Let's go back to 2008, starting with a recreational fishing park.

Humans are such strange creatures.

When Jiang Xia came to Chen Weihao's shop to ask Chen Weihao to sponsor the competition.

Chen Weihao felt that he was already a leader in the fishing gear industry in Linjiang City, and thought that sponsorship would be of little use, so he chose to refuse.

But when Chen Weihao saw the name "Fishing Paradise" printed on the huge GG sign in front of him, he regretted it.

He had never heard of the fishing tackle shop "Fishing World" before today.

But now, Chen Weihao knows he made a mistake.

He knew perfectly well that giving away the sponsorship opportunity for the booming Qingshan Fishing Park competition to other fishing tackle shops might just create a huge competitor for himself.

It would have been better to have spent some money to sponsor the competition back then. Even if the publicity for the competition didn't help us anglers much, it would have prevented our competitors from suddenly becoming famous because of the competition.

Now, we can only hope that the Jiangxia competition won't have a significant promotional effect on the fishing entertainment world.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that Jiang Xia's cooperation with Yule World wasn't just about sponsorship, but also about revenue sharing. How could Yule World not take off with this competition opportunity?

Just then, in the office not far from the entrance of the fishing pond.

As Jiang Xia registered the contestants, Su Qing, who was handing out gifts, found a coupon in the canvas bag that offered a discount of 50 yuan off purchases over 200 yuan at Yule World.

Many contestants, after receiving their gifts, curiously opened them to examine the items inside.

Besides the coupons, the bag contained a baseball cap, a set of fishing floats, a plastic water bottle with a cup sleeve, and a small keychain from Qingshan Fishing Park.

These are all common items; Jiang Xia didn't buy anything particularly fancy.

However, because each item is printed with the name and logo of Qingshan Fishing Park, the originally ordinary items instantly look somewhat high-end.

Many contestants were incredibly excited when they saw it.

Jiang Xia knew perfectly well that this was the power of branding.

The contestants were not excited about the items themselves, but rather by the logo of Qingshan Fishing Park printed on them and the commemorative significance of participating in the competition.

After registering, one contestant asked Jiang Xia, "Boss Jiang, can I buy an extra gift pack from this?"

Jiang Xia could only shake his head and say:

"Sorry, this is a souvenir, given away for free, not for sale. If you'd like one, you can participate in more fishing activities in the future; we almost always give them away!"

Upon hearing this, the contestant could only turn away regretfully.

After the contestant left, Su Qing asked curiously, "Why didn't you sell him one?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia sighed and said, "Don't think you can make money selling this stuff."

"This thing is most valuable when it's not for sale; once we sell it, it becomes worthless!"

Hearing this, Su Qing seemed to understand but not quite, and because she was busy, she didn't ask any further questions.

However, one of the contestants who was currently registering, who was probably in business himself, said with a smile:

"You have to admit, Boss Jiang is a shrewd businessman; his insightful views on issues are absolutely spot-on!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia knew that the other party understood his meaning.

After registering the contestant with a smile, he added, "Good luck winning, bro!"

Upon hearing this, the contestant immediately burst into laughter:

"Then I'll take Mr. Jiang's good wishes!"

…………

While the other staff at the fishing spot were busy entertaining the anglers and tourists, Jiang Xia and Su Qing were busy registering the anglers.

At 9:30, Jiang Xia waited for a while and, seeing that no more contestants came to the office to register, put down his pen and walked towards the door.

The number of participants who came to register today is now about 180.

During this time, several other contestants called to say they had something to do and couldn't participate.

There were a total of 200 spots available. The remaining contestants who didn't show up at this time are probably unable to participate due to various reasons.

It was getting late, and Jiang Xia wasn't going to wait any longer. If any more contestants arrived later, they could participate as scheduled before the competition started.

Those who didn't come, or arrived late, will have their registration fees refunded at full price.

……

Stepping outside the office, Jiang Xia looked at the somewhat crowded people and felt a surge of excitement.

There are nearly 200 contestants here now, plus others who came to watch the excitement. Judging from this scene, Jiang Xia estimates there are five or six hundred people!

Whether or not it reached that number, it was definitely much more than the three or four hundred people I had initially estimated.

Fortunately, my second uncle, Jiang Jianjun, brought the able-bodied young men from the village to the fishing spot early in the morning to maintain order.

Jiangxia strolled around the fishing area and found that the most crowded place was the six small stalls that had been added this morning!

Because there were more people than shops, long queues formed in front of each stall at this time.

After all, how can you go out and have fun without spending money?

However, it doesn't matter if there are fewer stalls; six stalls should be enough after the competition ends.

If there are too many people during the competition and too many stalls, we can't just chase away the extra vendors after the competition ends!

They're all fellow villagers; Jiang Xia knew he couldn't bring himself to do such a thing.

The second largest area was not far from the stage, where prizes and stacks of cash were encased in tempered glass.

Because the items were all valuable, Jiang Jianjun immediately assigned three burly men to guard the area.

At this moment, it was clear that several burly men were nervously watching the contestants and tourists around them, fearing that someone might be bold enough to make a move against the items behind them.

These burly men were all of the village's older generation. When Jiang Xia saw them, he politely went up and handed each of them a pack of cigarettes. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he left.

Afterwards, he tried to find Jiang Xiaobo, but there were too many people and he couldn't find him.

Just then, Yang Xiaoyue walked past him, and Jiang Xia stopped her directly: "Yueyue, have you seen Xiaobo?"

Yang Xiaoyue nodded: "I saw him discussing something with some referees just now!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia quickly said, "Then go and find him quickly. If you find him, don't have him come to me. Just have him use the megaphone in his hand to gather all the contestants together."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiaoyue quickly took small steps and ran towards the place she remembered.

……

A short while later, Jiang Xia heard Jiang Xiaobo's voice coming from the fishing ground.

He strode directly toward the direction of the sound.

Upon hearing the call to assemble, the contestants all headed in the same direction.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Xia immediately started running.

When he arrived at Jiang Xiaobo's side, he took the megaphone from the other man and stood there for a moment, watching the crowd gather in the blink of an eye.

Once Jiang Xia saw that the number of people was about right, he put the megaphone to his mouth and shouted:

"Attention all players, our competition draw ceremony will officially begin at 10:00 AM. Please do not leave the venue at that time."

"Now……"