Twenty years of cold chain

Chapter 2 Public Sentiment Rages

This was a new cold storage facility built the year Hu Shutong graduated from high school, and a strong odor filled the air as soon as he entered. Hu Shutong was immediately furious. The ventilation pipes that he had mentioned to Shi Qingfeng several times were blocked again. In their view, the cold storage was just an enlarged freezer. If there was a gap, it would not only waste electricity but also not keep the cold room properly.

If you were to talk to him about respiration under refrigeration, Shi Qingfeng would find it too distant, profound, and incomprehensible, and not applicable to this small county and warehouse.

Upon closer inspection, the scene was even more unacceptable to Hu Shutong. He had repeatedly told Shi Qingfeng about some precautions, but he never expected that it would turn out like this after only half a year.

"Brother Qingfeng, I've told you so many times, even a ten-centimeter shelf would be fine. These potatoes will get moldy if left flat on the ground like this. Also, don't only ventilate the ventilation duct once a month, and you need to defrost and de-ice regularly. I already know all of this..."

"Shutong, what are you doing? I asked you to give me some advice, why are you criticizing me?" Shi Qingfeng said, emboldened by the alcohol.

His mind was completely focused on costs. The relevant departments had extremely strict control over the prices of fruits and vegetables, and the profit margin in this industry was already low. He was just a middleman among middlemen, and making a little money was like scraping someone else's feet. Furthermore, there were expenses such as refrigeration costs, electricity bills, fuel costs, wear and tear costs, and maintenance costs. If he didn't tighten his belt on costs, he wouldn't be able to pay his workers.

Hu Shutong was aware of what had happened, so the topic was dropped, as many things were beyond his control.

After finding the shipment destined for the school, Hu Shutong examined it for a short while and came to a conclusion: the shipment had already spoiled before it arrived at the cold storage, and because it was zucchini, the surface characteristics were not so obvious.

Naturally, the problem lies in the pre-cooling process.

In the sweltering heat that often reaches over 40 degrees Celsius, removing the "field heat" is a necessary step for wholesale markets. However, this batch of goods not only failed to be de-heated in time, but was also stored in the high temperature for a long time.

The reason for this stomach upset is likely that some farmers were dissatisfied with the price and left the produce at their homes for a while. Later, out-of-town merchants were even less willing to accept the price, so they had to sell it at an even lower price. Just then, Qingfeng Cold Storage picked up the goods, and this batch was delivered.

Although it was somewhat unethical, people didn't think much of it. They only sold the good stuff; what didn't sell, they ate themselves. Look at those tractors that brought back the leftovers—most of them cooked or mixed up and ate some; every household did that. It's just that no one expected problems to arise at the school. Perhaps this wasn't the first time something like this had happened; it was just a coincidence this time.

Thinking of this, Hu Shutong fell silent. In this warehouse, he hadn't given Shi Qingfeng a concrete solution. Regardless of Shi Qingfeng's willingness, he still talked a lot about the problems with the cold storage. He held no hope of fixing it or not, and the meeting ended somewhat unhappily.

Hu Shutong was very familiar with the Qujiaying wholesale market, as his family had been growing vegetables for seven or eight years. During holidays, Hu Shutong would often travel to the wholesale market. Just then, the family had one last batch of vegetables to harvest the next day. The three of them worked in the vegetable garden for more than two hours, filling their tricycle about halfway, before heading to Qujiaying to sell their produce.

The roadside was littered with rotting vegetables, some piled up on slopes, stretching all the way to the wholesale market. Outside the wholesale market was a huge open space specifically for purchasing vegetables, where farmers from all directions gathered.

After selling out, Hu Wankui smoked a cigarette on his tricycle, while Hu Shutong wandered around the wholesale market. After looking around, nothing had changed from last year.

This wholesale market does have cold storage facilities, but the capacity is extremely limited, less than a thousand tons, making it a micro-sized cold storage facility. Many large-scale growers in the three counties cannot meet the storage needs of these facilities. Only large out-of-town customers can store their produce in the cold storage, with their professional refrigerated trucks providing unified, one-time transportation.

The vegetables that trucks couldn't transport in time were piled up in a pre-cooling ice storage warehouse, regardless of the type of vegetables or whether they were suitable for pre-cooling. The biggest problem was that the pre-cooling here was just "creating an atmosphere." The operation was extremely simple and crude. Workers used shovels to shovel ice everywhere, like applying an ice towel to a feverish person.

People are afraid of the word "equipment," as if it implies huge investments. But that's not actually the case. Hu Shutong is a university student in Mingyuan City, Mingjiang Province. Some cold storage facilities on the outskirts of the city started using differential pressure pre-cooling fans more than three years ago. This equipment forces cold air to flow over the surface of fruits and vegetables. Compared to ice machines and a lot of manual labor, in the long run, cold air fans are actually a more cost-effective solution.

However, Hu Shutong could only think about these things; there was no place for him to speak here. After returning home, Hu Shutong tossed and turned at night. If he could just state the refrigerated shelf life of the zucchini and list the calorific value and heat capacity for spoilage before the batch of goods was put into storage, it would be enough to provide the health department with evidence, and the finger would be pointed directly at the Qujiaying Wholesale Market.

As for the problems with the wholesale market, he could even come up with a systematic rectification plan, which indeed proved Qingfeng Cold Storage's innocence. But what's next?

Qujiaying is a distribution center jointly built by the three counties. For many years, it has been like a "vegetable and fruit marketplace," where agricultural products from the three counties could only be sold through it. If anyone was found to be buying produce privately in the county seat, they could be forced out of the business the very next day. There were also a bunch of local bullies who controlled the flow of vegetables and fruits, wielding considerable power.

First, Qingfeng Cold Storage is doomed; second, it will bring trouble to his family. He knows very well that this isn't something that can be resolved overnight, or even in three to five years. As a college student who hasn't even graduated yet, what the people in the county call a greenhorn, he'll probably make a fool of himself.

In the end, Hu Shutong came up with a compromise: he drafted a statement and had Shi Qingfeng memorize it so they could communicate with the health department in person, thus avoiding any written record. Hu Shutong's purpose was simple: to remove the Qingfeng Cold Storage issue from the health department's mind in a reasonable and substantive manner, leaving ample room for all parties to move on and prevent them from dwelling on the matter.

Three days later, Shi Qingfeng's actions paid off.

The most obvious sign was that a dozen or so people arrived at the Hu family's house, looking extremely agitated. There were no such people in the surrounding area, and their coordinated actions suggested they were likely sent by the wholesale market to cause trouble.

Hu Wankui told Hu Shutong not to come out, and Hu's mother stood at the door, rubbing her palms together. The large iron gate was tightly locked. Hu Wankui, a tall and strong man, was using a sharp shovel to turn over the peanuts drying in the yard. Seeing this, no one dared to force their way in.

"Now we can't call him 'Hu Family Boy' anymore, we have to call him 'Expert Boy'! Is this the same 'top student' that's been talked about for miles around? Turns out we raised a thankless ingrate who turns on his own people!"

"If you have something to say, go to the government and reason with them. What are you doing making a scene here!" Hu Wankui shouted in a deep voice.

"You 'expert' brat, dare you do something but not admit it? Come out and show yourself! Don't think you can hide in peace! Who's going to pay for the refrigeration unit that cost tens of thousands of yuan?!"

"Director Xiao hasn't even said anything yet, and you're already jumping out! Years ago, we could just boil some green melons and sprouting vegetables and get through the winter. Now that we're well-fed and clothed, look at you, acting all fussy! I think it's just that the big city spoiled you!"

"You've gotten away with all this trouble! Fighting, smoking, dating, forming gangs at arcades—where are you?! What have you been learning?! Are you learning to cause trouble?!"

……