The girl in the painting, who called herself “Ailin,” stood locked in a staring contest with Yu Sheng, who was outside the frame.
So far, there was no hint of trust between them.
Yu Sheng had no way of confirming whether the words of this “painting person,” who looked like some cursed object, were true or false.
He had never heard of the “Alice’s Cottage” or the idea of someone being sealed in a painting until now.
As such, when Ailin said she didn’t know why she had appeared in this house, he didn’t dare believe her even for a second.
On the flip side, Ailin was quite sure that Yu Sheng was just itching to use a lighter to set her on fire, as her eyes kept glancing at the lighter in his hand…
“I think you must have bought this painting, hung it in your house, and just forgot about it afterward…” Ailin repeated, “Isn’t it common? People see something strange and want to collect it, then just leave it sitting around gathering dust…”
Yu Sheng felt a pinch of guilt with her words because he truly didn’t know the origins of the things in this house.
After all, he had only been in “this place” for two months.
He wasn’t just unfamiliar with this world; even with himself, he was still getting to know who he was.
Who could tell what state this house—and its former owner—were in two months ago?
Could it have been another “Yu Sheng?”
But this thought only flickered through his mind.
Under Ailin’s vivid crimson gaze, Yu Sheng instinctively shook his head and replied, “That’s impossible—this painting looks very expensive; it's not something I could afford…”
“Hey, what if it was cheap?” Ailin nudged her stuffed bear closer, “These days there are plenty of fake vases, fake fans, and fake paintings. Maybe I was bought wholesale at two fifty a pound from some antique dealer along with other fakes, or maybe the secondhand seller just didn’t know what they were dealing with…”
Yu Sheng had a strange expression. “The frame you’re in is solid old wood, with golden lines inlaid along its edges…”
Ailin thought for a moment, “It’s a veneered rosewood frame filled with resin! The wire is just coated in copper.”
Yu Sheng: “... So that cost isn’t just two fifty a pound.”
“Four fifty would be fine, but no higher than that or no one would buy it,” she insisted.
Yu Sheng: “…”
Ailin glared at him with her scarlet eyes, “Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”
Yu Sheng squatted in front of Ailin’s frame, suddenly feeling a bit amused.
He couldn’t help but laugh, sinking down to sit on the floor.
He laughed until he leaned back and stared at the ceiling, half of his body tilted back in disbelief—never did he think he would find himself in such a situation, squatting in an empty room, arguing nonsensical things with a girl sealed in an oil painting, all to discuss whether the frame sealing her was two fifty a pound or four fifty.
And not long before, he had his heart ripped out by a frog that appeared during a freezing rain.
All of this felt incredibly amusing.
Ailin, on the other hand, was startled by his sudden laughter.
After being taken down from the wall by Yu Sheng and placed on the floor, she could now see the bare ceiling and hear his laughter beside her, which made her unable to hold back her annoyance. “Hey, stop laughing! What’s so funny about this?”
Yu Sheng gradually stopped laughing and leaned a bit closer, once again looking into Ailin’s frame, his expression turning serious. “Was it you who caused that strange dream I had before?”
He referred to the dream where he chopped at a locked door with an axe, with strange laughter echoing from behind the door.
It was clear now that this bizarre dream world was somehow linked to the girl in front of him.
Oh right, he had also hurt his back in that dream—and it was still aching now.
“It wasn’t me!” Ailin shook her head quickly, but then paused, her expression unsure. “Well, it’s not completely false…”
“What do you mean?” Yu Sheng frowned. “This is so convoluted.”
“That dream was something you created yourself, but I did jump in,” Ailin patiently explained. “I originally just sensed someone dreaming and wanted to use this method to find someone to help. I didn’t mean any harm! I didn’t know you couldn’t open that door and that you were so hot-headed, chopping it down with an axe just because you forgot your key…”
Listening to Ailin’s ramblings, Yu Sheng started to understand. “So you didn’t lock the door? You didn’t provoke the dream? You just have the ability to enter other people’s dreams?”
“Exactly! And actually, I can do much more!” Ailin nodded proudly, but soon her pride dimmed. “But now that I'm sealed in this painting, this ability is nearly all that remains…”
Yu Sheng was half convinced by Ailin’s words, but he still had more questions about what had happened in that strange dream.
Then, another thought crossed his mind: “You mentioned you wanted to find someone through dreams to help? Help with what?”
“Of course, to help get me out of here!” Ailin looked at him as if it were obvious. “It would be immense if you could get me out of this painting. If not, at least get me out of this room. It’s so empty in here, filled with nothing. If only there was a television on the wall across from me… A voice-controlled one would be ideal; I find the remote rather inconvenient. Just a sign would be great…”
Yu Sheng realized this girl from the painting was clearly of a free-spirited and talkative personality.
Given the chance to ramble on her own, her thoughts spiraled in unpredictable directions—almost always toward the path of becoming overly self-satisfied.
So, he hastily interrupted her, “If you’re looking for help, why were you laughing? What was that mocking laughter I heard when I was ‘opening the door’?”
“That wasn’t me!” Ailin waved her hands in a hurry, raising her brown plush bear, “It was it laughing!”
Yu Sheng said nothing, just stared blankly at her, his expression saying, “Do you think I’m a fool?”
“Really!” Ailin grew anxious, shaking the toy bear vigorously. “It was sealed in the painting with me, but it might have been too long, and its head’s not quite working properly anymore. Now all it does is silly laugh. Usually, if I poke it, it will laugh, but sometimes it just laughs on its own—I’m often startled by it…”
Yu Sheng maintained his serious expression as he listened to Ailin explain, but as he noticed her earnestness, he began to doubt even more.
Eventually, his gaze landed on the stuffed bear, and after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded, “Then make it laugh, and I’ll listen to see if it really does.”
Ailin quickly poked the bear’s head.
The stuffed bear showed no response.
Ailin froze for a moment, then poked it again with more force—still no reaction.
She looked ready to cry. “Sometime…sometimes it does that,” the girl in the painting said, her expression forlorn. “I poke it, and it doesn’t laugh…”
Yu Sheng’s lips quivered slightly.
“So, sometimes it laughs without being poked, and sometimes it doesn’t when you poke it? In short, it might laugh or it might not, regardless of whether you poke it or not—” he analyzed this wordplay, arriving at a conclusion, “So does the bear’s laughter have anything to do with whether you poke it or not?”
Ailin blinked in confusion, slowly nodding, “Yes… that’s right.”
Yu Sheng felt he was losing his mind talking to this seemingly not-so-bright “cursed painting.”
Moreover, he’d also stopped caring about the laughter he heard from within that dream.
His stomach growled, reminding him of the dinner he had missed after arriving home, and he chuckled, shaking his head as he slowly got up.
“Hey, you’re leaving?” Ailin’s voice immediately rose, sounding a bit frantic. “You aren’t going to just leave me here on the floor, right? At least hang me back on the wall. The wall opposite has wallpaper to look at while there’s nothing up here…"
Yu Sheng reached down to pick up Ailin’s frame from the floor, groaning softly at the pain in his back.
“I’m taking you to the living room, so stop talking,” he said casually.
Ailin immediately brightened, clutching her stuffed bear and sitting back in her seat, watching Yu Sheng as he dragged the frame out. “That’s good! You’re quite kind! Oh right, is it dinner time now? What are we having for dinner tonight?”
Yu Sheng glanced down at her, “Can you eat?”
“I can watch!”
Yu Sheng thought he must be mad for choosing to engage with her further.
He held his back, struggling to carry Ailin’s painting frame as he slowly made his way toward the stairway leading to the living room.
All the while, the girl in the painting continued her lively chatter—
“Hey, your house is quite big, huh? I didn’t realize there was such a large area beyond that room!”
“What’s in the room across? Your bedroom? Are there others here?”
“Should I greet them? Will they be scared? Ordinary people don’t seem to meet talking dolls and oil paintings often, right…”
“By the way, I forgot to ask your name! What is it? Yusheng? That’s such a strange name…not the type that eats fish!”
“What happened to your back? You’re so young, and your back is already failing? You need to take care of your back; human joints can be troublesome, and you can’t just take them apart… Wait, why are you staring at me? That gaze is kind of scary…”
Finally, Yu Sheng, struggling with the pain in his back, made it to the base of the stairs.
He looked down at the steps—usually, he didn’t notice, but today, with his back aching and carrying an especially heavy painting frame, the stairs felt steeper than ever.
Initially, he intended to carry Ailin’s frame down the stairs with both arms, but suddenly realized that his current condition didn’t allow for such a thing.
Yu Sheng lowered his head, silently contemplating.
The noisy girl in the painting seemed to sense something was off, her voice gradually quieting down as her expression became tense.
Yu Sheng let his eyes droop, glancing at that girl who had been chattering all the while and whose topics were becoming more and more outrageous: “Ailin.”
The girl in the painting perked up, “Huh? Wait…?”
“I feel like your frame is quite sturdy.”
“Is…it?”
Yu Sheng silently placed Ailin’s frame at the foot of the stairs.
“It might shake a bit, so hold on tight.”
Finally realizing what he was about to do, Ailin’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait—”
“Here we go!”
The painting frame embarked on its thrilling adventure down the stairs, accompanied by Ailin’s enthusiastic shouts of gratitude: “Yu Sheng, you son of a… ah ah ah, woah ah ah woah, oh oh ah &%￥#——”
(End of Chapter)