An Jing planned to graft cucumber sprouts onto pumpkin sprouts, so An Jing used a knife to remove the growing tip and both axillary buds from the pumpkin sprout.
Then, An Jing inserted a bamboo stick, slightly thicker than the stem of the cucumber sprout, vertically into the center of the pumpkin sprout’s growing tip, about 0.5cm deep, without pulling it out for the time being.
Then, An Jing picked up a cucumber sprout and cut off its roots below the growing tip.
Then, An Jing pulled out the bamboo stick from the pumpkin sprout.
Then, An Jing inserted the previously trimmed cucumber sprout into the hole in the pumpkin stem prepared for grafting.
Then, the joining area was wrapped with an oiled cloth and tied with a thin string.
"Done!" An Jing put the newly grafted sprout aside, planning to plant it in the soil later.
If An Jing hadn’t explained what a growing tip is during the grafting process, Xiao Changyi might have mistaken it to mean keeping the cucumber bud and pumpkin root.
Luckily, An Jing had explained.
Although Xiao Changyi was clumsy at first when he started grafting, he soon became more skillful as he proceeded.
An Jing had also never done this before, it was her first time, and she was clumsy at the beginning, but later she too became skilled.
A few junior officials saw An Jing and Xiao Changyi cutting off the pumpkin sprout’s bud and then the cucumber sprout’s root, combining them and wrapping them together with oiled cloth into one sprout, and they had no idea what An Jing and Xiao Changyi were trying to do.
Can a cucumber sprout survive without roots?!
However, since An Jing was an official, the junior officials didn’t say anything, but they quickly informed the officials at the Agricultural Institute.
A few officials from the Agricultural Institute, upon hearing what An Jing and Xiao Changyi were doing, came to see for themselves.
Seeing that An Jing and Xiao Changyi were indeed doing as rumored, cutting off the roots of the cucumber sprouts and disposing of them, everyone was suddenly speechless.
Looking at the roots of the cucumber sprouts on the ground, Li Jifan regretted letting An Jing meddle with his plants.
It was Official Liu who regained his composure first and asked, "Lord An, what are you doing?"
An Jing didn’t even look at Official Liu, continuing to graft while responding, "Didn’t you assign me the task of preventing pests and diseases? I’m currently figuring out how to prevent cucumber pests and diseases."
The officials’ faces twitched.
The stubborn Master Zhou tried to hold back but eventually couldn’t restrain himself and shouted, "The cucumber sprout has no roots, how do you expect it to live?!"
Li Jifan was also dissatisfied, saying, "Lord An, I kindly gave you the sprouts I cultivated for you to experiment with, and you’re treating them this carelessly. Maybe the pumpkin sprout can survive without leaves, but how can a cucumber sprout live without roots? You... Lord An, this act of yours is truly outrageous!"
It was then that An Jing stopped grafting, looked up at the officials with a smile, and said, "Who says it has no roots? It does have roots."
While speaking, An Jing also picked up one of the sprouts that she had already grafted to show everyone present.
The officials’ faces twitched again.
"That’s the pumpkin’s root, not its own!" Finally, Master Zhou couldn’t hold back and shouted again.
An Jing calmly replied, "What does it matter? I’ve joined them together. Once the wound heals, won’t they become one and its own?"
"Nonsense!" This was too much of a challenge to his acceptance threshold. If it weren’t for considering that An Jing had patrons in high places, Master Zhou would have cursed out loud.
Clearing his throat, Official Liu then said, "Lord An, such recklessness is not the way to go about it. These sprouts were cultivated by Official Li, how can you ruin them ?"