War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1200
In the darkened basement, the two electric fans at the ventilation windows were turning tirelessly. One was responsible for drawing out the stale air full of blood and medicine smells, and the other was responsible for sending in the fresh air mixed with the aroma of rose flowers on the surface.

On the two hospital beds together, Andy, with both legs broken, crawled beside Uncle Meng's legs, and under the guidance of Wei Ran, who had a broken arm, he completed the suture operation with difficulty.

This is not the end, but just the beginning. With the help that Wei Ran can provide, and with the persistence of Andy, who can't even kneel and sit, the two first cleaned up the whole body of Uncle Meng. Afterwards, he carefully treated the serious penetrating wounds on the two semi-old children.

"It's a pity that the resistance was not broken."

After everything was done, Wei Ran frowned and muttered, although the condition of the two children seemed less serious than that of Uncle Meng, in fact their condition was more critical.Among them, what worries him the most is the tetanus, which has no cure in this era.

At any rate, he was a historian, at least he was a historian with the nickname of "veterinary doctor". At least he knew that the useful tetanus antitoxin and life-saving antibiotics would not be available until 1938.

The packs of sulfonamides he has now, let alone save the three seriously wounded, even if they can save Chen Pike, who has been watching silently on the bed with his fists clenched, would be considered a high incense. .

Not to mention him, at least in the desolate era of 1937, even Western medicine itself was a younger brother who had only just attended elementary school, let alone Western medicine and Western medicine in China?
"what did you just say?"

Andy turned over and lay on her back on her bed. He took off his gloves and threw them away. While moving his numb arms and shoulders, he interrupted Wei Ran's thoughts. He opened the cigarette case next to him and lit a cigarette for himself.

"It's nothing." Wei Ran shook his head, suppressed the worries in his heart, moved to sit by the vent, and lit a cigarette with a little effort.

"I know them both"

Chen Gouyu, who was lying on his side on the bed, suddenly said, "They are two brothers. The eldest is named Xu Keqin, and the younger is named Xu Kejian. They are the sons of the owner of the sesame oil shop, Xu Kejian, and they are the only ones among our dozen or so people. Two people who can count and read."

Seeing Wei Ran and Andy looking at him, Chen Pike continued, "A few years ago, their sesame oil shop ran out of water, and their parents were burned to death. , was taken back by Boss Zhang to live with us in the ruined temple, and usually sells cigarettes with us, and also helps us settle accounts and so on.

When we fought two days ago, Boss Zhang saw that the two of them were the youngest, so he asked them to stay in the ruined temple and guard the corn bread pancakes we saved from being eaten by wild dogs. "

Speaking of this, Chen Gouyu wiped away tears, "If I knew they had to suffer this crime, it would be better"

"Where are so many memories?" Andy sighed faintly, and suddenly changed into German and asked, "Which of the three of them can survive?"

"Hard to say"

After pondering for a moment, Wei Ran replied in German, "Although Uncle Meng is seriously injured, the penetrating wounds and cuts on his body seem to be left by the devil with a bayonet. His condition is considered good, but even if he recovers, I'm afraid The left leg won't be too neat either."

"Those two children."

"tetanus"

A German phrase came out of Wei Ran's mouth with difficulty, and Andy's face turned pale. Obviously, this beautiful girl with extremely rich clinical experience knew very well how much trouble this was.

"Although the penetrating wounds on their legs and arms only went through the muscles, you could see it when the wounds were just debridement. In addition to the torn muscles, there were still yellow traces of rust on them."

Wei Ran glanced at the two children at this point, and continued in German worriedly, "Now we can only bet on their luck. If nothing happens in the next ten days, then there is a high probability that they will survive."

"hope so"

Andy sighed, pointed to the closed iron door with a cigarette in his finger, and said in his native language, "Go and send a signal to the higher up, Qiu Shi, help me close the curtain, I want to change it to a clean one." clothes."

"Okay!" Qiu Shi, who had been helping by the hospital bed just now, replied palely, and helped Andy close the curtains.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately got up and left the room with a cigarette in his mouth. After Qiushi locked the door from the inside, he went to the other end of the passage to find the switch and pressed it.

He didn't make him wait for long, as the light came on in the passageway and the small door above his head was opened, Tao Canhua immediately climbed down and helped Wei Ran up with a broken arm.

"How's the situation?" Mei Xiang, who was waiting outside, asked immediately after he stood firm.

"The situation is not very good." Wei Ran shook his head and repeated his worries.

"I see, I'll go down and take care of them." Mei Xiang said, and was about to get into the small door.

"Wait a minute" Wei Ran called to stop Mei Xiang, and then glanced at Tao Canhua.

"I'll go up there and watch"

Although Tao Canhua has an introverted personality, he is a smart person who knows how to advance and retreat. Before Wei Ran or Mei Xiang could say anything, he pushed the big mirror back half a meter, squeezed through with difficulty, and ran towards first floor.

Mei Xiang leaned against the wall and looked at Wei Ran until the sound of closing the door was heard above her head, "What do you want to ask?"

"I want to know if the Someya couple is trustworthy." Wei Ran expressed his doubts frankly.

"You can trust them"

Meixiang paused, and added, "But like the Volker brothers and sisters, they and I are just very good friends. Things that should be kept secret should still be kept secret from them, such as this basement."

"A recruiting couple?" Wei Ran implicitly expressed his distrust of the Someya couple.

"Recruitment? Heh!"

Mei Xiang snorted, walked over to a table of the Eight Immortals not far away and sat down, lit a cigarette slowly, and explained in the same candid tone, "Strictly speaking, they are not recruiters."

"How do you say that?" Wei Ran stared straight at Mei Xiang, making it clear that he was waiting for an explanation from the other party.

"Someya's father was a fisherman from Rongcheng, his surname was Ran, and his mother was from Ryukyu. Later, the smuggling business became big, so he moved to Osaka, where the nuclear program was in force."

Mei Xiang looked into Wei Ran's eyes and explained, "His wife Shunzi is indeed from Osaka, but like him, she has half Chinese blood. Her father was sent by the Beiyang Western School to recruit students studying abroad."

At this point, Meixiang saw that Wei Ran was silent, took a puff of cigarette and continued, "Shunzi's father's cousin married my cousin."

Seeing that there seemed to be a flash of surprise on Wei Ran's face, Mei Xiang sprayed a nearly perfect smoke ring on his face, and asked calmly, "Do you have any doubts, cousin?"

"there is none left"

While shaking his head, Wei Ran secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and then changed the subject and asked, "How is Xiaoguan, his sister, and Mr. Feng? Are they trustworthy?"

"The brothers and sisters of the Guan family are trustworthy, and they also know the existence of the basement."

Meixiang put out her cigarette in the ashtray, stood up and walked towards the hidden door and said, "Just now Linglu decided to take Xiaoguan home to recuperate. The mute uncle has already driven them home. Mr. Feng will be there recently." I'm recuperating in the book apartment. If you have nothing to worry about, can I go down?"

"My cousin was joking, so there's nothing to worry about."

Wei Ran replied with a smile on his face, "I am your cousin after all. I have to know how close we are to each other."

"Forget you can talk." Mei Xiang rolled Wei Ran's eyes, bent down and got into the small door, climbed up the ladder and disappeared from Wei Ran's sight.

Carefully close the small door that hides the basement, and then restore the photo frame and stair railing to their original state.When Wei Ran went upstairs and opened the door of the storage room, he immediately saw Tao Canhua standing outside for a walk.

"The rat poison has been arranged." Seeing Wei Ran coming up, Tao Canhua immediately whispered, "I even filled the corners outside the courtyard."

"Thanks a lot"

Wei Ran patted the other party's shoulder lightly, and nodded with Yang's mother, then sat on the sofa on the first floor and lit a cigarette again, watching Jasmine bandaging the devastated Feng Maoyun under a desk lamp. It's a wound on the hand.

"Son, how are the people who have just been sent in?" Yang's mother asked worriedly, "Do you need to get them something to eat?"

"You don't need to eat for now." Wei Ran shook his head, "Whether they can survive now depends on their own luck."

"When will this world be the leader?"

Yang Ma patted her thigh and sighed, poured Wei Ran a cup of tea, then turned up the fan's power, and left the dark hall on the first floor with a sigh.

"Today during the day, we saw devils killing people several times."

In the lobby on the first floor, Tao Canhua hid in the shadow that was not illuminated by the only lit desk lamp and said almost through gritted teeth, "Uncle Mute and I watched them murder and rob on the streets, watched them abuse women, and even watched them Killing children and burning down houses, they, aren't they afraid of retribution?!"

"They will get their comeuppance"

Wei Ran murmured to himself, took a shuddering puff of cigarette, then stood up and walked to Feng Maoyun.

"Feel sorry"

Wei Ran murmured softly, and said in a guilty tone, "I'm sorry, Mr. Feng, I... I couldn't save Mrs. Huang, she died on the operating table I was in charge of."

After saying this, Wei Ran bowed solemnly, and Feng Maoyun, who was originally ashamed, couldn't help but shivered, and his eyes full of despair also overflowed with unstoppable tears.

Wiping the tears from his face in a panic, Feng Maoyun stood up unsteadily, and hurriedly helped Wei Ran who hadn't straightened up, "I don't blame you, I don't blame you, really."

Feng Maoyun didn't finish a sentence, but he was crying so hard that he lost his voice.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran helped the other party to sit down on the sofa again, opened the cigarette case and took out a cigarette, stuffed it into the other party's mouth, and then helped him light it up again.

"Smok a cigarette, maybe you can feel better."

Wei Ran comforted the other party in a pale tone, Feng Maoyun also leaned on the back of the sofa and closed his tearful eyes, sucking the cigarette that Wei Ran helped him light, trying in vain to anesthetize himself with nicotine.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran lowered his head, quietly guided Jasmine, and treated Feng Maoyun's densely packed wounds on his hands and body.

Almost when Jasmine was wrapping a bandage on Feng Maoyun's last wound, someone knocked on the courtyard door, and at the same time Wei Ran heard the movement of a car.

Glancing at Tao Canhua who was about to run out holding the small PPK pistol, Wei Ran stood up and walked out the door and said, "Canhua, give me the pistol, and then take Mr. Feng to the storage room with Jasmine and lock the door." .”

Hearing this, Tao Canhua, who had already run to the foyer, gritted his teeth, and finally honestly returned the small pistol in his hand to its original owner and returned it to Wei Ran. Then, together with Jasmine, he helped Mr. Feng into the shelter temporarily. storage room and locked the door.

Stepping on the ladder in the dark, he carefully glanced outside the wall, and saw that the only person standing at the door was Dumb Cao, so Wei Ran opened the courtyard door and let the other party drive the car in.

However, what he didn't expect was that when he bolted the courtyard door again, and when the car door opened, Guan Linglu actually helped her younger brother Guan Bingwen get out from inside!

"You are."

"Bingwen is wanted"

Guan Linglu said helplessly, "Just now we met Ms. Meixiang's car on the way. Mr. Someya, the recruiting reporter who drove the car, told me. He said that their newspaper office received a request to arrest the cadres of the student union of Nankai University. Guan Bingwen and Mr. Feng are wanted together."

Speaking of this, Guan Linglu paused, and said in a low voice, "There is still me, I'm afraid we can't go back. After Uncle Cao heard what Someya had said, he drove us back and brought us back from Deutsche Matheson by the way. Got some medicine from Mr. Walker."

"Go ahead." Wei Ran suppressed his curiosity and led the two back to the lobby on the first floor.

After Cao Dumb took out a suitcase from the trunk and followed him in, Wei Ran asked curiously, "Why are you wanted by the devil?"

Hearing this, Guan Linglu subconsciously looked at Jasmine who was helping Mr. Feng out of the storage room. Seeing the latter nodding, the girl pondered for a moment and said, "Sister Meixiang told me that you are trustworthy, so let's go Shall we talk upstairs?"

"Go, go."

Wei Ran stood up happily, picked up a candle lamp on the table, took Guan Linglu up to the second floor, and sat face to face on the sofa in the living room.

"Before the war started, Mr. Feng delivered a speech against the war and publicly refuted the devils who kidnapped the student union."

Guan Linglu stared blankly at the candle light on the coffee table between the two of them and continued, "My brother Bingwen is a member of the student union, and they organized many anti-Japanese demonstrations. Before, the devil wanted to pretend to be a reporter. In the name of kidnapping my brother."

"What about you?" Wei Ran asked abruptly, "Are you also a student of Nan Kai?"

"I'm not"

Guan Linglu shook her head, and said in a proud tone, "I am a student of the Provincial Women's Teacher and a member of the Girls' Student Association. I was wanted for the same reason as my younger brother."

After saying this, Guan Linglu shook her head helplessly, "I'm ashamed to say, my father has been working for the devils, he is a real traitor, our siblings really didn't do anything to offset my father's sins, on the contrary Miss Meixiang."

"Everyone is responsible"

Wei Ran said softly, "There's nothing wrong with you, it's good for you to hide here, just to help my cousin take care of the wounded. If you want to escape from Jinmen, we will pay attention to the situation in the near future, and we will send you out when the time is right .”

"Thank you." Guan Linglu thanked her slightly ashamedly.

"you are welcome"

Wei Ran waved his hand pretending to be relaxed, "Since Miss Linglu is here, she must be working. I don't know what specialties you have, so I can arrange some work for you."

"I"

Guan Linglu pondered for a moment, then said helplessly, "I am a student of the Department of Painting, I guess there is probably no need for people who can draw here."

"Not always"

Wei Ran stood up while speaking, "It's not too late. Miss Linglu must be very familiar with my cousin's place. I'll let Jasmine come up later. You can take a shower and change clothes here before going down. Mr. Feng and Xiao I rely on you to take care of Guan Guan and the other wounded people in the basement."

"I will help Sister Meixiang." Guan Linglu immediately made a promise, and watched Wei Ran walk down the second floor in the dark.

In the blink of an eye, the number of resident wounded in the basement doubled, and it was obviously already a bit stretched to rely on those wire beds.

So after some discussion, Guan Bingwen and Mr. Feng, who were wounded, were sent in. Meixiang, Qiushi, and Guan Linglu were on duty in the basement according to the system of eight hours each, and the other two who were not on duty , Resting directly in the semi-basement with all the windows sealed.

The people on the surface also arranged the order of duty to ensure that when someone came to the door, they would immediately notify the people in the semi-basement to hide in the dark room.

After such busy and tense arrangements, Wei Ran was finally able to return to his room, lie under the fan, and continue to complete his smoking task.

In a blink of an eye, it was nine o'clock in the morning the next day. When he got up to replace Cao Dumb who had been on duty all night at the gate, the gate of the small courtyard was slapped again from the outside.

Without any discussion at all, Cao Duan ran quickly into the basement. Wei Ran, who was already dressed, unbuttoned his shirt, then loosened his belt and grabbed it with his left hand. The door of the small building answered, "Wait!"

Glancing at Dumb Cao who ran out of the storage room and locked the door from the corner of his eye, Wei Ran cursed and walked to the door of the building, and while putting on his belt, he asked cursingly, "Which random graveyard do you want?" Did you get out? Report your father’s funeral? Then I’ll knock on the door and kill you with a single shot!”

"I'm the servant of Mr. Gu Chuan and Mrs. Su." The person who had been scolded outside the courtyard suppressed his anger, and reported his family name with a little pride.

"Yo! Yo Yo Yo! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Wei Ran, who was cursing just now, immediately made a 180-degree turn, kicked the top door bar with both feet, opened the bolted fence door, and first slapped himself gently on the face with his left hand, Then he nodded and bowed his head and asked, "Look at my stinky mouth, and look at Haihan when I offend you. My sister, what are you doing? No, what is Mr. Gu Chuan's order?"

"I'm here to speak for Mr. Ueda"

Wearing a kimono, the woman who looked like she was about 40 years old said with a mean and proud face, "Mr. Ueda said that he will send Tao Canhua to play music on time tomorrow, and let me warn you that Tao Canhua's performance fees are not allowed to be deducted, otherwise Mr. Ueda I will personally send you to the patrol room."

"No way!"

Wei Ran glanced fiercely at the back first, and then said with a smile on his face, "Please let Mr. Ueda rest assured! I will send Xiaotao there on time tomorrow!"

"Don't deduct Tao Canhua's performance fees," the woman reminded while staring at Wei Ran.

"No, no, absolutely not!" Wei Ran repeatedly assured, "He is my cousin, how could I do such a thing!"

"I will convey your promise to Mr. Ueda, and Mrs. Su asked me to tell you to invite Miss Meixiang back as soon as possible, and restore the book apartment to its original state as soon as possible, especially get rid of the chickens under the tree. Make this beautiful yard look like a country dweller's shack."

After the woman finished speaking, she looked contemptuously at the disheveled Wei Ran and the belt he hadn't had time to fasten, then turned around and got into the rickshaw waiting by the side of the road and drove away.

"This is really hard on you."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he spit out thick phlegm, took two steps back, endured the pain at the fracture site, and closed the courtyard door with a normal expression.

(End of this chapter)