The lettuce of St. Francis of Assi's convent was growing in good condition, the ridges were as straight as the wireframes of a manuscript of the Bible, each lettuce was green, and Brother John, who was thin but long, was collecting the last batch of ripe lettuce, but the goldsmith did not see the altar boy about the size of Julio, and Brother John was accompanied only by the straw basket and lettuce beside him. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 InfoSpeaking of lettuce, it is a rather delicious food, and legend has it that some people are even willing to exchange their children for the devil's lettuce, and the nobles will boil it into soup to drink, but the monks will put it directly in their mouths during penance - generally speaking, the fruit that has not been cooked has a deep coldness, which can lead to various diseases, but the monks believe that this will cause the sins of the body to be excreted together.

The goldsmith was not as religious as one might think, and he longed for the fat lettuce only because the wheat porridge he had received in the morning should be fed to the pigeons than to a strong monk, and he considered himself to be so healthy that he would not be overwhelmed by the so-called cold and heat.

He looked around, it was still within the confines of the monastery, the grass was neat, the ground was soft, and the sun was shining......

Giulio watched as the goldsmith walked up to Brother John, gesturing to him as if he wanted to help, but the Medici, who was not a child inside, knew of course that he had just taken a fancy to the lettuce, but perhaps in the next city, Giulio could ask Bishop Picromini to write a letter of recommendation, and send the fellow to the priest to do his job, so that they could be a little more pleasant to each other.

When the goldsmith shoved the first lettuce between his teeth, Giulio saw a bright purple color at the edge of the lettuce field, and he looked at the goldsmith, who seemed to have indulged in the sweet juice of the lettuce—he walked unhurriedly and saw small bunches of purple-black berries, which were evidently ripened much earlier by the standard of lettuce's ripening time.

He brushed away the leaves that were hidden from the berries and stretched out his hand.

"Don't touch that!"

The Pocket Monk paused, then turned his head away, to his surprise that it was two people who had stopped him instead of one.

"It'......," they said in unison, but then the one who was about as tall as Julio ...... It must have been the child of the altar boy of the convent of St. Francis who stepped back and gave up his place.

"That's belladonna, not gooseberry." Father Valencia said.

Giulio knew of course that it was belladonna, he had a family that he had not had and a papal uncle who might have been burned at the stake as a wizard, unlike other children, his enlightenment books in addition to the Bible, there were no less than three atlases of potion raw materials, all of which Bishop Picromini had bought with time and money, and perhaps some power, all the plants were depicted in an unusually beautiful and realistic way, even proportioned, amazing, you know, There are still some traditional painters who still use the size of the human body in the painting to indicate the status and wealth of the person, and the animals are half realistic and half imaginary, fish with cat heads, two-legged mice and dog-like crocodiles abound, but Julio saw the use of countless precious minerals or plant pigments so that the colors are bright and lifelike, as if he could take them out with his hand.

Belladonna is one of the first thirteen medicines listed in the parchment, with mandala in the front and ginseng in the back. Witches made mandala and ginseng aphrodisiacs popular among men and women, but Bishop Picromini found it to have more effects, relieving pain, anesthetizing and suppressing asthma and calming heart palpitations...... At that time, the potion that saved Lorenzo contained a mixture of the two flowers distilled and extracted. The same is true of belladonna, which Bishop Picromini has used to solve and create many enemies when the women eagerly drip its juice into their eyes, dilating their black pupils and making them look pitiful.

This little fruit was also something that Bishop Picromini repeatedly asked Giulio to remember, for of all the poisons, especially for young children, belladonna was probably the easiest poison to put in their mouths—without leaves, flowers, and only fruits, belladonna was almost indistinguishable from blackcurrants, and had a sweet taste, and a few belladonnas mixed in a large plate of blackcurrants, from which only a man with sharp eyes as sharp as a falcon could possibly pick them out.

However, since Giulio was not really a child, he certainly wouldn't tell them out loud that he knew it was a poisonous fruit, and that they acted with good intentions or not, so why be embarrassed, especially for such a trivial matter, so he smiled humbly and gratefully, put his hand in Father Valencia's hand, and told him to carry himself away from the wild belladonna bush (or maybe not so wild, given that belladonna juice is very expensive).

"You're Joshua, aren't you?" Giulio did not forget another person who reminded him, although he was a child like Giulio, his outfit was a little creepy--he was wearing a robe that was not much different from that of the monks, with clog-soled shoes on his feet, and his exposed hands and feet were not very healthy grayish-white—because his whole head was covered with a cloth bag with only two holes dug in the place of his eyes, in a bright place, It can be seen that his eyes are a very beautiful baby blue.

The kind you can see in a shy kitten.

"Yes," Father Valencia confessed, "he is Joshua, and you are the same age." He had expected to see the latter look of horror, after all, Joshua looked like a scarecrow who had suddenly moved, he was the altar boy of St. Francis's convent, but everyone knew that this child could not appear in front of the people, and if those ignorant mortals saw him, or saw his face hidden by a cloth bag, they would surely cry out to the devil.

Father Valencia was one of the few people willing to talk to Joshua, and it would not be difficult for a Borgia to hold the hand of the devil and dance on the graves of the saints if there was a place available.

One might ask, what can even Borgia get out of a child?

Of course, there are many, first of all, Joshua must have a different identity from the mortal, otherwise his deformed and ugly face should have been burned or discarded at birth, instead of being sent to the convent of St. Francis to be hidden and nurtured by the monks, and the hand hidden behind the baby should belong to an incomparably honorable master, otherwise the cowardly, cowardly, cowardly, and selfish character of the Bishop of Perugia, would not have accepted such a trouble, just like if Father Valencia had not had a Borgia surname, He couldn't have been standing here.

And what Giulio and Bishop of Perugia were able to guess would not have been a difficult problem for Caesar, who had a different wisdom and acumen since he was a child, let alone that he had known for a long time that Bishop Picromini was the one who saved Lorenzo and the entire Medici family, or perhaps Florence.

Giulio is a disciple of Bishop Picromini, a hostage, a bond, he has an important role, and the Medici family is trying to fight for a place in the Holy See, Giulio may be just one of them, but the resources he has access to will definitely not be the least.

Before Caesar was sent to Assisi, his father, Cardinal Borgia, discussed something with him, and the old dog in his fifties with a huge hooked nose was not very sure about the papal election. Della. Lovere had been working against him, and the wealth he had amassed was not enough to fill the pockets of every cardinal, and if it was his enemy who ascended to the papal throne, there was no doubt that he would be retaliated against, or at least dealt with a ferocious blow, for which he might need not only to nominate others, but also to receive more aid and support.

The Medici had little power in the Vatican, but they had nearly a quarter of the Florentine fortune, and sometimes gold could knock out more targets than a sword.

As for Joshua, Caesar could only say that the child, perhaps because of his demonic countenance, was wary of anyone but Julio.

Borgia saw longing in those eyes.