War Photographer's Notebook

It happened to be a sunny Monday on the second day of February. Wei Ran got up early and walked to his grandma's only barber shop in their village. He spent 15 yuan to get a haircut, and then went back to take a bath and change. clothes, and ate a big bowl of dumplings. Then, with the reluctant farewells of the two elderly people, he drove Suisui and Anfiya out of this quiet and peaceful village, and rushed to the capital in a hurry. Airport.

That night, a group of three people boarded a flight to Austria.A little later than them, Anfisa, who was far away in Kazan, also took Lola and Lucinda on the flight to Austria.

After a long flight and various transfers, when Weiran, Suisui and Anfiya arrived at the town at the foot of the castle hill, Anfisa had been waiting at the pick-up gate of the train station for a long time.

Without wasting time, the group followed Anfisa out of the train station, got into a van, and rushed to the snow-covered Timov Castle.

Before the car stopped, Wei Ran saw the American lawyer Carlos waiting at the gate of the castle and Sebastian who had returned a few days early.

Of course, inside the castle that he could not see, Leya, who was responsible for maintaining the castle, and her husband were leading their team. Under the supervision of Lu Xinda and Lola and taking photos and registration, they were collecting all information about the Timovs. As well as the memories of those friends in the Hürtgen Forest, they were carefully and classified into the basement under the church.

"Victor, you're finally here." Carlos saw Wei Ran get out of the car and immediately greeted him enthusiastically in German.

"Mr. Carlos, I'm causing you trouble." Wei Ran responded politely and shook hands with him.

"Don't say that, this is my job."

After speaking, lawyer Carlos winked and lowered his voice and said, "It seems that you found a loophole in the will?"

"Surely you did it on purpose?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

"Who knows, maybe it's Mr. Dominic's test?" Carlos spread his hands and dismissed the topic in a joking tone.

"Liya has already brought people to move those things."

When Weiran and his party all got out of the car, Sebastian said seriously, "Miss Aurora, Mr. Victor, we can sign a formal lease agreement at any time."

“Then I’ll trouble you all.”

Wei Ran responded while Anfiya was translating for Suisui, and then entered the castle under the leadership of Sebastian.

Walking all the way up to the reception room with the best view on the top floor, the next thing to do was to sign the agreement, but Wei Ran didn't have anything to do with it.Simply, he strolled all the way to the basement again.

Compared with last time, not only did the basement have several more rows of sturdy shelves, but a ventilation system was also installed. Those oil paintings and various things full of war memories were all moved down by people led by Leya and his wife. , placed on these shelves in categories, and Lola and Lu Xinda, who were holding cameras, took photos and registered them one by one.

As he watched, the Willys Jeep was dismantled and brought in, and then quickly assembled together.

"Mr Victor"

Just when he was stunned, Leya also walked in carrying a few oil paintings, "Long time no see."

"Long time no see" Wei Ran greeted politely.

"Mr. Victor, we are going to send the antique dining car to the Elk Castle in the Hürtgen Forest for preservation." Leya said straightforwardly.

"fair enough"

Wei Ran nodded. That dining car originally came from Elk Castle. It would be a good choice to send it back.

"Thank you, Mr. Victor." Leya suddenly thanked her very formally.

"What are you thanking me for?" Wei Ran asked, dumbfounded.

"My father was responsible for building this castle."

Leya stroked the cold and dry wall and said, "It should have shown its most beautiful appearance, instead of hiding here alone and waiting to be abandoned."

"Then take good care of her"

Wei Ran gave instructions absentmindedly, walked out of the basement alone, stood at the door of the church and watched quietly.

In less than an hour, all the things that legally cannot be seen by Koko were sent to the basement. Almost immediately, Anfiya also walked down. The people supervising Leya installed cameras all over the basement. and alarm equipment.

After all the arrangements were completed, Wei Ran personally locked the door to the basement in the church and affixed several seals that he had asked his grandfather to write with a brush before coming here.

After they finished their work, Suisui, Carlos and others also came down from upstairs.

After being polite, watching Sebastian, Liya and others transport the World War II German dining truck away in a truck, Suisui immediately said, "Kamei, hurry up, call Kou Kou! Ask her to come over and soak in the hot springs as soon as possible. !”

"I just sent a message to Tantu. They are in the town at the bottom of the mountain. They can be up here in half an hour at most."

Anfisa reminded unhurriedly, "In addition, around noon, Mr. Lothar will be invited to the castle to discuss the leasing of the White Rose Ski Resort."

“It’s easy to talk about”

Suisui asked nonchalantly, "Kamei, you told me before that the manpower problem has been solved? Is it true?"

"of course it's true"

Anfisa smiled and replied, "In the two days when you didn't go back, with the help of Mr. Kajik, I interviewed several international students studying at Kazan University. After the trial in the past few days, I can confirm that their jobs The ability is completely sufficient to handle our daily paperwork.”

"International students? They? Are they all girls? Don't they have to go to class?" Suisui turned around and asked curiously.

"They are indeed all girls,"

Anfisa glanced at Wei Ran behind Suisui without leaving any trace, "There are 14 girls in total, all of whom are international students from all over the world. They will come to work with us in two batches, which just covers the working hours of each week. , to ensure we have enough manpower.”

Hearing this, Suisui was about to continue asking something when a business car drove over quickly through the snow. When the car stopped, Kouko immediately opened the door and jumped out, followed closely by her Indian The butler then jumped down.

Obviously, Kou and Kou were busy visiting the castle and did not need Wei Ran to accompany them. He simply dug out a bouquet of flowers he had bought on the road from his suitcase and came to the edge of the windmill alone.Squatting in front of the graves of Timov, Sophie and their daughter, he gently stroked away the snow and placed the bouquet of flowers on the side of the tombstone.

"I have another job as a tombkeeper."

Wei Ran sat on the snow leaning against the tombstone and muttered to himself. He took out his cigarette case, casually picked up a cigarette holder, put it on the cigarette, lit it and took a puff.

After a long time, until the cigarette burned out, he put away his cigarette holder and stood up, rubbed his face vigorously, and walked towards the direction of the castle.

As expected, in such a short time, the pretty girls had eagerly occupied the hot spring pool, leaving only the American lawyer Carlos waiting for him at the gate of the castle.

"Looking for a place to sit?" Carlos took the initiative to invite.

"Come with me"

Wei Ran raised his hand and led the other party into the guest building, found a room with sunlight, and sat down around the coffee table.

"Mr. Dominic Jr. has found a girlfriend," Carlos said.

"I heard Aurora talk about this." Wei Ran paused, "Are you in trouble?"

"Trouble? No, no, of course no trouble. That might even be a good thing, I mean if Mr. Dominic Jr. and his girlfriend are still fertile."

Carlos spread his hands and said, "Okay, Victor, don't look at me like that. This is just a useless chat. If you're not interested, we can also talk about how Ms. Lily is doing in jail. , but what I really want to talk to you about is definitely not these."

"Carlos, let's talk about some stuff."

Wei Ran said dumbfounded, he could see that this old guy was clearly teasing him.

"Actually, I want to invite you to the UK." Carlos said the nutritious topic with a smile.

"England? What are you doing there?" Wei Ran looked at him in confusion.

"It started about two months ago." Carlos opened his briefcase as he spoke, pulled out a photo from it and pushed it over.

After just glancing at the things in the photo, Wei Ran raised his eyebrows and said, "This is a good thing. Where did you find it?"

No wonder he commented like this. What was captured in this color photo was a square base, with a structure similar to a submarine's command podium on top.

Of course, if this thing was placed in the World War II era, it would have a straightforward name-rescue buoy.

Or, it is often called a lobster can, a sea hotel, and other names.

Yes, this thing is floating on the sea, or to be precise, this thing is floating on the English Channel directly below the British Air Battle Battlefield.

Well, if you want to be more precise, usually it floats on the sea controlled by the Germans.

Of course, this is just a general situation.Under special circumstances, this thing will be pushed by the waves and drift anywhere like Erha who broke free from the rope.

The reason why Wei Ran said it was a good thing after just one glance was because although many of these things were well preserved after the end of World War II, perhaps it was precisely because of this that no one thought it was anything at all. nice one.

As for the consequences, he has never heard of such a rescue buoy being stored anywhere.

Especially the rescue buoy in this photo, it is so well preserved, but... well... it's just that the color scheme is a bit weird.

Half of the lower part is black and the other half is pink, while the upper part is graffitied with various cartoon patterns.

“Brighton”

Carlos waited until Wei Ran looked up at him before he answered, "In the south of England, it is a summer resort close to the English Channel."

"So this is the place you want to invite me to?" Wei Ran took one last look at the photo and asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"A collector took a fancy to this thing and decided to spend a large sum of money to buy it. After two months of negotiations, the two parties finally reached a deal."

Carlos spread his hands, "Of course, I cannot disclose the specific transaction price. In short, the problem that is stuck in the final stage of the transaction is that the tin can in the photo is really well preserved, and the collector is worried that it is a It’s a fake, so a good historian is needed to help identify it before the transaction.”

Having said this, Carlos took out another photo from his briefcase and pushed it over.

"In addition to this, this was found in this large can."

Taking the photo, Wei Ran couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. In the photo was a notorious skull ring and a human finger that had turned brown and resembled bacon.

However, looking at the angle from which the photo was taken, the name of the owner of the ring that should have been engraved in the ring seems to have been artificially polished, and the finger seems to be installed in a box filled with something similar to salt or granulated sugar. Crystals in glass bottles.

“The collector who hired me said it was perfect.”

Carlos took the photo Wei Ran handed back, "In his words, it's like being single for 40 years and coming home one day to suddenly find a naked beauty lying on your bed, posing in front of him. reality."

"Understandable." Wei Ran nodded. "It's so perfect that it looks more like a scam."

"That's it"

Carlos spread his hands, "Although it's a scam, a posing and naked beauty is still an irresistible temptation for a man who has been single for 40 years, unless someone can prove that the beauty on the bed is actually a recently circumcised man. Only then can you dispel your inner impulse.

Of course, such a wonderful description is also the exact words of the collector. Victor, please don't doubt my taste. "

"of course not"

Wei Ran smiled, "So where was that oversized tin can found? I mean, how far is it from the coastline?"

"The straight-line distance is about five kilometers, or more."

Carlos replied uncertainly, "Anyway, it is placed on a farm and has been used as a secret base for children."

"What do you think it is? A child's secret base?" Wei Ran looked at the other party in astonishment.

Carlos nodded, "In the sand of a farm, most of it is buried in the sand. You should be able to guess it by looking at the graffiti."

"Okay, last question." Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, "What price does the collector plan to pay to hire me?"

"Five thousand pounds"

Carlos revealed an unexpected but reasonable low price, and immediately added, "This is the reward you can get by trying to prove that the thing is a forgery. Of course, the tax and travel expenses will be borne by the other party."

"What if it can be proven that it is true?" Wei Ran asked noncommittally. Five thousand pounds would not move him.

"If it can be proven to be true, not only will you get the ring, but you will also get a commission of ten thousand pounds."

Carlos paused and added again, "Besides that, you can also choose anything on the seller's farm that you can pick up and take away with both hands. Of course, living people can't do it. After all, it's not the 16th century anymore. .”

"I can only agree to go and take a look first."

Wei Ran said cautiously that he was willing to take a look just out of curiosity. After all, this thing was too rare.

As for whether to investigate, that will be decided at that time. After all, the commission offered by the other party is really not enough.

"Of course, I knew you would definitely go and have a look."

Carlos said as if he had expected it, "Do you mind if I stay as a guest in this castle for a few days? I have never been here before when Mr. Dominic was alive."

"Of course I don't mind"

Wei Ran smiled and agreed. Of course he couldn't leave. When Lothar arrives tomorrow, and after Suisui tricks him into renting the White Rose Ski Resort in the distance and investing in it, the Carlos lawyer will help sign the lease. What about the contract?

During the chat between the two parties, the girls finally had enough hot spring baths.

After the girls had changed their clothes, Rhea's husband also drove a van and delivered a sumptuous lunch.

Before the lunch was finished, another business car drove from the bottom of the mountain to the entrance of the castle. As the car door opened, Lothar Gotze, who had briefly met in Kazan and Weiran before the Chinese New Year, also He walked down with a middle-aged man whom Wei Ran had never seen before.

There is no doubt that apart from the initial politeness and greetings, Wei Ran couldn't get involved or talk about what happened next, and besides, his mind was not on this kind of business matter at all.

Simply at the beginning of going upstairs, a certain historian who was about to escape quietly fell a few steps behind everyone, and slipped into the tower without anyone noticing - he had already had his eye on the tower the last time he came here. Those pigeons kept on top. This time he had to catch a few to stew some pigeon soup and drink it.

"What is Mr. Victor doing?"

Next to the warm open-air platform, Lothar, who originally held a telescope to observe the ski resort in the distance, curiously looked at the top of the tower through the telescope and asked curiously.

"I guess I'm just greedy."

Suisui muttered helplessly in Russian. Speaking of going back to celebrate the New Year this time, Wei Ran accidentally dug out a slingshot he played with when he was a child on the second day of the Lunar New Year, but there were many people like Huo Huo who didn't know whose family raised it. Pigeon, even the elders of their two families also drank pigeon soup.

"Miss Aurora said that in order to welcome you, Victor is going to cook a delicacy from his hometown to entertain you." Anfisa, who was in charge of translating, said with a sincere face.

"Is it a delicacy from China?"

Lothar asked with great interest. When the girl opposite nodded, he immediately sighed, "It seems that my father has really wronged the innocent Chinese people. They are really different from those dirty and hypocritical recruiting bedbugs." We are people from two worlds, and frankly speaking, I have begun to look forward to what kind of delicacies Mr. Victor will prepare.”

"You won't be disappointed, I promise."

Anfisa made her promise more and more sincerely, and at the same time she couldn't help but swallow secretly. Among other things, the pigeon soup made by Boss Victor was really delicious.