Divorced at fifty, I embarked on my path to success.

Shen Yingying was filled with regret; she shouldn't have become so arrogant and quit her job so easily. At that time, she felt that she had more money than she could earn in thirty years at her current job, so why waste her youth?

She acquired decent clothes for herself and frequented upscale places such as teahouses and clubs, quickly integrating into the circle of wealthy women.

She presented herself as a successful career woman, which drew unanimous envy and praise from the wealthy women who only knew how to drink tea and go shopping.

So, through one of the wealthy women she was on good terms with, she met her current husband, Wang Cheng, who became her life's calamity and demon.

It is said that Wang Cheng works in financial investment, handling hundreds of millions of yuan every day. He is young and handsome, wears gold-rimmed glasses, and has a refined and cultured demeanor.

Shen Yingying's eyes lit up. She admired these kinds of financial elites the most and had always struggled to find a way to get to know them.

Wang Cheng was very interested in this carefully crafted image of a strong, independent woman and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with her. The string of technical jargon that came out of his mouth left Shen Yingying speechless, ashamed, and uneasy, afraid that he would see through her facade and look down on her.

"Hehe, sorry, I," she hurriedly picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip, the cup obscuring half her face to hide her embarrassment at her ignorance, "I just got lucky and invested in a few properties..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Wang Cheng said with a sincere apology. "I got so engrossed in talking about investment that I forgot myself and was quite rude to an elegant lady like you!"

Shen Yingying felt that his refined wording was a bit pretentious, but then she thought that perhaps that was how people in his circle spoke. She had been with a rough man like Yue Guangzhi for a long time and had also become vulgar, so she was not used to high-end circles.

The thought of Xu Yanping's spittle flying and foul language when she cursed made her face flush with shame.

“Ms. Shen, do you still own any properties? Please forgive my bluntness in asking so directly, but we hit it off immediately, and I want to do my best to point out the risks. If you find this inappropriate, please forgive my intrusion.” Wang Cheng said humbly and politely, his gaze behind his glasses incredibly sincere.

Shen Yingying was inexplicably moved, and the word "risk" piqued her interest: "Mr. Wang, you don't need to be so polite, and you shouldn't use the formal 'you' (formal), it makes you seem distant. You just said you wanted to point out some risks to me? I'd like to hear more!"

“That’s right,” Wang Cheng raised his hand to push up his glasses, seemingly choosing his words carefully, “The real estate industry has already begun to decline, with supply exceeding demand, and prices have started to fall in many places. I predict that this downward trend will soon spread throughout the country. If you still have real estate, I suggest you sell it as soon as possible and convert it into cash, which has the best liquidity.”

Shen Yingying had indeed heard that housing prices might fall, but the continuous upward trend over the past twenty years had numbed people's senses. Like most people, she naturally believed that housing prices would continue to rise indefinitely, and in their understanding, housing prices could not possibly fall.

But after hearing what Wang Cheng said, Shen Yingying's thoughts began to waver. She asked worriedly, "How much will it drop? After it drops for a while, is there any possibility that it will rise again?"

Her house in Nianhuali had just been renovated, and if it weren't for the fear of the rainy season, she would have moved in long ago.

She originally planned to sell the property once the price rose to a satisfactory level and then buy a better one elsewhere.

If, as Wang Cheng says, housing prices have indeed started to fall, not to mention how much they might fall, it will be very difficult to make a purchase.

“It’s not that I’m pessimistic, but it’s a conclusion drawn from hundreds of years of experience abroad,” Wang Cheng said with a troubled and pitying look. “This downturn will be long-term. Think about it, it has overdrawn the wealth of two generations over thirty years. There is no hope of recovery for at least the next few decades.”

Shen Yingying's heart raced with fright. Then she heard Wang Cheng say, "When the bubble burst in Country R in the last century, prices plummeted to only one-tenth of what they were before. Who could have imagined that?"

"Ah!" Shen Yingying covered her mouth in horror, "She fell so much!"

She quickly did the math in her head: one-tenth the current value of her villa, which was over 200,000!

Absolutely not! That would bankrupt her completely!

Wang Cheng watched her reaction with satisfaction and suddenly smiled: "Miss Shen, don't worry, there are many investment avenues. Real estate is not the best choice. Compared to other investment options, real estate has obvious disadvantages, such as slow turnover, too many uncontrollable factors, and poor liquidity, etc..."

Seeing the inquisitive interest in Shen Yingying's eyes, he changed the subject: "Hehe, look at me, talking about so many professional things as soon as we met, don't you find it boring or tedious?"

"No, no! Of course not! In fact, I'm very interested," Shen Yingying said hurriedly. "What you said has broadened my horizons and opened up a whole new field for me."

Shen Yingying was initially cautious. She only had so many things on her, and if she was careless and lost them, she would be finished.

She wanted to use the conversation to get closer to Wang Cheng. In her mind, those rich women were naturally more knowledgeable than her, and they praised Wang Cheng as a financial genius, which made Shen Yingying feel that even becoming friends with Wang Cheng would be an honor.

Wang Cheng would invite her to dinner, go shopping, and watch movies, and she would take photos and post them on her WeChat Moments as a way to show off, which would attract countless sour teasing comments.

Shen Yingying had never felt so good. Being pursued by a financial genius and envied by wealthy women made her feel like she was living on a cloud every day.

As Wang Cheng continued to brainwash her, she became increasingly convinced that the housing market was about to crash and sell. She believed that if she wanted to earn more money, she had to sell the house for cash and invest in other things.

Wang Cheng said that some financial products could double overnight, making it sound miraculous. Shen Yingying was fooled into looking at many winding, colorful graphs. She couldn't distinguish or understand them, only knowing that behind those curves was rolling wealth.

Wang Cheng proposed to her, and she wore his ring as if in a dream. His family was small, with only his mother-in-law, a very kind old lady who took her hand as soon as they met and praised her from head to toe.

She remarried in a daze, and then sold her house in Nianhua in a daze. She also handed over all the cash she had to Wang Cheng, hoping to double her money overnight. No, even if it doubled in a year, Shen Yingying would be very satisfied.

But what followed was the financial tsunami, and overnight, their wealth vanished.

Shen Yingying was stunned. She grabbed Wang Cheng, whose hair was disheveled and whose eyes were dazed, and questioned him, "How is this possible? Didn't you say it would double overnight? How could you lose money? How could so much money disappear overnight?"

Wang Cheng forcefully pulled her hand away, grabbed his hair with both hands, and said dejectedly, "I didn't expect this either, who could have imagined it? The financial tsunami swept the globe, and it wasn't just us who suffered losses; even giants much larger than us lost so much that they jumped off buildings!"