As soon as An Jing entered the room in the Agricultural Institute where she dealt with work and also rested, she grinned and said, "Husband, this isn’t bad at all."
Though it was called a single room, it actually consisted of two: one for working and one for resting, and the setup was quite decent.
Xiao Changyi responded indifferently, "It’s still not as good as our own home."
"Of course," An Jing immediately agreed with a beaming smile. Although their home was much simpler than this place, it was their home—how could it possibly compare?
Just then, two junior officials entered, carrying a pile of yellowing books and documents.
These two junior officials were Clerk Zhang and Clerk Jiang, always at An Jing’s disposal for any tasks.
As soon as Clerk Zhang entered, he respectfully said to An Jing, "Official Li instructed us to bring these to you. He said they contain historical agricultural records of Qilin County and suggested that you should look through them when you have time to get a better understanding."
An Jing was slightly surprised by Li Jifan’s kind gesture, but she did not show it and simply nodded, "Mm, I got it. You can put them over there."
After Clerk Zhang and Clerk Jiang had placed everything on the desk, An Jing then asked, "Does the Agricultural Institute have any historical documents about pest and disease control?"
Clerk Zhang replied, "We do, but not many."
"Then go find them for me to look at."
Half an incense stick later, Clerk Zhang and Clerk Jiang returned to An Jing with a thin book, which was the historical record of pest and disease control they had.
An Jing took the book, wiped off a bit of sweat, and then started flipping through it.
After she had finished looking through the book and confirmed that it was only slightly useful for pest and disease control and furthermore contained only knowledge she already knew, she handed the book back to Clerk Zhang and instructed him to return it to the library of the Agricultural Institute.
Subsequently, An Jing asked, "Have there been any recent occurrences of pest or disease outbreaks?"
Clerk Jiang responded, "Not at the moment."
After a pause, Clerk Jiang added, "Official, there haven’t been any outbreaks recently, but in the past few years, cucumber crops have suffered more severely from pests and diseases, getting worse year by year. They often wilt and die before bearing fruit."
That must be wilt disease.
An Jing understood internally and asked, "Do you know why cucumbers have had increasingly worse pest and disease issues over the years?"
Clerk Jiang quickly answered in fear, "Even Official Li and the others do not know, so how could I possibly know? But they have always been troubled by this, and I have overheard them discussing it."
An Jing nodded, indicating that she understood.
Her gaze involuntarily drifted towards her husband, Xiao Changyi. Although she was looking at him, her eyes were unfocused, and her thoughts were entirely concentrated on the problem of the increasing severity of pest and disease damage in cucumbers year after year.
After a while, An Jing spoke again and asked, "Is the land where cucumbers are planted used for cucumbers every year?"
She remembered that continuous monocropping led to especially serious diseases and even caused a massive number of plant deaths, resulting in significant yield reduction or even complete crop failure.
She recalled that her grandfather would always rotate different crops to avoid planting the same crop every year, which kept pest and disease problems in check.
Clerk Jiang said, "I’m not very clear about that, but I do know that the Agricultural Institute always has a plot of land dedicated to cucumbers, and the pest and disease issues there only seem to get worse annually."
An Jing felt she had a hunch about the problem but still instructed, "Over the next couple of days, visit the nearby villages and inquire about this issue. Ask them whether the increasing pest and disease problems with cucumbers are because they are planted on the same land every year."