War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1213 Bloody Dots and Lines
On the fifth floor of the Seventh Heaven, the Golden Boat Dance Hall.

I came here again "after a few years", and the dance hall run by this devil is already more lively than before. There are more white Russian dancers in scantily clad clothes and devil geisha with pink faces in the dance hall than before.

Fortunately, not only did no one stop Wei Ran from dancing this time, but from time to time, men and women he had never seen before took the initiative to say hello. After he and Mei Xiang finished their first dance, there was even a ghost woman who took the initiative to come up. Invited him to dance before.

Seeing that Mei Xiang didn't seem to care that she had been invited to leave, Wei Ran simply didn't refuse, and Quan just thought he was coming over to play.The ghost woman who took the initiative to invite him to dance didn't ask any questions. She seemed to be simply looking for a male partner to dance with.

With the rotation of female partners again and again, Wei Ran finally confirmed that Mei Xiang brought her here, probably for fun.

As for the business, I'm afraid it was all done just now at the entrance of Quanyechang and under the unlit street lamp.

Inevitably, Wei Ran couldn't help but start to wonder about the meaning behind the two serious events just now.

The rumors that Chen Gouyu pretended to be a coachman were most likely to clear the suspicion of Guan Lingling, who had escaped to who knows where.

As for the things thrown away along the way, they were probably the anti-Japanese periodicals printed in the printing room in the basement of Shuyu.

So what is the meaning of buying cigarettes from Xu Keqin?

Wei Ran became increasingly puzzled. Logically speaking, there was no need for him to do this, let alone in public. The risk was too high.

But as the saying goes, it's dark under the lights. It seems that it is safer for Meixiang and "Meixiang's cousin" to do these things in public than to send someone to do it secretly, and in a sense, it is unnoticed.

However, this kind of groundless guessing is the same as guessing fists, which one is reasonable, and which one is unreasonable.

“It’s very rude to think about other women while dancing.”

The ghost woman who was dancing with Wei Ran came closer and whispered a reminder in Chinese with a ghost accent.

"I'm sorry," Wei Ran replied with a smile as well, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" the ghost woman asked subconsciously.

"I'm sorry, such a heavy snow blocked the beautiful moonlight, and turned many possibilities into sad regrets."

Such a subtle but explicit hint immediately made the ears of the ghost woman who was dancing with Wei Ran turn red, and her steps became a little messy, and she accidentally stepped on Wei Ran's shoes.

Without any psychological pressure, he continued to utter a few earthy love words that would later be ruined in the ravines. Wei Ran dealt with the ghost woman dancing with him with ease, and worked hard to create the scumbag image that Chen Xiuyu had set for him. Certainly.

Seeing that the time was approaching 09:30 in the evening, Meixiang, who had had enough fun, finally greeted Wei Ran and left the dance venue.

"I think you seem very popular?" Mei Xiang asked as she walked downstairs.

"That's right." Wei Ran responded with a pretentious sound.

Hearing this, Mei Xiang shook her head helplessly but said no more. She walked out of the gate of Zhongyuan Company and got into the car.

"Go home," Mei Xiang said and couldn't help but yawned.

Letting Tao Canhua drive the car back the same way, Meixiang, who was closing her eyes to rest, suddenly said, "When you get home, take the cigarettes and matches to Brother Tang to deliver them."

"it is good"

Wei Ran responded briefly, and seeing that Mei Xiang did not continue to say anything, he wisely stopped his curiosity.

Slowly all the way back to Xuqingshu Apartment, Meixiang yawned and walked upstairs, Yang's mother, who was still awake, hurriedly brought out a few suppers that were still warming in the pot from the kitchen, and asked Jasmine to help bring them He walked downstairs and then asked Tao Canhua to help bring out some food and drink and place them on the dining table on the first floor.

Signaling Tao Canhua to eat first without waiting for him, Wei Ran took off his woolen overcoat, went back to the room on the first floor and changed into a pair of clean cloth shoes, and took out the package of unopened Camel cigarettes and the Box of matches.

There is nothing unusual about this box of matches, and there is nothing unusual about the unopened Camel cigarettes, either in terms of weight or feel.

Without leaving the room in a hurry, he took out the medical kit from the metal book and opened it for inspection.

Unfortunately, compared with last time, this medical kit didn't contain anything extra, let alone the penicillin that Brother Tang downstairs urgently needed.

After a moment of hesitation, he finally put away the medical kit and food box, left the room with cigarettes and matches, got into the storage room and entered the dark basement.Behind him, Tao Canhua was also holding a sesame seed cake and vegetables in his hand, and was sitting on the edge of the desk at the door of the storage room, watching over it.

Without turning on the light at all, Wei Ran used the beam of the flashlight to push the frame and get in.

After passing through the cotton curtains, when he walked into the room at the end, he heard a girl reading in an passionate voice from inside the last curtain, "The latent power of the Anti-Japanese War is increasing day by day. Masses of revolutionary masses are constantly pouring out to the front, fighting for freedom! All these factors combined with others make us"

"Who's outside?" Andy's voice interrupted the girl's recitation, he just heard Wei Ran's deliberate coughing.

"It's me." Wei Ran responded outside the curtain, "Is it convenient to go in?"

"come in"

It wasn't until Mei Xiang responded that Wei Ran raised the curtain.Then, he saw that near the door of the room, Andy and the three girls who seemed to be responsible for printing were sitting cross-legged on the floor covered with thick quilts. Between the four of them, there was also a Small table made of painting jars and glass panels.

At this time, in addition to a lamp, there was an old newspaper called "Liberation" on the table. The most conspicuous title on it was "On Protracted War."

"You continue to read yours"

Andy glanced at the cigarettes and matches in Wei Ran's hand, and let Wei Ran pull her up and walk to the hospital bed not far away.

"Help me close the curtain"

Andy said, already pulling the curtain on the other side.

Seeing this, Wei Ran also untied the curtain on the wall and pulled it up, separating the hospital bed from the outside and blocking the sight of the three little girls.

Seeing Andy sitting at the vent reaching out to him, Wei Ran handed over the Camel cigarettes and matches he had been holding, and then he also sat on another small round stool by the table.

Without shying away from Wei Ran, Andy tore open the pack of Camel cigarettes, popped one out and handed it to Wei Ran. Then she took out one herself, put on the tortoiseshell cigarette holder, and lit it with the box of matches.

As the smoke filled the air, Andy had already smoked out all the cigarettes in the cigarette box one by one, and then carefully tore open the cigarette box. Then, Wei Ran saw something written on the tinfoil on the inside of the cigarette box. There was a set of numbers that seemed to be radio channels. In addition, there was a small film hidden in the cigarette box.

Picking up the negative and looking at it next to the desk lamp, Andy was obviously relieved, and put it on the base of the desk lamp.

Although it was just a glimpse, Wei Ran also vaguely saw that what was captured in the negative seemed to be densely packed with words.

"This was my brother's job"

Just when Wei Ran was secretly guessing, Andy said abruptly in German. At the same time, he also took out the jewelry box radio that Wei Ran had seen before entering this historical segment from the cabinet on the desk.

"He?" Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, then asked in German carefully, "Who is he working for?"

Hearing this, Andy glanced at Wei Ran and replied in German, "Mr. Hong."

"Feng Maoyun?"

Wei Ran murmured to himself and used this to start a conversation with Andy.

Just as he guessed, this underground printing room was opened during the flood in 39.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as the flood receded, traitors appeared in the anti-Japanese killing regiment.

That accident caused heavy losses to the Anti-Japanese Murdering Group, but the Guan family siblings were able to survive and hibernate because their superior liaison happened not to be in Jinmen.

However, the dormant Guan siblings did not feel depressed. Instead, they soon joined forces with Mr. Feng and continued to use the printing equipment here to carry out anti-Japanese and national salvation propaganda activities.Needless to say, Mei Xiang's support and the medical help provided by Andy are indispensable.

Later, even Chen Pike and Xu Keqin joined them.According to Andy, in the summer of 40 years, her brother who went to study in Germany also came back, and after returning, he also joined Feng Maoyun's career.

Until more than half a month ago, Brother Tang was caught by the Japanese for unknown reasons. After getting wind of it, the Guan family siblings immediately left Jinmen. Even Feng Maoyun and Cao Yuba also cut off the emergency line after helping to rescue Brother Tang. Contacted.

What they have to do now is two things - reestablishing contact, and finding and killing the traitor!
Is this another killing mission?

Wei Ran muttered to himself, although it is still unclear who the traitor is, but it is obvious that with the pack of cigarettes he brought back, re-establishing contact will probably be done soon.

The topic has reached this point, and there are less than 11 minutes left before 10 o'clock at midnight.Not only did the three little girls outside who were reciting "On Protracted War" make no movement, Andy also yawned.

However, just when Wei Ran was about to end the topic and go back, Andy pushed over the simple radio placed on the table.

"hold it for me"

Andy continued to speak in German, then put out his cigarette, took the pile of letters and a pen, stood up and passed through the curtain that had just been drawn.

Seeing this, Wei Ran quickly picked up the heavy wooden box and followed him. He followed Andy out of the basement and came to the living room on the first floor.

Walking to the floor-to-ceiling window facing the flower bed, Andy opened the window and took a greedy breath of cold air mixed with snowflakes. He murmured with a satisfied look on his face, "It turns out it's already snowing."

"How long has it been since you came up?" Wei Ran asked after realizing something. "It's been a while"

Andy responded vaguely, then closed the window and walked to the unlit fireplace on the first floor.

Without any instructions, Tao Canhua got into the fireplace first, pulled out a feeder line from inside, then brought over a square table and a chair, and lit a candle lamp.

Upon seeing this, Wei Ran immediately placed the wooden box he was holding on the table and opened it.

Turning to look at the time on the chiming clock, Andy connected the antenna to the radio station, then turned on the machine, put on the headphones and carefully adjusted the channel.

"clang!"

At 11 o'clock in the evening, when the clock on the first floor started to chime, Andy tensed up his nerves, picked up his pen and got ready.

"clang!"

With the second bell ringing, Tao Canhua walked to the foyer, hiding in the shadows and looking warily out of the yard.

"clang!"

When the third bell rang, even Wei Ran, who was standing next to Andy, heard the particularly clear ticking sound coming from her earphones.

After a brief panic, Andy hurriedly started recording.Seeing this, Wei Ran secretly shook his head. He could tell that Andy was not very familiar with this job.

Less than 5 minutes later, the headphones fell into silence. Andy helplessly looked at the points and lines recorded on the letter paper, "As expected, I still have to wait until my brother wakes up."

“Wrong here”

As Wei Ran spoke, he gently took the pen away from the other person's hand, circled a few points and lines that the other person had randomly written down, and made some changes along the way.After all, he was trained by several teachers at the Hongqi Forest Farm, not only was the speed of sending the report just now really not fast, but it was quiet enough at night, and there was not even a single disturbance in the channel.

"You know this?!" Andy asked in surprise.

"Yes," Wei Ran replied with a normal expression.

"Why didn't you say anything just now?" Andy took off his headphones and threw them on the table, rolling his eyes and complaining angrily.

"You didn't even ask. I thought you were more professional than me."

"you"

Andy gritted her teeth, and then she laughed. Then she took out a small note with some blood stains from her pajamas pocket and handed it to Wei Ran, "In this case, at one o'clock, put this Send it out for me."

"Do you need me to translate this for you?" Wei Ran pointed to the letter paper on the table and asked.

"This is unnecessary"

Andy said, he had already picked up the letter paper on the table, rolled it up and put it in his pocket. He turned around and walked to the storage room and said, "Remember to send it back to me after you finish sending it."

Watching Andy walk into the storage room, Wei Ran looked at the radio station on the table, but couldn't help secretly guessing how long it took Andy to successfully send and receive telegrams in the time and space without him, and whether anyone could help him. Pass her.If not, what kind of suffering and despair would it be.

Wei Ran frowned as he unfolded the piece of paper in his hand while he was thinking wildly. There were only three lines of code on this half piece of paper, but whether it was dots or lines, they were all written in a slightly crooked or heavy way, with more in between. It was stained with dark red blood stains.

Almost subconsciously, he thought of Brother Tang who was still comatose in the hospital bed in the basement. He could even imagine that he insisted on writing down these codes when he was briefly conscious.

Gently folding the half piece of letter paper in half along the original traces, Wei Ran took out the cigarette box and lit a cigarette again, then took out his pocket watch and put it on the table, watching the radio station that fell into silence and watching the candle. The lamp waited patiently.

Amid the ticking of the clock on the first floor, time passed by minute by second. Tao Canhua also stayed in the foyer on the first floor, quietly looking out the window at the snowy night.

Finally, when the clock struck one o'clock, Wei Ran seemed to wake up from a deep sleep. He stood up and moved his hands and feet while opening the letter paper again and carefully familiarizing himself with the dots and lines on it.

At 14:[-] in the morning, Wei Ran put down the half piece of blood-stained letter paper, picked up the headphones on the table and put them to his ears. His eyes were also fixed on the pocket watch on the table.

Amidst the ticking sound of the hands moving, the jumping second hand on the dial made a circle around the axis without haste.

Finally, when the second hand coincided with the 12 o'clock position on the dial, Wei Ran put his hand on the silver key.

After just three or four seconds of waiting, the smooth sound of a newspaper was heard from the night-shrouded first floor of Xuqing Letter Apartment.

At 1:16:19 in the morning, Weiran flipped the switch and turned off the radio.Then he folded the blood-stained letter in half again, carefully placed it in the radio, and gently closed the lid and buckle.

Picking up the radio and taking the pen and letter paper on the table, Wei Ran got up and walked into the storage room, walked through the small door that was not closed, and returned to the underground printing room.

Gently avoiding the three sleeping girls on the floor, Wei Ran walked through the still-open curtain again, only to find that Andy had fallen asleep on the small table. In her hands, He was still holding a glass that still smelled like liquor.

With a silent sigh, Wei Ran carefully put the radio back into the cabinet that had not been closed, then gently took the cup from Andy's hand, carried it to the lower bunk of the bunk bed and covered it with a blanket.

After checking the physical condition of Brother Tang, who was still in a coma, Wei Ran left quietly, but he didn't notice at all that the person lying on the bunk with him, separated only by a curtain, was strong. The girl who had been crying for a long time had already burst into tears, but she bit the blanket tightly to prevent herself from making any weak cry that would break her past strong and even frivolous and charming image.

Similarly, Wei Ran, who returned to the room on the first floor, also returned to the room after a simple two bites of late-night snacks that had been cooled down. On this quiet snowy night, Wei Ran, who was also tossing and turning, couldn't help thinking of the blood-stained picture again and again. The letter raft, and those weak points and lines on the letter raft.

At five o'clock on the morning of the next day in December 1941, Wei Ran, who had barely slept for a few hours, was awakened by the movement outside the door.

When he opened the door in confusion, he immediately noticed that in the other rooms on the first floor, except for Tao Canhua, there were young men of various ages busy cleaning and washing the rooms.

Even in the kitchen on the first floor, Uncle Meng, who was lame with one leg, was busy cooking breakfast with the help of his two relatively oldest children.

"Aren't you going to sleep anymore?" Uncle Meng greeted Wei Ran cheerfully when he saw him waking up.

"I won't sleep anymore," Wei Ran said, but couldn't help but yawned.

"Xiao Jiu'er, make a pot of tea for Mr. Cousin." Uncle Meng said to a child who had just finished washing and was wiping his face.

"Hey! I'm going right now."

The young man, who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, responded crisply. Without even waiting for Wei Ran to refuse, he picked up the tea tray and ran into the kitchen, and soon after, brought out the teapot.

Seeing this, Wei Ran couldn't refuse. He politely thanked the child who seemed to have injured his heel in the flood two years ago. He found a table next to the fireplace and sat down, pouring himself a cup of hot tea.

At 05:30 in the morning, after Tao Canhua took out his pocket watch and checked the time with the clock on the first floor, he entered the storage room with all the young men who had finished washing.

Less than 20 seconds apart, Qiushi also led the girls who had finished washing down from the second floor, followed the last young man, and also walked into the storage room.

Seeing this, Wei Ran curiously followed into the basement, and then he saw those young boys and girls under the organization of Qiu Shi and Tao Canhua, either babbling, or Play various musical instruments, or bend your legs and waist, or even do somersaults one after another on the spot.

There are also two children who are only fourteen or fifteen years old, each holding a wooden knife, and blindfolded, fighting around a table in a slightly comical way.

However, the morning exercise had only been going on for less than 10 minutes, and Jasmine ran down in a hurry. She didn't even wait to get down from the steps before she hurriedly shouted, "Canhua! Jasmine! Bring your brothers and sisters up here! Hurry! Express!" Where is the young master! Is the young master here?"

"Here!" Realizing that something was wrong, Wei Ran immediately put down the teacup in his hand and at the same time held down the small PPK pistol on his back.

"Stop, go upstairs!" Tao Canhua and Qiushi shouted in unison. The children who had just been doing morning exercises immediately put down their objects and subconsciously formed two teams, male and female.

Amidst the thumping of footsteps, Jasmine and Meixiang, who were wearing nightdresses, hurried down. Tao Canhua and Qiushi also immediately ran up with two groups of people.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ran, who had already realized what was happening, put the pistol on his waist again.

"Andy's brother is dying," Mei Xiang explained in not-so-standard German.

Hearing this, Wei Ran's heart sank and he said quickly in German, "You open the door first, and I'll get the medicine box."

Seeing Mei Xiang's confused look, Wei Ran simply whispered into the other person's ear and repeated it quickly in her native language. Then he ran upstairs after the half-grown children, rushed back to the room as quickly as possible, and took out the book in the metal book. medicine chest.

"Go up to the second floor, and change the morning exercise to dance." Just as Wei Ran ran back to the storage room with the medicine box, Qiu Shi also simply and neatly issued a temporary order, leading the children to the second floor without stopping. Walking in the same direction, Tao Canhua was already standing at the door of the storage room. Even Uncle Meng limped towards the hall with a rolling pin that was more than one meter long.

Without daring to delay too much, Wei Ran ran down the stairs as fast as he could, and at the same time, Jasmine also pushed the big mirror away completely.When he jumped into the passage, he found that Mei Xiang and the three little girls in charge of printing had already opened several cotton curtains.

There was no time to say thank you. When Wei Ran almost ran into the room at the end, he found Andy kneeling on the hospital bed, anxiously performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Brother Tang.

"Do you have any adrenaline?" Andy asked anxiously when he saw Wei Ran barging in.

"Yes, wait a minute!"

Wei Ran immediately replied that he really had such medicine in his medicine box, but it was just that he didn't need it many times before.

He dug out an adrenaline ampoule made in Germany at the fastest speed, and after Wei Ran sucked it into the syringe, he immediately started injecting brother Tang on the hospital bed, and said loudly, "Let's change!"

"Okay!" Andy jumped off the hospital bed to take over Wei Ran's job while speaking, and Wei Ran also jumped on the hospital bed immediately, and continued to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Brother Tang who was covered in injuries.

(End of this chapter)