On August 3, Yinhekuyu Media responded to Zhao Lusi’s (赵露思) claims about their alleged mistreatment towards her and tricking her studio to pay for damages sustained from her canceled endorsements and jobs.

In their statement, Yinhekuyu Media said Zhao Lusi’s claims were “shocking and sudden”. They stated that Yinhekuyu Media has never committed any illegal actions or breach of contract behavior. They said after Zhao Lusi got sick, they took her mental and physical health into consideration and would always prioritize her wishes first and actively taking care of matters. Yinhekuyu Media also urged if Zhao Lusi had any doubts, “welcome [her] to discuss with the company to resolve it.”

Zhao Lusi’s response to Yinhekuyu Media was reposting their statement with a green tea emoji. In Chinese slang, associating someone, usually females, with green tea, is saying they pretend to be sweet and innocent in front of others, but are actually evil and scheming.

She also added, “There are so many shareholders in this company, did anyone text me?” Zhao Lusi also calls out Yinhekuyu Media for secretly having lawyers search for evidence against her. She said, “The person who directed this statement should be a screenwriter and create a cheating, wife-beating, male character; it would be very layered.”

Zhao Lusi continued in her replies that she silently endured when the industry was saying she was faking her illness. She signed her contract at 17 and called out Yinhekuyu Media’s CFO, Xu Zhe, was skiing in Hokkaido, Japan when she was surviving on medicine and oxygen the week prior to her being admitted to the hospital. Zhao Lusi also said she was looking forward to going to court with Yinhekuyu Media.

In Zhao Lusi’s final statement, “Lawsuits are a very long process. Perhaps even when my contract expires, the lawsuit still won’t be settled. In addition to their tactics and disgusting behind the scenes tactics, I will be exhausted. I’ve already spend almost 20 year of my youth here. I don’t want to be entangled with these people for another 10 years. I cherish every day.”

Many fans and netizens expressed support and also concern for Zhao Lusi. On August 3, Zhao Lusi went live on Douyin assuring fans that she is fine, calm, and didn’t “go crazy”.

Weibo (1, 2, 3)