War Photographer's Notebook

After lunch on Thursday, several more ladies rushed to the tea party held at Xuqingshu Apartment. However, the two Japanese ladies who came with Xiao Su's mother in the morning left before lunch.

In the still lively basement, the ladies gathered around the square tables, playing mahjong or bridge, or simply sitting on the sofa listening to Tao Canhua and others singing, chatting with friends. All kinds of gossip.

As for Youmei, she was also in the basement, sitting on the sofa, listening to the play that Jasmine translated for her. She suppressed her sleepiness and paid attention to the chats between Meixiang and Weiran and the rich ladies, trying to Find out some useful information from it.

It's a pity that what got into her ears, apart from all kinds of tidbits that she didn't know were true or false, were the earthy love words that Wei Ran sent from time to time, as well as various rumors about Wei Ran and Miss Guan's family, as well as Wei Ran's embarrassing denials. .

Seeing that there was no useful information, Yumi yawned and excused herself from getting up too early to feel sleepy. After saying goodbye to Meixiang and other ladies, she left the basement alone.

Returning to the room on the third floor, Yumi lay on the bed with her eyes closed for a while, then she got up again, took out a set of clothes that were convenient for moving around, put them on, and carefully opened the door.

After some observation, Yumi went straight down to the second floor after leaving the room, preparing to go to the darkroom to take another look.She was sure that there must be some secret hidden in the box on the cabinet - especially when Wei Ran walked out of the room at noon, the panic in his eyes made her extremely sure of her guess.

However, just as she arrived on the second floor, Yang's mother, who was wearing an apron, walked out of the restaurant on the second floor carrying a bucket and a rag in her hand.

"Miss Yumei"

Yang Ma kindly greeted Yumi, who was startled, and bowed at the same time. Then she put the bucket against the wall, washed the rag in her hand unhurriedly, and then started Carefully wipe the wainscoting made of green teak wood, as well as various furniture and even floors.

Knowing that the rare opportunity was gone, Yumei simply returned to the third floor and easily opened the unlocked door of Meixiang's room.

There is no doubt that when she checked the room as quickly as possible, the only secret she found was a wooden box containing thirty or forty small yellow croakers, and several pictures that had been in the box for many years. There are just a few photos of Qian Meixiang and famous Beijing actress Shang Xiaoyun, as well as a few photos of costumes signed by Shang Xiaoyun.

Putting the box back in its place, Yumi left the room and then pried open the locked study. After a while of rummaging, she successfully found the secret door leading to the attic.

Looking at the narrow staircase, Yumi's face couldn't help but show excitement. She had a hunch that she was getting closer to the secret!

It's a pity that there are various things placed on this narrow and steep staircase. There are bottles and jars of unopened foreign wine, white wine, and rice wine, as well as some that will definitely be damaged if knocked over. Porcelain, tea sets, and stacks of books were smashed and made a huge noise.

But unfortunately, there wasn't even a light in this staircase. When she finally stood at the end of the stairs after struggling to get around the clutter that had been there for who knows how long, there was even a light on the wooden door blocking her. Three padlocks.

It was easy to pry open the three locks one by one. When Yumei carefully opened the narrow wooden door, she couldn't help but swallow. There was a locked camphor wood box in the attic. Everywhere, there is even a small area separated by thick curtains.

Looking back, Yumei ran to the edge of a curtain as quickly as possible and carefully opened a corner of it.

Unfortunately, apart from a dormer window covered with newspapers, there was only a table covered with dust and a chair also covered with dust.

Unwilling to give up, he opened another set of curtains. There was still a dormer window covered with newspapers and a set of tables and chairs. The only difference was that on this table, there was also a brass astronomical telescope. .

Unfortunately, perhaps because it was too close to the window and there was too much moisture, the telescope was already covered with mottled oxide layers.

Continuing to lift the last set of curtains, there is still a dormer window and a table, but on this table is a pair of Japanese-style Hakata dolls enclosed in a glass cover.

Suppressing the doubts in her heart, Yumi looked at the dozen boxes in the attic again. After some hesitation, she finally did not pick the padlock of any box. Instead, she locked the door again and stepped on the narrow and steep stairs carefully. returned to the study.

After relocking the cupboard door leading to the attic and the study door, Yumi returned to the room, took off her clothes and lay on the bed. She decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity to catch up on her sleep, and she would definitely put this house together at night. All the secrets in the house are revealed!
When she woke up, she found that it was already after eight o'clock in the evening. Not only had she missed dinner, but the tea party in the basement had ended two hours ago. Even Meixiang was in trouble with Wei Ran, Tao Canhua and Accompanied by Jasmine, he went out to catch up.Went to the Seventh Heaven to dance. According to Qiu Yong's difficult explanation in broken Japanese, I'm afraid they will all be back soon.

I'm going to check out the darkroom and attic tonight!
After sleeping enough, Yumei secretly made a decision, and then with a reserved expression she thanked Yang's mother for bringing her a late dinner. Accompanied by Qiushi, she returned to the living room on the third floor and ate in small bites.

At the same time, Wei Ran also accompanied Mei Xiang to leave Seventh Heaven and got into the car.

"Boss, do you want to buy cigarettes? Buy a pack of cigarettes?"

Just when Wei Ran got into the passenger seat, a young man who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old and wearing a patched tattered robe also came to the side of the driver's seat, holding a cigarette case in one hand and covering his head in the other. He asked, trembling while wearing a worn-out hat with cotton exposed on his head.

Glancing at the dark red strip of cloth tied to the handle of the other party's cigarette case, Tao Canhua pointed to Wei Ran beside him, "I don't smoke, go over there and ask, he smokes."

"Come here"

Wei Ran waved to him across Tao Canhua, who immediately ran over from the front of the car and enthusiastically put the cigarette case in his hand forward, "Sir, what cigarettes do you want? I have them all here. Yes, if you buy two packs, you’ll get a pack of matches for free!”

"Cousin, do you want it?" Wei Ran turned around and asked.

"I don't want it anymore. I'm not as addicted to cigarettes as you are." Mei Xiang yawned and said, "Hurry up and buy it. I have to go home after buying it. I'm going to be sleepy to death."

"A pack for the front door and a pack of camels"

As Wei Ran spoke, he threw two silver coins into the other party's cigarette case and said with a hint of satisfaction, "I'm in a good mood today, so I don't have to change the change. I'll give you another piece to buy a pair of woolen gloves!"

"Thank you, Lord! Thank you!"

The young man bowed gratefully, and hurriedly handed the two packs of cigarettes and a box of matches that Wei Ran asked for through the car window. While bowing again and again, he watched the car drive away, and immediately collected the reward and cigarette money. He continued to shout with a loud voice.

In the car with the window raised, Wei Ran unpacked it slowly.He opened the front door and put all the cigarettes in the cigarette box, then opened the box of matches. After rummaging inside, he found a match with a note wrapped around it.

"What's the news?" Mei Xiang asked casually while looking out the window in the back seat.

"The candy seller Volker will be mourned tomorrow. Volker?!" Wei Ran exclaimed, "It was Volker who betrayed Brother Tang?!"

"It's him?!"

Meixiang, who had closed her eyes to rest her mind, immediately sat up straight. Then, she sighed, "Yes, it can only be him. Everything makes sense."

"The question is how much he knew and how much he betrayed." Wei Ran said with a frown.

“He doesn’t know much.”

Meixiang said firmly, "He only knows that you, Andy and his sister rescued people at Nankai University in 37, and that the murder gang that Xiaoguan participated in purchased the chemicals for making bombs through him. In the end, Brother Tang purchased radio components through him."

"Where are the medicines and Andy in the basement?" Wei Ran asked.

"The medicines are all obtained through Uncle Mute."

Jasmine opened her mouth and replied, "Miss Andy has been hiding in the study apartment these years. Even if she has lost contact with Walker's sister, it is impossible for him to know about Miss Andy's existence."

Has it been hidden in the study all these years?
Wei Ran couldn't help but be stunned. The meaning of this light sentence was far from being as easy to say.

"There's really no way Volcker knew Andy existed."

Meixiang took the topic and continued, "Wolker is such a shrewd person. He will not tell the first two things. It will only drag him and his sister into trouble. But why did he betray Brother Tang?"

"He is a Jew." Wei Ran snorted coldly, "This reason alone is enough."

"What does this have to do with Jews?" Tao Canhua, who was in charge of driving, asked subconsciously.

"Pufferfish. Ugh!"

When Wei Ran was about to say the answer he guessed, his left hand and throat were also burning, which pushed back what he wanted to say.

"What did you say?" Tao Canhua turned to look at Wei Ran in confusion.

"The relationship with them is too big"

Wei Ran took a breath and said, "Does Walker know about the existence of the underground printing room?"

"I don't know, I definitely don't know." Mei Xiang replied with the same certainty, "Not to mention him, none of the children in the Chunhua Theater Troupe have ever entered the underground printing room."

"In other words, if Walker wants to betray us, the only one he can betray is Brother Tang?" Wei Ran confirmed again.

"He is the only one who doesn't know how much he knows about Brother Tang and whether he knows about the relationship between Brother Tang and Miss Linglu."

"Brother Tang and Miss Linglu?" Wei Ran frowned, "They are"

"They have made a private decision for life, and Ling Lu is pregnant with Brother Tang's child."

"What?" Wei Ran was stunned, this was something he never expected.

Meixiang closed her eyes again and pondered for a moment but did not continue the topic, "I heard Andy say that some of the parts needed for Brother Tang's radio station were purchased through Mr. Walker, but why did he sell them out? Brother Tang?"

Faced with this question that was raised again, Wei Ran was silent for a moment and then replied, "I'm afraid the only thing left is profit."

"What do you mean?" Mei Xiang opened her eyes again, "Canhua, drive slowly. Let's go to Quanyechang and drive slower."

"Okay" Canhua responded and at the same time slowed down the car slightly. "As far as I know, Jews have become street rats in Germany. If Ueda knew through some channel that Volker was a Jew, would it be possible to blackmail Volker with this matter? If I remember correctly, Volker Ke is pretending to be a German aristocrat."

Wei Ran paused and continued, "Think of the good side, but if you think of the bad side, since September [-]th, the entire Northeast has been under the iron heel of the Japanese.

If Volker wants to make more money and cooperate with Ueda, no, with the Japanese, then he must show some sincerity. "

"Brother Tang, are you sincere?" Mei Xiang asked with a frown.

"For Jews, everything has a clear price tag." Wei Ran said worriedly. Now that Ueda has set his sights on the bookstore, it is difficult to say whether Volker has revealed more.

For a moment, the carriage fell into silence. In this unspeakable silence, Tao Canhua also drove the car to the entrance of Quanyechang.

"Jasmine, come with me to buy a skirt for Miss Youmei." Meixiang said, opening the car door and getting out without waiting for Wei Ran to get out.

"What should I do?" Tao Canhua asked worriedly after watching Jasmine and Meixiang walk into the gate of Quanyechang.

"Don't worry, wait a minute." Wei Ran said, lowering the window and lighting a cigarette again, smoking one after another.

"How about we go over and kill him tonight?"

"To shut up!"

Wei Ran glared at Tao Canhua, waited for the latter to shut his mouth, and then whispered, "Look around, there is a foreign car following us."

"Where are they?" Tao Canhua subconsciously wanted to look outside, but he reacted quickly and resisted turning his head.

"find it yourself"

Wei Ran set up an imaginary enemy for the other party, and while smoking, he secretly thought about ways to solve the crisis at hand.

There is no doubt that Yumi in the study apartment cannot move. Not only can he not move, but even if he wants to kill Walker, the people in the study apartment cannot do it.Even if conditions permit, it would be better if Yumi can provide an alibi.

It's a pity that there is insufficient information now, and Meixiang has not mentioned the specific arrangements for tomorrow at all, so naturally he cannot make more detailed plans.

In the midst of chaotic thoughts, more than half an hour later, Mei Xiang also walked out of Quanye Field with Jasmine holding a floral cloth bag in her hand.Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately opened the door, and then helped Mei Xiang open the door of the rear compartment. After the two of them got in, they closed the door and sat back in the passenger seat.

"Go home," Mei Xiang ordered after Wei Ran sat firmly, "Don't drive too fast."

"Cousin, did you come up with a good idea?" Wei Ran asked without looking back.

"If nothing else, Walker will also come to the dance tomorrow."

"What if you don't come?" Wei Ran asked suddenly.

"He will come," Mei Xiang said firmly but then sighed, "I just didn't expect that it would be him, and I couldn't understand why it was him."

After a moment of silence, Mei Xiang took a deep breath and made the arrangements in a firm tone, "Moli, you can order a table of Western-style cold meals to be delivered to the study apartment tomorrow morning, and also go to the Golden Boat Dance Hall to hire a younger person. We are recruiting geisha to participate in our dance, remember, only one is enough."

"Okay" Jasmine responded simply.

"cousin"

Meixiang waited for Wei Ran to respond before continuing, "You and Walker have a few more drinks tomorrow, and remember to hint to Walker that he can take away the geisha we invited."

"Okay!" Wei Ran responded simply.

"Canhua" Meixiang said after hesitating for a moment, "Tomorrow you and Yumi will dance more."

"Okay" Tao Canhua reluctantly agreed.

"Moli, before the dance ends, remember to put Brother Tang in the trunk of Walker's car." Mei Xiang continued to arrange.

"Yeah!" Jasmine nodded vigorously.

"Finally, after the dance." Mei Xiang said with a smile, "Cousin, you and Tao Canhua have a fight."

"Ah?" Wei Ran and Tao Canhua looked behind them in shock.

"Isn't it normal for young men to be jealous?"

Meixiang joked with a smile, "My cousin has always liked Miss Youmei. It is inevitable that Miss Youmei is unwilling to dance with me, so she takes out her anger on my cousin."

"I won't hold back when the time comes," Wei Ran reminded, deliberately clenching his fists.

"Just fight," Tao Canhua responded with the same confidence.

"Let's just arrange it this way. We don't need to worry about other things."

After Meixiang finished speaking, she yawned, changed the topic and asked, "Cousin, I think Yumi's hand seems to be injured?"

"I put a few mouse traps in the darkroom." Wei Ran smiled and said something that Mei Xiang didn't understand, "Try to mess with her mentality so that she won't be unable to sleep at night."

Meixiang smiled when she heard this, "The little girl should have had enough sleep this afternoon. There is no chance that there will be another rat quarrel tonight."

"Come on, I have a lot of treasures hidden in the darkroom." Wei Ran said with some gloating.

"Go home" Mei Xiang yawned again, then leaned on Jasmine's shoulder.

That night, Wei Ran lay on the bed feeling at ease after smoking the last cigarette of the day.

By around 09:30 in the evening, the entire building of Xuqingshu Apartment had turned off the lights and fell into darkness and silence.

At 01:30 in the middle of the night, a petite shadow in black clothes once again walked from the third floor to the second floor, and pried open the darkroom door with familiarity.

Compared with last night, this time Yumi not only brought a small round stool, but also put on a pair of thick deerskin gloves and a metal flashlight that could only hold one battery.

She quietly locked the darkroom door, closed the light-blocking wooden window and drew the curtains. She turned on the scarlet darkroom light again, stacked the small round stool she brought on the chair, and held the cabinet lightly. Climbing up gently.

With the beam of the flashlight, she finally saw clearly this time that on the top of the cabinet, in addition to the wooden box that she cared about so much and the two mousetraps that brought her a critical blow, there were two more. A small plate, each with a piece of snack and half a wrinkled, browned apple piece.

Carefully removing the two mouse traps, Yumi spent a lot of effort and finally pulled the wooden box, which was the size of a microwave oven, to the level of her chest.

She easily pried open the padlock on the box and carefully opened the lid. However, when she saw the contents of the box, she couldn't help but froze. Then, her face showed disappointment and anger. color.

There was nothing she wanted to see in this box. What was inside was just a variety of aphrodisiacs and kidney-tonifying medicines, and a large brown-red bottle. There was also a ginseng, two scary venomous snakes and a bottle soaked in it. The root was a descendant root removed from an unknown animal, plus medicinal wine from a few seahorses.

In addition, there was also a large box of condoms, two small yellow croakers, an envelope of silver coins, and a cloth bundle.

Reluctantly, she untied the floral baggage, but she only saw a photo of Qiushi and a photo of Meixiang, as well as a pink bellyband and a pair of flesh-colored stockings. In addition, there were several books piled on top of each other. A British erotic magazine together.

This pervert!
Yumi, who had wasted a lot of emotions, cursed secretly, angrily restored all these things to their original state, closed the lid, locked it and put it back in place, and then carefully moved the two mouse traps back. Disappointed, I left the darkroom and returned to the third floor, carrying the small round stool.

Thinking about her busy work last night and her still aching fingers, and thinking about Wei Ran's panicked eyes when she walked out of the darkroom at noon, Yumi couldn't help but clenched her jagged silver teeth, and at the same time She is also increasingly disgusted with the lustful Wei Ran - she has no time and energy to waste on such a waste who is full of women but needs to take medicine to maintain battery life!

Suppressing her disappointment and slightly unlucky mood, she sent the small round stool back to the room. After taking a few deep breaths, the diligent Yumi once again pried open the study door and the cabinet door leading to the attic, holding up her The small flashlight carefully bypassed the obstacles on the stairs and stood in front of the wooden door leading to the attic again.

Holding a flashlight in her mouth and opening three padlocks, Yumi did not dare to delay after entering the attic, and raced against time to start opening the boxes and picking the locks.

However, as the boxes big enough to hold one person were opened one after another, she became more and more disappointed.

Some of these boxes contain all the outfits used for singing and opera, some contain all kinds of old clothes and old musical instruments, and there are even a few boxes containing beautiful photos and various items of Meixiang from various periods. books.

There is no doubt that although it is not difficult to pick the lock, it will undoubtedly take a lot of time to check all these things.

Starting around 03:30 a.m., Yumi was busy until [-]:[-] a.m., finally rummaging through all the dozen boxes.

Unfortunately, apart from finding a dozen large yellow croakers in one of the boxes that were impossible to take away, there was no radio station or code book she wanted to find, or anything else that shouldn't be here. Because of the flying dust, she was disgraced.

Tired of activity, her waist was particularly sore from kneeling and rummaging through boxes. Yumi, who had helped sort out the sundries all night, restored the last box to its original shape and locked it. She suppressed her disappointment and frustration and left this place that had no secrets. attic.