Spitsbergen Islands (Part Seven)

After having sent the two men, Huang Xuan clapped on his own head and said, “Rolin, I think we have forgotten something very important.”

“Oh?”

“We have forgotten to prepare a warehouse in P112. Can we put the goods in the plane passage after we go back? The weather of Brazil isn’t like that of the North Pole. The meat will all go bad easily then.”

“It will be OK for you to go back as long as the hours are fewer than 84.”

“I’m not sure whether it will be enough.” Huang Xuan closed the door to the warehouse resignedly. Instantly, all the meat went into the passage. “After we go back, should all this be put in a freezer? How shall we find someone to carve it up?”

“I can take care of the carving. As to the freezer, it’s your job.” Rolin didn’t show much care. “If need be, you can get in touch with P112 now.”

“Right now? Contact another plane?”

“It’s just a matter of energy consumption,” Rolin said naturally. But Huang Xuan felt surprised and less tired. “Then whom should I contact first?”

Rolin soon made a form of the people Huang Xuan knew and displayed it in front of him on a semi-transparent and advanced-looking screen, the background of which was transparent, but the characters were clear enough to read. Besides, since it was energy projection, which was formed by lights, it could be read only from the right angle and distance. Otherwise, it would be just a proof of the Tyndall Effect.1At the same time, on the earth, when the angle and distance were determined, the location was determined. In other words, nobody could see the screen unless his or her eyeballs overlapped Huang Xuan’s.

Rolin had many excellent “private collections”, which he would only use on the condition that the energy was full, and it was used to get more energy. Huang Xuan thought Rolin was a total merchant, to whom interest was everything.

In the afternoon in Brazil, when the sun shone brightly, the most common evergreen plants, flowers, and trees in America could be seen, but with one more specificity of Sao Paulo: the endless traffic jams.

In Sao Paulo, the streets were like huge parking lots where the cars kept changing spaces and shifting gears. God knew after how many times Zhang Rong had repeated that process, he stepped on the brake hard and pulled out the key.

It seemed that he would be late for the meeting. He took his phone out as he decided to put the meeting off. No wonder Brazil was the most unpunctual country in the world. With some experience on the lanes, one would understand that in that country, punctuality was abnormal and being late was usual.

His phone started to vibrate while he was going to call his secretary.

The caller’s ID wasn’t displayed. Zhang Rong pressed the answer button and wore the earplugs. “Hello. Who is it?”

“Is that Uncle Zhang? This is Huang Xuan.”

“Oh!” Zhang Rong was surprised. “Huang gongzi2. How can I help you?”

“It’s er…” Huang Xuan sounded hesitant. “I have bought some aquatic products which will arrive soon, but the freezer has gone wrong. Could you please recommend one to me?”

Zhang Rong kept responding “Oh” on the phone, but he was thinking fast: “It will be more appropriate to find Shengfeng Company to deal with it, but now that Huang Xuan has come to me, it proves that he prefers associating with me or Xihuang Industrial Company.”

“Huang gongzi, how big a freezer do you need? How soon are the goods arriving?”

“12,000 tons.” That was Rolin’s calculation according to the prices, including the whales, shrimps, and fish. Then Huang Xuan raised his voice and said, “The goods are arriving tomorrow morning. It’s all set. Just tell me the location of the freezer then.”

Zhang Rong held the steering wheel and said in embarrassment, “It’s a little pressing.” After a short pause, he continued, “Please wait for my good news, Huang gongzi. How can I reach you?”

“Please call me Huang Xuan.” Huang Xuan chuckled. “I will contact you tomorrow.”

“OK.”

Zhang Rong exhaled deeply after having hung up the phone. Xihuang Industrial Company was the biggest shareholder of Docas Company. As a port company, they certainly had a lot of resources, but it was much too demanding to find a freezer with an accommodation of 10,000 tons.

After the talk on the phone, Huang Xuan sat down, relieved. He felt a superbase was really helpful. “It will be great if you can help with the transaction.” After that, he stretched himself.

On the morning of May 29, Huang Xuan went back to Sao Paulo.

His father hadn’t come home yet. According to Li Qing, he had been doing an important experiment. Since Huang Xuan had been fidgety in those two days, he was amazed to see how calm his father had been.

He had to adapt to the climate of Brazil again after the two days in the Arctic Circle. It was so hot that he opened his pajama and drank a big mouthful of milk. “Brother Qing, I am going out today. Are you coming with me or taking a cab yourself?” he said to Li Qing.

“I would like to go with you.” Looking at Huang Xuan’s bloodshot eyes, Li Qing was worried. “Did you play online games again last night? Isn’t the network too slow to get onto the domestic websites in Brazil since it is so far?”

Huang Xuan wiped his mouth and said with a smile, “Is it as far as from China Netcom to China Telecommunication?”

“That makes sense.”

Li Qing was good-humored and reliable. Occasionally he would comment on something, but he never gave a lecture like the butler did. So far he had done quite a satisfactory job. Furthermore, he was a good driver, which was a great deal in Sao Paulo. There tended to be a jolt during the shift from gas to brake, but Li Qing managed to make it a slight one. Even if a car turned up suddenly in front, he always remained calm instead of panicking.

The meeting with Zhang Rong had been arranged in the Port of Santos, an outer port of Sao Paulo. Because of its advantageous location and the improvement of cargo handling capacity, it had attracted a large number of international ports and shipping tycoons in the bidding for the first phase of the project, such as Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL), Port of Singapore Authority, DP World, and Maersk Group. It was about the same time that the Huang Family Funds had founded Xihuang Industrial Company. Therefore, although the first investment of HWL had been to buy the shares of Docas Company, its office had been built in the Port of Santos, and it had gradually begun engaging in cargo handling, import, and export.

Zhang Rong didn’t look good either. He had eyebags, and there was dark brown on his hands, indicating that he had been smoking. Seeing Huang Xuan’s bloodshot eyes, he thought his young boss had been worried all night too.

“Huang gongzi—” He forced a smile.

“Call me Huang Xuan.”

“OK.” Zhang Rong maintained his smile. “Huang Xuan, I have found two freezers. One can contain 5,000 tons. The other is bigger, but there is a space for 3,000 tons left only. There are three other freezers which can make room for 5,000 tons in three days.”

“That won’t work.” Huang Xuan shook his head. He hadn’t expected it to be so troublesome to find a freezer, but the whale meat in the passage couldn’t share a freezer with others. Looking at the containers afar, Huang Xuan blinked his eyes and said, “Is it so hard to find a freezer with an accommodation of 10,000 tons at such a large port?”

“It’s too pressing.” Zhang Rong felt embarrassed. Huang Xuan was his boss, to whom the entire Xihuang Industrial Company belonged. But he was helpless. The infrastructure of the Port of Santos always fell behind that of the international ports. It mainly transported domestic goods like coffee and soybeans but had little investments in freezers.

“Huang Xuan, there is a refrigeration ship anchored at the Port of Santos. I don’t think it has been loaded yet,” Rolin reminded.

Zhang Rong was still waiting for Huang Xuan’s response. Huang Xuan looked at him and said in an unhappy tone, “Are there any refrigeration ships at the port? Load the cargo first.”

“There are, but…” Zhang Rong was confused. “Loading will take a lot of time. The current efficiency in the Port of Santos is 30 standard containers per minute, and the loading will cost $200. Hence, I suggest that the cargo stay on the ship when the ship arrives until we find the freezer.”

Huang Xuan was speechless. He couldn’t tell the truth and started thinking that finding Zhang Rong was a mistake. He avoided his weird look and said with embarrassment, “Fine. Find someone to lead the way for me. When the ship arrives, fill the 5,000-ton freezer first and leave the rest on the ship. That’s all you need to do.” Then he made an excuse for an emergency and left in a hurry.

In the next few days, Rolin had been busy. It had to be admitted that the future machine was really efficient. Huang Xuan rented the empty containers, and then Rolin would put the cargo into them according to their weights and volumes. He could also deal with the customs officer’s check anytime by replacing the cargo with the commodities on the order list when the container was opened, which cost only several kWh of energy per ton, amazing Huang Xuan a lot.

Huang Xuan found two 3,000-ton refrigeration ships himself. The cargo was finally put into the freezer and the refrigeration ship. As to the customs declaration, Rolin would take care of it.

Notes:

The Tyndall effect, also known as Tyndall scattering, is light scattering by particles in a colloid or else particles in a very fine suspension.

Gongzi: son of a family, used in old days of China.