Xu Si

Biodata

Background / History

Family circumstances and coercion

Xu Si’s family lived in a small, weathered courtyard home in Shatian. Her father, Xu Haishan, was a skilled worker at the City Agricultural Machinery Factory. Her younger sister, Xu Wei, required surgery to repair a missing heart valve shortly after entering East China University. Hospitalization, treatment, and surgery cost 110,000 yuan, with imported medication adding further expense 19 27.

Needing money for Xu Wei’s treatment, Xu Si was forced to become Ding Xiangshan’s mistress. Ding subsequently arranged for her to join Xinfeng Group, where she became deputy manager of the personnel department. During their six-month affair, she received 270,000 yuan from Jiang Mingcheng in three installments and wrote IOUs for the money 4 21 22.

Original timeline

In the history remembered by Zhang Ke, Xu Si testified in 1994 that Tang Xueqian had accepted bribes from Jiang Mingcheng through her. Her testimony helped secure Tang’s conviction, while she was exempted from criminal punishment in that case 4.

A year before Ding Xiangshan’s case came to light in 1999, Xu Si married Ye Xinming. Zhang Ke understood the marriage as a means of concealing her relationship with Ding. When Ding’s case was exposed, Xu Si received a twenty-year prison sentence. Zhang Ke first saw her at the 1999 trial, by which time detention had left her visibly haggard. She died by suicide a year into her sentence 4 7.

Meeting Zhang Ke

After returning to 1994, Zhang Ke encountered Xu Si outside a photo shop at Xiangshan while investigating Ding Xiangshan’s villa. A spilled drink led her to offer him a ride and take him to her apartment to wash his shirt. He concealed his connection to Tang Xueqian’s former secretary, Zhang Zhixing, while asking to call her his elder sister 5 6.

At the apartment, Zhang Ke saw Ye Xinming visit her and secretly took a photograph of Xu Si with Tang Xueqian. Later, he found her crying in the bathroom, comforted her, and promised not to let anyone hurt her. The encounter strengthened his determination to prevent the fate he remembered 7.

Investigation and release

The initial investigation treated Xu Si’s testimony as evidence that Tang Xueqian had used her to solicit 270,000 yuan in bribes. Photographs also fed allegations that she was Tang’s mistress. Zeng Jianhua’s notebook cast doubt on the bribery account, prompting a wider investigation into Jiang Mingcheng and Ding Xiangshan 12 18.

Allowed to meet Xu Si privately, Zhang Ke revealed that he knew about Ding, her sister’s operation, and the fabricated accusations. He urged her to cooperate with the Special Investigation Team. Xu Si then admitted that Ding had coerced her into framing Tang and asked Zhang Ke to keep the circumstances from Xu Wei 20 21.

Zhang Ke gave investigators a partly reconstructed account of their first meeting to strengthen the case for leniency. He also supplied her family with 120,000 yuan, presented as a loan, to help them return the money. Her parents ultimately handed over the full 270,000 yuan; investigators recovered her IOUs from Jiang Mingcheng’s residence, and Ding corroborated her account of coercion 20 28 30.

The Special Investigation Team decided not to prosecute Xu Si. Because Ding and the other suspects admitted the matters she had disclosed, she did not need to testify in court 35.

Work at Haiyu’s Haizhou office

After her release, Xu Si agreed to help Zhang Ke provided his plans involved nothing improper. He wanted an adult representative because his age would obstruct business dealings. He asked for three years of cooperation and offered to write off the 120,000-yuan debt in return, but she insisted that helping him and repaying the loan were separate obligations 35 39.

Zhang Ke introduced her to Xie Wanqing and recruited her to help rebuild Haiyu Company’s Haizhou office. Xu Si placed recruitment advertising, handled applicants’ calls and résumés, and helped organize interviews. Zhang Ke subsequently introduced her to the four recruits as the person responsible for the office’s day-to-day affairs 37 38 39 45 47.

As the office pursued Ericsson distribution rights, Xu Si learned about digital communications and requested an engineer’s explanation to verify her understanding. She also received Shengxin representative Ye Xiaotong, who challenged the office’s advertising before it had secured agency rights 47 49.

Appearance

Xu Si is described as tall, long-haired, fair-skinned, and exceptionally beautiful, with a slender waist and a curving figure. Zhang Ke contrasts her mature appearance with Tang Jing’s youthful sweetness 5 6.

• Eyes: Clear black-and-white eyes, often carrying a faint sadness during their early encounters 5 36.
• Distinguishing mark: A red mole beneath her left ribs 40.
• Early clothing: A pale yellow dress with a broad leather belt 5.
• Office appearance: Plain clothing, little or no makeup, and black tortoiseshell-framed glasses with non-prescription lenses. She deliberately makes herself look older to reduce the effect of her appearance at work 40 45.

Personality

Xu Si is considerate even toward strangers. After the drink spills on Zhang Ke, she tries to clean him up, drives him to her apartment, and washes and dries his shirt. With him, she also shows a playful side, answering his teasing with mock scolding and occasional flirtation 5 6 7.

Her sister’s welfare takes priority over her own comfort and reputation. Even after confessing to investigators, her immediate concern is that Xu Wei must not learn what she did to finance the operation. The pressure surrounding Ding’s scheme leaves her frightened, ashamed, and prone to breaking down in private 7 20 21.

Despite accepting Zhang Ke’s help, Xu Si resists treating herself as financially dependent on him. She insists on repaying the emergency loan, questions his use of employee deposits as working capital, and challenges his habit of obtaining services through promises of future business. Her agreement to work with him is explicitly conditional on his plans being legitimate 35 39 46.

Abilities & Skills

Office administration and recruitment

Xu Si’s employment spans personnel work at Xinfeng Group and daily management of Haiyu’s Haizhou office 4 47.

• Places recruitment advertisements and handles applicant inquiries 39 45.
• Organizes résumés and interview materials 45.
• Manages routine office affairs while Zhang Ke attends school 47.
• Receives visiting business representatives, including Ye Xiaotong 49.

Academic tutoring

Xu Si performed near the top of her class in high school and agrees to tutor Zhang Ke 35 36.

• Offers help with subjects other than English after discovering that his English is stronger than expected 41.
• Her tutoring role also provides an explanation for their frequent meetings 36 42 45.

Developing technical knowledge

Through Zhang Ke’s explanations, Xu Si gains a relatively complete introductory understanding of digital communications 47.

• Recognizes that the new sales team needs technical instruction.
• Requests an engineer from Haiyu Company rather than relying solely on Zhang Ke’s explanations 47.

Equipment / Personal Items

• Red Corolla — Driven during her first meeting with Zhang Ke; provided by Xinfeng Group rather than established as her personal property 5 27.
• Yellow bicycle — Used after her release, including for trips to the office and transporting plants from her family courtyard 40 45.
• Black tortoiseshell-framed glasses — Plain-lens glasses worn as part of her deliberately subdued professional appearance 40 45.

Relationships

• Zhang Ke — Protector, younger-brother figure, and business partner. His intervention changes her fate; their teasing relationship develops into emotional trust and mutual attraction, without a formally established romance in the documented chapters 6 35 46 47.
• Xu Wei — Younger sister. Xu Si conceals the sacrifices made to fund her heart treatment and asks that the investigation be kept from her 19 21.
• Xu Haishan — Father. Initially wary of Zhang Ke’s financial help, he later welcomes him as Xu Si’s tutoring student and thanks him for the emergency loan 28 36.
• Shi Weizhong — Maternal uncle. Helps raise money for her restitution and persuades Xu Haishan to accept Zhang Ke’s loan 28.
• Ding Xiangshan — Coercive former lover who uses her to frame Tang Xueqian. His later confession supports her account 21 28.
• Tang Xueqian — Target of her coerced false testimony. Rumors and photographs suggest an affair, but the investigation establishes that she was being used to frame him 12 20 21.
• Ye Xinming — Participant in the scheme against Tang; her husband only in the original timeline remembered by Zhang Ke 7 22.
• Xie Wanqing — Haiyu Company contact who meets Xu Si through Zhang Ke and enables her involvement with the Haizhou office 37 38 39.
• Xu Xueping — Provincial official whose influence contributes to the decision not to prosecute her, alongside the investigators’ acceptance of Zhang Ke’s testimony 39.

Notable Quotes

“My name is Xu Si, but I’m a bad woman. I don’t deserve to be your big sister.” 6

“Can you keep this from my sister?” 21

“Helping you is one thing, borrowing money is another. They’re two separate matters. But how can I help when you won’t tell me anything?” 39