Sweet Nostalgia of the 80s

28: Chapter 28: The Eternal Iceberg 28: Chapter 28: The Eternal Iceberg The next day, An Hao took out all the hawthorn from her house.

She decided that this time, before the New Year, she would definitely buy some more money at the market.

After some thought, it seemed that making just hawthorn cakes would be too monotonous.

Since she planned to have a big sale, why not make a series of hawthorn products?

So, she began experimenting with making candied haw on a stick and hawthorn sugar snowballs at home, diversifying her product line.

An Ping watched An Hao wash the hawthorn and dry them, then went to find a lot of bamboo sticks, removed the cores from the hawthorn and threaded them onto the sticks; dipping them in the brightly colored golden syrup to make a fresh red, enticing string of candied haws.

“This is pretty simple!” Since the incident that happened yesterday, An Ping had grown much closer to An Hao.

“It’s not as simple as it seems.

The most crucial part is cooking the syrup; if not done properly, it turns bitter,” An Hao said, deftly making strings of candied haws.

She had made them countless times in her last life, but in this life, she wasn’t sure if her skills had deteriorated.

It seemed, however, that the results of her experiments were quite satisfying.

After making a few strings of candied haws, An Hao made a hawthorn sugar snowball.

The length of time the syrup was cooked directly determined the consistency of the sugar.

This time, the hawthorn was covered with a layer of white sugar frost, resembling a snowball.

With a crunching bite, it was indeed sour, sweet, and delicious!

“Try it, how is it?” An Hao handed An Ping a string of candied haw.

An Ping took a bite, almost biting off her own tongue in delight: “Delicious!

So delicious!

Sis, I’ll join you at the market in three days.”

“Okay,” An Hao agreed.

An Hao made twenty sticks of candied haws and a small bag of hawthorn sugar snowballs, wrapping them in clean cellophane and preparing to go out.

She was still preoccupied with Qin Jian saving her life – one should repay a kindness with a spring of gratitude.

Their village was well-known within a radius of tens of miles for its poverty, having nothing at all, and her family was exceptionally poor.

Thus, she could only express her thanks with a few strings of candied haws.

Although the gifts were humble, they represented her sentiment.

An Hao returned to the room and changed into clean clothes.

A clean, dark blue cotton-padded jacket, a pair of black trousers below, and her braids combed neatly and dangling in front of her chest, she checked herself in the mirror after getting ready.

Truly, at the age of eighteen, in the prime of her youth, even in simple attire, she looked very clean and pure, exuding a youthful charm.

This was the An Hao she should be!

In her hand, An Hao carried a small bag pieced together from colorful scraps of fabric.

She filled it with about one pound of hawthorn sugar snowballs and five candied haws before heading out the door.

Qin Jian was thirty years old this year, an engineer at the Provincial Power Research Institute.

Young and successful with quite the handsome face, he always appeared cold and distant to others.

He was very strict at work, demanding both of himself and his subordinates.

Despite his youth, few were not afraid of him.

People addressed him respectfully as “Captain” in person, but behind his back, they called him the “Cold-faced King of Hell.”

He had held a respectable position in the military at a young age, but few girls dared to marry him—it was said he had an overpowering fate, and anyone who got close to him ended up badly.

Furthermore, he was always busy with military life.

Over time, his marital prospects were neglected.

Now thirty and still without a suitable girl in sight, his mother Li Junping was as anxious as a monkey eating garlic.