As soon as An Jing returned to the Agricultural Institute, she sought out Li Jifan.
Li Jifan had not expected An Jing to bring her husband again, and he was slightly taken aback upon seeing Xiao Changyi.
An Jing ignored what others thought of her and her husband, and she politely bowed to Li Jifan, saying, "Official Li, I heard that you are in charge of the fruit and vegetable section of the experimental fields. I would like to borrow two patches of land there to deal with pest and disease issues, and I hope you can grant this request."
Li Jifan asked, "Which two patches?"
"Pumpkin and cucumber."
Li Jifan’s cultured face showed a puzzled look, "The cucumbers have been heavily infested with insects in recent years, and they always wilt and die. I understand why you’d consider this, but pumpkins don’t suffer from insects as much. You might as well think about eggplants—last year, they also had a lot of insect damage, and who knows, it might happen again this year."
An Jing replied, "Right now, I am interested in focusing on pumpkins and cucumbers. If one day I decide to work on eggplants, then I’ll do that."
Li Jifan was silent for a moment before responding, "Then I’ll give you those two patches."
Li Jifan smiled politely, "There’s no need to thank me; we are all serving the Emperor."
Once An Jing returned to the residence from the Agricultural Institute, she asked Meng Zhuqing to find two especially sharp small knives.
If there were truly no small knives available, two daggers could substitute. Of course, these daggers had to be sharp as well.
Meng Zhuqing actually managed to find two small knives, exceptionally sharp ones. Most importantly, these knives were quite thin, truly suitable for grafting.
Impressed by Meng Zhuqing’s efficiency, An Jing praised her greatly. Then, she curiously asked, "Where did you get these from?"
"They’re Gong Juechen’s."
Thinking that Gong Juese was a doctor, An Jing... wondered if these could possibly be ancient surgical knives?
Meng Zhuqing continued, "He said these were what he used to cut people open with, and that you must return them to him once you’re done using them."
After preparing everything needed for the grafting, An Jing and Xiao Changyi returned to the experimental fields.
"Husband, go dig up some pumpkin seedlings, dig up more, then bring the pumpkin seedlings over here."
Xiao Changyi put down what he was holding and obediently went to dig up pumpkin seedlings not far away.
An Jing stayed in the area with cucumber seedlings.
An Jing certainly didn’t sit idle; she began to dig up cucumber seedlings and then laid them flat on the ground.
Having dug up quite a few pumpkin seedlings, Xiao Changyi then moved all of them in front of An Jing.
"Do you need to dig more?"
An Jing looked at the pumpkin seedlings at her feet and replied, "That’s enough, there’s no need to dig more."
An Jing and Xiao Changyi had brought over two small stools, and by this time, An Jing was already sitting on one, and she casually handed the other stool to Xiao Changyi for him to sit on.
As soon as she saw Xiao Changyi sit down, An Jing stopped digging cucumber seedlings as well. She estimated that she had dug enough cucumber seedlings and there was no need to continue.
"Before grafting, we need to wash our hands thoroughly." As soon as An Jing said this, Xiao Changyi brought over the water they had carried with them.
After both washed their hands, An Jing continued, "Husband, I’m starting the grafting now. Watch carefully, it’s not that hard."
An Jing and Xiao Changyi sat facing each other, and between them were the pumpkin and cucumber seedlings, along with the tools they would use for grafting.
An Jing held a small knife in her right hand, while her left hand picked up a pumpkin seedling from the ground.