Editor’s Note: This article is from WeChat WeChat official account "Shenrancaijing" (ID:shenrancaijing), by Shenran Team, and published by 36Kr with authorization.
In the magical year of 2020, have you ever been cheated?
There are routines every year, especially this year. Investment, financial management, entrepreneurship, making friends, and the workplace, every little thing that is closely related to you, may hide a scam. All kinds of tricks and endless routines make 2020 even more difficult for many people.
Twenty ordinary people confided to Deep Burning about their being pitted. Some people have met a snake like online loan, and honey has turned into arsenic, and landing has become a luxury; Some people have been thunderstruck by financial institutions, educational institutions and long-term rental apartments, and huge investment has gone without return; Some people become a leek in the pig-killing plate, and all their belongings are taken away in a few days; Some people started their businesses and were forced by investors to develop abnormally. In the end, they had no choice but to shut down the company and bear huge debts. Some people even paid tens of thousands of yuan for live delivery, expecting to take off through the tuyere, and the final turnover was 0.
In fact, life is a process of constantly avoiding the pit. If you are unlucky enough to step into the pit, don’t be depressed. The lessons may benefit you all your life.
By other’s faults, wise men correct their own. These 20 stories of being trapped hope to be your guide to avoiding the pit in the future.
Zhang Xinmin | 30 years old Internet industry practitioner
In October this year, I saw a message in a part-time group, "My tutor plans to take a part-time job by swiping a lottery ticket, and earn more than 500 yuan every day". I downloaded and entered an APP called Flying Tiger International through the attached website, and a tutor added me immediately.
These tutors are responsible for taking you to buy lottery tickets. You can buy as many as you want, buy as many as you want, and pay as much as you want. My tutor kept telling me that they are formal institutions, with Alipay and UnionPay as payment channels. I was skeptical at first, only bought seven or eight hundred pieces, and found that they could really make a profit, but they earned too little.
When I recharge the money, the more profits I will return. I am a little above the top, but when I recharge the money, I suddenly can’t withdraw it.
The tutor said that it was necessary to recharge the equivalent amount to withdraw cash. I was really in urgent need of money and charged tens of thousands of dollars. In the middle, I told my tutor that I had no money, and my tutor also said that he could help me advance a little.
I didn’t think that this platform was so perfect. I just filled in 30 thousand yuan and still didn’t withdraw my cash. I realized that I had been cheated and immediately contacted the customer service of the platform to ask why I couldn’t withdraw my cash. If I didn’t mention it, I called the police and quarreled with the other party. Noisy, I found that my account was blocked, and my tutor also blacked out my WeChat.
In fact, I didn’t believe in such a routine in the early stage, but I didn’t expect it to be entered into the routine step by step. I paid a total of 57 pens, totaling 67,000. In retrospect, it was particularly terrible. More than 60,000 of them happened in three days.
I found the WeChat group that saw this part-time job at first, and told the group friends, "This part-time job is killing pigs." As a result, I was kicked out of the group just after posting. I guess this so-called part-time group is actually their "atmosphere group", all of which are entrusted. When I searched the Internet, I found that there were so many reports about killing pigs this year. Buying virtual currency and crude oil futures were all similar, all of which grasped the weakness of human greed.
I started collecting evidence, returned to the platform and registered a new account. I began to find out where the money I charged went. I called Alipay customer service and asked about the specific flow of funds. I found that it was on the account of Shenzhen Zhaolian Financial Company. I contacted the other party, and after more than two months, their WeChat processing specialist didn’t reply from the previous shirking responsibility and kicking the ball.
I took the transaction order and electronic receipt to report the case, and the police filed an investigation on fraud, but there has been no reply for so long. I also know that the money can’t be returned in a short time. Now I owe tens of thousands of dollars, and I dare not tell my family and friends that I am in a state where I have no job and am afraid to find a part-time job and be cheated again.
Liu Ming | 30-year-old company administrative clerk
I’ve heard of the pig-killing plate for a long time, and I think it’s too far away from me, but I never expected that this kind of thing would hit my head and throw me into hell.
I was away on business, and I felt a little lonely and unhappy, so I sent a Weibo. There was a man who left a message under my Weibo and privately believed me, saying that he was a local, a photographer, and had a legitimate career, and he was also handy when talking about local tourist attractions and cultural stories.
I felt the warmth from the local people in a strange place, and I was vaguely touched. Then we added WeChat and chatted. I was quite alert at first, and I didn’t tell him the specific information he asked me. Even so, I fell into the trap of a liar.
I found that they are very good at packaging themselves. First, they package themselves well, and they don’t raise money as soon as they come up. They simply chat and build feelings first.
During the few weeks we chatted, he occasionally mentioned to me that he had been speculating in coins recently, and the income was very good. He also told me that when he went to a relative’s house, his aunt was very envious of his profit from speculating in coins. I didn’t care at that time. Afterwards, I realized that this may be a scene designed by him, paving the way for me.
Later, I went to other places on business, and I was also free at that time. The swindler told me that he could try his previous platform for speculating money and provided me with a download link. I was still very alert and asked him all kinds of questions, including income, the origin of the platform and so on. He answered them one by one, and it felt like a more formal platform. I think, with a small investment, I won’t lose too much, so I let my guard down a little. I saved 500 yuan for the first time and 5000 yuan for the second time. After trading on the so-called platform, I made a profit and could withdraw cash normally.
Later, one thing made me completely put down my guard and believe this liar. The liar told me after seeing that I had invested hundreds, that the platform was engaged in activities, but the stored value started with tens of thousands. I flatly refused: I don’t have that much money. At this time, the routine of the liar came! He said I could advance 20 thousand for you. When I really saw the bank transfer of 20 thousand yuan, all my vigilance was put down. I began to borrow money from my friends to recharge. My friends completely believe me. They have no money of their own, and even go to borrow money and lend it to me.
I never thought that people’s hearts were so sinister. When my account was operated to 310,000 yuan and I wanted to apply for withdrawal, the problem began to keep coming. The platform said that there was a violation, and it was necessary to pay a deposit, and told me that if it was not paid on time, it would affect my credit information. I was worried that it would really affect the credit information, so I paid the security money. Then the same problem appeared again. But by this time, I just wanted to get the money back quickly, and I completely lost my ability to think calmly. After the last payment, the customer service blacked me out. I realized that it was over. I had already put in more than 700 thousand.
From the moment I was cheated, I felt my life was gloomy in recent weeks. I think about how to repay my huge debt every day, without dragging my friends down, and I blame myself very much. I just want to tell my story now and warn everyone to be wary of strangers. Strangers are strangers after all, and never mention money or have money dealings with strangers.
Chloe Wang | 30-year-old employee of state-owned enterprises
I made a bill because I was anxious to make money. As a result, I was cheated by the bill company, and then I borrowed an online loan to pay the bill, and I was in debt. Life seems to be a wrong step.
Things have to start at the beginning of this year. Because of the epidemic this year, the company’s performance is not good, so I can only get the basic salary, and my family has already made ends meet. So I want to come out and do a part-time job. At that time, I saw someone posting a part-time job message in a friend’s group. I was a little moved, so I added this person’s WeChat.
The specific brushing process is as follows: the other party sends a website link, which will directly jump to a store in JD.COM APP. I just need to take pictures of the designated goods without paying, and then take screenshots to each other. I need to transfer my own money to the account designated by the other party first, and then the company will refund the money to me. The company promised to get a 5% commission for each brush, and the first five or six orders did return money to me, so the amount of tasks I took was getting bigger and bigger.
After making a few orders, I found that there was no cash back. At that time, the other party’s rhetoric was that the system was delayed and the task must be continued, otherwise the money in front would not be returned. I didn’t feel right at that time, but I had to bite the bullet in order to get my money back.
At that time, there was not much money left in my hand, so I borrowed more than 10 thousand on the online loan platform. The amount of swiping the bill at the back is getting bigger and bigger. I remember he said to cash it back to me after finishing the last bill. The task amount of this bill is 7599 yuan. When I finished, the other party said that I had overtime and had to make two more identical lists.
I immediately understood that this was a scam and immediately called the police, but it was too late to get the money back. After all this experience, I really feel that the sentence is right-"There is no such thing as a pie falling, and even if it falls, it will not fall on your head." Let’s work honestly and make money.
Honghong | 34-year-old employee of state-owned enterprises
My family is in a small third-tier city, and my job is decent, but my salary is only 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. I am used to spending money lavishly. My car needs to be changed, my clothes and shoes are famous brands, I must go to restaurants for dinner, I must buy milk tea and Starbucks every day at work, and I often borrow money at ordinary times. Flowers, loans, micro-loans, and white bars are all open, and I often borrow them from my brothers and sisters.
Later, I thought, maybe it’s because I want everyone’s approval too much. I had a low education. At that time, my mother introduced me to a man with a high education, who was dating and getting married. Everyone didn’t say anything in front of me, but they all thought that I was "climbing high". I began to buy him a famous brand to express my concern. Unexpectedly, the other party not only didn’t appreciate it, but also told both parents that I was vain and loved to spend money.
It’s a long story after marriage, and finally I got divorced. At that time, we had a house, and each person got nearly 400 thousand. This is the first time I’ve got so much money. I want to save face and show my ex-husband and daughter that I can do it.
I will follow others to make Wechat business, Cordyceps sinensis, make-up and maintenance, shoes, clothes and bags, and I will sell them all. I made some money at first, but then slowly, they asked me to buy the goods first, and then sell them myself. I thought I also had channels and customers, so it didn’t matter if I bought them. Unexpectedly, I just bought more than 100 thousand goods this year, and the epidemic came, and everyone dared not buy the goods from Japan and South Korea. This batch of goods is still rotten in my hands.
When I lost money, I was in a hurry and wanted to make quick money. A sister from Wechat business, who was usually very good with me, began to drag me to be a usurer. That is to say, I give them my money to lend, and they give me ten points of interest, but if the loan they put out is confiscated, my principal will be ruined. My little sister repeatedly persuaded me that the lender could eat both black and white in the local area. I was also impatient at that time, so I took all 200 thousand with my heart.
As you can guess, the money didn’t come back at all. The other party kept saying that the money didn’t come up, and I lost all my money. The little sister also blacked out my WeChat. My daughter went to elementary school this year. My mother suggested redecorating the house and changing it into a study room. She asked me for money. I didn’t dare to say how much money I had, so I just wanted to borrow money to loosen it up and deceive my mother.
I borrowed a cash loan on the Internet, which was the beginning of my nightmare. I borrowed 50,000 yuan back and forth, and now it has rolled into more than 200,000 yuan. The debt is snowballing, and it is impossible to pay it off completely. The most terrible thing is that when I borrowed money, I uploaded my address book. They started calling me and finally called my mother. I knew it was all over.
My mother finally came forward and asked my relatives to collect 500 thousand from door to door, saying that I lost money in business, but there were still relatives who didn’t know where they heard the news. Not only did they not borrow money, but they also reprimanded me face to face for how to borrow online usury, which was mindless. This year is too hard. I am disheartened and don’t want to go to work. I feel that everyone is looking down on me. Now I just want my daughter to grow up in the future. Don’t blame me.
Jiu Le | 21-year-old college student in Guangdong
Before I went to school, my parents were always afraid that I would be cheated, so that I didn’t have enough money to ask my family for it. But I’m really afraid of what comes. I’m not only cheated, but also cheated in series.
In college, the activity that is more popular than falling in love is doing part-time jobs. I usually play a lot of social apps, and some strangers will inexplicably add me and send part-time information. I think it is deceptive, but this year I can’t work part-time offline, and there are more and more online part-time jobs.
After seeing the part-time job information in the group once, I took the order and added a receptionist. As soon as the other party came up, I emphasized that this part-time job didn’t cost money, which reassured me. Because I have to pay a deposit when I go out to work part-time in a supermarket, even if I am an agent for the four or six levels of the New Oriental Red Book, which makes me feel very convenient.
The job is also very simple, that is, follow his instructions and send the order number. The other party sent a teaching video (which should be synthesized later), saying that as long as you scan the Alipay payment code sent by him, select the flower bud to pay, and after entering the password, you will be prompted to swipe the bill. Click OK to jump to the SMS verification interface, cancel the operation, and you can avoid paying by yourself, and then click the enterprise in the lower left corner to pay.
In fact, if you use the flower buds normally, you will pay directly after you enter the payment password at the payment step. There will be no so-called brushing tips, and Alipay will not be paid by any enterprise. But when I did, I was cheated by more than 1200 yuan. When he phoned me and said that I had made a mistake and tried again, I suddenly realized that I had been cheated. After a scolding, I knew that the money would not come back, so I blacked him out.
After being cheated, I wanted to fill in the original pit of 1200 yuan, but I didn’t expect to fall into another pit.
Some groups will post some part-time jobs, such as copying papers/typists, etc., and earn dozens of dollars in a single order. At this time, the owner of the group asked everyone to download the "Rebate Earning" APP and charge 500 yuan as the start-up capital. After that, the system will automatically match the part-time orders. It’s hard for me not to be tempted to watch everyone bask in the profits in the group every day.
After downloading the APP, in the first few days, I earned about 100 yuan a day. On the fourth day, the system suddenly automatically matched a triple order, and all three orders must be completed before I can give a refund. Among them, the first principal is more than 1000 yuan, and I have to add money. Without it, I can’t take subsequent orders, and the original principal of 500 yuan can’t be withdrawn.
I’m not willing to add money to finish the first order, and the second order will become the principal of 4000 yuan, and the third order will become 8000 yuan. I know, I was cut again. At that moment, I felt like I was possessed. I didn’t believe that I had been cheated. I thought that as long as I kept adding money, I could get the principal back. Unexpectedly, how greedy I was, how black the liar was.
Later, I still didn’t tell my parents that during the epidemic, people would look for something to play online. I have a good voice, so I began to pay off my debts by dubbing online/anime, and sometimes I also took the list of "virtual lovers" to chat with. It’s hard to tell you that you have been cheated. Take your time and pay a tuition fee for entering the society.
Nan Mu | 27-year-old entrepreneur in enterprise service field
I personally dissolved the team in August this year, and now I am carrying more than 1 million foreign debts.
Our company was established in 2018 to develop and operate software for enterprises. At first, I mastered the rhythm well, and the company can operate normally. After taking a private capital investment in April 2019, the company’s direction slowly began to deviate.
The investor promised to invest 3 million yuan, and paid 1 million yuan first, demanding to get back the principal plus dividends in the first year. After getting the capital, we opened a branch in another city. After three months of operation, because the resources promised by the investors were not given, our market investigation and strategy were not in place, and the branch burned about 500 thousand, so I closed the branch.
Among these investors, they blindly pursue performance, call or come to the office in person every three to five times, depending on the financial report and the customers who have recently made a deal. Slowly, I became a little resistant and disgusted. At one time, I had an argument with them and said that I would give you the money back, but I didn’t reach an agreement in the end. At the end of 2019, they even asked us how much money we had in our account, and whether we could get together and return the principal to them first.
Originally, we were an operation-oriented company, which was pushed into a sales company by investors. At the most difficult time, I met more than 30 clients a day. From 6 am to 4 am the next day, my voice was hoarse and I had to go to work at 8 am the next day.
In the past, we always paid first and then served. This year, we changed to pay 30% deposit first. However, the new customers couldn’t keep up with the follow-up services, and many contradictions occurred. More than 30 customers confiscated their money when the company closed down. Later, employees began to resign one after another, and I was aware of many problems, but the situation was already very serious at that time, so I had to rush up and say how many orders I received first. In April, May and June, I basically supported the company.
After this inertia was formed, everyone began to rely on me for everything. I jumped into the market and no one could be responsible for the internal operation of the company. By August, I really can’t carry it, and it’s really too tired to go on like this. I decided to stop and start laying off employees in batches. Some employees owed a month’s salary, so I asked someone to lend them money to make up for it. The investor’s money was still 300 thousand to 400 thousand, which was returned to them. Up to now, I have a total debt of 1 million.
After closing the company, the first thing I want to do is to resume trading. Externally, we used the power of capital, but we didn’t learn some terms in depth. We shouldn’t make such low-level mistakes on the road to starting a business. In the future, I may kick off capital, even if I lack money again, I can’t take such money. Internally, it is the first for start-ups to build team cohesion, but we have not done enough in this regard.
My year 2020 is like riding a roller coaster. I will continue to start a business in the next step, but I will control the rhythm myself and do a good job in team management.
Wang Lili | 35-year-old toothpaste merchant
The epidemic drove our business to desperation. In the first half of the year, the monthly business was less than half, and we had to do live broadcast with goods.
In the middle of the year, an organization called to promote it, saying that it was a live broadcast delivery organization that cooperated with Tik Tok. As soon as we listened to Tik Tok, we relaxed our vigilance and chatted with them. He said that there is a commodity investment promotion meeting, which can be cooperated after examination. It sounded quite formal, so we got in touch.
That commodity investment promotion meeting was held in the most upscale hotel in our city center. There were many people that day, and now in retrospect, there may be a lot of childcare. At the meeting, there was a sign stating that video recording was not allowed. At first, I was a little wary. Could it be a scam if the ownership was so good? Later, I thought that it might be that they had business secrets to keep secret, so they gave up the idea.
Two of their salesmen talked around us and sent me particularly good pictures of live cases, saying that those Tik Tok online celebrity are their anchors and can bring us goods. Another person took the contract and urged me to sign it, saying that the top eight didn’t need fees, and the cooperation only paid the commission of the anchor, so as to seize the quota first. In that urgent atmosphere, we paid 19,800 yuan, and later said that there was a contract. I signed the contract before I could read it.
The 19,800 yuan, they said, was recharged on their platform, and the commission with the goods was deducted from it. If the goods were not shipped, the money could be refunded to us. But later, although we paid the money, the display on that platform was never filled. After we called to urge it, the numbers appeared on the platform.
They gave us two live broadcasts. Let’s not say that they are not the big anchors mentioned before. Before the first live broadcast, there was no communication. We don’t know when the second live broadcast was broadcast. Two live broadcasts, no one entered the store.
I felt that something was wrong at that time, and found that similar businesses encountered such a situation on the complaint platform. I just looked at the contract carefully and found that the content was quite different from the propaganda at the venue. The 19,800 yuan collected can only be used to deduct 5% of the live delivery service fee, and it can’t be exchanged for cash, and our live broadcast rights are not at all. My lawyer, Friend, looked at the contract carefully and said that the other party was just taking advantage of the legal loophole and had no chance of winning, so he didn’t take this lawsuit.
I learned from the rights group that other businesses were cheated in exactly the same way. They have set up branches all over the country, headquartered in Guangzhou, where they have to go to defend their rights, which increases the cost of defending the rights of the trapped merchants. But I was so angry at that time that I spent thousands of dollars running from Jiangsu to Guangzhou headquarters, but it was time-consuming to stay there all the time. I came back after recovering 8000 yuan.
There is also a merchant who collects debts, and when they are moving away, they want the rest of the money back. As far as I know, only a few businesses have recovered their money, and more businesses have not asked for a penny.
The lesson I learned from this incident is that you must read the text clearly before signing the contract. Later, I never did live broadcast with goods again, and I dare not look for it again.
Gaoshan | 37-year-old food category e-commerce entrepreneur
E-commerce live broadcast is too messy now.
On August 15th this year, I took part in an anchor’s investment promotion activity. I won’t specify the name, but it attracted 20 million fans. At that time, I said that I would pay a third-party investment promotion company 10,000 parking fees+20,000 deposit, and signed a guarantee agreement for the number of goods sold, which was 1:2.5, which means that he had to sell 50,000 goods, and the 20,000 deposit only belonged to him. Now that the contract has expired, I haven’t sold all the goods. I only sold 38 sets for the first time, and I haven’t sold them to me since. My goods are now, and 38 sets can’t do anything.
Until today, I didn’t want to return 10 thousand yuan, and they won’t give me the remaining 20 thousand. This person in charge of investment promotion is also miserable. The anchor received 470,000 yuan from them and sold more than 10,000 yuan of goods, which made their investment pit miserable.
If we deliver goods here, we need at least three employees, and we need to put the goods in the warehouse in advance, which is the cost. What makes me even more angry is that I don’t know what happened. When he made up the broadcast for the second time, he obviously sold other people’s Chili sauce, but the copy, selling points and even food photos were all from our family. I am ready to sue.
Now there are many MCN organizations that are middlemen to earn the difference. Some unscrupulous organizations have collected your money and arranged a very long schedule for you. When the schedule is approaching, they tell you that there are some things on the anchor side, and you have to participate in variety shows, so you need to postpone it, or tell you that you can’t take this thing with the anchor. Even if you want a refund, the money will be returned to you little by little, and some even run away with it.
Moreover, after making food categories, I realized that products with low profits or products with slightly better quality are hard to sell, because on all platforms, food with a price of around 9 yuan and 9 yuan sells best, but my Chili sauce is boiled with pure pepper, without adding a drop of water or palm oil, and the glass bottle is also the most expensive after sterilization, which costs 70 cents each, but the quality of 30 cents each on the market is not guaranteed. This market is very difficult to do now, and your good products are getting harder to sell.
My cash flow was insufficient, so I borrowed money from a small loan company. Originally, I imagined that I could pay back the products after I sold them and earned money. Now I’ve been trapped by this MCN company once, and I won’t leave the goods for three or four months, and I’m not far from death at once.
I also borrowed money from Weibo, and after one day’s overdue, I frantically called me and sent short messages for collection, and harassed my Tik Tok to ask me to pay back the money.
Finally, I advise those entrepreneurs that e-commerce is not to say that you have a little money casually, or that you can do it by borrowing some online loans. The water is too deep. Please enter cautiously.
Liu Tong | 40-year-old agent
Last year, I participated in a city promotion project called "pulse merchants circle" of a large Internet company in China, and became the agent of several cities. But in the end, the products of this project had very big problems, and I was cut with leeks. I have been running around in lawsuits all year this year, and the problem has not been solved until now.
In the first half of last year, the "pulse merchants circle" project team came to our city, claiming to be the staff of an Internet giant company and invited us to attend the meeting. At the presentation, they said that as long as they join as regional partners, the annual income can exceed 2 million. Our task is to push the land, set up a team to invite merchants to settle in the platform on the street, and promote the online payment of this giant.
To become a partner, you need to pay the agency fee first. I paid nearly 100 thousand to win several areas, and then I started to promote it. However, after the product of "pulse merchants circle" was launched, it was simply not available, and we found that the person who preached to us at that time was actually not an employee of this giant company, but an external agency, but this project did belong to this giant company, and there were some agreements between the giant and the agency. The propaganda at that time was very different from the real situation.
The product can’t be promoted, so I asked for a refund, but it was rejected. Later, more than 40 merchants from all over the country went to Beijing to defend their rights, but they didn’t get a formal response, so I sued.
At first, I sued in Beijing because the defendant’s address was in Beijing. I am usually in my hometown. I have to go to Beijing every time there is anything in the court, and it is difficult to go to Beijing every time I catch up with the epidemic this year. I have been back and forth six or seven times since the beginning of the year.
In addition to the transportation expenses for going back and forth to Beijing, there are also various costs such as material printing fees and attorney fees, which are all borne by myself. I’ve spent more than 10 thousand on the lawsuit.
From July last year to July this year, we fought this lawsuit for a whole year and finally lost. But I am still unwilling. I returned to my hometown in the second half of this year and sued the local court. I am still waiting for further notice from the court.
Zuo Ma | 33-year-old founder of Baker Media
In order to get back the final payment of 14,000 yuan from Party A, I have been urging for 16 months, but I still can’t get a penny after the collection in 2020.
Our team does outdoor photography, and the other party is a public figure in the running circle. We first met at the Zhangjiagang Marathon Business School Competition in 2017. I am the leader of the running group, and he is the executor and host of the event.
In August 2019, his company received the execution of a cross-country race. I contacted him as soon as I saw the news and asked if I could cooperate and give us the project of shooting and making a documentary about the event.
For such a big event, I quoted 35 thousand and was cut to 28 thousand. I think their company has undertaken many competitions, so in order to cooperate for a long time in the future, they did it at the cost price.
First of all, after I handed in a piece of my game record, the other party didn’t say a word. After a month, when I mentioned payment, he suggested amendments. After I unconditionally revised it several times, his colleagues urged me to send the original film quickly, but didn’t mention anything about the final payment. When I asked for money again, the other party said that I wanted to change the soundtrack, and finally submitted a film with the background music set by the other party.
Four months after the end of the project, he said that he was too busy recently to take care of this matter. As Party B, I can’t erase my face. Think, wait. At this time, during the epidemic, our entrepreneurial team that provides outdoor imaging services has almost no business.
In the second half of the epidemic, he gave me the reason that the company had not resumed work. But I learned from my colleagues that the salary of employees has dropped to more than 1000 yuan, and the finance is running.
In September, a whole year has passed since the end of the game, and the other party began to refuse to reply to WeChat and make phone calls. After I greeted him for two or three days in a row, he finally replied to me: the company’s business is recovering, so let’s understand each other.
Near the end of 2020, I asked for the account from WeChat again, and my colleagues in his company finally confirmed the final payment to me. I said it was 14,000 yuan, and the invoice had been issued for one year, but the other party continued to find an excuse to deduct the money, saying that it could only pay half. Is this a vegetable market to buy food? Deduction or bargaining? This time, I was completely angry. After I refused directly, I was kicked out of several group chats.
I have seen the highest level of default, not to mention that this person has been packaging his "public figure" through public relations. The contrast between them is really eye-popping. In fact, it is the first time for the other party to hold a cross-country race. In addition to the image of the race on the contract, we also helped to do some promotion and publicity work and docked the resources for the execution of the race. This result is really chilling.
I also realized that there was really no need to be polite. I gave a deadline and sought legal channels if I couldn’t pay the bill. As a result, it was found that in March this year, I, Party A and the company under his name, had been enforced by the court.
Now many people find me and find that many Party B have been cheated by this public figure. My idea now is that such companies and wonderful bosses must be made public, so as to avoid more Party B being cheated.
Zhang Chu | 28 years old Danke Apartment tenant
In May 2019, I learned about eggshells on the Internet. Just then, I wanted to move, so I downloaded the APP and took a look. The house decoration is simple, and the overall cost performance is quite high. For the same type of room, the rent in Guangzhou is about 1,600 yuan a month, but the eggshell has the activity of reducing the rent for 2.5 months after renting for one year. After calculation, the monthly rent is only over 1,300 yuan.
After seeing the room, I was quite satisfied, and I signed the contract soon. I’m not used to using loans, and I’m worried that it will affect my credit information, so I chose to pay the annual rent and pay the cash rent for one year at a time, so I can almost avoid the service management fee (the fee is equivalent to one month’s rent). In May this year, after living for one year, I found that eggshells still have preferential activities, so I renewed them for another year, and I still paid them every year.
At the end of October, the eggshell had an accident, and I didn’t take it seriously. It wasn’t until November 4 that the network was cut off, cleaning stopped, and the housekeeper couldn’t contact me, that I realized that the problem was bigger than I thought. The property has no right to cut off water and electricity, but the disconnection has a great influence. Although the original two roommates didn’t arrive at the lease, they moved out early because they couldn’t work without the internet. I lived like this for about 20 days, surfing the unstable network of my neighbors.
In mid-November, the landlord brought two people to the door, and I was the only one still present. She asked me to move out immediately these two days, acting like she was going to pick a lock to drive people away. I refused and said to go to the police station. But it’s far away. I made a lot of phone calls, including legal aid and 110, and the reply was: I’m in a legal position, and I hope we can solve it through private consultation.
I was the only one left, and I was too lazy to pester the landlord. In the end, I had to compromise and move away. Originally, I said I would move on Saturday, but as a result, the landlord was in a hurry to move all the furniture to a relative’s house for rent, so he took down my bed on Friday. The bed in the next room was too heavy to move, so she asked me to go to the next room for one night. Very embarrassed, to put it mildly, I felt homeless at that time.
I don’t have high requirements for the house. In order to save time, I found a shared one in the opposite community. The contract was cancelled on the eggshell these days, but there is still rent and deposit for the second half of the year, totaling about 9000 yuan. It is not known when it can be recovered.
At the end of this incident, the contradiction was transferred to the tenant and the landlord, and from beginning to end, my spearhead was only directed at the eggshell. Rent and even electricity and property fees, we actually gave the money to the eggshell, but the eggshell was not given to the landlord, but the landlord always wanted to recover the loss from the tenant.
The lesson I learned from this incident is that you can’t be greedy for cheap, and you don’t have to pay for renting a house every year.
Xu Feng | 27-year-old Internet company employee
Two years ago, I learned about a financial platform called "lazy investment" through a big financial V. Because I paid attention to this big V very early, I trusted him and thought that what he said and recommended should be reliable. I went online to check this lazy investment again, and I thought the platform was more formal, so I bought some regular financial management.
This is a P2P platform. The wealth management products are divided into 30 days, 60 days and 90 days, and the interest rate is about 9% or 10%. Generally, the platform will send me a text message when the products expire, and the principal and interest will be automatically deposited in the balance. Last June, I bought a 30,000-yuan 90-day wealth management, which was supposed to expire in September. As a result, I didn’t receive the text message in November. I logged on to the backstage and found it was over. The money didn’t arrive, and then I searched the news and found a lot of P2P storms. Suddenly I panicked.
There was no thunderstorm at the time of lazy investment, and the platform was still repaying, just waiting in line. Last November, the repayment queue was not until June, mine was due in September, and it was not my turn, but until now, the platform queue still stayed in June. During this period, the platform will pay back a little money every month, with dozens of dollars, but most of the time it is only a few dollars.
This year, I went to the lazy investment headquarters to defend my rights and wanted to find a statement from the company. As soon as I opened the elevator door, I saw two big men in black standing at the front desk, blocking the door and saying that they would make an appointment in advance. So I went home, made an appointment by phone, and went to the headquarters after another week. The second time I was received, I was taken into a conference room. The whole half-floor office is empty, and the lights are off. The other party explained that all employees were allowed to work at home because of the big fight for rights protection some time ago, but firmly denied that the company had run away.
There were two people on the other side, and they were very polite. After understanding my information, they explained to me in the background of the computer that my 30,000 yuan was divided into several loans, which were lent to several borrowers, including companies and individuals, but all of them were overdue. The biggest borrower was a company, which was applying for mortgage and had to mortgage the factory car to repay.
At that time, I realized that I lent the money to others through the P2P platform, not to the platform, so if the borrower doesn’t pay back the money, I can’t do anything. The platform can only collect money, and the platform can’t help the borrower pay back the money. Even if there is money in the platform account, it can’t give it to me.
In this way, it dragged on for a year, during which several pieces of repayment were received one after another, and Lazy Investment regularly updated the repayment progress through WeChat WeChat official account. It can be seen that the platform is trying to find a way to pay back the money, and there is no storm, just need to give them some time. However, from the end of September this year, the micro-signal of lazy investment stopped updating, and later the customer service couldn’t get through. At the end of November, the P2P platform was completely retired. This means that my money will not come back.
Xunli | 55-year-old grapefruit practicing user
I usually like to brush today’s headlines. Once I brushed an advertisement for practicing piano on the online musical instrument sparring platform grapefruit, I wanted to buy an online course for my 9-year-old granddaughter, left my number, and a sales contact will be made soon.
Before the epidemic, our grandparents were responsible for sending our granddaughter to practice piano offline, and now we are considering giving her an online class. Before double 11, the teacher in charge of grapefruit piano practice was still promoting the course discount to us. The original course of 6,800 yuan only needed 6,202 yuan, including 82 classes. Seeing that the promotion was quite strong, we paid the money.
I haven’t been able to buy a new course for a few classes. At the end of November, my mother said that the background login couldn’t go up. I was also puzzled. I thought it was a background fault, so I logged in from time to time and found that I couldn’t get up. I contacted the class teacher through WeChat and didn’t reply. I didn’t answer the voice.
I think, please, check online and see the news that grapefruit practiced piano and declared bankruptcy. Too many people have been fooled by this platform. Parents have organized some QQ and WeChat groups. There are more than 1,000 people in my QQ group, all of whom want to recover the loss of pre-paid tuition fees. Although everyone is in it, they can’t organize it.
I just want to ask, in the bankruptcy announcement, it is written that "the enterprise has been in a state of loss, and there has been a break in cash flow". The cash flow problem is not a day or two, right? double 11 is still promoting sales, and it went bankrupt without warning on November 30. Isn’t this a circle of money? Your simple announcement, our users’ money is ruined, without any compensation or explanation. Who dares to sign up for online training classes in such a mess?
Zhong Ming | 37 years old Internet practitioner
In 2016, I enrolled my children in the football class of Stonehenge touchdown. I studied for three or four years, and paid an annual fee of about 18,000 yuan, once a week.
In July and August of 2018, they launched a founding member business, paying 50,000 yuan in advance for the course fee, and can attend classes for five years. In addition to unlimited classes and free choice of campus, the school also said that this money can be regarded as an investment in the new campus, which can have certain income every year.
I voted at that time, but we have already paid the tuition in 2018, which is equivalent to attending classes for five years from 2019. In 2019, this institution began to have some situations, changing coaches frequently, and some people were inexperienced at first glance. Moreover, at the end of 2019, they started crazy marketing, and almost all of them began to promote winter training, summer competitions, and previous founding member services.
In February and March of this year, there were coaches interacting among parents, and there was no news after March. In the middle of several times, it was reported that classes would be resumed, and the boss also told the media that he had not run away, but no one had docked our parents, neither resumed classes nor refunded fees. By the beginning of September, parents began to pull the group of rights protection on a large scale, and found that the coaches who organized the courses had already withdrawn from the group.
I added five courses for the rights protection group alone, and another founding member group, with more than 200 people, which is equivalent to the founding membership fee of 10 million. When we wanted to sue, we discovered that the 50,000-yuan boulder we invested had been tampered with the contract long ago. It says that if there is any objection to the content, it needs to be arbitrated. As far as we know, the cost of arbitration is 18 thousand yuan, which is higher than that of direct prosecution. Many parents are worried that after arbitration, the money will not be returned and the loss will be even greater.
Dong Yu, the boss of Jushi touchdown, told the media that the reason for not resuming classes was that foreign teachers could not enter the country during the epidemic, but in fact, many trainings were accompanied by domestic coaches, and many foreign teachers were stranded in China because of the epidemic. A foreign teacher once joined our group and said that the company was finished, and the boss was a liar and didn’t pay the foreign teacher. Let’s find a way quickly. Moreover, many venues said that they had not received their venue fees since the beginning of the year, not because of the epidemic.
A screenshot of the WeChat conversation between Dong Yu and his employees shows that he said that his tactics disappeared, and then he had to choose the opportunity to restart. In fact, a new organization has emerged, which is related to him or his family. Isn’t this a golden cicada? There are many signs that they are the money of parents who have been planning for a long time, and the epidemic situation cannot be used as an umbrella for scammers.
This kind of incident damages the integrity of the whole society. I won’t believe in any form of prepayment in the future. The state has stipulated that I can only receive money for three months at most. In the future, I will try not to enroll in the training class, or pay the fee for no more than three months.
Lao Zhu | 40+ Partner of an investment institution
This project was recommended by a friend in the investment circle last year, just in time for the popularity of e-cigarettes, and everyone wanted a piece of it.
The team I invested in is mainly engaged in online sales of e-cigarettes. The products are relatively mature, but all resources are concentrated online. After the ban on e-cigarette online sales came out at the end of last year, all the sales channels of this brand were gone.
At this time, the problems of this team were exposed: first, the problems were not solved. Supposedly, after the problems appeared, they needed to give us feedback on the progress every day. As a result, investors were in a hurry and urged them to ask about the progress. Instead, they perfunctory me.
Second, they are suspected of exaggerating when they talk about financing with us. At that time, they said that they got internal news-domestic heated unburned cigarettes will soon occupy the domestic market, and there will be a blowout in the sales of heated unburned smoking sets in the future. As a result, domestic heated unburned cigarettes have not been listed yet. In addition, their team owners do online marketing of e-cigarettes, and team members do not have the ability to do offline channels. I thought of the risk of relying heavily on online at that time, but they always said that online is the future development direction of e-cigarettes. I believe all the cakes they drew for me.
Third, there is obvious breach of contract. Originally, according to the agreement, we injected capital, and they made industrial and commercial changes and transferred part of the equity to us. As a result, our funds have been transferred, and they have been shirking for various reasons and have not changed their equity.
Now, it seems that this story is definitely not just as simple as "the project was closed due to too much policy influence", but from the beginning, the "initial heart" of this team was more like chasing the wind and pulling money. Later, in order to give the LP an explanation, we filed a legal lawsuit, but fortunately we won.
With the experience of being cheated by this investment, I also learned a lesson. In the future, it will not be taken lightly because it is a project recommended by acquaintances, ignoring the best coordination and analysis of the enterprise. Moreover, when investigating an entrepreneurial project, it is necessary to give priority to the team. Without a well-communicated and United team, it is futile to have the best products and models.
Zhang Jiaming | 24 years old short video editor
I experienced several layoffs after graduating from college. All these experiences have something in common, that is, I was tricked into being a cheap labor force by a small company with no money or resources. In the end, when the project went wrong, I had to leave.
When I just graduated, I was introduced to an MCN organization by a friend. This organization only signed a few bloggers, but there has been no business cooperation and no money. Finally, at the end of the year, the whole company discussed it and decided to dissolve the project. Then the leader talked to me and suggested that I look for a job again. Years later, I found out that others, including bloggers who couldn’t make money, were still in the company, and only I was persuaded to quit.
Suddenly I lost my job and my life was very difficult. So after the Spring Festival, I forced myself to go back to Beijing in early February. As a result, I was dumbfounded. Few companies in Beijing resumed work, let alone recruited people. It took a month to find a company that was recruiting.
At that time, the people who interviewed me told me that they had a professional team, equipment and strong funds, and our directors could do whatever they wanted. On the second day, I probably knew all about this company. Their company actually does offline activities. The so-called professional team is the people who set up the stage and lighting, and the professional equipment is the lighting props used for these stage parties.
Before I went, they didn’t even know where to go. After I went, I decided on a few directions, and then I started to do it in a daze. In the end, "professional team, equipment and strong funds" became my own all-inclusive and even appeared. I think they are still hiring, and they can barely do it if they have the money.
As a result, the boss was particularly embarrassed. Instead of continuing to recruit people, he improved the KPI. I am very tired every day, and there is an office culture of overtime. If the boss doesn’t leave, the employees won’t leave, so I often work overtime until 10 o’clock in the evening for no reason. Almost a month later, the epidemic situation improved, and they began to take normal jobs, so I was persuaded to quit again. What’s particularly embarrassing is that I’m the only one leaving again.
The third one is the same routine. This is a small entertainment company, and there are only three artists in the company, which is very poor. However, the epidemic brought a short video. They wanted to develop to MCN, and signed a bunch of people with no special skills. We filmed them. At that time, there were only three people in charge of the whole team of short videos. One person was busy with other business of the company every day, the other was only responsible for the planning of one artist, and I was the only one from planning to filming and cutting to operation and release.
Two months later, the whole project didn’t improve, and the company canceled all the artists’ contracts. Finally, I was resigned.
Little Millie | 30+ Founder of Media Company
We have been doing large-scale video projects for several years and have never encountered such a situation. Our company won the bid for a project in June and July last year, which happened to be a promotional film for its alma mater. Although the price was relatively low, with a sense of pride that graduates contributed to the alma mater, I tried my best to push the project forward according to the standard process after winning the bid.
Unexpectedly, my alma mater, as my first party, not only showed unprofessionalism everywhere, but also cheated me firmly.
The first pit: mat endowment. At that time, we won the bid at the price of 180 thousand, and the contract said: 180 thousand paid in one lump sum. As a result, they told us only after winning the bid that it was not clearly written in the tender, and our team needed full advance. I was at a loss. If so, we wouldn’t have bid at all.
The second pit: not advancing according to the process. Before we shoot, we must ask Party A to confirm the script and creativity before shooting. However, the project docking person of my alma mater has always said that she is very busy and has no time to confirm with us. In November, the docking person suddenly told us that it was too late to shoot again. I said, the script is not confirmed, so we can’t start shooting. As a result, he said, anyway, you have to shoot all the colleges in our school, and your ideas will be added later. Since Party A asked for it, we went to shoot it.
For the first shoot, we put in 60,000 to 70,000 yuan. After the shoot, the docking person said, you cut a sample first, and I will show it to the leader. Because they didn’t communicate creativity with us, sure enough, their leaders were not satisfied.
We changed it until March, and the docking person said that the leader had changed. He ignored this matter and left me to another docking person. This new docking person made us change it until July, and finally set us up directly.
The third pit: induce us to "default" and not pay the full amount. The anniversary of my alma mater was in September, and we changed the film until nine days before the anniversary. The new docking person called me and asked us to give them all the materials, the edited project lines and all the special effects clips. Because the leaders sympathized with our hard work in different places, we didn’t have to send people to change the film in different places. They found another local person who could go to school to change the film every day, and we volunteered that the editing fee could be deducted from our total amount. However, she has been vague about the cost, saying only that it will be settled properly.
Out of respect for Party A’s decision, and in order to cooperate with them to complete the task faster and better, I sent the materials worth more than 200,000 yuan without receiving a penny. As a result, after the celebration of the school, she suddenly said that your film failed to pass the bidding review because you didn’t finish the promotional film in the end and could only pay 30%.
The pit is in this matter. If she said it might lead to this result, we will send editors to cooperate with them to revise it every day until the film is handed in. As a teacher of the school propaganda department, she is familiar with the process, and it is impossible not to know this result in advance.
I told the other party that we had finished writing the script and shooting, and all the materials were handed in, so we should settle the accounts according to the rules. Moreover, it is written in the contract that the losses caused by Party B’s repeated revisions due to the disagreement of Party A shall be borne by Party A, with additional production expenses. But they didn’t look at the contract at all. We put in more than 200,000 yuan for this project, and finally agreed to pay only 50% of our expenses. It has been more than a year now, and our cash loss is more than 100,000 yuan, which has not been recovered yet.
Feilu | 26-year-old front-end development engineer
This year, I suffered both layoffs and unpaid wages. If a person’s career development is compared to going to school, I have dropped out of school for a year this year and got nothing.
I started my job on August 19th last year, and I should have paid my salary on September 10th, but the manpower said that the company had difficulties, so I postponed it for half a month. As a result, by the end of September, it was said that it would be distributed together on October 10, and only 2000 yuan was distributed, saying that the rest would be distributed at the end of October.
At this time, I began to feel that something was wrong, but I thought with luck: Can I still not send it? I really didn’t send it. By November, I had the idea of leaving my job, but I thought again: the Chinese New Year will be celebrated in two months, so let’s talk about it after the Chinese New Year.
So it was dragged on until the Spring Festival, and the company talked to us about layoffs and asked us to take the initiative to leave. I told the manpower that we would come back after the year. I think I can have a good year by dragging my feet here and looking for a job myself. As a result, the person who agreed to leave voluntarily at that time made money during the New Year, but the three people who were dragging did not. Without money, the year will naturally be miserable.
It’s a coincidence that the epidemic appeared after the New Year. I went back to Hangzhou from my hometown early to look for a job, but I couldn’t find it at all. I can only live on this company’s 2000 yuan a month.
But living in a city like Hangzhou, 2000 yuan a month is not enough, and the rent alone is 1500 yuan. Every time I pay the rent, I feel that I am the poorest, the saddest and the most want to cry. It can be said that I can’t even afford to eat.
In addition to economic embarrassment, greater and more hidden harm is reflected in psychology.
My state at that time was very wrong, but because I didn’t have money, I didn’t pay my medical insurance, and I didn’t dare to go to the hospital. I searched the Internet for depression tests, and compared my performance, I found that I had some symptoms of depression, such as pessimism, crying, shortness of breath and so on.
After this experience, I still lack confidence. Now that I have found a new job, I’m always worried that I won’t be paid next month, and I’m afraid to fully devote myself to my work. I’m always afraid that if I invest first, there will be no return, which is blood loss.
Looking back, this company is shameless, but I feel so hurt for my own reasons. I am too hesitant. If I leave my job in the first month, I will only lose half a month’s salary. If I find a job with the same income level as before, I can save up to 200 thousand now and buy a house the year after next.
But now, counting the 60,000 yuan salary in arrears and the 40,000 I asked for from my family during this time, I am in debt of 100,000 yuan, and I have spent a year in youth, which is really not worth it.
Xiaoyu | 35-year-old traditional industry practitioner
I experienced the lowest point in my life in 2020.
Before 2015, I worked as a sales manager in Wuhan. Later, I came to Beijing with an income of over 10,000 yuan, and I also started a business in partnership with others. Before the epidemic, I was a minority shareholder of a travel agency. In March, affected by the epidemic, our travel agency closed down.
During the period of unemployment, I met a man on Aauto Quicker. He created a perfect image. I felt that I had met true love and stayed with him. Later, I found out that he used to make a lot of money in the media. Later, he was burdened with debts because of his youthful spirit. Under pressure, he began to become distorted. This man knows martial arts, has a tendency to violence, and also monitors my mobile phone, forcing me to broadcast live. If his performance is not in place, he will fight with his fists, and once the audience in the live broadcast room will call the police.
Afterwards, he also knew to admit his mistake and apologize, but he still did. Once a friend came to see me, and we talked in the car, so he called the police. At the gate of the police station, he also threatened me with my family and forbade me to tell the police about his beating me. When I got home, I wanted to break up with him. He didn’t agree. He said that all his difficulties were brought to him by me, and he asked me to pay the price and let me cut off my fingers or toes. He kept me kneeling, slapping me in the face, stabbing me with a needle, and not letting me cry. I felt a fear of death that night, but I could only bear it.
Before that, I had a little fantasy about him. I gave up completely that day, and I was thinking about how to escape. During the epidemic, he didn’t work and didn’t go out, so it was difficult to escape. Later, he found a job. I took advantage of his absence to move everything and went to Shenzhen the next day.
I suddenly disappeared, worried that he would find my family. I sent a message to tell him that I was gone, and I tore it for a long time. It ended with me giving him 30,000 yuan. Before he left, he had borrowed more than 30,000 yuan from me. In addition, all of them were borrowed by credit card or online loan. In the end, I owed more than 100,000 foreign debts.
Later, he stopped looking for me, and I went back to Beijing. After many twists and turns, I went to a construction company and had no money to rent a house. I stayed with a cousin. Get up at 6 o’clock every morning, take an hour and a half to work by car, drink porridge in the morning and eat steamed bread or steamed buns at noon. In the first month of work, I called 200 to 300 times a day to find customers until my landline exploded and my mobile phone number was blocked. Fortunately, this job later made me feel confident. In the third month, I signed a bill of 900,000 yuan, with a commission of more than 40,000 yuan. This month, I have participated in two large-scale projects.
I had a narrow escape this year, and experienced rough seas. This experience also made me understand human nature, but in my most difficult time, I found the direction of development and my mentality became better than ever. I won’t trust any man in the future. I will take the initiative in my own hands.
Yin Le | 38-year-old Chaolihai Sports Founder & Film Director
After four years of preparation for the film, the actors and the filming team were preparing to start the stalls, and the five investors suddenly withdrew collectively, just like an appointment.
I was originally in the film industry, and I have previously produced The Adventures of Li Xianji directed by Frant Gwo and Hello, Madman directed by Rao Xiaozhi. At the beginning of 2017, with the support of Jason Wu, I started Super Sports, a sports company, specializing in wrist fighting in China. Many people in the film industry don’t understand why I changed from a producer to a director and went to sports. In fact, I did this company just to make this wrist-fighting movie "Fighting Dad".
But the film dragged on for four years. In June this year, I started to make scripts, buy actors and talk about investment. Film companies, individual investors, brands, these companies are very frank. In fact, I have always felt vaguely insecure in my heart, because cooperation is being talked about, but signing a contract is very difficult.
However, because my film has been shelved for too long, considering that it can only be finished before the Spring Festival if it is turned on before New Year’s Day, in order to speed up the progress, I put some money into it and started it quickly. Although the investment agreement was not signed at that time, what I thought was that if money came in at any time, I would shoot at any time. Five companies could invest 12 million yuan in total, but as long as two or three companies came in, the film could be shot normally.
By November, the preparatory work was basically done. In mid-December, the actors and the filming team were all ready to start. Within 10 days, the cooperation of one family went wrong, and it changed to two, three and four. In the end, the most important partner also withdrew.
In any case, I didn’t expect that five investors, like an appointment, suddenly told me in various ways that "this project is not involved." What I can’t figure out is that these five families don’t know each other at all, and five independent things happened to me at the same time.
I am also thinking that there may be a theme problem, and everyone is not very at ease with the box office of domestic sports movies; There may be my own reasons. I promised not to take the director’s fee, screenwriter’s fee and producer’s fee, and I paid more than 200 thousand yuan in the early stage of the project, but I changed from a producer to a director, and everyone was worried about my strength. There may be reasons for the progress of the project, because of the epidemic, the startup time has been delayed again and again; There are also reasons for the big environment. This year, it is obvious that it is very difficult to talk about investment without a particularly big-name actor or director.
The movie, I’m sure I’ll keep shooting. It turns out that all these partners are zero, so I’ll start talking again. Not only because this kind of film is zero in China, but also because this film is important enough for me.
My father has been a film projectionist for 30 years. In his eyes, movies are lofty and filmmakers are respected. He hasn’t seen the movies I made before because he thinks, "Why did you make movies in your twenties?" Therefore, the setting of this film "Fighting Dad" is a very strong and deep father-son relationship, plus sports and inspiration. I hope my father will recognize me after watching this film.
* The title map and the pictures in the text are all from Pexels. At the request of interviewees, Wen Honghong, Chloe Wang, Xiaoyu, Nan Mu, Wang Lili, Gaoshan, Liu Tong, Zhang Chu, Xunli, Zhang Jiaming, Feilu, Little Millie, Jiu Le, Lao Zhu and Zhong Ming are pseudonyms.
