War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1070

On the night of March 3th, Wei Ran didn't get a chance to rest at all, and he didn't see Ke Na's roommate, so he started working under the urging of a girl who came to ask for help on a snowboard and Ke Na's guidance .

A little clumsily started the crawler-type bulldozer outside the tent with an empty shotgun shell and a small hammer. With the experience of fighting in a tank as an electromechanical operator, he successfully maneuvered this open-top bulldozer.

Under the guidance of the two red lights hanging on the backs of Ke Na and another girl, Wei Ran drove the bulldozer rumbling forward on the ice covered with snow.

The speed of this bulldozer is naturally too fast to catch up with the two girls on snowboards, but even so, the strong wind and snowflakes blowing head-on made Wei Ran have to put his feet on the joystick and use his free hands to take out the contents of the metal book. The goggles were buckled on his face.

After running after the two red lights amidst the creaking noise of the tracks and the roar of the engine, the two girls also stopped.

"Victor, on the road in front of us on the left, there is a section of ice cracked in front of us. We have to circle to the left to clear a new route."

Ke Na, who was stepping on her skis, took a breath and continued, "Wait a minute and you follow my red light. We have to clear a three-meter-wide road, and you need to shovel back and forth three or four times."

"understand!"

Wei Ran responded loudly, and after the opponent opened the distance, he immediately put down the bulldozing shovel, pushed the snow on the ice, and followed the opponent to draw an arc on the ice.

Although he couldn't see what was happening on the cracked ice surface, he could still see the flashing red light at the center of the circle tens of meters away, as well as the vaguely upturned truck's buttocks, and a track that seemed to be about to pull it up. type tractor.

After driving in circles like this for a hundred or ten meters, the ice road that had been lined up on the road just now appeared again in front of the front of the car.

Under Ke Na's command, Wei Ran clumsily manipulated this small bulldozer, connecting the road he just drove with the road ahead, then turned the car around and walked along his The new road just opened was pushed back and the road surface was widened.

When he connected the other end of the new road with the old road, and turned around to clear the snow in the middle of the road, there were two more sledges pulling a large cart of pine needles and reeds behind him.

On the two sledges, there were a few children who seemed not much older than Kona, and they used forks to sprinkle the load on the car on the newly opened road.

And behind these two sledges, there are two more sledges pulling buckets heated by fire, spraying water on the road while walking.

With the help of the low temperature of minus [-] to [-] degrees, as soon as the steaming water was poured on the pine needles and weeds, it immediately froze with the snow and turned into a sticky ice shell.

At this time, two more sledges followed and sprinkled a large amount of sawdust mixed with sand on the road.And behind them are the trucks and the sledges of various powers that are busy on their way.

Even without an explanation, Wei Ran, who was driving the bulldozer at the front, would definitely be able to guess it just by taking a look. The first layer of pine needles and weeds are like steel bars in concrete, and the warm water after that is like Like adhesives, the sawdust and sand are used to provide limited resistance to prevent the trucks walking on it from slipping, and at the same time not to make the animal sledges too resistant.

In less than half an hour, the blocked icy road was reopened to traffic again, but Wei Ran did not finish his work.

Under Ke Na's command, he helped the tractor pull up the truck whose front was mostly stuck in the ice hole.

As soon as he unhooked the trailer hitch, several sledges parked on the edge of the ice hole, throwing all kinds of branches and weeds into the ice hole, and then a few militiamen brandished shovels, The snow was thrown into the ice hole spade by spade.

"Victor, your work is not over yet."

Ke Na stepped on her skis again and approached Wei Ran, who was busy packing up the trailer cables, pointed to the new road that had just been opened and said, "You need to roll out windshield walls at least one meter high on both sides of that section of road. Just do it."

"no problem!"

Wei Ran happily agreed, and threw the steel cable that had just rolled up into the basket welded with steel bars at the rear of the car, "I remember the way back, you don't need to be here, go back and rest first."

"I'm going to be on duty on the new road." Ke Na pointed to the direction of the ice hole, "A companion fell into it just now, and there is one person missing here."

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and quickly climbed onto the bulldozer while exhorting, "Be careful!"

"You too!" After Kona finished speaking, she already supported the ski pole with both hands, and slid out lightly.

Driving the bulldozer to the side of the road that he pushed out by himself, Wei Ran repeated the boring work of pushing the surrounding snow to the side of the road over and over again.

This job is far more troublesome than just now. Not only does he have to back up and forward over and over again, but he also has to open a fork in the road for refuge every once in a while.

And whenever the anti-aircraft searchlight lights up in the distant night sky, others can run to the fork he drove away from the road, but he can only continue to work in fear—he is driving a bulldozer so slow that even skis can’t catch up , Even if you want to run, you can't run away.

Since he couldn't escape, he could only choose to trust the air defense position in the distance and continue working as if nothing had happened.

In his busy work, a windshield wall more than one meter high was finally piled up on both sides of this 200-meter-long arc-shaped temporary road.But before he could rest, a little boy who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old came up on his skis and begged him anxiously for help to get a car lying down on the road to Kobona more than [-] meters away. The truck pulls up.

This night, Wei Ran almost never got off the bulldozer, and this bulldozer hardly ever idled.

Repair roads, tow trucks, build windbreaks, clear snow and slush on the roads, even bury militiamen and transport members who died suddenly or were bombed, and drag oil drums to refuel trucks.

It was dawn, and Wei Ran finally finished all the work, shivering, driving the bulldozer, followed Ke Na who was on the skis in front, and returned to the white tent.

Trembling, he patted off the snow that was almost frozen into an ice shell on his body. When Wei Ran followed Ke Na into the tent, one of the two beds was still empty, and on the other bed, there was still a man lying on the bed. Looking at a girl who was about the same age as Ke Na, she was sleeping soundly wrapped in a blanket.

"That's Ekaterina," Ke Na introduced in a low voice, and at the same time poured Wei Ran a cup of hot water.

"I greeted her when I came here." Wei Ran took the cup and held it in his hand, then shivered involuntarily.

"She has been working on the ice for several months," Kera said in a low voice. "Strictly speaking, she is in charge of commanding this technical service point."

"Where are the others?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"There are two more girls. They must have gone to work by now."

While speaking, Ke Na had already taken off the red lantern hanging from her waist, extinguished it and handed it to Wei Ran, then took out a few pieces of letter paper and a pen from the box next to the bed, and used a copy of "Resurrection" as a cushion Under the letter, sat on the lid of the airdrop box, "Help me add some oil to the signal light, then you can go to sleep for a while, I will wake you up when it is time to eat, now I want to give my brothers and sisters wrote back."

"You go to bed early too." Wei Ran yawned as he took the signal light, turned and left the small cubicle.

When he came to the next door, he lit the kerosene lamp first. He took off his ice-covered clothes and hung them on the hook hanging above his head. Then he found the oil barrel and funnel, removed the oil pot of the signal lamp and filled it with kerosene.

After finishing the last bit of work, Wei Ran took off his frozen felt boots and outer pants, lay on the narrow camp bed, absorbed the warmth from the next door's stove through the thin canvas partition, and listened attentively The rustling sound of rubbing the nib of the pen against the letter paper.

After an unknown amount of time, Ke Na finally finished writing the letter and stood up while yawning.

Contrary to Wei Ran's expectations, the girl did not wake him up, but instead slipped quietly into his dormant cubicle, first helped to extinguish the kerosene lamp on the table, and then took the signal lamp filled with oil and stepped on it. The skis left the warm tent.

Naturally, Wei Ran would not chase after the girl, so he simply closed his eyes and wrapped the blanket tightly, and soon fell into a dream.

When he was awakened by the crisp and loud alarm clock, Kona's call came from his ear, "Victor, come and have something to eat, and bring the radio and generator by the way."

"Right now!" Wei Ran rubbed his face, and sat up while responding to the other party.

Carrying the radio in one hand and the not-so-big pedal generator in the other, when Wei Ran arrived next door, a few pieces of black bread and a serving of steaming steamed bread were already placed on the lid of the airdrop box by the stove. Beetroot soup.

At this moment, Ke Na and the girl named Ekaterina were sitting knee-to-shoulder by the fire, each holding slices of bread in one hand and red cabbage soup in the other, chatting while eating.

"Am I going to start working after dinner?" Wei Ran said while putting the radio at the end of the bed.

"You still have five hours to rest"

While speaking, Ke Na had already taken over the generator, sat skillfully on the side of the boat, adjusted the channel while staring at the generator, "Eat quickly, I have just given the reply to Carello, he knows you are here Work, and I brought you a special gift."

"What gift?" Wei Ran sat down curiously and asked.

"In your beetroot soup" The girl named Ekaterina pointed to the wooden soup bowl on the lid of the box.

Curiously, he picked up the spoon and picked up the soup bowl, just scooped it up casually, but Wei Ran was stunned, there was actually a peeled boiled egg in the thick beetroot soup!

"Brought by Carello"

Ke Na pointed to an extra sundry bag on the table at the door, "He got a total of five boiled eggs, and I asked him to bring the other four to his brothers and sisters, and the remaining one"

"Eat the rest, both of you."

Wei Ran said that he had already divided the boiled eggs in the bowl into two halves, and while forcibly distributing them to the two thin girls, he lied, "It's fine if it's meat, but I'm very allergic to eggs, I don't want to He was sent to the hospital on the first day of his arrival."

"When did you become allergic to eggs?" Ke Na looked at Wei Ran suspiciously.

"I've been allergic to eggs for as long as I can remember"

Wei Ran took a big mouthful of red cabbage soup as a matter of course, and then tore open the black bread in his hand and threw it in.

Compared with the bread I ate in the basement before, I can finally taste the unique aroma of flour in this piece of bread, and there is nothing that cannot be chewed.

"You can't lie to me"

As Kona spoke, she started to kick the generator again, and the radio also played intermittent music after a needle-pricking noise.

"This song." Ke Na was stunned for a moment, and then sped up the movement of her feet.

After some adjustments, the music on the speakers became clearer and clearer, so that even Wei Ran, who had finished his beetroot soup and bread slices, could hear that this piece was precisely the Leningrad Symphony!
However, at this time the song is already nearing its end.So before Cora couldn't stop pedaling the generator, the drumbeat that symbolized the end came from the speaker.

"If my dad plays, he's the drummer for the final beat."

Kona said subconsciously, and then said in an unusually positive tone, "This is Comrade Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony in C major, right?"

"Can you hear it?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.Ke Na just smiled when she heard the words, and then stopped the work of generating electricity.

"Have you found your parents?" After a moment of silence, Wei Ran asked a question he had always wanted to ask.

"no"

Cora sighed, "I don't even know where they work, or if they're still alive."

"You will definitely find them." Wei Ran and the girl named Ekaterina gave the same blessing in unison.

"Why do you always look at me?" Ekaterina finished speaking, then looked at Wei Ran and added.

"Nothing." Wei Ran said uncertainly, "I just feel like I've seen you somewhere."

"I'm also from Leningrad, maybe I've seen it somewhere."

Ekaterina, who had already eaten half a boiled egg, stood up and said while taking off the red signal light hanging from the handle of the airdrop box and hanging it on her waist, "I'm going to work, you guys talk slowly. .”

"wait a minute"

Wei Ran stopped the other party, "Let me take a group photo for you, how about taking a group photo for me and Ke Na by the way?"

"Where are you going to shoot?" Ekaterina asked happily.

"Do you have any suggestions?" Wei Ran looked at Ke Na.

"Just go outside the tent"

Ke Na replied absent-mindedly, and subconsciously picked up the signal lamp by the bedside and hung it on her waist.

After the two girls put on cotton caps and gloves, Wei Ran also made an excuse to get the camera and came to the next door. He didn't just change the subject, he really felt vaguely that he seemed to have seen the girl who was as thin as Kona somewhere girl.

Temporarily suppressing this doubt, he put on his coat as quickly as possible, took out the Rollei Shuang in the metal book and got out of the tent.

In such a short time, the two girls have already stepped on the skis and put on the cold mask, gloves and goggles.But this fully armed attire also completely obscured their faces.

Obviously, rather than adapting, it is better to say that the two girls have gotten used to the working and living patterns here.

At Wei Ran's suggestion, he took off the mask and goggles. Wei Ran looked at the very dim sun on the horizon in the distance. After some hesitation, he used the viewfinder to cover the two skinny ones as if they could be blown down by a gust of wind, and Girls with chilblains on their faces, and tents and crawler bulldozers behind them.

Of course, there are further ice roads connected in series with continuous red signal lights.

Almost at the same time as he pressed the shutter, a series of tracer bullets that directed the targets in the air exploded in the sky behind the two girls.

When Wei Ran put down the camera that only took one picture and looked over, the denser smoke puff also dyed the distant sky with black clouds.

By the time the two girls turned their heads subconsciously, they could already hear the unique roar of the plane!

The two girls looked at each other, without hesitation, communication, or any pause, but in unison, each took out a lighter and lit the signal light slung around their waists, and then they didn't even say hello. While busy putting on their masks and goggles, they stepped on their skis and rushed towards the ice road they were maintaining with their lives a few hundred meters away.

"I hope you can all survive, I hope you can all return to Leningrad without war, I hope."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, everything he could see in his field of vision had been replaced by intense white light, but he also knew that all this was not over yet, he hadn't sent the children on board yet, Not to mention the premiere of Shostakovich's Symphony No. [-] in C major in Leningrad!
As the white light subsided little by little, the roar of engines and the sound of gunfire that filled my ears just now also disappeared one after another.Before he could recover his vision, he heard the singing of the chorus Naval Port Night and the laughter of the children.

Of course, there is also the sound of wind blowing head-on, with a slight smell of water, and the pleasant tinkling of bells.

Waiting patiently to see everything around him clearly, Wei Ran couldn't help showing a hint of a smile.

At this time, he was sitting in the driver's seat of a fully loaded two-wheeled carriage, and beside him was the bayanqin that belonged to Kona.

On the cart behind him, apart from several children he knew or didn't know headed by Alexander, there was also the baby Galina who was held in Laishia's arms, and Ah, who was sitting next to Olga. Nastasia and Bogdan.

In front of this car, Carrero also steered a two-wheeled cart pulled by mules. In that cart were some children he knew or didn't know, such as Andre, and the people in charge. Olga and Sasha who look after these children.

Subconsciously counting the colorful Budyonny hats on the two cars, Wei Ran secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, among the total of 35 children of all sizes, there were quite a few of the 23 colorful hats. Moreover, the bodies of these children were obviously a little fatter, and the smiles on their faces were also a lot more.

"Victor, can we see Sister Kona later?"

Alyosha sat down beside Wei Ran and asked, "Is she really waiting for us at the port?"

"You'll know when you arrive," Wei Ran responded with a smile.

"We haven't gone to the zoo to watch Uncle Matvey's performance yet," Alexander said with great regret.

"The war is not over yet"

Wei Ran pushed back the close headed melon, "Don't get too close, your face will be attached to the mule's ass."

Amid the laughter of the children, Alexander arched Alyosha beside him towards the rear of the car, sat down next to Wei Ran and asked hopefully, "If Uncle Matvey can also evacuate with us?" Just go to the rear, and you, sister Kona, and brother Kaileluo, you can always evacuate with us, right?"

"Kona and I are no longer children." Wei Ran answered the other party's expectant question as tactfully as possible.

"I'm not a child anymore." Alexander subconsciously retorted, "We."

"Don't worry, Alexander!" Kelleyro in the car in front turned around and answered the topic loudly, "We will leave soon!"

"Really?" The children in the two cars asked in surprise.

"of course it's true!"

The young Carrero responded confidently, "But it's not today. There are still so many people in the air-raid shelter. We have to send them all away first, but we will definitely meet you soon."

"You swear!" cried Lycia, who was holding the baby, "Cairello, you have to swear!"

"Yes!" The children in Carello's car echoed in unison.

"I swear"

Kelelo flicked his whip lightly, "I swear we will definitely evacuate too, and we will definitely meet on the other side of Lake Ladoga. After the war is over, I will go to the zoo with you to see Uncle Matvey As for the performance, you have mentioned it to me several times."

Seeing that the children's attention was diverted to Matvey's animal show, Wei Ran sighed secretly, took out his camera silently, took a picture of the children beside him, and turned to the car in front The children in the car pressed the shutter.

After walking along this gravel road in the forest, the two carriages also stopped at a busy pier under the leadership of Kaileluo.

From a long distance, Wei Ran saw Kona wearing a Soviet female soldier uniform, short hair covering one side of her face, a boat cap on her head, and a pair of leather gloves on her hands.

Before the carriage came to a complete stop, the children wearing colorful Budyonny hats jumped out of the carriage, cheered and ran towards Kona who opened her arms towards them, talking to each other.

"Miss Kona is really welcome," Carello said with emotion.

"She's like a mother to the little ones"

Wei Ran also expressed his emotions, and at the same time raised his camera, and took a photo of the children and Ke Na who was surrounded.

"Do you want to take a group photo?" Wei Ran shook the camera in his hand and asked, "Just like in the basement!"

"want!"

Whether it was Ke Na or the children headed by Alexander, they all subconsciously responded in the affirmative.

Soon, these children wearing hats of various colors surrounded Ke Na in the middle, and got ready with their backs to the barge in the distance.

"Cairello, Victor, come too!" Kona waved at Carello, "and the children around you."

"Give me the camera, and I'll help you take pictures."

Following the sound, Wei Ran recognized at a glance that the person standing beside him, wearing the uniform of a Soviet Red Army female soldier and holding the rank of Grand Master, was the one named Kona who lived in the same tent with Kona back then. Catherine's female soldiers.

Looking at the verdant birch forest in the distance, although Wei Ran doesn't know how long time has passed, this scary female soldier who was as thin as Ke Na at the beginning is now a bit plump, and the color on her face is also affected by her determination replace.

Subconsciously, he handed the Rollei dual-reverse camera with the horse fur camera case in his hand to the other party. When Wei Ran accidentally caught a glimpse of the gold Melee Assault Medal on the camera case, he was stunned for a while, but then There was a complex expression of sudden realization, astonishment, and surprise.

"what happened?"

Ekaterina took the camera and glanced at the weird expression on Wei Ran's face, and urged nonchalantly, "Go and stand together, the barge is about to leave."

"it is good"

When he came back to his senses, Wei Ran quickly ran behind the children. While taking pictures together, he couldn't help but sigh that the world is too small.

In the last scene before Bai Guang, he felt that the female soldier named Ekaterina looked familiar. Now he finally remembered that it was this female soldier who accepted them in Berlin back then, and made him and Hans Dad, Dr. Lodge, and those Jewish female nurses were arranged to work in the field hospital!

That's right, he clearly remembered that the female soldier in Berlin was called Katya by everyone. Isn't Katya a nickname for Ekaterina? =
But is it really her?Such a coincidence, on the contrary, made him even more uncertain - the probability was too low.

Immediately afterwards, he was a little moved. If this female soldier is the one in Berlin in 1945, does it mean that he still has the opportunity to meet some people he thought he would never see again, to make up for it? What about some regrets that he has been thinking about and can't let go of?
Before he could figure it out, the barge shrouded in the setting sun blew its whistle behind him, and the female soldier named Ekaterina almost pressed the shutter.

Hastily returning the camera to Wei Ran, Ekaterina clapped her hands and urged, "Okay kids, time is running out, everyone hurry up and get on the boat!"

"We just met Sister Kona," Olga said pitifully.

"Good girl, we will meet again soon, I promise." Kona hurriedly hugged Olga, and left a light kiss on the baby Galina's forehead, and then hurriedly urged, " Alexander! Take your brothers and sisters to board the ship!"

"Yes!"

Alexander gave a dignified military salute, while Ke Na and Ekaterina also responded with a dignified military salute.

During this short encounter and silent farewell, Alexander took the children of the same age and those younger brothers and sisters, stepping back and forth, and hurriedly boarded the barge that was not too big.

"Brother Victor" Ke Na looked at Wei Ran, "Can you play that piece on the bayan?"

Wei Ran was stunned when he heard the words, nodded quickly, picked up the bayanqin on the sledge cart and hung it on his chest, while squeezing the bellows, he played the piece.

And Ke Na, who was beside him, also sang the song she wrote for the children again with a nice voice.

In the singing, in the sound of music, in the sound of sirens, in the waving of the children on the barge deck and in the same song sung in chorus, the barge also pulled away a little bit from the pier in the setting sun. distance.

Until the two sides could no longer see each other, Ke Na also stopped singing almost raving, followed by a tired sigh.

(End of this chapter)