Bruno nodded and said, "That's for sure. The Chinese are really hardworking. When I came here more than ten years ago, there were already many Chinese people opening supermarkets and restaurants. At that time, 70% of the supermarkets near Qiaotou Market were opened by Chinese people. Because the products from China are not only of high quality but also cheap, they are very popular among the people in South America, so the supermarkets opened by Chinese people here are very popular."

Yang Jing smiled and nodded, saying, "That's right. Wherever we Chinese go, we can always make a name for ourselves there. We are the most hardworking, intelligent and hardworking people in the world, and that's not just a random statement."

As they were talking, the convoy had already entered the suburbs of Dongfang City. The houses on both sides of the road began to become densely packed, and looking into the distance, even more than 20 kilometers away, one could still see the tall buildings in the city center. In comparison, Dongfang City had more tall buildings than Yasunción.

Highway 7, which runs across the entire city of Oriental, is the main street of Oriental. This highway starts from the town of Colonel Oviedo and, after crossing Oriental, will enter Brazil through the Astamiide ​​Bridge across the Paraná River, which is also known as the "Friendship Bridge".

The bridgehead market that Bruno mentioned earlier, as the name suggests, is located on the west side of the Friendship Bridge.

Although the core area of ​​Qiaotou Market is located on the north side of the road at the west end of Youyi Bridge, in fact, as soon as you enter Dongfang City, it is like entering this super-large market, because as soon as you enter Dongfang City, both sides of Highway 7 are filled with a large number of vans.

This type of large truck is called a "big car" locally. If it were in China, it would be a large van similar to a container truck.

"Both sides of Highway 7 are the core area of ​​Dongfang City, and also the most prosperous area of ​​Dongfang City." Bruno pointed to both sides of the road. Yang Jing and Gege looked to both sides and found that more and more high-rise buildings appeared, restaurants, supermarkets, and shops could be seen everywhere, and even many luxuriously decorated casinos.

But there were more people - those shirtless porters.

The porters loaded boxes of heavy goods into the vans, busy as if they were a group of tireless worker ants.

"The Qiaotou Market is just ahead." Bruno pointed to the front left. Because there were too many vehicles here, the convoy could only maintain a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour. "The Qiaotou Market is a little inconspicuous. If the locals hadn't told me that it was the Qiaotou Market when I came here before, I wouldn't have believed that it was the largest late-night shopping market in South America!"

"Late-night shopping market? What does this mean? Does this mean that all transactions in this market are conducted at night?" Gege asked in confusion.

Bruno smiled and nodded, saying, "That's about it. Even though there are a lot of people here now, it's already noon. If it were early in the morning, there would be several times more people here. The streets would be full of people, and cars wouldn't be able to move at all."

After a pause, Bruno continued to explain: "The formation of the Qiaotou Market is due to its favorable location connecting Brazil and Paraguay's low tariff policy. When this place was developed, Paraguay's tariffs were very low, and Brazil imposed punitive tariffs on all foreign imports to protect its domestic market. For example, if the market price of a toy is one dollar, Brazil may impose a 100% tax, while Paraguay only imposes a 5% tax. At the same time, Brazil also has to pay goods circulation tax and state taxes of various states. This unbalanced tariff policy has attracted many Brazilian businessmen to this border city. They bring goods directly into Paraguay, and then evade taxes by shipping large quantities of cheap goods to Brazil for sale to make a profit. All of this happens mostly at night, so this market has become a late-night shopping market."

"All goods here are sold in US dollars at the exchange rate of the day, and the price of each item is 4 to 6 times cheaper than in Brazil. So don't underestimate this market. The annual turnover of this market is as high as 6 billion US dollars, which is more than five times the revenue of the entire Paraguayan government! In addition, this market also feeds many local people. Although there is no visa requirement for travel between Paraguay and Brazil, there is a limit on the amount of goods that each Brazilian can carry when leaving customs. Therefore, there are many local people in this market who specialize in bringing goods for others. These people are called Larrea by Brazilians."