"Why Is Dad's Profile Picture Conan?" Two Daughters' 86-Page Tearful Exposé Uncovers a Decade-Long Affair

[Financial News] Chinese society has been thrown into turmoil after two sisters, aged 20 and 15, exposed a decade-long affair between their father, a former professor at a prestigious university, and his female student. The allegations go beyond their private lives, raising serious academic misconduct concerns, including ghostwriting dissertations and embezzling research funds. Several prestigious universities involved have launched official investigations.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 10th, the subjects of the exposé are Fu Lei, 47, who was a professor at Wuhan University's College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and is now vice president and a member of the university's Party Standing Committee at Anhui University, and Zeng Mengqi, 35, a professor and former student of Fu's.
According to the sisters' 86-page exposé posted online, the two began their inappropriate relationship in 2016, when Zeng was pursuing her doctorate. The daughters, who were 12 and 7 at the time, said they first suspected the affair in 2018 after seeing the two use matching profile pictures on a mobile messenger: Conan and Ai Haibara, characters from the popular Japanese anime Detective Conan.
The exposé included details suggesting that Zeng frequently contacted Fu even during family vacations and sent provocative messages to the sisters' mother. Zeng reportedly continued the affair using an auto-deleting messenger even after marrying another man in 2023. Fu eventually left the family home two years ago, while the mother, left behind, raised the two daughters alone and paid off the mortgage, losing 15 kilograms in the process. The elder daughter said she went to her father's university seminar and forced him—despite earning an annual salary of 1 million yuan (about 200 million won)—to sign an agreement to pay 5,000 yuan (about 1 million won) in monthly child support.
The allegations also revealed possible abuse of power in academia, extending beyond a family dispute. The sisters claimed that Fu ghostwrote Zeng's doctoral dissertation and applications for major talent-support programs, even though she rarely reported to the laboratory. They also alleged that she took credit for research conducted by her students and listed herself as the first author on papers published in leading journals such as Nature Materials and the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). The allegations further included claims that students' research funds were collected into a designated account and that personal food and transportation expenses were reimbursed as research costs.
With this extensive support, Zeng earned her doctorate in 2018 and rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming a full professor in 2021. She was also selected for a national young-talent support program.
As the controversy spread, Wuhan University said, "We received a report last month and launched an official investigation." Anhui University, where Fu works, also began a separate fact-finding process. However, both individuals remain in their positions and have not issued any substantive explanation.
Local legal experts believe that if the investigation confirms violations of personal-conduct ethics, academic misconduct, or embezzlement of public funds, both individuals will likely face severe disciplinary action, including dismissal from their professorships or removal from their posts.
[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter