War Photographer's Notebook

In the dark and narrow passage of the basement, Wei Ran slowly sat down with his back against the wall painted with the Last Supper. He lit a cigarette for himself shivering and took a long puff, and as expected, he choked repeatedly. cough.

A moment later, Mei Xiang also came out, and this clean girl sat next to Wei Ran, also leaning against the wall, and slowly sat on the floor, just like Wei Ran, tremblingly lit a cigarette.

"Is there no way?" Meixiang asked in a trembling tone amidst the lingering smoke.

"No way." Wei Ran shook his head slightly, he really had no way.

"Or ask Dr. Dagmar?" Meixiang suggested resolutely, "Maybe he has a solution?"

"Then try it." Wei Ran said, struggling to stand up, "I'm going to Deutsche Matheson."

"Take this"

Mei Xiang said, and handed over a small purse embroidered with lotus flowers. In this unsealed purse, there were two heavy gold bars.

"You also have a lot of troubles." Wei Ran pointed to the other end of the passage, "Let Canhua tell you the details."

"Okay", Mei Xiang nodded, watched Wei Ran walk to the end of the passage, climbed the ladder with one hand, and climbed up with a little effort.

"How's it going?"

Just as Wei Ran got out of the small door, Mama Yang who was waiting outside asked impatiently.

"Is there any candy at home?" Wei Ran asked the wrong answer.

"Yes, yes!" Mama Yang nodded quickly.

"Find a piece of gauze to wrap the sugar and give it to him. Remember to hang it with a rope so that you don't choke him."

Wei Ran hardened his heart, and said as he walked out, "In order not to bite his tongue, I have dislocated his jaw. Before leaving, let him eat something sweet."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran didn't dare to look at the panic-stricken Mama Yang, stepped up and left the basement, and said hello to Tao Canhua and Mute Cao who were guarding the entrance of the small building and courtyard.Driving the car of the Devil Newspaper, he rushed to Deutschland as fast as possible.

When Wei Ran and Volker, who went out to greet him, explained their intentions in German, the latter immediately brought him into the office, and not long after, came in with Dr. Dagmar who was still wearing a white coat and a mask .

"Why is Dr. Dagmar still dressed like this?" Wei Ran asked in German while waiting for Volker to close the door, and at the same time used the name "Dagmar", implying that he already knew the relationship between the two brothers and sisters .

"I am now a temporary doctor employed by Schweiger Co., Ltd., responsible for the health of all the staff of the company."

Dagmar took off his mask and sat on the sofa to explain casually, and then asked straight to the point, "Mr. Victor is definitely not here to chat with me. Tell me, what trouble did you encounter?"

"Tetanus," Wei Ran said bluntly, and at the same time placed the two gold bars on the table between the three of them.

"you?"

Dagmar immediately stood up nervously, strode up to Wei Ran, reached out and tore off his hat to check the wound.

Wei Ran did not evade the other party's inspection, "It's not me"

"Andy?!" Dagmar became more and more nervous, and his voice trembled.

"No." Wei Ran paused, and said as calmly as possible, "It's a child."

Hearing this, Doctor Dagmar asked after a moment of silence, "What's the first symptom?"

"Within 24 hours after the trauma, facial muscle tension, limb spasm, accompanied by..."

"I can't save this child." Dagmar said weakly, "Victor, give up, help him end his life as soon as possible, and prevent him from suffering more torture. This is the most humane way to treat him."

"I know." Wei Ran nodded.

"How's Andy doing?" Dagmar asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know," Wei Ran replied, "That day my cousin's driver sent her out of the city overnight."

"It's best like this." Dagmar breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked, "Is Ms. Meixiang back?"

"no"

Wei Ran shook his head, "Dr. Dagmar, Mr. Walker, I came here to inquire about my cousin's whereabouts. I never asked about tetanus."

"Your cousin and I are good friends, but I don't know where she went." Volker was the first to react, and said regretfully, "Victor, I'm afraid you have to go to other places to ask ”

"we can only do this"

Wei Ran sighed, "My cousin is going to attend the dance on the 6th at Seventh Heaven, I have to get her back as soon as possible before then, otherwise I will have to run away."

"If you are going to run away, I can help you buy a boat ticket to Germany." Walker said, picked up the two gold bars on the table and stuffed them to Wei Ran.

"Victor, wait for me." Dagmar said, already putting on a mask, opened the door and walked out.

Not long after, Dagmar walked in again, and in her hand was a small glass bottle that was only the size of a thumb.

"What is this?" Wei Ran asked after taking the small glass bottle handed over by the other party.

"cyanide"

Dagmar sighed, "I prepared it for myself, and gave it to that poor child. This is the only help I can offer."

"thanks."

Holding the lead-sealed vial tightly, Wei Ran finally drove the car back even though he was unwilling to face the cruel decision in the basement.

When he returned empty-handed to the basement that was still filled with sadness, everyone knew that the last glimmer of hope had been shattered.

"Doctor Weiwei"

Xu Keqin, the elder brother of the Xu family, looked at Wei Ran, and at the same time held his younger brother's hand with his hand, "We...we have discussed it."

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at his younger brother who had a piece of candy wrapped in a white cloth in his mouth, wiped away his tears, and said firmly, "Send... send my brother away. Don't make him suffer."

Turning his head, he exchanged glances with the red-eyed Mei Xiang and Miss Guan, and Wei Ran looked at Andy who clenched his fists, and Uncle Meng and Mr. Feng who were sighing.

In the end, he silently walked towards the wooden box containing various medicines, and reached out to take out a morphine ampoule from it.

"Let me help you," Andy said calmly.

"I will do it myself"

Wei Ran stubbornly refused the other party's help, pinched the ampoule with his fractured right hand, and flicked it open with the fingers of his left hand, then chose a glass syringe, replaced it with the thinnest needle, and sucked the liquid medicine inside. out.

Finally looking at the child with a dislocated jaw on the bed, Wei Ran avoided his big warm eyes.Meticulously wiped his thin arm with an alcohol cotton ball, and after finding the blood vessel, he slowly inserted the needle into it, and finally pushed the needle tube gently to push all the liquid medicine in.

In the quiet basement, Xu Keqin whispered something into his brother's ear, but the whisper was interrupted several times by his own sobs, and Xu Kejian, who was the listener, couldn't respond, but nodded his head with difficulty. , On his not-so-clean little face, there was gradually a smile that was extremely difficult, but also extremely bright and brilliant, making one dare not look directly at it.

I don't know how long it took, as the effect of the medicine took effect, the expression on Xu Kejian's face gradually relaxed. Wei Ran also helped the other party put his chin back on, and then he took his own dual-lens reflex camera and took a picture of this poor child. Photos, and a photo with his tearful brother.

"Let's have a good time"

Wei Ran sighed, while Xu Keqin was crying desperately, under the watchful eyes of Chen Gouyu clenched his fists to prevent himself from crying, and with the help of Mei Xiang and Guan Linglu, he carried Xu Kejian out of the room and took a step forward. Walking to the other end of the passage, let Cao Dumb who was waiting here help him lift Xu Kejian up.

Apparently, Dumb Cao already knew something, helped untie the wooden board behind Xu Kejian, carried him out of the basement, and sent him into the Devil's car.

"This will make it easier for him to go"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out the bottle of cyanide poison and the syringe he had just used from his pocket, and with the help of Cao Duba, filled the syringe with liquid medicine.

The two looked at each other, and Wei Ran waited for the other to nod wearily, and then plunged the sharp needle into the blood vessel in Xu Kejian's neck, and slowly pushed the highly toxic cyanide into his blood vessel.

After he pulled out the needle, Cao Duan motioned Wei Ran to leave the carriage, closed the door, and drove away from the courtyard alone.

Watching the other party go away, Wei Ran looked at the syringe in his hand, sighed secretly, after searching left and right, found a dirty rag, wrapped the syringe carefully and threw it into the trash can .

He didn't know where Cao Dumb would send Xu Kejian, but he knew that it was more important to take care of the living than the dead.

With heavy steps, he turned around and returned to the dignified basement. Wei Ran guided Qiushi to change the medicines for all the wounded, including himself, and then fled out of the small door as if in despair.

"That's not your fault"

Mei Xiang, who came out with Wei Ran, comforted her as calmly as possible, "You have done your best."

Nodding weakly, Wei Ran glanced at the burden on the table and the small bag containing silver dollars, rubbed his face vigorously, changed the subject and said, "I just got another 300 oceans from Ueda's men, by the way, pretend Leaked, I bought you a train ticket back on the 6th."

Hearing this, Meixiang, who was slightly pale, nodded, opened the bag, took out the kimono stacked inside, shook it out, looked at it, and asked to herself, "Does it look good?"

"People are pretty, but the clothes don't matter." Wei Ran said wearily.

Meixiang smiled, and when she saw Qiushi coming up, she said as if no one else was there, "You came up just in time, help me change into the kimono."

"Still going out?" Qiu Shi rolled his eyes at Wei Ran who was staring at himself in a daze in the mirror.

"Need not"

Mei Xiang indifferently greeted Wei Ran who was about to go out, and she had already put the kimono on her body while speaking.

Under Qiu Shi's service, Mei Xiang quickly put on the kimono and clogs brought by Wei Ran and Tao Canhua.

Going to the mirror and looking around, Mei Xiang turned to look at Wei Ran, "On the 6th, you and I went to the dance together. Do you still remember what I told you on the first day you came to this bookstore?"

"Remember" Wei Ran nodded, "If someone insults your innocence, kill him, and if you can't kill him, kill you."

"Go back and rest." Meixiang waved her hand, and then began to take off the kimono she was wearing.

Seeing this, Wei Ran nodded, turned around and went back to the first floor along the stairs.

In the next few days, apart from sending Tao Canhua to play the piano and sing for Ueda every day, taking care of the flowers and plants upstairs and downstairs, and the parrot that was about to be fed, Wei Ran devoted all his energy to taking care of the wounded. body.

Fortunately, whether it is Xu Keqin or Uncle Meng, or Chen Gouyu and Feng Maoyun, Mr. Feng, Guan Bingwen, or even Wei Ran himself, their respective wounds are slowly healing.

Compared with the good news from the underground, what came into view above the surface was more and more slogans and propaganda that flattered Japan, as well as the anti-Japanese martyrs who were openly shot to death.

Even elementary and middle school students in some schools were dragged into the street by the devils, and forced to sing choruses of whitewashing peace in stuttering Japanese, which were merged into photos of false pictures taken by the devils and the reporters bribed by the devils. photos and published in the newspaper.

In addition, in the past few days, during the busy work of Cao Yaba, Jasmine and Tao Canhua, the windows of the small building and the iron gate of the small courtyard that were sealed before were also restored to their original state. The old hens sent by Guan Bingwen were also turned into chicken soup and braised chicken nuggets as sacrifices to the five internal organs temples of several sick patients.

On the contrary, Yukio Someya had no intention of sending back Meixiang's car from the beginning to the end.Correspondingly, the passes in Wei Ran's hand were not sold at all, and even the fake journalist who claimed to be Ding Rongfu never appeared again.

Time flies to August 8th. In the hidden basement, Mr. Feng, Guan Bingwen, Guan Lingling, Andy and others are just like before, changing dressings for their wounds while angrily discussing Wei Ran. The contents of the newspapers brought back every day, and the street scenes presented in the photos developed by Wei Ran after taking pictures with the camera every now and then.

And in the small courtyard above the ground, the "Master Biao Wei Ran" who "accidentally broke his arm" yesterday because he removed the wooden boards that sealed the windows, also blatantly hung his broken right hand wrapped around his pocket watch on his chest, lying on the bed. On the recliner in the small courtyard, he casually looked at the night sky above his head.

When the hour hand of the pocket watch was about to point to "11" on the dial, a black car also drove to the gate of the courtyard.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately sat up, ran over quickly and opened the courtyard door, let the car drive into the courtyard, and then drove straight into the garage that had been let out in advance.

However, no one got out of the car, instead the Guan family siblings who were being wanted got in in the dark.

A moment later, the car reversed and left the small courtyard again. While Wei Ran locked the courtyard door, it increased its speed and drove away in the night.

When Wei Ran hurried back to the lobby on the first floor, the book apartment, which had been silent for a long time, also turned on all the lights according to the afternoon plan - to welcome the hostess Mei Xiang who came home.

"Xiaoguan's father still loves the child after all"

In the living room on the second floor, Meixiang took a sip of the Gaiwan tea handed over by Yang Ma, "Thanks to his status as a traitor, he spent some money as security for the siblings, and the only ones who are still wanted are the only ones left. I'm leaving Mr. Feng. He has to hide with us for a while, and everyone will take good care of him."

After everyone responded, Mei Xiang continued, "Xiao Su's mother will definitely come over tomorrow during the day."

"Out of the six hundred oceans, two hundred belong to her, and she will definitely come." Wei Ran said with a smile.

"Qiu Shi, prepare two hundred oceans for Xiao Su's mother in advance."

Mei Xiang put down her teacup, "I read in the newspaper you sent this afternoon that the devils are planning to abolish legal currency?"

"At least that's what the newspaper said," Wei Ran replied, "But the British Concession seems not to be prepared to abide by the rules set by the devils, and legal currency can still be used."

"Qiu Shi, prepare legal currency for Xiao Su's mother." Mei Xiang turned her head and said.

"I'll pick out the latest paper tickets for Xiao Su's mother!" Qiu Shi held back and made a promise.

"Mother Yang, get something delicious during the day tomorrow."

Mei Xiang smiled and continued to order, "Cousin, you will follow me to the dance tomorrow, Dumb Uncle, you will be responsible for driving then, and Jasmine, you will follow too."

"Hey!" Jasmine responded, and Wei Ran also nodded.

"That's it." Mei Xiang stood up and walked to the third floor after speaking, "Everyone will sing this play together tomorrow."