Upon arriving at the Haicheng Food Factory, Zhan Chunlan integrated seamlessly, as if she had always been a part of the staff, quickly adapting to her new work environment. At that moment, the formula for the first batch of export-customized milk candies had been finalized, and the exquisite packaging was being produced simultaneously with the candies. Before long, these products, carrying high hopes, would board ocean liners and sail to the other side of the ocean.

In the sweetly fragrant research lab, Zhan Chunlan stood at the lab bench, carefully adding strawberry concentrate to the syrup. Beside her, several glass jars were neatly arranged, each containing a sample of syrup of a different color.

"Xiao Zhan, how's your strawberry flavor recipe coming along?" Deputy Factory Director Li pushed open the door and asked with concern.

Zhan Chunlan handed over a piece of candy that had just solidified: "Please try this; this is the third version of the recipe."

Deputy Factory Director Li put the candy in his mouth and savored it: "Hmm... much better than the previous two versions. The strawberry aroma is more natural, and the sweetness is just right."

"I added a small amount of lemon juice to the syrup," Zhan Chunlan explained. "This enhances the fruity aroma and balances the sweetness."

This was her second month at the Haicheng Food Factory. Leveraging her experience in Jiangcheng and her exceptional learning ability, she quickly took on a leading role in new product development.

Currently, Haicheng Food Factory produces four flavors of fruit candy: orange, lemon, banana, and apple. Zhan Chunlan wants to add strawberry, grape, pineapple, and mixed fruit flavors.

These aren't targeted at overseas markets, but rather to enrich the flavor of the fruit candies produced by Haicheng Food Factory.

Currently, there is a wide variety of candy flavors available abroad. In addition to the flavors mentioned above, flavors that combine different fruits have begun to appear, such as orange + pineapple, raspberry + lemon, etc. Some high-end brands emphasize the addition of real fruit juice in pursuit of a more natural flavor.

Moreover, in addition to hard candy, there are also soft candy, filled candy, bubble gum, sour candy and other forms, offering a rich variety of taste experiences.

Due to the use of sweeteners such as saccharin, sugar-free fruit candies targeting specific groups have even begun to appear.

In this respect, domestic candy manufacturers still have a long way to go. No matter how capable Zhan Chunlan is, she can only narrow the gap step by step, and cannot achieve a leap all at once.

For the past two months, she has been busy working on a recipe. The main problem is that it is currently December, which is not the season for strawberries. She can only rely on her memory of the taste of strawberries and the canned strawberries she has collected from various places to research the recipe, and she always feels that it is still missing two points of flavor.

Of course, this wasn't an urgent task with no time limit, and she wasn't in a hurry. She planned to wait until May or June, when strawberries were in season, to find a way to taste real strawberries and then determine the final recipe based on that.

Zhan Chunlan carefully put away her lab notebook, rubbed her slightly sore wrists, and then pushed open the door to the research and development lab. In the technical department office, the afternoon sun shone brightly, and Deng Bitong, the woman in charge of organizing documents, was sitting by the window knitting a sweater, the knitting needles flying nimbly in her hands.

"Xiao Zhan, are you done with work today?" Deng Bitong looked up at the sound and was somewhat surprised to see Zhan Chunlan, who rarely appeared in the office at this time, but her knitting hands did not slow down at all.

"Hmm, my eyes are sore from just fixing the color difference of the strawberry candy." Zhan Chunlan took off her dust hat, her forehead streaked with sweat and curled into crescent shapes. She casually brushed it aside and smiled like a cat that had just come ashore. "Sister Deng, who did you knit this sweater for? The pattern is so beautiful."

Deng Bitong lowered her head and picked up a needle, the silver needle gleaming under the lamp: "This is for my husband. It's autumn, so I need to get him a vest."

She looked up at Zhan Chunlan and spoke with the gentleness characteristic of an older woman, "You, who are always holed up in the lab, should get yourself some bright clothes instead of always wearing the blue work clothes issued by the factory, which make you look dull."

Zhan Chunlan picked up her enamel mug, gulped down half a cup of cold water, and then let out a long sigh: "Work clothes are dirt-resistant and make going into the lab much easier. Once this batch of new sugar hits the market and I get my bonus, I'll go to the department store to buy a sweater—a lake-blue one, just like the surface of the river."

“Lake blue suits you and makes your skin look fairer.” Deng Bitong smiled, her hands moving non-stop, the ball of yarn rolling gently in her arms like a docile cat. “I still have more than half a roll of lake blue yarn. If you like, I’ll knit you a hat. It’ll be windproof and pretty in winter.”

Zhan Chunlan's eyes lit up, and she moved closer to Sister Deng to examine the needlework: "Really? That's great! I don't know how to do this, so I'll buy you some yarn later."

"Hey, how much is half a roll of yarn worth?" Deng Bitong pursed her lips and smiled shyly. "But if you give it to me, I'll definitely accept it. I heard that you helped our factory get an export order last time, and the factory rewarded you with a lot of money."

“You should have accepted it anyway.” Zhan Chunlan waved her hand dismissively, then continued to explain, “You know I just came from Jiangcheng without bringing anything. That little bit of bonus was all spent long ago. Otherwise, why would I wait until I got my salary to buy a sweater?”

There was no way around it. Although Chinese people are generally honest and kind, those who knew her well knew that she had come to Haicheng alone. If she had a large sum of cash on her, she would be highly sought after. She had to let people know that she had no money left and that she would have to wait for her salary to buy a sweater in the winter.

So, after she arrived, she stayed in the dormitory. Although it was inconvenient, it was a single room, which was convenient for her to live alone.

"Xiao Zhan, how old are you this year?" Deng Bitong looked at Zhan Chunlan, who was reading the newspaper with her head down—the girl had soft sideburns and her eyelashes cast a shadow on the newspaper; she looked pleasing to the eye no matter how you looked at her.

"Sister Deng, I'm 16 this year, and I'll be 17 after the New Year." Zhan Chunlan finished scanning the last "slot advertisement" before looking up to answer. In those days, there were no cell phones, no television, and even the radio only had half an hour of programming. Without reading the newspaper word for word, it was really hard to know how to pass the time.

"You're 17 already?" Deng Bitong's eyes lit up. "You're 17 already? Then I'll introduce you to someone. You can date for a year, and then you'll be 18, and you can get married."

She was calculating in her mind: actually, 17 years old is not young, many 17-year-olds have already had children, but she had studied for a few more years and always felt that girls should be considered adults at 18.

"Huh? A boyfriend?" Zhan Chunlan almost choked on her own saliva. In this day and age, she was only 17 and already thinking about these things.

At this moment, Zhan Chunlan had already forgotten the "love-struck" remarks she made in front of the leaders of the Jiangcheng Pastry Factory in order to be transferred to Jiangcheng.

"A partner? Who wants to find a partner?" Xie Zengrou, the head of the technical department, swaggered in carrying an enamel mug. The mug was probably filled with freshly poured hot tea, and steam rose up like question marks.

Seeing someone speak to her, Deng Bitong immediately perked up: "Zhan Chunlan! Little Zhan is already 17 years old. I'm planning to introduce her to someone. Our little Zhan is so capable, most people aren't good enough for her. She has to be picky, right? After dating for a while, she'll be 18 and ready to get married, right?"

Xie Zengrou chuckled, "Why is Lao Deng worrying so much? Xiao Zhan was transferred from Jiangcheng to Haicheng because of his girlfriend."

Deng Bitong said "Oh," drawing out the last syllable, and looked at Zhan Chunlan with a hint of teasing: "Really? I didn't know that. I thought the leaders valued her abilities, which is why they transferred her here."

Zhan Chunlan listened with alarm, nearly squeezing the newspaper in her hand into a dried-up mess.

No, how did even the people at Haicheng Food Factory know about this made-up excuse? If it gets back to Wang Wenfeng, what will she be called? They've only met a few times, and she's already spreading rumors that they're dating?

Xie Zengrou slammed the documents on the table, stopping the conversation: "Don't try to play matchmaker. Young people these days are different from us; they value free love now."

Then, pointing to the data in the document, he said to Zhan Chunlan, "I've looked at the strawberry-flavored fruit candy you just researched. These data are not very clear. You should revise them. Although it's not completely finalized yet, Deputy Factory Director Li said it's not far off. So you have to write this experimental report carefully. You can't be too meticulous."

Zhan Chunlan glanced at the data that Section Chief Xie pointed to and nodded: "Okay, I'll change it right away."