Twenty years of cold chain

Chapter 45 The Ocarina Player

One day in early March.

At dusk, Hu Shutong returned to Mingda University.

The dormitory was on the third floor, but as soon as he got downstairs, he heard an extremely ethereal sound of an ocarina.

It is a clear and captivating sound, like the contractions of seashells resonating in one's eardrums, capable of instantly transporting one to any desired destination. It seems to emanate from the earth, its beautiful echoes like fragrant breaths, or from a clear stream, with the tinkling of pine trees and the gentle flow of water.

Following the sound, Hu Shutong went up to the third floor and found it getting closer and closer. When he found his dormitory, he realized that he had a roommate.

A man in a long black robe sat on the balcony, head bowed, his fingers gently tapping on a submarine-shaped ocarina the size of a fist, the serene sound echoing around him. Hu Shutong put his things down and sat quietly at his desk, not wanting to disturb him.

This person had long hair, and high cheekbones accentuated his thin face, giving him a very artistic air. On the table opposite him were collections of poems by Baudelaire and Neruda, and Hu Shutong guessed that this person must be a graduate student from the Faculty of Arts.

The balcony window remained open, letting in a cool breeze. The man played one tune after another, but Hu Shutong had no idea what they were. When he stopped, he was still facing the same direction. Hu Shutong didn't go up to greet him; the scene left him unsure of what to do.

It was dinnertime, and Hu Shutong was starving after the long journey. He went to the cafeteria for dinner, which took less than an hour. When he returned, he found that his roommate had already gone to bed.

He faced the wall and could occasionally hear the soft sound of pages turning. Hu Shutong settled his luggage briefly and then began to read as well.

The distance this person exudes is unprecedented; at least, he doesn't feel like he has a roommate, as if Hu Shutong doesn't exist.

For three consecutive days, Hu Shutong had a pretty good idea of ​​this man's biological clock. He would get up at six o'clock every morning and then disappear without a trace. He would return to the dormitory at noon and leave again at two o'clock in the afternoon. He would come back at six o'clock in the evening, play the ocarina for an hour, go to bed at seven o'clock to read, and then fall asleep without anyone knowing when.

At first, Hu Shutong wasn't used to such a solitary person, but he gradually got used to it and no longer moved around the dormitory as quietly as before. Every day, Hu Shutong would listen to him play the ocarina before going to eat, because the sound was truly captivating.

The texture of this sound is like enveloping you; whether you're reading or thinking, it always brings a sense of openness, without needing to know what kind of music it is.

During this time, Hu Shutong also discovered many of this person's peculiar habits. For example, he would completely disassemble a pack of cigarettes and put them all into a metal box at once. He had as many as twelve fountain pens on his desk, but he only ever used the red one.

Three days later, in mid-March, the long-awaited refrigerated food laboratory was finally going to hold its inaugural meeting.

The team consisted of fifteen people, professionals from the University of Minnesota and four other universities in other provinces, with Pang Shiyou as the research group leader. In the conference room, Pang Shiyou sat in the head seat, while the two youngest members of the team sat at the far end of the conference table.

Just as Hu Shutong entered the meeting room, he was already deeply shocked. The other person was also in the same mood, looking at Hu Shutong with a look of astonishment.

He was none other than Hu Shutong's roommate.

Hu Shutong was naturally astonished. How could someone who knew musical instruments, read poetry, and was quiet and even somewhat melancholic be a member of this top-notch team? The contrast was simply too astonishing.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pang Shiyou introduced the people involved one by one. Among them were doctoral supervisors in materials science, professors in refrigeration and cold transport, and professors in low-temperature food science. Some were proficient in one area, while others had some expertise in another. This will provide excellent human resources for interdisciplinary research in the refrigerated food laboratory.

It was only then that Hu Shutong learned that his roommate sitting opposite him was named Li Zhou, a doctoral student at Mingjiang University of Technology. Pang Shiyou used the most space to introduce him.

Because Li Zhou is a special case in the entire refrigerated food laboratory, his research is in the field of information technology. At first, Hu Shutong was also puzzled as to how this laboratory could support information technology, but when he heard about RFID, he suddenly understood.

RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification technology, is now being used in air freight, high-end hotel door locks, parking management, and other fields. It is a rapidly developing field that many people are optimistic about, and it has many irreplaceable aspects.

Li Zhou's attempt is to "apply radio frequency identification technology to the cold chain industry," which is exciting. Once this technology matures and becomes widespread, it will boost the industry on another level.

Next, Pang Shiyou announced the main research topic of the refrigerated food laboratory. After listening, Hu Shutong finally understood why Minghe Group could not have the technical team work on-site.

New type of refrigerated food packaging.

These eight simple words are enough to put immense pressure on people. Packaging research and development is extremely complex, requiring consideration of barrier properties, moisture resistance, puncture resistance, cold resistance, and oil resistance. It is a very difficult task.

Currently, common refrigerated packaging materials on the market include paper packaging, plastic packaging, metal packaging, and composite packaging. Composite packaging is widely used in the market, but in meat packaging, the impact of composite materials on food safety is receiving increasing attention, and their elimination is only a matter of time.

The reason is not complicated: composite materials must be bonded with adhesives, and aromatic and aliphatic adhesives contain harmful substances that can easily seep into meat products. Therefore, multi-layer co-extruded high-barrier packaging has become a new direction, using internationally recognized environmentally friendly materials such as PA and PE, and co-extruded in a single physical process. Compared to traditional dry lamination, it eliminates the use of adhesives, thus preventing harmful substances such as fats and benzene from penetrating food, which is also related to the standards for exported food.

In addition, the refrigerated food laboratory also undertakes many smaller tasks, such as portable insulated boxes, miniature modular cold storage, and so on.

And so, thanks to Pang Shiyou's tireless efforts, the refrigerated food laboratory was finally launched.

……