"You go tell him," An Jing said to Meng Zhuqing, "just say that I am feeling unwell and not fit to receive guests."
"Yes." Meng Zhuqing turned and went to the door to send Li Jifan away.
Only after Meng Zhuqing had left did An Jing look at Xiao Changyi with a smile, "Husband, am I obedient or not?"
"Then you have to be obedient too, and you’re not allowed to get too close to other women."
"Hmm." After a pause, Xiao Changyi added, "Apart from you, when have I ever been close to another woman?"
An Jing immediately couldn’t help but laugh, "I just love this about you!"
Xiao Changyi said indifferently, "In this regard, you ought to learn from me."
Suppressing her laughter, An Jing immediately put on an expression of being taught, nodding repeatedly, "Mmm, I must learn from you, I must learn from you."
Xiao Changyi just watched her.
Grinning, An Jing said, "What, you think I can’t do it?"
It was then that Xiao Changyi replied, his tone still indifferent, "Apart from you, I can refrain from speaking a word to other women. Can you?"
The underlying meaning was you can’t possibly not speak a word to other men.
An Jing immediately was even more amused, "Husband, isn’t your jealousy a bit too much, not letting me speak a single word to other men?"
"I’m not stopping you, I’m just saying that you can’t do it."
"Hahaha..." An Jing laughed heartily, not hiding her amusement at all, laughing out loud, "Husband... hahaha... Your jealousy really... is too much... hahaha..."
Xiao Changyi’s face remained unchanged, "Didn’t you say I was a vinegar jar?"
An Jing, amused, immediately leaned in to affectionately nuzzle Xiao Changyi’s forehead and nose tip, laughing as she spoke, "My husband is truly self-aware."
Xiao Changyi didn’t speak, but the corners of his cool lips almost imperceptibly curved up, and he nuzzled her back.
After the nuzzling, Xiao Changyi then said seriously, "That Li Jifan is interested in you, so you should limit your interactions with him in the future."
An Jing was torn between laughter and tears, "I don’t have much to do with him anyway. But since you’re requesting this, I agree to it."
To begin with, she had not had much interaction with Li Jifan, so caring less really didn’t bother her at all.
Seeing that An Jing agreed so readily satisfied Xiao Changyi, and he no longer talked about Li Jifan, who was irrelevant to them. Instead, he joined An Jing in helping their four children learn to walk.
The next day, at the third quarter of the second hour, An Jing and Xiao Changyi arrived at the Agricultural Institute’s test field to work.
The cucumber grafted seedlings they had cultivated under the arch shed had grown three leaves and a heart and were ready for planting out.
It took them a full two hours, but An Jing and Xiao Changyi finished transplanting all the seedlings onto the plot that had been growing cucumbers for the past few years.
In recent years, the cucumbers in this plot had been especially prone to diseases and pests.
Now, planting the grafted seedlings on this plot, there would be noticeably fewer wilted cucumbers and pests compared to before; the dramatic contrast would be evident even if An Jing herself said nothing, and by then, everyone could see the effectiveness of the grafted seedlings in combating diseases and pests.
An Jing and Xiao Changyi had precisely this in mind; even without an explanation, the undeniable evidence and results would be enough to convince people.
Once all the seedlings were transplanted, An Jing then instructed Clerk Jiang and Clerk Zhang to take good care of the seedlings in the future, such as building trellises for them to climb, etc. She stated she would not come every day to check but would make time to visit occasionally.
Clerk Jiang and Clerk Zhang immediately agreed.
With everything transplanted and the junior officials taking over, An Jing had no more business there for the time being and decided not to continue living in the county.