"Honorable Master Wu Lai, I suggest you buy a few more slaves. No matter what you use the house for, you will need slaves to clean it." Hola was very excited after receiving the reward, but she was not so excited that she forgot her job. "Think about it, fourteen rooms, a yard that is two hundred cubits long and one hundred and fifty cubits wide, how can it be cleaned without two or three people? Oh, and there is also the well in the backyard. If you don't prepare a skilled and strong slave, the well will definitely be covered by the mud and sand washed down from the mountain during the rainy season..."

"You can shut up now, Hola. Do you think a citizen like me will still be short of slaves?" Wu Lai turned around and glanced at Hola. "But if you have a young slave who is not missing any limbs in the future, I can consider it."

Hola rolled her eyes and asked cautiously, "Honorable Master Wu Lai, if I could really get slaves like this, how many would you need?"

"That depends on the price you offer, Hola. As far as I know, young slaves are often used as 'pickers'," said Wu Lai.

"That's not necessarily true, Honorable Master Wu Lai. I heard that a game has become popular among the nobles in the Assyrian city. I think you can almost understand what I mean. It will inevitably lead to an increase in the price of young slaves. Honorable Master Wu Lai, do you think I am right?" Hola asked with his back bent.

"A truly distinguished citizen will not touch slaves, so, Hola, you don't have to take it as good news." Wu Lai smiled slightly and waved goodbye to Hola. He was not in the mood to chat now.

After getting the contract, Wu Lai's first priority was to collect the money needed in a few days, but he had already made up his mind about this. So, after walking a short distance slowly and making sure that Hola had left and no one noticed him, he turned around and ran into the temple as fast as he could.

Since the emergence of the aristocratic Senate, the territorial head called "first citizen", and consuls, tribunes, tribunes, and treasurers at all levels in the Assyrian territory, the power of the temple priests has been greatly reduced, so that the sixteen priests in the temple of Seneca City had to do things that their predecessors were unwilling to do, such as acting as notaries of civil contracts and collecting fees to maintain the expenses of the temple.

Such a thing was not respectable after all, but it was one of the few privileges reserved for priests by the Senate and the first citizen, so in a sense, it was still a reflection of status.

Although the Seneca City Temple is the smallest temple in the Assyrian territory, it is definitely not the temple with the lowest income in the past ten years. This is thanks to the current high priest of the temple, Mikoyan. If Woolley were asked to describe it, he would definitely say this - apart from the tolerable greed and the more sophisticated means of mystification, Mikoyan is still a good person. At least he is relatively friendly to the poor and slaves, for example, he never makes money from the poor.

In general, Woolley had a good impression of Mikoyan. On the one hand, it was because of Mikoyan's attitude towards the poor, and on the other hand, it was because Mikoyan was a good friend of Woolley's father, Simon Grindor. Although Woolley was not quite sure how his alcoholic father "hooked up" with a high priest, he guessed that the friendship between a greedy temple high priest and an equally greedy miser must be based on interests, although on the surface, the two of them seemed to have some sympathy for each other.

Soon, Wu Lai was brought before Mikoyan by a lower-level priest.

In the high priest's room, Mikoyan, who was always very neat and dignified, sat on a large chair. He waved away the lower priests and asked with a smile on his face: "Oh, Wuleglinduo, you reminded me of your father again, and also of his kindness and generosity. So, Wuleglinduo, why did you come to see me today?"

Wu Lai straightened his chest and smiled: "Your Excellency the High Priest, Wu Lai has come here for two reasons. First, I hope to inherit the friendship between my father Simon Glyndore and you and carry it forward..."

"Oh." Mikoyan interrupted Wu Lei with a smile, "Wu Lei Glindo, your words are very interesting, but you are still a child and cannot understand the true meaning of friendship. However, I like the word you used, 'carry forward and develop', it's a good word."

"Your Excellency the High Priest, you underestimated my father's education of me. It doesn't matter. Time will prove everything." Wu Lai had expected to be rejected by Mikoyan, so he was not frustrated. Instead, he quickly and firmly showed the sapphire, "This is the second reason why I came here."

The light blue light emitted by the sapphire caught Mikoyan's attention at the first moment. In his eyes, Wu Lai caught a trace of greed, and then the smile on Wu Lai's face became even more intense.

"This..." Mikoyan pretended to frown and said, "Wuliglindo, as I said just now, you are still a child, and this... this sapphire is undoubtedly more valuable."

This time, it was Wu Lai's turn to interrupt Mikoyan: "Your Excellency the High Priest, I certainly know its value. This is a relic left to me by my father. I'm sure you also know my current situation, so I came here today to give this gem a good home."

Mikoyan was delighted, but his face remained calm. Instead, he nodded seriously and said, "Well, please continue."

"My father told me that the price of this sapphire is more than 10,000 silver coins. This is not only due to its size, texture, and luster, but also because of its distinguished origin. Your Excellency the High Priest, you must have heard of the legend of the 'King of the Four Directions'. Then you should remember that the scepter of the 'King of the Four Directions' is inlaid with four sapphires, and this is one of them." Wu Lai talked eloquently. If he wanted to sell something at a good price, packaging was very necessary. Anyway, the moment when the King of the Four Directions, the "ancestor" shared by the Assyrians and the Hurrians, waved the scepter was seven or eight hundred years ago. Who can verify it?

Mikoyan really frowned. With his keen eyesight, he could naturally see the true value of the sapphire, but Wu Lai's words just now made him doubtful. If an adult had said this to him, Mikoyan would definitely sneer at him. But the person who said this was Wu Lai. Not only was he a child, but his father, apart from being stingy and greedy, had a first-class ability to identify precious items such as gems.

"Are you really the legacy your father left you?" Mikoyan asked after a slight hesitation.

"Of course, I swear in the name of God Amon, it's absolutely true." Wu Lai's face was firm, but soon it turned into deep melancholy. "My father was a wise man. He had long foreseen what would happen to his son, Wu Lailindo, after he passed away. So, he gave this gem and his origins to him, all..."

Wu Lai lowered his head with a sad look on his face.

Mikoyan was stunned for a moment, then he sighed, stood up, walked to Wulai and patted him on the shoulder: "Wulai Grindor, you must learn to be strong. This is not only what your father Simon Grindor expects of you, but also what God Amon would like to see. Well, if you are here to sell this gem, I believe I can help you."

"Your Excellency the High Priest." Wu Lai raised his head and looked at Mikoyan, who was much taller than him. "My father said before he died that if I ever ran into trouble, I would bring this gem to you, because you are the most upright, kind, and generous person in Seneca City. Moreover, you like to collect these gems with a history."

"Oh, so that's how it is. I understand." Mikoyan pondered for a moment and nodded. "Wuliglindo, if you sell this gem in your hand to a gem merchant, it will be worth at most 6,000 silver coins, but that's not important. What matters is that you tell me about your difficulties first."

It turns out that this sapphire can be bought for at least 6,000 silver coins, which is not bad. Wu Lai pondered in his heart, and continued to shake his head with a sad face, and said: "Respected High Priest, please forgive me for having to keep it secret for the time being, but my father once said that this sapphire can be exchanged for 5,000 silver coins and your protection from you. Excuse me, is this true?"

"Of course it's true, Wu Lailindo, this was actually an agreement between your father and me, but you were too young at the time, so you didn't know about it, and I couldn't bring it up on my own initiative. You can understand, right?" There was a flash of excitement in Mikoyan's eyes. The six thousand silver coins he just mentioned were already a small discount, but Wu Lai not only did not object, he also took the initiative to reduce the price by one thousand silver coins. There was no reason for him to be unhappy.

"That's great." Woolley smiled, and then Mikoyan smiled too.

After a while, a purse appeared in Wu Lai's arms, which contained eighty-four gold coins. That is to say, after Wu Lai's high-profile price reduction, Mikoyan "generously" paid a little more - about forty silver coins.

Of course, there is also a bonus promise of "asylum".

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

At noon, sixty gold coins were missing from Wu Lai's purse. Accompanied by a lower-level priest of the temple, he went to the north of Seneca City to exchange the money with the original owner of the house. Because of the presence of this lower-level priest, the process of exchanging the money was unusually smooth. Apart from showing a hint of curiosity about Wu Lai, the other party did not ask any extra questions.

"We will leave here at this time tomorrow," said the owner of the house.

Wu Lai's eyes drifted over the Buza white orchid flower on her shoulder, which represented widowhood. Then he smiled and nodded, turned around and said to the lower-level priest who accompanied him, "Your Excellency the Priest, let's go."

The young priest nodded.

When the two walked out of the house and came to the fork in the road, Wu Lai quietly took out a gold coin from his purse and held it in his hand. Then he stopped and asked with a smile: "Your Excellency the Priest, I am really sorry to bother you today. I still have to go back to Grindo Manor. Let's say goodbye here."

"Okay, may God bless you." The young priest nodded, smiled and stretched out his right hand. According to convention, citizens like Wu Lai were qualified to shake hands with the priest.

The moment Wu Lai's right hand grasped the young priest's palm, the gold coin slid into the young priest's palm with a sense of warmth: "My father said that priests are messengers of God. Being close to priests is equivalent to being close to God. I firmly believe in this. I also hope that in the years to come, I can get more protection from God. I am willing to work hard for this all my life."

The young priest was stunned for a moment, then he looked at Wu Lai with a little more appreciation in his eyes: "I have to say, there are not many good people who think like you now, Citizen Wu Lailindo, from now on, you can call me by my name, Pompey."

Pompey? It's really well-known. Wu Lai thought about it, nodded with a smile, and took back his hand. Pompey's hand immediately retracted into his sleeve.

"Priest Pompey, if High Priest Mikoyan asks about it later, please tell him that Wu Lai and Grindo will come to visit again another day." After Wu Lai said this, he saw Pompey nodded, waved his hand, turned around, and went towards Grindo Manor.

After Pompey watched Wu Lai's back disappear around the corner of the outer wall of a mansion, he gently slipped his right hand out of his sleeve, glanced at the gold coins in his palm, smiled slightly, and quickened his pace towards the temple.