Rice 米 betrays sugar's Chinese origin story: the earliest sweeteners were malted from grains. Cane sugar technology arrived via India — during the Tang 唐 dynasty, making the phonetic almost a timestamp: sugar 糖 wears the dynasty that refined it.
糖葫芦 candied hawthorn skewers are winter's red lanterns on a stick; 喜糖 wedding candy is how newlyweds announce their marriage to every colleague and neighbor. Asking 什么时候吃你的喜糖 'when do we eat your wedding candy' = when are you getting married.
Rice 米 refined in the Tang 唐 dynasty — SUGAR.
半糖 'half sugar' — from bubble-tea order slips — became relationship slang for keeping a little distance: the 半糖主义 half-sugar doctrine.