War Photographer's Notebook

"When I was 12 years old, my parents and I moved to this house."

Before the car door opened, Henry took the initiative to introduce the building on the roadside, "I bought this place again last year, and I also found photos of me, Sean, and Kate in the attic where I often went when I was a kid. "

As he spoke, Henry got out of the car with difficulty and greeted the three Wei Ran people into the villa. At the same time, he kept saying, "In view of some things I don't want Lawyer Carlos to know, so I didn't invite him." Get up and have dinner together.”

Wei Ran naturally understood this and translated it to Suisui and Lu Xinda.

Following Henry into the villa, Wei Ran unexpectedly found a Chinese-style Eight Immortals table in the living room.

Forget it, what was on the table turned out to be a red copper hot pot with a charcoal fire, as well as plates of beef and mutton that seemed to have just been cut, and various vegetables. Even Wei Ran and the other three saw sugar on the plate. Garlic and various dipping sauces.

"I specially prepared it"

Seeing Wei Ran and Suisui looking at him in surprise, Henry explained in French with a little satisfaction, "There are several very good Chinese restaurants in Brighton. Although I rarely go there, Carlos is very familiar with Chinese cuisine. He recommended it to me.”

"Mr. Henry is interested"

Wei Ran said a polite word in French, greeted the two girls who came in, took off their windbreakers, washed their hands, and sat down at the Eight Immortals table, which actually didn't match the surrounding environment.

There is no doubt that although this table is a bit awkward, the hot pot filled with familiar aroma is particularly suitable for this humid and cold weather, and it also captures the appetites of Wei Ran and the three of them very accurately.

Henry, who had a full stomach while chatting, kept saying that there was something he didn't want Carlos' lawyer to know, but he didn't mention a word about the buoy. Instead, the conversation all revolved around the radio set he bought in the evening.From time to time, he would switch to English and chat with Suisui and Lu Xinda about Chinese food.

After three rounds of wine and five delicious dishes, when Wei Ran and the two girls had filled their stomachs, Mr. Henry seemed to have just remembered, and warmly invited them to the second floor to take a good look around his various collections. kind of radio station.

"These are what I found in the rescue buoy after I bought the farm."

While Henry was speaking, he had already opened a long wooden box, then opened a piece of kraft paper and took out a long package that was vacuum-sealed.

"This is."

"The Owen style parachute suit was used by many British bomber crews at the time."

Before Henry finished speaking, he had already tore open the vacuum plastic bag with a "chi--" sound, and then motioned to Wei Ran for help, taking out the skydiving suit and placing it on the long table in the center of the collection room. .

Unfortunately, this skydiving suit is not complete. The only thing that has been preserved is a green jacket that resembles a women's jumpsuit that "pees all over" and the inflatable liner inside the jacket. The whole thing is still intact, but But the tattered umbrella cloth was stained with blood.

"There is no innermost one-piece flight suit, only this outer skydiving suit."

Henry said, "When I found it, it was locked in a locker inside the rescue buoy. It was also vacuumed and contained in an inconspicuous wooden box. I originally thought I could find something on it. Clues.”

Hearing this, Wei Ran took out the gloves he had taken off in the barn and put them on again, and carefully inspected the skydiving suit.

Unfortunately, as Henry said, there are no valuable clues on this jumpsuit.

"Are there any other discoveries?" Wei Ran raised his head and asked.

"There is one last discovery, which I don't want lawyer Carlos to know about."

It was only then that Henry took out a plastic gun box from the long wooden box, opened it and pushed it to Wei Ran.

Inside the gun case was a badly cracked and alkali-repellent cowhide holster. He opened the holster gently, and Wei Ran pulled out the pistol inside. This was a P38 pistol issued by Germany during World War II!

“Just like that old movie”

Seeing Wei Ran looking at him, Henry said excitedly, "A British bomber crashed on its way back from completing a bombing mission. The surviving crew members climbed onto a German rescue buoy and captured the German who was waiting for rescue. pilot, and eventually they were rescued by a British warship.

Victor, maybe what happened in that buoy happened to be what was performed in the movie! "

“How can there be such a perfect coincidence?”

Wei Ran muttered secretly, then stuffed the pistol back into the cracked holster and fastened the plastic gun case.

"Mr. Henry, I have to consider whether to accept this employment, especially since you are also planning to make the story of the buoy into a movie, which forces me to make a more cautious decision.

If I ultimately decide to take on the job, I will have my assistant and the head of the studio contact you to discuss further issues. "

"No problem, I have enough time and patience." Henry replied particularly openly.

"Once I carry out the investigation, you may need to send some relevant things to Kazan, Russia. Some analysis work can only be carried out in my studio. Of course, I may still come here to conduct a detailed analysis of that buoy. examine."

"These are no problem!" Henry agreed again.

At this point, Wei Ran wisely stopped the topic.After following the other person downstairs and exchanging pleasantries again, he excused himself that he was a little tired, took Suisui and Lu Xinda to say goodbye and left, leaving the black boy Robert, who didn't know when he would come back, to drive the three of them to a fairly luxurious hotel. In the hotel.

When the three of them moved into a suite reserved for them, Suisui immediately said in Chinese, "This Mr. Henry is not easy to deal with."

"It's really difficult to deal with, and I always feel that he and we are not telling the truth."

As Wei Ran spoke, he waved his hand to signal Suisui and Lu Xinda not to continue walking into the room. Instead, he took out his cell phone and dialed lawyer Carlos.

The two communicated in German on the phone, and Wei Ran said, "Let's go, let's change to a hotel."

"Don't you live here?" Lu Xinda, who had already put on slippers, asked, carrying the pair of boots that she was about to go to the bathroom to give them a good brush.

"Stay somewhere else, it's windy here."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he winked at Suisui, who immediately understood his hint and even laughed and urged Lu Xinda to put on her dirty boots again.

Not long after, Carlos, who was also wearing a windbreaker, knocked on the door. After leaving the hotel with the three of them, he got into a commercial vehicle waiting at the door and drove away.

Along the way, Wei Ran and Carlos did not communicate at all, and Suisui and Lu Xinda also remained slightly nervous and silent.

Not long after, the car stopped at the entrance of a hotel. After a group of four people got out of the car, Carlos immediately took them into the hotel to register, and led the three of them into a luxurious suite on the top floor. .

"Just stay here," lawyer Carlos said in English until the door closed.

"wait a minute"

Wei Ran said hello in his native language, and then carefully inspected the three-bedroom suite until he was sure there was nothing wrong, then nodded towards Suisui.While the two girls were pushing their luggage back to the room, Lawyer Wei Ran and Carlos also sat on the sofa next to the floor-to-ceiling window.

"I guess Mr. Henry must have told you a completely different story, right?" Lawyer Carlos slowly lit a cigar and asked in anticipation.

"Mr. Carlos left halfway, maybe it was an opportunity to tell Mr. Henry a new story, right?" Wei Ran said, also taking out the cigarette case, taking out the half cigarette again, holding it in his mouth and lighting it.

Lawyer Carlos smiled noncommittally, but did not answer the question directly. Instead, he asked bluntly, "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"In case I accept the job offered by Mr. Henry, why not ask Mr. Carlos to negotiate the commission with him on my behalf?" Wei Ran said with a smile.

"I also have to collect commissions," Carlos reminded in a joking tone.

"You can just increase the amount of commission you need." Wei Ran spread his hands indifferently, "Of course, the premise is that I decide to take over the job."

"Deal!" Carlos smiled and extended his hand to Wei Ran.

The two smart people shook hands, and Carlos suggested as if he was taking office immediately, "In this case, I suggest you take a flight out of Brighton early tomorrow morning and go anywhere. Anyway, the winter here is really hard except for the fireplace." It’s nothing worth paying attention to.”

"We'll buy a plane ticket later." Wei Ran nodded happily and accepted the other party's suggestion.

"so be it"

Carlos took a puff of his cigar and said in a puff of smoke, "I will find a non-rude excuse for you to leave in a hurry in front of Henry. Okay, go to bed early today. I won't see you off when you leave tomorrow." ”

After saying that, Carlos stood up with a cigar in hand, moved his knee joints, walked out of the room slowly, and helped him close the door.

After stubbing out the cigarette he had only taken two puffs on, Wei Ran walked into the bedroom and mentioned to Suisui that he would leave tomorrow.When the latter heard this, he didn't ask any questions at all. He took out his mobile phone and started busy buying air tickets.

Naturally, he was not afraid of Mr. Henry when he left in such a hurry.But judging from the current situation, there is no point in staying. Instead, we have to worry about whether what Henry said is the truth or a lie.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to go back and rest early, and wait until the price is agreed upon before talking about anything else. By the way, you can also develop the accidentally picked up negatives as soon as possible to see if there is anything interesting in them.

In the blink of an eye, the next morning, when it was just dawn, the three people from Weiran were pushing their suitcases. Without even completing the check-out procedures, they took a taxi to London Airport and flew to Paris first, and then went through a long transfer wait. , and then got on a flight to Kazan.

In the early morning of March 3, the three of Wei Ran finally walked out of Kazan Airport smoothly. Following Anfisa who came to pick them up, they got into the armored commercial vehicle and drove straight to their home on the shores of Kaban Lake.

At the same time, Culp and Teacher Anna also drove to the parking lot of Time Library early.

"Did Victor get into any trouble?"

Anna, who had helped in the library for a few days, took out a key as she spoke, and opened the locked door of the library with familiarity.

She did not regard herself as an outsider at all, but the gangsters who lived in the house next to the library and were in charge of security didn't even dare to fart. They went back to their beds and covered their faces with quilts. Meng, Quan thought he had slept to death and didn’t know anything.

"how could I know"

Culp said as he walked into the empty library, "He just said on the phone yesterday that he would introduce a business to us."

At this point, Culp had already sat at the table reserved for them all year round, "I heard that there are more and more girls in Victor's family?"

“It’s almost better than the original forest farm.”

Ana had already walked into the bar while she was talking. After some preparation, she skillfully made two cups of coffee and brought them over. Then she asked calmly, "Who did you listen to?"

"Who else could it be"

Culp raised his chin toward the outside, "This little bastard Jima would be so jealous."

"I heard from Maya that those girls seem to be employees prepared for Aurora?"

Anna glanced at Jima and Maya who were getting out of the car, "It seems that Kajik came forward to get the status of international students for those girls. For this, the twins also spent a lot of money."

"Let these little guys do whatever they want." Culp picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, his tone full of expectations that he was just watching the fun and not taking it too seriously.

When the topic reached this point, Jima, who was dressed like a human and dog, and Maya, who was holding a big-eared fox in her arms, also got out of the car.

"Are they officially together?" Anna asked, changing the topic.

"how could I know"

Culp muttered with a hint of regret, "I never expected that a good girl like Maya would take advantage of a bastard like Ji Ma in the end. If I had known that this would happen, I shouldn't have shot Ji Ma when a wild boar bit her butt when she was a child. Kill that wild boar."

Hearing this, Anna just smiled helplessly, and after Jim and Ma came in, she immediately warmly and gently greeted them to come and sit down.

"Isn't that bastard Victor back yet?"

Jima sat down next to Culp, and while placing the box of canned vegetables made by his mother on the table, he said with some gloating, "I want to take a look, wait until he comes back." How should our Queen Inta punish him when he discovers that there are so many girls in the family?"

Having said this, the bastard actually took out another coiled riding crop from his arms and put it on the table, and said expectantly, "This is the gift I brought from Maya's house, specially prepared for Aurora." of."

"idiot"

Maya rolled her eyes without concealing it, let go of the little fox and sat next to Anna. Then she distributed the two bags she brought in to Anna and Culp, and then took out a box of milk pimples from the bag and said, "This is a gift I brought to you from home. I made this box with my own hands. How does it taste?"

“I can smell the aroma even before I eat it.”

While Anna was speaking, she and Culp each picked up a breast lump and threw it into their mouths, followed by a series of compliments.

While the four people were chatting around the table, Lola in the next yard also yawned and got into the sidecar of the Zundup motorcycle, letting Sui Xin drive the motorcycle through the space between the two yards. The electric door opened directly into the library.

The two girls were not surprised that Ji Ma and others came in early. After all, not to mention them, even those gangsters had the keys to the first floor of the library.

Soon, Sui Xin, who was helped down, started playing with the Guqin Youquan she brought, and Lola also brought a plate of snacks to the table of early guests.

Almost immediately, a van also drove into the yard. As the door opened, seven girls about Lola's age also got out, chatting and laughing, and walked together to Suisui's office on the second floor of the library. Skillfully opened their respective laptops.

At the same time, Lola also started preparing various flavors of sugar-free milk tea for the girls of the same age as usual.