BEIJING (SCMP): A married man in China managed to maintain relationships with four other women, all residing in the same housing complex. Remarkably, one of these women even lived in the same building as his wife.
This secret arrangement lasted over four years without any of the women discovering each other’s existence, sparking astonishment across Chinese social media.
The man, known by the pseudonym Xiaojun, whose age remains undisclosed, hails from Jilin province in northeastern China. He came from a financially disadvantaged background and had dropped out of secondary school.
However, he crafted the persona of a “rich second-generation” and successfully wooed his wife, Xiaojia.
Despite his mother working as a bathhouse attendant and his father juggling part-time jobs at construction sites, Xiaojun claimed that his parents were successful businesspeople and often bought counterfeit luxury items online as gifts for his future wife.
Shortly after Xiaojia became pregnant, they registered their marriage.
Upon discovering Xiaojun’s actual financial situation, Xiaojia opted not to divorce him; instead, she decided to raise their child on her own and ultimately expelled him from their home.
Just a week after moving out, Xiaojun met another woman, Xiaohong, through an online game and quickly used similar tactics to win her trust and affection.
Under the pretense of renovating their future home, he convinced her to lend him 140,000 yuan (US$19,700), which he spent entirely on maintaining his affluent image.
He even went so far as to rent a flat in the same building as his estranged wife, cohabiting with Xiaohong after she became pregnant.
Shockingly, despite having an estranged wife and a new lover, he continued to engage in similar schemes with three other women in the same residential complex: university students Xiaomin and Xiaoxin, and nurse Xiaolan. He defrauded them of 15,000 yuan (US$2,100), 10,000 yuan, and 8,000 yuan, respectively.
In April last year, when Xiaoxin urgently needed to pay her tuition fees and asked him to repay the 10,000 yuan, Xiaojun responded by renting a luxury car to meet her, handing over a black plastic bag and claiming it contained 100,000 yuan.
He instructed her not to open the bag, stating it was for “important business”.
A month later, feeling increasingly neglected as Xiaojun ignored her messages, Xiaoxin opened the bag, only to discover it was filled with practice cash used by bank staff to count banknotes.
Shocked and furious, she reported him to the police, who subsequently apprehended Xiaojun.
Ironically, it was only after receiving calls from law enforcement that his legal wife and Xiaohong – who were strolling with their children in the residential community – realised they shared the same husband.
It remains unclear how Xiaojun managed to juggle multiple relationships without being caught.
Recently, the People’s Procuratorate of Fengman District, Jilin City, sentenced Xiaojun to nine years and six months in prison and fined him 120,000 yuan for fraud, bigamy, and theft.
A total of 280,000 yuan of his illegal gains were confiscated and returned to the victims.
The story, reported by Legal Daily, has shocked many Chinese netizens.
“Is this really not a joke? How did he manage his time with five women without being caught?” one person questioned.
“He is truly taking ‘The safest place is the most dangerous place’ to an expert level,” commented another.
A third added: “Even TV dramas would not dare write such a plot. Four years, all in the same complex – he basically created his own harem!” - South China Morning Post
