I am a Big Player
Chapter 249 - 247, A Haven in the Bustling Market (Second Update)_1

Chapter 249: 247, A Haven in the Bustling Market (Second Update)_1

Liu Erbao and his team hadn’t gone far when journalists blasted the footage from their car-mounted cameras onto the internet: Liu Erbao’s team behaves like hooligans, where is the justice in this?!

In the footage, Liu Erbao and the others burst out of the factory entrance, silent as they popped all the car tires, while the journalists exaggerated the whole incident.

The King Without Crown is not to be trifled with, huh? You dare to do this, I’ll expose you!

But for Liu Erbao’s team, what did that amount to? Even if such an incident was exposed, it was of little consequence to them. Just popping car tires and not hitting anyone, replacing a tire at most would cost 20 bucks; it’s not like it was an expensive car, so the loss for the journalists wasn’t really that great.

Moreover, after this kind of incident was exposed, those who wanted to hire Liu Erbao and his team would still seek them out. It was well-known in the circle that Liu Erbao and his crew were tough; it was an established fact, so what was there to be so surprised about?

Liu Erbao and his team’s filming skills were top-notch after all, who else would you hire if not them?

Now many of Knight’s fans had also become fans of Liu Erbao’s team. People who were into or liked extreme sports thought nothing of it—just puncturing a couple of tires. Someone suddenly posted saying, "Why do I find this so funny..."

"Hahaha, you’re not alone!"

The reputation of the paparazzi had always been pretty bad, and being publicly embarrassed by celebrities did not have much of an impact on the celebrities themselves. Under such public opinion, quite a few people actually looked down on the paparazzi profession.

In 2007, it wasn’t like later years when paparazzi had become big V on Weibo, with many people waiting for their revelations...

So, in the end, this affair just quietly passed over and failed to stir up any significant waves.

Liu Erbao felt immensely satisfied with his mischief-making, having been disgusted by these paparazzi for a long time, but hitting someone was definitely not okay; that would change the nature of things. Although Liu Erbao was rough around the edges, he was careful not to hurt anyone and could only sigh, "Ren He really has the strategy and the means!"

Ren He only sent them an address, telling them to call him when they arrived, and he would come out to meet them. Liu Erbao drove towards Liu Hai Alley, calling, "Bro, we’ve arrived. Where is your place? This all looks like courtyards; I don’t see any apartment buildings."

With a creak, a large gate in front of his car opened, guarded by two stone lions that looked quite imposing; this would have been the residence of a well-off family in ancient times.

Liu Erbao was stunned for a moment, watching as Ren He walked out of the Courtyard House, "Here, park to the side."

Hiss, Liu Erbao took a sharp breath as he glanced through the car window at the Courtyard House; he was just realizing that Ren He had actually bought a Courtyard House!

Having seen Courtyard Houses starting to increase in value over the past two years, as a native of the Capital, how could he not know? He was all too aware, with many of his childhood friends talking about it.

Starting at tens of millions, capping at hundreds of millions, that was the 2007 price tag for a Courtyard House. Ren He had actually bought one, which was extremely wealthy.

He quickly got out of the car with his crew and entered the Courtyard House, only to discover that it was even more spacious than he had imagined—probably over a thousand square meters. This Courtyard House must have cost tens of millions!

Even someone like Liu Erbao, who was not short of money, was somewhat surprised. They split their earnings among 12 people, and the prices had only risen in recent years, so the money Liu Erbao had saved up was not enough to buy such an estate.

Although he knew Ren He was earning a pretty penny from his TK endorsements, Liu Erbao doubted it was enough to afford such an estate. He felt that his brother Ren He was becoming more and more unfathomable.

Entering the house, Ren He called out, "Come on, come on, try the walnuts, persimmons, and jujubes I grow right here in the courtyard—absolutely pure, natural, and delicious. You can’t get them anywhere else. They were just picked from the trees. Start with the persimmons; they spoil the quickest..."

"Brother," Liu Erbao said enviously, "I thought my place was already a hidden paradise, but coming here, I see this is the real deal, a paradise in the midst of the hustle and bustle! And you even have edible stuff in your courtyard... How much did it cost?"

"Haha, don’t worry about the price. Whatever it was, it’ll go up in value one day, just consider it asset appreciation," Ren He chuckled. "I advise you, when you have the money, to get a courtyard house here too. Even if you don’t live in it. With prices soaring so fast, money is becoming less valuable by the day. You need to find something worthwhile to invest in."

Liu Erbao felt a chord struck within him. In this era, the most profound realization was that money was indeed becoming less and less valuable. Money left in a bank account could become unable to buy anything after just five or six years.

Land and property prices were rising faster and faster. Here, at the root of the Imperial City, even if property prices fell everywhere else, they would not fall here. As Ren He had said, investing in real estate seemed like the best option.

As for Ren He himself, he knew what the future economic trends would be. Although he hadn’t planned to get rich off it, helping his friends manage their finances was just a casual word of advice, so why not do it?

Liu Erbao frowned. "I doubt the money I have is enough to buy a courtyard house like this. Are there smaller ones available?"

"Actually, yes," Ren He said. When he had been looking at various courtyard houses through Cui Qiang, he had spotted two small 300-plus-square-meter ones right here in this alley. They were a bit small, sure, but the price was right.

Someone entered from outside while laughing crisply, "What else is there?"

A fresh fragrance wafted over as Xia Yuting approached, clad in a figure-hugging, thin sweater and long silk trousers. Liu Erbao was instantly dumbstruck; wasn’t this the leading actress from the evening soap opera "Kunlun" that he watched nightly?!

While Liu Erbao was still in shock, Ren He explained with a smile, "Yuting’s here. I was just telling Erbao that courtyard houses will likely be one of the investments with the highest appreciation potential in the coming years. Instead of keeping money in the bank, why not invest in a courtyard house? You could live in it or just hold onto it; in a few years, its value could easily double. There are two other 300-square-meter courtyard houses in this alley, priced reasonably at around seven million. It’s the perfect time to buy. I’d even bet with you all that after the year 2007, their prices will start at ten million."

Xia Yuting looked over Ren He’s courtyard house and, truth be told, when she first came in, she felt the same astonishment as Liu Erbao. How could a high school student afford such a place? What exactly did Ren He do? He participated in the auditions for "Kunlun" and could afford such an estate—it was indeed a bit hard to comprehend.

But she didn’t ask any of this out loud and instead quietly took note of what Ren He said about the two available houses in the alley, both reasonably priced.

After seeing Ren He’s courtyard house, she suddenly felt that owning her own courtyard in the city seemed like a truly wonderful thing.

It was as if it could take her back to her childhood in the big courtyard, where she could do anything—read, write letters, sunbathe, or long for someone.

Xia Yuting smiled inwardly; she was getting a bit ahead of herself. There was a time when her dreams were filled with a pair of eyes that made her heart skip a beat, but those thoughts had since faded.

Now, she looked at Liu Erbao, a man well-known in social circles she couldn’t fail to recognize. But why was he participating in Ren He’s potluck?!

...

As usual, let’s have a bite to eat.