Twenty years of cold chain

A car was heading northwest.

In the winter of Northwest China, the scenery along the roadside is not as monotonous as one might imagine. Sometimes you can see large patches of sea buckthorn bushes, and sometimes you can see withered but vigorous poplars. In some places, snow has fallen, and cattle and sheep are searching for dry grass on the sunny slopes.

There were six people in the car.

Ganzhou is mostly mountainous and hilly, and the number of tunnels increases as you go northwest. This terrain...

The time it takes to get from Qingyan to Qingping would probably take almost twice as long here. Judging from the passing vehicles...

Hu Shutong could also see many differences.

Meng Qiangqiang's home is in a township under the jurisdiction of Longwei County.

Many towns here are made up of individual mountain villages. The original plan was to meet Meng Qiangqiang in Longwei County, but when we arrived in the county town, Meng Qiangqiang changed his mind and hoped that Hu Shutong could come to his home for a visit.

Hu Shutong sensed something was amiss, so he told everyone to stay in the county town first, while he and the driver headed to the village.

At the village entrance, Meng Qiangqiang arrived early to wait for Hu Shutong, but there was no joy in his expression. He sat blankly on a rock, his brow furrowed. He clutched a disposable lighter in his hand, flicking it once and then releasing it, watching the flame leap up and then go out.

As night fell, after trekking along difficult paths, Hu Shutong finally met Meng Qiangqiang.

Meng Qiangqiang got into the car and led Hu Shutong home.

The moment we met,

Hu Shutong immediately noticed something was wrong.

Those shiny eyelids looked as if they had just been crying.

"Qiangqiang, what happened?"

Meng Qiangqiang's voice was hoarse and low, "Mr. Hu, my dad said he wants to talk to you. He used to agree to everything I said, but when he heard you were coming, he refused to do anything. If my dad offends you later, I apologize in advance. Please don't take it to heart; he doesn't understand anything!"

Hu Shutong nodded. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

The car drove towards the west end of the village, and the most remote house was the Meng family's. There were a few chickens in the yard, and dried chilies that hadn't been collected from the dampness at noon were on a carrying pole. Strings of braided garlic hung on the wall between the windows.

Meng Qiangqiang's parents came out to greet the guests. They both looked to be in their fifties; Meng's father was wearing a dark blue flat-topped hat.

He was thin and dark-skinned, and always had a pipe in his hand.

Mencius' father observed that Hu Shutong was resolute and spirited, with an extraordinary aura.

He looked a lot like the children of high-ranking officials in the county town, which surprised me somewhat.

It was dinnertime, and the Meng family had stewed a pot of chicken, made noodles, and on the table was a plate of square cakes and a full jar of bulk white liquor. Although it was served in small bowls, Hu Shutong did not refuse at all. It was clear that Meng's father had a good capacity for alcohol; he had just finished one bowl, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then downed another in one gulp.

"Boss Hu, it's quite an achievement for Qiangzi to know someone like you. But don't laugh at me, Boss Hu, you've seen our family's situation. My wife and I just want Qiangzi to be honest and have a job in a big factory like yours. That would be enough for our family. As for what he can do himself, it's not that we don't want to, it's just that we really can't afford it."

"Dad! You said before that you would support whatever I did! Why have you changed your mind now!"

"What are you going to support this with! It's building a factory, not a chicken coop!" Meng Qiangqiang said this as if he had suddenly burst into flames, gritting his teeth and panting heavily.

"Uncle Meng, I understand whatever choice your family makes. I came here not only for Qiangqiang's sake, but also to see how things are going here. You two don't need to argue like this. Starting your own business is risky, while having a stable job is more secure. Just discuss it calmly."

Meng's father nodded repeatedly, "Boss Hu is right, that's what the family thinks too. If you ask me, you should just cut off his hopes. What's the point of messing around in this poor mountain village!"

Hu Shutong smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about it. If Qiangqiang doesn't do something, someone else will. Whether I think about it or not is not up to me."

"Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Hu. This is how things are at home, so I won't say any more."

Hu Shutong nodded and said, "Uncle Meng, the reason this happened is ultimately because Qiangqiang went to a good university and has the ability to do technical work. I thought about how I could help him because of that."

As he spoke, Hu Shutong picked up a small bowl of wine and drank it. "Then, my experience was similar to Qiangqiang's. My family situation was the same back then. We had the same major, and at that time, everyone in the surrounding villages thought I would be a truck driver. But it turned out to be a misunderstanding."

"Uncle Meng, Qiangqiang graduated from the top-ranked university in Qingzhou. My factory desperately needs someone like him. If it weren't for these connections, I'd actually be worried he'd get the idea to start his own business. I also grew up in a village. There are ways to live whether you have a lot of money or a little, but a person's reputation is something that money can't buy. I remember Qiangqiang saying that on the day he got into university, everyone in the village was counting on him to build roads for their hometown in the future."

Meng Qiangqiang deeply understood Hu Shutong's words. In the countryside, reputation often gave people a greater sense of presence than money. No one talked about how much savings they had, but everyone exaggerated their reputation. For the older generation, if their children were working away from home, a textile worker would be known as someone in the garment trade, and a planner would be known as someone in real estate. People didn't really know what the outside world was like, but they all knew which industries were worth boasting about.

Moreover, comparison is everywhere. If a wealthy person is not married, people will say that not having a family means not being successful. If someone has a family and a career but no children, people will say that a person cannot be without descendants. If someone has a family, a career, and children, people will inevitably speculate about where all that money came from.

Meng Qiangqiang glanced at Hu Shutong in surprise, because he had noticed a slight change in his father's expression after those words. In an instant, he felt a genuine admiration for Hu Shutong. If Meng Qiangqiang had said those words, he probably would have been punished with a broom, but when Hu Shutong, an outsider, spoke, the effect was remarkable.

In this situation, mentioning very low or extremely low costs is pointless; it would only deepen Father's frown. But if we talk about bringing honor to the family, it sounds gentle and easy, but it actually strikes at Father's psychological defenses. With this in mind, things might move in the direction of "We're old, let you young people do what you want."

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.