War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1187
On the afternoon of July 7th, Wei Ran, who was catching up on sleep in his room, was also awakened by a knock on the door.

Pulling out the pistol pressed under the pillow and loading it, Wei Ran first lifted a corner of the curtain to look out, and then opened the door.

"Brother Wei, Miss wants you to prepare and go out with Sister Jasmine and Tao Canhua later." Outside the door, Qiu Shi, who was sleepy, conveyed Mei Xiang's instructions. After speaking, he still yawned.

"I just wash my face"

Wei Ran responded, and waited for the girl to stagger and turn around to knock on Tao Canhua's door, then closed the door, put the pistol hidden behind the door on the table, and began to change clothes, brush her teeth and wash her face.

After he packed up and adjusted the pocket watch, Jasmine also yawned and walked down the stairs.

The two waited for a while, and Tao Canhua, who also didn't get enough sleep, finally cleaned up his personal hygiene, followed Wei Ran and Jasmine into the car with a dazed expression.

"Go to Mr. Schweiger's foreign firm," Jasmine said while closing the car door.

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't ask any further questions, started the car and drove out of the small courtyard, and waited for Tao Canhua to help close the iron gate of the small courtyard, then increased the speed, and drove to the door of the German foreign company familiarly.

What surprised him was that after he parked the car, after helping him to get a driver's license from a foreign company, Jasmine led the two of them across the road, and got into the tailor's shop again. Wei Ran and Tao Canhua each took another few sets of clothes they ordered.

This is not over yet, and then Jasmine took the two of them around in various concessions, either asking Tao Canhua to come forward, or Wei Ran to step forward, or herself to step forward and purchase various medicines piecemeal from various pharmacies And gauze and other things, and purchased a variety of pastries and fruits, and even ordered a few ice bricks, and filled up the car with fuel imported from the United States by the way.

It wasn't over yet, as the sky was getting darker, Jasmine took them to Quanyechang, which they had just passed by the door before.

Strolling upstairs and downstairs, the girl picked and bought a lot of things, until the trunk and the co-pilot were full, and then she called Wei Ran and the two of them to go downstairs and go home.

Before the return trip, Wei Ran invited a familiar cigarette seller at the gate of Quanyechang, bought a pack of Camel and two packs of Qianmen brand cigarettes from him, and then drove the car back.

It's just that when he returned home, he was stunned. Although the sun hadn't set yet, the small building looked like a construction site. Not only were the windows around the basement sealed with red bricks and cement, but also A flower wall nearly one meter high was built around the corner of the small building.

And looking at the operations of those workers who don't know where they came from, the inside of the red brick cement flower wall that completely blocks the basement windows is completely a slope like a dam, and before the cement inside is dry, it is filled with wet sand. , I planted roses that I don't know where they came from.

"What are you doing?" Wei Ran couldn't help asking curiously.

"Miss's order before leaving"

Mama Yang, who was delivering sour plum soup to the workers, said in a low voice, "Miss said there is going to be a war, so strengthen this basement, if the devils come here, there is at least a place to hide."

"Before Miss left?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows, "Where did Miss go?"

"Follow Miss Andy," Yang's mother replied, "From what she means, she is going to live with Andy for a few days."

"Qiu Shi also followed?" Jasmine who got out of the car a little later asked.

"Go." Yang's mother shook her head helplessly, "Miss Andy dragged her away by force."

"So how many of us are left?" As Jasmine spoke, she had already picked up the snacks and fruits she had bought.

"No, the two sisters probably won't come back in a few days." Yang's mother had already taken the snacks and fruits handed over by the other party, turned and walked into the small building.

When Jasmine and Tao Canhua followed with their purchases, Wei Ran frowned.

He could vaguely sense that the words of Mama Yang and Jasmine were tinged with moisture.He could even almost guess that Meixiang and Qiushi might be hiding in the hidden basement right now!He remembered clearly that the last time Xiao Su's mother came to chat with Mei Xiang in Japanese, the latter also promised to hide Qiushi with her when the private dance at home was over.

While thinking about it secretly, Wei Ran also picked up the medicines, gauze and other things bought from various pharmacies and followed.

As Jasmine walked into the basement, besides the rice, flour, grain, oil, medicines and other things purchased yesterday, the windows around here have also been tightly sealed with wooden boards. There seems to be a thick layer of wood between the wooden boards and the windows. quilt.

And against the wall, there are several wooden refrigerators that I haven't seen before.

To put it bluntly, this so-called wooden refrigerator is actually an incubator with a carved wooden shell and a metal liner inside. Cotton or wood charcoal powder is usually filled between the liner and the shell to keep warm.

This thing itself does not consume electricity, but it needs to put ice cubes inside to release the low temperature.And it seems that in order to prolong the heat preservation time, thick quilts were tied on the outside of these wooden refrigerators.

Letting Mama Yang's orders put all the things he brought down in the refrigerator or on the table depending on the situation, Wei Ran glanced at the huge mirror again without a trace, followed them and turned around silently Go upstairs and move the rest of the things out of the car one by one.

Near 07:30 in the evening, Yang's mother sent away the workers who had made an appointment to continue to build the wall the next day, and Wei Ran and others finally had dinner.

This night, because Ms. Meixiang was not around, it was much quieter. Only during the day did I catch up on sleep, and the weather was hot, so it was inevitable that I couldn't sleep.What's more, Wei Ran had to finish smoking a whole pack of Qianmen cigarettes before 12 o'clock.

Since the night was long and it was difficult to fall asleep, Wei Ran simply got up quietly, stood in front of the French window facing the small flower bed, opened the window, lit a cigarette and listened quietly.

It's a pity that there was no movement from the two stone lamps that were suspected to be ventilation holes.But the parrot chirped a few words that no one could understand after seeing the fire.

A cigarette was approaching, and Wei Ran quietly walked to the door of the storage room and gently held the doorknob.

It's a pity that the door of this storage room is usually locked, and at this time, it can't be turned at all without accident.

Without trying to pick the lock, Wei Ran turned back to the room, locked the door and lay down on the bed again.

In the blink of an eye, the next morning, everyone had just finished their breakfast, and the workers drove their carts over again to continue construction, and Jasmine also called Wei Ran to drive out again.

But this time, apart from the two of them buying a few packs of cigarettes, Jasmine didn't buy anything. Instead, she directed Wei Ran to drive around the city and then drove into Nankai University. I found the office of Feng Maoyun's wife, Mrs. Huang, and delivered a food box.

This food box contained the snacks that Jasmine brought Wei Ran and Tao Canhua from Guishunzhai yesterday.But the excuse that Jasmine said was, "Mrs. Huang said that Mama Yang made delicious dim sum, so Miss asked me to bring some more."

"Miss Meixiang has a heart"

Mrs. Huang took the food box and asked casually, "Does your lady have time tomorrow? Tomorrow is Tuesday, and I should go to her English class."

"In addition to delivering snacks to Mr. Huang this time, the second thing I do here is for tomorrow's English class."

Jasmine glanced nonchalantly at another teacher in the same office as Mrs. Huang, and said with a normal expression, "Miss Andy invited our lady to live with her yesterday afternoon, and they seem to be planning to go to Peking with Miss Gu to listen It is estimated that I will be staying for a while before I can come back, so I am afraid that I will not be able to resume classes until next week."

"Then next week"

Mrs. Huang patted the food box on the desk lightly, "When your lady comes back, remember to thank her for me, and thank Mama Yang for me as well."

"I'll bring it"

Jasmine respectfully agreed, and then bid farewell to Mrs. Huang who had a calm smile on her face, took Wei Ran downstairs, and drove away from the school.

"Where are you going next?" Wei Ran asked in a hoarse voice, he couldn't stop being hoarse, he almost vomited himself in order to finish that pack of cigarettes last night.

"Turn left ahead"

After Jasmine finished speaking, she took out the cigarette case, lit a cigarette on her own, and then completely lowered the car window.

Under the command of the girl, Wei Ran drove the car to the edge of the Japanese Concession, and finally stopped at the door of a big smokehouse.

"Have you brought a gun?" Jasmine asked before opening the car door.

"Take it..." Wei Ran subconsciously stretched his hand to his lower back.

"Leave the gun in the car"

As Jasmine said, she had already pushed open the car door, and then took out another food box made of rattan from the rear compartment.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran still pulled out the small PPK pistol, rolled it up with the tunic jacket draped on the back of the seat, and put it on the co-pilot's seat.

After pulling out the key and pushing the door to get off the car, Wei Ran followed Jasmine into a townhouse next to the Smoky Hall and knocked on the door.

When a woman in a kimono and apron who seemed to be in her forties opened the door, Jasmine immediately asked, "Is Mama Su at home?"

"At home, please take off your shoes and come in." The woman bowed slightly and said in Chinese.

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Jasmine each took off their shoes and walked into the small building, and then they saw Xiao Su Ma who was kneeling and sitting at a low table under the ceiling fan, and on both sides of another small square table next to her, Two devils who are playing Go.

Among the two devils, the one wearing a kimono seems to be Mr. Ueda who has visited the Shuqing Shuyu before. This is a tall and burly face, especially on his temples, there is a slender curly hair Although the strangle mark is not conspicuous, the skin color of the upper and lower parts can be regarded as distinct.

In contrast, the devil who played chess with it was a thin and small man, wearing glasses, bearded with Rendan, and looking like a monkey with pointed ears, so that when Wei Ran saw these two devils, There is an illusion that the three-dimensional version of Fat Tiger and Xiaofu are playing chess.

"Why are you here?" Xiao Su's mother, who was grinding tea powder, asked without raising her head.

"Miss asked me to tell you that she, Miss Andy and Miss Gu went to Peking to listen to an opera, and it might take four or five days to come back.

In addition, the windows in the basement of the book apartment leaked rain in summer. Before the lady left, she ordered the windows to be completely blocked and a flower bed to keep out the water was built. Therefore, the book apartment has been under construction for the past two days, and I am afraid that there is no way to receive guests. "

As Jasmine said, she also pushed the food box in her hand, "This is a tribute to you from the young lady. She was afraid that you would be unhappy, so she asked me to come and ask her for leave."

"This loser knows how to play!"

Xiao Su's mother snorted angrily, first opened the food box to look at the silver dollars inside, then waved her hand impatiently, "Let's go, let's tidy up the book apartment while your lady is away, express Nephew, help your cousin keep an eye on her, and don't let those servants sneak around."

"What my aunt said." Wei Ran hurriedly responded, "I will help my cousin watch over it."

"Your cousin is soft-hearted. Since you have asked your cousin to be your backer, you have to protect her sincerely."

Xiao Su's mother bossed her around and said, "You can't get together with the servants to deceive your cousin. Besides, what happened to that stupid nephew that your cousin picked up a few days ago?"

"I recognized it when I went to the theater to listen to the play"

Wei Ran explained with distaste in his tone, "That idiot found him himself, saying that he came all the way to Jinmen begging for food just to join my cousin.

The cousin was soft-hearted, and seeing him as pitiful, she gave him a job of playing music in the book house. Apart from taking care of food and housing, whether he could earn money or not depended on whether the guests who went to the book house were willing to reward him. "

"How is he playing?" Xiao Su's mother asked with great interest.

"Anyway, no one rewarded him at the dance last night." Wei Ran's tone became more and more sarcasm, "That silly boy looks like an old man."

"It's good to be a fool, at least be honest."

Xiao Su's mother waved her hand, "Okay, you guys go, don't get in the way here, remember to come and tell me when your cousin comes back."

"When my cousin comes back, I'll report to my aunt." Wei Ran said, and was about to follow Jasmine out.

"Wait a minute" Just as Wei Ran was about to turn around, that Mr. Ueda suddenly greeted him in Japanese.

Although Wei Ran could understand, he didn't stop. He didn't turn around until Xiao Su's mother yelled for him to stop.

"I went to the book apartment yesterday, why haven't I seen you?" The chubby man with a fleshy face. Ah no, Mr. Ueda asked Wei Ran in Chinese with a ghost accent.

Seeing Wei Ran looking at her, Xiao Su's mother waved impatiently, "Mr. Ueda can answer whatever you ask."

"Respond to Mr. Ueda's words." Wei Ran replied respectfully, "When you went yesterday, I was busy repairing the leaking windows in the basement."

"When I went yesterday, was the person playing the instrument hiding behind the screen the one you mentioned?" Ueda asked again.

"I didn't go up, but I guess it should be." Wei Ran replied respectfully with a smile on his face.

“I live here these days”

Ueda knocked on the table, "Starting tomorrow, at two o'clock in the afternoon every day, let that young man come over and play the Chinese musical instrument for me for an hour, and I will give him two oceans every day."

"I would like to thank Mr. Ueda for his kindness!" Wei Ran said with a happy face, and at the same time, there was a hint of jealousy in his tone.

"Go." Ueda waved his hand while speaking, and threw two silver dollars to Wei Ran's feet.

Without any hesitation at all, Wei Ran hurriedly picked up the two silver dollars, and left the living room gratefully.

"This silly boy is really lucky!" Wei Ran said to Jasmine in a slightly lowered voice when he was putting on his shoes at the door.

"No! Two oceans a day!"

Jasmine, this girl may not look like a tall girl, but her mind is extraordinarily delicate. She also said jealously while putting on her shoes, "If that idiot gets Mr. Ueda's appreciation, he might become a great success in the future."

"No!"

Wei Ran raised the door a little bit, pushed the door open and walked out, and at the same time, he did not forget to hold the two silver dollars and blow hard, then put it to his ear and listened.

When the old lady in kimono behind her closed the door, Wei Ran and the two also got into the car.

Putting the jacket back on the seat, Wei Ran put the small pistol on his back and said in a low voice, "Go back and talk to Canhua, I guess that devil is holding back."

"What does he want?" Jasmine frowned and muttered.

"Buying Canhua"

Wei Ran said, started the car and left here, and said while driving back, "If two oceans can buy Canhua, then Mr. Ueda can get Miss every day, no, he can get the daily movements of Shuyu .”

"That end?"

Jasmine was amused by Wei Ran's unique wording, but then said in doubt, "What is he staring at Miss? Could it be that he likes Miss?"

"The value of a cousin is more than just appearance"

Wei Ran said with emotion, "Not to mention anything else, the celebrities who were invited to the ball organized by my cousin last night are the value of my cousin. I think that Ueda is probably trying to use the lady as a breakthrough to break into those people. In the circle of celebrities."

Speaking of this, Wei Ran signaled Jasmine to raise the car window, and then said in a low voice, "Remind miss, that Ueda is a devil soldier."

"How do you know?" Jasmine asked in surprise.

"His head is strangled into a two-color gourd by a military cap"

Wei Ran pointed to his temples and gestured, and then said, "And look at the posture he was sitting just now, with his chest upright and his abdomen retracted, and look at the sitting posture of that skinny monkey, by the way, that skinny monkey Do you know the monkey?"

"That's Mr. Gu Chuan, he opened the two opium dens next to him."

Jasmine said with a strange expression, "Xiao Su's mother is right next to him right now. Mr. Gu Chuan seems to love Xiao Su's mother very much, and he even plans to marry her and bring her back to the recruitment examination."

"How old is Gu Chuan?" Wei Ran also showed a strange look on his face.

"Maybe around 30 years old." Jasmine grinned, "Anyway, it's not a few years older than Miss."

"Tsk tsk tsk, the co-author is a perverted mother."

Wei Ran muttered to himself, stretched out his hand to roll down the car window, let the outside wind take away the stuffy heat accumulated in the car, and then asked, "Where shall we go next?"

"Three cares"

Jasmine raised her finger and pointed in a direction. Seeing that Wei Ran was a little dazed, she added, "Nanshi Street, just drive ahead. I'll show you the way."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't ask any further questions, and drove to the so-called "Three No Matters" under Jasmine's command.

What's more interesting is that when they arrived at the place they wanted to go, they found that the streets of this street were strictly guarded. On the street behind these people, there were actually two groups of people fighting with sticks.

"Hold on"

Jasmine, who didn't get out of the car at all, said quite habitually, "Let's go in after they finish fighting."

"Is this a land dispute?" Wei Ran asked curiously. He had heard of Jinmen's unique green skin culture more than once in later generations, but it was extremely rare and novel to catch up with it at such a close distance.

"Three days, one fights, five days, one big." Jasmine rolled her eyes and muttered. Obviously, in the eyes of this girl, those who fought bravely and fought fiercely were not heroic, but rather childish.

Although the girl felt contemptuous of the people fighting outside, Wei Ran also looked at it like a toothache.

Nothing else, those people were really ruthless, and their mouths were really hard. During the brawl, there were shouts and curses, but he didn't hear a single one shouting for mercy.

This drowsiness lasted for more than half an hour, and the two fighting parties dispersed one after another, followed by two teams of people rushing out from the streets and alleys.

Just when Wei Ran thought that the two groups of people would continue to fight, these people carried away their own wounded in peace, and one group of people from each side was busy cleaning up the mess and picking up the fallen ones. Weapons and sticks, and even buckets and brushes to clean up the blood on the ground, even on the steps of various stores, and on the walls.

In the end, the whole street was cleaned up, and the two sides also dispatched men in long gowns and melon skin hats to knock on the doors of closed stores from door to door, or clasped their fists or bowed, and came to them very politely. A polite sentence like "Shopkeeper XX, I'm really sorry for delaying your business."

And those shopkeepers who were knocked on the door of the store also clasped their fists in return, and some even gave them medicines and other things prepared in advance.

In less than ten minutes, the shops facing the street opened their doors to start business one after another. Those who originally blocked the street bowed to the crowd from a distance, and then bowed and bowed to get out of the way.

"Get out of the car." Jasmine said, she had already rolled up the window and opened the door.

"Is this the end?" Wei Ran asked in astonishment after pushing the car door open.

"It's not over? Otherwise, what's the matter?"

Jasmine took it for granted, "Although these gangs dominate the market, as long as they pay the protection fee, it is definitely easier to use than the police house, and women will not be harassed even at night when they come here to shop."

"You are quite familiar with this place," Wei Ran muttered.

“Been here to eat before”

When Jasmine said this, she was extraordinarily calm, and even pointed to a food stall along the street, "I used to live in that shack, if it wasn't for the residual heat from the pancake stove, I would have been killed so cold."

Hearing this, Wei Ran secretly sighed, but didn't know what to say for a while.

"Uncle Meng, bring me two sesame seed cakes." As Jasmine said, she took out two big oceans from her pocket and put them on the table.

"You girl, what money do you give me? It's not embarrassing to me."

The food stall owner patted his thigh, picked up a spatula, and scooped out two crispy sesame seed cakes from the hanging stove, wrapped them in a piece of newspaper, and handed them to Jasmine together with the two pieces of ocean.

"take it"

Jasmine took the money and put it on the table again, and passed one of the newspaper-wrapped biscuits to Wei Ran, "I still have something to do today, so I'll come and sit with you when I have time."

"Hey!"

Uncle Meng, who runs the food stall, responded loudly and forcefully, and his voice was also full of pride.

"When I used to beg for food, Uncle Meng would give us freshly baked sesame seed cakes every morning and night." Jasmine said as she took a big bite of sesame seed cakes and a small piece of newspaper, and said vaguely while chewing, "Try it." Come on, it's delicious."

"I'll try it"

As Wei Ran said, he also took a hard bite of the biscuit in his hand. It was burnt, crispy, with a slight salty taste and the smell of five-spice powder, plus the aroma of sesame seeds on the outside, it was indeed very good eat.

"We're here." Without waiting for Wei Ran to finish eating this biscuit, Jasmine also stopped at the door of a shop, "You can wait outside, or you can go shopping around."

"I can't go in?"

Wei Ran tentatively asked, this shop is a cloth shop that sells cloth, and the name is simple, it is called "Cloth Shop". In addition, there is a small sign hanging at the door, which says "Concurrently operating shrouds" typeface.

"It's okay to come in"

As she spoke, Jasmine took another bite of sesame seed cakes, walked into the store, looked around, and winked at one of the shop assistants, who also waved at her, and led her and Wei Ran into the room.

"Five feet of white cloth and five feet of floral cloth, plus twenty feet of red cotton rope and green cotton rope." Jasmine said as she walked into the room, "And bring me 10 sewing needles made in England."

"Sister Jasmine, the little brother who came with you looks so ugly." The guy said vigilantly.

"Our young lady's cousin, who came out to see the world." While speaking, Jasmine took out two envelopes of silver dollars from the bag she was carrying and handed them to the other party, "Hurry up, we are in a hurry to go back for lunch. "

"Is it really your lady's cousin?" While speaking, the guy had torn open two envelopes of silver dollars, randomly took out a few coins from inside, blew hard one by one, and listened to them.

"If it's not our lady's cousin, can it still be your cousin?" Jasmine urged with her hands on her hips, "Hurry up!"

"Hey! Wait for it!"

The guy said, but threw the opened silver dollar on the table casually, and left the room in peace.

"Go, go."

As Jasmine said, she beckoned Wei Ran to leave through another door between here, through a small courtyard full of sundries, out a small door, and blend into the crowd.

Next, Wei Ran wandered around with Jasmine, buying daily necessities like tobacco, wine, tea and candy.By the way, Jasmine also ordered a few large water tanks from a tile shop, and ordered a lot of aquatic products such as carp and loach from a fish stall.

When they returned to the car parked on the street, Wei Ran saw at a glance that there were several bundles of cloth on the floor in the back of the car, but he clearly remembered that he had locked the car before. up!
"Why are you standing there in a daze? Let's go." While urging, Jasmine had already sat in the co-pilot with the things she just bought.

Seeing this, Wei Ran could only suppress his doubts, started the car and left the street.

"go home"

Jasmine yawned and said, "Remember to go to the gate of Quanyechang and I'll go buy a few packs of cigarettes."

"to make"

Wei Ran responded, but held back and didn't ask a single word.And Jasmine, who was sitting in the co-pilot and was busy lighting another cigarette, had an imperceptible satisfied smile on her lips.

(End of this chapter)