War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1228

In the strong white light, Wei Ran could only feel the chill on his body and the pervasive smell of blood gradually disappearing, replaced by the harsh chirping of cicadas and a sticky and sultry body feeling that seemed to have a real substance.Without even looking, he knew that there would probably be rain soon.

"Crack!"

Sure enough, just when his vision returned to normal, a thunder exploded above his head, and immediately after, he felt heavy raindrops hitting his body.

Looking around, he found that the sky was extremely dark at this time, but he was once again standing at the door of the study apartment, facing the yard, with a lit cigarette between his fingers.

What is this for?
Wei Ran took advantage of the situation and took a puff of his cigarette while muttering to himself. He also took a few steps back and hid under the awning on the porch.

It was only then that he had the time to look at himself and the closed door behind him.

His own outfit was extremely comfortable. His lower body was a pair of large pants and a pair of round-top cloth shoes. His upper body was a coarse cloth sweatshirt that was breathable from all sides. In the pockets on both sides of the sweatshirt, he also placed the small PPK pistol and a piece of silver. Open the case of a pocket watch, and the time displayed on it is already past eleven o'clock.

Looking at the courtyard of the Love Letter Apartment, the ginkgo tree is lush and lush, and there is also a set of stone tea tables and stools under the tree.Even the big parrot that was still alive was standing on the wooden frame fixed on the trunk of the ginkgo tree, walking back and forth restlessly, obviously frightened by the thunder just now.

"There won't be another flood."

Wei Ran couldn't help but mutter to himself, then turned and looked at the window on the side of the door.

Through the gap left by the inner curtain, which was no more than the width of a finger, he could clearly see that at this time, by the fireplace in the hall on the first floor, there was a short-haired figure wearing a silk nightgown. Under the faint light of the oil lamp, he pressed the With headphones attached to his ears, he held a pencil in one hand and recorded the codes he heard on the letter raft.

"Crack!"

Following the third thunder, a series of lightnings lit up in the night sky, connecting the sky and the earth.At the same time, Wei Ran also discovered that in this series of lightning, there seemed to be a rickshaw parked at the door of Xu Qing's apartment.

"Da da da"

Wei Ran stubbed out the cigarette butt and flicked it into the heavy rain outside the awning, then gently knocked on the wooden door behind him with the cigarette holder in his hand.

Immediately afterwards, he put away his cigarette holder, took out the PPK pistol from his pocket and filled it with bullets. With the lightning that lit up from time to time, he watched a person getting off the rickshaw holding an umbrella. I watched him pick up something from the rickshaw, and then watched him walk to the door of the study apartment with the things in his arms, and banged the locked gate.

Turning his head and looking through the gap in the curtain at the extinguished candle light, the disappearing figure of Miao Man, and the closed door of the storage room, Wei Ran waited for a moment, and then took the photo from the side of the door. He picked up an umbrella from the pastel painting vat and unfolded it, then walked down the steps and walked to the fence gate.

"It's me, open the door quickly." Outside the gate, the man holding an umbrella urged anxiously.

Xiaoguan?Guan Bingwen?

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then quickly threw away his umbrella and opened the locked gate.

However, Guan Bingwen, who still had a trace of the smell of blood on his body, did not come in. He just handed the thing in his arms to Wei Ran, and with an anxious look, he whispered into Wei Ran's ear and said quickly, "I My sister and I have been exposed. My sister and my father have just been captured by the Japanese. We don’t know whether they are alive or dead. The Japanese are still looking for me all over the city.

In addition, this is the same enemy. I accidentally injured her when I took her to escape. Please take care of her for me. Help me take care of her for a while. If I can survive, I will come to pick her up. "

Hearing this, Wei Ran was shocked, but before he could say anything, Guan Bingwen got back into the rickshaw and drove away.

Looking down at the little guy wrapped tightly in a raincoat in his arms, Wei Ran didn't dare to delay, locked the iron gate as quickly as possible and ran into the study apartment.

"what happened?"

Tao Canhua, who was holding a revolver in his hand, asked as Wei Ran entered the door.

"Let my cousin go to the basement"

Wei Ran whispered instructions, but he didn't stop at all. He ran into the basement with the little guy in his arms and turned on the lights in the basement.

Without caring about anything else, Wei Ran put his friend in his arms on the sofa and untied the raincoat wrapped around her body as quickly as possible. Then he noticed at a glance that this sluggish little guy was wearing A white floral skirt, but the back of the skirt was stained red with blood.

Looking around, Wei Ran took out the medical kit as quickly as possible and placed it on the Eight Immortals table on one side. After opening it, he took a surgical scissor and cut open the little guy's body as quickly as possible. Floral skirt, and then he saw the hideous wound on the little guy's back, which was ten centimeters long and had faintly visible bones.

Just from the condition of the wound, he could tell at a glance that the wound was most likely caused by a stray bullet.Fortunately among the misfortunes, although the wound looked serious, the bullet did not enter the chest cavity. Otherwise, it would not be so easy for this little guy who looked only two or three years old to survive.

Seeing that there was no problem, Wei Ran immediately ran to the edge of the big mirror, called Andy softly, reached out to open the mechanism inside, and slowly pushed the big mirror open.

"What's wrong?" Just as he pushed open the mirror, Andy also opened the small door from the inside. At the same time, footsteps came from above his head.

"Xiaoguan just sent his enemies here."

Wei Ran pulled Andy out of the small door, and at the same time kept explaining, "Xiao Guan and Miss Ling Lu were exposed. Just now, Uncle Guan and Ling Lu were captured by the Japanese. They share the same hatred with this little girl." The guy got hurt too.”

"What did you say?"

The person who asked this question was Mei Xiang who ran downstairs in her nightgown.As for Andy, who was also wearing a nightgown, he had already sprinted to the edge of the sofa.

"The wound is not serious, but the blood loss is serious. We need to know her blood type to give her a blood transfusion."

Wei Ran explained, and at the same time he glanced at his medical box. Unfortunately, the two crucial cans of plasma powder still did not appear on one side of the box.

"The enemy has type A blood, the same blood type as my brother. Last time I asked Mei Xiang to ask Ling Lu."

Andy said without thinking, "Qiushi, yes! Qiushi also has type A blood! When my brother was alive, Qiushi gave him a blood transfusion. I remember it very clearly."

"I'm going to call Qiushi right now." Tao Canhua, who had just followed, ran back immediately without even thinking.

"Debridement and suturing first"

As Wei Ran spoke, he reached into the medical box as a cover and took out a flashlight and handed it to Mei Xiang, "Cousin, help me illuminate it."

"Did Xiaoguan say anything else?"

Mei Xiang took the flashlight and helped to look at the wound of the almost comatose little fellow, and said with heartache, "Who is this cruel person who dares to do something to such a young child? I will definitely cut him alive!"

“Didn’t say much”

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already injected a small amount of morphine around the little guy's wound. "He left in a hurry. He only said that if he could survive, he would come to pick up the same enemy. I guess there are probably Japanese behind him." I’m chasing him.”

"I don't know how Miss Linglu is doing."

Mei Xiang muttered something worriedly, but Wei Ran and Andy stopped talking. After the two made simple preoperative preparations as quickly as possible, they began the work of debridement and suturing.

Fortunately, after some inspection, Wei Ran discovered that although bones were visible in the wound, it fortunately did not fracture the ribs and only scratched a shallow groove on the shoulder blade.

What surprised him even more was that although the two important cans of plasma powder on the medicine box did not appear, Andy, who was assisting him, found several vital penicillins in the medicine box.

Before he could clean the wound, Qiushi, who was also wearing only pajamas, ran down quickly.The girl, who still had sleepiness and a trace of drool marks on her face, rolled up the cuffs of her pajamas without saying a word, and said simply, "Come on! Canhua told me everything."

Without caring about politeness, Andy took out the blood transfusion kit from the medical box and inserted the needle into the blood vessel of Qiushi's arm.

When a steady stream of blood flowed into the blood vessels of the enemy, Wei Ran also began to suture the wound.

As the wound was tightened and closed by the sutures bit by bit, and as the gurgling blood flowed into the blood vessels of the children with the same hatred, everyone's tense nerves gradually relaxed as Wei Ran and Andy were busy.

During the slightly long wait, Wei Ran and Andy bandaged the wounds on their enemies' backs.

Soon after, as Andy pulled out the needle, the blood transfusion work came to an end. The slightly pale Qiushi also sat on the sofa in the basement with the support of Mei Xiang and Tao Canhua.

"Then it depends on the child himself."

As Wei Ran spoke, he injected a small amount of penicillin into the nearly comatose child, and then took out nearly a box of American-made penicillin from the medical kit and handed it to Andy.

"What should we do?" Andy gently stroked his enemy's braid and asked softly, "Let this little guy hide in the basement?"

“That’s all we can do now”

Meixiang said worriedly, "I don't know how Miss Linglu is doing. The child is still so young. What if?"

“There’s no point thinking about these things now.”

Andy said calmly, "No matter what happens to Ling Lu, we must first ensure that the child survives."

"makes sense."

Mei Xiang nodded, "Andy, take her down first. Something happens to Ling Lu and her brother. If we can't protect them, the Japanese will come."

“Also good”

Andy said, putting the box of penicillin Wei Ran gave her into her pocket, and carefully picked up the comatose child who was unconscious and walked towards the small door.

After Tao Canhua helped move the large mirror back to its original position from the outside, and waited for the people inside to lock it, Meixiang also stood up, helped Qiushi to stand up, and said with concern, "I'll give it to you later. Dissolve some donkey-hide gelatin to replenish blood."

"I'm fine"

Qiushi, who looked slightly pale, shook her head, and then looked at Wei Ran, "I hate her the same way."

"Do not worry"

Wei Ran comforted her while packing up the medical kit and blood-stained gauze, "She just lost a little bit of blood. As long as she survives tonight, she'll be fine. Andy is taking care of her, so don't worry too much."

Hearing this, Qiushi and Meixiang both breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at each other, and Qiushi let Meixiang and Tao Canhua support her and left the basement first.

Wei Ran, who was left at the end, packed up the last medical waste, took out a glass bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the medical box, and cleaned the Eight Immortals table that served as the operating table. He didn't carry it until he was sure that there was no more blood in the basement. Carrying the medicine box, flashlight, and medical waste wrapped in the raincoat, the last one left the basement.

After nodding as a greeting to Jasmine, who was still guarding the door of the storage room, Wei Ran went back to his room to put away the medical kit, and then walked through the kitchen with a flashlight and walked in through the back door. He arrived at the boiler room, stuffed the raincoat and the medical waste inside into the boiler, doused it with kerosene and lit it.

Sitting next to the boiler, Wei lit a cigarette and couldn't help but secretly wonder which summer it was now and whether Guan Bingwen could survive.At the same time, he was inevitably curious whether the Guan siblings were exposed due to accident or carelessness, or because of betrayal by a traitor.

By the time the cigarette burned out, the bag of medical waste and the tarpaulin raincoat had also been burned to ashes.The ashes were smashed with an ash shovel, and Wei Yan shoveled them out and threw them directly into the rain curtain outside the boiler room, allowing them to flow outside along the water holes under the erosion of the heavy rain.

Returning to his room, Wei Ran locked the door and closed the curtains, and checked the room first.

Unfortunately, compared with the previous times, there was no calendar or other things in this room that could indicate the period. Instead, when he took out the food box from the metal book, he discovered that the upper and lower layers of the food box were... It was actually filled with gold bars of small yellow croakers and an unopened letter of silver coins.

Not to mention, he even found another biscuit box containing dozens of silver dollars in the closet.

What is all this money used for?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, but unfortunately, the heavy rain outside the window obviously didn't want to give him any explanation. Thinking of this, he could only lie on the iron frame bed covered with a mat, light a cigarette and wait patiently. Daybreak.

There was nothing to say all night, and it was just dawning the next morning. Although the heavy rain that had raged all night had reduced a lot, it showed no sign of stopping.However, this does not affect the members of the Chunhua Opera Troupe from getting up on time at five o'clock.

Mother Yang and Uncle Meng, who got up earlier, also moved the prepared breakfast to the dining tables on the first and second floors with the help of a few young men.

While these young girls and boys were busy eating breakfast, Yang’s mother, who had already had breakfast, also helped Uncle Meng carry the garbage accumulated in the past few days to the door of the yard and handed it over to the workers who cleaned up the garbage. He sent an inconspicuous small bamboo tube and two large packages of leaflets hidden in the trash can to the mule cart carrying garbage.

Also taking advantage of the troupe members' breakfast, Wei Ran also walked to the basement, pushed open the big mirror and asked Andy about it.

Fortunately, the little one with the same hatred has now woken up and is initially out of danger. However, for this little one who is only two or three years old, the difficulties she faces are far more than the wounds on her back. .

When he returned to the first floor with this barely good news, Mei Xiang, who usually couldn't get up so early, had already dressed neatly and went downstairs. "Little guy wakes up"

Wei Ran informed the good news in German with a calm expression, "As long as the wound does not become inflamed, there will be no more danger."

Hearing this, Mei Xiang nodded, sat casually on the sofa on the first floor, and said in proficient German, "You and Canhua will go out for a run later, ask for news, and take a look around Quanyechang. Let’s see if any news comes through.”

"I see"

Wei Ran nodded, switched to his native language and asked, "Why did cousin wake up so early?"

"It started thundering very early in the morning, and it was so noisy that I couldn't sleep at all."

Meixiang responded slightly irritably, then clapped her hands and said, "It's the beginning of the month again. After dinner, everyone will go to the second floor to take the ballroom dance and Japanese exams. The one who dances the worst will be responsible for the same room. My companion washes smelly socks.”

As soon as these words were spoken, some members of the theater troupe who were about to finish their breakfast on the first floor were immediately happy and some were sad.

Seeing this, Mei Xiang smiled and motioned to Qiushi who was following her to light a cigarette for her. She walked to the hall puffing out smoke, opened the door and looked outside, muttering to herself, "It's Friday again, and I don't know how lively the dance tonight will be."

"Are you worried something might happen?"

Wei Ran, who also lit a cigarette, walked to Mei Xiang and asked, while also observing the beautiful cousin.

Although he didn't know what year it was, some crow's feet had appeared in the corners of Mei Xiang's eyes, and her whole body exuded the unique charm of a mature woman.

"do not know"

Mei Xiang sighed, and then she seemed to suddenly become interested. She handed the cigarette in her hand to Wei Ran, turned around, clapped her hands again and said loudly, "Eat quickly. At 06:30, give it to me." I will give a good performance as Concubine Han Ming."

As soon as these words were spoken, the young men who had almost finished their breakfast immediately responded in unison, then quickly wolfed down the remaining food, and then worked together to clear the table.

When the clock on the first floor started to chime six o'clock, these young men and the girls having breakfast on the second floor walked into the storage room one after another and helped each other get dressed.

At 06:30 in the morning, when the clock on the first floor had just struck its only half-hour chime, on the stage in the basement, members of the troupe headed by Tao Canhua also started singing meticulously to the accompaniment of gongs and drums.

Meixiang, the only one sitting in the audience, also said after Wei Ran helped light a cigarette, "You go up and let me stay by myself for a while. If there are guests coming, let them wait."

Hearing this, Wei Ran nodded, turned around and left the basement, passing Jasmine who came down with fruits and hot tea, and returned to the hall on the first floor alone.

"Miss, is something on your mind?"

Before Wei Ran could sit down, Yang's mother put a tea tray on the table on the first floor and motioned for Wei Ran to sit down.

"How do you know?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Not only did the young lady say that I watched her grow up, she is almost like my own daughter. Why didn't I know?"

Yang Ma sighed firmly and whispered, "This girl has been in love with Mr. Shang, a famous singer in the capital, since she was in her early twenties. Later, Mr. Shang lost his wife. In order to avoid suspicion, she never had anything to do with Mr. Shang again. Later, Mr. Shang continued When the strings are broken, the young lady really has something in her heart that makes her breathless, so she will listen to Concubine Han Ming to calm herself down."

"I remember she said she had never been interested in Mr. Shang"

"You silly boy"

Yang Ma rolled her eyes at Wei Ran before he could finish his words, "Thank you for still hooking up with this one and teasing that one every day. Do you really not understand or pretend you don't understand the meaning of this woman's heart? What if your cousin doesn't care about Mr. Shang?" Thinking about it, after spending so much effort to redeem yourself, why don’t you find an in-law now that you are 35?"

Um. Who’s to say this is accurate?
Wei Ran couldn't help but grin, but before he could figure out the answer, a group of pseudo-policemen came to the door of the study apartment in the rain. The leader arrogantly used the baton in his hand to smash the book The fence of the apartment made a clanging sound.

"Who is it? A funeral announcement so early in the morning?"

Wei Ran opened the door, cursed and shouted, and then, as if he had just discovered the identity of the person who came, he said a long "Ouch——!" and ran to the door holding an umbrella.

"What are your orders this early in the morning?" Wei Ran asked politely from behind the iron gate, but was in no hurry to open the courtyard door.

"Master Cousin, please open the door."

The leader, who was swinging the baton in his hand, said angrily, "Let's work as servants for the locust army and search for the enemy."

"What do you like to search for with your special code?"

Wei Ran responded with an even more arrogant attitude than the other party, "How dare you show me the broken stick in your hand again? Why don't you come here and act wild without asking about this place?" Did you knock on this door with a special code?"

"Hey!"

The policeman outside the door suddenly lost his temper. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "Why don't you show off your special code?"

"Here's to your grandma"

Wei Ran interrupted the other party again, lit up a cigarette more and more arrogantly, and said while smoking, "Come on, come on, type your special code again and show it to your father."

"I"

The police chief who was trying to bluff people subconsciously raised the baton in his hand, but in the end, the baton in his hand did not hit the iron gate. Instead, he put on a smile and said, "Okay! Look!" Young Master, I have no rules and I will apologize to you. But please think about it carefully. If you are delayed in getting someone to do errands, when the time comes..."

"Young special code is trying to scare me, who are you trying to scare?"

Wei Ran said impatiently, "Let me tell you first, who are you trying to arrest? We are in a serious business, and people of your caliber are not allowed to come here casually. Who do you want to arrest? I will bring them out for you and let you go." What's going on with such a bunch of Qiu Ba coming in?"

"Young Master Biao, I'm afraid you don't know, right?"

The police chief took a step closer and said through the iron gate, "Uncle Guan and Miss Guan were caught collaborating with the enemy last night. Someone reported the case early this morning and said they saw someone coming to your apartment last night, suspecting that you are harboring criminals. , we are here early in the morning. Let me tell you, if you really are hiding someone here, hand it over early. If there is no one hiding, let the brothers go in and take a look. "

"Wait a minute, who do you think is collaborating with the enemy? Uncle Guan and Miss Linglu?" Wei Ran asked in surprise, and at the same time, there was an undisguised look of happiness and relief on his face.

“Coco no”

The police chief stammered in reply. He originally thought that the news would frighten Wei Ran, but he never expected that the other party would show such an expression.

"Come on! Come on, come on!"

Wei Ran's attitude suddenly made a 180-degree turn. He even threw away the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, opened the locked iron gate with a cigarette in his mouth, and let the somewhat confused policemen in with great enthusiasm. After casually throwing a pack of unopened Camel cigarettes to one of them and telling them to share the smoke, he grabbed the police chief and asked happily as he walked inside, "That fat guy has really been arrested." ?Ling Lu was also arrested? Don’t lie to me, kid."

"Why did I lie to you"

The police chief became increasingly puzzled, "Young Master Cousin, are you very happy?"

"How is that possible! No, absolutely not!"

Wei Ran denied it, and then asked, "Where is that boy from the Guan family? Has Guan Bingwen caught him?"

"If we catch him, we won't bother you anymore," the police chief replied subconsciously, but he didn't realize that Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief just after he finished his sentence.

"Come in come in quickly"

Wei Ran enthusiastically greeted the policemen into the lobby on the first floor and said at the same time, "You can search everything in the courtyard as you please, but we have to talk about the rules first."

"What are your orders, Master Ciao?" the police chief asked politely.

"Only women live on our second and third floors."

Wei Ran pointed to the upstairs with his thumb, "So you can search. You can also surround the building to prevent people from running away. But when you go upstairs to search, our people must be present to prevent your people from having unclean hands and feet. If there is a dispute, don't blame me for turning against me. If your hands and feet are not clean then, you will either leave your hands and claws behind, or, hum!"

"That's nature, that's nature."

The police chief immediately patted his chest and made a promise, then turned around and looked at the person behind him and warned, "Listen clearly, please keep your hands and feet clean for me later! Otherwise, Master, I will leave your hands and claws." , I have to be there to help hold it down."

"Yes!" Several policemen who followed in and stood still immediately replied in unison, and even puffed out their skinny chests.

"One more thing"

Wei Ran pointed in the direction of the storage room, "My cousin is downstairs listening to a play and taking exams for the people below. You can't disturb her at this time, so you have to wait until the song Concubine Han Ming finishes singing downstairs. Those younger brothers and sisters You can only start after taking off your makeup and returning to your respective rooms."

"This"

"I know what you're worried about"

Wei Ran pointed to the outside of the foyer, "Ask your people to guard outside, and you go down with me to listen to the show. Now you don't have to worry about it, right? You can take a break along the way, which is much better than being caught in the rain outside." .”

"Okay, that's okay!" The police chief responded immediately, "You guys, go and guard outside!"

Hearing this, the police gangsters looked at each other and had to leave the small building again bitterly. After some prevarication, they either stood guard at the entrance of the courtyard or under the ginkgo tree.

"Jasmine, Jasmine?"

Wei Ran shouted a few times, and Jasmine, who had been hiding in the kitchen just now, also came out and asked, "What are your orders, Master Biao?"

"Go, let my cousin know that the police are here to arrest someone. I'm going to take him down to listen to the show and ask my cousin if he can do it."

"Master, please wait a moment," Jasmine said and immediately walked into the storage room.

"Just wait, my cousin has many rules."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he glanced at the policeman's shoes with disdain and said without concealment, "My cousin loves to be clean. I'm afraid you won't be able to get in like this. Mother Yang, Mother Yang?"

"Master Cousin"

Yang's mother also walked out of the kitchen.

"Go and find him a pair of clean cloth shoes to put on." Wei Ranyi commanded.

"Hey!"

Yang's mother responded, turned and walked into an empty room on the first floor, and took out a pair of unworn round-mouthed thousand-layer cloth shoes.

"Try it"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, Jasmine also came up from the basement, "Master Cousin, the lady asked you to take the policeman down, and she also asked you to be polite and not to fool around."

"I"

Wei Ran gritted his teeth and waved his hands impatiently, "Go and cool down while you're at it. Do I need you to help me?"

After saying that, he looked at the police chief who was changing his shoes and said, "Leave the guy on the table on the first floor and come down after changing your shoes."

Before he finished speaking, Wei Ran, who looked arrogant and domineering, was already humming a few lines of loose opera he learned from Tao Canhua in his broken gong voice, and walked into the basement alone.

(End of this chapter)