Grandma Su was immensely pleased by Qian Xiaobei's praise.
"Eat more if you like it, dear. The sweet ones are delicious, and the savory ones are good too. Xiaobei, eat as much as you want!"
Qian Xiaobei didn't stand on ceremony and, following Grandma Su's words, ate a sweet one and then a savory one.
After two warm bowls of lard pastries, Qian Xiaobei suddenly felt that her long-held obsession had completely vanished in that instant!
In this world, if some people dislike you, there will always be others who like you!
One should focus on the present and not cling to the past.
"Grandma Su, thank you. I haven't had lard pastries in so many years!"
Qian Xiaobei extended her slender arm and hugged Grandma Su.
Grandma Su, being a clever old lady, naturally sensed that the girl Qian Xiaobei had something on her mind.
However, she didn't ask.
"If you want to eat lard pastries, come to our house, and Grandma will make them for you!"
"Okay!"
Grandma Su packed a few lard pastries for Qian Xiaobei to take home and eat slowly.
Qian Xiaobei thanked her profusely before accepting.
Knowing they had plans with someone else, Grandma Su also packed a portion for them.
After a large pot of lard pastries came out of the oven, only two remained by the end.
Grandpa Su sighed, "They're all gone. I only managed to eat one!"
"Look at you, old man, still reluctant to part with food?" Grandma Su playfully glared at Grandpa Su.
Grandpa Su quickly smiled and explained, "It's not that I'm reluctant, it's just that I was craving them. We haven't made them at home for some time."
Grandma Su thought about it and realized it was true. Come to think of it, they had only made them during the New Year, and it had been several months.
"I'll make another pot later for the third child's family and these rascals to try."
Grandpa Su was finally satisfied and trotted off to help Grandma Su with the fire.
After Su Xiaotian and the others left, they headed straight for their destination!
Their goal today was to buy clothes, and they had also arranged to meet Zhao Hongmei.
However, Zhao Hongmei didn't go to the Su family's house; she went directly to the destination to meet them.
By the time the three of them arrived, Zhao Hongmei was already waiting.
When she saw the other three, she quickly raised her arms and waved vigorously at them.
"Let's hurry over, or Hongmei's arm will be dislocated from waving so hard!" Li Jianhong couldn't help but laugh as she looked at Zhao Hongmei.
"Xiaotian, while I was waiting for you here, I had a bowl of sweet soup. It was really delicious!"
Upon seeing Su Xiaotian and the others, Zhao Hongmei immediately started chattering enthusiastically about the good thing she had just discovered.
"Sweet soup? What's so delicious about it? Can't you just make a bowl at home?"
Li Jianhong clearly didn't understand what Zhao Hongmei meant by sweet soup.
"Jianhong, it's not sweet soup made by dissolving sugar in hot water. How should I put it... I'll take you there to see. It tastes really good anyway!"
Zhao Hongmei couldn't explain it clearly for a moment, so she simply took Li Jianhong's hand and ran towards the stall where she had just had the sweet soup.
Su Xiaotian and Qian Xiaobei, seeing the energetic Zhao Hongmei, exchanged a helpless smile and followed.
"What I drank was red bean ice. One sip, and the taste was incredibly good, completely different from the red bean soup we usually cook..."
As they walked, Zhao Hongmei enthusiastically promoted it.
If one didn't know, they might think Zhao Hongmei had received promotional endorsement fees from the vendor.
Su Xiaotian roughly understood that the sweet soup Zhao Hongmei was talking about was likely the sweet soup from the Licheng area.
Categorically, it belonged to Cantonese desserts.
People from Licheng and Rongcheng classified many desserts as sweet soup.
She had eaten such desserts when she went to Licheng and Rongcheng, and they tasted very good.
However, in the capital, apart from a few recently opened Cantonese restaurants, one probably couldn't find such distinctive local snacks, right?
After all, the flavors of snacks from different regions are not the same, and even if they exist in the capital, they are usually just imitations, possessing only the form!
She wondered if the one Hongmei encountered today was the real deal or a fake.
When they reached the stall, Su Xiaotian was surprised to find that the stall owner was someone she knew!
This woman was none other than Xiang Ying's wife, or rather, Xiang Ying's ex-wife, Hu Xiaolian.
The poor woman who had been persecuted by Xiang Ying and Hu Yuhong for half her life.
Hu Xiaolian had clearly recognized Su Xiaotian as well. Su Dan Novel Network
She quickly put on a smile.
"Little boss, I didn't expect to see you here."
Hu Xiaolian greeted her warmly, but Su Xiaotian could tell she was still a bit flustered.
"Sister Hu, I heard you left Licheng, but I didn't expect you to come to the capital."
Hu Xiaolian spoke to Su Xiaotian while busy scooping sweet soup for customers.
Su Xiaotian surveyed Hu Xiaolian's stall.
The small stall was essentially a pushcart with five large iron buckets. Hu Xiaolian was scooping sweet soup for a customer from one of the buckets.
Next to the iron buckets was a basket containing a stack of bowls and spoons.
Beside the basket were two not-so-large basins, which seemed to be for washing bowls.
"Little boss, do you prefer red bean ice or lotus seed and lily bulb?"
After seeing off the customer, Hu Xiaolian asked Su Xiaotian.
"Sister Hu, just give us each a bowl of red bean ice."
Hu Xiaolian saw that the girls were all together and didn't begrudge them, directly scooping a bowl of sweet soup for each of them.
Although the sweet soup made by Hu Xiaolian tasted very good, perhaps because people in the capital were not very familiar with the meaning of the term "sweet soup," there were not many customers.
Su Xiaotian had the opportunity to speak with Hu Xiaolian.
"Sister Hu, after you left Licheng, how did you end up in a place as far away as the capital?"
Back then, she had thought that even if Hu Xiaolian left Licheng, she would likely settle in a nearby city.
She hadn't expected to meet her in the capital.
"I was in a daze back then, not knowing where in this vast world I could find refuge. I don't know how I ended up on a train to the capital."
When Hu Xiaolian spoke of those past events, she seemed much more at peace, even making Su Xiaotian feel that she was now devoid of joy or sorrow!