War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 115 Two Small Knives
That night, the heavy snow that had been raging all day finally stopped completely, and bright stars appeared in the night sky.While Wei Ran and his aunt Zhou Shujin took off on the returning plane to chase the elusive aurora, Misha, who stayed at the abandoned airport, was also busy commanding the crowd, and moved the camp to the abandoned mine with a sled.

When the camping lights hung everywhere were connected to gasoline generators, the mine that had been silent for an unknown amount of time was lit up again.Not only the beneficiation workshop with all kinds of mechanical equipment was abandoned, but even the top of the high-spirited arm of the stepping excavator was hung with extremely bright lights.With the existence of these lights, whether it is skiing or hot springs, the line of sight will not be affected, and it is also convenient to wait for the landing of the plane.

In the night sky, the old An-2 plane, under the driving of Aliri, climbed over the Ural Mountains all the way to the east, and finally found the gorgeous aurora over the Ob River.

After Wei Ran and Zhou Shujin took photos one by one, the plane that had been circling in the night sky carried the satisfied guests back home, revisited the Ural Mountains from Asia to Europe, and landed on the On a snow-covered mine.

Before his aunt was going to take a bath with Misha, Wei Ran, who had hesitated all afternoon, finally confessed everything that happened during the day.It's not that he doesn't want to help Jima conceal what happened, but he doesn't want to cheat his aunt even more.At that time, even if only one tourist is injured, the travel agency will face huge compensation.He couldn't do this kind of Polish operation of turning his elbows out to trick his own people.

After listening to Wei Ran's narration, Zhou Shujin put the bathrobe on her shoulders after thinking for a while, and said confidently while walking outside the tent, "It's okay, I believe your classmates will solve this matter, don't worry! "

"It's fine if you have your own score." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he simply turned around and left, returning to his tent.

One night without talking, Zhou Shujin seemed to know nothing the next day. With the help of Wei Ran, she slid down the spiral road on the edge of the mine again and again on skis, and was hit by the sled again and again. The car was pulled up until the two reindeer were so tired that they almost stuck out their tongues. Then they stepped on the skis and stopped under the walking excavator that had only exchanged fire yesterday.

This behemoth with several floors is completely a landmark existence, and it is difficult for people who come here for the first time to ignore its existence.In Zhou Shujin's eyes, its value is not lower than the hot spring in the beneficiation workshop.

Led by Misha, Zhou Shujin took a look in the control room of the excavator. Zhou Shujin bent down to pick up a shell casing and glanced at it, and then, under the nervous expressions of Misha and others, she followed it along The window of the control room was thrown out, "I am very satisfied with this place, but apart from ensuring safety, can this excavator be moved?"

"Where is it moved?" Aliri asked curiously, "If you think it's too much of an obstacle, we can find a way to remove it."

"no no no"

Zhou Shujin walked down the rusty stairs and explained, "It's beautiful, but it's too far away from the hot spring. If we can move it to the side of the workshop and install more lights on it, Or a really nice backdrop for a photoshoot."

"It's easy." Aliri breathed a sigh of relief, "I'll bring the engineers from the coal mine over tomorrow to see if they can let this big guy walk over by himself."

"Then I'll trouble you," Zhou Shujin said with a smile, "Misha, Jima, and Alili, I'm very interested in everything you have here, why don't we go to the tent and have a chat?"

"Of course!" Jima, Alili, and Misha nodded in surprise, and even Jima and the handsome Chao Weiran clasped their fists, apparently thinking that the latter had helped them speak well.

Zhou Shujin glanced at Wei Ran, "You don't want to participate in our meeting, go do what you should do!"

"Then you talk slowly." Wei Ran turned around and left. He didn't want to get involved in these things, and he just yelled at the sleigh truck waiting under the excavator, wandering aimlessly in circles in the snow-capped mine. Touch possible prey.

However, he didn't find the prey he was looking for, but he found that Sania, who flew away with the plane yesterday, returned to the mine on a snowmobile with a lot of people.

"Sanya, why are you here?" Wei Ran stopped the sleigh and asked curiously.

"I came here specially to thank you." Sania said happily after turning off the engine, "Thanks to your help yesterday, he survived and his leg was also saved."

"Really? That's good." Wei Ran heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the words, and raised his finger to point to the tents not far away, "Alili and the others are there, by the way, remember to push all the credit to Jima when the time comes body."

"Why?" Sania asked inexplicably.

"Anyway, if you really thank me, just put the credit on Ji Ma." Wei Ran reminded again without any explanation, he did this only because he didn't want his aunt to doubt him.

"Well, it's all thanks to Jima." Sania spread his hands, "But I still have to thank you."

Before the words were finished, a ranger had already taken a huge canvas bag from the snowmobile and put it on Wei Ran's sleigh.

"What is this?" Wei Ran curiously opened the zipper of the canvas bag, and then found a rolled bearskin inside.

"We captured it from poachers before winter," Sania explained honestly, "We don't have anything to sell here, so I'll give you this bear skin."

"Then I won't be polite." Wei Ran took it out and shook it away with great effort. This bear skin was frighteningly heavy. The oily and fluffy fur was more than ten centimeters long, and the length of the whole skin was more than two meters. .

"In the forest, don't wrap it around your body like you are doing now. Those with bad eyesight will be regarded as prey." Sania looked at Wei Ran, who was directly wearing the bear skin, and said kindly joke.

Wei Ran, who wrapped his whole body tightly in bear skin, couldn't help asking, "Sanya, are bears considered to be protected animals here?"

"Sometimes count," Sania explained in detail, "female bears, juvenile cubs, and all bears in estrus are considered protected animals. The rest of the time can be hunted and killed with restrictions, as long as you buy a hunting license That's fine, of course, bears can't be caught at this time, they're all hibernating."

"Where are the wolves and reindeer?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"Reindeer is not counted. There are too many of those little guys here, and even the number of wolves has increased a lot." Sania said, "At this time, wolves will be opened to hunt, so that they will be more competitive. Smaller, it's easier to feed through the winter, but it won't work after the spring begins. What, you want to hunt wolf?"

"I'm just curious."

At this time, Wei Ran finally understood why Ji Ma charged such a low price for his prey, because the types he mentioned were either impossible to catch in this season, or too many, so much that they needed human control. What a waste of money.

But no matter who loses and who wins, this business has little to do with me, so I simply wrapped up the bearskin and continued to yell at the reindeer to have fun around the mine.

In the blink of an eye, it was the third day after arriving in Inta. Two An-2 planes landed at Inta’s airport early in the morning. Wei Ran and his aunt Zhou Shujin finally checked into the hotel from their tents. By the way, they also had time before the evening flight took off. Take a stroll around this small city located near the polar circle.

Under the leadership of Misha, everyone spent a whole day tasting local delicacies one after another, and took pictures one after another in front of various buildings left over from the Soviet era, and then boarded the plane with satisfaction. Flight to Kazan.

When the plane landed in Volgograd, Professor Alexey had been waiting for a long time at the airport with a bouquet of roses.Ignoring this old thing who is so courteous and throwing dog food, a group of people including Jima left the airport and returned to the studio by car.Until this time, Professor Alexey mysteriously pulled out a plastic box and pushed it to Wei Ran.

Opening the plastic box for some unknown reason, Wei Ran found that it contained two small knives issued by the Mustache Youth League in Germany during World War II, and an early version of the second-class Patriotic War Medal.But what is quite special is that the sickle hammer inlaid with gold in the middle of this medal is gone, leaving only a hollow outline.

On the contrary, the two small knives were well preserved, except for a little dust remaining in the gaps, and even the leather belt loop on the scabbard showed no signs of wear.

Gently pulling the two small knives out of the scabbard, Wei Ran looked up at the proud Professor Alexei, and then focused on the slogan on one of the small knives.

Although I have only learned a rough idea of ​​German, I know by guessing that the slogan is undoubtedly the phrase "Blood and Glory".

Looking at another small knife, it doesn't have that slogan except for a semicircular bullet mark on its blade, and even the workmanship of the whole knife is a bit shoddy compared to the previous one.

Based on this difference alone, the first pocket knife with the slogan was produced before 1938, while the second one was from after 1938, and even the workmanship of the second one looks more like a product at the end of the war .

"Where did this come from?" Wei Ran asked after putting everything back into the plastic box.

"You guess?" Professor Alexey blinked his eyes cheaply, and then said in a low voice, "You certainly don't believe that these things come from a traditional Jewish family."

"What the hell?" Wei Ran's eyes widened, "How is this possible?!"

Professor Alexi spread his hands, "This is the purpose of your investigation of these things, Victor, the Jew who found me is as rich as Mr. Alexander!"

(End of this chapter)