"How do you know if you don't try." Sosikles broke free of his hand, and after walking a few steps, he muttered in a low voice, "Big Brother Stas is too honest." ”

Pekeestas was the second son of Shiros, who married Sostatus's eldest sister, so they were cousins. Although Pekeestas is older, he is influenced by his family education and behaves in a regular manner. Although Sosikris was younger, Sostatus intended to train him to be the heir to his business, so he was more tactful and flexible.

Sosicles went back and told the servants to keep an eye on the children, and then he walked unhurriedly south along the walls of the zoo.

The Turriy Zoo, whose full name is the Turii Kingdom Zoo, is built on a hill near the Klatty River, and the entire hill is owned by the zoo. It has been seven years since it was built, but it has never stopped being built, and because the hill is gentle on the east, steep on the west and north sides, and on the south side of the river, it is only walled at the eastern foot of the hill. Originally, it only opened one gate, but due to the increasing number of tourists, it was neither safe nor convenient for Avia, who often entered and exited the zoo, so a side gate was built at the southern foot of the mountain for Avia, the palace guards, and staff to enter and exit.

From a distance, Sosikles saw that there were already some people standing scattered at the side door, apparently with the same purpose as him, but without success.

He walked over with his head held high, and said to the guard standing at the door, "I am the younger brother of Axicus, and I have important things to see him!" ”

The guard hurriedly called the officer and whispered a few words to him, who looked at Sosicles and said, "Wait a minute. ”

…………………………………………………………

Near this side gate is a huge water wheel and a long stone trough, embedded in the wall, which leads the water of the Kratty River into the zoo and eventually into an artificial lake not far from the main entrance.

Around the artificial lake, there are large iron cages and huts next to them, and in front of each one there are a number of people gathered in exclamations and screams. There are also places where spectators gather, but instead of iron cages, large pits have been dug with low walls and pools in the pits......

Suddenly, there was a deafening cheer from the people in front of a large pit, and the animal that had been hiding in the pool at the bottom of the pit finally climbed ashore, with a huge mouth but a pair of small ears, and a body as thick as a cow with four stout short legs...... This is the hippopotamus from the Nile, which shakes its little ears and opens its mouth to breathe water, causing bursts of cheers from tourists......

In a corner next to the pit, there was a man who stood out from the rest, because he sat quietly, and in front of him stood a wooden plank with an unfinished painting of the hippopotamus at the bottom of the pit.

But the incessant screaming clearly disturbed him, and he angrily threw the ink pen in his hand to the ground, then looked at the excited tourists, and finally showed helplessness on his face.

At this time, a simple-looking young man hurriedly walked up to him and said earnestly: "Brother, it's so hot, drink sip water first to quench your thirst!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the servant next to him immediately untied the wooden box he was carrying, took out the long-eared pottery bottle and two clean wooden cups, pulled out the cork, poured the turquoise slurry water, and then opened another wooden box wrapped in layers of cloth, picked up a few ice cubes with wooden clips, and carefully put them into the cups.

This operation made the people next to them see it, and they couldn't help but look at them carefully, after all, it is definitely not ordinary people who can use ice cubes to cool off on a hot day.

The man who painted unceremoniously picked up a glass and drank it in one gulp, then chewed the ice cubes and said vaguely: "Yes, it's apple juice, pour me another glass." ”

The slave quickly took it and poured the water.

"I said Axicus, do you usually drink water so luxuriously?" This man drank the slurry water provided by others, and he still had to criticize, which was a bit excessive.

But the young man didn't care, he also took a sip of the syrup water, and explained: "I'm busy with this and that every day, how can I be so delicate, this is all for Avia." ”

The man who painted stopped talking.

The young man asked curiously: "Brother, haven't you been helping the city hall with the carving and design of the sports meeting recently, why do you have time to come here?" ”

"I've already done it for them, so I'm going to come out for a walk today."

"Then if you want to come to the zoo, you should also tell us in advance, if you let Sister Eunice know that we didn't take care of you, Avia and I won't be reprimanded by her!"

It turned out that these two were none other than King Davers' two sons-in-law: Alex and Axikus.

Hearing this, Alex was a little unnatural. He used to sculpt and paint, and he was able to go without eating or sleeping for a long time, completely immersed in his creation, which was actually very damaging to his body. After getting married, Eunice asked him to change his bad habits, for which the two had several quarrels, and then Davers intervened, and after a conversation with the couple, he was willing to make a change, and Eunice also took care of his life, so that he could devote himself to creation, so that his carving and painting level continued to make new progress, and finally became the top sculptor in the whole kingdom.

"I have hands and feet, what do I need you to take care of!" Alex scolded disapprovingly, and then whispered, "If you really want to help me, get these tourists out!" ”

Axikus hurriedly shook his head: "I can't do this!" I persuaded Avia for a long time to allow only a few hundred people into the park, but now the park is full of tourists, and it will be troublesome if it causes a riot! ”

"I said you're circling around Avia every day, and you don't even care about your father's business?" Alex couldn't help but ask.

Axicus scratched his head and didn't answer directly, but asked, "I heard that the Dionian Academy is going to set up another art academy, and I'm going to make you the dean, is this true?" ”

Alex hesitated, looked at the painting on the board, and said softly, "This matter is still being discussed, and it has not yet been decided. ”

Although Alex had his own engraving studio and a few apprentices, it was completely different from being a dean and teaching and managing dozens or even hundreds of students, and it was precisely because of the pressure he felt that he would sneak out to paint alone these days.

After the news was confirmed, Axicus was overjoyed: as the largest ironsmith in the Dionian Kingdom, his father not only continued to maintain a leading position in weapons and equipment, civilian iron, but also began to get involved in the production of metal crafts, such as the previous Antebris football star statue was designed by Arex and made by the Theos ironware workshop. But after all, his family did not have enough foundation in the manufacture of handicrafts, and there were not enough carvers, and in the metal craft market of the kingdom, the somewhat famous carvers were either working alone or trained by other manufacturing workshops, and the upcoming establishment of the Dionian Art Academy would be good news for his family's craft workshop.

Axicus was thinking when the zoo janitor ran and said, "His brother is looking for him."

He was stunned for a moment: because he had no brothers, only a sister, who dared to pretend to be his younger brother so boldly?

Axicus decided to take a look.

When he walked to the side door, he saw a young man waving to him and shouting, "Big brother, it's me!" ”

Axicus laughed. Since Theos and Sostatus were both big businessmen in Turriy, and they were both in the Turriyi Chamber of Commerce, the two families often corresponded, and Sostatus was interested in cultivating his second son and often brought him to visit him, Axicus liked this clever little brother quite much.

"Why are you here?" Axicus asked kindly.

"Big brother, help me!" Sosicles looked pitiful: "Don't you want to have a sports day, there are a lot of guests in my house, my dad had to let me bring the children of these guests to the zoo, but when we arrived, we found that we had to wait for a long time, and it was so hot, the younger children couldn't stand it......"

"How many people?" Axicus frowned.

"Plus me, five people. However, I just saw that my cousin Pekeestas was also in line, and he brought about 7 people, can you also ...... with him?"

"Pequestas?" Axicus was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood that the only person who could be called cousin by this little guy was the son of the governor of the Thessaly district, Sinos, who thought for a moment and said, "Okay. But you'll have to wait outside for a while, I'll have to go talk to Avia first, it should be fine. ”

"Thank you, brother!" Sosikris said gratefully, watching Axicus walk into the side door, ride a Bruti horse led by a slave, and disappear in a blink of an eye, he couldn't help but think in his heart: It is rumored that the reason why Axikus can be favored by Princess Avia is because he is like a dog, revolving around the princess every day, even if he is married, he is still like this, he has no sharpness and pursuit of his own at all, and he is simply losing the face of the upper-class young citizens of the kingdom......

Sosikles, who had previously scoffed at such a statement, dismissed it as nothing more than a sour word uttered by some people out of jealousy, now seemed to have such a thing.

…………………………………………………………

Brutima walked the flat stone path, carefully avoiding the crowds of tourists, to a courtyard fenced off by a high iron railing halfway up the mountain.

Axicus turned over and dismounted, and hurried to the wooden house at the back of the yard, where several antelopes immediately stopped grazing and looked vigilantly at the sudden intruder.