Chapter 8 third chapter

When it was midnight in Paris, it was morning in Shanghai, more than 10,000 kilometers away. The morning light shone on Lin Hai's eyelids through the dormer window, causing him to open his eyes in a daze. It took him several minutes to wake up, and found that he was lying on the small attic of the old house. Lin Hai suddenly remembered something, and almost rolled off the wooden bed.Yes, he already remembered what happened last night—in the dark night of the Western Art Museum, he saw Margaret in the oil painting come out, and then a ghost named Nostradamus came to catch them , So he took Marguerite and escaped from the art gallery, and brought her to this old house.

Could it be that she is under the attic at this moment? No, Lin Hai shook his head suddenly, how could this be true?How could the characters in the oil painting escape?How could there be ghosts in the museum?He squeezed his thigh hard, and decided that everything last night was just a dream, a nightmare while sleeping on the wooden bed in the attic. It seems that this is the only way to explain why Margaret did not exist at all, or she only existed in France more than four hundred years ago. Only then did Lin Hai let out a long breath, his tense body relaxed, and he slowly climbed down the escalator in the attic.

"Bonjour!" A soft female voice sounded from behind, which is a French word that means "hello". Lin Hai was so frightened that he almost jumped up, turned his head hastily, and saw a pair of translucent emerald eyes. This is a real dream. Margaret was looking at him with a smile, her hair was hanging on one side of her body, shining black like silk, and the velvet shawl had been lowered, revealing the smooth skin inside the dress. Looking into her eyes, Lin Hai didn't dare to lie to himself anymore.How cruel the reality is, everything that happened last night is real, and the living Margaret is standing in front of him.

He stood stupidly for a while, and finally squeezed out a sentence in French: "How was last night?" "Thank you, I slept well." Lin Hai thought to himself, so she really needs to sleep, maybe there is a difference between day and night in the oil painting.He didn't know what to say, the Margaret in front of him was really charming, she was not in this world at all—yes, she wasn't in this world in the first place, she was a beautiful ghost four hundred years ago, It is a magical stunner created by the painter.I am afraid that the real Margaret in history is not so beautiful. The characters in many famous oil paintings actually contain elements of "re-creation" by the painter.

Only then did he realize that he hadn't washed his face yet, but he had already bought towels at the convenience store last night. He hid in the bathroom a little shyly, and found that there were already traces of use.After hastily washing up, Lin Hai ran out, telling Margaret to wait for him obediently before leaving. It turned out that he had gone out to buy breakfast. Margaret should be a non-human being, but out of politeness he bought two, and they were the milk and cakes that Westerners are used to. After returning to the old house, Lin Hai brought the breakfast in front of Margaret, and tentatively said, "I don't know if you need these things, if you don't, just tell me."

Margaret looked at the breakfast in front of her and said softly, "I'm not a fairy." If it's not a fairy, it's a ghost. She was born in the 16th century AD. Even if she lived to this day, she would be over 450 years old. Is there such a "person" in the world? However, although it is a ghost, as long as it comes to the human world, it must have the same desires as humans, including appetite. Margaret slowly picked up the milk and drank it gracefully. Lin Hai stared at this scene, and suddenly thought of the story, those beautiful female ghosts who came to the world, they concealed their true identities, lived with the man they loved, often after many years, the stupid man They will discover the truth.

Fortunately, Lin Hai already knew who she was. Her movements of eating breakfast are very elegant, it must be the court etiquette of more than 400 years ago, but it is too inappropriate for this old house.Lin Hai finally couldn't hold on to hunger anymore, and sat opposite her to eat breakfast, remembering that his ancestors had never been a high-ranking official for several generations, but now eating face to face with a princess and queen, it still felt like a dream. After breakfast, Lin Hai remembered that today is Monday and there are still classes in school in the morning.What would Margaret do if she went to school now?He definitely couldn’t make it back at noon, so Lin Hai ran out again, bought a lot of long French bread, and came back with some daily necessities and water.

He put the bread on the table and said: "If you want to eat, you can eat this, I don't think you will feel strange. Remember, don't leave here. I'm going to school now. And don't open the door to anyone until you get back." Margaret nodded quickly: "I understand. Besides, Nostradamus must be looking for us too, how dare I run out, what if I get caught by him again?" It was that Nostradamus again, he was so terrible in Margaret's mouth, what kind of character was that?Lin Hai didn't have time to think about it, so he took care of her a few more words, picked up his schoolbag and left in a hurry.

He ran out of the alley with his head down, and no one around him seemed to recognize him, let alone think that there was a French queen more than 400 years ago hiding in the middle of their house. An hour later, Lin Hai returned to school. The class in the morning was French literature, and the lecturer was Mr. Wenger, a French teacher. His chestnut hair was as chic as ever, and he stood on the podium and talked eloquently, sometimes with a few words in Chinese. It is said that he has been in China for several years. This lecture is about Baudelaire.When Lin Hai, who was late, stepped into the class, Mr. Wenger had already talked about the publication of the collection of poems. This collection of poems was controversial at the time. It was attacked and defamed as soon as it was published, and was even sanctioned by the court.

Wenger said slowly: "The collection of poems is divided into several parts: "Melancholy and Ideals" describes the poet's material deprivation and spiritual pain; How illusory is the paradise in the book; , deep into the sin of lice to experience pleasure and pain, but what you get is despair and hatred for yourself; "Rebellion", because the poet is full of disgust for the surrounding, makes the poet question God; "Death", expressing The poet finally turns to death for comfort and relief." Normally, Lin Hai would quickly immerse himself in Mr. Wenger's lectures, but now his mind is full of Marguerite, even if Baudelaire climbed out of the grave to read aloud, he could not concentrate his thoughts.

After class, just as Lin Hai was about to leave, he was stopped by Teacher Wenger. Wenger smiled and said, "Lin, what happened to you in the past few days? You seem to have something on your mind." Ah, as expected, he saw it. Lin Hai was in a state of turmoil in his heart, and he really didn't dare to tell the truth, because he knew that no one would believe such a thing and would treat him as a mental patient. Lin Hai thought for a while, and finally came up with a roundabout topic: "Mr. Wenger, I watched the movie "Queen Margot" recently, have you seen it?" "Of course I've seen it. It's a French movie, and the original novel is Alexandre Dumas, and the heroine is Adjani." At this time, there was no one in the classroom, and the last girl who greeted Wenger also left.Lin Hai nodded and said, "Well, I am very interested in Queen Margaret. What kind of person was she in history?" Teacher Wenger was a little puzzled: "Why did you ask about Margaret? That is a controversial figure in history. Her father is the king of France, and her mother is from the famous Italian Medici family. Her three The elder brothers successively inherited the French throne, but all of them were short-lived ghosts. After all the men in the Valois family died, only Marguerite's husband—King Henry of Navarre could inherit the French throne." "Henry is also the founding king of the Bourbon dynasty?" "Yes, he was called Henry IV in history, and he was also a famous monarch in French history. He unified the divided country and issued the 'Edict of Nantes' to guarantee the freedom of belief for Protestants. Remember Alexandre Dumas's " The Three Musketeers, in which there is a cowardly King Louis XIII, the son of Henry IV." Lin Hai suddenly became suspicious: "Since Margaret is the queen of Henry IV, is she also the mother of Louis XIII?" "No, Margaret never really loved her husband. In fact, she has always looked down on Henry since she got married. The two have been separated for a long time, and they have long been strangers. After taking the throne, Margaret was abandoned by her husband, and she lost her honor as Queen of France, and she took a golden sanctuary to practice in Notre Dame, and finally died of illness in Notre Dame." Now Lin Hai understands that Marguerite has always loved La Moore, she never left any children, and the rest of her life is lonely and miserable—this is a strange woman who came to the world with great vigor, but left the world in obscurity . "Henry IV must have remarried after he abandoned Margaret?" "Yes. But what is puzzling is that Henry IV's second wife was actually Mary Medici of his enemy, the Medici family." Mr. Wenger shook his head again, and said slowly, "But having said that, Margaret also has the blood of the Medici family. Henry IV and his new queen gave birth to a son, who was Louis XIII who later succeeded to the throne. But like his political opponent, Henry IV Nor did he die well, being assassinated in 1610 at the age of fifty-seven." When speaking to students, Wenger always tries to speak slowly so that they can hear his pronunciation.However, Lin Hai's French level is quite good, even if he speaks it quickly, he will be fine. He thought for a while and said, "This history is too complicated. I'm afraid even the French themselves can't figure it out?" "Yes. But I think the most pitiful of all these people is Margaret's mother, Queen Catherine. Although she was a cruel woman, she watched her sons die one by one. The most dramatic example is: she wanted to poison Margaret's husband with a poisoned book, but unexpectedly, the book was taken by King Charles IX to read it. As a result, her son-in-law was not poisoned to death, but He died of his own son. The final ending is of great irony. When all the sons of Queen Catherine died, the throne of the French throne could only fall to her enemy, her son-in-law, Margaret Henry, Husband's husband." "Mr. Wenger, can you talk about Margaret again? Why is she a very controversial woman in history? Is she really like the one in the movie?" When asked here, Lin Hai thought of Margaret in the old house, what kind of woman is she? Teacher Wenger smiled mysteriously and said, "You mean her slutty life when she was young, right? That's just a legend. The history books in the past were written by men. They would rather believe that Margaret was a slut The Margaret we see today is actually the one in novels and movies, not necessarily the real her in history.” "But at least her story with Lamour is true." Wenger shrugged noncommittally: "Who knows, unless she crawls out of the grave and tells you." Lin Hai couldn't help trembling when he heard this sentence - she had already crawled out, not from the tomb, but from the oil painting. He secretly smiled wryly, and suddenly thought of Sadako who crawled out of the TV.Lin Hai shook his head and said, "Ms. Wenger, so you don't know her well?" "Yes, in fact, no one understands Margaret. Even in her time, she was a very mysterious woman. Even her husband may not really understand her." "A very mysterious woman? What does this mean?" "Yes, it is said that Marguerite was the most beautiful woman in France and even in Europe at that time. Many people whispered at the time that her beauty came from her mother's witchcraft." "You mean her mother—the Queen Catherine?" Wenger nodded slightly and said: "That's right, the Queen Mother came from the Medici family in Italy. This is a family with a long history and strong strength. It played a pivotal role in European politics at that time. It is said that Queen Catherine is obsessed with witchcraft and often secretly associated with a gypsy witch or an Arabian magician, and even learned some sort of occult magic to destroy her political enemies." "Witch? Magician?" Lin Hai suddenly remembered, the ghost from last night—could it be him?So he blurted out, "Is there a man named Nostradamus?" "Nostradamus?" Wenger nodded and said with great interest, "This man is so famous, haven't you heard of the book "The Centuries?" "I seem to have heard of it. It is a famous future prophecy book, a bit like Liu Bowen's "Song of Biscuits" in nature." Of course Wenger didn't know who Liu Bowen was, so he nodded half-understanding: "Yes, Nostradamus was a Frenchman in the 16th century. It is said that he could accurately predict political events in France at that time, and more importantly, He also predicted the life and death of members of the royal family. This aroused the attention of Queen Catherine, who summoned Nostradamus to Paris and secretly learned divination and various magic from him." "So Margaret must have known Nostradamus too?" "That's right. According to legend, Nostradamus went to the court many times in his later years, and Margaret was still the princess of France at that time." Wenger suddenly raised his wrist and looked at his watch, then patted Lin Hai on the shoulder and said, " Do you have any other questions?" Feeling very embarrassed, Lin Hai lowered his head and replied, "I'm sorry, Mr. Wenger, for disturbing you for so long." After Mr. Wenger left the big classroom, Lin Hai sat alone for a long time—the ghost named Nostradamus last night turned out to be the author of the strange book "The Centuries" and a world-famous prophet.And Lin Hai is just an ordinary college student, how could he beat the famous Nostradamus? ! After spending the entire afternoon at school like years, Lin Hai was always thinking about what happened last night, and Margaret in the old house, not knowing what she was doing at the moment. Before 4 o'clock, Lin Hai trotted away from the school and went to the opposite KFC to buy two set meals, plus breakfast for tomorrow morning. The bus to go back to the old house was the latest model bus, the one with a mobile TV on board. Lin Hai managed to grab a seat, which happened to be facing the TV screen at the back door. A piece of news was broadcast on the TV screen, titled "A Strange Occurrence in the Art Museum, Strange Transformation of Famous French Paintings".Lin Hai's heart was suspended immediately, he held on to the railing and looked at the screen - he saw the Western Art Museum entered the news screen, and the camera followed the reporter into the Zhenshi exhibition room, and a picture frame appeared in this secret room, It is the 16th century French oil painting "Marguerite". But what is unbelievable in the news screen is that the middle of the oil painting should have been where Margaret was, but now it has turned into a mass of black. It can be roughly seen that it is the outline of a human figure, and the outer edge of this mass of black is exactly where the original Marguerite's silhouette in oil painting.It's as if there was a person sitting in the camera, and now that person got up and left, leaving only a shadow in the camera. That's right, of course it is impossible to have Margaret in the oil painting, because she is in Lin Hai's old house at the moment. Several people who looked like experts appeared on the TV screen, and they were also amazed by the bizarre phenomenon on the oil painting, and there were also some disputes. It seemed that no one could explain—where did Margaret in the oil painting go? ? The news was switched off at this point, but in Lin Hai's mind, the scene just now was still playing back.He suddenly lowered his head and looked at the palm of his left hand, the red "Aider moi" was still there. At this moment, the bus stopped at the station near the old house, and Lin Hai jumped out of the bus in a hurry, and ran back to the old house with the KFC meal. The sky was just getting dark, and he looked at the windows of the old house from below. Would Margaret look forward to his return at the window? Back at the door of the old house, he didn't knock on the door, but took out the key.When he opened the door, he suddenly became afraid, would Margaret disappear again?Back to oil painting again?Or—Nostradamus was waiting for him in the house... However, all this is just his unfounded worry, Margaret is waiting for him at the window. Lin Hai suddenly became agitated. He approached the beautiful figure in the painting and patted her shoulder lightly.Margaret turned her head nervously, like a frightened deer in the forest, her eyes full of terror. Lin Hai found a sentence in French from his mind: "What are you afraid of?" "I'm afraid you'll just leave me and never come back to me again." Her tone seemed to be wronged, and anyone who heard it would soften their hearts. "No, since I rescued you from the painting, I will protect your safety and never leave you alone." At this moment, Lin Hai looked at the table, and the French bread was gone.He put the KFC set meal on the table and said softly, "I don't know if you will eat these things." "what is this?" Four hundred years ago, the French certainly couldn't eat KFC. Margaret looked at the hamburger and said, "Is this bread?" "It's okay, sometimes I will eat this when I'm hungry." In fact, Lin Hai doesn't like foreign fast food, but if it's Chinese food, I'm afraid Margaret will be even less used to it. Even though she lived four hundred years ago, she was still a foreigner after all. Margaret had already picked up a hamburger and ate it. She didn't seem to know how to use a straw, so she lifted the lid off to drink a drink.Seeing how she was dressed four hundred years ago, and how she was eating hamburgers and chicken wings, Lin Hai thought it was a good idea for a foreign fast food advertisement. "Merci!" Margaret said "thank you" and she had eaten it all and seemed to have a good appetite.Lin Hai wondered if she had been hiding in oil paintings for more than 400 years and hadn't eaten anything? "Sorry, I have a small question. When you were in the painting, did you eat and sleep?" In fact, the question in a nutshell is: Does Marguerite in the oil painting also need to eat and drink? "Of course, do you think I'm just a portrait? No, I'm a princess of France, the king's sister, I was just bewitched by my queen mother and Nostradamus, who forced me to stay in a In the room, let me face a mirror forever. Year after year, day after day, until I can't keep track of time. At first I can see my mother, but then I see everyone No more, there is only one ghost who is always watching me, and he is Nostradamus." "It's unbelievable, but you still haven't answered my question." "You mean eating and sleeping? Whenever I feel hungry, Nostradamus gives me food; when I feel sleepy, I sleep in the big bed behind the mirror." But Lin Hai thought of Margaret's life that Mr. Wenger told him at school today. It didn't seem like this. He shook his head and said, "Tell me, are you married?" "Yes, my husband is King Henry of Navarre." Margaret lowered her head and said quietly, "but I never loved him, and he never touched my body, because I don't Allow him to come near me." "You said you were under house arrest in the Louvre, when did that happen?" "It was May 1st of the one thousand five hundred and seventy-fourth year after the birth of Jesus." "May 1, 1574 AD?" Lin Hai immediately thought of it—just the day before this date: On April 30, 1574, Marguerite's lover De La Mole was beheaded. That's why Miss Mathilde in the movie wears heavy filial piety on April 30 every year. That is to say: Marguerite was called to prison the day after her lover's death. However, the historical Margaret did not disappear after 1574, after which she was still the queen of King Henry of Navarre.More than ten years later, when her husband ascended to the French throne, she was abandoned by her husband and died alone in Notre Dame Cathedral. So who was that Margaret after 1574? Lin Hai was already dazed by this complicated history, and sat on the chair in a daze for a long time, until Margaret patted him lightly: "What are you thinking? You are like a fool." "Maybe I'm just a fool." Lin Hai shook his head, looked into her emerald eyes and said, "Don't you know the rest of your life in history?" Margaret shook her head and said, "No, you're not Nostradamus, you can't predict the future." "For you, it is your own future, but for people in my world, that is a history of more than four hundred years ago." Then, Lin Hai told her the rest of Margaret's life that she heard from Mr. Wenger today. Seeing the Chinese young man in front of her talk about her future life, Margaret stared at her eyes in doubt, finally shook her head and said, "Did I really live that long? But, I have forgotten the time, I don't know Then ask how many years have passed in the house." "This year is 2005 A.D., from 1574 to now, a full four hundred and thirty-one years have passed." "I have been imprisoned for four hundred and thirty-one years?" But Margaret shook her head immediately, "No, I am just a ghost now, and my body was destroyed more than four hundred years ago. Since May 1, 1574, my soul has been imprisoned in the Louvre. The me you see in history after that is just a shell that lost its soul. She is not the real Marguerite. , the real me can only be seen by you in oil paintings." Although he still hasn't fully figured it out, Lin Hai has already vaguely guessed something. Maybe there really are two worlds—the real world and the world in the painting. Everyone may live in the world in the painting, and Margaret's painting The Middle World is a secret room in the Louvre.For Margaret, who was imprisoned in the secret room, the frame of the oil painting was just like a mirror, from which she could peek into the world outside the oil painting—that is, the real world.The reason why Margaret came out of the oil painting was just to jump out of the mirror, or a window, and the window was the Western Art Museum in Shanghai in 2005. But Lin Hai still shook his head, there are too many things in this world that cannot be explained, maybe we will never be able to really figure it out. For the next few hours, the two of them sat and chatted like this. Margaret was obviously very curious about the world in 2005 and full of questions about all the modern civilizations she saw.Lin Hai could only answer as much as he could. Fortunately, he had quite a large French vocabulary, and he always carried a French dictionary with him.On the contrary, many of the modern French words he uttered were incomprehensible to Margaret from the 16th century, and Lin Hai needed to explain them to her. Margaret seemed to be more and more interested in this world, so Lin Hai simply turned on the TV and taught her how to use the remote control.The pictures that appeared on the TV were like another world to Margaret. She was extremely surprised by this magical TV screen, and Lin Hai didn't know how to explain it.Fortunately, Margaret's interest soon turned to the content of TV programs, and Lin Hai tuned her to the news channel.There is so much information here that Lin Hai has no time to explain, and she is very interested in everything that appears on TV, just like a countryman coming to a big city for the first time.They chatted like this until late at night, and Lin Hai thought it would be good to use it as oral training. At midnight, Margaret showed a tired face, and said quietly: "If you come to the art gallery at midnight, you will see me with my eyes closed in the oil painting. At that time, I was resting. It will open its eyes—it seems that for hundreds of years, no one has ever discovered this secret in oil painting." Lin Hai said in a daze: "Actually, from the first time I saw that oil painting, I felt that there was an amazing secret hidden in the painting." Margaret's eyelids twitched suddenly, and she said coldly, "What secret?" "I don't know either, maybe that secret is you, maybe there's an even bigger secret." Lin Hai shook his head and said, "Don't talk about it, you should rest early." Lin Hai went back to his small attic, looked at the moonlight shining through the dormer window, and lay on the bed for a long time unable to fall asleep. After tossing and turning for a while, he quietly climbed out of the wooden bed, opened the door of the small giant building and looked down. Although the lights in the bedroom were turned off, a few rays of light from outside the window still came in, vaguely illuminating the outline of the bed.Margaret was wrapped in the quilt and seemed to be fast asleep.Lin Hai lay blankly at the door of the attic, cursed himself secretly, and climbed back onto the wooden bed.