In the ancient city of Basra, a wealthy businessman left a legacy after his death.After his two sons buried their father, they each inherited a portion of the inheritance, which was used to open a shop and do business.The elder brother opened a bronze shop for making bronze wares, while the younger brother made a living by making and decorating silver wares.People in the city called his younger brother Hassan, the Basra silversmith. One day a Persian came to the city and walked around with the crowd.I happened to pass by the silversmith Hassan's shop, so I walked in to have a look.Hassan's craftsmanship is superb, and the silverware he makes is very delicate and unique.When he saw it, he liked it very much, nodded repeatedly, and said, "I swear to Allah, you are such a great silversmith!"

At this time, Hassan was holding an ancient book and carefully studying the production technology. People surrounded him and praised him for his handsomeness.By noon, people left one after another.When Hassan was alone in the shop, the Persian came up to him and said to him: "Oh! Son! You are a promising young man. You have lost your father, and I have no son. I know a craft that is rare in the world. Many people begged me to teach them, but I refused. Now I treat you as my own." Son, I intend to teach you this unique skill. I can show you a way to get rich, and you can get rid of this old trade, so that you won't spend your whole life by the fireside pulling bellows and hammering silver pieces, doing such low and laborious things. "

"Sir, when will you come to teach me?" Hassan readily agreed. "Tomorrow. Son, I will teach you how to smelt copper into gold." Hassan was extremely excited, and said goodbye to the Persian happily, returned home, greeted his mother, and the two had dinner together.Hassan was overjoyed and told his mother what the Persians had said.His mother said: "Son! What's the matter with you? Be careful! Don't listen to other people's bragging, especially beware of the Persians, don't listen to them. They are all liars, talking about alchemy. In fact, where did the alchemy come from?" ? They're just planning to harm people, bluffing and deceiving everywhere."

"Mother, we don't have much money. What reason does he have to lie to me and plot to harm me? That Persian is honest and simple, and he seems to be a kind old man. He must have been instructed by Allah to come to help me." .” His mother was very angry and stopped talking to him.But he kept the Persian's words in his heart, and was so excited that he didn't close his eyes all night. Early the next morning, he went to the market with the key and opened his shop.Then the Persian also came.Hassan stood up to greet him, to kiss his hand.The Persian politely refused and said, "Prepare a cauldron and light the stove right away."

Hassan lit the stove as he had ordered.The Persian asked again: "Son, do you have any bronze utensils here?" "There's a broken copper plate." The Persian ordered Hassan to break the copper plate, and then the Persian put the pieces of copper in a crucible and put the crucible on the stove to bake.After the copper piece melted, he took out the paper bag from the wrapper, picked out a yellow dough the size of half a dollar from it, and put it into the crucible.The dough is mixed with copper juice.He told Hassan to build up the fire.Hassan pulled the bellows as hard as he could, and the fire grew.After a while, the brass in the crucible turned into gold miraculously.Seeing this situation with his own eyes, Hassan was ecstatic and stunned.He weighed the gold in his hand, took out a file and filed it, looked around, and found that it was indeed high-quality pure gold.Overjoyed, he bent down to kiss the Persian's hand.The Persians stopped him and said:

"You took this piece of gold to the gold shop and sold it. Get the money back quickly. Be careful not to talk nonsense." Hassan went to the gold shop and gave the gold to the broker for sale. The agent took the gold, looked it over, thought it was pure gold, and started the auction with a price of 10,000 yuan.The merchants competed to increase the price to buy it, and finally sold it for 15,000 yuan.Hassan took the money home, told his mother everything, and said, "Mom, I'm going to learn this skill soon." His mother smiled wryly and sighed: "There is nothing I can do about you, I only hope that the great Allah will bless you." She turned around and ignored him.

Under a strong impulse, Hassan picked up a copper bowl, hurried to his shop, and put it at the Persian's feet.The Persians saw it and asked: "My boy, what are you doing with this brass bowl?" "Try it into more gold!" "Do you want to go to the gold shop twice in one day to sell gold? You are crazy! You know, if this secret is found out, we will all die. I tell you, child, once I teach you this art , you must be careful to keep it a secret, even if you only practice once a year, it is enough for you to enjoy." "My lord, you are right." So Hassan picked up the copper bowl, turned around and filled the stove with charcoal, pulled the bellows, and started to raise the fire.

The Persian asked, "Son, what are you going to do again?" "Please come and teach me this craft." "I really have nothing to do with you. I only hope that the great Allah will save you." The Persian laughed and said, "My child, you are too ignorant. I think you are probably not suitable for this kind of thing. Think about it, you can Do you want to teach you this kind of art in public? If I teach you here and people see it and report it to the government, saying that we practice alchemy in private, we will be out of luck. Son, if you want to learn, come with me Let me study at home."

Hassan got up quickly, closed the shop, and followed the Persians to learn alchemy. After walking for a while, he suddenly remembered his mother's warning, hesitated in his heart, and stopped.The Persian saw that he only lowered his head to calculate and refused to go any further, so he couldn't help laughing and said, "What are you doing? I have good intentions for you, why do you suspect that I intend to harm you? Since you don't want to go to my house, then Go to your house." "Okay, Dad." Hassan agreed immediately. So the two came to Hassan's house one after the other.Hassan went in first to tell his mother, who hurriedly tidied up the house and made it neat and tidy.Hassan walked out.He invited the Persian into the house, then took a plate, hurried to the street to buy some food, took it home, put it in front of the Persian, and said courteously: "Sir, may our friendship be like salt and bread." Intimacy. Please eat something. Please believe me. Those who break their promises will be punished."

"You're right, boy." The Persian said with a smile, "but who really understands the value of friendship?" The Persian said to Hassan again, "son, go and buy some sweets." Let's eat." Terrified, Hassan ran to the street, bought ten cones, put them on the table, and ate them with the Persians.The Persian ate and said, "Son, may Allah bless you. You have a good heart, and people love people like you. You treat people with sincerity and think about others wholeheartedly. You are a good young man.Alright, now that you have your stuff ready, I'll teach you alchemy. "