War Photographer's Notebook

"Crack!"

In the strong white light, before Wei Ran had time to see the surrounding situation clearly, he heard thunder and the sound of rain, and at the same time smelled the faint smell of Chinese herbal medicine.

He tried his best to blink his eyes, but when his vision returned to normal, he frowned.At this time, he was wearing a pair of shorts, shirtless and standing in the foyer of the Xuqing Letter Apartment, less than two meters ahead, under the canopy at the gate, he was already stuck on the walls on both sides at the highest point of the entrance steps, and covered with red brick cement. A dam with a height of one meter and a width of half a meter was built with sandbags.

Across this small flood control embankment, the majestic heavy rain was working hard to water the accumulated sewage in the yard amidst the thunder and lightning. The water that looked relatively clean was already less than one meter away from the wall of the small courtyard. distance.

But look at the flood control embankment at the door, almost one-third of the outside is already soaked in water.

So this is late August 1939?Tianjin flood?
While muttering to himself, Wei Ran looked up at the gloomy weather, and then looked behind him, only to find that the hall on this floor was empty at this time.

Glancing again at the iron gate that almost soaked his whole body in the flood, he turned and walked into the hall on the first floor, and checked all the rooms on the first floor.

Quite interestingly, he found that in the room where Tao Canhua originally lived, several large water tanks that seemed to be placed in the yard before had already been placed. On the briquette stove, on the table next to the wall, there are thirty or forty kettles, and several flower pots with shallots or peppers.

Go to the back door of the kitchen on the first floor to see that there is also a waterproof embankment on the steps outside the door
However, the flower bed on the west side of the small building that hides the basement vent was not protected by the flower bed built in 1937 to block the basement and the rain shelter above the head that was wide enough to extend outside the courtyard wall. in the water.

Even, in order to prevent the courtyard wall adjacent to this flower bed from collapsing, several top door bars as thick as calves and thick wooden boards were used to support and protect it.

Not only that, behind the windows of each room on the first floor, sandbags were used to build a series of flood barriers in advance.At the door of the storage room, preparations were made in advance.

Where has everyone gone.
Wei Ran muttered to himself while looking at the stairs leading to the second floor, then stepped over the flood barrier prepared in advance at the door of the storage room, and entered the basement along the steps.

The news is good and bad, perhaps thanks to the protection of the flower beds built in 37, there is no water in the basement, but even so, the surrounding walls are already covered with water beads.Some of the solid wood floors under their feet have been soaked up, exposing gaps as wide as fingertips.

In addition, all the items that were originally placed in the basement that could be moved have been moved, leaving only some tables, chairs and benches.

Glancing at the stairs, Wei Ran moved away the large mirror familiarly, only to find that the wooden door leading to the hidden basement had been locked with a padlock, and the door and the cracks of the door were still covered with thick paint. layer of asphalt.

After pushing the mirror frame back to its original position and fixing it, he quickly ran out of the basement and closed the door of the storage room at the same time.

However, before he could decide whether to go to the second floor to have a look, there was a series of abnormal noises that were not clear in the rainstorm but could not be ignored from the direction of the yard.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran quickly ran to the hallway, hid behind the half-covered door, took a quick peek carefully, and then took a second look, only then was he sure that at this time the iron gate of the book apartment Outside, a small boat full of people was docked.

At this time, there was a man wearing a raincoat whose appearance could not be clearly seen on the boat undoing the iron chain wrapped around the door.

"Who?"

Wei Ran shouted more than the other party, and at the same time, he also took out the flashlight from the metal book and shone the beam of light on it.

"it's me!"

During the heavy rain, the person responsible for opening the door responded loudly, "It's me! Tao Canhua!"

"Come in!" Wei Ran heaved a sigh of relief, and at the same time extinguished the beam of the flashlight.

Not long after, the iron chain on the iron fence door was untied, and the boat that was always bailed out also pushed open the iron gate with difficulty and drifted into the yard.

The people waiting for the boat quickly locked the iron fence door with chains and padlocks, and the boat slowly docked at the edge of the flood embankment on the steps.

Immediately afterwards, the people on the boat came down one by one under the leadership of Tao Canhua.He also helped Tao Canhua tie the wooden boat to the lamp post on the parapet of the steps.

Glancing at these young men who were shirtless, drenched all over and looked disheveled and cramped, Wei Ran shifted his gaze to Chen Pike and Xu Keqin who finally got off the boat, and the two of them who supported him. Yes, that pale, thin, little girl who looked at most seven or eight years old.

"Doctor Wei, she seems to have malaria." Xu Keqin wiped the rain from his face, "Please save her quickly, she has been shaking."

"Quick, go into the room first." Wei Ran didn't dare to delay, and beckoned these half-grown children to hurry in.

After such a short time, there were also hurried footsteps on the stairs leading to the second floor. When Wei Ran was the last to enter and closed the door, Meixiang, Qiushi, and Jasmine were even carrying medicine boxes and wearing Wearing a mask in a white coat, Andy, who had wrapped himself tightly, ran down.

Behind these girls, Mama Yang and the limping Uncle Meng were still following!
"Anyone hurt?"

While Andy was speaking, he had already placed the medicine box on the table and opened it. At the same time, Jasmine also put the kerosene lamp in her hand on the fireplace.

"Here's a man with malaria"

Wei Ran said, and put the little girl in his arms on the table.

Hearing this, Andy also immediately took out a medicine bottle, shook out a pill from it and fed it into the little girl's mouth.

Like an assembly line, Qiu Shi immediately brought a cup of warm boiled water to the little girl's mouth.

When the girl swallowed the pills in her mouth, Andy immediately pointed to the room that belonged to Mute Cao and urged, "Don't just look around, take these children to check for any trauma. Keep those who are injured, and leave them alone. If you are injured, ask Uncle Meng to shave your hair, then go to take a shower before going upstairs."

"Come with me"

Wei Ran said hello, and took the young men except Tao Canhua, Chen Xiuyu and Xu Keqin into the room that originally belonged to Cao Mute. He asked them to take off all their clothes and checked them with a flashlight. some.

Fortunately, except for one of these children who had a small scratch on his heel, the rest were all fine.

At the same time, Chen Xiuyu also walked in holding a wicker box.There was nothing else in this box, just brand new white towels and a wooden handle toothbrush rolled up in the towel.

"Listen to me"

Xu Keqin cleared his throat and said in a loud voice, "Miss loves to be clean. She especially can't stand the smell of sweat on her body, let alone bad breath. After you shave your head, Brother Pike will take you to the bathroom to take a shower."

Now everyone comes to me to get a towel and a toothbrush. There is soap and tooth powder in the bathroom. Learn how to brush your teeth carefully with Brother Pike. After that, brush once a day after breakfast and once after dinner. If anyone is not good Brush your teeth, but no food!
In the end, I washed myself clean, and when I came out, I could ask Brother Canhua to get the big underpants, sweatshirt and cloth shoes.

Now come to me to get a towel. After you get it, go to the hall and let Uncle Meng shave your heads, and then go to take a shower. "

"There's a girl out there in Cocoa," a young man who looked about thirteen or fourteen years old said shyly while clutching his crotch.

"No one is looking at you"

As Xu Keqin said, he handed a towel wrapped with a toothbrush to the other party, "Miss and the others have already gone upstairs, and you can go upstairs when you clean up later."

Hearing this, these middle-aged and middle-aged boys were slightly relieved, opened the door carefully, probed their brains to observe, and then went out one by one with their buttocks bare, so that Uncle Meng, who was already waiting at the door of the bathroom, With the razor in his hand, he shaved long or short hair with a few brushes, and then went into the bathroom in groups of two and two under the command of Tao Canhua and Chen Pike respectively—just like Wei Ran and Tao Canhua was exactly the same when he joined the job.

Not long after, the little baldheads who had been washed came out again with bare feet, and after drying their bodies, they changed into the big trousers, coarse sweaters, and round-toed cloth shoes prepared for them.

While the children were taking a bath, Wei Ran also returned to his room, closed the door and took out the medical kit.

Fortunately, the medical box is not empty and miserable, and although the American medical soldier's helmet, plasma powder and penicillin still haven't appeared, the white coat is as new as before, and there are also many malaria treatment medicines And 5 tubes of the invaluable equine tetanus antitoxin.

Without daring to delay, Wei Ran returned to Dumb Cao's room with the medicine box in hand. After careful debridement of the wounded heel of the little guy, and a skin test, he gave a precious injection of antibiotic breaking.

When he finished his work here, the little guys outside hadn't showered and shaved their heads yet.

"I'll take him to shave his head and take a shower later," said Xu Keqin, who was always with him in the room.

"Then I will trouble you"

Wei Ran had put away the medicine box while speaking, "By the way, what date is it today?"

"August 8st," Xu Qin replied immediately.

"No wonder."

Wei Ran muttered to himself, and continued to ask in a casual tone, "What's going on outside now?"

"Hi! Forget it!"

However, Xu Keqin, who was [-] or [-] years old, said angrily, "This is a flood. The devils who are sons of a bitch are still blocking the British and French concessions. Those bastards are now allowed to enter and not allowed to leave. And only refugees are allowed." Come in, no food, drink or medicine is allowed. I look at them like that, I wish all the refugees would flood into the British and French Concession."

"What about the disaster situation?" Wei Ran continued to ask, even these situations, he had seen in the historical files of later generations.

"We heard from people who ran in that the water at the entrance of Quanyechang was three to four meters deep, and the first floor of the Zhongyuan Company on the devil's side was also flooded."

"I heard that it was the devils who blew up the embankment and created the flood. Now the Haihe River is full of corpses."

The young man with an injured heel echoed, "Not only the Haihe River, but also a lot of drowned people, even the Qinghong Gang came together to rescue people and relieve disasters.

The hateful thing is that the Japanese Concession of the Devils has already built a waterproof dam. I heard that water pumps have been used to pump water out, and all the refugees inside have been driven out. "

"Not only that"

Xu Keqin gritted his teeth and said, "I heard that they still took pictures. They took a lot of pictures of them pretending to be disaster relief and saving people. After the pictures were taken, those who were rescued by them on the motorboat were pushed down again."

These dog days!
Wei Ran clenched his fists involuntarily—even though he had read the same description in the historical files before entering this time and space.

"Cousin" At this time, Tao Canhua also pushed open the door, "Aunt told you to go up, go to the third floor.".

"I'm coming"

Wei Ran responded, and went back to his room with the medicine box in hand. After closing the door, he took the medicine box back into the food box, but took the time to take out the usable things for a quick check.

Fortunately, all the things that Bai Guang could use before can be taken out and used, even the broken right hand has recovered.

Not only that, but the small PPK pistol that he bought from Volker, the manager of the German foreign company, and the red ginseng slices and several pieces of small yellow croakers he bought at the pharmacy were also in the food box. , and dozens of odd and complete oceans.

Cigarettes, I have to buy cigarettes
While Wei Ran was speaking, he first lit himself a cigarette with the front door number.Before that white light, he bought a pack of Qianmen and a pack of Camel cigarettes from the injured Chen Pike every day, but he didn't know if this method could still be used now.

Thinking of this, he took out a piece of ocean from the food box and put it in his pocket, then put away the food box, put on a coarse sweater, and opened the door.

"Chen Pike" Wei Ran waved at Chen Pike who was busy.

"Hey!" Chen Gouyu responded, put down the things in his hand and ran over in three or two steps.

"Do you still have cigarettes?" Wei Ran asked first.

"Yes, yes! I'll get it for you right now!" Chen Gouyu said and was about to run to Mute Cao's room.

"Come back" Wei Ran called the other party, and before he could speak, he handed Dayang in his hand to the other party.

"Doctor Wei" Chen Gouyu, who is not good at words, quickly waved his hands, "What are you doing! I"

"hold"

Wei Ran couldn't help but put the Dayang in his hand into the opponent's hand, "You know what I smoke, right?"

"Know, know!"

Chen Pike held the ocean tightly, turned around and ran into Mute Cao's room, and after a short while, brought over a pack of Qianmen, a pack of camels, and a box of matches.

Taking the cigarettes and matches and stuffing them into his pocket, Wei Ran stepped up to the second floor, and then saw a scene that surprised him.

At this time, the banquet hall on the second floor was filled with mats one after another. On each mat, there was a blanket and pillows made of various things.

And in the living room with a long western-style table, a small blackboard that is not too big has been hung on the wall.At this time, Jasmine was leading a dozen children learning to read in the living room.

Looking at the living room again, there is a briquette stove by the floor-to-ceiling windows, and a large pottery pot is placed on top of it, in which some kind of traditional Chinese medicine decoction of unknown purpose is being boiled.

Without stopping, Wei Ran continued to walk upstairs, but found that there were also many people on the third floor, including Meixiang, Andy, Qiushi, and several young girls of different ages.

Same as downstairs, on the floor of the living room, there are also mats spread out one after another, with blankets neatly folded on top of them.

Not only that, but by the window facing the terrace, there is a colorful big parrot walking back and forth on the shelf.

Seeing Wei Ran coming up, Mei Xiang and Andy, who seemed to be busy distributing something to the children just now, looked at each other, and said while walking towards the bedroom, "Come in."

"Is it suitable?" Even though Wei Ran said so, he followed without hesitation—this was the first time he entered Mei Xiang's bedroom.

"When will you be talking nonsense?"

Mei Xiang shook her head helplessly, and sat directly beside the double bed.But Andy, as if on purpose, let Wei Ran sit on the only single sofa first, and then she sat on the armrest of the sofa, and put her arm on Wei Ran's shoulders, by the way She snatched the half-smoked cigarette from Wei Ran's mouthpiece, put it on her own tortoiseshell mouthpiece, and started smoking.

After Mei Xiang also lit a cigarette, Wei Ran asked, "What's the order for my cousin to call me up?"

"You and Canhua have to go out for a while"

Andy switched to German and said, "Xiaoguan just sent the news that he has two wounded who need to be picked up. I'm worried that Canhua may have an accident by himself. How about you follow along later?"

"Okay." Wei Ran nodded happily.

"Also take this on"

As Mei Xiang said, she reached out and took out two large yellow croakers from the drawer of the bedside table and handed them to Wei Ran, "Let Xiao Guan be replaced by Dayang, and share them with the congee factories opened outside the concession. Little power."

Hearing this, Wei Ran reached out and took the two heavy gold bars and put them into his pocket, "Is there anything else to do?"

"Go and go back"

Before Mei Xiang finished speaking, a flash of lightning flashed outside the window, and immediately after, the lights in the room were also extinguished, and the little girls outside the room also let out an exclamation.

"Let's go out and take a look," Andy said, not forgetting to pat Wei Ran's face gently, and then he and Mei Xiang walked out of the bedroom in the dark.

After pinching the two gold bars in his pocket, Wei Ran walked out of the bedroom and started walking downstairs in the dark.

When he went down from the third floor to the second floor, he heard a boy in the dark lower his voice and say, "You know the strange thing that happened in the French Concession two years ago?"

"What about the girl in the red dress?" Another little boy also lowered his voice and asked.

"What a red dress, that's a blood dress!"

The little boy who started the topic corrected, "I'm not fooling anyone. I heard that the girl was wearing a white dress, snow-white! She was hung upside down on the porch, with blood all over her body. The skirt was dyed red after it was drained.

You know the big traitor Meng Dazi, right?I remember that his third concubine seemed to be the first to see it. She was so scared that she couldn't hold back her shit and went crazy the day she went back. "

"No!"

Another young man added emphatically, "I heard from the fortune-teller, Blind Li, that the woman was taken as a soul by a wise man. In order to prevent her from being reincarnated, a big red tea tray was used to drain her blood." All caught.

It is said that after the blood on her body dries up, she becomes whiter, whiter than the white striped chickens on the butcher shop! "

"Crack!"

Just at this time, there was another thunderclap almost at the same time as the lightning outside the window, and those bad boys who were hiding in the bathroom on the second floor while urinating and telling ghost stories were also frightened, "Oh my god!" I ran to the restaurant where the oil lamps were already lit.

Standing at the corner of the stairs, Wei Ran smiled silently, continued to walk downstairs, and found Tao Canhua who was arranging accommodation for the boys who had just brought here on the first floor.

"When are you going to leave?" Wei Ran asked straightforwardly.

"hold on"

Tao Canhua pulled Wei Ran into the kitchen, and replied in a low voice amidst the darkness, "Brother Guan said, when the rain stops, it's time to pick up people."

"Do you know who to pick up?" Wei Ran also lowered his voice and asked.

"How would I know that?" Tao Canhua shook his head immediately.

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't insist on it, instead he began to talk on the sidelines.

After this communication, he also figured out a lot of things.

First of all, after being rescued by Wei Ran and Andy in 37 years, Uncle Meng stayed in the book apartment under Mei Xiang's persuasion and became a master chef.

On the other hand, since the devils sealed the British and French Concession, Meixiang has never left the British Concession easily. She just organizes private dances at home twice a month, and uses this love letter apartment to open a dance training class.

Most of the people who come here to learn dancing are young masters and young ladies living in the British and French concessions.The dances held twice a month are basically all they come to attend.

In contrast, it was the Miss Gu family who gradually cut off contact with Meixiang after she participated in the ball organized by Ueda in 37.Not only that, even Tao Canhua no longer played the piano and sang songs for the ghost Ueda, so naturally he couldn't earn those few dollars.

Those who also cut off contact with Meixiang were the Guan family siblings and the little Su's mother who regarded Meixiang as her own daughter—of course, it was only on the surface.

According to Tao Canhua, Chen Pike, who is now selling cigarettes in the Japanese Concession, and Xu Keqin, who is selling cigarettes in the French Concession, are responsible for helping Meixiang secretly contact Xiao Su's mother and the Guan brothers and sisters.

If it hadn't been for the serious flood this time, these two young men probably wouldn't have followed Tao Canhua back to this book apartment in order to avoid attracting attention.

At this point in the topic, the rainstorm outside was about to stop. Seeing this, Wei Ran and Tao Canhua didn't dare to delay, and immediately rowed the small boat outside to leave the yard and headed towards the French Concession in the dark.

Not long after, when the boat stopped near a building, the closed windows on the second floor were pushed open from the inside.

Immediately afterwards, two people wearing shorts and sweatshirts and barefoot, but each holding an umbrella stepped out of it and stepped on the small boat.

Just as the second person who came down sat firmly, Wei Ran didn't have time to send out the gold bars, and the window was closed from the inside with a "snap!", and then the curtains were drawn.

"Long time no see, Wei Ran." Under the umbrella, a slightly hoarse and gentle voice greeted Wei Ran.

"Mr. Feng Feng?!" Wei Ran shouted the last two words in a voice so small that only he could hear it.

After the person under the umbrella who greeted him nodded, he immediately looked down at the person hidden under the other paper umbrella. Sure enough, he was indeed Mute Cao!
"Hong, my surname is Hong now." Feng Maoyun, who was hiding under the umbrella, almost whispered into Wei Ran's ear, "Hong Ru."

"Where's this one?" Wei Ran, who was also hiding under the umbrella, pointed at Dumb Cao.

"Of course he is still Cao Dumb." Feng Maoyun, whose pseudonym Hong Ru introduced with a smile, but the peaceful tone was already full of vicissitudes and emotions.