After this Lunar New Year's Eve, Zhan Chunlan and Wang Wenfeng remained the same as always, meeting regularly, nodding and exchanging polite greetings, like two precisely operating machines, neither of them overstepping their bounds.

On the contrary, Ms. Fang Li became a frequent visitor in her life.

On her days off, she would ride her bicycle and stop at the entrance of the food factory. The two of them, one in front and one behind, explored every shop in Haicheng, knowing it better than they knew a map.

When a new batch of fabric arrived at the department store, she picked up a light blue one and asked, "Chunlan, this color suits you, do you like it?"; when the No. 1 Department Store put out face cream, she immediately bought three boxes, saying, "The spring wind is strong, remember to apply it, don't let your face get chapped"; even when she saw the new colorful plastic hair clips on the counter, she would pick out two "trendy rose red ones," gently tuck them into Zhan Chunlan's hair, step back two paces to examine them, her eyes sparkling with a smile: "Very pretty!"

As dusk fell, he brought Zhan Chunlan back and watched her go upstairs before riding his bicycle home.

This excessive enthusiasm made Zhan Chunlan both happy and apprehensive, so she had to ask Wang Wenfeng to gently persuade her to back down.

Wang Wenfeng was at a loss. He knew his mother was getting carried away, so he could only complain half-jokingly, "Mom, if you keep sending these things, what else can your son send?"

Fang Li was holding up her newly bought Dacron shirt when she heard this. She rolled her eyes at him and said, "You should put more effort into it. You're not putting in the effort yourself, so why are you blaming others for being enthusiastic? Use your brain. Who am I doing all this for?"

As she spoke, she pulled out two more cloth coupons. "The People's Department Store will be selling new dresses next week. I'll take Chunlan to try them on. Don't go and cause trouble."

Wang Wenfeng was at his wit's end, so he comforted Zhan Chunlan, saying, "Don't feel guilty, just accept it."

Zhan Chunlan frowned: "If we were really together, I would accept it, but the problem is that we're not. The more Aunt Fang likes me, the more anxious I become. Money and gifts are minor issues; I can always repay them. But how can I repay her feelings?"

Wang Wenfeng raised an eyebrow: "What, now you realize that emotional debts are hard to repay? Why didn't you think more about it when you were making those careless remarks?"

Perhaps because they had become more familiar with each other, Zhan Chunlan didn't stand on ceremony with him anymore, glaring at him and saying, "What are you doing arguing about this at a time like this?"

In May 1972, strawberries were available on the market.

She walked through the morning dew to the fruit stand, picked out two baskets of the reddest and most fragrant strawberries, brought them back to the lab, washed them, removed the stems, juiced them, filtered them, and adjusted the proportions little by little. The sugar syrup was boiled to 118°C, and the strawberry puree was added at the last moment. The sweet and sour aroma wafted out the window through the exhaust fan, making the workers in the next workshop salivate.

This was the fourth time she had revised the recipe. She tasted the newly made syrup, and found it to be perfectly balanced between sweet and sour, with a clean fruity aroma and no stickiness on her tongue. Finally, she nodded in approval.

"That's it." Satisfied, she put down the glass rod and wrote down the final data in her lab notebook.

In the conference room, the leaders sat around a table. When Zhan Chunlan stood up to give her report, Section Chief Xie gave her an encouraging look. This young technician had been at the food factory for less than a year, yet she had already demonstrated remarkable talent.

Zhan Chunlan handed over her notebook and samples: "Previous strawberry-flavored fruit candies lacked the true taste of strawberries. The sweetness of strawberries should be accompanied by a hint of the tartness of the green stems, and the red flesh should have a granular texture from the seeds. This time, I pureed fresh strawberries and concentrated them under low-temperature, reduced-pressure conditions to preserve the initial aroma; then I dried and ground the pulp, and refilled it into the syrup to give it a slightly grainy, 'seed-like' texture; finally, I lowered the sugar temperature by 0.2 degrees Celsius to completely eliminate the tartness. Only 5% of the flavoring is retained, serving as a 'starter'; the main flavor comes entirely from the fruit itself."

The leaders each took a candy to taste, exchanging approving glances. The candy slowly melted in their mouths, releasing a refreshing strawberry aroma that was sweet but not cloying, and tart but not astringent.

"This tastes great," Deputy Factory Director Li was the first to comment. "It's better than the previous versions."

After carefully considering the document, Director Qiao picked up his pen and signed four powerful characters on the approval form:

"Production is approved."

These four words seemed to have flipped a switch, and the entire Haicheng Food Factory started running at high speed like a machine with its horsepower fully increased.

Zhan Chunlan's life suddenly became busy. Although the formula in the laboratory was already perfect, there was still a long way to go from small-scale trial production to large-scale production. The machines in the workshop were not the sophisticated instruments in the laboratory; batch differences in raw materials and subtle changes in temperature control could affect the flavor of the finished product.

"Xiao Zhan, the color of this pot seems a bit off," the master chef called to her, pointing to the freshly cooked syrup.

She hurried over, observed carefully, and concluded: "The temperature is half a degree too high; the strawberry aroma has been somewhat diminished. Try turning the heat down a bit and extending the stirring time."

Such scenes were common in the early stages of production. Zhan Chunlan simply moved her office to the workshop, wearing work clothes and patrolling the production line. Her notebook was filled with detailed records of production data for each batch: temperature, time, raw material ratios, ambient humidity...

A security guard came to inform us: "Comrade Zhan, there is a Comrade Fang looking for you at the gate."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Chunlan knew that Ms. Fang Li had arrived. She put down her notebook and hurried to the factory gate.

As soon as Ms. Fang Li saw her, she smiled and said, "Chunlan, would you like to accompany your aunt to the department store? I heard they just got a new batch of Dacron fabric."

"Auntie, I really can't leave." Zhan Chunlan was still wearing her work clothes, which were covered in the sweet smell of candy: "This batch of strawberry candy is at a critical stage, I have to stay and watch over it."

As she spoke, she pulled a handful of candy from her purse and handed it to her: "Auntie, this is a strawberry-flavored candy that I developed. It's a new flavor and it's not on the market yet. Please try it first."

Fang Li looked at the girl in front of her, her eyes sparkling, looking extremely energetic. However, the little bit of weight she had painstakingly gained after the Spring Festival had disappeared again.

She looked at the candy in her hand, unwrapped it, put it in her mouth, and squinted her eyes: "Chunlan, you're amazing. If I didn't know I was eating candy, I would have thought I was eating strawberries. It's even better than the imported strawberry-flavored fruit candy I bought at the Friendship Store."

Hearing such praise, Zhan Chunlan was also very happy, as it was an affirmation of her work: "I'm glad you like it. It's still in the early debugging stage, so there aren't many yet. Once the first batch is produced, I will definitely send it to you first."

As Fang Li watched her talk about her work, she seemed to be shining brightly. Seeing that she was still wearing her work clothes, she knew that she was still busy, so she said considerately, "Then you go ahead and do your work. Auntie won't bother you anymore. Remember to eat on time."

This kind of conversation happened more than once. Wang Wenfeng, as the "target," would also try to come by from time to time, but she always rejected him.

Deng Birou, a colleague in the same technical department, felt a little embarrassed seeing how busy Xiao Zhan was while she was knitting. She said, "Xiao Zhan, there's no end to the work. Don't exhaust yourself."

Zhan Chunlan smiled and nodded: "I understand, thank you for your concern, Sister Deng."

But she couldn't let her guard down. This was the first major project she was independently in charge of at the Haicheng Food Factory. She was involved in the entire process, from formula development to production, and every step was crucial to the final success or failure.

One late night, after the last batch of syrup was ready, the workshop foreman couldn't help but ask her, "Actually, we can adjust these process parameters; you don't need to be watching over them every day."

Zhan Chunlan shook her head: "This is a product I developed, like my own child. I won't feel at ease until I see it successfully produced."

Looking at the young woman, the workshop director suddenly understood why she was able to be transferred from the remote Jiangcheng to Haicheng. It wasn't just because of her skills, but also because of her serious and responsible attitude towards work.

Two weeks later, the strawberry-flavored fruit candy finally achieved stable mass production. When the first batch of products was packed and shipped to all parts of the country, Zhan Chunlan stood at the workshop door, watching the departing trucks, and finally showed a relieved smile.

At this moment, her energy and spirit, which she had been holding on to, suddenly relaxed, and exhaustion washed over her. Only then did she realize that she hadn't had a proper rest in a long time.

Right now, she doesn't want to care about anything; she just wants to go back to her dorm and sleep like a log.