War Photographer's Notebook

When Wei Ran followed Jasmine's request and drove the car back to the gate of Quanyechang, Jasmine stuffed her finger into her mouth and blew a loud whistle. In just a few seconds, two little cigarette sellers farted Bumpy ran over.

"Sister Jasmine, are you buying cigarettes?"

One of the young men who sold cigarettes to them many times before had taken the initiative to move the cigarette case hanging on his shoulder to the car window, and asked enthusiastically, "Do you still want the Fairy brand?"

"Give me as many packets of Fairy cards as you both have here."

As Jasmine said, she had already taken out a few dollars and threw them into the cigarette box, "Also, you dumb uncles asked me to tell you to be careful in the next few days, and if you encounter difficulties, go to the careless cloth village Hiding. You don’t need to look for extra money, you should reserve some food in advance.”

"Hey! We remember!"

This little fellow was not polite to Jasmine, he had already handed all the Fairy brand cigarettes in his and his companion's cigarette boxes together with two packs of matches to Jasmine while talking.

"Sell me all your Qianmen and Camel cigarettes"

Wei Ran didn't call another cigarette seller until this time, and like Jasmine, he gave him a few silver dollars, and bought all the cigarettes in their cigarette case through this little guy's gratitude. Qianmen and Camel cigarettes, as well as several boxes of matches.

After dismissing the two young men selling cigarettes, Jasmine signaled Wei Ran to drive back, and at the same time explained, "When the dumb uncle was in trouble, it was the lady who rewarded him with five dollars, and he relied on the five dollars to make money. Started a cigarette business.

Later, the dumb uncle became the lady's driver. He would find a beggar child every month, give him five oceans, and teach him to buy and sell cigarettes. "

"Is it the same now?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"may not"

Jasmine nodded, "If you buy two packs of cigarettes and get a pack of matches for free, the young man who sells cigarettes is probably brought out by the dumb uncle, but he doesn't even pay for a pack of cigarettes, and he still pays for the cigarettes himself. "

After finishing speaking, Jasmine took the initiative to change the subject without waiting for Wei Ran to speak, "Let's get down to business, the lady is not here, brother Wei Ran, do you think Canhua should go and play the song for that little devil?"

"That's your nephew, not mine." Wei Ran half jokingly half seriously reminded him.

"I want to hear your opinion." Jasmine lit another cigarette while speaking.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who was in charge of driving, simply lit a cigarette, and said in a puffy voice, "I don't know what my cousin's plan is, but it's definitely better to be scattered than to be in a group."

"What do you mean?" Jasmine looked at Wei Ran strangely.

"Have you not been bribed in these years or has Qiushi not been bribed?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"They've all been bribed," Jasmine sighed, "Most of them are tabloid reporters."

"It makes sense"

Wei Ran slightly lowered the speed of the car, "Making the outside world think that the book apartment is monolithic will only make them feel that the small building is full of secrets. But it will be different if you take the initiative to open a few holes."

"what do you mean"

"Two oceans a day"

Wei Ran stretched out two fingers to compare, "And it's the devil's money, if you don't earn it, you don't make it for nothing. I thought, the devil will definitely ask Canhua to ask questions, and we will be done if we see the trick? At that time, what the devil knew through Canhua's mouth was what we wanted him to know."

"But what if it gets exposed?" Jasmine still feels sorry for her own nephew after all, "If it gets exposed, wouldn't Canhua be in danger?"

"At that time, let's get rid of Canhua before the devils."

Wei Ran replied without psychological pressure, "We just need to hide Canhua well, and then release the news that he betrayed Miss, so he was sunk in the Haihe River. If you don't believe me, go to the bottom of the Haihe River and ask yourself! Anyway, in the Haihe River Some old bastards are waiting for extra meals."

Before Wei Ran could finish his words, Jasmine laughed out loud, then nodded her head approvingly and said, "What you said makes sense, I will talk to Canhua when I get back."

"There must be seven points of truth and three points of falsehood in the words"

Wei Ran reminded, "It can also be nine points true and one point false. The more real elements, the greater the lethality of the fake part. Little brother Canhua looks like an honest person, but the more this Honest people, the easier it is for people to believe the lies they tell."

"I'll take it for you to praise him." After Jasmine finished speaking, she herself laughed again.

Returning to Xuqing Shuyu while chatting, the workers who came early in the morning are still building flower beds that block the windows of the basement, and now there is a row of paintings by six people on the side of the small courtyard near the north wall. There are large glass glazed water tanks with lotus patterns. Each of these water tanks can easily allow two adults to sit in and take a bath without any problem.

But the water tank has already been planted with lotus and aquatic plants dug from no one knows where, and there is a fishmonger who I have seen in Sanbuer before putting lively carp and loach in it.

"Miss was hungry"

Before opening the car door, Jasmine said, "I, Mama Yang, Qiu Shi, Dumb Cao, including Miss, all have to eat, have been hungry, and are afraid of being hungry. What about you? Have you ever been hungry?"

"Ah"

Wei Ran swallowed subconsciously. Although he didn't say anything, Jasmine had already got the answer.

"Let's put the things in the rear compartment in the car first." After finishing speaking, Jasmine opened the door, then walked around to the rear of the car, and took out the cigarettes, alcohol, tea and candies bought at Sanbuer from the trunk. Walked into the small building.

By the time Wei Ran backed the car into the garage, Jasmine had already closed the door of the small building.At this time, in addition to a large pot of sour plum soup with ice cubes and watermelons soaked in water in a bucket, only Cao Dumb, who was holding a tea mug and supervised the work, was left in the yard.

He took the initiative to go forward and distributed half of the Camel brand cigarettes that Bao Yuan bought to Cao Duba. The latter grinned with a simple and honest smile, then tore open two packs of cigarettes, and babbled to distribute a pack of cigarettes to the workers. branch.

Taking advantage of the time when the workers were smoking, Wei Ran also walked around the small courtyard. After half a day of busy work, the flower beds covering the windows in the basement have almost been built. At this time, the workers are leveling the outside of the flower beds with cement. And various geometric patterns are inlaid with tiny pebbles.

According to the current progress, I am afraid that all the work will be completed in the evening.I deliberately went to the flower bed where the ventilation hole was hidden. Not only did the windows in the basement be blocked, but the flower bed was even connected to the courtyard wall. Not only did it cover the original flower bed and iron fence, but even the The large water tanks with lotus flowers and goldfish are wrapped in flower beds.

He casually fed some nuts to the big colorful parrot. After Wei Ran tried to stroke the parrot's wings but was almost bitten, he turned around decisively and returned to the first floor.

In the absence of Miss Meixiang, Yang's mother made a relatively simple lunch. A few refreshing cold dishes and a stack of hot pancakes were no different from what the workers ate.

Although this lunch was commonplace for Wei Ran, Jasmine and the others, it was a rare good meal for Tao Canhua and the workers outside who were hiding in the shadow of the courtyard wall and eating around square tables and carts. .

After coping with the scorching summer lunch by "rolling everything with a big pancake", Dumb Cao was the first to leave the small building, and distributed a few more packs of cigarettes to the workers, while Wei Ran helped Mama Yang clean up the dining table.

As for Tao Canhua, Jasmine taught him over and over again how to deal with Ueda when he was eating.After finishing the meal and not even having time to rest, Jasmine took her to the second floor to continue the emergency training.

With nothing to do left and right, Wei Ran simply went back to the room and walked around. When he came out, he already had a Rollei camera in his hand.

With a cigarette in his mouth, he took a few pictures of the busy workers with a sense of the times, and he also mingled with them by passing out camel cigarettes from time to time.

Towards evening, when all the work was finished, Cao Yaba paid each worker full wages, and gave them two extra watermelons to save for the journey back home, and then let them go.

At six o'clock in the evening, Guan Bingwen, a young man who had met once at the ball, rushed over on a bicycle.

"Is Miss Mei Xiang there?" the young man asked after Wei Ran opened the courtyard door.

"Not here, what happened?" Jasmine asked loudly at the entrance of the small building, while turning on the corridor light.

"Teacher Feng's car broke down"

Guan Bingwen, who was pushing the station at the gate of the small courtyard, said anxiously, "He asked me to borrow Miss Meixiang's car for use. Teacher Huang is anxious to go back to her natal house to have a look, and I will return it tomorrow morning."

"I'll go to Uncle Mute to get you the key, but you can drive carefully." Jasmine said from a distance, "Our lady may come back, but you must return the car tomorrow."

"Don't worry, Sister Jasmine!"

As Guan Bingwen said, he had already pushed his bicycle into the yard and parked it against the wall, "I will send the bicycle back at dawn tomorrow, and I will fill it up with gas."

"wait a moment"

As Jasmine said, she turned around and got into the small building, but Wei Ran glanced at the milky white car in the garage without any trace. Those mysterious cloth rolls I bought from the cloth shop that I didn't care about at that time.

Without waiting for a long time, Cao Yaba drove the car from the garage directly out of the yard, then opened the door, and gave the driving seat to Guan Bingwen, babbling and gesticulating at the same time.

"Don't worry, Uncle Cao"

Guan Bingwen sat in the driver's seat while speaking, "I'm sure I won't bump into it, I'll send it back at dawn tomorrow!"

Before he finished speaking, Guan Bingwen drove the car that seemed to have forgotten something, and disappeared in a flash.

Looking at Jasmine who seemed to be sizing him up from the corner of his eye, Wei Ran was still not overly curious. Instead, he went straight into his room after bolting the courtyard door, and continued busy with completing a pack of Qianmen cigarettes one by one. smoking task.

There was nothing to say all night, and when the morning of the 27th was just dawn, Guan Bingwen sent the car back. In the trunk of the car, there was even a bamboo cage with seven old hens in it.

"Ms. Feng's mother-in-law gave this to Ms. Meixiang." Guan Bingwen said as he moved out the cage full of old hens, "Mother Yang, where should I put it?"

"There is no way to raise chickens in this yard."

Yang Ma looked around, and finally pointed helplessly at the corner of the courtyard wall on the side of the entrance and said, "Let's put it there first."

"okay!"

As Guan Bingwen said, he directly lifted the chicken coop to the base of the wall, then pushed the bicycle he rode over last night and said, "Mama Yang, Brother Wei Ran, I won't stay any longer, I have to go back to class. "

"Go, go, slow down on the road."

Mama Yang instructed enthusiastically, and waited until the other party was gone, then looked at the old hen in the cage in the corner with a frowning expression, "What should I do, if Mama Xiao Su sees this, I will definitely be scolded again." I."

"It's enough to stew one for her at that time."

While talking, Wei Ran re-bolted the courtyard door, then sat in the cab of the car, and dumped it into the garage.

While reversing the car, he also noticed that the long strips of cloth in the rear compartment were gone, replaced by the food box delivered to Mr. Huang's office yesterday.

After he stopped the car steadily, Jasmine also walked into the garage, opened the rear door as expected, and took out the food box.

"hold it for me"

While talking, Jasmine had already handed the lid of the food box to Wei Ran who had just come out of the car, and then took out the silver dollar sealed in a long tube from it and put it into her pocket.

"Aren't you curious?" Jasmine asked spontaneously when she saw that Wei Ran was following behind with the lid of a food box busy lighting a cigarette.

"Not Curious"

Wei Ran said in a cloudy voice, "My job is to protect my cousin personally, although the lady doesn't take me with her when she goes out to play."

Hearing this, Jasmine smiled, took out another khaki envelope from the lower shelf of the food box, folded it in half and put it in her pocket, then said, "Remember to send Canhua to Xiao Su's mother before two o'clock, but don't worry about it." Can't be wrong."

"we have a deal?"

"It's settled." While Jasmine spoke, she handed the food box to Mama Yang who happened to enter the house, and then ran up the stairs stomping on the stairs.

That beautiful big cousin and that goblin-like Miss Andy are upstairs, aren't they?
Wei Ran looked suspiciously at the stairs leading to the second floor, and then went into his room with an expression of indifference.

This morning, apart from Guan Bingwen, who disturbed people's slumber, and those clucking hens, it was quite peaceful.

When the sun came out of the top of his head, Cao Dumb got up early as usual to clean the yard and scrub the car. Wei Ran, after feeding the noisy big parrot, took a big watering can and bustled around the small building to water it. Flowers and work on watering flower beds covered with sack pieces.

The somewhat boring morning was spent at leisure, and after lunch, Wei Ran also drove a car, and Tao Canhua, who was carrying a piano bag and carrying an erhu, rushed to the opium den on the edge of the Japanese Concession.

However, what made Wei Ran frowned was that it was only a day, and the Japanese Concession, which was only one street away, was under martial law!
"Brother Wei Ran, what...what should I do?" Tao Canhua asked a little restlessly in the rear compartment.

"first"

Wei Ran stopped the car, and after raising the window, he put a cigarette on the mouthpiece slowly, and lowered his voice to remind, "You can't call me Brother Wei Ran, you have to call me cousin."

"Cousin Uncle"

Tao Canhua yelled in embarrassment, he found out that in the entire Shuqingshu Apartment, he was the youngest one, and even Qiu Shi, who was obviously younger than him by almost a year, asked him to call him aunt.

"Secondly"

Wei Ran turned around and said with a smile, "Cousin Canhua, you have to remember, as long as you play well today to satisfy Mr. Ueda, even if you can't walk sideways in the Japanese Concession, at least no one will dare to bully you. "

"What if my Ueda is not satisfied?" Canhua asked eagerly.

"That's his problem, it's none of our business, whether you like it or not."

As Wei Ran said, he took out a piece of ocean from his pocket and handed it to the other party, "Remember, if the other party asks, how much ocean did I give you, you just bite and say one piece."

"Why? Didn't Gu. Jasmine say two yuan a day?"

After Tao Canhua finished speaking, he quickly waved his hand, "I don't want another piece, I'm afraid that devil will ask, and I'm worried that he will blame you."

"No, it's for your own good."

Wei Ran smiled and said, "I can't explain the details to you, but he will definitely give you more than two oceans today, do you know what to do?"

"I know, I know." Tao Canhua nodded hastily, "There are two yuan in total, one is mine, and the other is gas money for round trip."

"That's fine, get out of the car, you just listen to us and make sure you're okay."

As Wei Ran said, he had already pushed open the car door, took out the lighter and lit the cigarette dangling from his mouth.

When Tao Canhua cautiously got out of the car but accidentally knocked his head, the expression on Wei Ran's face became more and more satisfied. Whether Tao Canhua was really nervous or pretended to be nervous, he was worthy of the title. extremely confusing.

After intentionally giving the young man a cigarette to calm down, Wei Ran led him to knock on the small building where Xiao Su's mother lived, and sent Tao Canhua inside with a nod.

"Go, buy a pack of cigarettes for me." Xiao Su's mother ordered Chao Weiran to say.

"But Xiao Su, the concession next to it is not allowed to enter." Wei Ran grinned and said in embarrassment.

"It's not that there is only one concession in Jinmen, and it's not that only the concession next to it sells cigarettes." Xiao Su's mother rolled her eyes, "Go and come back quickly, why are you still waiting for me to give you money?"

"I'm going right now."

Wei Ran hurriedly responded, and after the old lady closed the door, she didn't forget to spit on the side of the road, then got into the car and drove straight to Quanyechang.

He found a young man who was familiar with cigarettes and bought a box of Fairy cigarettes and another pack of Camel cigarettes to complete the task. He opened the door of the small building next door, and to the melodious guqin music, he respectfully handed over all the cigarettes he bought and the pack of matches that came with it to the old lady.

"wait outside"

The old lady in kimono gave some contemptuous whispers, and then closed the door.

Seeing this, Wei Ran spit again, then got into the car on the side of the road, lowered the window and lit a cigarette with the front door number, while waiting for Tao Canhua to finish his work, he was also looking at the car that was not far away. The Japanese Concession where entry and exit are prohibited.

In fact, there is no need to go in, just look at the appearance of those devils and expatriates patrolling the concession with guns on their shoulders, and you will know that this war is inevitable, and both sides who are about to fight are already making various preparations.

On the side of the road, this opium hall guards the Japanese Concession, but is not within the scope of the Japanese Concession. It is really a good location where you can communicate with the outside world to collect information, and you can retreat into the Japanese Concession to avoid the flames of war at any time.

While he was observing the terrain outside, Tao Canhua was playing Guqin in the small building next to the Smoking Hall, answering questions raised by Ueda.

According to this devil, as long as he plays the music without any mistakes, every time he answers a question, he can get a piece of ocean.

This is undoubtedly a very tempting price, so that even Xiao Su's mother who is hiding on the second floor is sweating.

Fortunately, for Tao Canhua, although the piano skills he practiced since he was a child are far less amazing than the Guangling San played by Wei Ran in the basement, the muscle memory he has formed long ago does not distract him too much.What's more, the whole afternoon yesterday, Jasmine was helping him familiarize himself with the way to deal with problems.

Just when the guqin piece was about to end, the ghost named Ueda really asked, "The young man who sent you here, did he tell you the price for playing here for me?"

"said"

Tao Canhua's nervous face showed a look of happiness and gratitude, "Cousin Wei Ran said that he can get two oceans for playing for Mr. Ueda every day, but one of them is the gas money for the round trip."

"Look, Chinese people are so greedy."

Ueda threw a silver dollar at Tao Canhua's feet, and at the same time changed into Japanese, and said to Gu Chuan, the devil sitting on the other side of the chess table, that tone was only full of sarcasm.

"Greed is a good thing"

The skinny devil named Gu Chuan muttered vaguely, and at the same time dropped a white piece on the chessboard, lowered his voice slightly and asked, "Aren't you planning to bribe that Chinese man waiting outside?"

"Change someone else," Ueda said in a low voice, "It will be more credible if the two people's information is verified with each other."

"But what's the use of that woman's information?" Gu Chuan asked puzzled.

"Of course she's useless"

Ueda smiled, and explained at the same time, "But a lonely girl is easier to control and bribe than those famous actresses, isn't it? Gu Chuan-kun, those beautiful lonely girls are the symbol of peace through singing and dancing."

"Are you going to support that lonely girl?" Gu Chuan asked with raised eyebrows.

"She can only be regarded as a breakthrough"

Ueda replied with a smile, "Huaxia people have a saying that the embankment of a thousand miles collapses in an ant's nest. Mr. Gu Chuan, for Huaxia people, the opium hall you run is an ant's nest.

For Jinmen, which is about to belong to us, that little lonely girl is an ant nest.For that famous courtesan, Miss Meixiang, this cowardly child and the greedy driver outside are perhaps equally ant nests. "