In the blink of an eye, Little New Year was about to arrive. In the north, there was a custom of eating dumplings during the Little New Year. The meaning behind this custom was to see off the Kitchen God. In ancient times, there was a saying, ‘eat dumplings when parting, and eat noodles when meeting’. 

In the early morning of Little New Year, Old Yu led everyone in the family to offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God. Madam Liu skillfully boiled stove candy, which was sweets made from malt and millet. The large milky white lumps of candy were placed on a square plate in front of the statue of the Kitchen God. Other items on the table included fresh water, beans, fodder… She still needed to put up festive couplets for the Kitchen God. 

When eaten, the freshly made stove candy was crispy and fragrant. It was the children’s favorite snack. Every year, the wealthier families would make more stove candy for the children to consume. 

Yu Xiaocao wasn’t very good at making traditional stove candy. After she boiled the white sugar into syrup, she would either add in fried sesame or peanuts to make it into sesame and peanut candy. This way, they would have some extra snacks for the New Year. When Madam Liu found out, she laughed and scolded her as a ‘wasteful girl’! In this era, it was already considered quite good if an ordinary...