A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

Two days later, in the fresh food section of a high-end supermarket in Shanghai.

The "Gobi Snow Apple" counter is placed in the most prominent position, with a huge photo of a snow-covered orchard as the backdrop, and a roll-up banner next to it—showing enlarged versions of the cold-resistant certification, organic certificate, and sweetness test report.

On the tasting table, the sliced ​​apple pieces were crystal clear.

The aunt picked up a toothpick and tasted a piece. "Wow, it's so sweet! And it's not too pungent."

A young office worker leaned closer: "Was it really shipped from Xinjiang? Did it freeze during the journey?"

The salesperson smiled and pointed to the display screen next to him, which showed the real-time temperature data of the transport vehicle: "Direct rail cold chain delivery, kept fresh from 0 to 4 degrees Celsius throughout the journey."

"Look, this is the current temperature, 1.3 degrees Celsius, just unpacked."

On the other side of the screen, a short video edited by Li Chao's team was playing on a loop—in the snow and ice, red fruits hung on the branches, workers picked them, packed them into boxes, and loaded them onto trucks.

"Give me two cases."

The aunt took out her wallet, "This is a high-class gift for relatives during the Spring Festival."

"I want a whole case."

White-collar workers are also placing orders, saying, "This is a unique perk for company annual meetings."

A queue formed in front of the tasting station.

Three hundred boxes of trial products were sold out by 4 p.m.

Mr. Sun personally called Li Chao: "Mr. Li, your apples are a success."

My people inspected the freshness rate. We randomly checked 100 boxes and found that only two boxes had a few apples with minor bruises. The pass rate was over 98%.

"Can the remaining goods be delivered today?"

"It's already on its way."

Li Chao stared at the computer screen, watching the backend data of the online store fluctuate.

His prior contact with existing clients proved effective; the company initiated a group-buying campaign on its internal network, and individual users saw the advertisement for direct railway cold chain delivery and received a 10% discount for full-case pre-orders.

The 1,500 boxes in stock were all pre-ordered within 24 hours.

"Brother Chao, the acquirer has made a move."

Xiao Wang ran in with his phone, saying, "Their apples are on sale now, only 70% of what we pay. They even have a banner that says 'Same origin, more affordable.'"

"Playing the price war game?"

Li Chao remained calm and composed. "Print out our test report and post it on the bulletin board opposite their store. Also, find two food bloggers to do a comparison test of real and fake Snow Apples. I'll provide the samples; the focus will be on sweetness, crispness, and aroma."

In the evening, the online comparison video was released.

The blogger sliced ​​the two types of apples and tested them with a saccharimeter. The buyer's apples showed a saccharimeter content of 16.8%, while Li Chao's apples showed a saccharimeter content of 21.2%.

In the blind taste test, eight out of ten passersby chose Li Chao's apples because they were crisper, sweeter, and had a refreshing aroma.

The video went viral.

The supermarket had 2,200 boxes of apples left, and there was a surge in demand for restocking.

Mr. Sun placed an additional order for 800 boxes, Mr. Wang wanted 500 boxes to supply all his stores, and Mr. Zhao directly ordered the remaining 900 boxes, saying he wanted to make a "Limited Edition Spring Festival Gift Set".

Five thousand boxes sold out in seven days.

When the finance officer handed the report to Li Chao, his hand trembled slightly: "Brother Chao, the average price is calculated..."

It was more than 30% higher than the monopoly price offered by the acquirer. Not only did we not lose money, we also successfully promoted our brand.

Li Chao looked at the report and let out a long sigh. His phone vibrated; it was a text message from the buyer:

"Young man, you're ruthless. But we'll renegotiate the orchard contract next year."

Li Chao deleted the text message and dialed Zhou Mingyu's number: "Director Zhou, the long-term supply agreements with the three supermarkets can be drafted now."

For nine consecutive days, the lights in the experimental shed never went out.

On the morning of the tenth day, Li Chao was woken up by Xiao Zhang.

"Officer Li, come quick!"

Li Chao, still half-asleep, followed Zhang to the experimental shed and looked in the direction Zhang was pointing.

It was a tree with moderate frost damage; the insulation cotton wrapped around its trunk had not yet been removed.

But at the tip of the branch, a bud that had been withered was now sprouting a tiny bit of green.

It's very small, just a tiny little thing.

But amidst the bleak blackness, that patch of green was dazzlingly bright.

"It's alive...it's alive..."

The news spread like wildfire.

Everyone crowded around, staring at that little green spot, not daring to blink.

"I have one here too!" someone shouted from afar.

"Mine has sprouted too!"

"Mine too!"

One voice after another rang out.

Li Chao ran around the shed like a madman, checking each tree one by one.

In the area with mild frost damage, 80% of the trees have sprouted new buds.

In the area with moderate frost damage, 60% of the trees have shown signs of revival.

Even in the severely frostbitten area, three of the dozens of trees he insisted on saving had tiny green buds sprouting from the base of their trunks.

"Statistics, quick, statistics!" Li Chao's voice changed.

An hour later, the numbers came out.

Of the 500 fruit trees damaged by frost, 350 have been confirmed to survive.

Survival rate – 70 percent.

"It's done..." Li Chao's legs went weak, and he sat down on the ground.

The video call rang at just the right moment.

On the other side of the screen, Researcher Lü, Professor Zhang, Engineer Liu, Xiao Wang, and Xiao Chen were all present.

"Li Chao, is the data ready?" Researcher Lü asked.

"They're out."

Li Chao pointed his phone camera at the trees that were sprouting new buds. "Three hundred and fifty trees, seventy percent."

On the other end of the phone, all five people breathed a sigh of relief.

Professor Zhang took off his glasses and wiped his eyes: "Good, good... Li Chao, you have created a miracle."

A 70% survival rate despite frost damage at minus 40 degrees Celsius is unprecedented in the history of fruit tree frost damage repair in China.

"It's because your plan is excellent," Li Chao said sincerely.

"Plans are static, but people are dynamic."

Professor Zhang shook his head, "Without your nine days and nine nights of hard work, even the best plan would be useless."

Researcher Lü continued, "Li Chao, the next step is recovery period management."

New shoots are very fragile; we need to protect them from late spring frosts and provide them with extra nutrition... I've already sent the plan to your email.

"clear."

"Also, all the technical data for this restoration should be recorded in detail."

I want to write it as a paper and publish it in a core journal.

Your name is listed first.

Li Chao was taken aback: "Teacher Lü, this..."

"You deserve it."

Researcher Lü smiled and said, "Li Chao, you not only saved an orchard, but you also explored a complete technical process for repairing fruit trees damaged by frost in extremely cold regions."

This value is far greater than that of the three hundred and fifty trees.

After hanging up the phone, Li Chao walked out of the experimental shed.

The sun was shining brightly outside, its rays dazzling the snow.

Eric lit a cigarette, took a drag, and said, "I give up. I was wrong to make sarcastic remarks before."

"It's all in the past," Li Chao said softly, looking at the fruit trees in the distance with new buds sprouting.

Musa ran over, "Officer Li, another tree from that batch that was severely frostbitten has sprouted. Now there are 351 trees!"

The numbers are still increasing.

Li Chao smiled.

All that's left is to watch these trees recover and grow day by day, until this autumn, they bear the sweetest apples on the Gobi Desert.

At that time, he wanted to invite everyone involved in the rescue to eat the first fruit.