On the marble-covered colonnaded square of Ephesus, on the seaside square, Brutus, who was tall and thin, dressed in a white robe, smiled and lined up with the Jews in a welcoming procession, and when he saw Libida, who had dismounted the sail line and rowed a small boat toward the pier, he smiled even more happily, and hurried forward to carry him ashore, and then Brutus and Cassiio sandwiched the commander of the expeditionary force in the middle.

"Brutus, is this the new etiquette you learned in the East?" Li Bida gently patted the dagger on the lanyard with his hand, meaning that you two don't moths to the fire, "The Ptolemaic royal family is still on that larger ship, and it is useless to coerce me. If you have any thoughts or requests, please feel free to let me know. ”

"We need a large loan of money like this Jewish merchant group behind us for the return of His Excellency Cicero and my uncle to Rome, but their leader, Josephus, has spoken of dictating that he will run the annual Egyptian fleet to Rome." After saying that, Brutus was also a little embarrassed, he was not naturally suitable for singing this kind of face, so he pointed back, and Li Bida blinked his eyes, only to see those Jewish merchants dressed in low-key and luxurious gray textiles, nodding to him coldly, and Joseph, who took the lead, stroked the golden ears of wheat in his hand.

Suddenly, Li Bida understood everything, he seemed to see the chestnut hair and chestnut eyes, with brutality and pride, shaking in front of him, although he didn't see anyone, but all kinds of feelings after the contract still came to his heart, until the tip of his nose, there was a kind of squeezed sourness and excitement.

But he remained unmoved, and turned back to Cassiyo and said, "These entries. I've talked to the piper beforehand. That's reassuring. You will have the money to repay these Hebrew merchants, and you will be able to take a cut of the shipping profits. But the premise was that I would be given a reason to go to war with Egypt, and then I would be given command of the legions, and then I would be the finance minister of Egypt afterwards. ”

"But the Minister of Finance must approve this from the Concord Temple!"

"I lent money to Ptolemy, and when I was two thousand Tallents, I had never heard of the Temple of Concord. Paying off debts, it's as simple as that. Otherwise, everyone will break up. Li Bida didn't give in, and looked at Brutus on the other side with constant sweat on his face, this noble-born kid didn't know why, and when he saw Li Bida he was both respectful and afraid.

Cassillo, who was still behind him, smiled and walked around to the front and said, "Of course, we absolutely abide by the spirit of the contract, and besides, we don't want to completely fall out with Caesar now, everyone takes what they want, you are your Egyptian finance minister, and we will draw money and kill back to Rome as soon as possible." "Finished. Cassiyo walked up to Brutus and patted his companion on the shoulder. He cried out: "It is better to put a halt to these futile quarrels for the time being, to bring the venerable Pharaoh ashore as soon as possible, and then to hold a great feast in the city of Ephesus, in preparation for the future victory of the conquest of Egypt." ”

Brutus immediately stopped, in fact, he did not have any personal ill feelings towards Lipida, on the contrary, he was very grateful for his help to his family, so he shook his head, and said that it was better to stay in Ephesus for a few days, and soon there would be a request for a meeting from Rhodes, about a private conversation between Pharaoh Ptolemy and Cato the Younger, the governor of Rhodes.

"No, I don't agree in the slightest with the so-called private conversation." Li Bida crossed his hands on his waist and said to Brutus and Cassiyo, "I must accompany my troops with Pharaoh, and I must have the right to participate in the content of the talks, and bring my lieutenant and tribune, and of course I will not stop you from coming to the meeting." If not, send a message to Cato the Younger, and say that we ourselves will go to Egypt, and that I have in my possession the proclamation of the Priesthood of Fichiaris, and that I can personally solve the problem of ships. ”

This bastard-like naturalized man from the East is really difficult to deal with, and at this time, even Cassiyo smiled helplessly, spread his hands at Brutus, and said that it is better to hold a banquet first!

At this time, the sun was setting in the west, and several high-ranking slaves of the municipal department held high poles that were lit, and lit the anointing oil on the colonnade one by one, and soon the square was brightly lit, and Ptolemy, who had disembarked, raised his voice and said, "Is this all welcome, it is really hard to work in these rural places, and it is not easy to find these anointing oils." At this time, Brutus, Cassiio, and the rest of the municipal officials were standing on the steps of the palace and waiting, and Lybita and the centurions clanked their spurs and led in front of Pharaoh with their swords, and Cleopatra, accompanied by two handmaidens with combed hair, rushed forward in a disorganized procession and took Lybida's hand very affectionately.

As a result, just when Li Bida gently shook off Xiao Yanhou's hand, ready to teach her a lesson that "it is not good to have such an impact in public", he suddenly felt as if he had been stabbed by a gaze from somewhere, and he looked up at the palace in some panic, as if he couldn't find the owner of that gaze at all.

At the banquet, Li Bida was also thoughtful, pinching the food and swallowing it very slowly, which made Xiao Yanhou, who was sitting next to him, a little confused, so he carefully asked the other party if he had any thoughts? Now the well-dressed servant brought the main course and placed it in front of Cleopatra, and the queen exclaimed, "What kind of dish is this, please give the cook a reward of Tarrant on my behalf." Suddenly, her arm was held by Li Bida, and the silver ring sounded together under the force, and everyone looked at Li Bida's rude behavior in amazement, but His Excellency the Commander hurriedly spread the dish of stewed chicken with black truffle in front of Cleopatra, and told her not to eat it! Then it happened that the pet cat of the little queen came, Li Bida cut a ball of food and handed it to the cat's mouth, but the cat screamed a few times, and died in full view of everyone.

The whole restaurant was in a commotion, and many centurions shouted rudely, drew their swords, and searched everywhere for the murderer, while Ptolemy XII remained in place with their mouths open, completely stunned, and the Jewish merchants rose to their feet, shouting in a language they did not understand, revealing that they had nothing to do with the attempted murder.

Only Li Bida rushed out of the gorgeous palace alone, running wildly all over the garden, until he saw a man in a black Hebrew trench coat with a nervous look, probably looking like a carriage slave of the merchant group, and rushed straight up, the man ran in a panic, and the two of them went forward and behind, through the whole manor, and in a corner hung with ivy, the man was caught up by Li Bida out of breath, grabbed his thin shoulders, and reversed himself.

Tearing off the turban, Adana's chestnut eyes and fair face appeared in front of Li Bida, with undulating gasps.

"You've lost weight." This is Li Bida's first sentence, the first sentence of reunion after a long absence.

Afterwards, Adiana slapped him back. (To be continued......)