I've observed that about 80% of the middle-class people around me have fallen back into poverty in recent years. The reasons are varied, but half of them are due to property devaluation. Anyone who bought property after 2018 has basically seen their assets shrink by more than half. In the past, people liked to invest in commercial properties after they became wealthy. A friend of mine had a shop worth over 2 million yuan, but now he can't sell it for 500,000 yuan. Even with price reductions, he can't rent it out, and the entire commercial area is deserted. Besides property, the other reasons are varied and numerous. My studio closed in 2000 due to the mask shortage, and I've been making a living solely through self-media ever since. Two of my relatives and friends worked in the medical device industry, but the recent medical reforms have made it impossible for them to continue. Another person was a minor official in the medical department. He used to live a very comfortable life, taking his commissions openly and honestly. Now he's demanding a full refund. He sold his house and borrowed money everywhere just to barely escape this disaster. Then there's my brother, who owned several decoration companies and a building materials factory. His life's savings were wiped out by the Evergrande scandal, and he's still heavily in debt. And then there are those in the catering business; almost none of them survived. I have a relative a year older than me, a kid from the countryside who got into a university in Beijing. At his peak, he was a senior executive in a foreign company and owned houses in both Beijing and Shanghai. Now his assets have shrunk, and after being laid off, he's taken his family back to his hometown. Another couple of friends had painstakingly saved money, intending it for their child's wedding, but they were tricked into investing it, losing everything and incurring significant debt. They were forced to sell their house. In short, almost everyone who started their own business or company in recent years hasn't fared well. Some have gone bankrupt, while others are barely surviving. Many industries that used to be profitable have suddenly declined in recent years. Most of these friends are now in their fifties or sixties. They thought they had accumulated wealth over half a lifetime and could enjoy their retirement, but they've lost it all in recent years. Only those who got out early and kept cash are doing relatively better. However, a significant portion of these people, including myself, lost money in the stock market. This once-prosperous group is now quite down on their luck. Those who have fared well these past few years without much impact are either civil servants or have consistently held onto cash, avoiding unnecessary risks. Life truly is a rollercoaster of fortunes. Back in my heyday, my studio had hundreds of employees; now I live on a meager two or three thousand yuan a month in royalties. Heaven doesn't always favor one person. Accumulating wealth takes half a lifetime, but squandering it only takes one wrong choice. I've come to terms with it now. A few thousand yuan is enough for a family to live comfortably; health and peace are more important than anything else.