Three thousand crates of tomatoes from Qingsui Fresh were judged to have a 3.7 percent spoilage rate, and the entire truckload was rejected. Wen Yan crouched on the loading platform and opened the crates. With his palm against the produce, he measured its core temperature at 2.0 to 2.2 degrees, pointing out that the inspection probe had only been inserted into the side of the crate, not the produce itself, and that 4.0 degrees was the actual spoilage threshold. He demanded that twelve crates be reinspected on the spot, only to find someone had forged his signature in the receiving column, even adding its characteristic hooked stroke at the end. Luqiao Cold Storage was claiming 480,000 yuan in damages, while Old Kang at the warehouse said that Machine Three hadn't stopped running once the previous night.
