Chapter Four: More Doors, Narrower Roads

Four days after Anhe signed, seven cold-chain warehouses in Linchuan simultaneously updated their access rules. The one-page policy required every third-party audit module to carry Gu certification. Certification required continuous operating records from three Gu warehouses; entry to a Gu warehouse required certification. “The chicken lays the egg, but only after the Gu family stamps the egg,” Cheng Ye said. “Worse, Anhe needs two of those transfer hubs next month. Going around them adds two hundred kilometers and triples fulfillment costs.” Their new company, Bright Mirror Technologies, occupied an old workshop beside Anhe's industrial park. Before the paint dried, four supplier applications became three postponements and one withdrawal.