Chapter 6 The First Step in Friendly Communication
The girl in the painting who calls herself "Irene" and Yu Sheng outside the frame are staring at each other, and so far the two have not established the slightest trust.
Yu Sheng had no way of confirming whether what the "person in the painting" in front of him, who was like some kind of cursed object, said was true or false. He had never heard of Alice's cottage or being sealed in a painting before. That was why when Irene said she didn't know why she appeared in this house, he didn't dare to believe a word of it.
On the other hand, Irene also felt that this human named Yu Sheng must be planning to set herself on fire with a lighter, so she kept her eyes on the movement of the lighter...
"I think you must have bought the painting and hung it up at home, and then forgot about it..." Irene repeated, "Isn't it often like this? You humans want to collect anything rare you see, and then buy it and leave it at home to gather dust..."
Yu Sheng felt a little uneasy after hearing what the other party said, because he was not sure about the origin of the things in this house. After all, he had only been here for two months. Not to mention that he was not familiar with this world, he was not even familiar with himself. Who knew what the state of this house and its owner was two months ago? Could it be another "Yu Sheng"?
However, these thoughts only flashed through his mind for a moment. Facing the gaze of the scarlet eyes of the person in the painting, Yu Sheng subconsciously shook his head and replied: "That's impossible - your painting looks very expensive, it doesn't seem like something I can afford..."
"Hey, what if it's really cheap!" Irene moved forward while holding the teddy bear. "These days there are so many fake bottles, fake fans, and fake calligraphy and paintings. Maybe the previous seller bought it from a fake antique dealer at 2.5 yuan per pound together with other calligraphy and paintings, or maybe the second-hand dealer didn't know the goods..."
Yu Sheng had a strange expression on his face: "Your picture frame is made of solid old wood, and there are gold lines embedded on the edges..."
Irene thought for a moment and said, "The redwood veneer is filled with resin. The iron wire is then plated with copper."
Yu Sheng: "... then the cost is no longer 2.5 yuan per pound."
"Four dollars and fifty cents is fine, it can't be any higher. If it's any higher, no one will buy it."
Yu Sheng: “…”
Irene stared at him with scarlet eyes: "Hey, why don't you speak?"
Yu Sheng squatted in front of Irene's painting frame, and suddenly felt a little happy, and then he really laughed out loud. He sat back on the ground, and laughed and laughed, then looked up at the ceiling, half of his body leaning back with joy - he had never thought that he would experience such a scene in his life, squatting in an empty room, arguing with a doll sealed in an oil painting, just to discuss whether the painting frame that sealed the doll was a fake wholesale product that cost two and a half yuan per pound or four or five yuan per pound...
And just recently, he had his heart ripped out by a frog that emerged from the freezing rain.
These things are so damn interesting.
Irene was frightened by Yu Sheng's sudden laughter. She and her picture frame were taken down from the wall and placed on the ground by Yu Sheng. At this time, she could see the bare ceiling and hear laughter coming from the side. She couldn't help but yell, "Hey, don't laugh! What's so funny about this?"
Yu Sheng slowly stopped laughing. He moved forward and looked at Irene in the picture frame. His expression suddenly became serious again: "I had that weird dream before. Was it you who did it?"
He was referring to the time when he had a dream in which he chopped a locked door with an axe and heard strange laughter from behind the door. Now it seemed that this obviously weird dream was definitely related to the girl in the painting before him.
Oh yes, he also sprained his waist in his dream - it still hurts.
"No!" Irene immediately shook her head, but then she stopped and hesitated for a moment, "Well... not completely..."
"What do you mean?" Yu Sheng frowned, "You're talking in a roundabout way."
"You had that dream, but I did get in," Irene explained patiently. "I just sensed that someone was dreaming, so I wanted to use this method to find someone to help. I didn't mean to do anything bad! I didn't know you couldn't open the door, and you have such a bad temper. You forgot to bring the key, so you used an axe to chop the door..."
Listening to Irene's rambling, Yu Sheng gradually realized: "In other words, you didn't lock the door? You didn't induce the dream? You just have the ability to enter other people's dreams?"
"Yes - in fact, I know a lot more!" Irene nodded with pride on her face, but soon the pride faded, "But now that I'm trapped in the painting, this is almost the only ability I have left..."
Yu Sheng was skeptical about what Irene said, and at the same time, he had more doubts and thoughts about what he had experienced in that strange dream. Then, he had a second question: "You said you wanted to find someone to help you through the dream? What kind of help?"
"Of course, help me get out!" Irene said matter-of-factly. "It would be better if I could get out of this painting. If not, at least get out of this room. There's nothing in here. It would be fine if there's a TV hanging on the opposite wall... Voice control would be better. It's not convenient for me to use the remote control. It would be nice to have a brand..."
Yu Sheng discovered that the girl in the painting was a typical free-spirited person. As long as no one was controlling her and letting her talk to herself, her thoughts would always diverge to unexpected places - and usually in a direction where she became complacent.
So he interrupted the other person without hesitation: "Then why are you laughing when you are looking for help? What's the matter with the laughter inside when I was 'opening the door' outside?"
"That's not me!" Irene waved her hands quickly, then raised the brown stuffed bear in her hand forward, "It's smiling!"
Yu Sheng didn't say anything either, he just looked at her expressionlessly, with a look in his eyes that said "Do you take me for a fool?"
"Really!" Irene looked a little anxious and shook the teddy bear in her hand vigorously. "It was sealed into this painting with me, but maybe it's been too long, and its brain is not very smart anymore. Now it can only smile foolishly. Normally, it will laugh strangely when you poke it, but sometimes it will suddenly laugh on its own even if you don't poke it. I am often scared by it..."
Yu Sheng listened to Irene's explanation with a tense face. After noticing the serious look on the face of the girl in the painting, he gradually became skeptical. His eyes finally fell on the stuffed bear. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded: "Then make it smile, and let me hear it."
Irene immediately reached out and poked the teddy bear's head.
The teddy bear didn't react.
Irene was stunned for a moment, then poked the teddy bear's head hard again - still no sound, and she was about to cry when she saw this.
“It… sometimes happens like this,” the girl in the painting said with a sad face, “I poked it but it didn’t smile…”
The corner of Yu Sheng's mouth twitched.
"That is to say, sometimes it's happy even if you don't poke it, and sometimes it's not happy even if you poke it. In short, it may be happy or not happy whether you poke it or not—" He analyzed a series of things like a tongue twister and came to a conclusion, "So does this bear's smile have anything to do with whether you poke it or not?"
Irene was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly: "Yes... yes."
Yu Sheng didn't want to continue paying attention to this "cursed oil painting" that seemed to have a abnormal brain.
Moreover, he no longer cared about the mocking voice he had heard in his dream.
His stomach growled. The dinner he had missed after falling asleep right after arriving home began to make its presence felt. Yu Sheng smiled, shook his head, and slowly stood up.
"Hey, you're leaving?" Irene said in a panic, "You're not going to leave me on the floor like this, are you? At least hang me back on the wall. There's wallpaper on the other side of the wall. There's nothing on the ceiling..."
Yu Sheng reached out and picked up Irene's painting frame from the ground - then grimaced because of the pain in his waist.
"I'm going to take you to the living room, so stop talking." He said casually.
Irene immediately became happy, hugged her teddy bear and sat back in her chair, watching Yu Sheng dragging his picture frame out: "That's good, you're a very nice person. Oh, by the way, is it time for dinner now? What are we having tonight?"
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Yu Sheng looked down and said, "Can you eat?"
"I can see!"
Yu Sheng felt that he was really sick for continuing to bother with this guy.
He held his waist, carrying Irene's painting frame with some difficulty, and slowly walked towards the stairs leading to the living room. During this time, the trash talk coming from the painting never stopped -
"Hey, your house is quite big. It turns out there's such a big area outside that room?"
"What's the room across the street? Your bedroom? Is there anyone else here?"
"Do I need to greet them? Will they be scared? Ordinary people don't seem to have seen talking dolls and paintings..."
"By the way, I haven't asked your name yet! What's your name? Yusheng? What a strange name... Isn't it the edible fish sashimi?"
"What's wrong with your waist? You're so young, and your waist is broken? I'm telling you, you have to protect your waist. You humans have trouble with your joints, and they can't be disassembled at will... Hey? Why are you glaring at me? Your eyes are scary..."
Yu Sheng finally held his waist and moved to the front of the stairs with difficulty. He looked down at the steps below. Normally he didn't feel it, but after he sprained his waist today and was carrying an especially heavy painting frame, the steps seemed particularly steep to him.
He had originally wanted to go downstairs holding Irene's painting frame in both hands, but now he suddenly found that his physical condition did not seem to allow him to do so.
Yu Sheng lowered his head and thought silently.
The noisy girl in the painting seemed to sense something, her voice gradually stopped and her expression gradually became tense.
Yu Sheng lowered his eyelids and glanced at the girl in the painting who had been chattering all the way and whose topics were becoming more and more annoying: "Irene."
The girl in the painting shuddered: "Hey... Hey?"
“I feel like your frame is pretty solid.”
“Yes… yes?”
Yu Sheng silently placed Irene's picture frame at the starting point of the stairs.
"It might be a little shaky, so just sit tight."
Irene finally reacted, her eyes widened in an instant: "Hey wait a minute——"
"Go!"
The painting frame embarked on a ping-pong adventure on the stairs.
In between, Irene thanked him enthusiastically: "Yu Sheng, your uncle... ahhhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh *&%￥#*——"
(End of this chapter)
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