Chapter 172: Xiao Rou Hooked a Fish

Xiao Rou felt a bit moved by what Ye Cheng said, her long eyelashes fluttered slightly, she lightly pursed her lips, "Then I'll give it a try?"

"Xiao Hu, give yours to Xiao Rou." Ye Cheng immediately turned his head, letting Xiao Hu make way.

"What for, bro? I'm currently catching fish like crazy." Xiao Hu firmly refused Ye Cheng's request that seemed unreasonable but was actually reasonable.

You should know that, being the same System Fishing Rod, Ye Cheng enjoys 100% while Xiao Hu only enjoys 20%.

No matter how you calculate, keeping this 100% for oneself is the most reasonable, but Xiao Hu's stubbornness came up, Ye Cheng had no choice, so he could only hand his fishing rod to Xiao Rou.

After that, he still didn't forget to turn around and threaten Xiao Hu, "When we go back, I'll take your level‑3 Skeleton Mage to get killed."

"No, don't, I finally managed to upgrade and cultivate it."

"I, I, I'll also take your mercenaries to get killed when we go back."

Watching the two men arguing about something unknown, Xiao Rou couldn't help but laugh; compared to Cui Shuran, Ye Cheng and his group were more relaxed.

Xiao Rou and Xiao Hu each took a fishing rod, Ye Cheng could only boredly go drink tea with the middle‑aged group.

The middle‑aged group also had a catch today, two small pomfrets.

"Yo, Ye Cheng, what's up, your weapon got confiscated?" Zhao Zhiming teased.

"That's my golden fishing spot, let Xiao Rou experience it too."

Lao Wang reclined comfortably, glanced at Ye Cheng, and casually said, "I know my own daughter; no golden fishing spot would help."

"Then, this is what you said—if she can't catch anything later, I'll say you claimed she's useless."

Upon hearing that, Lao Wang immediately sat up straight, hands up in surrender, "Don't, don't, if you say that I'll suffer again, no wine to drink."

Ye Cheng chuckled, this old guy is totally a daughter‑slave.

Over there, Xiao Rou was still intently watching her float, not noticing the situation here.

Ye Cheng sat down, Jiang Weiyang handed him a new cup, "Iron Guanyin, care for a sip?"

"Hmm, but I can't tell good from bad; giving me such fine tea feels wasteful." Ye Cheng took the tea and sipped.

As for tea, Ye Cheng can smell the aroma but can't discern the taste.

I've drunk tea priced at 5000 jin per jin before; it's indeed more fragrant than the 100‑jin kind, but it feels about the same as the 700‑800 jin tea, I really don't know what justifies the huge price.

If his body could handle it, he'd rather drink happy water.

"What are the big shots chatting about?" Ye Cheng asked casually after finishing his tea.

"We're talking about real estate, discussing whether property prices will keep rising." Jiang Weiyang explained.

"They'll rise, what else is there to think? First‑ and second‑tier cities rise the most, while Donghai Shi, a third‑ or fourth‑tier city, rises less."

Ye Cheng basically blurted out, "Damn, real estate—who doesn't know it's been an extremely profitable industry for decades."

Every year they say it will fall, it will fall, but only after 20 years does a hint of a decline appear.

"You're so sure?" Lao Wang looked at Ye Cheng curiously, "What's your basis?"

What basis could there be? Just suffering from it.

I was lucky to have bought early, but even then I became a mortgage slave, the monthly mortgage leaves me breathless.

"Well, basis?" Ye Cheng thought for a while, couldn't recall any of the experts' nonsense, so he bluntly said, "Mainly urbanization—everyone wants to move to the city, everyone wants a nice big house, demand rises, so prices naturally go up."

"It can't rise much more; it's already multiplied several times." Zhao Zhiming said.

Ye Cheng gave a self‑deprecating laugh, "We've only just begun; it could still go up another 5‑10 times."

"Nonsense, how could it be that expensive? That would mean tens of thousands per square meter." Jiang Weiyang shook his head, not really believing it.

Lao Wang frowned, deep in thought, not speaking, and didn't rush to rebut Ye Cheng's words.

"Everyone has demand, but that doesn't mean prices will keep rising; the city is full of high‑rises, a single building could house a whole village—I think at most it could rise another 20%." An indifferent voice came from nearby; it was Cui Shuran butting in.

Ye Cheng smiled faintly, didn't rebut, "Many people live in high‑rises, but you should know that once housing becomes a commodity, it's no longer just about living—it's about investment."

Rising water lifts the boat, stars hold up the moon—capital seeks returns.

Of course, given the current era, nobody would believe property prices could keep rising for so many years.

Zhao Zhiming was about to voice his opinion when an excited voice came from behind the crowd.

"A fish is on, a fish is on!"

Xiao Rou excitedly pulled the rod, a slender‑bodied fish hung on the hook.

"Dad, I caught a fish, awesome, hahaha."

The little girl was ecstatic, forgot to bring the net, but luckily Xiao Hu was skilled with it, and he scooped the fish back with the net.

Xiao Rou happily took the net, walked over to show Lao Wang and the others, "See? I caught a fish."

"Awesome, awesome, my daughter is awesome!" Lao Wang immediately gave a big thumbs‑up.

Jiang Weiyang and Zhao Zhiming also gave thumbs‑up; Ye Cheng looked and saw it was a saury, not worth much money.

Seeing Ye Cheng's expression, Xiao Rou felt a bit displeased,

"What's wrong? Think it's too small? I'll catch a bigger one later."

"Right, right, you'll definitely catch a big one later." Ye Cheng didn't want to provoke the young lady.

Seeing Ye Cheng yield, Xiao Rou proudly went to show off to Cui Shuran; after everyone on the boat had shown off, she then eagerly returned to continue fishing.

Cui Shuran's face looked a bit grim; she had coached for half an hour with no effect, yet over at Ye Cheng's side a fish showed up shortly after—wasn't that slapping her own face?

Xiao Rou cast her line again, while Ye Cheng continued to keep the three of them company chatting and drinking tea, feeling that having someone work was still not bad.

Lao Wang's crafty, deep‑thinking face reverted to its earlier lecherous look—thus saying every successful person isn't just casually mixed in.

Lao Wang seemingly casually said, "You say property will keep rising; Chairman Jiang is in the tea business—what do you think the future tea market will be like?"

"Tea?" Ye Cheng thought, he's not familiar with this, but nowadays it's hard not to know about the ubiquitous tea drinks on the streets.

Jiang Weiyang looked at Ye Cheng with interest, wanting to see what he could say this time.

"I think tea can go two ways: premiumization and blending." Ye Cheng said slowly,

"Premiumization is just hype—take ordinary tea, give it fancy packaging, then push it as a gift."

Gift route? Jiang Weiyang frowned, thinking, "But there used to be gift-giving, ah, what do you mean by gift route?"

Ye Cheng continued, "Before, it was just sending things, but now we need to upscale and refine the tea, for example, find a few masters to pan-fry the tea, then say it's a limited edition, make small packages, make gift boxes, that kind of high-end style."

This is a classic marketing case from later times, Ye Cheng directly applied it.