A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

"Eat up, eat something sweet, and your heart won't feel bitter."

Ya Ya's clear, crisp voice and the string of glistening candied hawthorns were like a warm current, instantly striking the softest spot in Su Nianci's heart. Looking into Ya Ya's clear, innocent eyes, and then at her own worn-out and shabby clothes, she was overwhelmed with mixed feelings.

She didn't accept it immediately. She wasn't someone who liked to accept charity from others for no reason, even if the other person was just a child.

"I...I don't have any money." Su Nianci's voice was a little hoarse.

"I know!" Ya Ya smiled, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons. "I told you, this is for you! Consider it... consider it my treat for you, my new friend! My name is Ya Ya, what's your name?"

The girl's outgoing personality and inherent kindness made it impossible for Su Nianci to refuse. After hesitating for a moment, she finally reached out her small, red, frozen hands and accepted the string of candied hawthorns.

"My name is... Nianci."

"Nianci, what a lovely name!" Ya Ya exclaimed happily. "Try it! My mom's candied hawthorns are the best around here!"

Unable to refuse such hospitality, Su Nianci took a small bite.

With a crisp "crack," the outer sugar coating shattered. However, immediately afterward, an extremely sour and astringent taste exploded on her taste buds! The hawthorn was pure, unprocessed hawthorn, both sour and hard. And the outer sugar coating, although it looked crystal clear, had a sticky feel after entering her mouth, and the sweetness was very thin, even carrying a faint bitterness.

Su Nianci's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Is this... the best candied hawthorn of this era?

In her past life's memories, candied hawthorn berries didn't taste like this. Top-quality candied hawthorn berries require pitting the hawthorns and soaking them in sugar syrup beforehand to reduce their tartness. The sugar syrup is also crucial; the heat, proportions, and technique are all indispensable. The perfect syrup should be as thin as a cicada's wing, golden in color, melt in your mouth, and never stick to your teeth. Not to mention the various improved versions, coated with sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, and even filled with red bean paste or glutinous rice…

Compared to those, this skewer in my hand is simply a "culinary disaster".

"How is it? Delicious, right?" Ya Ya looked at her expectantly, like a child waiting for praise.

Looking into her hopeful eyes, Su Nianci couldn't bear to tell the truth. She nodded and mumbled, "Mmm...it's very sweet."

Ya Ya immediately smiled with satisfaction.

Just then, a middle-aged man dressed in a cadre's uniform, looking quite imposing, led a chubby-faced little boy out of the alley. The little boy immediately stopped in his tracks when he saw Ya Ya's candied hawthorns, tugging at his father's clothes and shouting, "Daddy! Daddy! I want to eat that! I want candied hawthorns!"

"A customer!" Ya Ya's eyes lit up instantly, and she immediately went up to him enthusiastically. "Uncle, buy the child a skewer of candied hawthorns! They're sweet and appetizing!"

The middle-aged man glanced at the few remaining strings of candied hawthorns on the straw target and frowned. "Why do these candied hawthorns look so sticky? The sugar is almost melted."

Ya Ya's face paled, and she hurriedly explained, "Uncle, this was just made this morning, it's very fresh! That's how candy is when it's cold..."

"Hmph, I bought some from you last time. It was sour and sticky, my son took one bite and threw it away." The middle-aged man curled his lip, his tone full of disdain. "Your skills aren't good enough, little girl. Look at that stall outside the supply and marketing cooperative in the city center, their candied hawthorns are crisp and shiny, and not sticky at all!"

After saying that, he grabbed the still-crying child and left without looking back, leaving behind only a disdainful remark that lingered in the cold wind: "Come on, come on, Dad will take you to eat something good. We don't eat this garbage!"

"What a piece of junk..." These three words were like three needles, piercing Ya Ya's heart. The smile on her face vanished instantly, replaced by grievance and disappointment. She lowered her head, looking at the few strings of untouched candied hawthorns on her straw mat, and her eyes immediately reddened.

Su Nianci saw all of this. She looked down at the half-eaten candied hawthorn skewer in her hand, and something seemed to suddenly illuminate her mind!

Business opportunity!

A huge business opportunity that could completely get her, her brother, and even Zhou Wenqian out of their predicament was right in front of her!

The way candied hawthorn is made in this era is too simple and too primitive! It's not that people don't like to eat it, but that there's nothing good to eat! Just like that cadre said, as long as the taste is even slightly better, it will immediately stand out!

And she, Su Nian-Ci, has countless improved recipes and production techniques for candied hawthorns in her mind! From the most basic pitting and sugar boiling techniques to high-end fillings and coatings, she knows them all!

If... if she could teach these methods to Ya Ya, their family business would undergo a complete transformation! And she could use this "technology" to obtain what the siblings desperately needed most... food and a stable place to live!

This is faster, safer, and more effective than doing any manual labor or even reselling things on the black market!

A complete plan quickly took shape in Su Nian-Ci's mind!

She looked up at Ya Ya, who was still dejected after her earlier failure, and her eyes shone with an unprecedentedly bright light.

"Yaya," Su Nianci walked to her side, her voice soft but full of strength, "Do you want... to make your family's candied hawthorns the best in all of Harbin?"

Ya Ya suddenly raised her head, looked at Su Nianci, her eyes red, and asked, confused, "Nianci, what...what did you say?"

"I said," Su Nianci repeated clearly, word by word, "I have a secret recipe that will make your candied hawthorns not sour, not sticky, fragrant and crispy, a hundred times better than the ones from the stall outside the supply and marketing cooperative in the city center!"

Ya Ya was completely stunned. Looking at the girl in front of her, younger than herself, dressed in rags, yet spouting such "boastful" words, she was momentarily at a loss for words. She thought that this girl named Nianci might have truly frozen to the point of being mentally impaired.

"You...you must be joking," Ya Ya said softly. "My mom's candied hawthorns are already the best in our area...there's no secret recipe for making the sugar..."

"That's because your approach was wrong from the very beginning," Su Nianci bluntly pointed out the core of the problem.

Pointing to the candied hawthorns on the grass target, she began her professional commentary like a seasoned food critic.

"First, your hawthorns weren't pitted. A hawthorn with the pit on tastes bad, is inconvenient, and the bitterness of the pit will affect the overall taste."

"Secondly, your sugar coating is too thick, and the heat is wrong. Judging from the color, it's made by directly boiling white sugar, which makes the sweetness too thin and prone to crystallization and moisture absorption, hence the stickiness. Real sugar coating should be made with rock sugar, and during the boiling process, one thing needs to be added to ensure it's crystal clear and melts in your mouth."

"Thirdly, and most simply, your candied hawthorns are too plain. Besides hawthorns and sugar, there's nothing else. If you coated them with roasted white sesame seeds, the aroma would draw children from all around!"

Every word Su Nianci uttered was like a bullet, precisely hitting Ya Ya's blind spots in knowledge.

Ya Ya listened, completely stunned. She had never known that a simple candied hawthorn skewer could involve so many intricacies! Removing the pit? Using rock sugar? Adding other ingredients? Coating it with sesame seeds? She had never even heard of these things before!

She looked at Su Nianci, her gaze gradually shifting from initial suspicion and disbelief to shock and...curiosity.

"How...how do you know so much?" Ya Ya couldn't help but ask.

Su Nianci, of course, couldn't reveal that she was a reincarnated person. She once again resorted to her go-to shield: "My mother... used to be the head chef at a state-run restaurant. She taught me all of this."

"A head chef from a state-run restaurant?!" Ya Ya's eyes widened instantly!

In those days, the head chefs of state-run restaurants were the "ceiling" of skilled trades! They had high status, high salaries, and possessed culinary secrets that ordinary people could never access in their entire lives! This status was far more convincing than that of a "university professor" or a "family member of a People's Liberation Army soldier"!

Ya Ya's gaze towards Su Nianci had completely changed! It was the kind of gaze one would give a "technical authority," one filled with admiration and awe!

"Then...then that secret recipe you mentioned...can really make candied hawthorns taste even better?" Ya Ya's voice trembled slightly with anticipation.

"It tastes even better." Su Nianci shook her head, then said slowly in a confident and seductive tone:

"It's something that everyone who's eaten it will never forget. It's something that will make your family's business so good that you and your mother will be counting money until your hands cramp up."

She looked at Ya Ya, and finally revealed her true intentions.

"Now, would you like to take me home to meet your mother?"