War Photographer's Notebook

In the basement where smoking is not allowed, Wei Ran, as the only audience, patiently accompanied Mei Xiang, Qiu Shi, and Yao Canhua to finish the whole play.

Taking advantage of the time when Jasmine brought down a large pot of chrysanthemum tea, Wei Ran finally got the chance to temporarily leave the basement under the pretext of going to the bathroom.

At this time, the weather outside was still hot, but Cao Yaba was carefully cleaning the milky white car in the small shade that the young ginkgo tree could provide.

At the back of the kitchen, Yang's mother was again sitting on the saddle at the door of the boiler room, busy choosing and washing vegetables.

Seeing that no one noticed him, Wei Ran walked around the room on the first floor, and finally saw the long strip hidden between the outer wall of the small building and the courtyard wall outside the French window with a balcony at the far west. flower beds.

The end of this long flower bed connected to the yard on the south side is a particularly beautiful cast iron fence, and the other end is close to the corner of the northwest corner of the courtyard wall, but it is tightly blocked by a large vat with a diameter of two meters.

In the not-so-big gap between the big vat and the corner of the wall, there is still a Michelle tree as thick as a wrist growing with difficulty.Between the branch of this tree and the water tank under the branch, there is a wooden frame fixed on the water tank.

In addition to a small bowl, on this shelf stood a colorful macaw serving a prison sentence with a silver chain on its foot.

And in that big water tank, not only was there a cluster of lotus flowers, but in the rippling water, it seemed that a few goldfish could be seen swimming in it.

Looking at the long flower bed between the iron fence and the water tank, the two stone lamps that seem to hide the ventilation holes in the basement are not conspicuous.

Because they have been covered by the lush rose flowers with thick spikes in the flower bed, only two octagonal pavilion-shaped top covers can be vaguely seen.

He stretched out his hand to open the window, and suddenly, the rich fragrance of flowers floated into the room accompanied by the slightly piercing chirping of the parrot.Wei Ran, who was looking out with his head, also noticed that there was a green awning above the French windows that seemed to be openable.

Looking around, Wei Ran gently shook a metal handle on the wall. Driven by the steel wire, the awning outside slowly stretched out, not only blocking the sun from the west, but also closing the other end of the awning almost perfectly. It was built on the courtyard wall, perfectly covering the flower beds outside the window.

Secretly admiring this exquisite design, Wei Ran shook the metal handle to put away the awning, and closed the window smoothly to block the hot wind mixed with the fragrance of flowers and noise.

With nothing to do left and right, Wei Ran simply took out his camera, first took a few photos of the room, and then came to the yard, and took a few photos of the small building from different angles.

When he did this, he naturally wanted to return to that familiar world, and if possible, try to restore that almost deserted small building to its beautiful appearance at this moment.

Almost when he returned to the room and replaced the camera in his hand with a second film, Mei Xiang also came out from the basement with Jasmine and the others.

"Wei Ran, come upstairs with me." Mei Xiang didn't stop going upstairs when she said this, "Canhua, you also go upstairs with me."

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who heard the movement and walked out of the room with his camera, silently followed Jasmine and the others, and stepped on the wooden stairs to the second floor where he was not allowed to go up.

Compared with the first floor, the second floor is much more spacious.One-third of the area is a luxuriously decorated banquet hall. Not only is there a white piano, but there are also two sets of beautiful chandeliers, which are not available in later generations.

In addition to this hall for dancing, there is also a dining room with long tables and a spacious living room on this floor. Together, these two rooms occupy at least one-third of the area.

As for the remaining space, there are several seemingly bedrooms and functional rooms such as toilets, kitchenettes, and study rooms.

Following Mei Xiang for a brief stroll on the second floor, Mei Xiang took them to the spacious banquet hall and said, "Some friends will come here to hold a dance party tomorrow night, Wei Ran, which lady will I ask you to invite?" You can go dancing, and you are not allowed to refuse any lady who asks you to dance, but you are not allowed to accept their invitation to go out to play."

"No problem." Wei Ran agreed, even though the new job seemed to be suspected of "being a duck".

"In this case, from tomorrow onwards, you are my bodyguard in secret, but on the surface, you are my cousin from my fourth aunt's family. Come to me to find a meal job, remember?"

"Remember, Cousin Meixiang." Wei Ran smiled and responded with an answer that made the other party extremely satisfied.

"Canhua"

Mei Xiang turned to look at Yao Canhua, "Your Aunt Jasmine and I have always been sisters, so calling me aunt is not too much, is it?"

"Not too much," Canhua replied somewhat at a loss.

Turning her head to look at Jasmine, Meixiang said with a smile, "Since this is the case, you will be my nephew and I will be your aunt in the future. How about you follow my surname Tao from now on?"

"Ah?" Yao Canhua raised his head in astonishment, then looked at his Aunt Jasmine for help, and asked reluctantly, "Change your surname."

"If you are asked to sing Wang Lung, are you really Wang Lung?" Jasmine helped Meixiang explain without waiting for her elder nephew to finish speaking.

"Xiao Su's mother is actually right"

Mei Xiang walked towards the living room and said, "After all, my place is a book apartment for men's business. It's really inappropriate to have two more men suddenly, so it's more appropriate for you to pretend to be my relatives."

"Wait until you stop working with Miss someday, and then change back to Yao's surname."

Jasmine made fun of her eldest nephew angrily, "It's not about adopting you to Miss, it's just a play, why don't you want to?"

"What nonsense?"

Meixiang gouged out Jasmine's eyes angrily, then looked at Yao Canhua who was obviously relieved, with a deep smile on her face, and asked jokingly, "Canhua, would you like to sing this play with me? "

"I am willing," Yao Canhua replied eagerly.

Mei Xiang seemed to like teasing this introverted young man who was ten years younger than herself, "Then call me aunt?"

After saying this, Yao Canhua blushed, stammered and called out to her aunt in a voice not much louder than a mosquito farting.

"Qiushi, go buy candy for my elder nephew Canhua fifty oceans." Meixiang said with a smile while sitting on the leather sofa in the living room on the second floor.

"Yes" Qiu Shi responded with a suppressed smile, turned around and walked up the stairs to the third floor.

"Thank you, Miss." While Jasmine was speaking, she didn't forget to poke Yao, no, Tao Canhua, who was full of astonishment, with her finger.

Yao Canhua, the eldest nephew who was bought by Fifty Oceans, finally came to his senses under this reminder, and said in a jiffy, "Thank you, thank you little."

"What?" Meixiang looked at the flushed young man with a smile.

"Call Auntie"

Wei Ran, who was holding back his bad intentions, kindly reminded him, and then deliberately raised his voice and said, "You have such a good-looking aunt, you can secretly have fun, why are you so embarrassed?"

"My cousin can still talk." Meixiang joked with a smile, "Is that right? Nephew Canhua?"

"Yes Yes"

Tao Canhua responded with a trace of embarrassment and embarrassment, and then added in a low voice, "Thank you, aunt."

After such a short time, Qiu Shi also came down from the third floor with a wooden tray, on which there was a letter of silver dollars.

"Okay, let's go to the practice room by ourselves."

Mei Xiang waved her hand, picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette in her mouth, let Wei Ran light it for her with a lighter, pointed to a screen on the edge of the living room while puffing, and said, "Tomorrow morning there will be A ghost businessman came to be a guest, including before the evening dance, you were responsible for hiding behind the screen and playing the piano and singing for us.

Before that, hurry up and practice the few paragraphs you are good at. If you sing well then, those gentlemen and ladies may reward you with some big money. "

Having said that, Mei Xiang took another puff of cigarette, and when the cloud of smoke came out of her mouth, she continued slowly, "Anyway, you call me auntie, then whatever they reward you will be yours, I won't It's done."

"Thank you soon miss"

Jasmine poked Tao Canhua who hadn't realized anything yet, and the confused Tao Canhua also subconsciously bowed and said "Thank you, aunt" again, and his tone was a little smoother.

"go"

Meixiang smiled and waved her hands, and asked Jasmine to leave the second floor with her surname changed to Canhua "due to work needs".

"Where did you get the camera?" Mei Xiang asked Wei Ran who had already found a single sofa and sat down with her legs crossed.

"I picked it up when I was killing people and stealing goods"

Wei Ran pointed the camera at Mei Xiang while speaking, "Straighten your waist, lean your body forward a little, and draw your chin back a little."

Hearing this, the smiling Mei Xiang made some adjustments according to Wei Ran's orders, and asked at the same time, "Why do you want to take pictures of me? Are you going to sell my pictures to those tabloid reporters?"

"Fengyue pictorial?"

Wei Ran shook his head with a smile, "I'm not interested in them, I just feel that the beauty is easy to grow old, and I should record it at the best time. Now maintain this posture, take a puff of cigarette and blow it out."

"The beauty is easy to grow old. Heh."

Mei Xiang murmured something to herself, raised her hand leisurely and took a puff of cigarette, and puffed it out again according to Wei Ran's request.

Wei Ran also chose the opportunity to press the shutter when the cigarette, which was not enough for the lungs at all, was just swirled in Mei Xiang's mouth and covered her side face with a pale veil.

It wasn't until this time that Wei Ran said, "After the filming is finished, I will give you the film negative. Whether it is from the perspective of a bodyguard or a cousin, I have the responsibility to protect your privacy."

Hearing this, Mei Xiang showed a bright smile on her face, "In this case, please help me take a few more pictures."

"My honor," Wei Ran responded with a pretentious expression.

"That locked room is a darkroom"

Meixiang raised her finger and pointed to a room on the second floor that seemed to be directly above the storage room on the first floor, and said some good news casually, "If you know how to print photos, you can print them for me."

"Cousin also likes photography?"

The brazen Wei Ran gestured for Meixiang to return to the banquet hall, and leaned on the piano while asking, the cousin in his mouth also became more proficient and natural.

“Sometimes you need to take some pictures”

Mei Xiang made a pose according to Wei Ran's request, and she did not forget to explain, "The photographers hired outside always sell the photos to those tabloids in advance, so they had to hire someone to set up a darkroom. Every time they shoot After finishing, they were washed on the spot, and the negatives were collected before they were let go."

"Looks like I saved my cousin the money to hire a photographer"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he reached out to open the wine cabinet in the corner of the banquet hall, took a goblet from it, poured another half glass of wine and handed it to Mei Xiang, guiding her to put on a lazy posture.

"Since it was saved for my cousin, don't expect me to give you the money." Mei Xiang responded jokingly, and let Wei Ran take a second photo of her.

Naturally, Wei Ran had his intentions in taking pictures of this beautiful owner. After all, he couldn't ask for a group photo of everyone, and it was a group photo of no less than five people.

If he wants to achieve this goal, he must first produce some photographic results and set up a person who likes to take pictures so as not to appear abrupt and suspicious - after all, this place is related to the Anti-Japanese Murder Group, so he cannot be careless. Miss Meixiang couldn't help but be careless.

I picked a few rooms on the second floor and took a few photos for "Cousin Meixiang" and recorded the decoration of the rooms on this floor by the way. Wei Ran took the initiative to suggest, "Would you like to change your clothes and take more photos while the light is good?" How many? I bought a lot of film at noon."

"Wait here for me"

Mei Xiang did not refuse, and asked Qiu Shi, who had been watching the excitement, to make tea for Wei Ran, while she stepped on the stairs to the third floor.

"Do you want to take some photos for you?" Wei Ran asked the little girl Qiushi.

"I'll forget it." Qiu Shi refused his proposal while making tea for Wei Ran, but there was not much rejection in her tone, but shyness occupied most of it.

The little girl was shy, so Wei Ran didn't insist, but changed the subject and asked, "Miss usually lives alone on the third floor?"

"Most of the time, my lady and I live on the third floor"

Qiushi said and pointed to a room next to Tao Canhua that was just above Tao Canhua, "That room is also mine, sometimes Miss is in a bad mood and wants to be alone, and I will live on the second floor with Sister Jasmine and Mama Yang. "

"Did Miss teach Jasmine's piano?" Wei Ran asked in a rambling manner.

"may not"

Qiu Shi nodded, poured himself a cup of tea, and said enviously, "Sister Jasmine can still drive, it was taught by her over the years, and now Miss is taking Sister Jasmine to learn English with Mr. Feng. "

"It's also Miss' request that you practice in the practice room?"

"Miss has always wanted to set up a troupe of her own"

Qiushi glanced at the stairs, lowered his voice and said, "You know the Rongchun Club opened by Shang Xiaoyun, a famous actor in Peking last year, right?"

"I know, and then what?"

Wei Ran followed the topic and asked, how did he know what Rongchun Society was, but now is obviously not the time for the other party to explain this.

"Miss also wanted to go to Rongchun Club to learn singing last year, but she was too old, so they didn't want her."

Qiushi lowered her voice and said sympathetically, "She just wanted me to learn opera by myself for two years, and then send me to Rongchun Club to learn opera, and then set up a small opera troupe when I finished my studies. I guess, that Tao Canhua It is estimated that it is also my fate."

"Do you want to learn it yourself?"

"Of course I do!"

Qiu Shi also poured her a cup of tea, and said admiringly, "Miss said, women can't live by men, they have to develop their own skills and live by their skills."

Sighing secretly, when Wei Ran was about to say something, Mei Xiang's voice calling Qiu Shi came from upstairs.

Seeing this, Qiu Shi also immediately put down the small teacup that he had just filled with water, and ran up the stairs in a loud voice while responding crisply.

Before Wei Ran was made to wait long, Mei Xiang, who had changed into a western dress, also walked down from upstairs.

Undoubtedly, no matter in later generations or in the Republic of China, after solving the problems of food and clothing, no girl can refuse to take pictures to record her appearance-especially the more beautiful the girl.

In the next half of the afternoon, Wei Ran also became a private photographer after the two positions of bodyguard and cousin, and took pictures of different styles of Mei Xiang who was always enjoying changing clothes.

Even, taking the opportunity of taking pictures, Wei Ran went up to the third floor where the little girl Qiushi said "no man has ever gone up there before".

Except for the only two bedrooms, a study, a cloakroom, bathroom and a small living room on the third floor, more than half of the area is reserved for a terrace full of various potted flowers.

On this terrace, there are even two large blue and white porcelain vats with a diameter of more than one meter, which are like the large water vat in the northwest corner of the downstairs next to the courtyard wall, where goldfish and water lilies are raised. One of the vats Along the top, there is also an enamel watering can.

“This bungalow is really beautiful”

With a cigarette in his mouth, Wei Ran took a photo of Mei Xiang in a French dress, and at the same time brought the topic to this house.

Mei Xiang, who was sitting on the deck chair on the terrace, didn't seem to intend to hide it from her cheap cousin, and explained while posing, "This house was built by an English missionary before, and that missionary was very cruel. Although he On the surface, a cement factory was established, but in private, it not only sold opium, but also secretly imprisoned several abducted prostitutes here.

Fortunately, because of other crimes, the missionary was caught and killed by Young Marshal Zhang who was stationed in Baoding, and the house was assigned to one of the young marshal's adjutants. "

"And then?" Wei Ran asked while taking another photo of his beautiful cousin.

"At that time, although the young marshal was stationed in Baoding, his second wife, Miss Gu, lived in Tianjin."

Mei Xiang explained with a smile, "I also met Ms. Gu in the ballroom at that time, she liked Mei Lanfang, I liked Shang Xiaoyun, and the Young Marshal and I were half of the same hometown.

So at that time, the two of us often drove to Peking to listen to operas together, and we would come back after listening to the opera for a few days.

Once you come and go, you will naturally become friends.It was also at that time that I begged her to help find the young marshal as a guarantor, which was considered to have redeemed myself.

As a price, I bought this house with a large sum of money. At that time, Ms. Gu and the young marshal came here to stay here when they had occasional tantrums, and even invited many famous actors from Beijing to sing here. "

"So that's how it is," Wei Ran couldn't help muttering.

"Speaking of this"

Mei Xiang patted her forehead as if she just remembered, looked at Wei Ran and reminded her seriously, "You must especially avoid this Miss Gu at tomorrow's dance, but you must never agree to her appointment, it is best that you don't into her eyes.

But don't blame me for not reminding you, although she and the young marshal are divorced, if you dare to be ambiguous with her, someone will definitely sink you into the Haihe River, and even your Aunt Yang and I will be implicated. "

"What did my cousin say?"

Wei Ran snuffed out his cigarette and made a promise with a smile. Firstly, he is not a scumbag like Jima, and secondly, so many beautiful girls with different tastes lived in the Dabieye in Kazan in the later generations, but they have helped him a long time ago. I exercised my concentration.

What's more, there is no hooking up with young women in this return mission, so naturally he will not cause such trouble for himself.

"Okay, go downstairs and wait, I will change another set of clothes before dinner."

After Mei Xiang finished speaking, she had already dropped the bouquet that Wei Ran made temporarily with newspapers, gauze scarves, and roses cut from the flower bed downstairs, and got up and walked back to the room barefoot.

Seeing this, Wei Ran also decisively turned around and went downstairs, and lighted another cigarette for himself by the way—the sun was about to go down the mountain, and he still had about ten cigarettes left.

By the time he smoked the re-lit cigarette until it was almost burning to the cigarette holder, Mei Xiang, who was wearing breeches, riding boots, a white shirt, and a gray newsboy hat in a neutral dress, also walked upstairs slowly. down.

At Wei Ran's suggestion, Mei Xiang, who was dressed like a female spy, chose the location for the photo to be taken next to the creamy white Chevrolet four-door sedan in the yard that was cleaned by Cao Duba not long ago.

And Wei Ran, the photographer, also pulled out the small PPK pistol he bought not long ago from his back waist, emptied the chamber and the bullets in the magazine under the vigilant watchful eyes of Mute Cao and Jasmine, and handed it to the eldest cousin As a shooting prop.

After talking and gesticulating, Wei Ran taught the other party to pose a few poses and took the photo. Wei Ran took the pistol handed back by the other party, and asked while pressing bullets into the magazine, "Cousin, there is the last negative left, how about dinner?" How about taking a photo with us before?"

"Take a picture together?"

Mei Xiang glanced at Mama Yang, Dumb Cao and the others who were standing at the entrance of the small building watching the excitement, then nodded cheerfully, "Then let's take a photo together, and then we'll have dinner after we take the photo together."

"Come here quickly, Miss wants everyone to take a photo together," Wei Ran greeted while pinning the pistol on his back again.

Hearing this, Mama Yang and the others immediately surrounded them, moved out a bench as requested by Wei Ran, and let Meixiang, Jasmine, and Qiu Shi sit on it, Mama Yang and Dumb Cao stood behind, and Tao Canhua stood next to Dumb Cao It's on the far right in the back row.

Put the camera on a chair and adjust the angle so as to reserve a place for himself in the viewfinder. After pressing the selfie stick, Wei Ran quickly ran over and stood behind Mama Yang in the back row.

"Is Miss beautiful?" Wei Ran, who had been working all afternoon, asked loudly with a smile.

The rest of the people were stunned when they heard the words, and immediately followed, including Meixiang herself, they all responded loudly with a smile, "beautiful", and were successfully frozen on the last negative of the tube of film.

However, while taking this group photo full of laughter and laughter, Wei Ran couldn't help but secretly sighed.

He knew that the following laughter and laughter would soon turn into unresolved long sorrows because of the fall of Jinmen.

Looking at the beautiful cousin again, he inevitably had a question in his heart, does the business woman really not know the hatred of subjugation?