War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1064
In the early morning of the second day when the seven children headed by Laishia joined the big family, the children who were awakened by the sound of firefights as usual, organized by the little girl Sasha and Olga, gathered around the iron sheet in groups. Keg was busy washing his hands and face.

Then they lined up to get a piece of chocolate from Wei Ran and stuffed it into their mouths, and then took a cup of broth with a small section of sausage, and sat next to each other at the edge of the long table to enjoy it. It is definitely a luxury breakfast in this city.

Whether it was the food that was far beyond the standard or the news from the rudimentary radio, all of these made the chilblained faces of Laishia and the other children look unconcealable.

In fact, just this warm and dry basement was enough for them to be pleasantly surprised, especially the thick sponge cushions under their feet made them dream about sleeping last night.

After eating the sumptuous breakfast with a happy smile involuntarily, Wei Ran forced each child to drink a cup of steaming ginger tea, and supervised Laishia to apply ointment to the burns on her hands before using The sledge dragged Ke Na out of the small concrete house.

"Remember to look for children's shoes today"

Before leaving the sledge to go to work, Ke Na did not forget to ask, "Lexia and the others' shoes are all tattered, some of them simply wrapped their feet in blankets as shoes, and the boy you mentioned yesterday , if he wants to find a job, he can come to me at the ration station or find Commissar Ilyuch."

"I'll be thinking about those two things"

Wei Ran agreed with all his heart, and immediately got into the basement of the ruins of the nursing home after the other party walked away.

Fortunately, the six mousetrap cages were still there this time, and two of them contained a fat and scary mouse!

And when he touched the two mousetrap cages, the familiar sense of brain shutdown came as expected, and immediately after that, he felt his eyes darken, and he fell into the basement with a plop. .

When he regained consciousness again, he found itching in his ears, nostrils and even the corners of his eyes.

Subconsciously reaching out to touch it, Wei Ran was shocked to find that just now his ears, eyes, and nostrils were all overflowing with a little blood, and even his throat was extremely uncomfortable as if something was stuck.

Coughing out a mouthful of thick phlegm mixed with blood, Wei Ran stood up unsteadily, but sat down on the ground because of the dizziness of his brain.

After leaning against the wall in the basement filled with a faint smell of corpses, he managed to climb out with difficulty, holding on to the wall and carrying the two cages containing the rats.

When he followed his memory to find the dilapidated house where the kid named Carello and his grandfather lived temporarily, he found that the fire in the fireplace had been extinguished.

Look at the young man named Kelelo, who is wrapped in a blanket and curled up in the ashes-filled fireplace, staring blankly at the sledge that almost blocked the fireplace, and still lying by the campfire The old guy on the blanket.

Seeing Wei Ran walk in, the young man who was only fifteen or sixteen years old said in a desperate cry, "My grandpa is dead, and I have no family anymore."

"he"

"We had no wood to burn last night."

Kelelo, who was constantly trembling, choked up and said intermittently, "We burned the sledge, but he still froze to death."

Looking at the house with air leaks everywhere, then at the dismantled sledge with only blankets left, and the glass cup with about half of the honey left on the fireplace, after a moment of silence, Wei Ran bent down and picked up the fluffy Old guy who has no weight at all and is already frozen.

"Come on, let's bury him, and then I'll find you a job."

"What did you say?" Keleluo, who was in tears, looked at Wei Ran blankly.

"Drink that half cup of honey, and come with me."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already stepped out of the room with air leaks everywhere, put it on his sledge, and dragged it slowly towards the basement where Mrs. Weiya and others were buried.

A moment later, the hesitant Kaileluo also stumbled out, followed Wei Ran with weak steps, holding the glass cup containing honey in his chilblained hand.

"The distribution station has a material handling job"

Wei Ran slowed down, motioned for the other person to sit on the sledge and said, "If you get this job, you can get two hundred grams of black bread every day, and besides that, the mice caught in the mouse traps will also belong to you. "

While talking, Wei Ran handed the other party a cage with rats hanging on his waist, "This is yours too, and there is a cup of honey I promised you later. Besides, do you want to take this job?" ?"

Glancing at the bewildered Kaileluo, Wei Ran said after a moment of silence, "If you find a way to survive, it's probably your grandfather's last wish, right?"

Hearing this, Caerello was stunned for a moment, then wiped the corners of his eyes with his hands full of frostbite, nodded and replied, "I am willing to go to work!"

"Do you know where the distribution station is?" Wei Ran pointed in the direction after finishing speaking.

"I know, I know." Carello nodded.

"After we bury him, go find a girl named Cora at the ration station."

As Wei Ran spoke, he stopped again, endured the pain, took out the British army kettle, and filled the cup in the opponent's hand with thick honey again.

"Drink"

Wei Ran licked the remaining traces of honey on the mouth of the kettle, and screwed on the lid while smashing his mouth, "Moving supplies is a job that requires strength."

Carello wiped the corners of his eyes again, brought the cup to his mouth, and took one big, two, three big gulps of honey.

"Can I keep these for dinner?" Carello asked cautiously holding the remaining half cup of honey.

"Of course," Wei Ran responded generously.Hearing this, the latter immediately held the cup in his hand, and covered the mouth of the cup with his other hand.

Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't say much, and led the other party into the basement that was used as a tomb, buried Kailelo's grandfather with bricks that could be seen everywhere, and then personally sent the other party to the distribution station, handed over to the Cora was busy distributing food.

Glancing at the glass cup tightly clutched in the hands of this peer, Ke Na seemed to know nothing, and led Carello to find a middle-aged man who was busy.

Seeing this, Wei Ran also left the distribution station in peace, and continued to collect edible and burnable things on the ruins.

Time flies to this afternoon, except for a scorched wooden board, the only decent harvest on Wei Ran's sledge is just a few pairs of shoes ripped from the dead man's feet.

With this little harvest, he joined Ke Na who finished work early, but Wei Ran found that the middle-aged man whom he had met before was still standing beside her.

"This is the political commissar Ilyuqi," said Kona, who was holding a sack in her arms, "Comrade political commissar wants to go back with us to count the children's situation."

After finishing speaking, Ke Na introduced Wei Ran to the other party, "Uncle Political Commissar, he is Victor, and he is a childcare worker."

Unobtrusively glanced at the sword and shield badge pinned to the inside of Wei Ran's collar, the thin and scary political commissar took the initiative to salute, and said in a fairly loud voice, "Comrade Victor, thank you for your kindness to the child." take care of them!"

"I didn't do anything"

Wei Ran subconsciously responded with a salute, and then shook hands with the other party, "Go and sit on the sledge, I will take you back."

Hearing this, Ke Na got on the sledge without thinking, but the political commissar waved her hand, "Let me walk with you."

"Comrade Commissar this time."

"Do not misunderstand"

Ilyuchi hurriedly explained, "I mainly want to check the health of the children this time, and decide whether to send them to the rear or stay temporarily."

"Can we leave now?" Wei Ran asked immediately.

"Just getting ready"

Commissar Ilyuchi responded, "Our transportation team is getting bigger and bigger. Even the child you sent this morning has volunteered to join the transportation team."

"Cairello joined the transport team?" Wei Ran became more and more surprised, "How old is he? And don't you need porters?"

"16 years old"

Commissar Ilyuch explained, "He's too thin and doesn't have the strength to handle transportation work, but he can call mules, so I'm going to send him to the port, where there are jobs that are more suitable for him, and at least he can eat , he is too thin."

"That's not bad." Wei Ran sighed, "Let's talk about the topic just now."

"As the transport fleet is getting larger and larger, we also have more transport capacity to transfer more elderly, weak and sick patients, which requires statistical work, and spring is coming soon, and it is time for children to go back to school. "

Commissar Ilyuchi breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "We are preparing to open a school in the air-raid shelter. Those children who cannot be evacuated for the time being must at least resume classes. This requires counting the age and school age of the children."

"Our current problem is to survive," Wei Ran said truthfully.

"What I'm thinking about is what will happen after the supplies are sufficient," Political Commissar Ilyuch said seriously. "The children need to study, and the future of Leningrad depends on them."

"So they're leaving us soon?" Cora couldn't help asking.

"At least children of school age should go to school." Political Commissar Ilyuqi finished speaking and glanced at Wei Ran and Ke Na, "This way the pressure on the two of you will be less."

"When will the children start class... or retreat to the rear?" Wei Ran asked.

"Probably at the end of February and the beginning of March, the work of returning to school can be carried out."

Ilyuch paused, and continued, "The children who meet the conditions for evacuation need to be decided based on the road conditions and weather on the ice road. It may be tomorrow... or it may be summer."

"Go and sit on the sledge"

Wei Ran said abruptly, "This way we can go faster, and you can save some energy for coming back. To tell you the truth, we plan to take a group photo with the children before the sun goes down."

Hearing this, Ilyuqi's political commissar was stunned, and finally sat on the sledge at Wei Ran's invitation.

Dragging the two light-hearted people, Wei Ran immediately quickened his pace, and at the same time asked a question that he was more concerned about, "Commissar Ilyuqi, what date is it today?"

"Today?" Iluqi rolled up his cuffs and glanced at his watch, "12th, today is February 2th."

"It's been less than half a month." Wei Ran muttered.

"What did you say?" Ilyuqi asked puzzled.

"It's nothing." Before Wei Ran could finish his sentence, he quickened his pace again.

About an hour later, he finally stopped at the door of the small concrete house out of breath.

"Uncle Ilyuch" Kona called the political commissar beside him before he got off the sledge.

"What's wrong?" Ilyuqi asked puzzled.

"Don't tell your younger siblings that you might send them away at any time, you just came to visit them and take a photo with them."

"I understand." Political Commissar Iluqi showed a smile that reassured both Wei Ran and Kona, stepped off the sledge, and walked towards the children who were greeted at the door.

Under Kona's introduction, "Uncle Ilyuqi" became the political commissar who came to count the number of Young Pioneers and Communist Youth League members. By the way, he also asked if anyone wanted to join the Young Pioneers and Communist Youth League members.

This in itself was enough to attract the children, not to mention that Ilyuch also took out two crumpled red apples that were the size of an adult's fist from his jacket pocket as a gift for the first meeting.

Of course, although this gift made every child swallow their saliva subconsciously, before Iluqi started working, under the arrangement of Wei Ran, he met the children at the door of the cement house facing the dim sunset. They took a very lively group photo together.

Taking advantage of the time when Wei Ran took a single photo of the children headed by the newly arrived Laishia yesterday, Ilyuqi also walked into the warm basement under the leadership of Kona, and counted the details of each child one by one. .

At the same time, Ke Na also cut a piece of horse hide that the children scalded and cleaned in advance during the day into thin strips, threw it into the pot, added a small amount of coarse salt, and was busy cooking the skin freeze.

Amidst the busyness of adults and children, the setting sun was gradually blocked by the wreckage of buildings in the distance, and the battlefield outside the city gradually calmed down, but fine snowflakes also floated in the sky.

After sending away Commissar Ilyuch who insisted on leaving, Kona immediately closed the door, opened the sack she had been carrying on her body, took out three and a half yuan of black bread wrapped in newspaper and said excitedly, "Victor! I Today I received black bread for 32 people!"

"How much?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"32 servings!"

As she spoke, Ke Na pulled out a key from her collar, opened a wooden box on the shelf, put a piece of bread in and explained, "We now have 23 younger brothers and sisters, and the two of us, this is 25 And now I have a job, so it is equivalent to receiving 50 grams more, and the extra seven servings are to compensate Laishia for the consumption of seven yesterday."

"Iluqi's political commissar is not only here to count the children's situation, is it?" Wei Ran asked while helping to cut the bread with a saw.

"After all, we have so many children here, they always have to come and check." Ke Na said without surprise, "I have only been working for two days, and I have seen a lot of fraudulent claims."

"What do you think about what he said?" Wei Ran asked, changing the subject.

"I don't have any opinion." Ke Na was very straightforward, "As long as they can survive well, I will be satisfied."

Hearing this, Wei Ran wisely didn't continue to ask, but just helped to prepare the bread, wrapped them one by one in a handkerchief, and followed into the basement.

That evening, the children were given a small piece of apple the size of a knuckle and a cup of sweet and spicy ginger tea, in addition to the bread and broth and the freshly made jelly.As for Wei Ran and Ke Na, each received a fruit core with almost no flesh.

After a night without talking, the two set off again early the next morning. The children were doing all kinds of things within their power as before, or simply shaking their pedals to maintain the rudimentary radio. Work.

The only difference is that the replaced stove was filled with soil found by the children, and in the soil were also planted the apple seeds that Wei Ran and Ke Na did not eat yesterday.

Since this day, the days have been repeated day after day. Wei Ran, who insists on going out every day, not only loses weight visible to the naked eye, but also uses the sledge to bring back some things that can be burned every day.

What worries Wei Ran more than his weight getting lighter and lighter is that he has less and less supplies on hand.

Now, on the wall at the door, he has written three complete characters of "正" with the tip of a red chalk.In the past half month, the news can be described as good and bad.

When he finished writing the first orthographic letter, the seven children headed by the newly joined Laishia finally recovered from the cold under his ginger tea therapy, but the chocolate in his hand and the horse meat sausage he made earlier , is also completely exhausted.

When he finished writing the second orthography, all the firewood and a small amount of coal accumulated in the room on the first floor were filled into the stove, and there were only two A4-sized pieces of horse hide left for making meat jelly.

He also had to take out an American oil stove from Hürtgen Forest and a heater made of gas mask cans out of the pannier to use up the fuel reserves for heating the children and cooking food.

However, it was also when the third orthographic character was written halfway through. Although the weight of the black bread that Ke Na brought back every day did not change, it was finally somewhat softer.

Not only that, the daily milk rations for children have also changed from intermittent to 300ml per day.

Although this amount of milk is not much, it is barely enough to fill the stomach of the baby Galina.Occasionally, if she was lucky, she would bring back an onion, or two potatoes, half a cabbage and other rations.

But today, on the day when he finished writing the third orthography, there was only half a jug of honey left in his hand, and their fuel reserve was only the barrel of fuel he put in the metal book. Still counting the inventory in the fuel tank of the burning appliances such as kerosene gas lamps, Heinze flatbread ovens, etc.

If the barrel of oil is burned out in the end, he can only consider dismantling the boat and burning it as firewood.

Secretly making up his mind, Wei Ran, who came back early, threw the few pieces of firewood he picked up into the cold stove as a reserve, and then untied a German lunch box containing rice from his waist.

This is naturally the stock he took out from the back basket, and it is also the last food reserve except honey, two cans of condensed milk, and ingredients that can barely boil two pots of camellia.

But this is only the 2th of February, and there are still five days left before the premiere of the Leningrad Symphony in Kuibyshev.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran opened the tin cabinet, put the rice in the lunch box first, and then brought out an enamel bucket containing the last meat jelly.

The pork skin jelly in this bucket is also only enough for tonight's dinner. After eating this meal, from tomorrow onwards, apart from the rationed food, the children will only have honey water and honey water that Wei Ran is still working hard to supply. Just put in the rice.

In other words, these kids, who were never really fed, may soon start starving again
Worryingly, he cut the last piece of skin into long strips, and Ke Na also came back with a small airdrop box alone.

"What did you get today?" Wei Ran asked feebly, he was also hungry, it could even be said that he was far hungrier than the children.

"Rye bread and milk, four potatoes and one onion, and charred coals. I got a bucket full of charred coals."

Although there were a lot of supplies, Wei Ran found that the expression on Ke Na's face didn't seem very good, and she was just standing outside the door, not intending to come in at all.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately put down his work, walked out of the room, and followed the girl a few steps away.

"A school has been built in the air-raid shelter"

Ke Na stopped and took a deep breath, "There are already children who have gone to class these days. Political Commissar Ilyuqi told me today that we can also consider sending the children there."

"All?" Wei Ran asked, frowning.

"Anastasia, Bogdan, and Galina don't need to go, the three of them are too young."

Kona paused, then continued, "The rest of the children can go to school in the air-raid shelter, but it's a bit far away from us, so the children have to live in the air-raid shelter.

Fortunately, there are more and more supplies now, and children who go to school can also get priority supplies.There they don't have to suffer from the cold, don't worry about bombing, and they can fill their stomachs quickly. "

Seeing that Wei Ran didn't speak, Ke Na continued, "Victor, are you going to live in the air-raid shelter? It will be warmer there. Commissar Ilyuqi said, you can live in the air-raid shelter and take care of Galina and the three of them by the way. .”

"I want to hear your opinion," Wei Ran said.

“It's safer in a bomb shelter”

Ke Na rubbed her eyes, "Let the children go to live in the air-raid shelter, they can have enough food there, and"

"And what?" Wei Ran looked at the other party and asked.

"And I'm going to work on Lake Ladoga after the kids move to the bomb shelter"

"What did you say?" Wei Ran looked at the other party in surprise, "You want to work in Lake Ladoga? Why?"

"There's a need for more people there now"

Ke Na said of course, "And as I told you, my parents both work in Lake Ladoga. I want to go to work there, maybe I can see them again. I haven't heard from them all winter. gone."

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed secretly, and finally nodded, "When?"

"tomorrow"

Cora wiped her tears and said, "Tomorrow evening, we will send the children to live in the air-raid shelter, Victor, how much food do we have left? I think I want to eat as much as possible before they go to the air-raid shelter."

“Honey and some”

Wei Ran paused, "The aspic is only enough for tonight, but I found a lunch box of rice today, so I can let them have a good meal before they leave tomorrow."

"I'm not going to work tomorrow"

Ke Na sniffed hard, "Let's accompany them tomorrow. After dark, we will use the sledge to send them to the air-raid shelter, and then you will follow."

Before Wei Ran could speak, Ke Na continued, "Tomorrow night, I will go to Lake Ladoga to work."

"I listen to you"

Wei Ran glanced at the children standing at the door, rubbed his face vigorously, lifted his spirits and said, "Okay, give me the vegetables, and I'll prepare dinner."

"Will we have a chance to meet our brothers and sisters in the future?" Ke Na asked abruptly.

"Of course!" Wei Ran said with great certainty, "There must be a chance to meet!"

(End of this chapter)