xujia and Zhang Zifeng quickly shot up on Weibo’s hot search list. All sorts of hashtags related to their rumors were trending, like “Zhang Zifeng’s cell phone case”, “Zhang Zifeng’s Weibo comments section”, “Zhang Zifeng fans quit”, “Did Zhang Zifeng and Yan Xujia break up today Weibo check in”, and more.”
Many of the comments in Zhang Zifeng’s latest post were highly opposed to the rumors. The top comments include, “Don’t look for men in the garbage dump, meimei! Please refute the rumors!”, “Not forbidding you from dating, [but] Yan Xujia, forget about him.”, “Meimei, clarify your rumors with Yan Xujia. Really can’t take it.”, “Mei, don’t be foolish.”, “Meimei, be clearheaded.”, “Meimei, we don’t want to talk about that guy. If it’s not you, hurry and refute it!”, and more.
The opposition from fans and netizens against the possibility of Zhang Zifeng and Yan Xujia dating stem from his previous cheating scandal. Back in December 2020, Yan Xujia was accused of cheating on two girls at the same time. While Yan Xujia claims he was “wholeheartedly devoted“and there was no third party during the relationship, he didn’t specify which relationship. He apologized for his poor handling of the relationship matters that led to more misunderstandings. Yan Xujia also pledged that he would focus on his work and studies and not get into anymore relationships the next few years.
A day after the rumors started, neither Yan Xujia nor Zhang Zifeng have yet to address the rumors.