Twenty years of cold chain

More than an hour before dawn, the vegetable farmers arrive at their fields, pick vegetables, load them onto trucks, and then take them to the various collection areas where large trucks stop. Usually, by nine o'clock in the morning, all the vegetables for the day are sold out.

This is the third year that "winter-warm vegetable greenhouses" have been promoted in various counties of Qingyan City. Every February, vegetables such as cucumbers, lettuce, broccoli, and romaine lettuce are successively put on the market, and the price of this batch of winter vegetables is very high.

Unlike previous years, vegetable farmers have received much more lenient treatment this year. Trucks are no longer as picky as before, with strict rules such as cucumbers not being more than a finger joint in size or broccoli not having more than three leaves under the florets being less stringent. This year, once the vegetables are brought to the trucks, it's basically just a matter of bagging and weighing them.

The attitude of the truck drivers when buying vegetables has changed. In the past, vegetable farmers would endure scolding and smile in order to sell their vegetables every day. If this one was too big or that one was too small, they would just throw it aside. If this bag was not packed properly, it was simply not acceptable, without any reason.

Selling vegetables is difficult not only because there are few ways to get out of the market, but also because there are too many arrogant and domineering people.

Now, the truck drivers have become much more amiable, and they always remind us to keep an eye on our market when selling vegetables in the future. Although this is unusual, it's a great thing for the vegetable farmers; it doesn't matter who they sell to.

The key time that the major vegetable vendors are watching is the opening of the three major markets in April. In order to block Tongxing's access to vegetables, the leaders of the five counties are more united than ever before, and they are determined to win this battle well and wait for Tongxing to be held accountable by the relevant departments.

But Tongxing's announcement of its operations at this time has precisely hit the Achilles' heel of those large vegetable vendors! There are still more than two months before Tongxing supplies the three major markets, but Tongxing's advantage is not only in transportation, but also in storage. It does not need to purchase enough vegetables to supply all at once, but can "store vegetables" and take its time over more than two months.

This completely ruined the big vegetable vendors' plan to "kick the door" in April, and they had to exert all their strength to catch Tongxing at any time!

When things become a long-term process, it's a huge drain on large-scale vegetable vendors. It's like every day is April; the slightest movement in those assembly warehouses will trigger their anxiety. More importantly, even though they're buying more vegetables, their profits are decreasing.

The reason this chain has been running smoothly for so many years is that it can only handle a limited amount of food, ensuring a stable supply while maximizing the profit from the price difference.

Correspondingly, vegetable farmers have unknowingly formed a cooperative approach, planting several types of vegetables on one plot of land to stagger their planting times. For each type of vegetable, they focus on the first and last harvests, while the middle harvests are the least valuable and not worth the effort if they can't be sold.

However, Tongxing's actions resulted in a large backlog of vegetables in the hands of large vegetable vendors. Although the green-brush trucks had strong transport capacity, they lacked the ability to preserve freshness, which directly led to vegetable farmers making money while the vendors were constantly losing money.

Behind the scenes, everyone wanted to demand an explanation from Tongxing, calling him inhuman and a bastard. But as they cursed, they ran out of energy because Tongxing hadn't done anything at all. Not a single Tongxing truck could be seen in the fields, yet they couldn't help but worry that one day he would suddenly appear and steal a few truckloads, one after another, until the warehouse was full of goods in April.

These large vegetable vendors were like mighty warriors, operating on their own territory for over twenty years. Any "trespassers" would be crushed. But to their astonishment, they found that their punches were only hitting the clouds. Moreover, they had no idea how long it would take for the clouds to dissipate.

Hu Shutong, who was far away in the suburbs, was well aware of the current situation, but his face was full of worry.

My father called and repeated the same things he had told me repeatedly during the Chinese New Year in a different way.

"Boss, I've heard a lot of unpleasant things lately. I know business is tough, but no matter what, we can't steal vegetables! Things in the fields can escalate into serious matters. Those people are much fiercer than Mo Zi. Let's talk things out calmly and not escalate things to a head-on confrontation!"

Hu Wankui's words revealed many people's concerns about Hu Shutong. Everyone feared that he, in his early days of success, might get into a fight with the big vegetable vendors. Those vendors were all seasoned veterans who had been through countless trials and tribulations; there was no chance of winning against them.

"Dad, don't worry, there won't be any fighting over vegetables even if we can't harvest a single one."

"But now rumors about you are spreading everywhere, and the news has even reached Mo Zi. If you don't back down, you won't be able to withstand those old foxes. Go and talk to them. We're all in the same industry, how can there be no solution?"

Hu Shutong knew that countless schemes, both soft and hard, true and false, had been fabricated around him lately. It was a new tactic employed by the big vegetable vendors, increasingly aimed at winning people over.

The night was cold. Hu Shutong leaned against the prefab house, looking up at the roof that blocked his view, then at the few small windows in the distance. After a while, Yu Dajun came in, took a bottle of wine from the corner, unscrewed it, and started drinking. Then, he smacked his lips, seemingly enjoying the aroma of the wine. "It's not time yet? I think you've been waiting for ages."

"It should be soon," Hu Shutong said casually.

"Hold on, don't panic! The construction team is here; no one can break in!"

Based on Yu Dajun's understanding of Hu Shutong, he must be holding something back, and it certainly can't be something as trivial as what happens in the fields.

"Where did you say that?" Hu Shutong was about to step forward when his phone rang. He glanced at it and his eyes suddenly focused.

"Shutong, the report is scheduled for 9:00 AM tomorrow. Leaders from the transportation and agriculture departments will be attending. Make the most of this opportunity. I'll submit your application again! You must hold your own!"

Hu Shutong breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Lei Xiaoxi speak so decisively after a long time. He then flipped through the revised plan in his hand. This long-delayed path had finally taken a turn for the better!

Besides Hu Shutong's own proposal, there was also a "Notice" jointly formulated and issued by multiple ministries more than half a month ago.

Implementation Plan for the Construction of a National High-Efficiency Green Channel for the Circulation of Fresh Agricultural Products!

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.