Dai Li
In 1936, Xu Lai married Tang Shengming (), a Kuomintang Lieutenant General from a prominent Hunanese family. Tang was a notorious playboy and a close friend of Dai Li, chief of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Juntong), the secret service of the Republic of China. Xu's assistant Zhang Suzhen (), a Juntong secret agent, became Tang's concubine, and Shanghai tabloids often reported salacious stories of the three sharing the same bed. Tang made sure that Xu Lai introduced Dai Li to the "movie queen" Hu Die, who later became the spy chief's mistress.