Five Blessings Pastry Shop [Period]

My next book, The Old County Town Gets a Western Fast-Food Joint [1990s], opens on October 22. Please add it to your favorites! The blurb is below this one.

[This book's blurb]

Lin Manfu owns a pastry shop in the old part of town. The shop has provided for his four children.

Everyone in the neighborhood knows that only the youngest, Lin Hongdou, is his biological child. He brought the other three home one by one.

The neighbors all laugh at him for being a fool. Even Hongdou, who is always bouncing off the walls, is already enough to drive anyone up the wall. How could a man raising four children alone after losing his wife possibly manage?

But Manfu has a stubborn, foolish streak. With it, he raises all four children, each with their own age and personality, into adulthood. As he puts it, life is a little hard, but as long as you're alive, there's always something to look forward to.

One day, Lin Hongdou gets a call from her eldest brother. Their father has died. He'd overworked himself, and the doctors couldn't save him.

After hanging up, Lin Hongdou sits on the bare wooden floor of her rented room, unable to recover for a long time. She didn't even get to see her father one last time. Is this really what she wanted?

Tears slide down her cheeks and drip onto the floor. Lin Hongdou, who has spent two sleepless nights revising a design, suddenly collapses and never gets back up.

When she wakes again, she's back in 1993.

First she makes celebratory pastries and challenges her father's old-fashioned thinking. Then she introduces one innovative pastry after another, steadily growing the family business.

Lin Manfu's wallet gradually grows fatter, and the family's life gets better and better.

This time, Lin Hongdou knows what she wants. She wants her family to be healthy and happy. She wants to treat the people who love her a little better, and then a little better still.

She wants to stay with her father, eldest brother, second sister, and Brother Nan forever!

Maybe adding two more people to the family wouldn't be so bad...

[Bonus scene]

Today is the big day when Comrade Lin Manfu and Comrade Ding Chunli register their marriage.

The wedding guests include Manfu's eldest son, Jiang Shuo; second daughter, Jiang Ting; nephew, Qu Yena; and Ding Chunli's son, Little Douding.

Lin Hongdou appoints herself the wedding officiant.

Eight-year-old Hongdou puts on a solemn face and says, "We've gathered here today to celebrate Comrade Lin Manfu and Comrade Ding Chunli's happy union, as they both step into the world of second marriages. Let's give them a round of applause!"

The guests oblige, applauding loudly. Little Douding claps so hard his hands turn red.

Hearing his daughter's polished little speech, Lin Manfu feels both amused and touched. The groom delivers his own remarks: "Thank you, dear family, for your blessings. I wouldn't be where I am today without you. I'll drink this cup to the bottom!"

With that, Manfu tips his head back and drains a cup of baijiu in one smooth gulp.

Ding Chunli is just as eager. Her cheeks flushed, she shyly raises her cup. "Thank you for giving Little Douding and me a new home. I hope we all get along well from now on. I'll drink mine too!"

Lin Hongdou is very pleased with this newly married couple, since she was the one who brought them together.

Looking at the scene before her, she sees a pastry shop, a kind couple, and five children of different ages. With all seven of them together, life is bound to get better and more prosperous.

Reading guide:

1. A light ensemble story about the everyday squabbles and bustle of family life.

2. Every character has flaws. No one is perfect.

3. The business plot is interwoven with the family's everyday life, and everyone works together.

4. The story follows the characters from childhood to adulthood. They all protect their family in their own way.

Finally, I hope you have a pleasant and healing reading experience.

My next book, The Old County Town Gets a Western Fast-Food Joint [1990s], opens on October 22. Please add it to your favorites!

[Upcoming book blurb]

[This book opens on October 22. Please add it to your favorites!]

Food blogger Xu Mingyue transmigrates to 1997, just as her family faces the threat of layoffs and their finances take a sharp turn for the worse.

To help her family get through the painful transition of economic reform, Xu Mingyue decides to return to her old line of work.

But what should she make first?

Her gaze lands on a sack of potatoes in the corner. That's it: French fries!

The ingredients are easy to find, inexpensive, and simple to prepare. Xu Mingyue gets right to work.

With a tricycle, a simple sheet-metal stove, and a slotted scoop, Xu Mingyue sets up her street stall.

The woman next door, who sells sticky rice buns, mutters, "It's just fried potatoes. Anyone can make them. Who'd buy those?"

Xu Mingyue's fries are golden and crispy on the outside, soft and piping hot inside. One bite, and the savory aroma bursts across your tongue. You can't stop at one. In just a few days, the locals in the county town are hooked, and business gradually picks up.

The woman next door also comes over, fidgeting. "Um, I'll have a bag too. My son keeps pestering me for some."

Xu Mingyue smiles and hands over the fries. She sees the woman turn around and pop one into her mouth, chewing as she mutters, "How come mine never taste like this?"

At a bustling market fair, Xu Mingyue makes a name for herself with her special fried fries topped with soybean paste and her sauerkraut burgers. People start calling her the French Fry Beauty.

Soybean-paste fries, sauerkraut burgers, chicken-and-mushroom pizza, pork rolls, frozen-pear sundaes, mashed potatoes with ginseng chicken soup...

Xu Mingyue combines her strengths with the local food culture to create a series of Western-style fast foods with a local twist, beloved by the people of the county town.

A Western-style fast-food restaurant quietly opens in this drab old county town.

After graduating from agricultural college, Han Yang takes a grassroots post, visiting ginseng farms, working the fields, and dealing with ginseng farmers.

During this time, he watches helplessly as farmers work hard for four or five years to grow ginseng, only for prices to collapse at harvest and leave them with nothing.

Some farmers cut down their ginseng and return the land to forest. Others start adulterating their ginseng...

As a technician, he knows about all the chaos in the market but is powerless to do anything.

To create a healthier market for ginseng farmers, Han Yang enters government service. Starting as an office director, he works step by step to improve the rules governing ginseng trading, leads farmers out of poverty, and helps Xuanbei County shed its status as a poor county.

[Bonus scene]

The turning point in Han Yang's life comes when he arrives in the old county town of Xuanbei.

The county official assigned to assist Han Yang happens to be Xu Mingyue's brother, Xu Mingyang. Unfortunately, the county guesthouse is being renovated and has no rooms available.

Xu Mingyang eyes Han Yang's five-yuan-a-day allowance and gets an idea. "Director Han, why don't you stay at my place? My whole family is easygoing, and we get along wonderfully. My mom's a great cook too, so I'm sure you'll be comfortable and happy there."

Han Yang sees right through his little scheme. But he's new in town and wants to get to know the locals. Besides, the thought of coming home to a hot meal is tempting enough on its own.

He hesitates for a few seconds, then agrees.

But before he can even enter the house, he hears a heated argument from inside.

"Xu Mingyue, what did you just say? You want to quit your job?" Xu Zhongyi roars.

"Dad, Dad, calm down." Xu Mingyue hides behind her mother. "I mean, I want to quit and start a business."

"Start a business? What kind of business could you possibly run?"

"I want to make French fries."

Xu Zhongyi has never even heard of them, and his face darkens. "French fries? I'll fry you first!"

"Help! Save me!"

Xu Mingyue bolts for the door as if her life depends on it. With a bang, she crashes into someone standing outside.

Han Yang loses his balance and stumbles backward. He looks at Xu Mingyang with a baffled expression.

This is the easygoing family and harmonious home you told me about?

Xu Mingyang: "Director Han, let me explain. They're not usually like this!"

Xu Mingyue rubs her head and looks at the handsome young man. Fighting through the pain, she curls her lips into a teasing smile. "Hi, handsome."

[Reading guide]

1. The story mainly revolves around the heroine's career, family, and romance.

2. Her business starts with a fast-food restaurant, then expands to include more kinds of food. The business grows in scope, and the heroine keeps building it up.

3. Neither lead is perfect. They each have their own flaws, and they get married later in the story.

4. The setting is a small county town in Northeast China in the 1990s. All the characters have flaws, as well as their own private interests and perspectives. No one is perfect.

5. I hope you enjoy reading.

Theme: A family of seven works hard to build a prosperous life!