Armed with modern food engineering knowledge, Shen Qingtan takes over her late father's dilapidated ferry-side tea stall and a debt of forty-eight taels. She opens up a market with roasted rice and ginger tea, shelf-stable dried meat, and fireless bamboo-tube rice, sourcing agricultural produce directly and improving production methods as she gradually builds the Qingchuan Snack Shop. When faced with supply cutoffs from Wangjiang Tower, extortion, and false accusations of food poisoning, she fights back with batch samples and hard evidence, helping the authorities expose Qian Dafu's misdeeds. When a cold wave freezes the river, she stocks provisions to aid stranded travelers and repays her old debts. In the end, she acquires Wangjiang Tower, transforms it into the Qingchuan headquarters, and joins Inspector Xiao Zhuzhou in protecting the Grand Canal trade routes.