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Chapter 381 Taozi's Growth

The next day, Suning met Cherie Chung as he wished. Seeing the woman in front of him become a strong woman, Suning suddenly realized that she might have always been a strong woman who supported the family.

"Good day, boss."

"Well, hello, Manager Zhong." Hearing Chung Chuhong's voice, Su Ning finally woke up from his thoughts and looked at Chung Chuhong with a smile. "I heard from Nancy that you have a lot of insights into real estate. The company's focus will be on real estate in the future. So I specially called you here today to hear your views on real estate."

"Boss, I think the real estate space in Hong Kong is huge, because millions of people are crowded in a small space, and real estate is the easiest to operate." Cherie Chung seemed nervous while smiling.

"Operation?"

"Yes! To be more precise, it should be called speculation." After slowly overcoming her nervousness, Cherie Chung began to speak eloquently, "Big capitalists have unlimited funds in their hands. As long as they invest the funds in the real estate market, it is easy to drive up Hong Kong's housing prices.

I've specifically researched the background behind the recent surge in real estate prices. Population growth isn't the primary cause; it's the influx of capital that's become the root cause."

Looking at the woman in front of him talking so eloquently, Suning was really confused. In the previous two world experiences, he had never noticed that she was so talented. It seemed that the reason she could become so popular in the entertainment industry in the original time and space was definitely not because of her good luck, but because she had this ability.

Seeing that her boss Suning was just staring at her quietly and thinking as she spoke, Chung Chuhong gradually began to feel uneasy, thinking that she had said something wrong.

"Boss, did I say something wrong?"

"Oh? No! You're right!" Su Ning, who had regained consciousness, couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "What I didn't expect was that Cherie Chung, known as the most beautiful Miss Hong Kong, actually grew from a beautiful girl to a strong woman."

"Ah? Boss, you know everything!" Cherie Chung suddenly felt her face turn red.

"Haha, when TVB held the Miss Hong Kong finals in June 1979, I was watching the competition live from the audience," Su Ning suddenly explained with a smile. "At that time, many people were very optimistic about you winning the championship. It's a pity that your momentary mistake lowered your score."

"Huh? I was so nervous at the time that I didn't pay attention to what was happening in the audience."

"Haha, are you used to wearing high heels now?"

"Well, Nancy often takes me shopping and teaches me how to dress. I've gotten used to wearing high heels."

"Haha, you have a good teacher." Thinking of Nancy, who always dresses very fashionably, Su Ning couldn't help but smile.

"Ah Hong." Su Ning called out as usual, but then realized that Cherie Chung would be disgusted, so he looked at her with a smile, "By the way! Is it okay for me to call you that?"

"Huh? No problem!"

"Ah Hong, please make a detailed plan for entering the Hong Kong real estate market and hand it over to me in a week."

"Yes! Boss!"

After working all day at the Xia Ning Group, Cherie Chung returned home tired and saw her family waiting for her. She immediately forced herself to smile.

"Mom, Dad, I'm back."

"Ah Hong, are you exhausted today?" Mother Zhong hurriedly took care of her daughter while she ate her soup. "Come over here and have some soup! I specially made a baby pigeon, cordyceps, and yam soup today."

"thanks Mom!"

Looking at her eldest daughter who was drinking soup and looking up information at the same time, Zhong's mother complained with some distress, "Ah Hong, wouldn't it be great if you could stay in the entertainment industry?

Not only does it not require such hard work, but it also allows you to make a lot of money.”

"Mom, why are you bringing this up again?"

"Ah Hong, didn't you say that the famous star Liu Songren thought highly of you?" Looking at her unhappy daughter, Mother Zhong couldn't help but chatter, "I don't know why you insisted on going into sales. If you had Liu Songren's support, you would definitely be able to make a name for yourself in the entertainment industry."

"Mom, I've seen a lot more now and I understand how complicated society is. Some things aren't as simple as they seem." Cherie Chung put down the information in her hand and looked at her mother seriously, "Aren't Deborah and Angie Chiu famous enough?
But do they have any private space of their own?
Having all your private life exposed to the public is no small matter.

Also, although this job is hard, the future is bright, much better than those celebrities who rely on their youth to make a living."

"Mom, you don't want me to have to work hard to support the family when I'm old and ugly, right?"

“This…” Although she knew her daughter was talking about the reality of the entertainment industry, Zhong’s mother still refuted and said, “How can it be as weird as you say?

Didn’t Zhu Lingling marry the son of the richest man, Huo?”

"Haha, the Miss Hong Kong pageant was officially held in 1973. Every year, there are three beauties, but there is only one Zhu Lingling, right?" Cherie Chung smiled and shook her head. She never expected that she would be as lucky as Zhu Lingling.

"Oh! It's up to you!" Seeing that she couldn't convince her daughter, Zhong's mother stopped insisting, "You're grown up now, and I can't control you anymore."

As for the fact that Cherie Chung quit the entertainment industry before she even started, her mother might be the one who felt the most regretful in the family. After all, it was she who decided to let Cherie Chung sign up for the Miss Hong Kong competition. She wanted to improve the family's living conditions through her daughter's glamour.

It’s a pity that Zhong’s mother only saw the glamorous surface of the big star and selectively ignored the hardships and helplessness of the big star’s private life. In other words, she only saw the thief eating meat but not the thief being beaten.

Cherie Chung was used to her mother's nagging. After dinner, she returned to her small room and continued to look up Hong Kong real estate information.

She has been working in Xia Ning Industrial Group for two or three years. Although she has done very well in the sales department, she still knows that this is her chance. As long as she enters the sight of the mysterious boss and her abilities are noticed by the mysterious boss, she will surely rise to the top.

Cherie Chung is a strong-willed person by nature. She agreed to her mother's suggestion to participate in the Miss Hong Kong pageant because she had no other good options and it was also a helpless move due to the urgent need to improve the Chung family's predicament.

Nancy's appearance brought light to Cherie Chung and opened up a new path for her. She could also move freely in and out of Hong Kong's most prosperous and glorious office buildings like other well-dressed white-collar workers.

People live to fight for their dignity. She wants to live with dignity and doesn't want to be a vase in the eyes of others, so she is enriching herself all the time.

Li Chengtao has now expanded his team. Growing up, he's been known as a bad boy, with mischief and fighting being his normal behavior. This, of course, laid the foundation for his rapid recruitment efforts today. Everyone knew the mainland's economic climate in the early 1980s, so it was impossible for these idle young people to find suitable jobs, even the lowest-level temporary workers. Now, Li Chengtao's call has given them hope.

It was really no difficulty for them to inquire about and purchase courtyard houses and shops all over the capital, as if it was a job specially set up for them.

Although Li Chengtao is not very smart, he knows that both Mr. Guan and Suning like to collect old things. So when buying a courtyard house, once he encounters old things, he will pay a little more money to keep all the belongings of the original owner, regardless of whether these things have collection value.

Ordinary people in that era believed that new things were better than old ones. They were ecstatic about the buyer's strange request, but then they agreed to it for fear that Li Chengtao and others would go back on their word.

At the very beginning, Suning hired a special lawyer for Li Chengtao and his team, so they only needed to negotiate the price with the original owner and then notify the company's lawyer.

The original homeowner held the contract he had just signed in a daze, looking at his own name and fingerprint on it, and suddenly felt a sense of regret for no reason.

"Hey! You guys are quite formal."

"Haha, we are a formal real estate company. All our actions are protected by law, and these contracts will be reported to the relevant departments." The lawyer explained with a smile and patience. Now he is accustomed to the complicated mentality of the original owner.

"Oh! I heard you are a big company in Hong Kong?

"Did you get inside information about the demolition?" the original owner kept asking, unable to explain why, perhaps because he still had a last vestige of reluctance.

"No! Our company plans to develop this historically valuable courtyard house into a B&B, which is what we ordinary people usually call a hotel."

"Hey, who would want to live in this shabby house?" After hearing the lawyer's convincing explanation, the original owner lost interest in asking questions and suddenly felt fortunate that he had sold the house.

The lawyer and Li Chengtao smiled at each other, and watched without saying anything as the original owner left the courtyard with his underwear, bedding and luggage. Then Li Chengtao took out a new lock to lock the door, and then affixed a seal with the Beijing Longdu Real Estate Company's seal on it. All the transaction procedures for the courtyard were completed.

Watching the original owner leave the house where he had lived for decades without looking back, the lawyer and Li Chengtao also went in the opposite direction and continued their same operation.

Ordinary people in the 1980s and 1990s were all confused. No one could tell what the future would be like, so when they had such a good opportunity, they would immediately sell their old houses. Those with connections would choose to live abroad, and those without connections would move into a new house.

The capital of China is really big, and there are many people who want to sell their properties, but there are only a few of them, and they were quickly screened by Li Chengtao and others.

But after they tasted the sweetness, they wanted to continue doing so. With a fixed salary of fifty yuan per month, they could get additional generous commissions when purchasing real estate and old items. This was much better than being a regular worker in a factory.

"Brother Tao, we're seeing more and more people coming in, and we've already taken care of everyone in Beijing who wants to sell their houses." One of Li Chengtao's younger brothers suddenly said worriedly, "Even if there are more people who want to sell in the future, there won't be enough for us to share."

"Well, there are too many wolves and too little meat. It's indeed a problem." Li Chengtao nodded in agreement with Xiaohu's point of view. "Xiaohu, do you have any ideas?"

"Brother Tao, here's what I'm thinking. Why don't we split up into several groups, each responsible for a different area?" Seeing Li Chengtao agree, Xiaohu excitedly explained, "For example, the capital city can be divided into four areas: east, south, west, and north. Then, four groups can be assigned to each area."

"Well, that makes sense! Go on!" Li Chengtao nodded with his eyes lighting up.

"There are also many old items and very nice properties in the rural areas near Beijing. Why don't we just buy them all from him?"

"Xiao Hu, your idea is great. Let's do it this way from now on!"

"Yes! Brother Tao!"

"Xiaohu, do a good job! Chunming's business is very big. In the future, as long as you have the ability, Chunming will never treat you unfairly." Li Chengtao patted Xiaohu's shoulder with a smile.

"Thank you Brother Tao for giving me the opportunity."

Because the real estate business in Beijing was still in its infancy, Suning casually handed it to Li Chengtao. Unexpectedly, Beijing was a place where talents came from, and someone soon understood Suning's true intentions and started working hard in advance.

Although the private sector has not yet been completely liberalized, they have begun to purchase antiques and real estate in large quantities in the name of Hong Kong-funded companies, which puts them many steps ahead of others.

After Li Chengtao resigned from the bakery, he rarely spent time with Cai Xiaoli. Without Li Chengtao's presence, Cai Xiaoli soon felt a little uncomfortable.

Cai Xiaoli hasn't seen Suning for four or five years now, and she no longer has any feelings or thoughts about him. When they were both at the bakery, Li Chengtao always followed her, but now even Li Chengtao has suddenly disappeared.

"Hey! Cai Xiaoli, what a coincidence?"

"Cheng Jianjun? Why are you nearby?" Cai Xiaoli looked up in confusion and found that it was her old classmate Cheng Jianjun.

"Haha, our unit has a mission near your bakery today."

"Cheng Jianjun, I heard from other classmates that after you graduated from university, you were assigned to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau?"

"Yes! The position and salary of a clerk."

"Haha, so amazing!" Cai Xiaoli looked at Cheng Jianjun with stars in her eyes, "Among all our classmates, you, Cheng Jianjun, are the most promising."

Cheng Jianjun enjoyed Cai Xiaoli's flattery so much. This was a treatment he could not get from Su Meng. He suddenly felt that marrying a strong woman might be very difficult.

"Haha, Cai Xiaoli, do you have time? It's just like I'm off work now. I want to treat you to dinner."

"Okay!"

In this way, Cheng Jianjun and Cai Xiaoli, who were in love with each other, naturally came together. Cai Xiaoli had a gentleness that Su Meng did not have, and the last money-borrowing incident also made Cheng Jianjun completely sober up, realizing that no matter what he did, he could not catch Su Meng's eye.

Cai Xiaoli was alienated by Suning and Li Chengtao one after another. She was already lonely and after seeing Cheng Jianjun, how could she suppress her restless heart? Maybe she is more willing to be with Cheng Jianjun now than in the original drama.

(End of this chapter)