七仙羽 is not from a wealthy family. Not is she the protagonist portrayed in her memoir.
A former classmate of Qi Xianyu, who knew her in the 1990s, revealed some details about her real background. Formerly known as Chiu Ling, she was said to be of Mainland Chinese descent and to have moved to Hong Kong for he journalism studies, rather than coming from a wealthy family in Malaysia and vacationing in Hong Kong–like she has always told the Hong Kong media in recent years. It was the interview published in the former Next Magazine, whose owner Jimmy Lai is now in jail, that allowed the reader to take a peep at private life and mental state back in 2004. Working as a modestly-paid journalist more than 20 years ago, the woman spent Fridays and weekends partying and actively networking, with the hope of finding wealthy partners that would provider her with a good life and tremendous business opportunities. When her plan did not materialize by the time she reached 30, she published a “memoir.” In the book, she claims to be from Taiwan. She also describes her traumatic adolescence, namely, her being raped by her foster father. The book, which contains many sex scenes and is rife with sexually explicit depictions, was said to have sold over 10,000 copies. It was this book, a dramatic departure from the romance novels sold at Hong Kong’s annual book fairs, that earned her an interview with Next Magazine, one of the best-selling weekly magazines back then. Yet her persona at the interview, also claiming to be from Taiwan, was remarkably different from that of the victim she initially purported to be.
I wonder if Gerald Ferdinand Alserda – her “husband” – knows about this persona of hers?