Chapter 14: The Treasure in the Study

  In this night, in the ancient castle, in this old study filled with old air, Du Wei stood under the candlelight, quietly lifting his head, gazing at the oil painting on the wall. One person and one painting fell into a brief silence, but Du Wei did not get a response from the other side.

  He seemed to frown: "Refuse to answer?"

  The face in the oil painting is still staring at Du Wei's eyes.

  Du Wei smiled, but his smile was somewhat sinister. He slowly walked over to the bookshelf, pushed a tall ladder over, climbed up the ladder and stretched out his hands to try to take down the oil painting.

  The person in the oil painting finally showed a hint of panic on his face, and the eyes in the painting stared at Du Wei's face, with a flustered expression.

  "Whoa!" Du Wei exerted himself to take down the oil painting from the wall. Obviously, something so heavy was very difficult for a weak and slender half-grown youth like Du Wei to lift. Du Wei felt his arms ache. But what surprised him was that behind the oil painting, there was nothing!

  It's not a mechanism! Nor is there someone hiding behind the oil painting watching himself! But it's this oil painting itself!

  Du Wei's expression turned serious as he carefully carried the oil painting down the stairs.

  The faces in the oil painting all have a bitter expression, and their eyes are even more uneasy.

  "What are you?" Du Wei said in a low voice: "A figure who has come alive from a painting?"

  The eyes in the oil painting seem evasive.

  "Hmm, this painting is a portrait of the ancestor of the Roland family who was an imperial marshal back in the day... You're not that ancestor come back to life, are you?" Du Wei smiled and shook his head, "That doesn't make sense. Because that ancestor has been dead for over two hundred years. And this painting is obviously painted by later generations to commemorate their ancestors. I'm still asking that question... What exactly are you?"

  After asking for a while and getting no answer, Du Wei's face sank: "Oh, won't say? Then don't regret it."

  He pointed at the candelabras around him: "You see, there are many candles here. If you don't speak up, I'll burn you with one of them. Do you think I dare not?"

  After finishing speaking, he turned around and picked up a lit candle, slowly approaching the oil painting.

  The people in the oil painting suddenly changed their faces, with unhidden fear and anxiety, their eyes filled with urgency and pleading, looking at the candle flame getting closer to Du Wei's hand. The people in the oil painting could only look at Du Wei with a face full of anxiety.

  Just as the flame was about to touch the canvas, Du Wei moved the candle away and nodded: "Hmph, it seems you really can't speak? Can you speak?"

  The person in the oil painting shook his head hastily.

  "So, what exactly are you?" Du Wei's eyes were shining! A living oil painting! Was it something conjured up by some sort of magic?

  As for Du Wei's question, the oil painting couldn't answer anymore. After escaping the danger of being burned, the people in the oil painting seemed to have caught their breath and looked at Du Wei with interested eyes again.

  Du Wei tried to ask the oil painting a few questions, but it was difficult to communicate because the other party couldn't speak. The oil painting could only barely make nodding and shaking head movements. After trying hard for a while, nothing came out of this exchange.

  One person one picture, just staring at each other with eyes wide open.

  At this moment, a large clock on the wall of the study slowly struck! The time had already reached midnight!

  Du Wei suddenly seemed to see a thread of light slowly emanating from the eyes of the figure in the oil painting! At the same time, he appeared to hear a soft sigh by his ear!

  Although the sound was a bit vague and uncertain, Du Wei heard it very clearly, that was unmistakably the sound of someone sighing!

  "Listen carefully! Because I was hit by a spell, I can only speak briefly when the clock strikes midnight. Once the bell stops ringing, I won't be able to make any more sounds! Now I'll say it just once: there's a hidden room in this study! Inside that room are some treasures! I can guide you to get those treasures, and then I need your help - one of them can break the spell that was cast on me."

  Du Wei's eyes widened as he stared at the oil painting: "Are you talking?"

  "Right! No time to explain." The oil painting voice said quickly: "Now you start checking from the third oil painting on the wall, there are instructions. Follow the instructions and do it, if you're not a fool, you should be able to find it..."

  Dong!

  The midnight had passed, and with the end of the last stroke of the clock, the figures in the oil painting gradually lost the luster in their eyes. Immediately, the voices also stopped speaking.

  Du Wei looked up and down at this oil painting, and the people inside were also looking at him, with a pleading expression on their faces.

  "Oh, you said you were under a spell, right?" Du Wei smiled and said: "You said that in this study there is another secret room, and in the secret room there is a treasure that can lift your spell. Right?"

  He asked a question, and the oil painting figure nodded slightly, with an expression of longing on his face.

  "Alright, so what's in it for me?" Du Wei smiled and said: "Why should I help you?"

  The person in the painting changed color, and immediately the pleading color in his eyes became more intense, as if he desperately wanted to say something, but unfortunately couldn't utter a single word.

  "Whatever, I also found it strange anyway. Let's just satisfy my curiosity." Du Wei nodded and climbed up the ladder to the bookshelf, carefully observing the third oil painting on the wall according to the hint of the figure in the painting when the bell rang earlier.

  The third oil painting is also a portrait of an ancestor of the Roline family, this ancestor wearing a naval general's uniform, with a serious face... his gaze level, as if looking into the distance.

  Du Wei carefully examined it for a while, but couldn't see any marks on the oil painting. He even tried to move the oil painting and check behind it, but still found nothing.

  Du Wei stood on the stairs, carefully thinking for a while. He was not anxious, but patient, re-examining every detail one by one. After checking three times in vain, Du Wei suddenly had an idea and carefully observed the people in this oil painting...

  Yes, the eyes of the people in the painting... are looking straight ahead, gazing forward.

  Du Wei's heart skipped a beat! He immediately searched in the direction where the eyes of the characters in the painting were looking.

  This is on the opposite wall! The figures in the painting seem to be staring at a knight's sword hanging on the opposite wall with their eyes!

  Du Wei exerted himself to push the stairs to the other side of the room. This back-and-forth struggle was somewhat exhausting for a thirteen-year-old boy. However, his intense curiosity drove him on.

  After examining the knight's sword on the wall, Du Wei found that the tip of this sword was pointing to the bookshelf beside it!

  He felt his way along the direction and climbed up onto that bookshelf.

  Finally, he found it!

  On the crossbeam of the bookshelf, Du Wei felt a row of uneven marks. He slightly calmed down and felt it again, only to discover that it was actually a line of text!

  It's just that these words are written in reverse! So, if someone else accidentally touches this place, if they don't observe carefully, they will probably think it's just an ordinary flower pattern.

  A line of text written in reverse direction, Du Wei carefully read it out loud.

  "The answer lies in the night sky, and the giant ladle is the key to guiding the direction forward."

  Du Wei couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

  What's this? Riddle guessing?

  He sighed and slid down the stairs, sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding his head in deep thought about this riddle.

  "The night sky...... A huge ladle......"

  At last, Du Wei suddenly stood up, and hope reappeared on his face.

  The night sky has... stars!

  Where is the big ladle? So no need to ask, it must be referring to the Big Dipper! The shape of the Big Dipper in the sky doesn't look like a huge ladle?

  Du Wei suddenly understood this point and immediately quickly searched on the bookshelf in the study!

  Stars... Stars...

  The bookshelf in the study room related to stars... Hmm, it must be a bookshelf for astrology books!

  Soon, through the index directory, Du Wei found the bookshelf that was specially placed for astrology books. He climbed up with difficulty and searched for a while. Then, according to the direction of the "spoon", he carefully searched the seventh row of the bookshelf.

  He almost looked through one by one, finally...

  When he picked up the book, he clearly felt that this book was unusually heavy! It turned out to be a metal book! And after opening it, a dull mechanical sound of gears turning came from inside the wall...

  Finally, with a creaking sound, the entire bookshelf slowly began to rotate by itself. Behind it, on the wall, a dark entrance was revealed...

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