War Photographer's Notebook

In the basement where food and wine were still placed, under Wei Ran's gaze, the metal book slowly turned a page, and the metal quill also wrote a new line of handwriting under the red whirlpool on the back: I I wish to bear eternal infamy, but my loyalty and longing are hidden in those blood-red radio waves.

As I wrote this, a counter-rotating blue vortex appeared under the page. The metal quill also wrote under the blue vortex, "You are the best bodyguard, please continue to protect us." 's home and its secrets."

As I wrote this, the metal quill finally hit the page.

Looking up and looking around, the basement has not only been restored to its original state, but the windows that were originally blocked around it have also been opened, allowing the bright sunshine from outside to shine in.

After tiring away the metal book, Wei Ran did not rush to take out the contents. Instead, he took out the cigarette case and opened it first.

However, when he saw the contents of the cigarette box, he couldn't help but reveal a calm smile.

In this silver cigarette box that can hold 22 cigarettes, the antler cigarette holder obtained in the Soviet labor camp has disappeared.Instead, there was a gold cigarette holder and a tortoise shell cigarette holder, as well as 10 Qianmen brand cigarettes and 10 Camel brand cigarettes.

Reaching out to pick up the tortoiseshell cigarette holder, Wei Ran pulled out a Camel cigarette and put it on while smiling uncontrollably. He lit it in his mouth and took a big puff. Then he put it on the edge of the table and let it go. It burns slowly.

Continuing to pick up the gold cigarette holder, Wei Ran put it on a Qianmen cigarette. After lighting the cigarette, he also gently placed it on the edge of the table.

He took out the third unfiltered cigarette and lit it in his mouth. After taking a long sip, Wei Ran walked back to the dining table filled with food, poured a glass of lotus white and drank it all.

Amidst the intoxicating aroma of wine, Wei Ran walked to the edge of the large mirror with a cigarette in his mouth, skillfully reached into the gap and pulled out the latch, and then pulled the connecting rod to turn the stair handrail on the other side 180 degrees.

Slowly pushing open the large mirror, he opened the low door with familiarity and entered the passage.

Compared with before entering that period of history, this passage has now become what it was back then, with thick cotton curtains hanging almost every meter.

When he reached the end and stood at the door of the printing room, the newspaper was still stuck on the vermilion iron door.

Gently pushing open the iron door, the printing press, mimeograph machine and other equipment originally found in the basement when I took over the house were moved back here in metal books.

Correspondingly, the rifles, pistols, etc. that he was worried about what to do with at the beginning, and even the photos of Mei Xiang and those clothes have disappeared.

Also moved back here were two hospital beds and old-fashioned shadowless lamps above their heads, as well as a metal cabinet filled with medical drugs, and a writing desk next to the cabinet.

Quietly looking at the room that seemed to be frozen in time, Wei Ran took a deep breath and walked to the desk facing the vent.

On this writing desk, there is a piece of extremely thick glass pressed on the wooden tabletop. Under the glass, there is also a very familiar photo of Zhang Weiran.

Subconsciously taking out the metal book, Wei Ran turned to the latest page, opened the paper bag next to the photo, and took out the few negatives inside, only to find that they matched the photo under the glass. superior.

Putting away the films and metal notebooks, Wei Ran sat on the chair in front of the desk, stretched out his hand to turn on the green-shaded desk lamp, and then turned on the British B2 spy radio station in the center of the desk.

After some research, Weiran tried to connect the power supply and the antenna extending from the vent to the radio, and then turned on the power button.Unfortunately, except for some beeps and noises, this channel is extremely quiet.

Weiran sighed secretly, and disconnected the power supply and antenna of the radio station in frustration.Then he gently buckled it, and then reached out and gently opened the unlocked drawer of the desk.

In this drawer lined with newspapers, there are several thick large brochures.

I carefully picked up the top one and opened it. On the white paper on the first page, there were only five equally graceful calligraphy written on it: "The Thirty-One Years of the Republic of China".Gently turning to the second page, the content recorded on it turned into blue pen characters.

On the third day of the first lunar month, the translation of the report was as follows: It was learned that the enemy and puppet faction were
Without continuing to read, Wei Ran turned to look at a letter posted on the lower half of the page. On this letter, groups of four-digit numbers were written in pencil.

Continuing to flip through a few pages, the content on the back is almost the same as the previous page. They are all the translated content of the telegram received on a certain day of the month, as well as the manuscript paper posted on this page.

In the middle, there are also a few scattered reports, but most of the contents of these reports are emergencies such as so-and-so being arrested or which radio station has been damaged and stopped contacting.

Putting aside the book that recorded the content of each time he sent and received newspapers, Wei Ran picked up the second book and opened it. Except that the content on the first page changed from the [-]st year of the Republic of China to the [-]nd year of the Republic of China, the content inside was different. Still the same.

Read on like this one by one.

When he turned to the last page of the last volume, the handwriting on it had changed significantly. Even the content on it was extremely short and confusing, "October 10, the 1th year of the Republic of China, The message sent is as follows: This letter comes by chance, God helps Huang Zhonggong succeed."

I took out my phone and looked at it, but there was no signal at all in the basement.Seeing this, Wei Ran simply took a photo of this page, and then put these large books into the drawer as they were.

Opening the drawer on the right, there was also a large album here. When he opened it, he found that this time it was a photo album.

This photo album not only contains several colorful feathers, but also photos and corresponding negatives of almost everyone he came into contact with during that period of history, and even some of them were taken by him himself.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran put the photo album that was destined not to be made public back to its original place, and opened the last drawer on the left.

However, there were only three large yellow croakers placed in this drawer, and among the three large yellow croakers, there was a deformed bullet embedded in the middle of one of them.

Beside these three gold bars, there is a photo frame. In this photo frame, Qiu Shi, who is wearing a bright red wedding dress, and Tao Canhua, who is wearing a long gown, are holding hands, standing under the ginkgo tree on the first floor of the study apartment. Among the fallen leaves on the ground, next to the big parrot that seemed to be flapping its wings, there was an eternally bright smile.

After returning the photo frame to its original position and closing the drawer, Wei Ran finally looked at the hospital bed next to him.

On the upper bunk of this bunk bed, which was covered with only a mat, there were several large glass jars.

However, these glass jars sealed with wax oil are not filled with dangerous picric acid and potassium chlorate. Instead, they are square paper packages one after another. Each paper package is also covered with Juanxiu's The pen calligraphy begins with "Republic of China" and is detailed to the day's chronological time.

Without even opening it, he knew clearly that those paper packages contained negatives of printed content that had been received by the underground printing room here.

He also knew that this small square paper bag was the ultimate medicine for the people of that era. The effect they could exert was even far greater than the energy produced by picric acid and potassium chlorate mixed together.

Without touching the glass jars, Wei Ran shifted his attention to the lower bunk of the hospital bed.

On this pavement, which was also covered with only mats, there were two camphor wood boxes and a suitcase with the name "Yukio Someya" written on it.

Carefully opening the first box, what was inside was an old-fashioned movie projector, a rolled-up curtain, and several reels of numbered film films.

On the inside of the lid of the camphor wood box, the words "Canhua Drama Troupe - Dingjun Mountain" were written in festive calligraphy.

Is this the default scene?Wei Ran murmured to himself, and at the same time carefully buttoned up the camphor wood box.

Opening the second box, half of it contained various books and newspapers, and the one on top was the red-covered Scream.On the other side of the space, there are several photo frames wrapped in newspapers. In these photo frames, they are all photos of the young Mei Xiang and Mr. Shang, a famous actor in Beijing, as well as a few signed stills of Mr. Shang.

After re-wrapping the photo frames and closing the lids, Wei Ran hesitated for a moment and finally opened the suitcase with Yukio Someya's name written on it.

However, when he saw what was in the box, his brows jumped.

This unlocked box is divided into two levels: upper and lower.

In the space on the lower level, there was a wooden box that fit almost perfectly and could be stuffed into the box.In the other half of the space, there were sealing film cans placed one next to the other.

On the covers of these bakelite film canisters, the time that also begins with the Republic of China is written in detail.

But compared to these film canisters, he paid more attention to the few lines of Chinese characters written in paint on the inside of the box lid:

Sister Meixiang, when you decide to open this suitcase, Shunzi and I may be dead.If nothing else happens, they will probably attack us on the ship when we return for recruitment.

They have noticed something strange about Shunzi and me and have been following us recently.We can't escape this time. Returning to the sea may be the destiny of the descendants of the Dan people.

It's a pity that Shunzi is suffering because she is pregnant. Regardless of male or female, we have already thought of a name, and it will be called Wugui.

After death, there are only two things that you can't worry about.

One is these negatives, which record all the tragedies that really happened after the nuclear-armed army occupied Tianjin and the various atrocities committed by this French military force over the years.

Although I am a reporter, I know very well that they will never be published in any newspaper that advertises censorship.But I also firmly believe that evil will eventually be driven away by justice, and these negatives will be evidence to judge those demons.

Secondly, I am deeply worried that my mother's ancestral belongings will flow into the Japanese country. After careful consideration, I decided to leave them to Miss Meixiang for safekeeping. When Ryukyu is free and when I have a hometown, please send it to Ryukyu to choose a place to resettle.

Thank you to my foolish brother Yifu and my younger brother and sister Shunshu.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran hesitated for a long time, and finally carefully opened the wooden box lying horizontally.

However, when he saw what was inside, he couldn't help but froze.Not only has he seen the items in this box, he even has one himself!
The only difference between the two is that the one he holds is made of gold and is not as big.And the thing lying in the wooden box in front of me is not only the size of a thermos bottle, but its entire body is also carved from mutton-fat jade!

This is a statue of Mazu made of mutton-fat jade!

He remembered very clearly that when Miss Jia Ya, who was at Feilu Funeral, sent Lu Xinda to her home in Kazan, he tried to give the golden statue of Mazu to her as a thank you gift and to avoid trouble next time. The favor of the other party.

It was at that time that Jia Ya not only rejected this too expensive gift, but also revealed that there were 23 gold statues in total, but there were only three mutton-fat jade statues of Mazu, and each of them cost 30 (Ming Dynasty) Heavy!

He also remembered that Jia Ya had said that there were only five golden statues alive, and only one head sculpture of mutton-fat jade was still alive.

So could the mutton-fat jade statue of Mazu in front of me, passed down by Rangu’s mother’s family, be one of those three?

If so, was it a coincidence that this statue of Mazu came into my hands, or was it the arrangement of the metal book?

Subconsciously glancing at the tattoo at the tiger's mouth, Wei Ran hesitated for a long time, and finally gently closed the lid of the wooden box.

Compared to whether the statue of Mazu was authentic or not, he now had to consider another thing - whether or not the secrets in the basement should be revealed, especially whether the film negatives should be revealed.

After a long silence, Wei Ran took out the metal book again and turned to the latest page. He frowned and read the words under the inverted blue vortex - You are the best bodyguard, please continue to protect our home and home. secret.

In fact, even without this sentence, he could guess from the blurred and countdown paragraphs on the previous page that once the secrets here are revealed, Guan Bingwen, Feng Maoyun, Tang Xiaoyan, Tang Liying, and Tang Meijuan will probably be confused. The secrets involved in these names are exposed, and even the "Nuo Society" will suffer if it fails.

As for why Tao Canhua did not report it to the country, this problem is not difficult to explain.

This is not a matter of trusting the country, but as long as it is reported, more people will know about it.And the more people who know, the more dangerous the situation those people face will undoubtedly be.Instead of doing this, it may be safer to choose to keep the secret alone.

It's just that Tao Canhua, who has been waiting all his life, is really suffering.He gritted his teeth and endured the pain of losing his wife and son, and gritted his teeth to hold on to the shocking secret, even taking it to his grave.

But how could he choose himself in the end?
Wei Ran could not help but fall into silence as he looked at everything in front of him, no longer having any expectations about whether his family members who had traveled far away would come back.

Or do you have absolute confidence in this hidden underground printing room, confident that it will not be discovered?
Or maybe when he was recalling that period of history on his deathbed, there was an additional "cousin" named Wei Ran?
After thinking about it, he let out a long breath. No matter how Tao Canhua made his decision, since the old man chose to believe in himself, he would just continue to keep the secret here until... until those countdowns ended, until the man named The place of Ryukyu regained its freedom.

Thinking of this, Wei Ran finally took out the contents of the latest red vortex in the metal book.

This is indeed a British B2 spy radio. The bright red leather box is extremely sturdy, and there is a colorful large parrot printed on the lid that seems to be flapping its wings and getting ready to fly.

But it doesn't look like a B2 radio station, because the suitcase it uses is not only thicker, but also seems to have lids on both sides, and they can be opened.

It felt like two B2 radio stations were stuck back to back.

Gently opening the lid of the side without the parrot, the suitcase contained a neatly stacked set of black tunic suits, matching shirts, underpants, socks, woolen coats and mid-top Oxford boots.

In addition, there is also a top hat that is too retro for this era. Inside the top hat, there are also a pair of sheepskin gloves and a gray scarf.At the very edge, there was actually a black umbrella and several gold bars the size of disposable lighters, plus three magazines for PPK pistols.

Bodyguard equipment?

Wei Ran smiled, carefully fastened the lid, turned it over, and opened the lid with a parrot pattern on the other side.

On the inside of the cover on this side, a plastic notebook and a pencil are fixed.Opening the first page of this notebook, there is also the word "Yingluo" written on it in beautiful pen calligraphy, and a lifelike large parrot is drawn with a pen.Inside the box, there are all the equipment and spare parts of the B2 spy radio.

After closing the lid again, Wei Ran put it back into the metal book, and then took out the thing in the blue vortex - the small PPK pistol.

After thinking for a moment, he put the pistol back into the metal book and took out the medical kit from the metal book.

Unfortunately, although he received the Intermediate Field Angel Medal, there was no change in the medical kit.

In contrast, when he took out the camera bag containing Robert's camera, he found that the PPK pistol was gone.

That's not bad either.
Wei Ran muttered secretly but also had some regrets. Now in his metal book, whether it is the representative 1911 of the United States, the iconic Nagant revolver of the Soviet Union, or the German PPK, he has collected all of them, but what he is thinking about most is Box cannon, but still can't even touch the shadow.

Putting away this little regret, Wei Ran finally picked up Yukio Someya's suitcase and walked out.

During his trips back and forth, Sometani Yukio's suitcase and several large glass jars filled with negatives, the camphor wood box containing the "Dingjun Mountain" film, and even everything in the drawer , and were moved to the basement one by one by him.

After a final inspection of the printing room, Wei Ran left and locked the huge mirror frame again.Then he collected the two cigarette holders, the pistol, and the radio, moved the things that had just been carried up out of the basement, and put them into the stuffed car parked at the door.

Since he decided to help keep these secrets, these things cannot be placed here. For him, no matter how safe the underground printing room is, it is not as good as putting it in the cargo hold of the transport truck. Insurance.

During the transportation, he also noticed that in addition to the basement and printing room that had been restored to their original state by the metal books, the circle of flower beds outside the basement also popped up on their own.

However, now the flower bed is only one meter away from the basement window, and there are no flowers or plants planted in the flower bed.

Fortunately, except for this change that made Wei Ran worried and didn't know how to explain it, this small building still maintained the state of a rough house.

It took a lot of effort to find something to cover the entrance to the basement. Wei Ran turned his head and looked at the sunset on the horizon, but was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he walked to the ginkgo tree in the yard and reached out to pat it. The thick tree trunk then sat on the ground leaning against the tree trunk and took out the Guqin Yaoguang.

He knew that Tao Canhua had been waiting for Mei Xiang and others to come back, waiting to sing Dingjunshan to them, waiting to play his best Guangling San for his aunt Mei Xiang.

He must have been thinking about this for most of his life - just like he had been keeping those secrets for most of his life.

In the swirling thoughts, as the fingertips plucked the strings, the melody of Guanglingsan sounded again in the yard.

After a long time, when the song ended, Wei Ran silently put away the guqin, like a qualified successor, locked the door of the small courtyard, drove away from the dilapidated small building that had long been forgotten, and drove straight away. Went to the address given in the metal book.

Before the sun went down, he drove the car to the junction of Tianjin and Hebei, near a small village next to the Yongding River.

With the help of the navigation coordinates, Wei Ran finally parked the car on a small piece of high ground about a hundred or ten meters away from the river.

On this small highland surrounded by farmland, there is a patch of more than a dozen willow trees that look very old.Not far away, there is a small courtyard with a locked door.

In the middle of this willow tree, there are more than a dozen exceptionally well-kept tombs.

None of these tombs have tombstones, but one of the willow trees grew out of the center of a millstone that could be three meters in diameter.

After years of growth, the millstone has been stretched from the middle by the willow tree.Also due to years of growth, the three-piece millstone has also grown into the trunk of the willow tree.

But on this millstone that was broken into three pieces, there were not only plates of fruit offerings and bottles of white wine, but also several names clearly engraved that seemed to have been painted red not long ago:
Xu Kejian, Xu Keqin, Chen Xiuyu, Ran Yifu, Guan Bingwen, Feng Maoyun, Guan Lingling, Tang Juechen, Tao Meixiang, Tang Yingluo, Yao Moli, Yang Panyi, Meng Deshui
At the end of these names that he knew or didn't recognize, he also saw the names Cao Qiushi and Tao Canhua.

Rubbing his face vigorously, Wei Ran raised his head and saw in a corner not far away, at the very edge of the cemetery, a tomb that had obviously been added recently.

Beside the tomb, there were some memorial fruits and a plate of sesame cakes, as well as some ashes left by the burned paper money.

Just when he was secretly lost in thought, an old man herding sheep drove his sheep over from the frozen wheat field not far away.

"Young man, what are you doing here?" The old man shouted enthusiastically from afar.

"I went the wrong way"

Wei Ran replied loudly, "Uncle, what kind of place is this? Why is there such a cemetery? It looks scary."

"here"

The old man smiled, walked over slowly, and tapped the millstone with the whip in his hand, "This cemetery is called the Meng Family Cemetery. It is said that it used to be the cemetery of a family named Meng."

"I think there is only one person named Meng here?" Wei Ran asked pretending to be confused.

"No, don't look at the inconspicuousness of this place. The people who can be buried here are not ordinary. Let's put it this way, the names of the people who can be buried here have been engraved here in advance. Those who are not engraved here, use me When dad was alive, even if he died here, he would have to be carried to a distant place and buried!"

After the old man finished speaking, he pointed at one of the names with the whip in his hand and said with great pride, "This, Zhao Lisheng, this is my grandfather.

He is also buried here, but my father is not qualified to be buried here, let alone me.

When I was a child, I heard my grandfather say that the last Meng family member in the Meng family graveyard was his master.His master said that everything that can be buried here is a great favor to us.

Descendants must take good care of themselves. During every year and festival, they must burn paper to build the tomb, and no one should be kowtowed to less. "

"Your grandfather must be some kind of powerful craftsman, right?" Wei Ran, who had already guessed something, asked deliberately.

"Hi! Where is it!"

The old sheepherder laughed loudly and slapped his thigh, "He's just a sesame-cake maker. If you come during the day, go to the entrance of the village and look for it. The sesame-cake stall with the most people is mine.

That craft was passed down from my grandfather to my father, my father passed it down to me, and I passed it down to my son.

It's a pity that my grandson is unwilling to learn how to make sesame seed cakes. He cries and says that he has to go to a technical school to learn how to play games. He says that playing games can make money and bring glory to the country.

well!Hey, in this day and age, we old farmers can’t keep up! "

"Maybe your grandson can really bring glory to the country."

Wei Ran agreed with a smile, then pointed to the small courtyard not far away and asked, "Uncle, whose family does that courtyard belong to?"

"That courtyard," the old man smiled, "It used to be a small temple, but no one has lived in it for a long time. During these four seasons, when we come to visit the graves, we will also rest in that courtyard. .”

Having said this, the old man looked at Wei Ran and asked, "Which family buried here are you related to?"

"Mr. Tao Can Hua Tao," Wei Ran said, "come and see him."

"I guess so. People have been coming to see him one after another in the past two days."

The man, who was in his fifties, smacked his lips and said, "When I was young, I studied singing with Teacher Tao.

It's a pity that we didn't live to eat that bowl of rice after all.The only thing Teacher Tao praised me for was that my biscuits were delicious.

But Teacher Tao was so strong at that time. He could eat four or five biscuits in one meal and drink two large bowls of pulp. "

"yes."

Wei Ran sighed softly, "Uncle Zhao, it seems that I found the right place. Can I come here more often in the future?"

"Yes, why not?"

Uncle Zhao, the sheepherder, didn't doubt Wei Ran's identity, so he enthusiastically agreed and even tried to invite Wei Ran to his home.

Pretending to be in a hurry, Wei Ran politely refused the old man. He took one last look at the edge of the millstone. In the end, he no longer had any worries and drove away from this peaceful land, heading towards the capital in the night.

On this night with two days left before New Year's Eve, Wei Ran once again rushed to the small courtyard hidden in the peach trees in the mountains on the outskirts of the capital.

He calmly endured the severe pain of the needle and took out the crawler transport vehicle.After his body recovered from the severe pain, he silently loaded all the things he had brought into the cargo hold of the transport truck and put them away carefully.

Wei Ran looked at the items placed in the cargo hold and murmured to himself as if he was comforting Tao Canhua, but also as if he was comforting himself who couldn't wait any longer, "There will be a day when you will see the light of day again. And it’s certainly not too far away.”

It wasn't until his heart became calmer that he opened the cigarette case, took out a cigarette, put it on the holder, lit it, and took a deep puff. Then he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, and put away the huge cigarette without saying a word in the severe pain. Transporter.

time to go home
It's time to celebrate the New Year
Should.
It's time to reunite with my family.