Chapter 14 Chapter nine

In the night forest full of mist, Lin Hai saw a ghostly shadow, and the dark light fell through the gaps in the leaves, gradually revealing a black cloak. The howling of wild wolves sounded from time to time in the distance.The fog was getting heavier, filling the forest like a tomb.Wrapped in a black cloak, the figure came to Lin Hai silently, stretched out a dry hand, and lifted off the black cloth covering his head. Lin Hai saw a pale face with wrinkled lips under the bridge of a hooked nose, and those gray eyes moved forward slowly, staring at him for a moment. Then, the man slowly uttered a sentence: "Tu va mourir sans doute!"

This sentence is French, and when translated into Chinese, it means——you must die! "No!" Lin Hai struggled and jumped up, but found that the black forest no longer existed, only a faint light came in through the tape covered dormer windows. It turned out to be another nightmare. "I'm alive." Lin Hai spit out these words as if he was relieved, he rubbed his eyes, he was still in the small attic, and the time displayed on his phone was 6:00 in the morning. Just when he was still rejoicing that he was alive, he suddenly heard a shrill scream from below—— That was Margaret's voice, what did she see?

Lin Haifei rushed out of the small attic, and almost rolled down the narrow escalator. In the dark bedroom, Margaret was curled up on the bed, staring at a pair of big terrified eyes, and her complexion was extremely pale. He rushed to the bed, grabbed Margaret's shoulder and asked, "What's wrong?" Margaret's fingers trembled, and she pointed in the direction of the window, but she couldn't speak in her mouth. Lin Hai looked up to the window, and saw a few lines of red ink written on the window glass - "Tu va mourir sans doute!" In an instant, the line of letters hit the top of his head from the sky like lightning, almost suffocating him.

It's still the same sentence I heard in my dream - you will definitely die! The misty forest seemed to appear again in front of my eyes, the pale face under the black cloak, and a pair of gray eyes.Lin Hai knew who he was, and the ghost entered Lin Hai's dream. Margaret finally spoke: "Nostradamus! This line was written by Nostradamus!" But Lin Hai let go of her hand, and walked slowly to the window pane. The window had been sealed with tape last night, and it was almost airtight.But in the center of the window pane, the line of blood-red words was written, which was as eye-catching as a scar.

He subconsciously spread out his left hand, and the "Aider moi" still in his palm had almost the same unique handwriting as the line of text on the window glass. Does this mean it was written by the same person, or the same ghost? Lin Hai recalled that night in front of the library again, the man in black who smelled like a corpse, wasn't that the ghost that appeared in the dream just now? ! Is he Nostradamus? But the strange thing is, since Nostradamus left "Aider moi" in Lin Hai's palm, why did he say "You must die" after he actually rescued Margaret?

Could it be that Nostradamus arranged all of this?Lin Hai is just an ignorant little animal, obediently waiting for the hunter to kill him? He looked back at Margaret, her eyes were equally terrified, and he asked tremblingly, "Did you see him just now?" "No, I didn't see it. But he must have come in. Only he can write on the window." Yes, Nostradamus not only entered this room, but also entered Lin Hai's dream. The old house was still dark in the early morning, Lin Hai rushed to the door immediately, but found that the door was intact, the table was still behind the door, it was impossible for anyone to come in.And all the windows were closed tightly, and the tape was sealed well, without any trace of tearing.He rushed to the small attic again, and found that the dormer window was intact, and the whole room was still a secret room, with no sign of anyone entering.

Unless it's a ghost. If Nostradamus really came in, it would be easy for him to kill Lin Hai. This is also a "secret room murder case" that only exists in mystery novels. But why didn't he kill Lin Hai? Lin Hai touched his thumping heart, thankful that he was still alive.But then he felt a deep fear, because Nostradamus could take his life at any time, his life and death are completely in the hands of that ghost, maybe in the next minute or the next second, he will not know why just die. Trembling, he returned to Margaret's side. They could only rely on each other to dispel the fear, but it was still useless, and the breath of ghosts was permeating the room.

Margaret hurriedly put on her coat, which was the black top she bought on Huaihai Road last time, and corduroy trousers.She leaned into Lin Hai's ear and said, "What should we do?" "I do not know either……" Lin Hai stared blankly at the writing on the window, is he going to sit here and wait to die?No, he had to live, and Margaret couldn't lose her freedom. Now the only way is - to escape. The old house has been arranged into a secret room with copper walls and iron walls, but this has no effect on Nostradamus, and will instead become Lin Hai's tomb.He couldn't stay any longer. Although the danger of escaping was great, and anything could happen outside, there was still hope for life after all.

Lin Hai grabbed Margaret's hand and said, "Margueritte, let's get out of here quickly and escape." She, too, seemed completely out of sorts, just nodding her head. Then they packed up their things. Lin Hai didn't bring anything except his schoolbag, but he brought a bag for Margaret, which contained a lot of clothes bought from Huaihai Road. When everything was ready, Lin Hai moved the table behind the door, tore off the tape that sealed the door, and finally opened the door. It was dark outside the door, and they couldn't see anything clearly. They walked down the stairs hand in hand, pausing every step they took, for fear that a dry hand would stretch out in the darkness.

Walking out of the house carefully, the sky outside is already very bright.Lin Hai put on a pair of sunglasses for Margaret, so as not to attract the attention of others, and he himself got a peaked cap from somewhere. They left the alley with their heads down, and came to the streets of Shanghai in the early morning, all with their heads down and their collars turned up, like "men in suits" hidden in their clothes. Lin Hai walked to the side of the road and wanted to hail a taxi, but he always felt that the empty cars oncoming were full of Nostradamus, waiting for them to get up.

He stood on the side of the road like this for more than ten minutes. He didn't dare to stop an empty car. He retreated to Margaret helplessly and said, "It seems that we can only wander around." They walked for a long time on the secluded small road, and Lin Hai didn't stop until Margaret said that she was tired and hungry, and had some breakfast at the roadside snack bar.There is steam in the snack bar, where many office workers come for breakfast.He looked around from time to time, as if there was a figure hidden in the steam, and a pale face would protrude anytime. Lin Hai's heart trembled, he thought he shouldn't stay in one place for too long, otherwise Nostradamus would find him soon.They left here in a hurry, turned to Beijing East Road, and walked towards the Bund. In the early morning, the Huangpu River was covered with thick fog, and Margaret shivered from the cold, staring blankly at the choppy river.Suddenly a melodious bell rang from the customs building, and she looked back at the European-style buildings on the Bund, exclaiming, "It's really like Notre-Dame de Paris." Lin Hai nodded. Notre-Dame de Paris is the famous Notre-Dame de Paris. They walked for a while in the fog on the Bund. The damp wind messed up Margaret's long black hair, and a few strands of hair covered her eyes. The pair of sunglasses looked like a fashion photo.She stopped by the railing of the flood control wall and said softly, "Where should we go?" "I don't know, just hide in this fog. Maybe everything we have experienced is as difficult to see as fog." I stayed by the railing for half an hour until the fog gradually dissipated and I could clearly see the buildings in Lujiazui across the Huangpu River.Margaret looked up at the Oriental Pearl, and her whole body was as motionless as a sculpture, her eyes full of shock. If you came to modern times from four hundred years ago, you might feel the same way. At this moment, they were exposed to the eyes of many tourists, Margaret immediately lowered her head and said, "Get out of here quickly." Lin Hai took her forward and walked quickly, until they came to the ferry station by the Huangpu River, bought two tickets to Pudong, and squeezed into the stream of people catching the ferry. Marguerite had never been on a ship, and she was extremely nervous when facing the ferry. Lin Hai comforted her and said, "Just think of this as a bridge over the Seine River in Paris." Lin Hai hasn't taken a ferry for a long time, but when he was young, he had relatives who lived in Pudong and often took the ferry across the river, so he left a deep impression on him.Catching the ferry is not as romantic as imagined. When the ferry docks, people who have been waiting for a long time will rush forward, walking or pushing bicycles, completely disregarding their demeanor and face.From the embankment to the pier, it is connected by several iron bridge-like passages. The bottom of the passage is hollowed out. From the grid-like gaps, you can see the water of the Huangpu River beating the embankment. Lin Hai pulled Margaret and hurried through the iron grid, and there was a rumbling metal echo under his feet.The ferry was very close to the pier, and it took only a small step to step into the ferry. Margaret turned around nervously, only to see the iron railings on the side of the boat lowered, and the ferry whimpered a few times before moving slowly.The side of the ship under his feet was the first to separate from the pier, and the turbid white waves surged.Lin Hai lay beside the cold iron railing, and saw that the pier was getting farther and farther away, accompanied by rows of huge ancient buildings. The ferry bumped up with the waves, and the Bund receded up and down in their sight.Lin Hai pulled Margaret through the crowd and squeezed to the front of the ferry.The whistling river wind caused Margaret's hair to rise and brushed against Lin Hai's face. They were still hiding in the old house in the early morning, and they were on the same ferry a few hours later. This was so strange, it reminded Lin Hai of an old saying: "Ten years of cultivation can make us cross the same boat" - as for the latter sentence, it belongs to " Unreasonable thought". Perhaps, life is like a ferry, always going back and forth between the two sides of a river.And the men and women who may love each other stand on both sides of the river and stare at each other, and the fate is connected by the ferry. Lin Hai shook his head, what was he thinking?Why do you still think of this kind of question at the moment of life and death? The ferry finally arrived at the other side, leaning firmly on the pier, the iron railings opened, and the flow of people rushed out, like a small breach. Walk out of the ferry station and come to the land of Pudong.Lin Hai didn't know where to go, so he could only drag Margaret around.It began to rain gradually in the sky, they had no umbrellas, so they had to go under a building to take shelter from the rain. Until noon, the rain became more and more severe, and the entire Lujiazui was shrouded in misty rain.Lin Hai felt extremely hungry, his coat was draped over Margaret's body, and he had only one shirt left, and the cold air went straight into his body.He couldn't bear it any longer, he simply grabbed Margaret's hand, covered the two of them with coats, and rushed into the rain in one breath. The two of them ran in the heavy rain, the cold raindrops hit the clothes above their heads, and countless rain flowers splashed under their feet.Lin Hai put his arms around her waist, just like a scene in a love movie. After running for a long time in the rain, they finally found a restaurant, and the two of them had lunch.Margaret, who was cold and tired, didn't want to go anywhere, but stayed in the dining room, quietly watching the rain outside the window. On the road outside, people hurried past with umbrellas, and many of their faces were covered by the brims of the umbrellas, as if another Nostradamus's face was hidden.Lin Hai looked outside in fear, while Margaret seemed extremely sleepy. She simply leaned on Lin Hai's shoulder, closed her eyes and took a nap. With Margaret's head resting on his shoulder, Lin Hai couldn't help feeling a little distracted. He stroked her wet hair. She looked like the legendary woman with seaweed hair.At this moment, the bodies of the two people are close together, most of the clothes are already wet, and they can feel the body temperature of each other, and they rely on this to dispel the cold. After two hours like this, Margaret sneezed suddenly.No, she would catch a cold if she fell asleep like this, Lin Hai hurriedly woke her up, she almost jumped up, and asked loudly: "Nostradamus?" "No, it's me." Only then did Margaret see his face clearly, and said in shock: "Let's go quickly, maybe he will come soon." There happened to be a bus stop outside the restaurant, and they jumped on a bus before they could see the road clearly.Fortunately the car was empty, so they sat side by side and let the bus take them around the city. Lin Hai has always put his arms around Margaret's shoulders. She has taken off her sunglasses, and her clothes are still wet. If this continues, she will definitely catch a cold. I wonder if she has been sick during the four hundred years in the oil painting?No, I can't wander like this anymore, I must find a place to change her clothes, at least let her take a hot bath. The rain outside the car window was still heavy, and he suddenly remembered that he still had a foothold—that was the house where his father lived.However, he didn't want to let his father know all this. His father would definitely look at him as a psychiatrist, and maybe he would call the mental hospital and send him and Margaret to the hospital for treatment. But now that he has nowhere to go, it's okay to stay with his father for a night. The car drove across the Huangpu River through the tunnel, Lin Hai and Margaret changed another car and rushed to their father's house in the western suburbs. After tossing for more than an hour, it was already dusk when they arrived at the field ridge.In the cold rain, I can see my father's small farm building, with several orange trees swaying in the wind in front of the door. They struggled to get to the front of the building and knocked hard on the door.After waiting for a while, the door opened slowly, revealing the surprised face of the father—he saw Margaret's face. Margaret immediately lowered her head shyly.Lin Hai said awkwardly: "Dad, she is my friend, and we have encountered some urgent matters." Father let them into the living room, still staring at Margaret suspiciously, but still made her a cup of hot tea.Margarita grabbed the tea and drank it. While drinking, she sucked in the hot air. It seemed that she was indeed frozen. Her father looked at her hair and said, "Have you been exposed to the rain? Do you want to change your clothes?" Margaret couldn't understand Chinese, so she looked at Lin Hai blankly. Lin Hai nodded hastily, and took Margaret to a small room at the back, where she was asked to change clothes. When Margaret was changing clothes inside, the father in the living room grabbed Lin Hai and said nervously, "Who is she?" "I said it was just a friend, she's French." "French?" Father was stunned for a long time, his gaze became vague, as if he was aiming at another time and space. "What's the matter with you, Dad? We want to stay with you for one night." Father opened his mouth wide in surprise; "Are you with her?" "Yes. But we're not that kind of relationship. I'm just protecting her. It's not as dirty as you think." "I'm dirty?" My father suddenly became furious, "You brought a foreign woman here to spend the night, and you taught me a lesson. Who are you talking about?" Lin Hai couldn't bear it any longer: "We haven't committed a crime, so why should we be charged with nasty crimes?" The father was so angry that he raised his hand, and was about to slap his son like in the past, when the door of the inner room opened suddenly, and Margaret came out after changing into clean clothes, the same clothes she bought on Huaihai Road that day. "Do evil!" Father sighed and put his hand down again.Margaret saw that his face was very bad, so she retreated behind Lin Hai sensibly.The father watched Margaret's face carefully, and there was something hidden in his eyes, as if he had seen some incredible phenomenon.He took a few steps back, shook his head and said, "Who are you?" "Margaret." Lin Hai hesitated for a moment, but answered instead of her. The father didn't speak, turned around and retreated into the kitchen, and then Lin Hai heard the sound of the gas stove being turned on, and his father was probably preparing dinner for them. Lin Hai finally breathed a sigh of relief, and said quietly to Margaret: "Don't mind my father, in fact, he is a good man, but his personality is a bit withdrawn." The rain outside the window showed no signs of stopping. This lonely house standing in the wild reminded Lin Hai of British Gothic novels. Father was busy for a while, and finally brought the food to the table. Both Lin Hai and Margaret were tired and hungry, and they ate without caring about their demeanor. They finished eating quickly, but my father was chewing slowly by himself.Lin Hai suddenly asked a question: "Father, do you still remember Grandpa's past?" "What are you asking grandpa for?" "Did grandpa go to study in France when he was young?" The father replied bluntly, "I don't know, your grandpa never mentioned it to me." "Then you ever heard him speak French?" "No, he hardly ever speaks a foreign language." Lin Hai felt a burst of despair, and he said loudly, "Dad, why don't you tell me the truth? Do you know that? I might die soon." "I warn you, are you going to a mental hospital for treatment?" "I'm not kidding, if you don't help me, you may lose your only son!" The father was shocked by his son's words for the first time. He looked at his son and Margaret silently, without speaking for a long while. Lin Hai couldn't restrain his excitement. He pointed to Margaret's face and said, "Dad, take a look at this face. Did you see her in Grandpa's attic ten years ago?" The father's eyes immediately changed, and the deepest thing hidden in his heart was revealed by his son, making his face extremely ugly.He took a few steps nervously, then turned back to stare into Margaret's eyes, Margaret could only blink her eyes and talk to him with her eyes, hoping that he could believe Lin Hai's words. Suddenly, the father walked up to Margaret, stared into her eyes and said, "You really look exactly like the girl in the painting." Lin Hai immediately jumped up excitedly: "Father, you finally admitted it? Have you seen that portrait?" After a moment of silence, his father finally disarmed. He saw Margaret, a face he couldn't refuse. The father sighed and said, "You are really a sinner! Well, I admit that there was indeed a small portrait hanging in the small attic of Grandpa, and the woman in the portrait was exactly the same size as this Margaret." Same." "That's right!" Lin Hai grabbed Margaret's hand excitedly, "Dad, why did you answer no when I asked you last time?" The father paused for a moment: "I'm sorry, son, that's what your grandfather told me before he died." "Grandpa didn't want you to tell me? Why?" "I don't know about this either. Ten years ago, your grandfather was sent to the hospital with a sudden illness, and he was about to die. On the night before his death, he held my hand and took care of me, and asked me to put the small attic Take down the portrait in it, and don't let you know about it." Lin Hai asked anxiously: "Is this the last words of grandpa? Didn't he say why?" "He didn't say the reason at the time, and I didn't know why, so I had to follow suit. Not long after your grandfather died, I took down the small portrait from the attic and put it in my own cabinet." "So the little portrait is with you?" Father nodded slowly: "Yes, it's upstairs in my bedroom." "Let me see it quickly!" Lin Hai couldn't wait any longer. Before his father agreed, he took Margaret and ran upstairs.Father could only follow behind them, opened the bedroom door, and pulled out a picture frame from under an old cabinet. Ten years seemed to be frozen at this moment. Lin Hai opened his eyes wide and stared at the portrait in astonishment, then raised his head to look at Margaret's face. Yes, it was her face in the miniature. Lin Hai suddenly became agitated, and his nose became a little sour.Although it was dripping spring rain outside the window, he seemed to have returned to the small attic, that noon full of sunshine and dust. The portrait is only about 16K in size, and it only shows the face of a Western woman with black hair and translucent emerald eyes.But the lower edge of the painting ends only at her neck, and there is hardly any background. It must have been copied from the oil painting "Marguerite" four hundred years ago. Margaret also looked at herself in the painting in surprise, as if looking in a mirror, she shook her head and said, "Who painted this?" "I guess my grandpa drew it." Lin Hai tried his best to calm himself down, and then carefully looked at the frame, not even letting go of the back, and found nothing special.Anyway, this painting is quite old. Then, my father rewrapped the painting and carefully put it back under the cabinet. "How did grandpa copy "Marguerite"?" Lin Hai said softly in French, "Could it be that he saw that oil painting in France back then?" My father couldn't understand French, so he asked suspiciously, "What did you say?" "Nothing." Now Lin Hai returned to his mother tongue, "Father, tell me, what else did Grandpa say to you besides this portrait before he died?" Father was silent again. He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at Margaret's scorching eyes, and could only give a forced smile helplessly: "I never told you, but now you tell me about it." The girl in the picture was brought, and I think there must be some reason." "Yes, this is related to an important secret, and even your son's life and death!" "Are you really not delusional?" "Father, it's already at this time, so don't scare me anymore. Look, I brought Margaret to you. Could this big living person be fake? Are you also delusional?" "Enough!" Father interrupted Lin Hai, he opened the window and took a few deep breaths, the wind and rain in the night blew on his face, making his face even more frightening, "Okay, your grandpa is right, wait until you grow up When you grow up, you may encounter unimaginable things.” "Did Grandpa say that?" "Yes, your grandfather told me that before he died, and he even gave me a book." After finishing speaking, my father closed the window and took out a 1935 French edition from the innermost cabinet. Lin Hai stroked the old book and said, "This must have been brought back by my grandfather when he was studying in France." His father reminded him: "You open the book." Sure enough, just halfway through the book, a bookmark-like note appeared—— It turned out to be a bank safe certificate!The processing time was January 1995, a few months before Grandpa passed away. With this voucher, within the validity period of 50 years, you can go to the designated bank to open the safe. Yes, Grandpa must have hidden something in the bank safe! But why is there no key?Maybe there is a password set, but the password is impossible to print on the certificate.Lin Hai shook his head, unwilling to think any more. He took the voucher and said, "Grandpa only gave you this thing back then?" "That's right, it was given to me together in this book. I haven't touched it for ten years." Father felt a little exhausted, and he took a breath and said with difficulty, "Grandpa took care of him before he died, and you can't take care of him." This book and its contents will be handed over to you, unless it is absolutely necessary." "Yes, now is the last resort, the moment of life and death!" After obtaining his father's permission, Lin Hai stuffed the French edition into his schoolbag, and the voucher was still clipped where the original page was. Now the father's expression is much gentler, and he no longer asks Lin Hai about the specific situation, and hastily cleaned up an empty room for his son, but this is the only room left in the house. Margaret hesitated for a while and said, "It's okay, I can sleep here." "Then I'll sleep in the living room downstairs." "No, you stay with me." Margaret grabbed his hand and said quietly, "Maybe Nostradamus will come soon, I can sense his scent, maybe You were notified in advance to escape." Lin Hai stood there stupidly for a while, and felt that what Margaret said was also reasonable. If the two of them were separated, they would both be doomed, and they might still have a chance to live together. Father couldn't understand what they were talking about. When Lin Hai said that he wanted to share a room with Margaret, he said frightenedly, "Son, she's a foreigner." "What's wrong with foreigners? I said we are not the kind of relationship you imagined. She needs me to protect her by her side, that's all." But the father still looked suspicious: "Can you guarantee it?" "Of course!" Lin Hai said firmly, but immediately showed a tired face, "Dad, we are all very tired, and it rained again during the day, can we take a hot bath here?" Father nodded and took them to the innermost part of the second floor, where there was a small bathroom with a tiled floor that was clean.Lin Hai turned on the hot water and asked Margaret to take a bath first. Father walked away knowingly.Lin Hai opened the window on the second floor alone, and looked at the continuous night rain, feeling more and more uneasy. Half an hour later, Margaret emerged in her pajamas, her hair steaming.She looked cold and went into the room without saying a word. Lin Hai also took a hasty shower and finally felt better.Back in the small room on the second floor, I saw Margaret curled up on the bed, her eyes fixed on the window. "Do not you go to sleep?" "I'm keeping watch for you. I'm afraid that Nostradamus will appear suddenly." Lin Hai shook his head helplessly: "If he wants to come, he can come, isn't it just death? I'm already tired of hiding like this, so I might as well end it quickly." She reached out and sealed Lin Hai's mouth: "No, I can't let you die." "I know, you are afraid of losing your freedom." "No, I have lost my freedom for four hundred years, and it is not terrible to lose another four hundred years, but I cannot lose you." Margaret's eyes suddenly became so hot that it almost burned Lin Hai's heart Now, she said in a very sad tone, "I have been waiting for you for four hundred years, we have gone through all kinds of hardships and finally meet again, why did you leave me again?" "Four hundred years?" Lin Hai naturally thought of Marquis de La Mole's love. "Yes, you must live on, even for me. No matter what difficulties you encounter, don't be afraid and shrink back. This is the man I like!" "Do you like me? No, you love De La Mole, not me, Lin Hai!" "It makes no difference in my eyes." "I am not a substitute for your lover, I am myself." Lin Hai's heart suddenly felt sour. He knew that he had fallen in love with Margaret irresistibly, but he couldn't say it at all. How could he fall in love with a woman four hundred years ago?Yet the unthinkable happened, even though he might have paid the price of death. Margaret stopped talking, and turned her head to still look out of the window.Lin Hai was sitting on a chair at the door, with a blanket over his body, staring at her blankly, the two of them were extremely embarrassed. After a while, Lin Hai was already haunted by drowsiness, he closed his eyes unconsciously, and fell asleep. Outside the window, it was raining continuously at night.