War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1235 The finale meeting
Under the dazzling kerosene lamp, Wei Ran sat at a piano table, playing Liezi Yufeng, one of the only three pieces he knew, on the guqin with two grenades hidden on the bed.Not far away, Tao Canhua, who was wearing a long gown, was playing the bed harp in conjunction with Wei Ran.

When the song ended, Tao Canhua stood up and walked to the storytelling drum, picked up the drum hammer and knocked it lightly, and started his performance alone with a clear and resonant voice.

Wei Ran, who had finished playing the three-axe game, moved the guqin and dashu to one side without complaining, lit a cigarette himself, sat down with his back to the gas lamp, and became an audience with peace of mind.

After squeezing his eyes hard, Wei Ran secretly looked at the direction of the main house of the small courtyard while smoking.

Unfortunately, there were no lights on in the room, and all seemed to be illuminated by kerosene lamps outside the window.

Because of this, he couldn't see clearly what the people inside were doing or saying. Instead, he had to be careful whether anyone inside was observing him.

Withdrawing his gaze and looking around, Wei Ran observed that after entering the courtyard, apart from the men and women who had just entered the main room, there were only two traitors left. The rest seemed to have left through the hanging flower door just now. , and listening to the movement when they left just now, the hanging flower door seemed to be locked from the outside.

So what is in the third courtyard at the deepest part of this courtyard?Wei Ran murmured secretly, and at the same time hesitated whether he should go in and take a look at it at night.

Amid these doubts, Tao Canhua's solo performance lasted for nearly two hours before it stopped. The two traitors who stayed behind also looked at Wei Ran and Tao Canhua from left to right.

Immediately afterwards, those people, including Xiao Su's mother, left the main room one after another and followed the gatehouse on the side of the wing room back to the deepest courtyard.

When the last person's back disappeared from sight, Furukawa came over again, waved to the two traitors, waited until they retreated to the edge of the hanging flower door, then sat on a bench in the yard and said with a smile, "Everyone is very satisfied with your performance. Please have a good rest. Someone will bring you dinner later."

"My aunt is so ridiculous, will we still have work tomorrow?" Tao Canhua, who looked honest and honest, asked, "If there is no work."

"Yes, of course there is."

Furukawa didn't wait for Tao Canhua to finish speaking before he said, "If I remember correctly, tomorrow is Tuesday. You two are resting in the study room. You two must have nothing to do. It's better to stay and earn some pocket money. There were several young and beautiful people there just now. The girls are interested in your performance and want to ask you to teach them how to play the piano tomorrow."

"Okay! Then we'll stay!"

Wei Ran said before Tao Canhua could speak, "Anyway, my uncle has already helped us notify our family. We will definitely feel more comfortable here than at home."

"It's best if you think so." Furukawa stood up with a smile, "Go to bed early tonight."

"Uncle" Wei Ran stood up and called the other party with a smile.

"What's wrong?" Furukawa turned around and asked with a kind smile.

"Can you arrange for a servant to buy me two packs of cigarettes?" Wei Ran said pitifully, "I'm afraid the cigarettes in my pocket won't last until I sleep. Can you send someone to run an errand for me?"

"Little Things"

Furukawa Hun waved his hand nonchalantly and summoned a traitor guarding the gate, "Let him buy it for you."

After saying that, Furukawa stepped forward again and walked towards the backyard humming the lyrics that Tao Canhua had just sung.

"You, go buy me a pack of Qianmen and a pack of Camel. I want a pack of 20 sticks. Don't buy the wrong one for me."

Wei Ran, who had been arrogant just now, now looked bossy and said to the traitor, "Bring me back another pack of matches, and the rest of the money will be yours."

After speaking, he threw a piece of ocean to the other party.

Almost at the same time that the traitor caught the piece of ocean, Tao Canhua also took out two pieces of ocean and handed them to the other party. He said very politely, "Excuse me, big brother, stop by and buy two piano strings for me. I just played drunkenly." When I was playing, I almost missed catching up with Master Ciao and accidentally broke the string of the big harp."

As he said that, Tao Canhua also picked up one of the broken strings of the instrument and showed it to the traitor, "If you find it troublesome, you can buy it on the second floor of Quanyechang. There are many musical instrument shops there. Whichever store you go to buy, they must have the best strings, and two strings.

If you don't mind the trouble and are willing to go the extra mile, go to the Love Letters Apartment, find a girl named Qiushi, and ask her for two big strings. Anyway, no matter which one, as long as you get the strings, the two big pieces will be Use the rest and it’s yours. "

"just wait"

The traitor happily put away the two pieces of money handed over by Tao Canhua, turned around and walked towards the locked hanging flower door.

Without even waiting for the other party to leave the hanging flower door, Wei Ran called to Tao Canhua, and the two returned to the main room with the instruments they had just used.

"Why is there not even a light bulb in this room?"

Wei Ran yelled deliberately, then turned around and walked out of the room. Without consulting the other traitor who stayed behind, he took off the gas lantern hanging on the toon tree and brought it in.

As the room was illuminated, the two of them also discovered that except for the small round stools that had not been moved away, the room was extremely clean. The only garbage left was just a few tea trays.

After looking around, Wei Ran sat down on the edge of the kang, then took off his shirt and put it on the edge of the kang.

He had just taken off his shirt, and Yumei walked in with several beautiful girls in cheongsam, each carrying a food box.

"Brother Wei Ran, Teacher Tao, this is dinner prepared for you."

Yumei said as she quickly glanced at Wei Ran, who was looking at her arms, and then placed the food box on the table as usual, and together with the other girls, took out the steaming meals in the food box and placed them on the table. On the table.

This wasn't over yet. After Yumi and her companions took away the empty food boxes, she walked to the wall and opened a jar of wine herself and placed it on the table.

"Sorry, sister Yumi."

Wei Ran, who was still shirtless, came up with a playful smile, reached out and picked up a piece of sausage from the plate and threw it into his mouth, and then said with praise, "Hmm -! It's delicious! This must be Ningji sausage, right?" "

"Yes"

Youmei took a small step back to distance herself from Wei Ran, and while pouring wine into the cup, she said, "It's afternoon, and I heard that you guys are coming too, so I asked someone to buy it from San Guo'er."

"Sister Yumei is interested"

As Wei Ran spoke, he picked up another piece of sausage and threw it into his mouth. Then he picked up the small wine glass that Youmei had just filled and drank it all in one gulp.

"I heard from Uncle Furukawa that you are willing to join us in returning to a new life?" Yumei refilled Wei Ran's wine and asked with a smile.

"Hiss-ha!"

Wei Ran took a breath of wine, picked up a piece of sausage again and threw it into his mouth. However, he was not in a hurry to answer, but asked, "What kind of wine is this? Why is it so strong?"

"Old Baigan"

Yumi smiled and replied, "My father's friend likes to drink this kind of wine the most, so he kept a lot of it."

“It’s rare to find a recruiter who likes to drink strong drinks.”

Wei Ran muttered as he swallowed the sausage in his mouth, and then he said calmly, "Of course I want to recruit for a job, but that's all."

"But what?" Yumei asked subconsciously.

"hey-hey!"

Wei Ran showed a lewd smile, deliberately pretending to be a smug villain, and at the same time reached out to touch Youmei's face, "Sister Youmei will know about it later."

Before Wei Ran's hand could touch her, Youmei took a step back again, "You guys eat slowly and go to bed early tonight."

After saying that, Yumi left the room with the girls behind her.

"eat"

The shirtless Wei Ran greeted Tao Canhua, then sat down on the chair beside the table and started eating.

"Night"

"Eat." Wei Ran muttered without waiting for Tao Canhua to finish, and at the same time pointed out with his chopsticks.

After getting the hint, Tao Canhua immediately closed his mouth, picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Wei Ran, but before pouring it into his mouth, the glass of wine was poured on the cuffs of his gown.

Tao Canhua was not the only one who stole the wine, but Wei Ran, who was shirtless, was also pretty good. After drinking each glass of wine, he probably didn't even drink three glasses in his stomach, and the rest flowed down his mouth and onto the ground.

After the two of them finished their dinner smelling of alcohol, the traitor who went out to buy cigarettes also bought back the cigarettes and matches that Wei Ran needed, as well as the piano strings that Tao Canhua needed.

"I didn't get it from home," Tao Canhua said firmly after taking the strings and just looking at them.

"It's impossible for them to make a mistake in this kind of thing." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he lay down directly on the earthen bed and drunkenly yelled at Tao Canhua to turn off the gas lamp.

When the room fell into darkness, he lit another cigarette and lay on the edge of the kang, smoking continuously. At the same time, he asked Tao Canhua next to him what he planned to do when he went to the recruitment examination.

However, while chatting, he also secretly kicked the other person with his feet, and then lifted up the shirt between the two of them that was casually discarded at first.

Hidden under the shirt is a seemingly ordinary cigarette butt with red lip gloss remaining.

But when he intentionally or unintentionally put the scarlet cigarette butt on the edge of the kang, both he and Tao Canhua, who was answering next to him, saw that on the green bricks beside the kang, there were several words written "Heads Down", and the strokes were somewhat overlapping. Scrawled handwriting: If you want to hold a meeting, run away!
"It's a reminder from Xiao Su's mother," Tao Canhua whispered with almost certainty.

"We are going to hold a church party here"

Wei Ran hesitated for less than a second, and then whispered with almost certainty, "It seems they plan to finish everything in one go."

"It's a bit strange," Tao Canhua frowned and whispered, "If they want to do everything at once, wouldn't they just arrest people?" "Their purpose has never been to arrest people."

Wei Ran sighed, and then had time to tell Tao Canhua all his guesses. Finally, he added, "So I guess they want to control us quietly and then put them on." people."

"But we are not blind, can we not see this?" Tao Canhua muttered in confusion.

“You can definitely tell”

Wei Ran sighed and said with almost certainty, "But what if we change the place?"

"what do you mean"

"Zhida. No, Mr. Tian, ​​from the day he first invited his cousin to attend the dance in the Seventh Heaven, his external identity is that of a businessman from Fengtian."

Wei Ran sneered and said, "And you see, over the years, Ueda's Jinmen dialect has gotten better and better. Also, this place is close to the train station. I'm thinking that I might take us out by train. Find another place to deal with us."

"How about we do it tonight?"

"no"

Wei Ran shook his head, "Little Su's mother is in their hands. No matter if we make trouble or run away, something will happen to little Su's mother. And the reason why they called the two of us over and put us under house arrest is probably because they feel that apart from us, there is no one else in the family." The other people don't have much fighting power, and they always make my cousin turn against him.

On the other hand, if the two of us hold still for now, both the family and Xiao Su's mother will be safer. "

"Then are we just going to let others slaughter us?" Tao Canhua muttered, frowning.

"Do you have a better way?" Wei Ran's rhetorical question made Tao Canhua fall into silence.

Indeed, they really couldn't move here without knowing whether it was safe over there in the study apartment.

"Go to sleep first"

After speaking, Wei Ran flicked the last cigarette in his hand, scratched out the writing on the edge of the kang with a chicken bone he had just eaten, and then turned over and closed his eyes.Seeing this, Tao Canhua sighed, also turned over and closed his eyes.

Naturally, Wei Ran would not really fall asleep. When the pocket watch he seemed to have deliberately placed next to his pillow reached 02:30 midnight, he quietly got up, stepped on his shoes, walked out of the room and walked out to the yard.

From a long distance, he could see the big cigarette lamp lit by the table on the inside of the hanging flower door, as well as the two traitors snoring loudly beside the cigarette lamp.

Wei Ran walked quietly to the west wing. He leaned against the wall and glanced at the gatehouse leading to the backyard. Then he discovered that not only was the small door here locked, but he could also vaguely hear snoring through the door. Voice.

He leaned towards the crack in the door and took a look inside, but he couldn't help but shrink his eyes. The backyard was not very big, the span from front to back was only four or five meters, but just through the crack in the door, he could see a group of people. The Japanese patrolling with guns, and the porch light shining outside the gatehouse.

Decisively turning around and leaving, Wei Ran and others walked to the edge of the toon tree, aimed at the roots of the tree and peed first. At the same time, they secretly observed the two traitors who seemed to be high. Seeing that they showed no signs of waking up, Then he turned around and went back to the room and lay down again.

"What did you see?" Tao Canhua asked in a low voice.

"There are Japanese soldiers in the backyard," Wei Ran responded in a low voice, "Just act accordingly."

"it is good"

Tao Canhua replied and stopped talking, and soon after, he purred evenly.

There was no words all night, but when it was dawn the next day, Tao Canhua got up early and whispered at the same time, "I'm going to see if our people have found this place."

"What do you think?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"You'll find out later"

Before Tao Canhua finished speaking, he had already put on a long gown that still smelled of alcohol. He left the room and stood in the middle of the small courtyard, cleared his throat, and then started to raise his voice babblingly.

"What are you doing?" Behind the hanging flower door, a traitor who had been sleeping soundly woke up suddenly, and then shouted dissatisfied.

"It's so annoying"

Tao Canhua responded with the same dissatisfaction, "What are you yelling at? You scared me."

"Hey, You!"

As the traitor spoke, he stood up and rolled up his arms and sleeves. However, before he could say anything, the shirtless Wei Ran walked out of the room and yawned. While stretching, he asked contemptuously, "What's the matter? You want to practice? You really don't want to think about your identity! Go and make a pot of tea for me."

After saying that, Wei Ran also stood beside the toon tree, untied the belt he had just tied, and peed as if no one else was watching. At the same time, he kept saying, "Are you deaf? Go make tea." ?”

"Hey! Let's go right now, let's go right now!"

The other traitor who was woken up grabbed his companion and quickly laughed with him. Then he lowered his voice and said to his companion, "Why are you messing with him when you are so full? Hurry up and make some tea!"

Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't say anything, he just made the 36 degrees Celsius parabola higher in a playful manner.

Tao Canhua on the other side smiled, continued babbling and raised his voice, and at the same time put his feet on the window sill and pressed his legs.

Without waiting for the two good traitors to make tea for them, Wei Ran and Tao Canhua heard the sound of banging clappers outside the courtyard, and an old but loud voice shouting "Tofu!" Soybean-fu! Still warm soybean-fu!"

The moment this voice reached their ears, Wei Ran and Tao Canhua glanced at each other without any trace. The latter continued to babbling and hoisting his voice, while the sound of shouting tofu outside the wall also came from far to near, and then from near to near. and finally became completely unable to hear any response.

A little later, Tao Canhua, who had finished speaking, sat next to Wei Ran, took the cup of hot tea that the latter poured for him, put it to his mouth and whispered, "The news has spread."

"How did it get out?" Wei Ran couldn't help but asked curiously. How did the news get out with just a few babbling sounds?Morse code?I didn't hear it either
"You don't understand even if I tell you."

Tao Canhua did not give a detailed explanation, but muttered worriedly, "I just don't know if people outside can understand what I mean."

Hearing this, Wei Ran suppressed his doubts and stopped asking further questions. He and Tao Canhua sat at the small table in the yard, drinking tea one cup at a time, and not forgetting to call the two who woke up. The traitor gave them sweet tea, water and snacks.

This continued until six o'clock in the morning, when Wei Ran went back to his room and fell asleep, while Tao Canhua continued to practice basic skills after doing a set of Ba Duan Jin on his own.

At 07:30 in the morning, the locked flower door was opened from the outside, and the workers who made the tobacco paste yesterday also walked in carrying various items and set up a stage in the yard.

At a quarter past eight, the situation that Wei Ran and Tao Canhua, who had just had breakfast, least expected to see happened - three women, Mei Xiang, Jasmine and Qiushi, along with all the members of the Chunhua Theater Troupe, carried several camphors. Wooden boxes and various musical instruments walked into this yard!

Almost all of them, including Ueda and Furukawa, as well as Xiao Su's mother and Yumi, all walked out of the backyard.

"Miss Meixiang came just in time."

Furukawa greeted warmly, "Today is the birthday of Mr. Ji, a good friend of Ueda and I. I will be the host to invite everyone from the Chunhua Opera Troupe to sing a heavenly performance for everyone."

After saying that, Furukawa looked at Meixiang who was smiling and said, "Miss Meixiang, I will trouble you next."

"Mr. Furukawa, you're welcome."

After saying that, Meixiang clapped her hands and said, "Get ready, Jasmine. Let's show everyone the play excerpts and ask them what they want to hear. Qiushi, go and put on the clothes you brought for Young Master Ciao and Canhua. It's time to leave." You can smell the alcohol on them from three feet away."

"Yes" After Jasmine said, she took out a stack of play notes and sent them to Furukawa and others.

Qiushi also handed the two bags to Tao Canhua, while wrinkled her nose and said, "The lady is indeed right, you two will definitely drink to the end as long as no one is watching."

"Don't talk nonsense, I didn't drink much." Tao Canhua took the baggage and followed Wei Ran, who also took the baggage, to Mei Xiang's side.

"Aren't you lazy today?"

Meixiang took the cigarette from Wei Ran and let him help light it, then asked Tao Canhua with a smile.

"How is that possible?" Tao Canhua shook his head, "Practice your basic skills while raising your voice. You can't miss anything."

"Go ahead, change into a set of clean clothes first, and you will come on stage later."

Mei Xiang waved her hand, then walked towards Xiao Su's mother and others and greeted everyone she knew or didn't know enthusiastically.

"Message received"

Jasmine came close to Wei Ran and asked him if he wanted a cigarette and whispered, "Is there someone who wants to take our place and take the train to escape?"

"How do you know?" Wei Ran asked curiously while letting the other party light the cigarette for him.

"The way Canhua sang his voice in the morning was like a civet cat exchanging for a prince, walking in the wheat city, and picking a pulley. Our people heard it."

Jasmine continued to explain in a low voice while lighting her cigarette, "After the news came back to the bookstore, Miss Andy immediately guessed the meaning."

"Is there any countermeasures?" Wei Ran asked.

"Don't worry," Jasmine whispered, "Sing the finale of the show in front of you first, the big stage is not here."

(End of this chapter)