The Talented Chef of the Seventies: She Rules the Era with Her Food

This is the story of Shu Xiaoman, an ordinary woman who transmigrates to another time. With a pair of skillful hands and an honest heart, she starts with a humble stall at the village entrance and turns homemade pastries into the renowned Shu’s brand.

Using whole grains as her ingredients and craftsmanship as her guide, she makes everything from her first batches of sugar cakes and peanut crisps to the peach blossom pastries and osmanthus rice wine cakes she creates later. Every treat holds the simplicity and warmth of the countryside. Along her entrepreneurial journey, the villagers help one another without reservation, her workers stand by her and work as one, and even strangers find warmth in a single pastry. As orders soar and her reputation grows, Shu Xiaoman remains true to her original principles: honest ingredients and heartfelt craftsmanship. She refuses to cut corners, kneading her love of life and sincerity toward others into the dough and simmering them into the syrup.

This is more than a tale of hard work and food entrepreneurship. It is also a vivid portrait of rural life, alive with the bustle of everyday things. From a warming stove in the depths of winter to cicadas singing in the height of summer, from a tiny roadside stall to a thriving workshop, Shu Xiaoman uses each pastry to weave together the warmth and coldness of human relationships, proving that the most moving flavor is always the honesty and care hidden in the food.