War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1195 Chen Pike

In the hidden basement, Wei Ran didn't go to bed after simply eating something. Instead, he watched the electric fan at the vent and quietly watched Meixiang bring Qiushi to the unconscious woman. The cigarette seller in the middle took off his clothes, washed them clean, and changed into a long shirt and underpants borrowed from Tao Canhua's room.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" After everything was done, Mei Xiang sat next to Wei Ran again and asked while lighting a cigarette.

"I'm not sleepy yet"

Wei Ran waved his hand, he still had four cigarettes to smoke, not to mention he didn't know where to buy a pack of Camel cigarettes to complete today's task of buying cigarettes, how could he sleep.

Secondly, the people outside were busy fighting, but he was hiding in the basement of the British Concession, which was too safe, like a mouse that was desperate for his life. How could he sleep?

"What are you thinking?" Mei Xiang looked at Wei Ran curiously and asked.

Hearing this, Wei Ran pointed to the top of his head, and Mei Xiang also sighed silently. For a while, in this hidden basement, there were only sleeping Andy's ravings from time to time, the soft sound of the electric fan, and Qiu Shi made the rustling sound when reading a book under the desk lamp and turning the pages.

I don't know how long it took, when there were only the last two Qianmen cigarettes left in Wei Ran's cigarette case, the young man who sold cigarettes finally woke up.

"Are you awake?" Wei Ran was the first to ask, "How do you feel?"

The young man who sells cigarettes first looked around blankly, and then looked at the long gown worn by rich people on his body. When Mei Xiang also walked over, the young man finally came back to his senses and struggled to get up. At the same time, they greeted each other in a panic, "Meimeimeimei. Miss Meixiang, and sister Qiushi, where are I?"

"Lie down, lie down, you are in a mouse hole"

Qiushi pursed his lips and replied with a smile, "What's your name? I remember you were selling cigarettes at the entrance of Zhongyuan Company, right?"

"Yes, I did sell cigarettes at the gate of Qichongtian before, and everyone called me Chen Dogfish."

The young man replied a little shyly, supporting the bed with his hands and knees, trying to sit up with his upper body, but it was inevitable that he grinned in pain because of the stretching of the wound.

"Lie down well"

Mei Xiang comforted her gently, and the young man who called himself Chen Xiuyu blushed with flattery and lay down again cautiously.

"You kid, what I asked you was that you didn't answer a single word. You only know how to talk to pretty girls, right?" Wei Ran asked jokingly after the other party lay down.

"No, no, I"

The young man's reddish face suddenly turned red, and he waved his hands awkwardly.

"Okay." Mei Xiang rolled her eyes at Wei Ran angrily and asked gently, "How do you feel now?"

Back to business, the blushing young man Chen Pike subconsciously touched his hipbone, then grinned, and replied in a jiffy, "It hurts, it hurts a little."

"Can this foot move?" Wei Ran patted the opponent's right leg lightly, "Try moving your toes."

Hearing this, Chen Pike tried to move the toes of his right foot, and the calloused foot also followed his thoughts, separating and closing the five toes with black mud in the toenails.

Immediately afterwards, this Chen pike also tried to hide his not-so-clean foot behind the other leg in embarrassment.

"not bad"

Wei Ran shook off his uninjured left hand and covered the young man's feet with a blanket at the end of the bed, "You hurt your hip bone, and it will take two or three months to recover, but luckily you didn't hurt your nerves, so you don't have to worry about yourself. become lame."

What he said was originally good news, but after Chen Pike heard it, his eyes turned red instantly, and tears fell down.

"What's the matter with you?" Qiushi asked puzzled.

"It's okay. It's okay." Chen Pike wiped away the unstoppable tears with the sleeve of his gown, but his tone was full of despair.

"You silly boy, are you worried that you will starve to death if you don't make a living in these two or three months?"

The one who said this was Andy, who had woken up at some point. While the girl was speaking, she sat up with her hands on the bed.

Sure enough, after she finished speaking, Chen Pike also began to sob uncontrollably.

"Here to recuperate at ease"

Mei Xiang just gently touched the top of the young man's head, "Until you heal your injury, don't worry about not being able to eat enough."

"Speaking of this, do you still have cigarettes?" Wei Ran changed the topic in a timely manner and asked, "I have no cigarettes in my pocket. If you have cigarettes on you, can you sell me a pack."

"I"

"Yes, yes!"

Qiu Shi hurriedly answered before Chen Dogu could speak, then turned around and ran out of the room. Not long after, he made two separate trips from the outside and dragged in two wooden boxes with seals.

These two boxes were brought back by Cao Mute before. In addition to the word "Cao" on the seal, there were also fingerprints one by one.

"Which of these two boxes has your things?" Qiushi asked as he put the two boxes on the ground.

"That." Chen Pike pointed to the one on the right, "my cigarette box is in that box."

"Then can I open it?" Qiu Shi had already pinched a corner of the seal with his hand while speaking.

"Open it"

Chen Gouyu said to Chao Weiran without even thinking about it, "You can open whichever cigarette box you want, just pick the one you like, no money is required, we are all thanks to Uncle Cao's kindness to make a living selling cigarettes, from now on the devil If Jinmen is occupied, our tobacco business will not know."

"Japs have to smoke too, don't worry, your business will not be affected." As Wei Ran spoke, Qiushi had already torn off the seal, lifted the copper buckle that had been sealed by the seal, and opened the lid of the box.

"Chen Gouyu, which cigarette box is yours?" Qiushi asked, looking at the wound on the bed.

"On the left, the fourth from the left, the one with the red cloth strip tied on the handle." Chen Pike said generously, "You can smoke the cigarettes inside."

While he was talking, Qiushi had already taken out the cigarette case, opened it, imitated the manner of a cigarette peddler, hung the strap of the cigarette case obliquely on his shoulder, and yelled, "Cigarettes!" , cigarettes, who wants to buy cigarettes?"

"Bring me a pack of camels"

Wei Ran took out a piece of ocean from his pocket and put it in the cigarette case as if to cooperate with the performance.

"Camel. Camel." Qiu Shi lowered his head and searched, pointing to a pack of cigarettes and asked, "Is this it?"

"right"

Wei Ran took the cigarette in the opponent's hand, then waved his hand and said in a joking tone, "Seeing how pretty you are, you don't need change."

"Thank you!" Qiushi was not polite at all, and thanked her with a smile. Then she pinched the silver dollar, puffed up her cheeks and blew it hard, then put it to her ear and listened, dissatisfied. He said, "Why is there no sound?"

"It's probably a fake silver dollar."

While talking, Mei Xiang also took out a silver dollar and threw it into the cigarette box, and said in the same joking tone, "Give me a pack of cigarettes too, I want the Fairy brand, if you little sister can light me a cigarette, you can also buy me a cigarette." No more change."

"to make!"

Qiushi was quick this time, he found the cigarettes that Meixiang wanted in no time, skillfully tore open one and pulled out one. , brought it to Mei Xiang's mouth, and after she grabbed it, she took out a silver shell Langsen brand kowtow lighter from her pocket, lit it, and moved it to the side of the cigarette that Mei Xiang was holding.

"Another dollar!"

Qiushi, who obviously waited on Meixiang to smoke a lot, put away the lighter at the same time, but also proudly picked up the silver dollar and shook it.

"The Little Cigarette Girl"

Andy greeted in a tone of voice, "Give me a pack of cigarettes too, if you want a beautiful brand, light it for me, and I will reward you with an ocean."

"Then you are not allowed to play tricks!" Qiu Shi said rather vigilantly.

"What did I do wrong?" Andy asked back with a smile, took out her tortoiseshell cigarette holder, and handed it to Qiu Shi along with a piece of ocean.

The latter took the cigarette holder, found the cigarette the other party wanted, put the cigarette holder on and brought it to Andy's mouth, and then helped her light it.

In the blink of an eye, he earned three oceans, and Qiu Shi immediately closed the cigarette case, complaining about how heavy it was, and stuffed back the cigarette case that was missing three packs of cigarettes but had three extra oceans. into the wooden box.

"Sister Qiushi, you, you... oh!" Chen Gouyu on the bed was obviously an honest child with a stupid mouth, but he didn't know how to express his inner gratitude.

"I helped you earn three oceans."

Qiu Shi said proudly, "When your injury heals, you have to treat me to a soda."

"Please! I'm sure please!" Chen Gouyu wiped the corners of his eyes and made a serious promise.

"Keep away your tears"

Wei Ran sat back by the vent again and asked curiously, "Chen Xiuyu, who gave you your name?"

"I lost my parents since I was a child. I was brought up by Chen Erye, a fishmonger who didn't care about me. He thought I always opened my mouth to bite people when I was fighting with others when I was young, so he gave me such a nickname. I It used to be called Chen Pingyuan."

Chen Gouyu explained, "After Second Master Chen died, I kept using the name Gouyu. No matter what happened, it was the Second Master who raised me. I want to keep it as a memory."

"He is a righteous child"

Mei Xiang sighed, and then asked, "At first, I was wondering why the name was so ugly. Since that's the case, we'll call you Chen Pike. Pike, how did you get this injury?"

"When everyone and I went to deliver ammunition to the front line, we were beaten with guns by the devils from the Japanese Concession." Chen Dogfish said with some pride, "Last night, we spent the whole night delivering ammunition to the security team. , Me and them also burned down a devil's opium den."

However, when he said this, Chen Gouyu's eyes turned red again. He covered his eyes with his sleeves and said intermittently with a cry, "Several brothers have died, and the little leftover who sold cigarettes in Quanyechang was beaten. He was dead. Wang Liang, who was selling cigarettes at the British Hospital, was killed by a bomb. The third brother was also dead. He dragged his intestines and crawled several meters. I just wanted to save him. Hit by a devil."

For a moment, only Chen Pike's painful sobs and the occasional sighs of the others remained in the smoky basement.

(End of this chapter)