War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1159 Chef and Photographer
In the middle of the night on the first day aboard the Nagatsuka Maru whaling ship, the four of Wei Ran, who had successfully dumped their bodies, originally planned to have a little celebration in their own cabin, but they were eventually sent by the nuclear-seeking captain named Fernando. The second officer who came invited him to the dining room, and held a celebration banquet with more than [-] sailors.

Contrary to Wei Ran's expectations, on this fruitful night, the sailors who celebrated the harvest did not drink too much and immediately threw themselves into busy work.

In the lower cabin filled with the smell of blood, the whales that had only been initially cut began to be further processed overnight. At the same time, the whaling ship also began to sail further out to sea.

Obviously, for this job, the four of Wei Ran couldn't help and didn't want to help, and the recruited sailors, including the captain, didn't want the four of them to help.

However, it was impossible to rest. The four people who were full just smoked a cigarette each, and they were all called to the kitchen to help prepare supper for the sailors, but the three chefs who could not speak English had already gone to Helped with the whale in the lower cabin.

"cough--!"

In the sweltering kitchen, Wei Ran, who was shirtless but still covered in sweat, cleared his throat vigorously, spit a mouthful of thick phlegm into the boiled fish soup, and then, under the stunned gaze of Hugo and others, used A long-handled spoon stirred randomly.

"Victor, you really haven't changed at all."

Hugo, who came back to his senses, smiled and said with emotion, "It's the same as it was more than ten years ago. I still remember what we did upstream of that small waterfall."

"I remember too," Waloro said, "Do you remember Susu?"

"Remember"

Wei Ran nodded, and said gratefully, "Thanks to him, otherwise we would never have survived. It's a pity, him."

"Our tribe forked a tribe"

Waloro, who is making oden, introduced slowly, "The tribe that was separated chose the camp at the upper reaches of the small waterfall. The place where we camped was also the place where Susu died."

"How did you move there?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

“Kokeda has developed well over the years”

Hugo helped to introduce, "Their original camp was too close to the town of Kokoda, and some people who didn't want to be disturbed by the planes taking off and landing at the airport moved to Warolo just now under the leadership of the old wizard. I'm going there as a guest this summer.

But you, Victor, you haven't been to their tribe since the end of the war. "

"Victor has probably had enough of the mosquitoes and leeches in the jungle and, of course, dysentery."

While speaking, Valoro also spit a mouthful of old phlegm into the boiled Kanto broth, and while stirring randomly with a string of fish balls, he did not forget to continue to tease, "You didn't notice that Victor always took his seized fish with him wherever he went. The mosquito coil? And he is much cleaner than ours."

"It's not what I want to take with me."

While Wei Ran muttered to himself, he couldn't help shivering, and he couldn't help but recall the horrible memories of running around in the rainforest wearing crotch pants.

"So what the hell are you talking about?" Karan asked, yawning as he peeled potatoes.

"We were shitting and peeing together upstream of a waterfall, and there was a soldier named Neil and a boy named Kai Kai from the Waroro tribe."

Hugo, who was chopping radishes, explained in a low voice with a suppressed laugh, "The lower reaches of the waterfall are the camps of the nuclear soldiers who invaded the Kokoda Trail at that time. If I remember correctly, they seemed to be cooking at that time."

"You're not mistaken." Valoro agreed, and an uncontrollable smile appeared on that black face, "Do you still remember them?"

"I remember, of course I remember." Hugo said as a matter of course, but then sighed, "I often see them in my dreams,"

"So." Karan subconsciously looked at the pot where the curry was being cooked.

“We have to eat too”

Wei Ran reminded in time, and at the same time tapped the fish soup pot he was in charge of with the spoon in his hand and encouraged, "Add whatever you want to this pot."

"Look at me!"

As Karan said, he threw away the paring knife and potatoes in his hand, then unbuttoned his pants, picked up a small bowl, and took half a bowl of urine that was slightly angry with a smirk on his face. Liquid, said regretfully while pouring it into the fish soup pot, "I just went to the bathroom just now, there is only so much left."

"I'm beginning to like working in the kitchen." Wei Ran said, stirring the fish soup in the pot with the long-handled spoon in his hand more and more vigorously.

And the other three people, who were holding back their laughter, suddenly felt that working overtime outside of working hours seemed to be a little more interesting.

After being so busy for more than an hour, the four of them finally made enough rice and curry for all of them, as well as delicious fish soup and oden with full flavor, before the sailors finished their work.

They each made some rice and curry in their respective lunch boxes, and the four of them safely handed over the kitchen to the other four sailors who came to replace them, and returned to their four cabins with tired bodies.

The four people with a full stomach climbed into the hammock and fell asleep, but the whaling ship did not stop, and was still sailing slowly, using sonar radar to find the whales, and at the same time, it was moving away from the Australian mainland a little bit.

In the blink of an eye, it was ten o'clock in the morning of the next day. Wei Ran and the others, who had only slept for less than 7 hours, were also woken up by a chef who could not speak English with a long-handled spoon on the cabin door, and greeted them arrogantly. Karan and Valoro go to help in the kitchen.

Almost before and after, the third officer of the ship also called Hugo away.Wei Ran was the only one left in the extremely hot and stuffy cabin under the sun.

Getting up slowly, Wei Ran first changed the camera in his hand to a new film, and then walked leisurely towards the bow deck.

To his surprise, there were not only sailors guarding the whaling cannon, but also the ghost captain named Fernando, who also held a camera in his hand.

Seeing the other party looking at him, Wei Ran shook the camera in his hand and asked in Japanese, "Does Mr. Nagatsuka also like photography?"

"Of course, it's my biggest hobby."

The captain of the whaling ship glanced at Wei Ran's camera hanging around his neck, "Is this a British military flag camera? How do you use this old antique?"

"This is a gift from a reporter friend of mine"

Wei Ran generously took off the camera and handed it to the other party, "Do you want to try it? Although it is very old, it is very easy to use, just like this whaling ship."

"You have said so, it seems that I have no reason to refuse."

After Nagatsuka hesitated for a while, he finally took his own camera off his neck, handed it to Wei Ran, and at the same time took the military flag camera from the other party.

With just a glance, Wei Ran recognized that the camera used by the other party was the first camera produced by Nikon, and this thing will be a valuable antique in later generations.

In particular, he remembered that Leva, a death knell veteran who runs a camera shop in Kirov City, once told him that the total output of this kind of camera was less than four figures.Any one that is in good condition can easily be exchanged for a high-end apartment in Moscow or Petersburg.

Of course, compared to the price of this thing in later generations, Wei Ran saw something more interesting. On this camera, there is a unique mark with a very historical characteristic - "Made in occupied Japan", translated into Chinese, It can be "nuclear manufacturing in occupied countries" or "nuclear manufacturing in defeated countries".No matter which one, the insult in it is naked and undisguised.

But there is no way, this label is requested by their American father, not to mention that putting this label can exempt a considerable part of the high commodity tax, so even if the use of this label ended in 52 years, there are still many nuclear enterprises No changes were made.

Of course, this kind of label does not only appear on cameras. All kinds of products produced for export between the post-war period and 1952 basically have this label - even if it is a one-time condom.

So much so that in later generations, many extreme devils took things with this label as a national humiliation, and bought and destroyed them all over the world—even if it was a one-time condom.

just
Wei Ran, who pretended to point the viewfinder frame of this camera at Nagatsuka Joji, snorted inwardly. This Nagazuka Joji, whose alias was Fernando, this nuclear war reporter who had massacred countless innocent people, this war criminal, I'm afraid I'm trying my best with this camera.

Without pressing the shutter, Wei Ran just tried to frame the scene as a courtesy, then returned the camera to the other party, and offered false praise to Zhaohe Optical products, and took advantage of the opportunity to chat with each other based on the photography hobby shared by both parties A few words.

Unfortunately, the other party was far more cautious than Wei Ran thought. Not only did he never mention that he was a photographer, he didn't even mention that he had participated in World War II.

Knowing that there was nothing useful to ask in this way, Wei Ran decisively ended the topic, enthusiastically took a photo of the other party and the superstructure of the whaling ship behind him with the camera in his hand.

And Fernando, already the captain of the whaling ship, also called the sailor who was manipulating the whaling cannon to come over, and took a photo of him and Wei Ran with his camera.

"I love photographing whales as much as I love eating their meat."

Captain Fernando took the camera handed back by the sailor and said at the same time, "The appearance of those huge creatures jumping out of the sea is really beautiful, but unfortunately, in the past four months, I have only photographed it twice. room, once on the compass deck, and twice at too high an angle."

"It takes luck to capture this moment"

Wei Ran smiled and raised his chin at the sailor standing beside the whaling gun, "Or perseverance, unless he stays on the deck for a long time like him."

"That's true." Fernando nodded in agreement, and then said with great regret, "But I am a captain after all."

After finishing speaking, Fernando invited Wei Ran without waiting for Wei Ran to respond, "Victor, it's rare to meet someone with the same hobbies as me on this boat, so why don't you go to my captain's cabin? There are not only My previous photography work, and I also have a darkroom."

"I'd love to, Mr. Nagatsuka."

Wei Ran switched to English and added, "Of course, the premise is that Captain Fernando won't deduct my salary because I'm lazy at work."

"Haha! You are such a humorous person! I don't think Captain Fernando will deduct your salary."

After finishing speaking, the captain of the whaling ship, who had hidden countless secrets in the camera, raised his hand enthusiastically, and continued in Japanese, "Let's go, let's go to the captain's room and sit down."

Under the guidance of the other party, Wei Ran, who went to work and fished, got into the cabin and walked along the stairs to a spacious cabin with the best view right under the command room.

This 30-square-meter cabin not only has an independent bathroom, but also luxuriously installed two window-type air conditioners, which are definitely not rare in this era.

And on the rest of the walls, large and small picture frames are still fixed. In those picture frames, there are many street scenes and natural scenery that were shot at unknown places, but more are all kinds of large and small pictures. Standard photos of beauties, as well as a group photo of a Tosa dog and Nagatsuka Joji in a kimono in various backgrounds. Among them, there is a photo of Wei Ran in the house that the later Kobe once visited.

Nagatsuka Jorji seemed to be very satisfied with the surprised and astonished expression on Wei Ran's face, and said with a little pride, "I took these photos myself, especially these beautiful ladies, before they took these photos, they were all in bed. served me."

"It's really enviable and jealous"

Wei Ran gave a false compliment, but at the same time quickly took a look at the layout of the room.

In addition to those picture frames, there are two sets of cabinets fixed to the wall and a desk in this cabin, plus a double bed, the head of the bed, and a bed that seems to be fixed to the floor. safe.And on the side of those two sets of cabinets, there is a wooden door.

"If you want to take these photos, you need not only photography skills, but also physical strength and charm, the physical strength and personality of a man."

Nagatsuka, whose height was at most 1.6 meters [-], showed off quite proudly. At the same time, he also took out a string of keys connected to the belt buckle with a silver chain from his pocket, and opened the locked wooden door.

"It is true"

Wei Ran glanced at the key in the other party's hand, pointed to a dog in a photo before entering the door and asked, "Is this dog your pet? Why isn't it on the boat?"

"It's indeed my pet, it's called Taro."

There was also a little bit of regret in Nagatsuka's tone, "It was originally on the ship, but about half a month ago, it ran away on the pier when we were docking for supplies, and I couldn't find it after searching for a long time. it."

"You two will meet again." Wei Ran blessed with a sincere expression, and at the same time added a condition in his heart - in hell.

"I hope it's like what you said." Nagatsuka pushed open the door and turned on the light while he was speaking, "Please come in and have a look, this is my darkroom."

"Excuse me." Wei Ran said politely, and then walked into this narrow but still cool room.

Perhaps due to the inertia of the class system in devil society, although this long and slender room covered with tatami mats is obviously unoccupied, a working window is still luxuriously installed on the only one-meter-square glass window. air conditioner.

In addition to the air conditioner that can make most sailors on this ship itch, this room, which is at most two meters wide and four meters long, only has a metal cabinet placed against the wall on the entrance side, and the rest of the space is the same as the wall. Various printing equipment fixed together and an aisle less than one meter wide.

What Wei Ran was particularly concerned about was that there was another safe under a solid wooden table at the far end of the room.

However, he didn't stare at the safe. Instead, he seriously discussed with the other party the technology of printing photos and the future development of photography technology.Not surprisingly, Nagatsuka was amazed by the various "novel" ideas of Wei Ran from later generations.

It's just a pity that this cautious devil captain never mentioned the topic of lending this darkroom to Wei Ran from the beginning to the end.At most, it is just a stingy expression that he has enough film reserves here, if Wei Ran needs it, he can sell it to him at the original price.

Chatting in this cool air-conditioned room continued until noon, and the two also ran out of the room with their cameras each amidst the shouts of horns everywhere in the cabin—the sailors once again spotted a group of whales.

(End of this chapter)