"Pope, come to the cartography table, it's not enough to just make this thing." Calabis said excitedly, "What about your fire prevention measures, you can't burn down the courtyards and villas of those nobles in less than three days, right?" ”

"Thickening the wall tiles of this fireplace can not only prevent fire, but also keep warm, which is also where it is stronger than braziers and copper furnaces, Calabis. This kind of jishu has been used in the bathroom. Pope said confidently.

"Where's the fuel?"

"Fuel, of course, charcoal is the first choice, but because most of the charcoal in Rome is sent to forge weapons, charcoal is still relatively expensive." Pope scratched his head, a little nerve-wracking.

"Expensive? Can this also be called a problem? Aren't those nobles, like my patron, pursuing these things, you have to grasp their psyche, you know, my dear Pop. Calabis put his finger on his forehead, walked back and forth twice in front of the cartography table, and then asked Pope, "By the way, you said that fuel is expensive, and it does remind me, that we also have to consider the needs of those freemen and state slaves who earn three or five thousand drachmas a year, but like to be vassals and elegant, and this is called the segmentation of the market - what simple and cheap fuel is there besides charcoal?" ”

Then he and Pope snapped their fingers almost at the same time and shouted "coal, coal".

At that time, coal was mainly used for civil use in the city of Rome, and strangely enough, it was not placed in braziers, but for the ladies to make necklaces and mouths, and to warm bronze wine vessels.

"Haode, this problem is solved, Pop my dear, now there is the issue of the external style." Calabis further deepened the requirements.

"Style?" Pope shrugged, he had served in the Legion for so many years, and the most basic requirements for architecture and equipment were sturdy and practical for him, and the soldiers did not like flashy things. Seeing the engineer's look of resistance, Calabis ran to his open dining room and shouted, "Pop, the restaurant you designed for me is very reasonable, semi-open, so that in the summer the air is flowing here, and the guests will not lose their appetite because of the heat and stuffiness - this is called practical, but look at the food heater standing here!" "Isn't this thing just a lid structure on the upper and lower floors, the upper layer is for us to eat barbecued meat, ham, spices, syrup, vegetables, etc., and the lower layer is separated from the upper layer for coal heating, and if you use bronze to make such a stove, how much does it cost?" ”

"Fifty to one hundred dinars, Calabis." Pope told the truth.

Calabis looked up with a "whoah", he imitated Cicero's oratorical style, and then clenched his fists and struck the bronze object one after another, "But this thing cost me three thousand dinars!" weishenme, weishenme, you see, it's because it has four gold-plated little dolphins on its lid, oh, how cute, the lady likes it at first sight, and the lid is molded in the shape of a sea wave, tsk. You can see that the furnace door with the addition of coal, sculpted into the shape of the temple gate, fits the psychology of all pious Romans. Then, this thing, which cost a hundred dinars, was sold for three thousand, thirty times. It's called style, you know? ”

Pop thought for a while, and said that he understood a little, and Calabis raised his charcoal pen and walked to the drawing table, "Then what are you waiting for, call all the craftsmen outside, and everyone think of what the style will look like—for the nobles, for the knights, for the freemen, for the public, for the private courtyard, for the brothel, for the temple, and come up with it as soon as possible." After saying that, he patted Pop on the shoulder, "Do it well, like the last time the Valin Apartment, no, it should be called the 'Calabis Warehouse' now, this is done, your current salary is more than 24,000 Seth Retreat a year, you can transfer it to 30,000." ”

"Yes, I will do my best, I will definitely do my best!" Pope went to great lengths to say that his wife had recently been interested in contracting a ground floor of a Crocoh Street apartment, selling expensive jewelry and luxury goods, but two years ago his wife could not even afford a brass ring.

At night, when the tall lamp in Calabis's living room was still hissing with grease, he opened the wine stored in the cellar of the amphora, and shared it with everyone, who casually moved the couch to the drawing table, and whoever had the idea went to doodle on it, and then carefully rolled up the patterned calf paper and placed it on the bookcase in the back, and the room filled the room with laughter and discussion.

"Hey, you're not mistaken, a statue of the god of winter on the fireplace?"

"Don't you think there's a kind of misalignment in this way?"

"What does this serpent-like relief mean?"

"The snake is the embodiment of the family god, and it is a blessing to have a snake in the homestead"

It wasn't until the next day, when Calabis got up dizzily, and Pope and the other veterans and craftsmen were still asleep, that he ran to the pool of clear water in the courtyard and washed his face, and then remembered that to-day he had to go to Prima's Villa in Luculas to say goodbye. By the way, Tyranion's books had been copied, and he had been entrusted with returning the original to his patron, and he grunted all this, put the bronze tube containing the manuscript on his back, and went out with a clang.

When they arrived in Prima, Calabis felt that the atmosphere was not right, it was almost dinner time, and several servants were nervously walking towards the Apollo Hall, and Calabis followed them, and saw Kelly with a helpless face in front of the bronze door.

"What's going on?"

Kelly turned his face to the bronze door and said, "The master is going to have a banquet today." ”

"Who's at the banquet?" Calabis casually took out a berry on the small three-legged table next to the door, ate it, and asked.

"There are no guests, he is the one who feasts, and the main course is peacock tongue, and he gets six thousand drachmas for a plate." Kelly replied.

At this time, the dissatisfied voice of Lucuras came from the hall: "What's the matter, is it difficult to Lucuras, the triumphant general of Rome, can't he feast himself?" Today, it's Lucuras, invite Lucuras! ”

At this moment Kelly approached Calabis and said uneasily, "Marcus has been indulging in that Printhia lately, and has not come back much, and I find that our master, who seems to have lost his will and intellect in such days, is declining and declining, and his memory is not as good as it used to be, and he often says that he is no different from Marcos now." After listening to Kelly's words, Calabis gently pushed the bronze door open a crack, only to see that under the dim light, the golden and empty Apollo Hall presented a certain strange feeling, Lucuras was a little rickety, sitting alone at the huge dining table, which seemed to be his figure much smaller, looking at the plums, olives and other appetizers in front of him with dull eyes, from time to time he lifted the toothpick for fruit and put it down, from time to time he touched the napkin, and muttered words like "peacock tongue" in his mouth, waiting for the dish anxiously, His hair had turned gray, and it was hard to imagine that this was Lucuras who had been on the battlefield three years ago. Seeing this, Calabis remembered what Luculas told himself on the battlefield of Minor Asia, his life was like an old-fashioned comedy, with a vigorous beginning and a bland ending.

"Come in, Calabis." Luculas raised his eyelids, which were already slightly slackening, and said.