Tang Shunyan and his friends came down from the mountain, and for the delight of the evening meal and the fun of fishing at dusk, they thought it a great way to practice their patience.
Sima Roumei, accompanied by her maid and guard, chose a spot to fish quietly despite every fishing spot at the pond being occupied by men.
Ever since Ye Shiqi first attracted customers with her fishing four years ago, using "Space Water" in the bait proved successful. Since then, she hadn’t cheated.
The guests were given the same bait distribution; they could also bring their own. Apart from the fishing rods provided, everything else depended on their own skill.
Tang Shunyan and his friends had been fishing here for four or five years. They had progressed from novices to experts, continually improving their fishing rods and developing their own bait.
The estate also supplied earth-dug worms, which chickens and fish liked, along with some manufactured baits made from peanut shells mixed with other ingredients, which were very appealing to the fish and ensured fruitful fishing.
Sima Roumei, who was afraid of worms, opted for other baits. She frequently fished here, and people who recognized her, whether young or old, merely nodded in greeting.
Often fishing here, Sima Roumei also got to know some fishing enthusiasts, but since they were elders, it wasn’t appropriate to mingle too much.
Being a Lady, she also disliked socializing with them; her interactions were largely limited to the few friends brought by Tang Shunyan.
This restriction by her father, fearing she might become too wild, limited her friendships. She believed it wasn’t necessary to have many friends; one confidant was enough, and a few good friends were sufficient.
Zhong Xingwang and several classmates, along with a bronze-skinned man who was here for the first time, each selected new fishing hooks, thinking that last year’s hooks might have spoiled after such a long time.
They weren’t short of money, so each of them bought new fishing hooks from the owner.
The bronze-skinned man, seeing the novel fishing rods for the first time, recalled fishing with his family elders using much more primitive equipment.
Once, after mentioning fishing to Zhong Xingwang and discussing the fishing rods, he heard from classmates about such complex and functional rods.
Despite speaking about it, he hadn’t seen them in person and didn’t believe them, assuming Zhong Xingwang was just bragging.
Zhong Xingwang told him, if he didn’t believe it, he should come and see for himself, or he could ask other classmates, and he named a few.
Out of curiosity, he asked those classmates, and as Zhong Xingwang had said, there was a wide variety of fishing rods.
The quality of your fishing depends on how much you’re willing to spend on a good rod.
Now finally seeing the actual items, indeed, they were as novel as Zhong Xingwang had described, and he knew nothing about how they worked.
No wonder the pond was so large and so many fishing spots were filled with people; previously, from his window, he had seen many people seeming to make good catches.
When they paid with Silver and bought their fishing rods, then bought bait from the owner, Zhong Xingwang seemed as familiar with the owner as if he were family, making it look as if this were his estate, eagerly bringing people here to spend.
"Haha, Young Master Zhong brought friends for fun again! These are your friends, staying here for this period? They get a discount on food, drink, and fun. How about that?"
Li Zhijun collected so much money his hand went limp, especially during these vacation periods. Besides the commission from selling fishing rods, with so many customers coming to spend at the estate, though the discount sounded nice, the more guests the staff attended, the higher their commission.
"Uncle, giving my friends and me a discount is great, thank you, Uncle! Could you introduce these fishing rods to my friends and let them know their features?"
Zhong Xingwang thought it wasn’t for the professional market yet, but it was well made.
"This is your uncle? Good going, drawing business for the family." The bronze-skinned man slapped Zhong Xingwang’s arm, saying this but not complaining; doing business was understood by them young masters.
The classmates who had been here several times just smiled without speaking.
Zhong Xingwang, of course, wouldn’t want to be misunderstood: "He’s the uncle of those two girls we met earlier, I just follow their lead in calling him that."
"Good going, calling him uncle— are you eyeing one of his nieces? Were those two girls from earlier his nieces?" the man realized.
Casually, a classmate who had visited a few times joked, "Hahaha, this guy must be thinking that."