It was 2 a.m.
Lin Hai woke up groggily, feeling the car beneath him bumping along as it drove.
The back of his head still ached faintly. He opened his eyes, his head spinning, and saw that he was in a moving car. The sky outside the car window was still dark, but it seemed that the rain had stopped. He tried to struggle and sit up, but his hands and feet were tied up and he could only breathe heavily.
In front of him, Margaret and a man with a hooked nose were sitting together. Lin Hai had seen that man yesterday morning; he was Margaret's uncle, Victor. This was an eight-seater minivan, with someone in the front driving, who from the back looked like Professor Wenger.
Could it be that Professor Wenger was in cahoots with them, or was he always part of the Lamore family? The thought made Lin Hai shudder.
What about Margaret? She said she had betrayed her family, but in the end, she led the Lamore family to him. Yes, their goal had finally been achieved, and they found the real painting through Lin Hai. Margaret turned out to be a bait. Everything she said last night was just a lie?
This was what truly hurt Lin Hai. He struggled to keep from making a sound, but tears flowed down his face uncontrollably.
However, he heard Margaret speak. She spoke in French to her uncle, "Please, don't hurt Lin Hai."
"It depends on him."
"There's one thing I don't understand, how did you find us?"
"Did you destroy the directional sensor?" Victor sneered, his voice chilling. "Did you think there was only one directional sensor? Besides the one you knew about, there was a more miniature directional sensor hidden on you."
"On me?" Margaret was clearly surprised.
Victor reached out and took off Margaret's earring, laughing coldly, "In fact, this amber earring, just like the one in the painting, contains a miniature directional sensor that can quickly transmit your location to my computer."
It wasn't until now that Margaret realized what was happening. She looked at the earring and said, "So you were prepared from the beginning, so you didn't trust me?"
"It's not that we don't trust you, it's just a precaution. You know about what happened with Mathilde 70 years ago. We can't be too careful." Victor sneered again, his words filled with meaning. "A girl's heart is hard to fathom. We've considered this situation for a long time. Although Lin Hai fell into your trap, you fell into the trap of love. We had to be careful with you, so we put this thing in your earring. Now it has indeed played its role."
Hearing this, Lin Hai's heart, which had been hanging in the balance, finally dropped. At least he understood that Margaret did not betray him.
Suddenly, the car stopped. This was a high-end residential area, probably home to many foreigners. Victor grabbed Margaret and got out of the car first. Then he ran to the back of the car and took out a wrapped painting frame from the trunk.
The car door on Lin Hai's side was also pulled open. In the darkness, he saw Professor Wenger's face and immediately shouted, "Professor Wenger, why are you doing this?"
Wenger looked a bit embarrassed and didn't answer, just dragged Lin Hai out of the car. Lin Hai's hands were tied behind his back and Wenger took him into a building.
Presumably, this is where Wenger lives, a spacious and nicely decorated house, but with little furniture. They led Lin Hai and Margaret into a small room, where Lin Hai finally noticed a painting hanging on the wall. It was the fake Margaret he saw at the Western Art Museum.
It turned out they had really stolen the painting and hid it in Wenger's house. Lin Hai shook his head and said, "Wenger, I have always respected you, but why did you do this?"
At this point, Wenger finally spoke up: "Because I am also a member of the Lamar family."
Lin Hai could not believe his ears. He turned his head and looked at Margaret. She curled up in the corner and nodded, "Yes, Wenger is my cousin."
Wenger said regretfully, "I'm sorry, Lin Hai. I've always considered you my best student, but I never told you that the real reason I came to China was to find the descendants of Lin Danqing. It was the family that sent me to China. I found out that Lin Danqing used to be a fine arts teacher at a university, so I tried my best to apply to the university and become your French teacher. But I didn't expect that Lin Danqing's grandson would become my student. That's why I secretly investigated your family's situation. I knew your father was stubborn and hard to break through."
"So you picked me?" Lin Hai asked.
"Yes, you're different from your father. I'm your French teacher, and I know you very well. You are naturally sensitive and imaginative, and you like French literature, like The Red and the Black, and watching horror movies. You are easily influenced by us. That's why you are our breakthrough to find the real Margaret."
Then Lin Hai suddenly realized, "I understand now. That day you said you had a ticket to the Saint Louis Museum of Treasures exhibition and asked us a question from The Red and the Black. Was that all arranged by you? You knew I loved The Red and the Black, and I could definitely answer the question, so the ticket was a reward for me. The goal was to make me go to the Western Art Museum and be influenced by Margaret."
"You guessed it right." Wenger remained calm. "After you went to the Western Art Museum, did you pass out in the secret room?"
"Yes, was that also your plan?"
"Of course!" This time, Margaret's uncle Vichodo spoke up proudly. "Do you remember when you first entered the museum, someone bumped into you?"
Lin Hai suddenly understood, "That was you?"
"Yes, when I deliberately bumped into you, I sprayed a drug on your collar, and then you smelled a strange odor."
"I remember! Yes, I smelled a strange odor, and I thought it was the smell of oil paint. So, I passed out because of that odor?"
Victor laughed coldly, "Yes, smelling that kind of odor for too long can make people pass out, but you will soon wake up, and it won't harm your body. It's hard to detect afterwards."
"I understand. You used various methods to make me full of fear and doubt after my first visit to the museum, especially the 'aider moi' you wrote on my palm. You concluded that I would go to the museum for the second time, and then you used the same method to make me pass out. Then you locked me in the restroom, and I escaped after the drug wore off. Naturally, I came to the secret room where Margaret was waiting for me."
"Did you hear footsteps at the time? Actually, it was my voice. You mistook me for Nochadamas."
"I still have one question. How did you break into the Western Art Museum?" Lin Hai asked.
Wenger interjected, "Let me explain. In France, I studied computer science and was a well-known hacker in Europe. Victor waited at the museum for days until he finally caught you on the night before the end of the exhibition. He called me and told me that he had locked you in the bathroom. So, I hacked into the museum's computer system and used my skills to unlock the security door and disable the video surveillance and infrared systems. Then Victor and Margaret broke into the museum."
"What about the treasure room? It should have been completely closed at night. How did Margaret get in?" Lin Hai asked.
"The treasure room does have a strong security door with retina recognition technology, just like fingerprint or voice recognition. Only authorized personnel can open it. To overcome this obstacle, we simply stole the retina data of an expert from the Saint Louis Museum through a Paris eye hospital. The expert also came to China with the painting and was the only one who could enter the treasure room alone. So, we used his retina data to easily open the security door," Wenger explained.
"I see. Then later, there were reports that something strange happened to the painting in the museum. There was a big shadow in the middle of Margaret, which I guess was the painting you had already prepared. You even fooled so many experts," Lin Hai said, partly admiringly and partly disgustingly. "The Lamor family is really a family of thieves!"
Victor sneered, "Thank you for your praise. We have finally obtained the original Margaret. The secret of our family for more than two hundred years has finally been realized, and the great secret..."
"That's enough!" Wenger interrupted Victor's words calmly. He turned to Lin Hai and said, "I'm sorry. I'm not the person you thought I was. Everything I did was for the mission of our family for hundreds of years. This painting originally belonged to the descendants of Queen Margaret. That is, our family's right to the perfect jade. As you Chinese say."
In the end, he said those four words in standard Chinese.
At this point, Victor poked Wenger and asked, "It's getting late. What about Margaret?"
Wenger bent down and pulled Margaret up, saying softly, "Margaret, we are about to take a plane back home. Your passport and luggage are with me. Come with us, and you will still be my dear little sister."
Margaret's expression became strangely indifferent, and she leaned against the wall, saying, "No, I want to stay."
Victor loudly asked, "Don't you want to go home?"
"Is that home? Do you want me to go back to the family? No, that is a prison that has imprisoned me for twenty years. Since I have tasted the taste of freedom, I will never go back," Margaret replied.
"You are crazy!" Victor cursed again, raising his hand to slap Margaret, but Wenger stopped him, saying calmly, "Uncle, please speak nicely. Don't use violence."
Margaret walked over to Lin Hai, holding his hand and saying, "Wenger, my dear cousin, I have fallen in love with this Chinese man. Let me stay with him. I don't want to go back."
Victor argued with Wenger, "Wenger! How can you..."
"Enough, you should also think about Marguerite's happiness. Since she has fallen in love with Lin Hai, even if she returns to France, she will find a way to escape. It's better to let her stay here, and we can avoid trouble on our way back." Victor thought about it and gave in, he wrapped the counterfeit painting "Marguerite" by Lin Danqing with canvas and said, "I booked a flight ticket for 8 o'clock in the morning and we will arrive in Paris at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, local time."
"Great, let's go now."
"What about them?"
Wenger smiled, "Actually, I've already thought of it. If we release them now, they will definitely go to the police. So we must keep them here for twenty-four hours. When they come out, we will already be back in France and nobody can find us."
Lin Hai shook his head and said, "You want to keep us for twenty-four hours, but you are going back to France. How are you going to do it?"
"I've already prepared for it," Victor said. He took both paintings out of the room, and Wenger walked to the door and said, "This is an automatic anti-theft door. I've specially reversed it. I can set the closing time, and it cannot be opened from the inside within twenty-four hours, but it will automatically open after twenty-four hours, unless... you know the password."
Before Lin Hai could react, Victor had already walked out of the room, locked the automatic anti-theft door, and heard a few clicks outside. Wenger must have set the twenty-four-hour limit.
Then, Wenger shouted loudly through the door, "There is a small fridge and a small bathroom in the room. You can eat if you are hungry. Don't worry."
At this moment, Marguerite rushed to the door and knocked on it heavily, shouting "help us!"
Wenger said coldly outside the door, "Marguerite, this is your own choice. I wish you eternal happiness. Goodbye."
Then, there was a rapid sound of footsteps outside, and nothing was heard afterwards. Marguerite pounded the door hard and shouted "aider moi" (help me), but there was no response outside.
But Marguerite was not yet desperate. She quickly ran back to Lin Hai's side and helped him untie the nylon rope on his body. Only then did Lin Hai sit up and stretch his muscles, pinching the marks on his wrists and looking at the window outside. The sturdy iron grille was installed outside the window, and it was impossible to escape from it.
It was already four o'clock in the morning. Lin Hai suddenly thought of his mobile phone, and he quickly felt his clothes, but the phone had already been taken by Wenger. He had no way to contact the outside world.
He shook his head and sat back on the ground, unable to say anything. He felt cold and tired, and suddenly saw a blanket in the corner. He covered Marguerite with it.
They were both exhausted and could only leave their fate to chance. They closed their eyes and fell asleep quickly...
After a few hours, when the morning sun shone on them, Lin Hai woke up in horror, and Marguerite also opened her eyes, looking around the room in confusion.
To be precise, this was a prison, a tomb.
Lin Hai felt a little hungry, so he struggled to get up, opened the inconspicuous small refrigerator, and found many bread and mineral water inside. This was the "prison breakfast" left by Wenger.
After this special breakfast, Lin Hai finally spoke, "Margaret, don't you regret not going back to France with your family and staying here with me?"
"No, I will never regret it."
"Is this how people's fate is changed? What happened that night at our father's house?"
Margaret smiled bitterly and said, "What are you thinking? Nothing happened. After you fell asleep on the chair, I was worried you would catch a cold, so I dragged you to the bed, and I slept on the chair all night."
He finally breathed a sigh of relief, but also disappointedly said, "I guess that was also part of your plan, right?"
"Yes, to make you believe that something had happened, so that I could control you better."
Lin Hai stood up and looked out the window at the iron fence, "I have another question. I saw you talking to me on that DVD of 'Queen Margot.' Was that also pre-arranged?"
"Yes, we filmed it beforehand and added it to that DVD. The goal was to make you feel panicked and believe in the absurd lies we made up."
"But why did you go to such lengths to get that painting? Was it just because it was left by your ancestors?"
"Because there is a huge secret hidden in the painting. It is said that whoever obtains that secret can have infinite power, even become the master of the world."
Lin Hai took a deep breath and shivered, "So if this secret falls into the wrong hands, the world will be in great danger?"
"Perhaps."
"So is your family considered..."
He was going to say "evil," but stopped himself.
"What do you want to say? A family of thieves? A ghost family living in the dark forest? I don't know if they are good or bad, or if there is even a distinction between good and bad people in the world."
"No, we can't let them get away with it so easily. If they get their hands on this secret, it will likely have dangerous consequences."
"What can we do? We can't get out now. By the time we do, they'll already be back in France and hiding somewhere no one can find them."
Lin Hai paced around the room and said, "We can try to escape. Didn't Wenger set the password for this door before he left?"
Margaret walked up to the automatic theft-proof door and looked at the keypad, "But do you know the password?"
"We can try. We didn't know the password for Grandfather's safe deposit box either, right?"
"Is it still the date in 'The Red and the Black'?"
"April 30, 1574—the day Margaret buried Lamorel's head," Lin Hai closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I hope Wenger set this password."
Then, he carefully entered "15740430" on the keypad.
But the password displayed was incorrect, not even close to those numbers.
Lin Hai's heart immediately sank, he turned back to look at Margaret, and both of them had a look of despair on their faces.