Return of the Mummy

The quiet night is even more tranquil under the silver light of the moon god Kongsu.

The rolling sand dunes and the tall and majestic pyramids seem to have fallen asleep.In the still brightly lit palace, the chirping insects in the garden chirped from time to time, and accompanied by the breeze, they were sent into the palace through the thin and soft gauze.

Maya took a group of maids to deliver some midnight snacks to Tutankhamun and Holunhib, and at the same time helped them prepare for a rest later.But they didn't expect to push open the door, and what they saw was their great pharaoh holding Holunhib half in his arms, and the two looked close to each other with lips and teeth.

After Hollenhib's brain restarted, he saw a group of people behind Tutankhamun.

It was obviously only a matter of tens of seconds, but in the eyes of Hollenhib, it seemed to last for tens of minutes.When Tutankhamun's tongue slowly exited Holunheb's mouth, everyone saw that Herunxib, who had always been dressed calmly and had a tall and calm attitude when the sky fell, suddenly burst into embarrassment. red.

Horunhib didn't want to put himself in a disadvantaged position, but when he saw Tutankhamun opened his eyes, his first move was to cover his mouth—if his so-called first kiss was taken away by this guy a few years ago, it was to save him. Myself, then...then this time...

Why didn't you push it away at that time!

On the contrary, Tutankhamun said calmly, "You...you are blushing, shy? Why?" Shouldn't you be happy?That's not how it should react.

Shy...so what is shy?Obviously red with anger.

Putting down his hand to cover his mouth, Horunhib belatedly glanced at the waiters headed by the nanny Maya—just now...they saw it, right?

Shouldn't you panic, shouldn't you be wondering?

But Hollenhib found that these waiters did what they had to do as if they didn't see anything.

As if this is a very common thing.

If it weren't for the strange feeling that the other party's slightly wine-smelling tongue was licking on his teeth and the tip of his tongue, Hollensibb almost thought it was a hallucination just now.

Seeing Tutankhamun's calm look, Hollenhib suddenly remembered a saying that he had read in a book a long time ago - when the pharaoh expressed unreserved trust and value to someone, he would use a representative God's kiss to give that person supreme glory.

Whether it is true or not, Hollenhibb feels that he needs this explanation very much now.

Uh... so, in fact, what Tutankhamun wanted to express just now?That's right, that must be the case, so Nanny Maya and the others didn't find it strange just now.Well, that must be the case.

Having figured it out, Hollenhib remembered that this meant expressing trust and respect, and couldn't help suppressing the last trace of complaints about "kiss and tongue kiss" in his heart.

Tutankhamun was in a good mood. He looked at the other party's lips that were especially bright and attractive because they were wet with saliva, and picked a grape from the tray with his hand and put it into his mouth—well, it tastes very good ,sweet.

As for that night, Horunhib, who stayed overnight in the palace, didn't sleep well all night, so it was out of Tutankhamun's control.

Even though it has been two or three days since this incident, when Horunhib faced Tutankhamun, he was still a little awkward in his heart-of course, this was not shown.

In his view, a gentleman is magnanimous.He already thought that Tutankhamun's kiss had no ambiguous meaning.But his first kiss and first tongue kiss were all dedicated to Tutankhamun... a child, a male...

Although he thinks that feelings are gender-neutral...but it doesn't mean that he can be kissed "again" without preparation, right?

The most frightening thing is that if he was puzzled by Tutankhamun's behavior, Horunhib was even more frightened because he didn't feel anger or nausea at that time.Nor did he refuse immediately - Hollenhib's experience made him understand his own heart very well, and he would not just make lame excuses like "I was scared at the time".

In fact, although he was shocked at that time, and it was only a few tens of seconds, if he pushed subconsciously, he would definitely be able to push Tutankhamun away.

Could it be... Uh, no, no, no, it's impossible.

On the day of Harpoquets' burial, Hollenhib supported his mother with one hand and his sister with the other—Edjo was still coiled firmly around his waist, blocked by his clothes—with a solemn expression.

Toho Iris's face was in unspeakable pain, and the skin around Hathor's eyes was also a little red.Behind him were people from the general's mansion, ministers and soldiers from the barracks.Although they looked sad, they didn't dare to make a sound, because it was a very important opening ceremony.

The priest recited the contents of the "Book of the Dead"① in a drawn-out tone, while taking out things from rows of small jars and saucers, and putting them into the mouth and nose of the mummified Harpocrates... …

After Harpoquites' coffin was buried, Horunhib and Hathor walked home slowly with their mother half supported.

On the second day after dealing with Hapoquites' funeral, Hollenhib comforted his mother and sister at home, and then rushed to the artisan department.Unlike the craftsman village, the craftsman village is responsible for building mausoleums, etc., while the craftsman department is mainly responsible for the production of weapons and armor.

As soon as Holunhib arrived, the person in charge who was waiting at the side bowed: "Master Holunhib, we have found all the kinds of stones you mentioned, and there are similar ones. Please take a look and see if it suits you. requirements."

Ever since he knew that Hittite began to use iron, and that iron was more useful and lethal than bronze, Tutankhamun began to plan to obtain this metal.

But Hittite must have kept the secret recipe of this thing very strict. Tutankhamun thought, perhaps he could send spies to Hittite to see if he could steal the method.

But to his surprise, Horunhib knew a better way to make iron.

Although Tutankhamun was a little impatient, he still waited for Horunhib to finish handling his father's funeral in consideration of the time issue.

The early artificial iron used in the West was made by lump iron smelting. The smelting method was probably to use charcoal to reduce iron ore into solid iron.It is mixed with unburned charcoal and slag from ironmaking, forming a lump.Then forge while it is hot to squeeze out the mixed dross, and then use the local heat generated during forging to make iron and iron stick together.

Although similar methods have been used to smelt bronze before, the reason why iron was not found in ancient Egypt before is mainly because the temperature was low when smelting bronze, and the molten iron could not come out.

Therefore, the temperature and the furnace must be improved before they can be used.

At this time, the highest temperature that can be reached is only more than 1000 degrees Celsius, so the obtained iron contains a lot of carbon and other impurities, and is actually relatively fragile (Hittite is this method).It is best to decarburize, heat treat or something, and smelt cast iron and the like.

So far, the best and purest iron is meteoric iron.It's what they call a "gift from heaven".

In order to ensure the fastest possible success, Hollenhib asked them to bring back stones with the highest possible iron content.After inspecting the stones, Hollenxib nodded in satisfaction, and then summoned the craftsmen at the side, and explained the refining method and the method of removing impurities one by one.

Tutankhamun had worried before that since Hittite could stick to the iron secret, Egypt could not let it out.So they separated each step of ironmaking and sent special personnel to guard it to ensure that the craftsmen only knew how to do their part.

In this case, not to say that the secret can be kept 100%, at least the chance of leaking the secret will be greatly reduced.

Because Hollenhib only knew the method, but had never smelted iron, the remaining main work was left to the craftsmen.But Hollenhib has already taken office, so don't think it's as easy as before.The matter here has just come to an end, and Hollenshib is non-stop preparing for the training.

However, although this matter is simple, it is actually not easy.Especially now that the commander of the Southern Military Region is Naktemin, while Holunhib is the son of the former commander of the Northern Military Region, Hapoquites.

But fortunately, his combat exploits on the Syrian battlefield and Tutankhamun's order are not too difficult to handle-that is to say, with the support of General Nassim, soldiers in the Northern Military Region can still be trained.

But at that time, whether these soldiers will listen to Hollenhib and train according to his method will depend on the charm of Hollenhibb.

Fortunately, this matter is not urgent now, so Hollenhib intends to go to the barracks to see the condition of the soldiers and the usual training situation, and then go back to make a targeted plan.

Since returning from the last victory, Hollenhib, who was a general before the expedition, was promoted to the position of deputy general.The original deputy general, Naseem, was promoted to general—this was mainly to prevent Horunhib from being envied by his promotion too quickly.

But this speed is enough to make people jealous. Now in the court, who doesn't know that the pharaoh protects Helen Heeb the most?If it weren't for the fact that the current pharaoh is still young, the rumors about Tutankhamun's "beauty" in Horunhib would have spread a long time ago.

Under this seemingly peaceful life, Hollenhib gradually got his life and work back on track.

Hollensieb is not a person who is hypocritical and entangled, so the little knot unraveled within a few days. Compared with before, their relationship now seems to have a layer of intimacy... a vague intimacy.

It's just that Holunhib wanted to be worthy of Tutankhamun's respect and trust in him, and Tutankhamun... probably because Holunhib is a man who can be made?

As for Tutankhamun's occasional touch of his lips with his fingers when he saw Horunhib's curled mouth... Edjo and Best said they didn't know anything.

"Hurry up, Edjoy, if you can swim over in 1 minute, I'll add an extra lamb chop to you tonight, and I'll ask the kitchen to bake it with honey!" Hollen Hibb is now home After that, I like to half lie on my recliner, write and draw with papyrus in my hand, and play with Edjo by the way.

After the death of Hapoquitus, Toho Iris's focus was on the two children of Horunhib and Hathor.Hathor, who is seven or eight years old and needs to learn and grow, needs more guidance from his mother than Hollenhib, who already has a position.

Therefore, the number of times my younger sister acts coquettishly and cutely every day has decreased, and Holuncib, who is not used to it, has used that little snake that always eats her own tofu for training.

Look, he only went to Syria for a few months, and this little snake got so fat in the palace.If it weren't for the black "scarf" around his neck and the color of his eyes, Hollenhib really didn't want to admit that the man who had gained weight several times was Edjo, who could once be wrapped around his wrist as a bracelet.

Now don't talk about using it as a bracelet, even as a belt, Horunhib thinks it's too heavy.

Losing weight or something is imperative.

For the sake of the lamb chops, and for the continued skin-to-skin contact with the beauties, I must work hard—the little fat snake, Edjo, looked at the various obstacle running facilities in front of him, and shed two lasagna tears in his heart.

In Edjo's day-by-day tragic weight loss plan, time also slowly passed.Gradually, even in Egypt, which has always been hot, the temperature dropped somewhat.Count the time, this year is about to pass.

There is no Spring Festival here, but at the end of the year, it is also necessary to summarize the work of this year.One after another, some officials outside also came to Thebes to report on their work, and some even brought their family members with them—it was a rare opportunity to come to the capital once.Therefore, during this period of time, it is completely normal for the streets of Thebes to become lively.

Mixing in the crowd, Hollenhib changed into a more inconspicuous outfit, and walked slowly on the street with Seke.Looking at the peddlers yelling for cloth, snacks, crock pots, woolen blankets, horses, etc., he looked left and right, but didn't stop—he didn't come out for shopping today, he came to find someone.

The author has something to say: ① Shazi didn’t know if it was called "Book of the Dead" at that time, so it was settled like this

I... don't hit me...

It’s a good friend’s idea to have this kind of statement, because I’m afraid that Abu will be too stimulated and go crazy... (poof)... This is mainly a transition, and the next chapter will enter the little pharaoh and start to emerge... Aww~ Abu , but do you know, this kind of thing, if there is one, there are two, there will be three and four... There is N... Edjo, let's see how fat you are, it's useless to be cute, lose weight quickly, boy~