I put out his fire

Quentin became the target of public criticism for a while.Although Claudius settled the lawsuit for him, he is undoubtedly the laughing stock that the nobles and elders often bring up after dinner.

Quentin, who was like a glutton, relieved his depression by overeating.

He lay greasy on the sofa, dropping chickpeas one by one into his mouth.The slave fanned the ice cubes to cool the fat man.

Quentin picked out the meat from the scallops, chewed and chewed, and dipped his fingers in the pepper juice, sucking a few times with endless aftertaste.His eyes glowed green at the sight of fried mullet, and his swollen cheeks wobbled like a fat pig wagging its head.

He glanced at a table of delicacies and complained greasy: "There is no fish sauce!"

Octavia stood behind the gauze curtain, looking at Quentin who was feasting from the crack of the curtain.

She is Quentin's older sister.She completely inherited the appearance of her father, Claudius, with a thick neck and a flat nose, and her back was arched like an arch.She also has a slight body odor, and her body is too shriveled and deformed, like a flea curled up in a corner.

Due to the very similar appearance, Claudius believed that she was his own daughter and loved her very much.

Quentin waved the silver toothpick, picked up the nightingale's tongue on the plate, stirred it in the cinnamon sauce a few times, and couldn't wait to stick out his tongue to pick it up, eating very vulgarly.

"Quentin..." Octavia walked in with a hunched back, and said dissatisfiedly, "You ate my nightingale tongue!"

Quentin glanced at her, moved his fat nose a few times, and continued to eat on his own.

Octavia slammed her finger on the dining table and made an annoying sound, "Hey! These nightingale tongues cost me a hundred dinars! You greedy pig!"

Quentin took his time.He reached for the pepper juice with his mouth, licked it up like a hungry dog, and laughed at his sister, saying, "Where did the bedbugs come from? The stench just ruined my enjoyment of eating!"

Octavia hated others making fun of her body odor.She punched him angrily, her sunken nose shrank into a head of garlic, "Because of your incompetence, father sold the villa he promised to give me!"

She was so angry that she grabbed Quentin's red hair and said sharply, "You're a bloodsucker!"

Quentin knocked her hand off, pulling out strands of greasy red hair.He rubbed his painful scalp, and his double chin was squeezed out, "You are as ugly as your father, but you have a fierce temper like your mother! You are garbage with all the defects!"

"Oh! I'm going to poke your eyes with a fork!" Octavia was so angry that she picked up the silver fork and waved her stubby arm.

She stomped her feet twice, leaped over like a bat, and tore with Quentin.

Her silver fork went right into Quentin's arm.Quentin rolled his eyes in pain, and punched her hunchback hard.Octavia screamed like a pig howling.

The slave waiting on the side suppressed a smile and pulled the pair of siblings apart.

Panting heavily, Octavia sat on the sofa, like a jackal with sharp teeth, "Fat pig!" she cursed.

Quentin clutches the bleeding wound.His pair of bright small eyes were deeply embedded in his face full of fat, like nails nailed to the constantly shaking face.

He has a weird look, his eye sockets are full of gray and black shadows, and his bulging cheeks are hideous, like a dead soul summoned by the god of the underworld.

Quentin stood up, his bulging chin trembled, and his facial features filled with grease flowed into a sinister expression.

He suddenly lifted the small plate containing the leftover fishbone and patted Octavia on the face.

Octavia kicked her legs straight, like a tortoise on all fours.

"People who bully me will have a hard time!" Quentin said with his sausage-like thick lips opening and closing.

The slaves hurried over to rescue Octavia who was screaming from the fishbone.

……

The emperor's couple rewarded Nero's slave girl for being good at cooking.

The courtyard under the banyan tree seems to have a layer of algae floating, and the sunlight is broken and falls from the gaps in the leaves, dragging here like wisps of light and mist.

The slave girl was sitting by the patio, wearing a rough linen apron, and skillfully dissecting the belly of a fish.

She took out the guts of tuna and mackerel, and sprinkled coarse salt with the shellfish to marinate; finally, mixed with rosin and honey, and put them in clay pots to dry.

When the internal organs of the fish are fermented completely, the clear liquid filtered in the clay pot is the fish sauce, and the remaining sediment can be used to spread bread and eat.

Fish sauce is a very expensive food, coupled with the fact that it has a strong smell and is easy to attract mosquitoes and flies, Claudius ordered to limit the marinating of fish sauce in the city.

Therefore, it is difficult for the greedy nobles to buy such good things even if they pay a high price.

Rhodes sat on the banyan tree to rest, sweat dripping down his stiff jaw.Wearing black gloves, he flipped the gravel-stained blade back into the scabbard, and the white sword light was retrograde around his body like a swimming dragon.

He had just finished practicing the sword, poured a mouthful of cold water into the leather kettle, and wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeves.

A gust of cold wind blows.The coolness is like weak blood threads, growing in the air.Rome burns in July.

Rhodes suddenly realized that Nero's birthday was coming soon.

At that time, after Nero became emperor, he set his birthday as "Nero Festival".On that day, all Romans did not have to work and could go to the theater to watch games, music and plays.

Bloody fish intestines were piled up on the edge of the patio, covered with pale salt crystals.The female slave crushed a red medicinal herb with a stone bowl, and carefully spread the crushed medicinal herb on the salt crystals, and the scarlet blood was squeezed out and flowed all over the ground.

"What is this?" Rhodes jumped from the tree behind the slave girl and landed like a black eagle, his deep voice beating her from behind like a dull bell.

The female slave was startled, and some of the broken herbs in her hand were shaken off.

The ocher red herb powder is very bright, like a piece of red algae full of poisonous bacteria.In this green and gentle courtyard, it is like a pool of bacteria that keeps growing.

"It's saffron, my lord." The slave girl replied in awe. "It can cure stomach ailments, and it can also give fish sauce a strong fragrance."

Rhodes questioned.He picked up a little red medicine powder and put it in his hand, and sniffed it close to the tip of his nose.

This is indeed the fragrance of extremely rich saffron.

The strong fishy smell attracts many mosquitoes and flies.They buzzed and bit the internal organs of the fish, and the slave girl waved her away from time to time.

Rhodes stood still for a while, his calm black pupils hurriedly swept across the mess.He sniffed it twice, and the uncomfortably bloody smell sealed his nose like wax oil, making his stomach a little queasy.

"Mosquitoes and flies can spread malaria." Rhodes said heavily, with a somewhat fierce tone, "Doesn't the emperor's restriction order work for you?!"

The female slave shook off the blood on her hands, roughly wiped the apron a few times, and quickly knelt down beside his feet and said, "The master allowed me to brew fish sauce. He said..."

She paused, hesitated to speak.

"What did he say?" Rhodes pressed.

"I want you to taste this..." Nero said, covering his nose.

He walked in front of Rhodes, his slender skeleton propped up the loose red robe, and the fine sunlight slipped down and floated on his well-trimmed curly hair.

Rhodes complexion is not good, shoulders and back tense vigilantly, "There are already slaves in the family suffering from malaria. You shouldn't do this for the appetite of a guard!"

Nero's slender eyebrows furrowed.He looked aggrieved, his dense eyelashes trembled slightly, and a few faint freckles under his eyelids trembled accordingly.The coquettish emotion slowly oozes out and stains his face, making him look like a newborn puppy asking for a hug.

Rhodes adjusted his expression, grabbed the banyan tree's air whisker and kicked it up the trunk.

This position allows him to observe the situation inside and outside the courtyard, which is convenient for him to guard.

He stretched out his hand to the wronged Nero, and said in a relaxed tone: "Come up..."

Before Rhodes finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of a black shadow at the door out of the corner of his eye.He withdrew his hand abruptly, carefully holding down the long sword.

Nero followed his gaze and looked towards the door, his innocent facial features just now were as deep as if coated with silver.

Agrippina was dressed in black mourning, and she looked like a black fire suddenly burning in the green-lit courtyard.

"There is no mourning period yet!" She was always forceful, "You can't wear red yet!"

Nero was silent and treated her coldly.

"You did pretty well this time." Agrippina rarely praised her son.

She lowered her eyebrows, and a softness flashed across her light brown pupils, like a piece of tender snake scales, "At least I didn't embarrass your father..."

Rhodes noticed her strangeness at this moment from the tree, and his eyes moved slightly.

"Your 15th birthday is just one month away, and this is your coming-of-age birthday." Agrippina regained her indifference, "I helped you get a speech opportunity in the Senate..."

Nero's face darkened instantly, and there seemed to be a cloud of cloud gathering between his brows and eyes.

Agrippina continued: "Using your birthday as an opportunity, you have to prove to those elders that you can stand alone!"

"I'm not going." Nero interrupted, "It's my own birthday..."

"Politicians don't have birthdays and holidays!" Agrippina said forcefully, "You are too capricious!"

Her red lips opened and closed heavily, as if burdened by a layer of red rust.She solemnly preached:

"If you want to become a leader like Augustus, your current efforts and patience are not enough! You know, all the tears and forbearance in life are just the eagerness to move before the glory comes!"

Nero's eyes were covered with red blood, and there was a kind of depression.Helpless emotions slowly took root from the bottom of his feet, and climbed up to the top of his head bit by bit along the vine.Nero stood limp and stiff, feeling a little dizzy.

Agrippina sighed, a strong temperament surrounded her like armor.

"You are too naive! Nero. When will you become stronger..." She paused, "Like your father..."

After she finished speaking, her figure disappeared at the door like thick smoke.

Nero's chest was oppressed, and depression slowly blocked his blood vessels like ice crystals.As soon as his delicate eyelids drooped, a fragile eyeshadow formed.His figure was very slender, and his shy eyebrows were half hidden by his thin silver bangs.

Suddenly, a cyan leaf hung down, brushing the tip of his upturned nose lightly.

Nero's nose was itchy, and he wiped it twice with his fingers, and the light brown freckles trembled accordingly.

He raised his head blankly, and those sharp black eyes pierced into his fundus unexpectedly.

"What hurts?" Rhodes shook the branches and smiled.

His handsome facial features were hidden behind the green leaves, and his cinnabar-like lips curled up, "Come up! Sit beside me."

Nero's heart felt like an ant's sting.