The Sixth Iron Chest chapter 2

The Accidentally Discovered Secret Chamber

Jules found a good bottle of wine in the villa’s cellar. After drinking it and feeling a bit tipsy, he started to explore the villa. In a large bedroom on the second floor, he saw a huge portrait hanging in the middle of the room. It was a painting of an 18th – century general. Jules remembered that Frans had once said that the man in the painting was Count Hall, who had built this villa back then and was also the first owner of the villa.

Jules felt that the portrait hanging there gave an eerie feeling, so he decided to move it. He thought: Anyway, Hall had moved out, and no one would care about such a painting.

With this thought in mind, he immediately found some tools to take down the painting. However, no matter how hard he tried, the painting seemed to be glued to the wall and didn’t move at all. Jules was so angry that he punched the hand of the portrait of Count Hall.

This punch created a miracle. With a “creak” sound, the whole portrait slowly retracted into the wall and then slowly rotated towards the inside of the wall. My goodness! It turned out that there was a secret chamber behind the portrait, and this painting was the secret door to the chamber.

Jules had heard that in old houses like this, if there was a secret chamber, it usually contained gold, silver, and jewels. He immediately found a flashlight and walked step by step towards the depths of the secret chamber along the steps.

Jules walked down the steps, turned two corners, and came to a large room. He was surprised to find that there were more than a dozen iron boxes in the middle of the room. Five of them were unlocked, while the rest were firmly locked with big iron locks.

Jules went up and opened the five unlocked iron boxes, but they were empty. He then tried to move the locked iron boxes, but each one was so heavy that he couldn’t move them at all.

Jules quickly fetched some tools and started to pry open the locked boxes. But no matter what methods he used, the iron locks didn’t budge. Just when Jules was having a hard time opening the boxes, clear footsteps suddenly sounded in the secret chamber.

Jules turned around and found that the person coming was Lawyer Frans. Frans said with a smile, “Dear Mr. Jules, I didn’t expect you to discover this secret chamber so soon. You’re really amazing!”

Then, Frans came over and patted Jules on the shoulder and said, “Young man, don’t be afraid! If you’re interested, please allow me to tell you a wonderful story…” He paused for a moment and then said, “However, this isn’t a suitable place. The coffee Mr. Hall left here tastes wonderful. How about we talk while tasting it?”