It looks like Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu’s mother-in-law, Chinese entrepreneur Zhang Lan, may not be able to escape doing time behind bars after all.

In 2019, the 62-year-old founder of restaurant chain South Beauty Group was sentenced to a year in prison after failing to comply with a court order to declare HK$500,000 (S$85,600) worth of assets following a messy legal dispute with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

She then filed for an appeal to the High Court, but it was recently rejected.

Last Saturday (Jan 9), Zhang Lan did a live broadcast to proclaim her innocence, saying that she has not done anything wrong and that she’d been set up by “villains”.

“If you think I was in contempt of court, then come and catch me. I’ll be waiting for you at the China World Trade Center in Beijing!” she told netizens.

However, her defiant attitude melted away when she talked about being unable to face her son, Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei, and his wife Barbie ‘cos of her scandal.

According to Zhang Lan, seeing all the stories about her legal woes on the entertainment new sites made her feel very bad for Xiaofei and Barbie, who would often be associated in the headlines and even dragged down alongside her.

This upset Zhang Lan so much that she hid at home and could not stop crying. She also did not dare to pick up Xiaofei’s phone calls.

“I was criticised for being a mother who left nothing for her children and in-laws,” she recalled, apologising to her son and daughter-in-law for causing them so much trouble.

Her shame was clearly unfounded, though. Zhang Lan went on to share that Barbie has been a very good daughter-in-law and comforted her the day before, saying: “Mum, you are the best. We love you. You spread positive energy every day. Your conscience is clear.”

Xiaofei, who was working in Guangzhou, even rushed to Beijing to be with his mother as soon as he heard the latest news about her case. Wonder how they would deal with Zhang Lan actually needing to go to jail for a year.

Photos: Barbie Hsu/Weibo, Zhang Lan/Weibo, 凤凰网娱乐/Weibo, Wang Xiaofei/Weibo