Chapter 17 Chapter Twelve

When I woke up in the morning, although the sky in Paris was still not clear, it still beckoned me to go, otherwise I would not be able to see it in a few days. Professor Orleans and Yu Li are still locked in the laboratory. I don't know what they are discussing. I feel like the meat on the board, waiting for them to chop it up. That being the case, it is better to have a good time first.In the morning, I ran out of Voltaire University and rushed to the legendary and famous Musée d'Orsay. If you go to the Louvre to see the works of classicist masters, then you should go to Orsay to see modernism.The Orsay Museum was transformed from an abandoned train station in 1986. Many works by Renoir, Ingres, Monet, Manet, and Van Gogh are exhibited here.My biggest achievement in Orsay is to see the authentic works of Van Gogh, the genius who cut off his own ear, showing another world with brushes and paints.There is also Burne Jones' "Wheel of Fortune", the man entangled on the roulette, his body and mind are so helpless, it is perfect to the extreme.Finally, I watched for a long time under the famous statue of San Marco. The guardian of Venice rides on a two-winged lion and sits in a mermaid-like posture. I wonder if the author has any special meaning?

It was already noon when I walked out of Orsay, I ate some cake on the side of the road, and then took the subway straight to Notre Dame Cathedral.When I came to the foot of Notre Dame de Paris and was looking up at the tall spire, my cell phone rang suddenly, and it was Lin Hai's number. I quickly answered Lin Hai's call, and he said that he had made another very important discovery, and now he wrote it all in an e-mail and sent it to me, asking me to check the e-mail quickly online.I agreed to him on the phone, but since we have come to the foot of Notre Dame, let's climb up first.

In 1163 A.D., Pope Alexander and Louis VII jointly laid the foundation stone for Notre Dame de Paris. It was not completed until 1345. Later, after wars and restorations, the building stands still today.Notre Dame usually only opens one or two of the three doors, and the middle door is rarely opened. It is said that this door is only opened once in 25 years. Through this door, the sins of the previous 25 years of life can be washed away. And pray for the next twenty-five years. When you arrive in Paris, you must go to the top of Notre Dame to take a look, because everyone has to go up, so there is a long queue upstairs.After queuing for more than two hours, I was finally lucky enough to step on the top of the tower, and I took a look at Quasimodo's bell tower by the way.The most famous ones on the roof of Notre Dame are of course the little stone beasts. Under the dark sky in April, they look down on all living beings in Paris and witness the sorrows and joys of the world for centuries.I especially took a few photos of the little stone beast. It has wings behind it, looks like an angel, supports its chin with its hands, and seems to be thinking. I am sure it is spiritual.

After queuing for two hours at the bottom, but less than ten minutes at the top of the building, I hurried down.When I left Notre Dame de Paris and was about to go back, I never thought that I would meet that tramp in the square——Jacques. In this crowded city of flowers in Paris, I met him three times in just a few days, which is indeed a bit of fate.Jacques got a suit from somewhere, and he warmly wanted to hug me. We Chinese don't have such customs, so I returned the salute with fists in both hands. I wanted to go back to the University of Voltaire to surf the Internet, but Jacques held me back. He wanted to take me for a drink. It must have been some kind of shit luck for him to get a windfall.Thinking of the last time he took back my wallet for me, I really owe him a favor. I think that China has been a country of etiquette since ancient times, how can I let this Banghuer look down on me? !Just go, at worst, let me treat you.

Jacques took me to a roadside tavern and had a few casual drinks. We couldn't hold enough alcohol, and Jacques soon started talking nonsense. I couldn't understand what he said anyway.He said "friend" a few times in bad English. It seemed that we were already good friends. I couldn't help laughing at myself. I didn't achieve anything in Paris these days, but I made such a foreign friend. Although Jacques said he was the one to treat the guests, I paid for him in the end, which was considered a repayment of the favor. At 8 o'clock in the evening, I returned to the University of Voltaire. Before I could see the professor and Yu Li, I hurried to the top floor of the History Department, turned on my laptop and went online.Sure enough, I received an e-mail from Lin Hai. He wrote more than a thousand words in the text of the e-mail.

It's unbelievable that the sheepskin book was obtained in this way!And the oil painting "Margaret" is actually a fake. The real "Margaret" 400 years ago was brought to China and hidden as early as the 1930s, and there is still no trace of it. How to make people believe these things?I shook my head and paced the room, wondering if there was a Chinese youth named Lin Danqing on this campus in the 1930s who was thinking as hard as I am now? No, you must tell Professor Orleans about these things. Since Lin Hai is willing to tell me about his grandfather's past, it means that I am his only hope, and I must help him solve the mystery!

I immediately ran down the stairs and found that the lights in Professor Orleans' laboratory were still on, and he and Yu Li were analyzing something together.I immediately interrupted their conversation and told Yu Li exactly what was in the e-mail I just received. Yu Li was obviously also taken aback. After he translated these words to Professor Orleans, the atmosphere in the laboratory became extremely tense. I stared blankly at their faces, as if looking at two cold stones. The ashen-faced Professor Orleans finally spoke, and Lin Hai translated his words to me: "The Lamour family you mentioned just now are the lovers of Queen Marguerite—the descendants of De Lamour."

"Isn't he executed? How can there be offspring?" But I thought again, isn't there also a family of the Marquis of La Moore? Yu Li shook his head and replied: "The Lamor family has many branches, many of which are descendants of de Lamor's brothers and nephews. However, the Lamor family you mentioned just now is actually very special. A family tree was found in the south of France a few years ago, and there was a record of this family in it, and it was said that it was a ghost family." "Ghost family?" I couldn't help opening my mouth, thinking of the stories in my novels, it turns out that there is no difference between ancient and modern times, and things are the same.

"Yes, it is said that the Lamor family lived in seclusion in a remote valley in the south of France and rarely interacted with the outside world. Many people died at their hands for hundreds of years." Yu Li talked to Professor Orleans again. After a glance, he nodded and said, "However, what interests historians the most is that this La Mole family is the descendant of the illegitimate child born to De La Mole himself and Princess Marguerite. " "What did you say? De La Mole had an illegitimate child with Marguerite?" Although I have read a lot of materials these days, I have never seen such a statement. Isn't this kind of romantic unofficial history the same as the Qing palace dramas in domestic jokes?

"This is not the novelist's imagination, but Professor Orléans' research over several years. According to a large number of court archives and records, there is sufficient evidence to prove that - on April 30, 1574, De La Mole After the day she was executed, Margaret's body shape gradually changed, until mid-November of that year, she secretly gave birth to a son in the palace. Her husband Henry never acknowledged the child, and Queen Catherine did not Thinking he was a bastard, he sent the boy out of court at once." "From this you conclude that the child is de La Mole's flesh and blood?"

"Yes, de La Mole's posthumous son, to be precise." "I understand why Margaret was buried with her lover's head in her arms, because she knew that the seeds of her lover had already been planted in her belly." At this time, Professor Orleans muttered something to Li, he nodded and said: "But more importantly, she wants to give her unborn son a gift." "Gift?" "Yes, Professor Orleans and I have researched the results today. According to the parchment you provided, not all of it is written by Louis IX. A small part of the text was added by descendants in the 16th century. You can see it in the font and in the spelling. Based on these 16th century texts, we can be sure that this is related to the Valois court, and Marguerite was at the court at that time." "Then do you think that this gift that Marguerite wants to give to her illegitimate son is the secret of the 'Louis IX mystery'?" Yu Li smiled slightly: "You are very smart, you really wrote psychological suspense novels. Yes, when De La Mole was executed, Marguerite was distraught and wanted to end her life, but when she thought of the pain in her belly, Child, she still has to live with humiliation. She not only has to live strong, but also leaves the most important wealth in the world to herself and Lamor's illegitimate son, so that when he grows up, he can avenge his biological father and become a King of France and master of the world." "God, this secret really has such a major effect?" "At least many people are convinced of this. It can be inferred that Marguerite must have mastered this secret at the time, but her mother forbade her to leave the court and actually put her under house arrest in the Louvre. She also Considering that the child is likely to be forcibly taken away by others when she is born in the future, she cannot tell the secret to the child at all. Therefore, she must use a very concealed method to record the secret information so that it can be passed on to her child in the future. " I shook my head and said, "But this is really bizarre. These are your inferences. Is there any basis?" "The evidence is in the parchment, and the professor and I have completely deciphered it. Those 16th-century text records are very clear. Someone must have summed up this process. How did Margaret leave the secret message? She thought of using The court painter came to give her a chance to paint a portrait, so she invited a painter into the palace through her mother, and under the close supervision of others, the painter painted a portrait of a character for her. But we can be sure that she must be in that painting in which she left a precious message that could be passed on to her unborn child, so that that child might gain the secret and become master of France and the world." "I understand. In other words, the oil painting of "Marguerite" is actually a kind of code, which indicates the direction of cracking the 'Louis IX mystery', right?" Yu Li couldn't help clapping his hands and said: "Your analysis is too correct. I discussed it with the professor for a long time, but you made it clear all at once. When I painted the portrait of Margaret, it shouldn't be obvious that she was pregnant at all." But after a few months, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Unfortunately, the baby was sent out by Queen Catherine immediately, and no one knows where the baby went, Margaery Te didn't know, she could only wash her face with tears every day, and was soon taken by her husband to Navarre." I couldn't help being moved by that thrilling history: "What is the whereabouts of that child?" "Don't worry, he grew up in the countryside. When he was a teenager, he finally knew his life experience, so he tried every means to find his biological mother. At this time, Margaret had already been taken by her. Her husband abandoned her, and she lost her former youth and beauty, and hid in Notre Dame for the rest of her life. According to this record in the parchment, when her son found her after many twists and turns, she was already seriously ill. dying." "Margaret gave the parchment scroll to her son before she died, and she said that whoever got the secret would rule the world. However, before she could tell the location of the hidden treasure, she lay in her son's arms It’s my last regret to lose my breath.” I finally couldn't bear it anymore, and sighed softly: "Is the secret interrupted here?" "No, the secret is hidden in the oil painting. Margaret's son knows it, but he doesn't know what the secret is, because the secret in the oil painting is too hidden. Margaret is dying. He didn't have time to say it, so that he guarded the oil painting all his life, and he didn't find out what the secret was until his hair turned gray." "This is really a great irony." "The illegitimate sons of Margaret and Lamour also have descendants. They reproduced in the south of France, and they have no contact with other branches of the Lamour family. They are completely isolated from the outside world. They have guarded this oil painting for generations, and This parchment. They keep adding some content to the parchment, so we can decipher it. But I guess for more than 400 years, they have not penetrated the secret of this painting." "Then how did the oil painting get lost outside?" "Have you forgotten? Didn't we check the information on the oil painting "Marguerite" last time?" I just remembered that the art database of the University of Voltaire recorded the collection history of that painting—before the French Revolution, this painting had been collected by a certain family in the south of France, presumably this family must be La Moore Family too.Later, the Lamor family may have participated in the royalist rebellion for some reason, and was suppressed by the revolutionaries. The oil painting "Marguerite" was confiscated by the government and later became Napoleon's private collection.The painting changed hands several times over the next few decades until, after the Paris Commune uprising, it was collected by the Saint-Louis Museum. At this point, I finally let out a long breath. It turns out that the secret of the parchment is here. It records the secret of the oil painting "Marguerite", and the oil painting "Marguerite" 400 years ago hides The important information of "The Mystery of Louis IX", what is the important information? But the biggest key now is that the real 400-year-old "Marguerite" oil painting was stolen as early as the 1930s. It was brought to distant China by Lin Hai's grandfather, and its whereabouts are still unknown. If you don't see the authenticity of the painting, of course it is impossible to decipher the code in the painting! But where is the real "Marguerite"? Is it in China, or in France?Or is it already destroyed?In the vast world, where can I find that painting?The only hope now is in the hands of Lin Hai. Can Lin Hai find the real painting left by his grandfather? I can only sigh in despair, because the hope is so slim. I can't stay here anymore, I want to leave Paris quickly and go back to China to help Lin Hai, who is in extreme danger now. I bid farewell to the professor in a hurry, and subconsciously turned around before walking out of the room, only to see the faint light hitting Professor Orleans' face, which seemed to show a hideous reflection.The professor is looking out of the window meaningfully, that look makes me shudder, it seems that something has attached to his body, and is lurking somewhere in the darkness, ready to devour everyone in this building at any time .