The moment she saw the video, Zhang Wei's face turned pale. Her previously calm and resolute demeanor, like cracked ice, quickly crumbled.
"Can I have a cigarette?" she asked.
You Mingxu nodded, and Xu Mengshan handed her one.
Zhang Wei smoked, her fingers trembling unconsciously. After a few puffs, she asked, "I'm an accomplice. I didn't do anything directly to her. How long will I be sentenced?"
You Mingxu replied, "That depends on how much you confess and your attitude."
Zhang Wei's face grew even paler. "Actually, I'm a victim too," she said.
Zhang Wei was only thirty-two this year, yet she had lived two completely different lives. Before twenty-six, she was an ordinary person—studying, growing up, working. She had been deceived and used by men, and she had also toyed with men, hunting for wealthy suitors. After working for several years, she had no savings at all, and her credit card debt grew heavier each month. She had too many things to buy: clothes, jewelry, bags, cosmetics... But since childhood, she had never been an honest or cautious child and saw no problem with this lifestyle. Like many pretty but mediocre girls, she hoped to one day meet a suitable wealthy husband, marry him, and never have to worry about food or clothing again, with plenty of money to spend.
Little did she know that the men she encountered were even poorer and stingier than she was.
In these tough economic times, the difficulty of finding a wealthy husband had increased.
It all started with an 8,000-yuan credit card debt.
But Zhang Wei had already missed payments several times before and couldn't afford to default again. At the time, neither her parents nor her friends could scrape together any more money. No one was willing to foot the bill for her extravagant spending. What could she do?
When she was at her wit's end, a colleague at her company pointed her to a solution: borrow money from a financial company!
Zhang Wei wasn't one to trust others easily. She repeatedly verified that the person 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 truly had no other way to raise the money at the time.
What Zhang Wei didn't know was that this colleague had lost money gambling and was deeply in debt. By referring her to the loan, he would receive a commission.
Zhang Wei was sharper than many college students today—she read the contract carefully and calculated the interest correctly, but she failed to account for her own desires. And this was precisely what the loan sharks had anticipated. Because the loan was so easy to obtain and the weekly repayments amounted to just over a hundred yuan, which didn't seem like much, Zhang Wei felt no pressure from the debt. That month, when she swiped her card to buy bags and clothes, she hesitated for a moment, but with a grit of her teeth, she went through with it. She thought, "At worst, I'll eat instant noodles for the entire next month and repay the money."
By the end of the month, she couldn't repay a single cent and had no idea that, with late fees included, the interest she owed had doubled. It was then that the loan company "sympathetically" offered her a solution: borrow more money to "repay the debt with another loan."A new path seemed to suddenly open before Zhang Wei—bright yet narrow, dangerous yet irresistibly tempting. So this was possible? So many online lending platforms existed where one could easily borrow five or six thousand yuan. Any trouble could be managed. After all, it wasn't her money. What she gained were more bags, cosmetics... As for repayment, she could always borrow more to cover old debts and repay slowly. At worst, she'd just stop buying next month.
In just half a year, Zhang Wei's life had taken this sharp turn. The money she'd actually borrowed amounted to just over 100,000 yuan, yet her debt had ballooned to more than 800,000. Debt collectors tracked down her parents' home, splashing paint, shouting insults, and vandalizing property like a scene from a Hong Kong drama. Her parents fell gravely ill from the shock. Their modest, stable household shattered, they refused to sell the home they'd cherished their entire lives to pay her debts, fleeing to the countryside instead.
Amid her distress, Zhang Wei felt disappointment. Her parents ultimately wouldn't help her—if they sold the house, half her debt would vanish. Though she'd already squeezed out their entire life savings of 80,000 yuan, it was far from enough!
Friends drifted away, leaving her feeling like a rat scurrying across the street—a sensation Zhang Wei gradually came to understand.
Later, debt collectors caused a scene at her company. She lost her job.
She holed up at home for three days, refusing to answer the door for anyone—the disdainful landlord, the debt collectors... She survived on spoiled, expired food, eating and sleeping in cycles. For three days she didn't change clothes or bathe, growing foul-smelling and frail.
By the fourth morning, she truly felt she'd die if this continued. Suddenly, fear vanished. She took a cold shower—the hot water had been cut off due to unpaid bills—then put on her finest clothes, applied her most expensive makeup, and slung her last remaining luxury bag over her shoulder.
She went to Gold Splitting Treasure Company, where she owed over 500,000 yuan—her largest debt. She'd demand to know how they planned to resolve this. After all, she only had this wretched life left.
But when she stormed into Gold Splitting Treasure Company, the courtesy she received was unexpected. Someone brought tea, everyone spoke politely, assuring her the problem could be solved. For a fleeting moment, hope flickered in her heart.
Then she met Zhou Rongfeng.
Back then, Zhou Rongfeng was not yet forty, appearing accomplished and distinguished. Yet the moment Zhang Wei saw him, she knew this man wanted her. Suddenly she saw not just survival, but the glimmer of greater possibilities.
Her body? Dignity? Love? Would she still consider such things now? She wanted to live, she wanted a life!
Before dusk that day, she was already lying in Zhou Rongfeng's bed at his apartment near the company. Though Zhou Rongfeng had had many women, he became genuinely captivated by her. This woman possessed a unique blend of madness, despair, and ambition—a combination men like Zhou Rongfeng couldn't resist.Zhang Wei had been working as Zhou Rongfeng's assistant for three years. Although her debt wasn't directly forgiven, it was eventually discounted and ceased accruing interest. During these years, she absorbed the company's business knowledge and operational methods like a leech. Every loan she brought in earned her a commission. After one year, she had paid off her debt. Two years later, she had become what outsiders saw as a successful white-collar professional—buying a car, purchasing a house, and beginning to build a network, thriving in her environment.
At that time, Zhang Wei thought to herself that life was just like this. A half-lifetime of hard work by an ordinary person couldn't compare to one trap set by someone who did evil.
Later, although Zhou Rongfeng had grown tired of her, the three years of daily companionship had built undeniable trust and affection. Therefore, she was appointed as the company's financial director. It was also from that time that Zhang Wei gradually learned that Zhou Rongfeng would also prey on female university students in debt.
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