War Photographer's Notebook

On Friday, December 1941, 12, at five o'clock in the morning, the members of the Chunhua Opera Troupe got up on time as usual and lined up to start washing.

In the room on the third floor, Yumi, who was well prepared, had plugged her ears with cotton balls in advance - even though this could not block much noise, it was a small psychological comfort, allowing her to continue sleeping.

In the morning of this day, the members of the Chunhua Opera Troupe were still busy practicing and rehearsing. Wei Ran drove Jasmine out and first ordered a table of Western-style cold meals, and then rushed to Walker's Matheson.

"Mr. Walker"

Wei Ran greeted the other party enthusiastically in German and smoked a cigarette. At the same time, he complained, "Why didn't you go to the tea party yesterday?"

"I was too busy yesterday," Walker replied with a grimace. "I was busy processing a batch of goods arriving at the port all day yesterday."

"You didn't go yesterday, but you caused me to lose a lot of money at the poker table."

Wei Ran said with a pained expression, "Second Sister You won more than 20 yuan from me, alas!"

"I have long said not to play mahjong with those ladies. You cannot win money from them." Walker said with deep sympathy.

"I really should listen to your advice."

Wei Ran spread his hands with regret on his face, "Let's get down to business. My cousin asked me to come to your place to buy a few bottles of good wine to drink at the dance party in the evening. How about you? Will you go then?"

"Of course I want to go," Walker replied without thinking. "I've been working hard all week, but I just want to relax at the dance on Friday night."

"In that case, let's have a few more drinks tonight."

Wei Ran waved the hand holding the cigarette, took out a big letter from his pocket and handed it to the other party, "We have to go to the Golden Boat Dance Club later, so hurry up and take us to choose some bars. By the way. , can you go and deliver the wine for us a little earlier in the evening?"

"sure"

Walker responded cheerfully and asked Wei Ran and Jasmine to follow him into the warehouse where the foreign wine was stored.

They carefully selected three wooden boxes of foreign wine and entrusted Walker to take them to the study apartment in the evening. Wei Ran and Jasmine said goodbye politely and drove straight to the Seventh Heaven in the Japanese Concession.

"I still can't figure it out," Jasmine said abruptly, "I still can't figure out why Walker betrayed Brother Tang."

"Someone will let him explain clearly." Wei Ran snorted, while slightly increasing the speed of the car.

Wei Ran didn't bother to go to the Golden Boat Dance Hall to hire a geisha, so he simply didn't follow Jasmine there, and casually summoned a cigarette vendor to complete his daily task of buying cigarettes.

By the time the two of them drove back to the study apartment, it was already past ten o'clock in the morning. Yumi and Meixiang got up one after another after sleeping well. At this time, they were drinking tea in the living room on the third floor looking at the terrace outside.

I don't know if it was a coincidence or Mei Xiang's deliberate arrangement, but before lunch, a middle-aged man in a Chinese tunic suit also came to the door and expressed in a respectful tone that he wanted to borrow Miss Mei Xiang's car for Sister You.

Naturally, Meixiang would not refuse this request, and happily asked Wei Ran to give the key to the other party, allowing the middle-aged man to drive the Japanese car out of the yard.

This afternoon, the members of the Chunhua Troupe worked together to carry out a routine cleaning of the upstairs, downstairs and even the yard.

At 05:30 in the afternoon, after a simple dinner, the older girls and boys put on cheongsams or Chinese tunic suits, while the younger ones put on jackets, skirts or robes, and stood there early. He walked to the entrance of the small courtyard and waited to welcome guests.

Just after six o'clock in the afternoon, the Western-style cold meals that Jasmine had ordered in advance were placed on the dining table on the second floor. Shortly after, Walker also drove a car and parked at the entrance of the courtyard.

"Walker, bring the car in."

Wei Ran came up to him and greeted him from afar, "Back into the garage directly, so I can save two steps."

"You are really lazy"

Walker shook his head helplessly, drove the car into the yard, and drove backwards into the garage that was vacated because the car was temporarily borrowed.

"Where's your car?" Walker opened the door and asked curiously.

"I was borrowed by Sister You before lunch."

As Wei Ran spoke, he opened the trunk of the car driven by Walker, and called to the young men following him to take out the three boxes of foreign wine and send them directly to the second floor.

"You need to find a place to sit first."

As if he didn't treat Walker as an outsider at all, Wei Ran invited him to sit down in the living room on the second floor. He himself was busy selecting a few bottles of wine and pouring them into a glass decanter in advance.

Walker seemed to be used to this. He picked up a piece of Chinese pastry from the table and ate it in a few bites. Then he sat in front of the piano in the banquet hall on the second floor and asked in German, "Victor, what do you want?" What music are you listening to?”

"How about the Waltz of Flowers?" Wei Ran asked in a leisurely manner.

"I'll give it a try," Walker said, placing his hands on the keys and starting to play.

You should be allowed to play Chopin's Funeral March, but unfortunately, you are not worthy.
Wei Ran muttered something in a low voice in this extremely familiar piano music, and the killing intent in his lowered eyes almost overflowed and dripped into the scarlet wine.

Before the song was finished, young men or girls in dresses came in one after another, either alone or in groups, enthusiastic and also wearing dresses, waiting with Yumei on the first floor. Meixiang said hello.

However, these young people call Meixiang "Teacher Meixiang" with respect and a hint of kindness.

Almost immediately, the rich ladies came over.Perhaps out of some tacit understanding, not many of these rich ladies brought dancing partners.

Especially the resentful young woman who impressed Wei Ran deeply. She poured two glasses of wine without waiting for the dance to begin, and started chatting with a rather upright-looking young man in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.And looking at the way her smile was trembling, it was clear that she was very satisfied with this potential dance partner.

By around 06:30, the sky had completely darkened, and with the last arrival of the late Someya couple, the dance officially began.

He danced the first dance with Mei Xiang first, and when Qiushi, who was in charge of playing the piano, started playing the second piece, Wei Ran immediately approached Yu Mei with a shy face and stretched out his arms towards her like a dog. hand.

When she saw Wei Ran's face, Youmei subconsciously thought of the big treasures in the boxes on top of the darkroom cabinet on the second floor. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel that the hand Wei Ran stretched out didn't seem so clean.

After a moment's hesitation, she suppressed her nausea and put her lace-gloved hand on Wei Ran's.

At the same time, Wei Ran also squeezed the other person's injured little hand with a little force, and at the same time used his other hand to wrap his arms around the other person's slim waist, and even lowered it towards the buttocks intentionally or unintentionally.

"Please respect yourself," Yumi reminded her in Japanese with a cold face, enduring the pain in her fingertips.

"I should have known better to learn Japanese language. I can't even understand what this little bitch is saying."

Wei Ran muttered something, and then he held Yumi closer to him, and at the same time started dancing to the music.

Under the dim light, Youmi rolled her eyes. After patiently dancing with Wei Ran, she simply distanced herself from Wei Ran and even deliberately sat next to Tao Canhua.

Seeing this, Wei Ran deliberately put on a gloomy expression, and then took a glass of wine and approached Walker, who had just finished dancing with Mei Xiang.

"It seems that the pretty girl is not interested in you?" Walker and Wei Ran touched their glasses lightly, took a sip of red wine, and teased in German.

"Who do you think she is?" After Wei Ran asked, he drank half the glass of wine in one gulp.

"Who?" Walker asked with interest.

"Mr. Tian's daughter"

"Mr. Tian?" Walker frowned and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Ueda?"

"Otherwise who else?"

Wei Ran reluctantly confirmed the other party's guess, and then raised his chin towards the geisha who was performing a Japanese dance for everyone, "Did you see the one dancing? That was my cousin who specially came from the Golden Boat Dance Hall We found a geisha from Dongjing, saying that she was worried about Ms. Youmi’s loneliness, so she invited her to chat with you. I heard from Jasmine that the geisha was just 16 years old.”

"Are you also interested in that geisha?" Walker asked with a smile while taking a sip of red wine.

"I?"

Wei Ran smiled and said, "I'm not interested in that geisha, but Miss Youmei, tsk tsk tsk, it's a pity, I can't eat it when I see it."

Hearing this, Walker smiled and said, "I heard that you just provoked the eldest lady of the Guan family, and you fell in love with someone new so soon?"

"It's nothing, don't listen to the rumors outside." Wei Ran denied it flatly, while filling the other party's glass with wine, "Drink, drink."

"Really?" Walker asked with a smile, "Maybe I can ask Mr. Guan to help you beg for mercy."

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help but show a trace of emotion on his face, but then as if he remembered something, he quickly shook his head and denied it again, "The eldest lady of the Guan family and I are innocent. , there is really nothing, and I don’t know which bastard spread the gossip.”

"have a drink"

Walker took the initiative to clink the glasses with Wei Ran. Seeing Wei Ran drink all the wine in the glass in one gulp, he seemed to have confirmed some suspicions and drank it down in one gulp with peace of mind.

Soon, the third song started, and Wei Ran immediately put down his wine glass and invited a beautiful female student who seemed to be learning dancing from Mei Xiang to enter the dance floor.

Whose child is she carrying?
Walker murmured something secretly in his heart, and then invited a rich lady to the dance floor.

After the third dance, Wei Ran approached Yumei again, who was chatting with the geisha, holding a wine glass.It's a pity that the other party just saw him coming and immediately walked in the direction of Tao Canhua.Seeing this, Wei Ran also had a gloomy look on his face.

"Victor"

Walker came over with a glass of wine and gloated in German, "Your cousin asked me to remind you not to continue to embarrass her. If you drink too much, go downstairs and rest. You will have to drive after the dance is over." Send that geisha back to the Golden Boat Dance Hall."

"I almost forgot about this"

Wei Ran patted his forehead, touched Walker with his cup, and said nonchalantly, "Just find a rickshaw for her then, she's just a lonely girl."

"This is not what a gentleman does," Walker reminded with a smile.

"Mr. Walker must be a gentleman, right?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he put the hand holding the wine glass on Walker's shoulder, and asked in a low voice with a wink, "How about you help me send that geisha back? Maybe you can have something happen on the way. what?"

"Victor, you are really good at making friends." Walker smiled and clinked glasses with Wei Ran, "How should you thank me?"

"Thank u?"

Wei Ran snorted, took back his arm on the other person's shoulders, took a swig of wine and mocked, "Friend, it's you who should thank me."

"makes sense"

After Walker finished speaking, he drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, "Leave it to me to escort the lady home, but you must seriously consider your cousin's warning."

"I will stay away from Miss Youmei," Wei Ran reluctantly promised.

"I thought you would be with Andy" Walker casually started a new topic.

"She has been married a long time ago. It is said that she already has children." Wei Ran gave the other party a cigarette, lit one himself, then picked up a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, and made a gesture towards the other party. wink.

Walker nodded imperceptibly, lit a cigarette as well, followed Wei Ran downstairs, and sat next to the burning fireplace.

"I heard from my cousin that she married a wealthy businessman."

Wei Ran filled the other person's glass with wine while pretending to be regretful and said, "I haven't seen her since 37 years. Speaking of which, Walker, how is your Dr. Shi doing now?" ?I remember they were very good friends at the time, and I haven’t seen her again in these years.”

"She went to Bincheng shortly after the flood in 39."

Volker clinked glasses with Wei Ran and explained eloquently, "Her fiancé died in the war, and she also disappeared this fall. I have been looking for her these past few months." Why have I never heard you talk about this?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Can you help me with anything?" Walker asked bluntly.

"Uh" Wei Ran grinned and took a sip of wine.

Walker sighed, "When I ask you about Andy, I actually want to ask if Dr. Shi has gone to Andy's place or if he has contacted her."

"I will ask my cousin to write a letter to Andy to inquire about it tomorrow." As he spoke, Wei Ran refilled the wine for him, and at the same time changed the topic and joked, "You can still Can't drink? You have to send that geisha home later, so don't delay your good deeds."

"It's just a glass of wine," Walker said. He had already raised the glass to his mouth and drank half of the glass of whiskey in one go.

"In that case, let's have another drink." Wei Ran refilled the other party's drink as he spoke, "If you drink one more drink, you will have one less cup to worry about."

Before Walker could say anything, Wei Ran put down the bottle, picked up the cup and drank it in one gulp.

“Last drink”

Walker waited for Wei Ran to pour himself another drink, then picked up the glass and clinked it with him, and then drank it all.

"The next dance is about to begin"

Walker put down his cup and asked, "Are you going up?"

"I burp—" Wei Ran burped, grinning and waving his hands, "I won't go up there for now, just have fun."

"I'm going to ask Miss Youmei to dance." Walker said deliberately, and then walked up to the second floor with a smile as Wei Ran raised his middle finger to bless her.

After deliberately waiting for a dance, Wei Ran got up and went upstairs, holding a glass of wine and wandering around chatting aimlessly. From time to time, he also danced with the rich ladies, or with those who came to attend the dance. chat with the beautiful girl.

The dance lasted for nearly two hours. Qiushi, who played the piano, finally played the song that represented the end. Wei Ran once again danced the last dance with Mei Xiang.

At the same time, on the first floor of the study apartment where the curtains had been drawn, Jasmine carried Brother Tang's cold and wet body into the dark garage alone, hid it in the trunk of Walker's car, and He covered himself with a blanket dyed dark blue and finally closed the trunk lid.

As the last dance ended, the guests who attended the dance also went downstairs and left one after another.After Meixiang learned from the drunken Wei Ran that the task of sending the geisha back had been assigned to Walker, she also expressed her apology to Walker and the young geisha helplessly.

"it does not matter"

Walker, who also smelled of alcohol, waved his hand, then patted Wei Ran gratefully on the shoulder, and then gracefully invited the geisha to follow him downstairs and got into his car. .

Watching Walker drive away, Mei Xiang was busy saying goodbye to other guests, while Wei Ran walked towards Yumi who was chatting with several Japanese expatriates.

Unfortunately, before he could talk to her, Yumei had already bowed goodbye to the Japanese youths and turned around to go upstairs.

Soon, as the guests dispersed, the members of the Chunhua Opera Troupe who were serving as waiters began to busy cleaning the first and second floors under the command of Qiushi and Jasmine. Wei Ran also found Wei Ran who was busy in the restaurant on the second floor. Tao Canhua.

The two looked at each other, and Wei Ran picked up a plate with pastries and slapped it on Tao Canhua's body.

"Crack!" The plate fell to the floor and broke into eight pieces.

"Oh!"

Wei Ran punched Tao Canhua in the face with a moderate punch, and then he was staggered by Tao Canhua's kick, and the two of them started fighting each other.

Soon, the members of the troupe who were busy gathered around and started to break up the fight. When Meixiang downstairs ran upstairs quickly with her skirt in hand, Yumei, who heard the commotion, also walked down from the third floor.

"What's wrong with them?" Yumi asked Qiushi, who was standing on tiptoe at the door of the darkroom watching the excitement.

Qiushi glanced at Yumi, and Qiqi Ai explained in not fluent Japanese, "Young Master Biao felt that Canhua stole his limelight at the dance. Young Master Biao originally wanted to be with... and you."

"Humph!"

Youmei snorted coldly in her heart, but there was a look of hesitation on her face. But soon, she "bravely" ran over and stood in front of Tao Canhua who had been pulled away. She opened her arms and shouted angrily in Japanese. Said, "You can't bully him."

Before the others could say anything, Mei Xiang seemed to have finished listening to Jasmine’s explanation at the same time, and walked over with a cold face and said, “What a shame!”

"Cousin, I."

"Snapped!"

Before Wei Ran could finish his words, Mei Xiang slapped him hard on the face mercilessly, then walked up to Tao Canhua, gently pulled You Mei away, and slapped him hard in the face as well, " The others go back to their rooms to rest. You two are responsible for cleaning the first and second floors. I will watch you from here and clean until I am satisfied!"

Hearing this, Tao Canhua said nothing, turned around, picked up a broom and dustpan and started working.

"Master Biao, aren't you going to take action?" Mei Xiang asked with a cold face.

"Sweep, just scan"

Wei Ran rubbed his burning cheeks, grabbed the broom from a young man's hand and started working.

"It's over, let's all go back and rest." Jasmine greeted the others to go back to the room immediately. At the same time, Meixiang also called to Yumi.

"Come and sit next to me." Although Mei Xiang's voice was gentle, her tone could not be refused. "Watch with me until they clean up."

"it is good"

Yumei bowed slightly in obedience and sat down beside Meixiang obediently, hiding her inner pleasure as she watched the two men responsible for cleaning.

At the same time, the tipsy Walker also drove his car slowly to the Japanese Concession. Unfortunately, the young geisha sitting in the back seat did not seem to understand Chinese and German, so naturally she It completely ruined the possibility of the two of them watching the moon together at night.

Although he felt a little regretful, after sending the geisha downstairs to Zhongyuan Company, he still gave her a business card, and the young geisha took the business card with both hands and bowed.

"Sir, do you want to buy cigarettes?" A young man wearing a new cotton hat on his head and a pair of brand new knitted gloves on his hands came up and asked.

Walker, who was shattered by his admiration, shook his head, then threw out a few coins and bought a pack of cigarettes. Then he got into the car and drove the car in the direction of his foreign bank, but there was no sign of it at all. He noticed that there were two bicycles in front and behind his car, "escorting him" at a distance.

Soon after, Volk drove out of the Japanese Concession and entered the French Concession along the cold and windy road.

However, when his car passed through a necessary road, there happened to be a mule cart making a difficult U-turn directly in front of him. However, the mule was obviously disobedient, so that the animal-drawn cart also blocked the car. The road is not wide.

Seeing this, Walker also slowed down the car slightly, lowered the window, lit a cigarette and waited patiently.In the years he has been in China, this is not the first time he has encountered such road conditions, and he has long been accustomed to it.

However, before he could take the first puff of cigarette into his lungs, a figure wearing a Chinese tunic suit and a Lenin hat lay beside the car window, "Mr. Walker?"

"You are." Walker was stunned, and then noticed the pistol hidden in the newspaper in the other person's hand.

"How about you sit inside and give me a ride in your car?"

Chen Gouyu, who was outside the car window, had already reached into the car window and opened the car door while he was talking. At the same time, on the other side of the car, someone also opened the door of the rear compartment and got in, using a A pistol was pressed against Walker's head from behind.

After a moment's hesitation, Walker moved his butt and carefully moved to the passenger seat. The man behind him immediately used a bicycle brake cable to gently strangle his neck from behind.

Glancing at Xu Keqin sitting in the back seat, Chen Dogfish bent down and got into the cab. After closing the door, he rolled up the window slowly.

At almost the same time, the mule cart finally made a difficult U-turn, leaving enough space for the car to pass.

Pressing the accelerator lightly and releasing the clutch at the same time, Chen Pike drove the car to run and turned around at the next intersection.

"Who are you?" Walker forced himself to calm down, but what he answered was the slightly tightened brake line around his neck.

In a slightly long silence, the car finally drove to the edge of the Haihe River, then drove northwest along the Haihe River, and finally drove to the edge of the old town of Jinmen.

Compared to the concession, the night here was much darker. Walker, who was mostly awake from the wine, could only vaguely see through the rearview mirror. It seemed that someone had opened the trunk of the car and lifted it out from inside. What did he say, and then closed the trunk lid again.

Soon, the car continued to drive toward the suburbs, and finally stopped near a ruined temple that had been abandoned for an unknown period of time.

It was only then that Chen Gouyu asked, "Why betray Tang Juechen?"

Hearing this, Walker was shocked, and then denied it, "It's not me. I didn't betray him. It's none of my business. Uh!"

As the wire around his neck tightened, Walker began to struggle, and the car slowly stopped on the side of the road.

After two long minutes, the wire slowly relaxed, and Walker, whose eyes were already bloodshot, began to breathe heavily.

"Why betrayed Tang Juechen?" Chen Gouyu asked again, "This is the last time I ask you."

Feeling that the wire around his neck was about to tighten again, Walker closed his eyes in resignation, "Kill me. I'm sorry for betraying Tang Juechen. But I have no choice. For my family, I can only Selling out my friends.”

"Who did you betray him to?"

Chen Gouyu continued to ask, "Of course, we can ask your family. I believe it is not difficult to find them, especially your sister."

Hearing this, Walker immediately opened his eyes, and after a moment of hesitation, he closed them again, "Mr. Ueda, I sold Mr. Ueda the news that Tang Juechen purchased radio parts from me."

"That's all?" Chen Gouyu asked with a cold face.

"That's all, I swear, that's all I said."

Walker hesitated for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Is Tang Juechen still alive?"

"Do you know Ueda's true identity?" Chen Gouyu ignored the other party's question and continued to ask.

Walker shook his head, "I don't know, and there's no need to know."

"What did you get from Ueda?" Chen Gouyu asked a new question.

Turning his head to look at the young Chen Pike, Walker smiled sadly, "It doesn't matter what I get from him. If you want to kill me, do it now."

"Ms. Dagmar saved my life in 1937." Chen Pike said in a low voice as he turned off the car.

Xu Keqin, who was in the back seat of the car, continued, "It was also that year that my brother suffered from tetanus. I heard that it was the poison sent by Dr. Dagma that made my brother's death less painful."

"Personally, we are very grateful to Dr. Dagmar for her help and will never forget her kindness."

Chen Gouyu looked at Walker who seemed to have realized something and continued, "Mr. Yu, we can't forgive you for betraying Brother Tang, let alone let you go, that will only kill more people. "

"Miss Mei Xiang and her cousin Wei Ran?"

Walker smiled, picked up the cigarette box on the dashboard, lit a cigarette and held it in his mouth, "Young man, do it."

"puff!"

With a muffled sound, Xu Keqin in the back row hit Walker hard on the back of the head with a claw hammer.

Immediately afterwards, the two of them pushed the door open and got out of the car, carried Walker's body into the pit dug in advance, and then worked together to knock down a long-abandoned earth wall, completely burying the still warm body. corpse.

On the second floor of Xuqing's study apartment, Wei Ran and Tao Canhua, who each had a palm print on their face, were still under the supervision of Mei Xiang and Youmei, wiping the already very clean floor on the second floor of the study apartment with the rag in their hands.