Like many women, He He hated snakes. Looking at these reptiles made her want to stay as far away as possible. Her best friend was the same, full of disgust for snakes. If she gave them a pendant with a snake carved on it, their friendship would most likely be overturned.
But the Cleopatra pendants sold in Lazart's shop all had cobras carved on them. The shapes were slightly different, but they were all very lifelike. How could He He bear to buy one? She would be scolded to death by her best friends if she bought one.
So, she could only buy Nefertari and Nefertiti's pendants? These two beauties didn't have snakes carved on their portraits, but their popularity in China was too low …
"Is there no Cleopatra pendants without snakes?" she asked, embarrassed.
"Cobras represented royalty in ancient Egypt. This is the biggest difference between Cleopatra and the other two beauties," Lazart said. "I'm sorry, but all the Cleopatra pendants in our shop have snakes. If you insist on one without snakes, then we can only customize it."
"You can customize it?" He He said in surprise. "Customizing … is very expensive?"
Lazart's offer for customization was less than a thousand RMB, much cheaper than she had imagined. And if she customized more than one of the same style, it would be even cheaper.
He He did some mental calculations. Even if they were bosom friends, there was still distance. She only had two or three bosom friends who were the closest to her. Including her own, she finally requested four snakeless Cleopatra pendants to be customized.
Lazart's shop relied on external imports. If customers requested customization, he and his son, Chris, would be responsible for making it. It had become a family tradition.
The back of the shop was connected to the forging room. Customers could even watch the process of their custom-made jewelry being made. The bright red fire licked the gold nuggets, and the iron hammer made clanking sounds as it forged. Sparks flew everywhere, and the glistening gold water poured into the mold. After it cooled down, it was further refined, and when it was finally completed, it would be an exquisite handicraft. The whole process was essentially no different from thousands of years ago.
Gao Ke and the others were tempted to watch and record the jewelry forging process, but Lazart had no intention of starting work. They couldn't force him to change his clothes and start work now.
Zhang Zian was still thinking about the desert when he felt something hit his leg.
He looked up and happened to meet Fina's gaze. Fina was still playing with a piece of sugar cube with a missing corner in its claws.
The sugar cubes came from a small plate on the table. If the customer felt that the already sweet coffee was not sweet enough, they could add more sugar cubes.
Fina probably used its claws to break off a small piece of sugar cube and flicked it on Zhang Zian. Its intention was nothing more than to say, "When it's time to make a move, do you really need me to remind you?"
Zhang Zian had no choice. He picked up Cleopatra's pendant and was about to buy it when another small piece of sugar hit his leg.
Turning his head again, he saw Fina's angry eyes.
What was going on? Didn't you want this?
After a while, he realized that Fina also wanted a snake-less pendant. Because snakes had poisoned Cleopatra, she hated snakes.
As a servant, it was indeed necessary to comprehend the Emperor's will at all times. Otherwise, there was the danger of losing his head.
He put down the finished pendant and also ordered a snake-less pendant like He He. It even caused Gao Ke and the others to tease him, asking which girl he was going to give it to.
Speaking of girls, Zhang Zian remembered that the staff and friends had repeatedly reminded him about gifts. They actually thought that he was too stingy to deliberately not bring a gift. They had really underestimated him!
For things like gifts, it was best to treat everyone equally and not favor one over another. Otherwise, it might cause a rift between people and cause misunderstandings. That would be troublesome.
Zhang Zian was also considering buying a few pendants such as the Rosetta Stone, the pyramid, the Tutankhamun mask, and the heads of the three beauties as gifts, but he always felt that such gifts lacked uniqueness.
At this time, Lazart continued. In addition to replicas of famous cultural relics and heads of famous people, another type of jewelry that was very popular with tourists was the special amulet of ancient Egypt.
"Actually, Cleopatra's head pendant has a certain effect of warding off evil. It can be used as an amulet," he said. "You may think that Egyptians are not afraid of poisonous snakes, so they carved the cobra on the crown of the head. But that's not the case. No one knows the horror of poisonous snakes better than the Egyptians. We are also afraid of poisonous snakes, but the Egyptian habit is to fight poison with poison. The more afraid of snakes, the more they want to wear the snake head pendant on their bodies to avoid evil."
Everyone suddenly understood. Before, they had indeed thought that Egyptians were not afraid of snakes. In fact, Egyptians were as afraid of snakes as the Chinese. But no matter how Lazart explained, everyone still did not want to buy the finished version of Cleopatra's head pendant. They asked him to introduce the real amulet.
Lazart took out a few more pieces of jewelry, such as the dung beetle pendant and the ring that pushed the "sun" forward, such as the Hand of Fatima pendant and the ring. They were all very popular amulets for tourists. Women usually wore pendants, and men usually wore rings.
The dung beetle was the incarnation of the sun god in ancient Egypt. It represented immortality and justice, but no matter how much it ward off evil, it was not suitable as a gift in China. Even if one wore it, it would attract strange looks. The Hand of Fatima jewelry had too strong a religious meaning. It was a talisman to ward off evil, and it was not very suitable for Chinese society, where atheism was the mainstream.
As a businessman, Lazart was very patient. He carefully listened to the requests of the Chinese guests and then took out another two pieces of jewelry. One was a pendant that looked like the symbol for women, and the other was a thin, oblong gold plate that was bare.
"Is this for women?" Gao Ke asked, pointing at the V-shaped pendant.
"No."
Lazart shook his head and explained to them. Although it was a symbol that represented women internationally, in ancient Egypt, this symbol meant the key of life — Ankh. It was the most ancient symbol of the gods in Egypt, and it represented eternal life. Wearing the Ankh Amulet could help one avoid misfortune, diseases, and disasters.
As for the thin gold plate, it could translate the customer's name into hieroglyphs and then engrave it on the thin gold plate to make a bracelet. It was said that it could protect the wearer and give them magical powers.
These two pieces of jewelry were very Egyptian. The former was very suitable for women, and the latter was suitable for both men and women.
Zhang Zian did not believe that just one piece of jewelry could ward off evil, but it was indeed a good gift, and it was also very memorable. It could also help Lazart's business, so he ordered one for each of the staff, including himself, and bought a few more Ankh pendants as gifts. This time, it was really a big deal.
When Professor Wei Kang heard that they had encountered an accident, he was very anxious and called to urge them to go back. Zhang Zian and the others could only leave their contact information and come back to collect the jewelry after it was done.
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