Chen Handian Reveals How a Restaurant Confession Turned His Friendship With Lulu Into Romance

A dinner conversation changed their relationship

Chen Handian says his romance with Taiwanese entertainer Lulu Huang Lu Ziyin began with a declaration at a restaurant, after years of friendship and a growing reluctance to hear about other men she might date. Walking around the restaurant before returning to their table, he told her that she was the person who appealed to him most. Her answer was brief and mutual: she felt the same.

The recollection adds a private turning point to a relationship that became public through a marriage announcement on September 11, 2025. By then, Chen and Lulu had worked together on the variety program Hot Door Night, known in Chinese as Zong Yi Da Re Men, for 12 years. Their familiarity on screen made the announcement surprising enough that they explicitly told fans it was not a television prank.

Chen's retrospective account, dated October 11, 2026, describes a romance that developed gradually before either person openly acknowledged it. Lulu has offered a complementary account: she cannot identify exactly when their friendship became dating, but she remembers the closeness, reliability and acceptance that made Chen feel like family. Together, their recollections distinguish three stages that were not necessarily obvious to the public: an established friendship, a private relationship and a decision to marry.

Friendship came before either recognized romance

For Chen, the starting point was the ease of being around Lulu. They had been friends for years, could talk without barriers and knew each other's secrets. At that stage, he said, neither interpreted their closeness as romantic attraction. His description suggests that the relationship did not begin with a formal pursuit, but with familiarity that they understood differently over time.

Chen, Lulu's longtime television colleague and eventual partner, described their earlier friendship in these words, translated from Chinese:

We knew each other's secrets. At the time, neither of us thought of it as romantic attraction, but I certainly didn't dislike her, and she certainly didn't dislike me.

Lulu made a similar point during an appearance on Tang Qiyang's podcast, Tang Qiyang's Izakaya. She said she was unsure when they had started dating because they were already such good friends. That uncertainty does not necessarily contradict Chen's memory of the restaurant confession. He identifies the moment they explicitly agreed to a relationship; she describes a closeness that was already developing before it had a clear label.

Other suitors helped Chen recognize his feelings

Chen traced his awareness of romantic feelings to roughly a year before they formally became a couple. While helping Lulu assess other men, he found himself thinking that none of them was suitable for her. Her potential suitors brought his own interest into focus and stirred a competitive feeling that had not been part of his earlier understanding of their friendship.

Recognizing that feeling did not lead him to make an immediate declaration. Chen said he wanted to be very certain before acting and had probably spent some time indirectly testing whether Lulu might feel the same. In his telling, both were waiting for the other person to move first.

The change he noticed was conversational rather than dramatic: Lulu stopped discussing other men with him. Chen interpreted that silence as a sign that the time was right to speak. It was his reading of the situation, not an explicit declaration from Lulu at that point. Her response at dinner would provide the direct confirmation he had been waiting for.

The confession at the restaurant

The decisive exchange happened while they were eating at a restaurant serving food and drinks. Chen said he no longer remembered who first suggested that Lulu could help him approach someone he found attractive. The suggestion created an opening for him to say what he actually wanted.

After looking around the restaurant, Chen returned to his seat and addressed Lulu directly. His recollection of the declaration, translated from Chinese, was:

After looking around, I think you're the best choice.

Lulu's response, as Chen recalled it, was equally direct:

I think so too.

Chen identifies that exchange as the point when they became a couple. The account does not give the restaurant's name or the date of the meal, and his uncertainty about who proposed the original idea leaves part of the scene unresolved. What he remembers clearly is the mutual answer. They went on to date for more than a year before publicly announcing their intention to marry.

Why the marriage announcement needed a clarification

When Chen and Lulu jointly announced their marriage plans on social media on September 11, 2025, their professional history shaped the reaction. They had spent 12 years working together on Hot Door Night, where their rapport included jokes about being a couple. A genuine announcement therefore arrived in a setting where audiences were accustomed to playful exchanges.

In the public announcement, Lulu addressed that possibility immediately. The opening lines, translated from Chinese, stated:

This time it isn't a Hot Door Night project. The two of us really are getting married.

The message also said there would be no hidden camera or final prank reveal. It described their decision as choosing the person with whom each had the strongest rapport and committing to share the happy, funny days ahead. Lulu's management separately confirmed that the news was genuine and that the two television partners had decided to become partners in life.

The date establishes when they publicly disclosed their plans, not when they legally registered their marriage or held a ceremony. Subsequent reports place their marriage registration on October 20, 2025, after the Golden Bell Awards ceremony. One gives October 20 as the registration date, while another specifies October 2025 without a day. The reports also quote the couple's later social media post saying they registered their marriage the previous October. No wedding ceremony date is given in these reports.

Lulu describes someone she can depend on

On Tang Qiyang's podcast, Lulu explained the relationship through Chen's dependability. Rather than focusing on a single grand gesture, she described someone who answered when she called and remained present even when he was not immediately visible. Her comparison was to Mount Fuji, temporarily hidden by clouds but still there.

Lulu, speaking about Chen as her partner, said:

He's the guardian type. If I call him, he'll definitely answer, he'll always be there. He's like Mount Fuji: even if clouds cover it, he's always there as long as the sky clears.

She also said their long acquaintance meant he had seen her at her worst. To her, that knowledge made his acceptance more meaningful than affection based on a carefully presented version of herself. She described her feelings as love rather than simply liking him, and said she believed that love was mutual.

Asked about something romantic Chen had said, Lulu recalled his words:

You are the person I want to spend my whole life with.

That statement comes through Lulu's recollection of a private conversation. It adds her perspective to Chen's restaurant story: his account explains how they agreed to date, while hers explains why the relationship felt dependable enough for a lasting commitment.

A gradual romance, with some dates still private

The sequence is clearer than the exact calendar. Chen remembers recognizing his feelings before their relationship became explicit, while Lulu remembers a friendship so close that its transition into dating was difficult to pinpoint. The confirmed announcement date provides a public anchor for those personal recollections.

• For 12 years before the September 2025 announcement, Chen and Lulu worked together on Hot Door Night.
• About a year before they formally began dating, Chen says he noticed his feelings while discussing other men with Lulu.
• At a restaurant dinner on an unspecified date, Chen declared his interest and Lulu reciprocated.
• On September 11, 2025, they jointly announced that they were getting married, after more than a year together.
• They registered their marriage on October 20, 2025, according to subsequent reporting.
• In a retrospective account dated October 11, 2026, Chen described their courtship and continuing closeness in marriage.

Chen said their everyday connection still centers on conversation. Whenever they have time, they want to talk, sharing subjects that range from silly jokes to life decisions and philosophical ideas. He described the progression of their relationship as natural, a continuation of the ease they had known as friends.

Neither account supplies a precise dating anniversary, and Lulu's podcast remarks do not establish a separate wedding date. The subsequent reports identify their marriage registration date but do not specify a wedding ceremony date. There is also no next public event or announcement specified. The central development is personal rather than procedural: two familiar television partners have explained how their private friendship became a mutual commitment, each remembering a different part of that change.

Key Points

• Chen says his feelings became apparent while he was helping Lulu assess other potential partners.
• He identifies a mutual exchange at a restaurant as the start of their formal relationship.
• The couple announced their marriage plans on September 11, 2025, after dating for more than a year.
• They had worked together on Hot Door Night for 12 years and explicitly said the announcement was not a prank.
• Lulu describes Chen as dependable and accepting, while Chen says frequent conversation remains central to their marriage.
• Subsequent reporting places their marriage registration on October 20, 2025; the exact dating and wedding ceremony dates remain unspecified.