Twenty years of cold chain

Chapter 425 The Battle for Listing (1)

In late spring and early summer, Luan Pingxin was more than two months pregnant. As an older mother, both sets of parents were extremely cautious. They moved into the house in Qingyan before the Lunar New Year and took meticulous care of her, providing her with three meals a day.

Hu Shutong also focused his attention on his wife, making sure she had regular hospital checkups, taking her for walks after meals, and spending as much time as possible with her. Lately, he has also been visiting Tongxing less frequently, using his free time at home to prepare for the summit.

It must be said that once the idea for this summit was conceived, it quickly generated buzz in the industry. Not only were various industry players making preparations, but universities also began holding events, including lectures on various aspects of the cold chain. Hu Shutong received invitations to more than a dozen lectures, and his schedule was already booked until the end of next month.

Although lectures are often perceived as rather dry and dull, and it's unclear how much insight such intermittent events can offer, Hu Shutong took them very seriously. The thought of the lectures reminded him of his first meeting with his mentor, Pang Shiyou—perhaps the most important occasion of his life.

However, in the past few days, Luan Pingxin noticed that Hu Shutong had something on his mind again, and she knew very well that it was definitely not about the summit and lectures.

Turning our attention to Tongxing, not only Hu Shutong, but also all the other leaders of Tongxing have rarely had such a relaxed time recently. Everything has been settled, and they can just proceed step by step.

As is customary, Liu Zhiying chairs the weekly meeting every Monday morning when Hu Shutong is absent.

The Monday meetings are mostly for Tongxing's core leadership to hear reports. In addition to the headquarters, representatives from the airport, seaport, land port, and even major transit centers will come to report. Sometimes, the phased plans of Tongxing headquarters will also be announced. It can be said to be Tongxing's largest port.

Generally, this meeting goes smoothly and moves forward according to everyone's established plans. However, today's meeting was a little different from the past. Yang Chenghai suddenly brought up the matter of expanding the "financing group" at the meeting.

This department was established after Tongxing Delivery's Series A funding round. Its main task over the years has been to analyze the industry's investment environment and maintain communication with securities firms. Although it has remained largely the same team, this department is of great significance. Venture capital is a kind of trend indicator; it allows people to see the industry from a different perspective.

The reason it was described as sudden is that even Liu Zhiying was unaware beforehand that the expansion of the department was no small matter; such things could only be discussed privately before being brought up in a meeting.

Today was indeed unusual, but Liu Zhiying concealed her surprise and revealed that she already knew about the discussion. After all, in people's minds, there was no such thing as a rash thing between Yang and Liu.

But at this moment, what surprised Liu Zhiying even more was that many people at the meeting were not surprised at all. Only a few people looked surprised, but when they saw Liu Zhiying's expression, they immediately regained their composure and inexplicably understood.

Liu Zhiying then managed to glean some insights.

Therefore, although this was a sudden and major topic, it proceeded very smoothly. Not only did many people have something to say, but they also offered various perspectives, fully emphasizing the necessity of expanding the financing team. These opinions could not be erased, and every word was ultimately recorded in the meeting minutes.

Seeing this, Liu Zhiying spoke in a very broad and general manner, and ultimately ended the meeting by saying "we will discuss it again".

Although Hu Shutong would ultimately have to make the final decision, Liu Zhiying was filled with unease, which gave him a bad feeling. Things had suddenly escalated, as if Tongxing had been working on this matter behind the scenes for a long time, and it was impossible to say when it started, but it had finally created such a surge of morale.

Tongxing Delivery has completed its Series B financing. Why expand its financing group at this time? The implications are self-evident. Judging from the atmosphere at the meeting, many people were eager to participate and seemed to have already made up their minds. It must be said that this is not purely a business matter.

When it comes to financing, Yang Chenghai is undoubtedly the top expert in this field at Tongxing. From the day he joined Tongxing, he has been deeply involved in financing.

Shortly after the meeting, Liu Zhiying couldn't contain herself and went straight to Yang Chenghai's office.

Yang Chenghai was engrossed in flipping through documents when he saw Liu Zhiying walk in with a brisk pace. He immediately stood up with a smile, "Old Liu, you've come at the right time. I was just about to look for you."

"Old Yang, let's wait until President Hu returns to discuss some things. I hope that a situation like today's will not happen again."

Yang Chenghai scratched his short hair, the sound like a hissing brush, and then asked with a puzzled look, "What happened?"

Seeing this, Liu Zhiying felt somewhat unfamiliar with him. "Old Yang, I think you know better than I do that when it comes to going public, our opinions don't change anything."

"Going public? You're the one who said it."

"Since I was overthinking it, that's fine then."

Just as Liu Zhiying was about to leave, Yang Chenghai quickly took a few steps and closed the door. Then, he placed one hand on Liu Zhiying's shoulder and patted it meaningfully.

"Old Liu, I have to say, you and President Hu are so alike. That stubbornness is like a rake, leaving deep marks wherever you sweep it. I know Tongxing is already big enough, and you've never been just simple tech people, but have you thought about the road ahead?"

Liu Zhiying knew that Yang Chenghai had a big plan, but he found it hard to accept these words. Sometimes, people use affirmation to cover up their negativity, such as the term "technical person".

"Why bother with the talk of stubbornness? Since you've thought everything through, why don't you go and tell President Hu? I can even have a rake custom-made for you."

Yang Chenghai smiled; he was used to this kind of seemingly mild-mannered but actually quite sharp attitude. He slowly stepped forward and poured Liu Zhiying a cup of tea.

"Mr. Liu, I just want to ask you one question: if we don't go public, isn't the current situation already the limit?"

"You know the delivery business best, but in my opinion, it's not even close to its limits yet. We still have a lot of areas to explore, and expanding the network will depend on you."

Upon hearing this, Yang Chenghai shook his head and laughed, as if facing a great misunderstanding, and gradually burst into laughter.

"President Liu, you need to understand that Tongxing didn't start out in delivery; it's not a pure delivery company. It's just one segment of the larger Tongxing system. Our President Hu has never focused solely on this one area. Even if it went public under these circumstances, how much of a stir do you think it could make?"

"Then why..."

Just as Liu Zhiying was about to speak again, she suddenly froze!

No wonder Yang Chenghai had such a large entourage, no wonder there were so many people echoing him. It turns out this was not the situation of Tongxing Delivery at all, and in an instant, it was completely different!

"Old Yang, this is too big. In my opinion, President Hu doesn't have any plans for this at the moment."

"He didn't plan to because he hadn't thought it through deeply, or hadn't had time to think it through carefully, but Lao Liu, we can't not think about it."

Immediately, Yang Chenghai's eyes flashed with a sharp, intimidating light. "At this point, forget about feelings. As long as you, Lao Liu, are willing to acknowledge the general trend and work with me to support this effort, this matter will definitely be safe!"

Liu Zhiying fell silent. In fact, this was nothing new. With sufficient financing and a successful IPO, it was clear from the statements of Yang Chenghai and many other Tongxing employees that this was an inevitable path to break through into a new situation.

The problem is, this is not Hu Shutong's will.

Liu Zhiying was constantly weighing this point. Over the years, Tongxing had experienced both stormy slander and clear skies, enduring hardship to wait for new opportunities and boldly forging ahead. In short, it was Hu Shutong who, as if reading the lines on a palm, had guided Tongxing step by step.

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.