Twenty years of cold chain

It was late at night, but Hu Shutong's office light was still on.

Three months after its opening, Tongxing's booming success has garnered much applause. Those around Hu Shutong admire his boldness, and partners recognize Tongxing's professionalism. Hu Shutong has never doubted the future of this path. Tongxing's prosperity stems from its fulfillment of the most practical needs of the moment and, driven by the times, possesses limitless potential for growth.

Vegetables arrived, fish filled the warehouse, and business with Qingyuan and other companies began to pick up. Meanwhile, seeing Tongxing's steady operation, more and more companies began to contact Tongxing for cooperation.

With a steady start and rapid growth, Tongxing's path to glory should have been ignited, and Hu Shutong could have looked forward to leading Tongxing on a bright future. But in reality, he had never experienced such immense pressure before, and this overwhelming momentum even brought him a sense of unease.

It used to be said that "huge investment and long wait for results" was an unsolvable problem in this industry, but now that it's happening to me, I understand it even more clearly.

Tongxing's operating costs are very high. Refrigerated trucks and six large warehouses are constantly burning money. Given Hu Shutong's refrigeration requirements, this is a huge expense. Moreover, during the cooperation process, Tongxing needs to advance a large amount of funds. Some farmers' markets settle accounts quarterly and some annually, so Tongxing has to set up a special fund to ensure that the vegetables can be collected.

The same applies to delivery services. With such a large-scale cooperation, there's no such thing as "daily or monthly settlement." Contract payments are due at the end of the year, and if there are no delays in payment by then, you'll be lucky.

Furthermore, to build the industrial park, a huge number of installment payments after the down payment are still lined up and waiting to be made.

Even more problematic is that Hu Shutong has realized the decline in Tongxing's operational efficiency over the past month, for a very real reason: there aren't enough cars.

The company's transportation department has racked its brains, using information technology to track and allocate vehicle operations, dividing the company into five transportation groups that communicate with each other to achieve real-time off-site dispatching. Even so, it still cannot solve the problem of delayed goods in the cold storage.

If cold storage goods accumulate, it will also affect the operation of refrigerated trucks. If this problem is not solved, Tongxing will become less and less efficient, and eventually, serious problems will arise as the inventory accumulates.

How could Hu Shutong sleep peacefully amidst all these events?

Just then, the landline rang. "Shutong, President Ma just replied to me. The meeting is scheduled for 4 PM tomorrow at the city branch. President Ma is from the same hometown as us in Mozi, so it's up to you how things are discussed."

After hanging up the phone, Hu Shutong breathed a sigh of relief. He carefully reviewed the documents at hand to make sure nothing was missing, and only left the office after 12 o'clock.

Walking in the park, Hu Shutong suddenly saw Su Mu.

"Mr. Hu, it's so late and you're still not asleep."

"I already told you to just call me senior in private."

"My classmates all say it sounds weirder for me to call you 'senior'."

Hu Shutong smiled. The students who came for internships all called Su Mu "Uncle Su," and the title gradually spread until everyone in every department of the park called him that. People liked dealing with Su Mu; he was steady and reliable, and gradually people forgot about his status as an intern graduate and treated him as a peer.

Neither of them was sleepy, so they started walking around the park together.

The phrase "midsummer night" itself carries many beautiful connotations and contains enchanting dreams.

The stars shine with a gentle glow, and the night breeze is soft and tender, instantly bringing a sense of peace.

"Graduation ceremony is coming up soon, right? Do you want to stay at Tongxing?"

"think!"

Upon hearing Hu Shutong's question, Su Mu immediately stopped, his eyes bright and clear.

After uttering that word, he added, "We all want to!"

Hu Shutong nodded. "Remember to come back early after the graduation dinner."

"Senior, then I'm officially a member of Tongxing!"

"Welcome to Tongxing."

The usually prim and proper Su Mu was laughing so hard that the moonlight shone on his teeth. It was unexpected that he was so excited; for him, this was an incredibly happy moment.

"Senior, we actually came to Tongxing because of your reputation, but after arriving, we realized that cold chain logistics can be done like this!"

"What do you mean? And what do you imagine?"

"Everyone knows that the cold chain is related to every household, but how exactly it relates to them is something we're actually clueless about. Some people think it's about looking at the equipment from the back end, some think it's about doing research and development in the lab, and I even considered logistics management. But if it's all about logistics management, why study cold chain logistics for four years? After coming to Tongxing, we found that Tongxing solved all our confusion. The old questions of the first mile and the last mile have been connected by our seniors!"

Hu Shutong felt a surge of joy, which quickly spread to his face as he smiled broadly. These words were much more pleasant to hear than "Shutong has foresight" or "Shutong is capable of great things." He was also touched, because this was recognition from someone "within the industry."

Speaking of which, if Hu Shutong had encountered a company like Tongxing during her undergraduate internship, she would probably feel the same way as Su Mu right now.

In the future, they will all be great talents in the industry, soaring together with Tongxing and accompanying Hu Shutong. This suddenly brought back to him the feeling of not being alone when he was walking on the road in Mozi County, holding his bicycle, which made him feel more confident.

"Senior, our major is also subject to a lot of misunderstandings, which makes people think that Tongxing is a rare opportunity. To be honest, when I came to Tongxing for my internship, my dad scolded me for coming from a prestigious university to work in a warehouse..."

Hu Shutong laughed heartily, "It took me a long time to convince my dad that I wasn't a truck driver!"

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.