Small wood

Although he said he had received the grasshopper, Amu still didn't intend to see Gu Lin. Even though his heart was itchy like a cat's paw, he still held back.

It's a surprise as promised, but we can't go first.

He hurriedly turned his head away from looking at the little grasshopper, went back to the hall, sat down on the ground, and continued to work hard.

He was too serious, and he didn't know it was night until it got dark and the room gradually darkened.The maid at the door knocked, brought him supper in, and lit candles.

Amu looked up and quickly said thank you.

Although the people in the palace pay attention to etiquette and politeness, no official would thank a little maid. It only took a few days for the maid to become accustomed to it from being surprised and frightened at the beginning. After all, Amu has always been very polite. When she looked at you seriously and said thank you, the maid was too embarrassed to say anything else.

She opened the food box and said, "Mr. Lin, eat quickly, it will be cold in a while."

Amu groaned, and continued to play with his sand table carefully, wanting to make it more delicate.

The servant girl saw that he responded with his lips but did not move, and continued: "This is from the little eunuch of Huiyue Palace, and also brought the words of the third highness, saying that the son should have dinner earlier."

Amu jumped up all of a sudden, walked to the table in two steps and sat on the stool, obediently waiting for his meal.

The maid suppressed a smile, helped him set up the dishes, and went to get the dishes in the food box. Just after taking out two dishes, she came across something that was a bit sticky, and she took it out suspiciously: "What is this?"

Amu looked at the thing in her hand, and jumped up from the stool: "Mine, mine."

The maid hurriedly handed it to him.

Another straw grasshopper, the grass leaves are thick green, slightly darkened, probably not fresh grass leaves, Amu held it carefully in his hand, knowing that this should be the same batch of grasshoppers sent by Zhou Xingping just now , I don't know how much Gu Lin has done, he went to look in the food box, there is another one, lying in it obediently waiting for him to pick it up.Amu held the two grasshoppers in his hands, and was so happy that he refused to put them down, so he couldn't eat with chopsticks anymore.

The dish is still hot, and there are chicken legs as usual, the chicken under the tender white skin is still dripping with delicious juice, and Amu is really hungry, so after hesitating, he put the grasshopper on the table, grabbed the chicken legs and ate them, biting Once you take a bite, it's so delicious that you can't stop.

Seeing him starting to eat, the maid quietly withdrew.

When the moon was rising, the door was knocked again, and the maid brought in something, this time it was glutinous mung bean cake, and a bowl of chilled mung bean soup, the sweet aroma made Amu's mouth water.

And on the tray, there were three straw grasshoppers.

The maid was very curious, but she didn't dare to ask any more questions, she just put the things on the table.Looking at Amu again, holding the three grasshoppers in the tray, his eyebrows and eyes are crooked, and his ears are faintly red in the candlelight.

He took out all the grasshoppers he had received before, and placed them on the table in a row. Two were made in the stone house, and had already dried into a dark grayish brown. One was sent by Zhou Xingping, and the other two came with dinner. Yes, three just come now.

Amu wished he could roll on the bed with all the grasshoppers in his arms.

One.

Two.

three.

I don't know if only four will be delivered tomorrow morning.

Amu smiled so that his cheeks were red, and his eyes were even brighter. He took the pen he had thrown on the ground before, dipped it in red ink, and carefully wrote a word on a grasshopper. He doesn't write much, let alone It is a bit clumsy to write on rough woven grass, which looks like a big square.

Asking the maid to send it over, Amu took a deep breath, preparing to speed up the sand table and bring it to Gu Lin as soon as possible.

If Gu Lin hadn't sent these things over today, he might not have been able to resist running to Huiyue Hall to take a sneak peek.

Another night without much sleep, Amu's eyes were red, but fortunately, he finally finished everything. At the end, he picked the smallest straw grasshopper and placed it on the far right side of the sand table. Tight, the little grasshopper was placed next to the sand table representing the territory, it looked extraordinarily large, counting carefully, the body was as long as two hills.

The whole sand table looks very delicate, and he made the map that Ji Yi gave him on the bottom and calculated the proportions. The distance is not bad at all from the map.

Amu was excited, and wanted to show it to Gu Lin sooner. Early in the morning, when the genius was dim, he opened the window.Maybe it's because the heat is over, the temperature in the morning and night is not high, and the fresh fragrance of grass and trees is still wrapped in the faint coolness of the night, which makes Amu wake up a lot.

When he was carrying the sand table outside, Ji Dong suddenly appeared and wanted to help him take it, but Amu gave it to him. After all, he worked hard for several nights, and it would be bad if it broke.

Huiyue Temple was not far from where he lived, and Amu was walking on the road while gnawing on delicious glutinous buns.

The food in the palace is delicious. The skin is thin and the stuffing is big. Once you bite, you will have a mouthful of fragrant soup. You have to suck it carefully and roll it in your mouth to cool down before you dare to swallow it. It burns down your throat. It slips into the stomach, not to mention how fragrant it is, it is many times stronger than the ones sold on the street.

Look at Ji Dong next to him, holding a sand table covered with cloth, changing his speed with Amu's fast and slow steps, without squinting.

Amu looked at the other bun in his hand, feeling a little embarrassed to eat it alone.He raised his hand and put it next to Ji Dong's mouth.

Ji Dong is the tallest person Amu has ever seen. If he gets close and Ji Dong doesn't bow his head, he won't be able to see what Ji Dong's face looks like.And even though he is raising his hand now, the distance between the bun and Ji Dong's mouth is still a bit far away.

Ji Dong had seen Amu's gluttony before, and he knew that he wanted to share it with himself because he was embarrassed to eat it by himself.He shook his head and said, "This subordinate has eaten it, master eat it."

Amu didn't expect that Lin Yi had already eaten, so he still held his hand up. After a while, he took it back happily. The fist-sized bun was eaten in three mouthfuls, and his oily mouth poked a hole, whirring. Blow hot white air outside.

Although Ji Dong was still in the same posture as before, his eyes saw Amu's body, the light in his eyes was very soft, and his always dark face relaxed a lot.

When he arrived at Huiyue Hall, Amu went straight to the meeting hall. If it was so early, there should be no one in the hall. He put his things there, and Gu Lin would be pleasantly surprised when he saw it.

Unexpectedly, there were two maidservants standing at the door of the meeting hall. The door was open, and there were already people inside.

Amu scratched his head, then looked at the tray in Ji Dong's hand, thinking, let's put it away for now, it's the same when they are finished and then open it for Gu Lin to see, no one knows what it is anyway.

He told Ji Dong to follow him quietly, and then he sneaked in again.

Gu Lin didn't arrive, but Zhou Xingping was there, and the two behind him seemed to have followed him since the beginning of the Northern Kingdom, and there were also a few men in brocade clothes, who looked like merchants.

Amu didn't make a sound, walked around behind the screen, and went straight to the sand table.

But when he got to the table with the sand table, Amu was stunned and froze at a loss, not knowing whether he should move forward.

In the place where the old sand table was originally placed, there is a new sand table, which is almost exactly the same as his, except that there is no grasshopper, and the others are even finer than his.

He thought he had done well enough, he thought he thought he was serious enough, but he didn't expect that there was a better one here.

He didn't want to use Lin Mu's identity. He thought that Amu's identity could help Gu Lin, but he seemed to be wrong. What Amu can do, someone else can do it, and even do it better than him.

Maybe it was because his face was a bit ugly, and he stood there motionless, the person who knew him before and Gu Lin came up and asked, "Mr. Lin, why haven't you come here recently?"

Amu nodded stiffly, pointing to the sand table: "When did you change this one?"

Although the man found it strange, he still replied: "General Zhou's disciple just sent it today, saying that he wanted to surprise His Highness the Third Highness. The sand table is old, but the current one is really exquisite."

Amu nodded again and looked at Zhou Xingping.

Zhou Xingping didn't pay attention to this, but there was a person behind him, looked at A Mu, suddenly smiled, stepped forward, bowed and said: "This is Mr. Lin, we met yesterday, but we haven't saluted yet. Xiaosheng is Wu Lin, a student of General Zhou, please give me your advice."

Amu replied: "My name is Amu."

Wu Lin was born delicate and handsome, with a bookish spirit, but his shoulders were broad. He could vaguely see the thick and powerful arms on the shoulders of his robe. I’m really sorry to be able to speak out, because Xiaosheng is also doing the same thing, and it has already taken shape. It’s Xiaosheng’s blessing to bring it to His Highness today, but I’m really sorry for colliding with Mr. Lin.”

Then Wu Lin apologized and smiled again, Amu believed it all, besides, the sand table was much better than him.

He said to Wu Lin: "No need to apologize, I...I'll go out first..."

Amu said, and ran out behind the screen again.

He kept his head down and rushed very fast, hoping not to run into Gu Lin, but fortunately, his way back and Gu Lin's way to the conference hall were in two directions, so he didn't run into him.

After returning to his place, Amu couldn't bear it any longer, and sat on the stool, blankly, without speaking.The messy things on the ground last night have been cleaned up today, and they are clean, as if he had just sat there for a few nights.

Ji Dong followed Amu all the time, he put the sand table on the table, and then stood next to Amu.

After a while, Ji Dong suddenly asked: "Master is sad?"

Hearing Ji Dong's voice, Amu straightened up without moving for a long time, nodded and shook his head, hesitating a lot.

Ji Dong took a step forward, looked at him, and waited for him to speak.

Amu stared at Ji Dong's dark robe, and looked at his hands that were stained with paint, and said, "Young master has a better sand table, I should be very happy, but I don't know why, am I happy?" Wake up, is it because the hard work of the past few days has been in vain? But I have never been afraid of hard work, and when she just took a look at the sand table I made for my mother, she felt so uncomfortable."

The boy was just at the age of smoking, his cheeks were slightly thin, his eyelashes were long and soft, and his eyes were covered with confusion. He was obviously answering someone else's words, but he asked a question.

Lin Yi tightened his grip on the knife, and said, "Sir, your hard work can't be in vain. This sand table should be given to Gu Lin."

Amu shook his head without hesitation: "The young master is kind to me, if I give it to him, he might use my one, but Wu Rin's is better, he might use that one too, no matter what Whichever he chooses, both Wu Lin and I will feel sad, and I don't want the young master to make things difficult."

Ji Dong's face was very dark. When Amu said that the young master was kind to me, his eyes dimmed. When he said that I didn't want to embarrass the young master, he gritted his teeth hard.

He looked at Amu, and suddenly said: "Young Master and my subordinates, let's go somewhere, and my subordinates will take you to meet someone."

Amu asked, "Who?"

He didn't speak, and suddenly stretched out his hand to put Amu on his back, and left the place in an instant.

Amu only felt that he had left the ground suddenly, and the air in all directions suddenly gained weight, and began to be continuously squeezed into something as hard as a steel plate, patting Amu's face and body, and he couldn't see clearly what was in front of him. The surrounding houses and trees turned into lines, moving straight and fast beside him.

Although he was afraid, he didn't even dare to make a sound, for fear that when he opened his mouth, the wind would turn into something as heavy as a hammer and hit his throat.

The squeezing force was only for a moment, and then it got better. Lin Yi explained: "It surprised the master, and the subordinates have to get rid of some people."

Amu was so dizzy that he couldn't tell the difference between the south, the west, and the north. His hands and feet were like a gecko grabbing onto Ji Dong's body. It was extremely tight. Even if Lin Yi didn't support him, he could still hug him tightly and never fall off. .

This strength is too terrifying, and they suddenly left a long way away. This scene is definitely not in the palace, and they are still walking.

Ji Dong was walking, but his speed was not slow at all. After a while, he had passed a few streets and stopped in front of a small house.

"Where is this place?" Amu asked, falling off Ji Dong's back.

"The man who drew your map lives here."

"Draw a map?" Amu asked, "Didn't you buy it?"

"Such a detailed map can't be bought in a short time, it was drawn by him." Lin Yi replied.

"When I asked you to help me find the map that day, you asked him to draw it in such a short time?" Amu asked in surprise. He remembered that the ink on the painting was not dry yet.

Ji Dong nodded, and he said: "He, like me, has been the master's guard since he was a child, but because of some things, he broke his leg, and since then he can only sit in a wheelchair. After knowing that he can't protect the master, he withdrew. After wandering around, he now settles in Beiguo and earns a living by painting."

Amu stared blankly at Ji Dong, and when he heard that he could only sit in a wheelchair, his heart trembled.

"Master may feel that this sand table is not as good as Wu Lin's, and he doesn't want to take it out to embarrass Gu Lin, but master should know that the sand table that master spent many days and nights to complete contains the hard work of others. The map, the servants of the kiln, and even the food that Gu Lin prepared for you are all included in this sand table, and it is only worth showing it to Gu Lin." Lin Yi paused, and then said: " Although the master doesn't want to admit it, but the master is Lin Mu, the only remaining master of the Lin family, the things the master makes are naturally the best."

The first part of his words seemed to be admonishing, but the latter part was full of pride, even more arrogant, it was made by Lin Shu, even if it was not done well, no one would say it.

Amu stayed there, his mind was in a mess.

Suddenly, the door of the hut opened, and there was the sound of a wheelchair rolling: "Who's there?" Someone asked.

Ji Dong hurriedly walked out: "It's me."

Amu didn't move, because he was beside the wall, so the man couldn't see him.

It was a boy not much older than him, his legs were as thin as the muscles and bones of a baby bird, and he was lying limp.He was sitting in a wheelchair with a full smile and a little childishness. He seemed very happy to see Ji Dong: "Brother Yi!"

Ji Dong's face, which was always as black as charcoal fire, unexpectedly smiled, and he patted the boy's head awkwardly with his hand that didn't hold the sword.

The young man smiled, tilted his neck slightly, with eagerness and embarrassment on his face, and asked Lin Yi: "Did the young master use the map I drew? Does he like it?"

Amu, who was staying in the shadow by the side of the wall, suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his heart. He touched the wall with his hand and clasped his knuckles hard, so he didn't make a sound.

Lin Yi replied: "I use it, I like it very much."

The young man breathed a sigh of relief, clasped his hands together, and said with a gentle smile, "It's good that the young master likes it. I haven't drawn a map for a long time, and I'm afraid I'll make a mistake."

Lin Yi said again: "The Lin family is gone. Now there is only the master and no young master. It's time to change the name."

The boy shook his head: "I'm used to it, besides, I'm no longer with you, and you can't control me."

The seemingly gentle boy has a big temper.Ji Dong didn't say a word, he was acquiescing to his words.

"Master... is he okay?" The boy asked again: "I was so fat when I was a child, and my eyes were round. I don't know what he looks like now. Is he tall? Is he skinny? Is he good-tempered?" He was thinking of words, a Each of them ventured out and asked Ji Dong.

Ji Dong shook his head: "Master still refuses to recognize us."

The boy said ah, and his eyes dimmed a little: "I still want to see him."

Amu heard clearly from the side, but his feet seemed to have taken root, and he couldn't take half a step.

Ji Dong seemed to be looking at him.

The rising sun was not high enough to reach the side of the hut, and the long shadows were quiet, covering Amu well.

"There will be such a day." Lin Yi suddenly said: "We can wait." He didn't look at Amu, nor at the boy, the light in his eyes seemed to fall into the void, and he didn't know who he was talking to.

The boy shook his head with a smile, controlled the wheelchair and walked into the house, saying, "Don't come here again next time, I'm fine by myself." When he was about to enter the house, he stopped, as if he was enduring a situation that made him uncontrollable. The emotion, the clean voice became hoarse, relieved and relieved, murmured: "It's good that he is back." The voice was too soft, too soft, it fell into the wind, and it was almost difficult to distinguish.Amu almost thought that the boy saw him.

Ji Dong didn't speak, just stood there until the boy entered the room before walking back to the shadow.

He was too tall, covering almost all of Amu's light, even the light on his shoe was taken away by him, so Amu had no choice but to look up.

"Master?" Lin Yi called softly.

Amu looked at him a little blankly, the young man's frail legs lingering in front of his eyes.

"I want to go back..." Amu said.

Ji Dong took a deep look at him and said, "Okay."

He carried him on his back, not as fast as before, but walking slowly, his broad back didn't feel hot in summer, on the contrary, it was warm and comfortable, Ji Dong's steps were light, and Amu hardly bumped .

Amu thought a lot about that sand table, Ji Dong's words, and the boy's legs. He felt that he was like a bad person. He didn't accept that he was a forest tree, but at the same time he exercised the rights of the forest tree.He originally thought that if it dragged on like this, maybe Ji Dong would give up. In this way, he would still be a tree in the mountains, A-Niang would still be his A-Niang, and A-Die would still be his A-Die.

But it's different. When I saw the boy, it was different.

Amu didn't expect that the bond between them was so deep, and he was still thinking about someone he hadn't seen for more than ten years.

This is not something that Amu can solve if he doesn't bear it. These people who belong to Lin Mu and Lin Mu's responsibilities, whether he wants to or not, are now on him.

"Jin Yi." Amu suddenly called Lin Yi's name in a low voice.

Lin Yi responded: "The subordinate is here."

After deliberating for a long time, Amu said, "To be your master, do you need to know how to write?"

Ji Dong was stunned, and stood where he was, without moving.

Amu continued to ask: "What about martial arts? Do you need martial arts?"

"Also, I don't know how to do business, march soldiers and fight wars. I can only hunt and climb trees to find fruits." Amu said, his voice became a little lower after he said it, because what he knew was really too little.

Ji Dong started to move again, walked slowly with his back on his back, and said, "Master is very powerful."

Amu was taken aback: "What?"

"The subordinates don't recognize the fruit in the forest. One time, they were really hungry and ate the red fruit from the root of the tree. After that, their face became swollen and hard, and they couldn't even open their eyes."

Amu blinked on Ji Dong's back, and suddenly couldn't hold back, he was afraid that Lin Yi would be embarrassed if he laughed too loudly, so he covered his mouth and smiled, his face turned red.The vibration in the chest spread all the way to Ji Dong's back, causing Ji Dong to laugh softly.It was the first time Amu heard that laughter. It was very low, very deep, but very pleasant to hear.

The two laughed for a while before gradually calming down.Lin Yi said again: "Master, you don't need to change yourself. We all know how to write, martial arts, do business, march and fight wars. You just need to give orders."

But Amu is not used to relying on others, except Gu Lin.

Although his heart was trembling, he was still silent, but the hand that hooked Ji Dong's neck was tightened.