Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Prohibition against Hide and Seek in the Castle

Hide and seek is a very common game that has been played by both Chinese and foreign children.In China, the history of the game of hide-and-seek can be traced back at least to the Tang Dynasty—there are official records, and those without records are believed to be earlier.There are two methods of hide-and-seek. One is to tie up the eyes of a player so that he cannot see, and other game participants run beside him to lure him to catch him. One or several participants find a place within a certain range, hide them, and ask other participants to find him. In the latter game of hide-and-seek, the most suitable place to play is an old and huge house, in which there are many places to hide without being found.

The story to be described here is related to hide-and-seek, and also related to a very old big house. Bai Su has a cousin named Gao Caihong.This is Gao Caihong. When she was sixteen years old, an extremely unexpected event happened because of playing the "pen pal" game, which made an extremely complicated computer on a huge military base "love" her.I wrote about this incident many years ago. In the past ten years, I seldom heard of her. I only know that she loves freedom. Anyway, her family has money, so she lives a carefree, rich homeless life. Over the years, every time she went to a place she thought was worth staying, she would stay for a few days until she was exhausted before going to the second place.Whenever she stays, she will choose a postcard of local scenery and send it to Bai Su. Over the years, there is already a box full of rainbow postcards, and she has been to almost any place in the world.

That morning, I was reading the morning paper when Bai Su came in from the door, holding several letters in her hand, and handed two of them to me. I noticed that she was reading a postcard.The picture on the postcard is a big house with a very old style, or an ancient castle. The fort is Spanish.Spain, in its heyday, had a glorious history and magnificent and representative buildings, which are very distinctive and can be seen at a glance.And we don’t have any special relatives or friends in Spain, so I said while drinking coffee, “Has the rainbow arrived in Spain?” Bai Su didn't answer, it seemed that she was engrossed in reading the postcard.I didn't ask any further because I didn't think there was anything important on the postcard.If it's something important, the sender won't use a postcard!

So, after asking a question and getting no response, I went to the newspaper again.When I finished reading the newspaper, I found that Bai Su was still looking at the postcard, but this time, he was not looking at the text behind the postcard, but the picture on the postcard—the old castle. This can't but arouse my curiosity. How can a postcard be worth looking at for so long? I was about to ask her, but Bai Su had already looked towards me: "It's from Rainbow, she has a question to test you!" I laughed, it was indeed from her precious cousin, I spread my hands: "What's wrong with her?"

Bai Su said: "Go and see for yourself!" She handed over the postcard, and I took it. There were only a few lines written on the postcard, as follows: "Cousin, cousin-in-law, I am fine, in Andorra, this is an old castle in Andorra. "I just learned today that this castle has a very strange prohibition: no hide-and-seek! Does my cousin know any other castles in the world that have such a strange prohibition? Why is hide-and-seek prohibited in this castle? I am eager to think You know, can you tell me?" After I saw it, I couldn't help being angry and funny: "How old is Rainbow this year? Twenty-five? Twenty-six?"

Bai Su said: "About twenty-five or six years old?" I sighed: "Girls should marry at this age, otherwise, there will be problems if you delay. Look, people in their twenties and sixteen years old are still like children. There is a ban in the old castle that no hide-and-seek is allowed." , if she wants to play, she can go to other places, is this worth studying?" Bai Su listened to me with a look of disdain.As soon as I finished speaking, she said: "You are old!" I jumped up and said loudly: "Why do you say that about me? Where does it show that I am old?"

Bai Su looked at me: "Think about it for yourself, if you saw this postcard ten years ago, what would your reaction be?" I waved my hand vigorously: "It's exactly the same as today, don't pay attention at all! An old castle, no hide-and-seek is allowed, what's so strange about it!" Bai Su didn't argue with me anymore, just smiled, and after a while, he said: "It's very interesting to play hide-and-seek in the old castle. An old castle has at least one hundred rooms, and there are countless passages, cellars, and attics. Hiding in an old castle, it's not easy to find!"

In order to show that I am not interested in Bai Su's words, I deliberately yawned loudly when she was speaking. But Bai Su didn't care about my attitude at all. After finishing speaking, he added: "Have you ever noticed that this ancient castle is called the Grand Duke's Castle. When Andorra was still a Grand Duchy, it was governed by a guardian It can be built by the Grand Duke. It is stated on the postcard that this ancient castle was built in 894 A.D." I yawned loudly again: "I didn't sleep well last night!" As I said that, I walked forward, returned the postcard to Bai Su, went upstairs, and entered the study.

After entering the study, I immediately found a book about the small country of Andorra.Andorra is a small country sandwiched between Spain and France. It is really a small country, pitifully small, with an area of ​​only 175 square miles and a population of 15,000 people.The border is on the Pyrenees, the land is barren, almost the least developed place in Europe, and it is jointly protected by France and Spain.In history, it used to be a monarchy, and the monarch was called the Grand Duke. There were also several ambitious Grand Dukes who were accustomed to fighting, and one of them was the Grand Duke Baoneng.

It is recorded in the book that the Grand Duke Baoneng once disregarded everyone's opposition and built an extremely magnificent castle in the country's borders. This is now the most famous scenic spot in this small country—the Grand Duke's Castle. However, there is no record in the book that there is a prohibition against playing hide and seek in the Grand Duke's Castle. I flipped through it quickly, closed the book, Bai Su pushed open the door, poked his head in, and said with a smile, "Did you find it?" I can't help being a little ironic. After being married for a long time, both parties can know each other's mind, and it is useless to cover up.I pretended not to be interested, and as soon as I got to the study, I immediately looked up the book, Bai Su obviously expected it!

I had no choice but to smile bitterly: "There are records of this ancient castle, but there is absolutely no prohibition against playing hide-and-seek! The rainbow is too childish!" Bai Su said: "Forget it, if this matter is interesting, Rainbow will definitely report it again!" I wanted to yawn again, but when I thought about my intentions, Bai Su could see through it completely, so I couldn't help being a little embarrassed, so I just agreed: "Maybe!" That day, nothing happened.The next day, while reading the morning paper again, the doorbell rang, and the postman delivered a package.The mail bag is quite big, when Bai Su put the mail bag on the table, he can know that it is quite heavy. I glanced at the mailbag, Bai Su had already said: "It's from Rainbow, I don't know what it is!" Rainbow never sent us a package, probably something quite important.But it's hard to say, a person like Rainbow might send a stone all the way by airmail on a whim! Bai Su tore open the paper on the outside of the parcel, and inside was a wooden box.After prying open the wooden wrench and pouring out the sawdust, there was something wrapped in paper. When the paper was removed, a copper medal was wrapped in the paper. The bronze medal is about sixty centimeters wide, thirty centimeters high, and three centimeters thick. For nailing to walls or doors. Bai Su wiped the bronze medal for a while, and glanced at it with a surprised expression. I knew it was useless to pretend to be uninterested, but in fact, the bronze medal had just caught my eye, and I subconsciously felt that it was a bit unusual, so I also bent over and stuck my head over it. There are words engraved on the bronze medal, one in Spanish and one in French, but the meaning of the two words is exactly the same: "In this fort, playing hide-and-seek is strictly prohibited, and no one can violate this prohibition." Behind these two passages there is an engraved signature, whose signature I do not recognize.But judging from the stern tone in the text, this signature was of course the owner of the castle at that time. On the back of the bronze medal, there is an envelope with "Cousin Husband Qi" written on the envelope.I took down the envelope and tore it open, and there was only a small piece of paper inside the letter, on which was written a sentence: "Cousin-in-law, may this strange bronze medal attract you to Andorra?" After I saw it, I couldn't help but smiled wryly: "Rainbow is too nonsense! This bronze medal must have been removed from the Grand Duke's castle. How can it be acceptable to destroy other people's cultural relics like this?" Bai Su looked at me: "Can it attract you to Andorra?" I didn't even think about it: "No!" Bai Su raised the bronze medal with both hands: "It's so strange, it seems that the person who gave the order that day must have his own reasons, otherwise, why bother to cast this order on the bronze medal so solemnly?" Bai Su said, looking at me with almost challenging eyes, asking me to explain "why". I said: "In the Middle Ages, the politics of Europe was very chaotic. There were constant wars between countries, and the situation was dangerous. Especially some small countries might be annexed by powerful neighbors at any time. Therefore, there are many secrets in the ancient castle. , don’t want to be discovered by others, that’s why I ordered no hide-and-seek, lest anyone enter these secret places!” Bai Su raised her eyebrows, obviously she didn't accept all my explanations, but other than that, I believe she would not have a better explanation. Bai Su didn't say anything else, he packed up the waste paper and sawdust, and left the bronze medal in front of me.After reading the morning paper, I took a short rest, took the bronze medal, and left the residence to visit a friend. My friend is a European historian, and he has a very deep understanding of several small countries in Europe, such as Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Andorra, and so on.Yesterday, I already thought about going to see him, but I thought about the ban on hide-and-seek, which might be Gao Caihong's nonsense, and my friend is a very serious person, so I gave up my intention.Today, I have this bronze medal in my hand, and Rainbow’s words are full of confidence, thinking that it can attract me to go to Europe, this bronze medal is not fake, I can go to him to discuss it. At least, my friend should be able to recognize the signature engraved on the bronze medal, and know which owner of the castle is the one who issued this strange order. My friend, since he played a very important role in the subsequent development of things, it is necessary to introduce him first. His name is Wang Jufeng, an authority on European history, a doctor of Berlin University and Cambridge University, and a member of a huge industrial family, but he has no interest in industry at all.Wang Jufeng is a serious person, I have known him for several years, I hardly ever get a smile from him, he is always frowning, thinking about what the problem is.Therefore, he is not very old, but in his early thirties, the wrinkles on his brows are very deep, it seems that he is much older than his actual age. Wang Jufeng has become so fanatical about the subjects he studies, that anyone who talks to him, he will definitely be able to talk about the things he is interested in in less than three sentences, regardless of what others are talking about. Once, I made a bet with someone that I could make Wang Jufeng not mention European history within ten sentences, but I lost.At that time, my conversation with Wang Jufeng was as follows: I first chose a topic that could never be related to European history. After careful consideration, the topic I chose was "four-channel stereo sound".Everyone may wish to think about it, such a topic should absolutely have nothing to do with European history, right? I said to Wang Jufeng: "Your life is too boring, why don't you get a four-channel stereo for fun?" My estimate in advance is: Wang Jufeng may not know what a four-channel stereo is. As long as he asks me, I can explain to him. Between a question and an answer, at least ten sentences of dialogue can be delayed. Then, This bet is mine! However, Wang Jufeng's first sentence defeated me.At that time, as soon as he heard me say that, he thought for a while and rolled his eyes: "This kind of sound can make me hear that when the Capet dynasty in France ended and the Valoa dynasty rose in its place, Philip Was it the singing of the ministers when the sixth took over the throne?" I lost this bet, and I lost convincingly. There was a time when I didn't talk to him at all, because I didn't have much interest in European history, and I was afraid of being suffocated by him! But the situation is different now, this bronze medal, the Grand Duke's castle, and this strange prohibition against hide-and-seek, I think only from Wang Jufeng, can we have the answer. Before I looked for him, I didn't contact him by phone because I knew he must be at home.I drove to the door of his residence. He lived in a rather large ancient bungalow. The walls were covered with ivy, but he had already shoveled the ivy to avoid the insects on the plants. , so that the shape of the old bungalow looks very strange. I rang the bell outside the iron gate, and a servant came out to answer the door. The servant recognized me and took me in. I didn't have to sit in the living room, and went into Wang Jufeng's study. Wang Jufeng's study is a veritable study, full of books.The walls are full of bookshelves that are as high as the ceiling. Needless to say, the floor, the table, and almost any place where books can be stacked are all filled with books.In order to find a book, you can read it immediately. The bookshelves in Wang Jufeng's study are specially designed. Each floor has a board that can be turned down for people to sit and read. When I walked into the study, Wang Jufeng was sitting on a high place with his feet dangling in the air, concentrating on turning the pages of the book. I looked up and said loudly: "Wang Jufeng, long time no see, how are you?" Wang Jufeng looked at me: "I'm fine, but something is wrong with Charles V. Pope Leo X ordered him to execute Luther. The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire has encountered a problem!" I have long been used to Wang Jufeng's way of talking with people, so I am not surprised.I would have asked him to come down and talk, but I knew he wouldn't come down if I didn't get his interest right from the start.So I said loudly, "Duke Baoneng built an old castle in the time of the Grand Duchy of Andorra. Have you ever been to this old castle?" Wang Jufeng said: "Of course I have been there, the old castle—" While talking, he climbed down, and at the same time, he muttered about the history of the Grand Duke's Castle.After he landed, I said: "In this ancient castle, there is a strange ban. No one is allowed to play hide-and-seek. Do you know why?" Wang Jufeng was stunned for a moment. Judging from his expression, he obviously didn't understand what I was saying, so I repeated it again. Because what I have to say is very special, I speak very slowly and clearly when I repeat it.Wang Jufeng obviously heard clearly. When he heard it clearly, his reaction in an instant really surprised me, his pale face turned red all of a sudden, and the veins on his forehead burst out.His eyes widened and his mouth opened wide. It seemed that he was about to yell something, but he was too angry to say a word. He just raised the book in his hand and wanted to call me, but most likely it was me. Suddenly, I thought that the book in his hand might be worth more than my head, so I didn't drop it. When I saw him like this, although I wouldn't run away with my head in my arms, I did take a few steps back.As I retreated, I shouted, "It's true, it's not a joke!" Wang Jufeng immediately cursed harshly: "You deserve to be guillotined ten times!" Wang Jufeng's curse words are also very famous. It was Mary, Queen of Scots, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London and wrote a secret letter to King Philip II of Spain asking for help, but this secret letter fell to the Queen of England. In Elizabeth's hand, Queen Elizabeth cursed angrily after seeing the secret letter. Even Wang Jufeng's curse words are related to European history, and all friends know about it, but at this time, he used this sentence to scold me.As soon as I thought of the origin of this sentence, and thought that Queen Mary was indeed sent to the guillotine, I had to consider the seriousness of the consequences.I also know that it is useless to explain further, only to show him the evidence. So, when he rushed towards me aggressively again, I quickly raised the bronze medal. I was holding the bronze medal in my hand when I came in. At this moment, I raised the bronze medal, turned the side with the words to him, and shouted: "Look, see for yourself!" Wang Jufeng rushed over all the way, and stood still only half a meter away from the bronze medal, staring at the bronze medal.When I saw this, I gave a great sigh of relief, knowing that the storm was over.In the next three minutes, Wang Jufeng's eyes were bigger than a copper bell. I noticed that he looked at the two paragraphs of text first, and then stared at the signature most of the time. I wanted to ask him how he was doing, but he suddenly took a deep breath: "God! This is the signature of Grand Duke Baoneng. Where did you get this bronze medal? Come! Come! Please sit down ####" He took my arm.Three minutes ago, I was supposed to go to the guillotine ten times in front of him, but now it seems that if anyone wants to touch me, he will try his best to protect me. Pushed and pulled by him, I arrived at a table and sat down.He grabbed the bronze medal in my hand, moved over a pair of magnifying glasses, looked at it carefully, and his expression became more and more excited. Then, with extremely fast movements, he ran away. For this, I really have no way not to admire him.There are at least 50,000 volumes of books in his study, and they look so messy, but he hardly has to go through any process to find the books he needs.He went straight to a bookshelf, climbed up, took down a thick book, went back to the table, opened it, and turned to a page: "Look, this is a unique signature, signed by Grand Duke Baoneng." What remains of a document, the original is in the National Museum of France!" I glanced at the page he pointed to, and sure enough, the two signatures were exactly the same.It turns out that this strange order was left by the builder of the castle, Grand Duke Baoneng! I said: "Actually, you don't need to look for a proof. If you say whose signature it is, you will be right. The question is why this talented Grand Duke established such a ban?" Wang Jufeng looked at me, rolled his eyes again, looked at the bronze medal, his lips moved, his whole figure seemed to be possessed by a demon. Seeing his situation, I couldn't help sympathizing with him, and hurriedly said: "You don't have to be sad, it's impossible for anyone to know everything!" Wang Jufeng looked at me as if he had suffered an unprecedented defeat, "I should know, I know everything about Grand Duke Baoneng, I should know!" I hurriedly said, "You're just doing research based on historical data, how could you even know such trivial things?" Wang Jufeng stayed for a while longer before he said, "Where did you get this bronze medal?" I briefly told him the origin of the bronze medal.He stayed there for a while, and then said again: "You may not know that this Grand Duke Baoneng has a very strange temper. He doesn't sign easily. The document you saw just now was sent to Spain by him." The declaration of war, the war that followed this declaration of war, is very famous in European history, that war—” I hastily interrupted him, because I was afraid that if he talked about the ins and outs of the war, I would be miserable.Because the "very heavy" war in his mouth may be insignificant in history, and it is not an extremely specialized history book, and it will not be recorded at all. I waved my hand: "I understand what you mean, you mean, Grand Duke Baoneng attaches great importance to this prohibition, that's why it was cast on the bronze medal and signed!" Wang Jufeng said: "Yes!" I explained my explanation to Bai Su again, and Wang Jufeng shook his head: "This reason is totally untenable. I think it may contain a historical secret that has never been discovered before." ——" When he came here, his eyes sparkled with excitement: "I must find out." As soon as I heard him say this, I clapped my hands and said: "That's the best thing, you can go, I believe Gao Caihong must be waiting for you - she originally wanted to lure me to Andorra, but I'm not interested!" Holding the bronze medal with both hands, Wang Jufeng said repeatedly: "I'll go! I'll go!" I thought of the rainbow, looking at Wang Jufeng in front of me, I thought about the meeting of these two strange people, and I couldn't help laughing.I said: "Okay, you go, I will write a letter to Gao Caihong and introduce you to meet her!" Wang Jufeng applauded repeatedly, walked away, and used a piece of paper to scratch the words engraved on the bronze medal.I wrote a note to Rainbow, explaining Wang Jufeng's identity, and said, if he can't explain the mystery of this strange ban, well, no one can! After I finished writing the note, Wang Jufeng didn't seem to think I existed at all, but just studied the bronze medal over and over again.I yelled at him three times before he looked up. I said: "I want to leave! Take this bronze medal back to Andorra. I believe that the rainbow must have been obtained by illegal means! I hope you go quickly, otherwise I am really worried about her and will destroy the entire castle. Dismantle them all!" Wang Jufeng said: "I will leave as soon as possible, as soon as possible!" Seeing how out of his mind he is, even if I stay, it won't help him, and if I go out, he won't send me away.When I got to the door, I said again: "If there is any result, you might as well let me know!" Wang Jufeng agreed again, and I left his residence. When I got home, after I told Bai Su about meeting Wang Jufeng, Bai Su asked, "What result do you expect?" I spread my hands: "Unexpected. But I don't think it will be a big deal. Don't forget that Andorra is an insignificant small country. Even Europeans are so small that many people don't know that there is such a country. The small mountain country exists!" Bai Su agreed with me, and this matter came to an end.After a few days, Gao Caihong did not send any letters, parcels or postcards.I called Wang Jufeng and knew that Wang Jufeng was leaving for Europe the day after I went to meet him! After the seventh day, Bai Su went to a relative’s wedding banquet, and I was alone at home, studying an early Chinese postage stamp with an inscription on it, when the phone rang suddenly. I picked up the phone, and heard a woman's voice: "Long distance call." After a while, the woman said again: "Spanish long distance call, from Madrid, Mr. or Madam Wesley!" I said, "I'm Wesley!" Before the operator could continue speaking, I heard Gao Caihong's voice: "Cousin! Cousin!" I said, "It's not my cousin, it's my cousin's husband!" Rainbow shouted: "Same, cousin-in-law, Wang Jufeng, that Wang Jufeng, something happened to him!" I was taken aback: "What happened?" Rainbow's voice was very anxious: "I don't know what it is, but you must come! You must come! The matter is very serious!" I was surprised when I arrived here, and hurriedly said: "Where is Wang Jufeng? I'll have a few words with him!" I always think that Gao Caihong is not very mature, he is a bit fussy and fussy, so I want to talk to Wang Jufeng.Who knows that the rainbow language has a crying voice: "If I knew where he was, I wouldn't have called you!" I was even more surprised: "What? He disappeared?" Rainbow said: "Don't ask me on the phone, okay? You come right away, I'll wait for you at Madrid Airport!" I said loudly: "Honghong, listen, I want you to listen attentively, if Wang Jufeng disappears, then you should immediately notify the police!" Rainbow almost cried: "Notify the police? How do you want me to tell the police? Say me and him, because I played hide-and-seek at the Grand Duke's Castle, and I couldn't find him after two days of searching?" I can't help but laugh, this kind of thing, talking on the phone, I really can't understand it, so I can only say: "Okay, I will come as soon as possible! If I don't come, your cousin will definitely come!" Rainbow said again: "Quick! Come quickly!" I put down the phone and shook my head involuntarily.It will take two days at the fastest to go to Spain.And I really don't want to go, because when I get there, there may be nothing wrong at all!Hide and seek in the old castle!I really don't know what Wang Jufeng is doing, Rainbow is a bit crazy, Wang Jufeng is not such a person! That night, Bai Su came back quite late.As soon as she came back, I told her Rainbow's phone number.Bai Su said very anxiously: "Rainbow must have nothing to think about before going to Madrid. How long will it take from Andorra to Madrid?" I couldn't help being stunned for a while, I didn't think of this question.Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees, quite far from Madrid, and the transportation is not very convenient.According to what Rainbow said on the phone, she hadn't found Wang Jufeng for two days, and she arrived in Madrid again, so if something happened to Wang Jufeng, it would have been more than two days! I frowned while thinking.Bai Su said: "How about it, I think you have to go once!" I was full of complaints: "Rainbow is really a person, he is like a urchin. The most terrifying thing in the world is this kind of over-age children. I have already sent Wang Jufeng to see her, and she is going to make trouble!" Bai Su said indifferently: "First, I'm afraid Wang Jufeng was not sent by you. He felt something attracted him, so he went there. Second, Wang Jufeng is not as authoritative and serious as you said. I'm afraid he is also an over-age child." , because he actually played hide-and-seek with Rainbow in the castle!" I couldn't help but smiled wryly. It's really unimaginable that a person like Wang Jufeng would do such a thing!I really don't know what happened after he saw the rainbow! Bai Su said again: "You have to go and see her!" I looked at Bai Su, but before I spoke, she had already shook her head: "I won't go, I'm not interested in weird things at all!" I protested loudly: "If things were weird, I would have gone there long ago, but it's not weird at all, so it doesn't attract me to go!" Bai Su looked at me for a while, and showed an extremely surprised expression: "You don't think things are weird at all?" I nodded and said, "Yes, may I ask, where is the weirdness?" Bai Sudao: "Grand Duke Baoneng is a very talented and ambitious person. He can also be said to be a talented military strategist. With a small country and few people, he even threatened the situation in the whole of Europe. Why should it be so solemn and serious, the next such prohibition?" I rolled my eyes, I couldn’t answer this point, not only I couldn’t answer it, even Wang Jufeng, an authority on European history, couldn’t answer it!However, there is nothing particularly strange about that! Bai Su saw my intention: "Okay, even the ban itself is not surprising. But why has no one known about this ban for so many years? Even Wang Jufeng didn't know about it, so it can be known that any book None of them are recorded!" I nodded and agreed with Bai Su's statement.Because as long as there is such a record in any book, Wang Jufeng must know about it. Bai Su said again: "How did Rainbow discover this ban? Under what circumstances did she find that bronze medal? The Grand Duke's Castle is open to the public for people to visit. Why have thousands of people entered it for so many years?" Passing through the Grand Duke's Castle but not finding it, but Rainbow has discovered it? Why does a person like Wang Jufeng become interested in hide-and-seek when he arrives at the Grand Duke's Castle? Why did he disappear for two days? Oh! This matter is worth exploring Yes, there are so many interesting questions!" Before Bai Su finished speaking, I jumped up, stepped forward, and kissed her on the forehead: "Goodbye, I'm going!" Bai Su's expression was full of confidence, as if he had expected such a result. In fact, I was indeed aroused by Bai Su's analysis. I felt that the whole thing was indeed suspicious and worth exploring. It was not as boring as I thought at first!