She frowned slightly, then lifted An Yiyun up and smiled, "Let’s go have breakfast with your grandfather."
"Time to eat~" An Yiyun excitedly patted his little hands while in An Jing’s arms.
Su Yi Jing and the others were also very happy, all following behind An Jing, eager to get to Jun Palace to see the kind grandfather who let them ride horses.
Xiao Changyi walked behind them, keeping an eye on the three small children walking on the ground, thinking it best to pay a little more attention.
Without any palace maids or eunuchs following, the family of six made their way to Jun Palace.
Along the long path of blue bricks, the six of them—two adults and four children—walked under the gentle breeze, which occasionally carried a soft fragrance of flowers that was refreshing and lifted one’s spirits.
Upon entering Jun Palace and seeing Emperor Xiyun, Su Yi Jing, Su Yi Xing, and An Yi Qing ran toward him. Soon, An Jing also placed An Yiyun next to Emperor Xiyun.
All four children clamored around Emperor Xiyun, asking to ride horses again.
Seeing the children circling him, Emperor Xiyun couldn’t stop smiling, his old face creasing into folds, yet he said, "Grandfather is old, and riding horses with you yesterday nearly cost me my life. Wait till next time, next time I will let you ride again. Be good, and I promise, next time you sleep over, I’ll let you ride again."
"Mmhmm~" All four children happily nodded their little heads.
Emperor Xiyun looked at the children and felt his aged heart melt. His grandson Changyi’s children were so adorable, no matter how one looked at them, they were just so lovable.
Especially Jing’er. The more he looked at him, the more he grew fond of his grandson, who was really beginning to resemble Changyi more and more.
After having breakfast with Emperor Xiyun, An Jing and Xiao Changyi took the four children back home.
The new year had brought many cleared spaces, suitable for planting, as per An Jing’s instructions last year to Meng Zhuqing to have someone prepare them.
She had also settled with Emperor Xiyun yesterday, that from now on, she would experiment with farming right outside her front door, instead of going to the Agricultural Institute.
The moment they returned home, An Jing and Xiao Changyi first busied themselves in the yard of their new home with the four children, then they headed to the nearby cleared land.
The cleared land was about six acres, enough to plant a considerable amount.
However, An Jing planned to use this land as experimental fields for agricultural research rather than truly cultivating crops like they did in Qilin County.
The four children played by the feet of An Jing and Xiao Changyi.
An Jing first examined the soil, then the wild grasses and flowers around it before saying to Xiao Changyi, "My dear, we have planted so much land before, you must know, not all the seeds we sowed germinated. Why didn’t they all sprout? Sometimes even a large portion didn’t—wasn’t it because they were eaten by pests underground?"
Xiao Changyi answered, "As for pests underground, other than the ancestral method of mixing rabbit dung with the seeds before burying them to stop the cutworms, there really aren’t many other effective methods."
There are many types of underground pests, not just cutworms; some can be managed, others cannot, thus resulting in an extremely low germination rate for seeds planted in the soil.
An Jing smiled, "If it weren’t for that task Official Liu assigned me about pests in houses, I might not have paid much attention to this. Now, thanks to him, I’ve slowly started getting into it."
Xiao Changyi also smiled, his lips slightly curling, "By the looks of it, you have a plan."