Xie Xuan Reveals Shen Tang and Gu Huaian’s Contract Marriage

Xie Xuan Reveals Shen Tang and Gu Huaian’s Contract Marriage is the turning point at which the private foundation of Shen Tang and Gu Huaian’s marriage can no longer remain hidden. Xie Xuan blurts out that the marriage was only an agreement and suggests that Shen Tang should release Gu Huaian so that he can be with her. The disclosure immediately changes the couple’s problem from maintaining a convincing public marriage to explaining its truth before Gu Qing'an, while Gu Huaian’s response reveals that the contractual beginning no longer defines his present feelings.

The Hidden Arrangement

The marriage agreement had originally been designed as a controlled exchange rather than an ordinary domestic union. Shen Tang would not need to perform wifely duties or undertake substantial marital responsibilities; she only had to appear occasionally at family dinners and preserve the image of a loving couple. In return, she would receive five million per month, have her living expenses charged to her husband’s card, and obtain a settlement of two hundred million when the two-year agreement expired and the marriage ended in divorce. The arrangement gave Shen Tang financial security and a clear exit, but it also required her to perform intimacy as a public role while treating the marriage privately as a temporary contract.

That agreement existed alongside Shen Tang’s precarious public identity. She was a Z-list celebrity whose company’s public-relations team paired her with nearly every male celebrity she had worked with in order to exploit attention around her. Online rumors repeatedly branded her with abusive labels, and her reputation made her someone other people in the entertainment industry preferred to avoid. Against that background, the contractual marriage offered both money and a way to stabilize her circumstances, while the required appearances made the boundary between professional performance and personal attachment increasingly difficult to maintain.

Xie Xuan’s Disclosure

The revelation occurs after Xie Yuan has brought Shen Tang back, when Xie Xuan suddenly states that Shen Tang and Gu Huaian only married by agreement and asks why Shen Tang does not let him go to be with her. Shen Tang’s immediate reaction is to look first at Gu Huaian and then at Gu Qing'an. Her thought is that their secret has been exposed, and the danger is confirmed when Gu Qing'an, who had been beside them, widens her eyes and asks what agreement to marry she is talking about.

The disclosure is powerful because it is not presented as a carefully managed confession. It arrives abruptly, through Xie Xuan’s direct intervention, and punctures the couple’s established front before a family member who has accepted the appearance of their marriage. Gu Huaian responds by questioning where Xie Xuan heard such nonsense, while Shen Tang awkwardly tries to deny that there is any agreement. The denial lasts only briefly: Gu Qing'an offers a five-million reward for truthful children, and Shen Tang immediately changes her answer, admitting that they really did marry by agreement. The financial figure that once structured the marriage thus becomes part of the comic pressure that forces its secret into the open.

The Family Confrontation

After Xie Xuan leaves, Gu Qing'an locks the door and turns directly to Shen Tang and Gu Huaian, demanding an explanation. Shen Tang again attempts to soften the situation by saying that Xie Xuan was merely talking nonsense, but Gu Qing'an rejects the evasive performance and insists that lying is not acceptable. Her intervention moves the event from accidental exposure to an intimate family reckoning: the couple must now account for the difference between what they have displayed and what they signed.

The scene also places Shen Tang’s and Gu Huaian’s public roles under pressure. Elsewhere, they have appeared arm in arm at formal gatherings, and Gu Huaian has introduced her as his wife. Such appearances were essential to the marriage agreement, which required them to maintain the image of a loving couple, but they also created a recognizable relationship that others could read as genuine. Once the contract is named, every earlier display of closeness can be reconsidered as both performance and evidence of a relationship that has begun to exceed its original terms.

Gu Huaian’s Changed Position

The decisive aftermath comes when Gu Huaian explains that he is pursuing Shen Tang. His statement does not erase the contract or deny the circumstances under which the marriage began. Instead, it establishes a new emotional position within the old legal and practical arrangement: the marriage may have been created for money, appearances, and a fixed two-year term, but Gu Huaian now presents his attachment as an active pursuit rather than a contractual obligation.

Gu Qing'an does not respond by condemning him or demanding that the arrangement end. She walks over, pats Gu Huaian on the shoulder, and encourages him to continue, telling him not to return if he cannot win Shen Tang over. Her reaction converts an embarrassing exposure into support for Gu Huaian’s romantic objective. The contract therefore becomes a revealed origin point, not the final definition, of the relationship. What was once a bargain based on scheduled appearances, monthly payment, and a promised divorce settlement is recast as the starting condition from which Gu Huaian seeks a real bond.

Narrative Significance

The event crystallizes the novel’s recurring contrast between staged intimacy and genuine attachment. Shen Tang is already practiced in emotional labor: during a livestream she maintains a professional smile while fans insult her, because the broadcast will generate income through the company split. Her entertainment career similarly turns scandal, attention, and carefully managed presentation into economic value. The contractual marriage follows the same logic, assigning affection a visible form and attaching it to material compensation. Xie Xuan’s disclosure breaks that system of controlled presentation by naming the hidden transaction in front of its audience.

At the same time, the event does not simply expose deception; it reveals divergence between the agreement’s original purpose and the relationship’s development. Shen Tang once planned around payment and eventual settlement, while Gu Huaian’s later declaration shows that he no longer wants to remain merely the husband required by the contract. The confrontation consequently marks a shift in stakes. The secret is no longer only whether the family will discover the arrangement. It is whether Shen Tang and Gu Huaian can transform a marriage founded on performance and conditions into a relationship acknowledged as personal, mutual, and real.