The moment Zhang Wei saw the video, her face turned pale. Her previously calm and stern exterior crumbled like cracking ice.

“Could I have a cigarette?” she asked.

You Mingxu nodded, and Xu Mengshan handed her one.

Zhang Wei’s fingers trembled unconsciously as she smoked. After a few drags, she asked, “I’m an accomplice. I didn’t directly do anything to her. How long will my sentence be?”

You Mingxu replied, “That depends on how much you’re willing to confess and your attitude.”

Zhang Wei’s face grew even paler as she said, “Actually, I’m a victim too.”

At just thirty-two years old, Zhang Wei had already lived two completely different lives. Before twenty-six, she was ordinary—studying, growing up, working. She had been deceived and played by men, and she had played men too, hunting for wealthy suitors. After several years of work, not only did she have no savings, but her monthly credit card debt kept growing. She had too many things to buy: clothes, jewelry, bags, cosmetics… But since childhood, she had never been careful, never seeing any problem with this lifestyle. Like many beautiful yet mediocre girls, she waited for the day she’d meet a suitable wealthy husband, marry him, and live a life free from financial worries, with endless money to spend.

Little did she know that the men she met were even poorer and stingier than her.

These days, with the economy in decline, finding a wealthy husband has become even more difficult.

It all started with an eight-thousand-yuan credit card debt.

Zhang Wei had already missed several payments and couldn’t afford to miss another. But at that time, neither her parents nor friends could spare any more money. No one was willing to pay for her extravagant spending habits. What could she do?

While she was at a loss, a colleague pointed her toward a solution: borrow from a finance company!

Zhang Wei wasn’t one to trust easily. She repeatedly confirmed the colleague wasn’t a scammer and read the contract several times. She estimated she could repay the principal and interest within two months. Although the interest was high, she had no other options for raising money at that time.

What Zhang Wei didn’t know was that her colleague, who had gambling debts, would receive a referral fee for her loan—something she had no way of knowing at the time.

Zhang Wei was smarter than many college students—she read the contract clearly and calculated the interest, but she didn’t account for her desires. This was exactly what the loan sharks had counted on. Because it was so easy to get the loan, and the weekly payments seemed small at just over a hundred yuan, Zhang Wei felt no pressure from borrowing. When she swiped her card that month to buy bags and clothes, she hesitated for a moment but went ahead anyway. She thought, worst case, she’d eat instant noodles for a month to pay it back.

By month’s end, she couldn’t repay a single yuan, unaware that with late fees, the interest had already doubled. The loan company then “sympathetically” offered a solution—take out another loan to “feed the debt.”

A new path suddenly opened before Zhang Wei, bright yet narrow, dangerous but tempting. Could it be done this way? There were so many lending platforms online, easily offering five or six thousand yuan loans. Any trouble could be dealt with. After all, it wasn’t her money. She got more bags, more cosmetics… As for repayment, she could always use new loans to pay old ones, taking it slow. Worst case, she’d stop buying things next month.

In just half a year, Zhang Wei’s life took a turn. She had borrowed only about a hundred thousand yuan, but her debt had ballooned to over 800,000. Debt collectors showed up at her parents’ home, like scenes from a Hong Kong drama—throwing paint, hurling insults, causing chaos. Her parents fell ill from the stress. Their modest family couldn’t bear to sell the house they’d kept for a lifetime to pay off the debt, so they fled to the countryside.

While distressed, Zhang Wei felt disappointed too. Her parents ultimately wouldn’t help her; if they had sold the house, half her debt would have been cleared. Though she had managed to extract their only savings of 80,000 yuan, it wasn’t nearly enough!

Friends gradually distanced themselves, and she felt like a social pariah—a feeling Zhang Wei only gradually came to understand.

Later, when debt collectors caused trouble at her company, she lost her job too.

She holed up at home for three days, refusing to open the door for anyone—neither the disgusted landlord nor the debt collectors. She ate spoiled food, slept after eating, and ate after sleeping. Three days without changing clothes or showering, she became weak and foul-smelling.

On the fourth morning, she truly felt she would die if this continued. Suddenly, she feared nothing. She showered with cold water—hot water had been cut off due to unpaid bills. She put on her prettiest clothes, used her most expensive cosmetics, and carried her last luxury bag.

She went to Fen Jin Bao Company, where she owed the most—over 500,000 yuan. She wanted to ask them how to resolve this. After all, she only had her worthless life left.

But when she stormed into Fen Jin Bao Company, the reception she received was unexpected. People served her tea, everyone was polite, and they assured her the problem could be solved. For a moment, she felt hope.

Then she met Zhou Rongfeng.

Zhou Rongfeng wasn’t yet forty then, appearing successful and accomplished. But Zhang Wei knew from first sight that this man wanted her. Suddenly, she saw not just a chance at survival, but perhaps even greater opportunities.

As for her body? Dignity? Love? Would she still consider such things now? She wanted to live, to survive!

Before darkness fell that day, she was already lying in Zhou Rongfeng’s bed in his apartment near the company. Though Zhou Rongfeng had many women before, he was truly captivated by her. This woman possessed a unique quality—a mixture of madness, desperation, and ambition. Men like Zhou Rongfeng couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

Zhang Wei stayed with Zhou Rongfeng for three years as his assistant. Though her debt wasn’t directly forgiven, it was discounted and stopped accumulating interest. During these years, she was like a leech, absorbing the company’s business knowledge and operational tactics. She received commissions for every loan she brought in. After a year, she had cleared her debt. Two years later, she had become what others saw as a successful career woman, buying cars and houses, building connections, and swimming like a fish in water.

That’s when Zhang Wei realized life was just like this. Half a lifetime of honest work couldn’t compare to one successful trap set by the wicked.

Later, though Zhou Rongfeng had grown tired of her, their daily interactions over three years had built trust and affection. So she became the company’s financial director. It was then that Zhang Wei gradually learned that Zhou Rongfeng also preyed on indebted female college students.