Chapter 831: I'm Optimistic About the Future Real Estate Market
The dinner party ended in less than 2 hours, with no one getting drunk.
After leaving the club, seeing everyone in high spirits, Ding Sanshi suggested changing venues to continue chatting.
Ma Yun smiled and said, "I have no objection. What about everyone else?"
Naturally, this "everyone" mainly looked to Chen Fan for his opinion.
Chen Fan shrugged, "I'll go along with whatever the host decides."
"Then let's follow my arrangement," Ma Yun said with a smile, calling for the driver to bring the car over.
Among them, only Chen Fan's car was brought over by the club's security guard. In fact, Chen Fan was the only one who came without a driver.
Actually, it's quite difficult for a group of big bosses like this to find a place to relax and unwind.
As a group of people with status, they couldn't just casually find a barbecue stall and sit on the street eating skewers and chatting like ordinary people. Nor could they go to a KTV to sing, or go to a nightclub to have fun... These all seemed inappropriate.
To put it bluntly, there are only a few ways for rich people to entertain themselves.
Parties, private dinners, charity events, or concerts, playing golf...
Among these, only golf is suitable for small-scale private entertainment.
But it was night now, and although there was indoor golf, everyone had been drinking, so Ma Yun arranged another venue.
It was another club that Chen Fan had never seen before.
From the outside, there was nothing extraordinary about it, but once inside, one would discover that the decor was classical and antique, luxurious and opulent to the extreme.
Chen Fan walked in the middle of the group, observing the decorative style while inwardly marveling.
Even though it was decorated so luxuriously, it didn't give people any sense of nouveau riche or countrified taste. Instead, it combined luxury with art and elegance.
It seemed that professional designers had been hired for this club's decoration.
Compared to this club, the Bamboo Grove Clubhouse that he ran in Yunhai seemed a bit out of its league.
There was no help for it; as an unknown second-tier city, Yunhai's stage was still too small.
Seeing Chen Fan's interest in the decor, Ding Sanshi, who was beside him, explained with a smile.
"This is a private club for Suzhou and Hangzhou entrepreneurs, established jointly by several big business tycoons from Suzhou and Hangzhou. It's considered a leisure place for our local entrepreneurs."
Chen Fan suddenly thought of the Yunhai Chamber of Commerce.
Compared to this place, the gaudy decorative style of the Yunhai Chamber of Commerce was really quite embarrassing.
Led by the staff, the group came to a VIP cigar room on the upper floor.
After drinking, it was indeed a good way to relax for these big bosses to smoke cigars and chat together.
Moreover, Chen Fan noticed that almost all of these bosses had their own private cigars stored here.
As it was Chen Fan's first time here, the staff asked him which type of cigar he preferred.
Seeing Chen Fan hesitate, Ma Yun waved his hand with a smile.
"It's fine. Just give him one of the cigars I have stored here later."
Soon, the staff brought the cigars. Watching these big bosses skillfully pick up cigar cutters and start operating, Chen Fan realized they were all old hands at this.
Ma Yun was very courteous, personally cutting a cigar, lighting it, then shaking it with his hand before passing it to Chen Fan.
"Brother Chen, try this, it's a genuine Cuban cigar."
Chen Fan took it and casually took a puff, but the next second he was coughing, almost to the point of tears.
Seeing this scene, everyone's expressions froze for a moment, then they burst into laughter.
"Brother Chen hasn't smoked cigars before?"
Chen Fan shook his head with a smile: "No. I can't get used to this thing, it's too harsh."
Liang Jianzhang joked, "That's because you're not smoking it correctly. Actually, cigars should be less harmful than cigarettes."
Ma Yun, holding a second cigar and gently roasting it, smiled and said,
"It's best not to inhale cigars into your lungs. Let it linger fully in your mouth, then combine with your taste buds to experience the wonder of cigars."
After saying this, he personally demonstrated for Chen Fan, slowly exhaling a mouthful of smoke before comfortably leaning back on the sofa and letting out a satisfied sigh.
Chen Fan tried for the second time. This time he didn't cough, but he still didn't feel much for this thing.
In his view, apart from showing off among a group of big shots, this wasn't as comfortable as smoking a cigarette.
"It seems I'm not suited for this thing," Chen Fan said with a wry smile, putting the cigar back.
Ding Sanshi beside him joked, "Mr. Chen has never smoked cigars before? Then what do you smoke when you're doing business with people?"
"Cigarettes. Or I don't smoke at all."
"What if the other person smokes cigars? Don't you go to cigar rooms when discussing business?"
Chen Fan shook his head, "I've never been to one."
Now Ding Sanshi was curious.
"Then where do you usually discuss business with people?"
Chen Fan thought for a moment, "Coffee shops, companies, cold drink stores, even barbecue stalls..."
The group who were smoking cigars all froze, their expressions stunned. Two of them were even so shocked that they started coughing.
Ding Sanshi asked curiously, "You're not joking?"
Chen Fan shook his head, "Of course not. I'm telling the truth."
The group exchanged glances, then suddenly all laughed.
Ma Yun directly gave Chen Fan a thumbs up.
"Impressive."
"Mr. Chen is truly a marvelous person."
"Meeting Mr. Chen today is really a wonderful thing."
Everyone joked with smiles, while Liang Jianzhang continued,
"However, as someone who's been through it all, I still suggest Mr. Chen learn about these things. Even if you don't like it, there are some things you need to master if you want to socialize in this circle and do business in the future."
Chen Fan quickly nodded to show he accepted the advice.
However, he didn't take it to heart, because in his previous life, he had created such a large business empire without ever smoking cigars.
After this incident with Chen Fan, the atmosphere of the conversation became even more lively.
Moreover, Chen Fan noticed that the topic of conversation had changed again.
The topics began to involve domestic policies, business environment, business gossip, and some insider information about business.
In Ma Yun's words, the dinner table was a place to talk about everything under the sun, but this was the place to talk business.
Besides big issues, they also chatted about family matters, such as who got married, whose family had a new baby, whose child had reached school age and needed to find a house in a good school district.
Or who bought a house somewhere, from houses to house prices, and then to the future real estate market.
It was at this moment that Chen Fan realized that these big shots were also living, breathing people.
"Speaking of house prices, among us, only Mr. Chen is a boss who handles both internet and real estate," Ma Yun said with a smile, looking towards Chen Fan and interrupting his thoughts.
"Brother Chen, what do you think about the future of the domestic real estate market?"
Seeing everyone's gaze turn to him, Chen Fan hesitated for a moment, but still decided to reveal some inside information. At least, he couldn't let these big shots look down on him.
He coughed lightly and sat up a bit straighter.
"I'm very optimistic about the domestic real estate market. I think for at least the next 10 to 15 years, the domestic real estate market will only get better and better."
Ding Sanshi's eyes lit up slightly.
"You're that optimistic?"
Chen Fan nodded, "Yes."
"What's your basis?"
"Intuition."
This reason made everyone freeze simultaneously.
If someone else had said this, they might have thought in their hearts that this guy was being unrealistic, talking nonsense.
But the one saying this was Chen Fan, and they couldn't help but have doubts.
There was no help for it.
The miracles surrounding Chen Fan were simply too many.
Look at his entrepreneurial history, every step was as if divinely assisted, never taking a wrong step.
"I actually believe in Brother Chen's intuition," Ma Yun said with a smile, taking over the topic. Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he continued to joke,
"It looks like Old Tiger Wang is going to make a fortune next."
"Next time we meet, we should make him treat us to a good meal."
Old Tiger Wang?
At first, Chen Fan didn't react, but after a while, he suddenly realized.
It turned out they were talking about Wang Shi from Vanke.