would higher octane help?

Higher octane fuel burns slower, less explosive, so less power. It helps if you have a high compression engine that needs a slower burn to keep it from detonating. So unless you have increased your compression, no it will not help.

A Huasheng 4-stroke has 7.4:1 compression according to specs. That's definitely too low to take advantage of high octane fuel.
Only thing high octane fuel would do is maybe make your engine slightly harder to start.

If you want something that helps, add a little bit of upper cylinder lubricant to the fuel from time to time. An ounce of Redline, Lucas, or Marvel or the like.