War Photographer's Notebook

At the door of Xiaoyanglou, Chen Guangling whispered something to his wife, and then said to Wei Ran, "Let's go in and wait for Luo Xiang and Mr. Liu to come back."

“Also good”

Wei Ran nodded, followed Chen Guangling's reincarnation to the Xiaoyanglou, leaving only Chen Guangling's wife at the gate of the small courtyard, busy seeing off the three staff members of the notary office.

"You must have many things to ask, right?" Chen Guangling asked while pushing open the old wooden door.

"really"

Wei Ran patted the door frame lightly, then walked upstairs and said, "I do have a lot of questions to ask, especially why Mr. Tao gave this house to me. Does he have no relatives or apprentices around?" ?”

"He actually thought of giving it to Mr. Liu or Luo Xiang."

Chen Guangling was extraordinarily frank, "Let's not talk about Mr. Liu, he is used to living in Yangzhou, he would never come here, it would be a waste to him."

"What about you?" Wei Ran asked, "The location of this small building is so good, even if it is sold, it will cost a lot of money, right?"

"Will you sell it?" Chen Guangling asked bluntly.

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help being dumbfounded, the old man entrusted this small building to himself, and in his will, he specifically said that he was kind to the old house because of the spirit of Youquan, no matter how bastard he is It would not be possible to sell this place, not to mention that he is not short of money at all.

"Even if it was given to us, we couldn't bear to sell it."

Chen Guangling pointed to the top of his head, and said with a particularly painful headache, "But look at the state of this small building, saying it's a ball of donkey dung is just exaggerating it, and I want to renovate this house, so I guess I won't say much It also costs 200 million, just my piano shop, when I save up to 200 million, the day lily will grow hair."

Speaking of this, Chen Guangling, who had already walked up the steps, stopped, turned around and looked at Wei Ran apologetically and said, "Wei Ran, I am not afraid of your jokes, it is actually my idea to give this house to you, whether it is Qin Art or character, you are reassuring, and only you have the ability to take good care of this small courtyard so that it will not be ruined, and it can be regarded as fulfilling the regrets that Mr. Tao has always had."

"Aren't you afraid that I'll sell it?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"I'm sure I can't see the wrong person"

When Chen Guangling said this, he was extremely confident, "I also believe that you didn't sell that piano for 500 million back then, and you won't sell this small building now and in the future."

Hearing this, Wei Ran did not continue this topic, and asked the other question he just asked while walking upstairs with the other party, "Does Mr. Tao have no family members or disciples?"

"Oh! Don't mention it"

Chen Guangling waved his hand, led Wei Ran into another room on the second floor, motioned him to sit on an old-fashioned red leather folding chair next to an Eight Immortals table, and then boiled two bottles of mineral water with an electric kettle that he obviously bought not long ago , took out two paper cups from the plastic bag, put a small pinch of tea leaves on the table, and then sat on another chair and explained, "Mr. Tao was a pillar of the local opera club before it was changed. After opening, he led a group of people to set up a troupe to perform in various places and made a lot of money."

Chen Guangling pointed to the top of his head, "That was the most beautiful time for Mr. Tao, and even this small building was bought by him at that time begging his grandpa to sue his grandma for a lot of money.

He also had a son and a closed disciple who were also members of his troupe.His son is even better at playing the erhu. He found a partner who sang Beijing rhyme drums, and they all performed on radio stations at that time.Mr. Tao originally planned to redecorate the small building for his son's wedding. "

"so what"

"How about dying?"

Chen Guangling shook his head, "First, there was a fire in the troupe's warehouse. Mr. Tao blew up his lungs trying to save people, and then his son and his partner had a car accident on the way to a performance in another place. Both of them have not been dealt with yet. His Seeing that the theater troupe was going to fall apart, the direct disciple raised by my son actually went abroad with a female boss who sold foreign garbage in the south and never came back."

"Going abroad?"

"At that time, I felt that foreign countries were good, so I ran out with my head sharpened."

Chen Guangling got up and picked up the hot water pot to make tea for Wei Ran, and at the same time explained with emotion, "Mr. Tao was very capable in those days. Although the ability to play the piano was passed down in his family, but his His voice was excellent. Later, his voice became hoarse and his home was gone, so he picked up the craft of chopping the piano again.

Mr. Liu, Luo Xiang's master, said that he learned a small half of his skills from Mr. Tao.There is also my piano store, when Luo Xiang and I were the same age, the high-priced pianos sold were all made by Mr. Tao. "

Chen Guangling put down the kettle and sat down again and sighed again, "It's a pity, since the theater troupe and his son and apprentice died one after another, Mr. Tao is completely devastated. Later, his health became worse and worse, so he was taken to the south by Mr. Liu, who is like a half-disciple."

"His closed apprentice hasn't come back?" Wei Ran asked in astonishment.

"I haven't even sent a letter back, let alone come back to take a look."

Chen Guangling shook his head, "That white-eyed wolf must have surrendered to the enemy, maybe he died outside."

"Ugh"

Wei Ran followed with a sigh, but he didn't know what to say, the five tastes of life, that Mr. Tao really tasted them all.

"We deliberately didn't say hello to you about the house, you don't blame us, do you?" Chen Guangling changed the subject and asked apologetically.

"What did Mr. Chen say?" Wei Ran waved his hand, of course he wouldn't blame them, it's not that they are acting good when they get cheap.

Hearing this, Chen Guangling was completely relieved. He took out a pack of cigarettes and took out two cigarettes to share with Wei Ran. After lighting it up, he took a deep breath and said, "That's fine. We'll send you to the hotel to rest later. It will take another day or two for you to go through various procedures, and this small building will be entrusted to you in the future."

Before he finished speaking, Chen Guangling's wife sent a message. Seeing this, Chen Guangling immediately unplugged the water heater, took Wei Ran downstairs, locked the courtyard door of the small western-style building, and followed Chen Guangling's The wife got into an online car-hailing car.

"We won't wait for Luo Xiang and Mr. Liu?" Wei Ran asked before closing the door.

"Don't wait, let's meet at the entrance of the hotel later."

Chen Guangling's wife explained, "Just now Mr. Liu called and said that Mr. Tao's body will be cremated tomorrow morning. Let's go over and have a last look, and then he left with Mr. Tao's ashes."

With the other party's arrangement, Wei Ran naturally couldn't say anything, and honestly let the couple settle themselves in a hotel not far away.

When they arrived, Chen Luoxiang had already supported Mr. Liu and was waiting at the door.

The group communicated briefly, and after agreeing on the time for the next day, they went back to their rooms.

It was only at this time that Wei Ran had time to put on the ring and watch again, and by the way, made a video call to Sui Sui who sent the message, and introduced the ins and outs of the matter.

The next morning, before Wei Ran left the hotel, he deliberately took out the Rollei SLR from the metal notebook and hung it around his neck.

When Mr. Liu and Chen Guangling's family arrived at the funeral home in two cars, Mr. Tao's remains had been professionally organized and made up, so that he looked more energetic than before.

"Let me take a portrait of him." Wei Ran looked at Mr. Liu and asked.

"Alright, I'll trouble you." Mr. Liu, who deliberately changed into a black gown, nodded and agreed to Wei Ran's request.

Borrowing a chair from the staff of the funeral home, Wei Ran stood on it and condescendingly took a portrait of the serene Mr. Tao.

Bowing to bid farewell to Mr. Tao to the sad music, the only five people who came to bid farewell also fell silent.

After the extremely long wait in silence, a package of ashes was sent out by the staff, and Mr. Liu personally put it into the piano case that once belonged to Guqin Youquan.

Looking at the thin photo album in the piano box for the last time, Mr. Liu sighed, slowly closed the cover, and then took out a roll of rice paper and a bottle of oatmeal prepared in advance from his bag With the help of Chen Luoxiang, he carefully sealed the lid of the piano case.

Finally, he packed the piano case with a blue and white piano bag, and Mr. Liu said, "I will take Luo Xiang to send Master Tao back to his ancestral grave for burial, Guangling, and I will trouble you with the matter here. Wei Ran, Tao Make sure to develop a photo of Master Uncle for me."

"Don't worry, Mr. Liu." Wei Ran nodded and made a promise.

Watching Mr. Liu holding the piano bag and getting into the rented car under the guidance of his apprentice Chen Luoxiang, the three of Wei Ran looked at each other, and got into another car that was temporarily rented last night, and left It's just sad funeral homes.

Even with Chen Guangling's help, it took Wei Ran two full days to go through various procedures and get the small western-style building under his name.

Bid farewell to Chen Guangling and his wife who originally wanted to send him to the airport, but Wei Ran didn't go to the airport, instead he took a taxi back to the small single-family building.

Unlocking the door lock of the small courtyard, Wei Ran pushed the door into the courtyard and silently looked at this historical building that could almost be regarded as a cultural relic.

The floor area of ​​this small building itself is about the same as that of the villa on the shore of Kaban Lake. It can be about four to five hundred square meters, but in comparison, the L-shaped yard is obviously much smaller, and it is not bad to spend a lot of money. It's only two to three hundred square meters, and at least one-third of the area is occupied by the ginkgo tree that has lost all its leaves and the small flower bed behind the ginkgo tree.

The remaining two hundred or so square meters in front of the building were more than half taken up by those iron houses.Not only that, but on the other two sides of the small building that are not surrounded by the yard, although there is a distance of nearly two meters from the wall, they are already full of various sundries and garbage.He even found hundreds of pieces of 16-hole honeycomb briquettes placed against the wall behind the villa and covered with several layers of plastic sheets.

Obviously, these briquettes have existed for a long time, not only have most of them turned into slag under the wind and rain, even the blue brick floor and cement wall have been stained black.

After walking around for a while, he noticed that apart from the three floors above the ground, this downstairs building seemed to have a basement with one and a half floors underground.

It's just that for some unknown reason, not only were the windows around the basement on this floor sealed tightly with red bricks and cement, but he couldn't even find the entrance to the basement on the first floor.

Could it be filled?

Wei Ran muttered something but didn't think much about it. He stepped on the creaking wooden stairs to the second floor and turned around. Except for the two rooms he visited yesterday, the rest of the rooms on this floor were also empty. of.

Continue to step on the creaking wooden stairs to the third floor. There are a lot of sundries piled up in the room on this floor, some of which are covered with ashes. There are camphor wood boxes together, and even some traditional Chinese musical instruments such as drums.

It's just that without exception, these things seem to have more or less traces of being burned.And in one of the rooms, he also saw a group photo hanging on the wall.

In this one-meter-long group photo, there are about [-] men and women in costumes with various facial makeup, surrounded by staff members smiling and clasping fists. Behind the photo, there seems to be a man watching It looks like a professional stage.

See Chang'an Blooming Day
Wei Ran sighed and closed the door of this room, just like closing a part of the memory that Mr. Tao didn't want to mention for a long time.

After removing some debris piled up on the stairs, Wei Ran climbed up to the attic above the third floor with great difficulty.

The attic, which was so dusty that it was three feet thick, was even more chaotic than the third floor. Some of the camphorwood boxes that were placed randomly still had traces of mushrooms growing on them, especially those dormer windows, which were also old. It has been in disrepair for a long time, and traces of rain leakage can be seen everywhere.

Going downstairs with dust all over his body, Wei Ran finally understood why Chen Guangling smashed the stuffed pie on his head—if he wanted to restore this house, it might not be as good as restoring the one on the bank of Kaban Lake that used to belong to the candy company. How much easier is the villa.

To put it more bluntly, I am afraid that it will cost a lot of money to make this small building similar to the western-style cafes around it.

Apparently, Chen Guangling couldn't afford to support himself, so he simply found a reliable rich family to adopt the house.

So in the eyes of others, I am also considered rich?

Wei Ran muttered belatedly, but looking back, it seems that he is really a rich man, especially when he comes back this time, the bluffing special plane that hurt him may also give him a lot of money. The label of the money man adds a lot of points.

While thinking wildly, a car also slowly stopped at the entrance of the small courtyard. After a while, as the door opened, Wei Ran's parents also got out from inside.

"Are you kidding me again?" Wei Ran's mother asked before the car door closed.

"What's the matter with me?" Wei Ran, who was in a trance, asked because he didn't know why.

"You just said on the phone that someone gave you a small western house again?"

Wei Ran's father had already walked to the entrance of the small courtyard while talking, "Why does someone always give you a small building? Did you embezzle something?"

"As soon as I am an international student studying for a Ph.D. in Maozi, what can I embezzle?"

Wei Ran patted his forehead helplessly, it was indeed he who called the old couple, but he called his parents to help.

"Then why did I send you this way?"

Wei Ran's mother changed her tone in the middle of her speech, and said with a look of disgust, "Why does this small building look so dilapidated? I'm afraid you have been cheated, you silly boy? But the location is really good."

"It's a long story. Do you still remember the guqin I brought back from Maozi?"

Wei Ran greeted the two of them as they walked inside the small building, while explaining the ins and outs of the matter, and by the way, also took them upstairs and downstairs for a tour.

"Also a poor old man." After listening to the story and visiting the small buildings, Wei Ran's father couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"That old man Tao entrusted you with this small building, what are you going to do?" Wei Ran's mother asked a more realistic question.

"If you can't live with it, put it aside, at least you have to fix it."

Wei Ran pointed to the roof, "As you have seen just now, the dormer windows and the chimney of the fireplace are leaking, and the basement has also been sealed, and the miscellaneous garbage in the yard has to be cleaned up. I This is usually not in the country, your travel agency is not busy anyway, and it is not far away, why not?"

"Help you fix the house?"

Wei Ran's mother looked at the small western-style buildings around her, and said happily, "That's fine, I'll call your second uncle later to see if their construction team has time, and at least clean up the garbage first." gone."

"The furniture and camphor wood boxes on the third floor and attic can't be thrown away"

Wei Ran said, "I have to rent a warehouse for me to store them in there first. Those are the relics of Mr. Tao. I have to ask how to deal with them."

"Do you still need to remind me?"

After Wei Ran's mother finished speaking, she changed the subject, "When will that girl Suisui come back? It will be Chinese New Year in half a month."

“Come back in two days”

Wei Ran replied while locking the courtyard door, while he was busy here, Sui Sui had also negotiated a cooperation agreement with Lothar who came to the door. According to what was said in the video last night, she will deal with the beginning and end Also came back.

Because of this, Wei Ran stopped tossing back and forth, and just waited at home honestly.

While chatting about their respective arrangements, Wei Ran consciously sat in the driver's seat of the car, first drove his parents to the hotel where he stayed last night, picked up the Guqin Youquan and checked out the house, and then sent his parents to the travel agency they run .

Not surprisingly, the big screen used for promotion in the store not only played the video of Wei Ran's first interview a few years ago in rotation, but even the entire content of his participation in the Wilderness Survival Invitational Tournament organized by Sui Sui not long ago.

After spending most of the day in this travel agency store as a mascot, Wei Ran rushed to the high-speed rail station with his off-duty parents.

However, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to go back. Instead, he bought a ticket to the capital - Sui Sui sent a message not long ago that they will be back tomorrow, and he has to pick up the plane.

Parting ways and rushing to the capital, Sui Sui's partner in China also sent the van over early.

However, after Wei Ran took over the car, he didn't find a hotel to stay in. Instead, he drove straight to the suburbs, and finally drove into the patch of peach hidden among the mountains, which was specially used to pick up the transport car. woods.

As before, he dug open the gravel at the door and inspected it carefully. Seeing that the ampoules were not damaged, Wei Ran carefully inspected the small courtyard covered with an iron roof. Finally, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain of being pricked by a needle. Torture took out the transport vehicle.

Lying on the gravel ground, he took a few breaths, and Wei Ran, who was covered in cold sweat from the pain, got up staggeringly, opened the door of the living cabin in the back and climbed in.

"Why are you here?"

Wei Ran glanced at the canning bottle on the table in the living cabin in surprise. This bottle was filled with plump jasmine seeds, and this canning bottle was originally placed in the gas mask satchel.

After some muttering, Wei Ran didn't think much about it, opened the safe that was not locked at all and didn't need to be locked, and then took out the food box, and recorded the film of Nagatsuka's crime of abusing and abusing an American female pilot, as well as Hugo The film that killed Nagatsuka Richiji was taken out and put in the safe, and then he took out the various document procedures related to the small western-style building that had been completed in two days from the bag and put them in together.

Taking it out once in a while, Wei Ran simply went into the bathroom, sat in the sauna barrel and steamed well, then put on clean clothes, and lay down on the single bed that was fixed with the carriage.

That night, Wei Ran slept very soundly in the DT30 transport vehicle.It wasn't until the next day when the sun was bright that he got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, changed his clothes, put the canning jar containing jasmine seeds into his pocket, and endured the severe pain to put away the transport vehicle.

"In the future, if you kill someone, can you throw it in?"

Wei Ran muttered to himself, then shook his head to dispel this dangerous thought, and drove away to the airport.

While he was driving to the airport, Wei Ran's mother had already rushed to the small western-style building with her brothers from the same village and two cars of workers. Started the demolition of the tin house to clean up the garbage, as well as the removal of those old things.

Amid their busy schedules, Wei Ran, who specially bought a bouquet of flowers, finally received Sui Sui, whom he hadn't seen for two days, and sisters Katenka and Lu Xinda who came back with Sui Sui.To his surprise, Lola and her sister did not follow this time.

"They followed Sui Xin and went to her house for the holiday."

Sui Sui explained in Russian, which Lu Xinda couldn't understand, while riding a suitcase, "I originally planned to let Lu Xinda's brother Iger also come to celebrate the New Year, but I heard from Greva that Iger seems to be invited by the Simpsons in Australia. .”

"This little girl doesn't know?" Wei Ran also responded in Russian.

"I asked. She and Iger didn't celebrate the Spring Festival at all. Her father was still there during the last Spring Festival. It was many years ago."

"Where's Ji Ma? He and Maya won't come this year?" Wei Ran asked while pushing the suitcase.

"He doesn't have time"

Sui Sui showed a smug smile on his face, "Lothar, who came to our home to negotiate cooperation, decided to let Ji Ma try to be their sports product advertising spokesperson after my recommendation.

In addition, Jima will use the polar ski equipment provided by Lothar and his company to complete the challenge of crossing from the abandoned labor camp we have visited to the place where Mr. Mesut fell.

Of course, the logistics team will follow the entire thousand kilometers, and will eventually be filmed into a documentary with the theme of polar landscapes and wild animals.Also, Time Film Studio was responsible for the filming. "

After saying this, Sui Sui replaced her with a Chinese language that Lu Xinda could understand, but sister Katenka couldn't understand, and asked enthusiastically, "That Mr. Tao really gave you a small building? "

Wei Ran nodded, and led them to the parking lot while saying, "It feels similar to Mr. Dominique, but unfortunately, Mr. Tao has no heirs."

"Speaking of Dominic"

Sui Sui raised her head and said to Wei Ran, "Sister Kou, a rich woman, is going to come to us to experience the Spring Festival. Also, if you have time, take me to see that small western-style building?"

"Kou Kou is coming?" Wei Ran thought for a while and said indifferently, "Come on, anyway, grandma's house can live there, when do you plan to visit that small western-style building?"

"It must be at home first," Sui Sui made a decision without even thinking about it.