The Drinking Club and Little Caesar's Birthday Party

Queen Cleopatra VII believed that aromatherapy was not only used for beauty, but also as a means of persuading people. Of course, she also knew that Antony loved the ethereal scent of her body and became even more fond of perfume-making! Cleopatra VII made herself so fragrant at all times that even the winds of Egypt were infatuated with her, not to mention Antony!

Antony, interested in the development of perfumes with Cleopatra VII, would now and then watch her in her perfume workshop to see how she made them. Cleopatra VII's perfumes were her special "perfumed waters" made from a mixture of spices, high purity alcohol and flowers. To meet the material requirements of her perfume work, she also invested heavily in growing various plants to create a unique 'balm garden', and with the huge amount of money and effort she put into creating her own exclusive perfumes and oils, the Egyptian queen was arguably the most knowledgeable person about perfume in the hearts of the Egyptian people.

The Egyptians harvested flowers twice a year, in winter and summer, wrapped herbs and petals in cloth, which was twisted tightly by two men to squeeze out the juice from the flowers and plants, and then went through a series of processes such as filtration and fermentation to eventually create various fragrances.

The fragrance and perfume culture of Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, was the original inspiration for perfume worldwide and laid the foundations for what would become a worldwide perfume culture. Today, Egyptian fragrances are still renowned around the world, and many famous brands use Egyptian fragrances as raw materials to develop and innovate new perfume brands. Egyptian fragrances are of the highest quality and made from pure natural plants. A 10-ounce bottle is said to contain the essence of 100,000 to 120,000 flowers.

Egyptian fragrances are made from pure, natural plant extracts that contain no alcohol, no oils, no chemicals and will not evaporate even after a thousand years. When the lid is opened, the fragrance is overwhelming and the scent of Egyptian perfume stays in the room for days.

Because of the Queen's love of perfume, a culture of perfume also flourished in Egypt. Near the temples on both sides of the Nile, ancient perfume-making establishments sprang up, where the methods of making perfume were recorded on the four walls, and Egyptians who went for a walk around the area would feel the scent in the air everywhere. All this contributed to the cultural and economic prosperity of Egypt.

The market economy of perfume, led by Queen Cleopatra VII, not only improved the quality of life of the Egyptians, but also increased the income of the Egyptian people, and Queen Cleopatra VII made huge profits from it.

Having witnessed first-hand the huge financial benefits that the Queen's perfume development project brought her, Antony also began to think of ways to work with the Queen and make financial profits from the hobby.

"My dear Queen, your perfume is making you glamorous and your financial income grow! I too would like a nice project that would not only keep me entertained, but earn me money! What do you have in mind?" Anthony got right to the point and presented his idea.

"It seems to me that you need to know what your interests are before you can do that! What are you most interested in?" The Queen looked at Anthony and said.

"What am I most interested in? That is a good question! I am interested in everything that allows me to enjoy life, I like a pleasant and relaxed life, I like beautiful women, good food and drinking wine ..." Anthony said honestly.

"You've really hit the nail on the head! You like the things that most men like! I like fun and happy things too. That's something we both have in common, let's start a drinking club together! Big festivals and parties can take place in a drinking club!" Cleopatra VII proposed.

"My Queen, you are not only clever and perceptive! Good idea, that's exactly what I had in mind!" So Cleopatra VII and Antonio set up their own drinking club together.

During the winter of 41-40 BC, they lived a comfortable, leisurely life in Egypt, where they set up their own drinking club, known as the "unique liver", where members held nightly feasts and drinking sprees, as well as elaborate games and competitions. The people of the drinking club are known as "The Incredible Lifers". The members of this group were dedicated to organising all sorts of sumptuous dinners and receptions, and one of Antony and Cleopatra VII's favourite activities was to roam the streets of Alexandria in disguise, playing pranks and jokes on the Egyptian population!

One day it happened to be Little Caesar's birthday, and to make the party exciting and happy, the Queen decided to celebrate Little Caesar's birthday with a buffet at the drinking club. The pastry chefs created a generous portion of exquisite birthday cakes and desserts for the buffet table, and the main course chefs also made a lot of delicious dishes! The Queen's appointed winery sent her drinking club lots of good quality wines, beers and spirits, and the special bartenders made colourful cocktails in variously shaped glasses with fruits, spices and alcohol! Everything was ready!

The Queen had sent out a message in advance to the Egyptian people that on Little Caesar's birthday, whoever passed by the drinking club could drink, eat and join Little Caesar's birthday party for free! But whoever came to the birthday party had to tell a joke to make Little Caesar laugh! If he couldn't make him laugh he had to make Little Caesar scratch his nose three times hard and pinch his nose and drink a glass full of wine! So on Little Caesar's birthday, the Queen's drinking club was packed to the rafters! Some came to drink, some came to eat, some came to see the fun! One of them was an Egyptian named: Teti, who, in a moment of joy, had a few extra drinks and forgot that there were at least two Pharaohs present today, so drunkenly Teti told Little Caesar a joke according to the rules of the game, saying: "How do you please a bored Pharaoh? ... You take a boat full of maidens in fishing nets down the Nile and then beg the pharaoh to catch a fish."

When the joke was finished, everyone in the room laughed. Only little Caesar did not laugh, for he was very young and he was not yet very interested in jokes that interested grown men and women. Secondly, the words "boring pharaoh" in the joke did not sit well with little Caesar! So little Caesar pouted and said, "Your jokes are not funny, the boring Pharaoh won't laugh if you try to please him!" Everyone in the room listened to Little Caesar and started laughing again while the wine was flowing! The head of the drinking club then came out to round things up: "It's Little Caesar's birthday and your joke didn't amuse Little Caesar, who has a birthday! Secondly, the words 'boring pharaoh' in your joke are inappropriate for the occasion! Therefore, you will be punished heavily today! Little Caesar was only supposed to scratch your nose three times, but now he can scratch it nine times! You'll have to pinch your nose for one drink, but today you'll have to pinch your nose for three! And when you're done you'll have to find a way to make little Caesar laugh with a special birthday present for him!"

Everyone in the room cheered and said that this punishment was very reasonable! So, to cheers, Little Caesar gave Terti nine heavy scratches on the nose, after which Terti had to drink three more glasses of wine with his nose in his hands! After three glasses of wine, Teti left the drinking club to prepare a special gift! The drinking club continued with jokes and revelry, singing, dancing, eating food, cutting cake and drinking to celebrate, and it didn't seem long before Teti came over carrying a very large basket.

The top of the basket was covered with a cloth so no one knew what he was giving to little Caesar!

Teti knew that the Queen usually liked to joke with the Egyptian people, and he was sure that as it was Little Caesar's birthday, she wouldn't make it difficult for anyone present anyway! So he came boldly to Little Caesar with a basket in his arms and gave him his gift: "I have given you your favourite thing for your birthday, and I hope that the revered Pharaoh will like it and smile happily, and if the Pharaoh neither likes the gift nor smiles when he looks at it, then I will bake it and offer it to the Queen and to the club to Eat it!" As he said this, he lifted the cloth covering the basket!

Little Caesar looked and two beautiful white swans were presented to him! Little Caesar laughed happily.

But when he thought about what Teti had just said, Little Caesar said again, "You are so bad! How dare you try to roast the beautiful swans for dinner!"

Teti hurriedly explained, "Since the revered Pharaoh laughed because he liked the gift of the swan I gave him, there is no need for me to roast the swan and eat it!"

The Queen then smiled and said, "Little Caesar, the swan he gave us is beautiful and we are not going to roast it for dinner, but can you tell Teti and everyone else present why you do not want the swan to be roasted for dinner?"

Little Caesar said seriously, "There are many reasons why I don't want the swans to be roasted! Firstly, the white swan was one of my favourite animals and that of my mother, Cleopatra VII! Secondly, my mother taught me to love life and not to kill it! Thirdly, my mother told me that swans are faithful birds worthy of human respect and love, because swans stay married for a long time and even for a lifetime! Loyalty allows the Egyptian people to live together in harmony, thus reducing the number of fights and even killings caused by disloyalty! Loyalty improves human morality and allows Egypt to maintain a long-lasting peace and stability! ..."

Queen Cleopatra VII did not expect that the words she had casually mentioned to young Caesar would be taken to heart! At this moment, the Queen's heart was filled with emotion. She felt relieved by little Caesar's words. So she smiled happily and said to Little Caesar: "You have a very good point! So what do you want us to do with the two swans if you don't want them roasted and eaten?"

"I want the swans to be released into the Nile so that they can have beautiful, stable, forever homes! I hope they can have more lovely baby swans in their Nile home!" Little Caesar said as he stroked the swan's immaculate white feathers.

"Good! We'll release the swans into the Nile now! There the swans will have their forever home! And, Mama can take you to see the swans at their home by the Nile whenever you want!" Cleopatra VII sent her servants to prepare the carriage. At the same time, he said to all present, "Today, because of the compassion of Little Caesar, I am giving out 300 pieces of money as a financial allowance to every Egyptian citizen in the name of Little Caesar's birthday! I hope that every Egyptian citizen will remain loyal to his friends, his lover, his family and his country like a swan, so that loyalty will improve the morality of Egyptian society, so that we will respect each other, love each other, help each other, be compassionate and love life! ..." The Queen's voice was full of hope for world peace, people living in peace, harmony and love for each other!

Afterwards, the Queen and Little Caesar together released the swans into the beautiful Nile! The swans swam happily in the clear waters of the river, full of white, blue and red water lilies, craning their necks and singing joyfully to Little Caesar and the Queen, as if thanking them for their mercy in giving them a beautiful, permanent new home!

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