Chapter 39 – The Cold Chain Gamble
The moment the contracts were signed, Chen Hao moved fast.
Three provinces, three new cold storage projects — all designed far larger than current needs. The blueprints showed facilities that could handle double the current supply volume, complete with backup generators, advanced refrigeration units imported from Europe, and loading bays big enough for twice the fleet he actually owned.
In the boardroom, his managers looked at the plans with cautious admiration.
"This… is ambitious, President Chen," said Liu Jian, the logistics head. "Most companies would just rent existing warehouses."
Chen Hao gave a confident smile. "Renting locks us into someone else's pace. Owning means we set the pace."
That explanation — calm, decisive, and future-focused — was all the employees heard.
What they didn't hear was the private thought running in Chen Hao's head:
And building from scratch costs way more. Perfect for bleeding money faster.
Construction teams broke ground before the first frost. In each province, local governments were quick to grant permits — impressed that a young entrepreneur was "bringing advanced logistics investment" to their cities.
Inside the company, the new projects became a morale booster. Regional managers began talking about "laying the foundation for a national chain." The phrase spread in meeting rooms and lunch breaks:
"If the boss is building like this, it means he's aiming for the whole country."
In truth, Chen Hao wasn't thinking that far ahead — at least not in the way they imagined. His focus was on creating a system so overbuilt and costly that profits would vanish. But ironically, every "wasteful" decision made his supply chain smoother. Delivery times shortened. Costs per shipment quietly dropped.
By winter's start, the first of the cold storage facilities was already halfway complete. Trucks were rerouted to temporary rental depots nearby, and the operations team was buzzing with energy.
From the outside, it looked like Chen Hao was steering the company toward dominance. From the inside — in his own mind — he was steering it straight into a financial black hole.
The problem was, the black hole kept spitting out gold.