Through Tong Xuejiao's introduction, Huo Beixiao met a businessman who traveled between the mainland and Hong Kong to do jewelry business.

He handed the box of diamonds that Su Pan had given him to the jewelry business owner, who took them to the port city for auction in batches.

Over the past decade, diamonds have seen their prices rise dramatically due to their association with love.

After the classic advertising slogan "Love lasts forever, a diamond is forever" became popular, the price of diamonds soared.

When I talked about this with my aunt, she was quite moved.

The reason my grandfather bought that box of diamonds was because a foreign businessman came to persuade him to buy them. My grandmother saw that the two sisters, Su Pan and Su Xiaowan, liked the sparkly things, so she bought them as a little toy to amuse her daughters.

I never imagined that a pile of stones could one day turn into valuable jewelry.

That box of diamonds sold for a total of 500,000 yuan at an auction in Hong Kong.

Huo Beixiao then selected some less desirable and defective items from the things his maternal grandfather had left him and the things his aunt had given him, and sent them to the port city for auction.

They sold a total of 1.8 million yuan worth of goods, and with the 500,000 yuan from the sale of diamonds, they had 2.3 million yuan in hand.

With this money, not only will Yang Qiaoqiao no longer have to worry about the later expenses of building the garment factory, but Huo Beixiao will also have the capital to build a construction company and establish a transportation team.

Money makes things easier, and Huo Beixiao's construction company was quickly established.

At the same time, Huo Beixiao also purchased thirty Jiefang brand trucks and established a transportation team in Haicheng.

They have the necessary permits, so purchasing trucks and setting up a transport fleet shouldn't be a problem. The biggest issue now is recruiting truck drivers and managing the transport fleet.

In particular, the management personnel of the transportation team not only need to be skilled drivers, but also trustworthy, and they also need to be capable enough to keep the truck drivers in check.

This person is not easy to find.

At this moment, Yang Qiaoqiao received an unexpected phone call.

"Hey, Qiaoqiao, is that you?"

Yang Qiaoqiao answered the phone and heard a tentative, cautious voice on the other end. For a moment, she couldn't recognize who it was.

It wasn't until the other person introduced herself, "Qiaoqiao, I'm Deng Hongying, do you remember me?"

Yang Qiaoqiao's memories were instantly awakened.

He laughed and said, "Of course I remember. You left a very deep impression on me back then at the department store and the movie theater."

When the department store was mentioned, Deng Hongying chuckled awkwardly, after all, she had been blind to its value back then and even tried to steal Yang Qiaoqiao's man.

"Comrade Hongying, why did you suddenly decide to call me? Is there something you need?" Yang Qiaoqiao steered the conversation directly to the main topic.

"Qiaoqiao, I heard you've built a factory in Haicheng now? Do you need any workers there? I'm also in Haicheng, and I'm looking for a job," Deng Hongying said directly without beating around the bush.

Yang Qiaoqiao was slightly surprised, "You're already in Haicheng?"

"Yes, not only am I here, but my boyfriend is here too," Deng Hongying replied.

Yang Qiaoqiao was even more surprised, "I remember your boyfriend is a soldier, and a driver, and he came to Haicheng with you too?"

Deng Hongying was quite pleased to hear that Yang Qiaoqiao remembered them so clearly, and she truthfully told Yang Qiaoqiao about their own situation.

"Well, my boyfriend retired from the army this year, and we thought we'd come to try our luck in a big city in the east, so we came to Haicheng together."

After arriving in Haicheng, we realized we had oversimplified things. Even if big cities are paved with gold, it's not so easy to find it.

As Deng Hongying spoke, she couldn't help but sigh.

Yang Qiaoqiao agreed with her words, even though from the perspective of later generations, this era has taken full advantage of the times and is full of opportunities.

But for people living in this era, being caught up in the situation doesn't mean they can succeed easily.

Moreover, interpersonal relationships are much more sophisticated in this era than in later generations. Even overseas Chinese who come back with a lot of money and want to make a name for themselves will face ordinary obstacles if they don't have connections. Let alone ordinary people.

"Comrade Hongying, has your boyfriend found a job yet?" Yang Qiaoqiao asked.

"He doesn't have one yet, Qiaoqiao. Do you have any suitable jobs for him?"

Yang Qiaoqiao told Deng Hongying about their transportation team's recruitment efforts.

They also gave her the office addresses of their construction company and transportation team, and arranged a time for them to come for an interview.

When Huo Beixiao and Yang Qiaoqiao chose the office location for the construction company and the transportation team, they followed the advice of Grandpa Xia and Yue Jinchen and set it up in the Lianyi Building in Pudong District.

Most of the companies in this building are well-funded foreign enterprises. Some of these companies are optimistic about the huge domestic real estate market and are eager to invest.

Huo Beixiao and Yang Qiaoqiao set up their office here because they wanted to take advantage of the proximity.

These foreign companies want to invest in real estate in China, but they are unfamiliar with the area and cannot find construction teams and connect with workers on their own.

In this way, Huo Beixiao could contract the project from them and then subcontract it to a construction team, making a profit from the difference.

The same applies to transport teams.

Currently, domestic transportation is not well-developed, and most goods are transported by large trucks.

In this context, no matter what kind of business these foreign companies do, they all need transportation teams. With the transportation teams' offices located here, they never have to worry about not having work.

However, the drawback of setting up an office here is also obvious: the price is high.

Even now, the rent on Huaihai Road is no more than 15 yuan per square meter, but the rent in this building is already close to 80 yuan per square meter.

It's really expensive!

But it was worth it, because the construction company received its first order on the very day it opened for business.