War Photographer's Notebook

"My aunt doesn't agree?"

Wei Ran, who had already stood up, sat down again.

"She feels unlucky," Professor Alexei said pitifully in Chinese, "Your aunt will not allow me to buy a body back under any circumstances, and..."

"What else?" Wei Ran asked vigilantly when he saw that the old guy stopped mid-sentence.

"nothing"

Professor Alexei's eyes were panicked, and while pouring himself the last glass of wine, he urged, "Anyway, let's set off quickly!"

"I do not"

Wei Ran took out his cell phone and said, "I suddenly had a stomachache and decided not to go."

"you can not do that!"

Professor Alexei saw Wei Ran about to call Suisui, and immediately reached out to grab the phone. At the same time, he said in a panic, "Good nephew, how about you help me this time? I'm really, really Need that body! It matters"

Before the old guy could finish his words, Wei Ran had already dialed Suisui's phone, "I'm home, yes, he is indeed drinking, and it has been filmed."

Glancing at Professor Alexei who looked helpless, Wei Ran continued, "It's indeed business. It's an invitation from the Patriotic War Memorial Museum in Moscow. Yes, the professor and I are going. We have to leave now."

Looking at Professor Alexei who was already full of surprise, Wei Ran paused and continued, "No, don't go. My aunt will be coming in the next two days, so you can stay and entertain her.

Don't worry, I will definitely watch him and not allow him to drink anymore.Well, soon, we will be back soon, and I will definitely bring you a souvenir."

When Wei Ran hung up the phone, Professor Alexei had already said with a smile, "My good son-in-law is so loyal! I knew you would help me!"

"Loyalty can be used here."

Wei Ran muttered secretly, and said as he walked upstairs, "I'm going to pack my luggage. Have you bought the ticket?"

"no"

Professor Alexei said in an extremely bachelor manner, "I have no money. Your aunt confiscated all my money. The last bit of private money is only enough for my air ticket from Volgograd to Kazan."

"No money?"

Wei Ran, who had already stepped on the stairs with one foot, turned around and said, "How are you going to buy that body without money?"

"Didn't I come to you for help?"

Professor Alexei spread his hands and asked matter-of-factly, "My precious daughter has been kidnapped by you. What's the big deal if you help me buy a body? Victor, you won't be willing to give up even this little money, will you?" ? Thanks for giving me my Aurora."

"stop!"

Wei Ran resignedly called out the excuse the other party had used eight hundred times, "I'll buy the ticket, and I'll buy it now."

"I want to go business class"

Professor Alexei made his little request happily, "In addition, you'd better bring your Beria. We might go to the place where the body was found. I heard my friend say that there It’s a primeval forest in the tundra, and it’s not safe there this season.”

Hearing this, Weiran, who had originally planned to buy a ticket, simply allocated it to Alili. Unfortunately, he and the plane he was driving were still in Al-Hasa, while the IL-76 was in the even more distant Papua New Guinea. Busy transporting fruits.

Although he didn't have the opportunity to fly on a private jet or a transport plane, fortunately, through Alili's relationship, he finally got two business class tickets to Arkhangelsk Port, as well as a quota for bringing pets on board - — Even a big guy like Beria the dog is prohibited from entering business class.

Originally, he planned to call Ji Ma, who was a professional hunter, but unfortunately, after calling him, he found out that this guy was going to fly to Austria with Maya tonight to work for Mr. Lothar and shoot an advertisement. Make a movie out of his grandfather Mesut's misadventures.

There was no one accompanying him, so Wei Ran simply packed a few luggage and thick clothes, drove his father-in-law, Professor Alexei, and his dog Beria away from home and headed straight to the airport.

After waiting for more than three hours in the airport lounge, Wei Ran paid for a lot of gifts, and then the two of them and the dog walked into the boarding gate leisurely.

Of course, the only one who wasn't really in a hurry was Beria, the dog who was still sniffing excitedly even though he was wearing a muzzle.

In fact, even Wei Ran was curious about the corpse. Whether it was him or Professor Alexei, the two historians actually knew very well why the corpse in the photo appeared in the freezing Murmansk. .

It all started with the Lend-Lease Act during World War II. Ever since the arms dealer Silly America began to aid the Soviet Union, the Germans could no longer sit still. How could they fight this war without Silly America's blood transfusion?How else could he capture Moscow?How to occupy the beautiful Lake Baikal, beautiful Alaska and Mexico?

Because of this, Murmansk, as a port for receiving supplies, has become a thorn in the side of Mustache that must be destroyed.

From the Norwegian Mountain Division to the Finnish Servant Army, to the 36th Army advancing from the Soviet-Finnish border to Murmansk, in those years, for the precious ice-free port of Murmansk, there were no various attacks and sieges. Stopped.

Not to mention, even Brandenburg, the so-called "world's first special operations force", has a small team sent to the rear of Murmansk, specifically responsible for destroying the route from Murmansk to Moscow. Railway transportation lines.

However, after all, we are fighting behind enemy lines. We may not be prepared once or twice at first, but as time goes by and the number of times increases, even if the Soviet Red Army at that time is not interested, it still has a numerical advantage.

What's more, even if the railway transportation line in Murmansk is completely blown up, it actually doesn't mean much. After all, not far away is the Arkhangelsk Port, which can also be used to receive supplies.

It is precisely because of this that when the Germans finally came to their senses, this trend of destruction behind enemy lines and advancing encirclement on the front line came to a stop.

But even so, finding such a fresh corpse today, 80 years later, is still an extremely rare and precious discovery.

So before the flight took off, Professor Alex asked the flight attendant for a small glass of wine, preparing to celebrate again.

It could be seen that the old guy did not live a free life in Volgograd, so Wei Ran did not persuade him to drink less, but only comforted the dog Beria who was squatting between the two.

After a slightly long transit in Moscow, when the two of them and one dog arrived at the Port of Arkhangelsk, the pale green aurora was still floating above their heads.

"Where are we going next?"

In the lobby of the airport, Wei Ran asked as he put on the little leather boots custom-made for the dog Beria's legs.

These four little leather boots were made by Mr. Lothar specially arranged by designers at his family factory when Beria accompanied Jima to the Arctic Circle during the Chinese New Year.

We also made a custom-made helmet for the dog, including an eye protection helmet with a locator and a relatively thick cotton coat. Ji Ma sent these things home after he came back alive. Since he decided to bring them with him this time When it came, Wei Ran simply brought it with him.

"Wait a moment, I'll call my friend." Professor Alexei said, having already taken out his cell phone and dialed.

Seeing this, Wei Ran simply opened his backpack and put on all Beria's outfit.

I have to admit, these small clothes and shoes with "Zeger Extreme Sports" printed everywhere in German and Russian do look good on this dog, and Beria, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes and sticking out his tongue, looks like I'm quite used to dressing like this.

After he finished dressing up the dog, Alexei also hung up the phone and walked out and said, "Come with me, he is already waiting for us."

"Is your friend reliable?" Wei Ran asked Gouzi as he walked out with one hand and the suitcase with the other.

"Of course it's reliable!" Alexei said firmly, "We have been old friends for many years."

Since the old guy said that, Wei Ran simply stopped asking any more questions and followed him out of the airport honestly and got into a taxi.

When the car stopped, it was already in an old-looking neighborhood in downtown Arkhangelsk, and on the side of the road was a shop that looked very Soviet.There is even a mottled red five-pointed star on the store's sign.

"It's here"

Alexei said thoughtfully, "I sold at least half of the goods your aunt shipped from China to the owner of this store. I remember very clearly that the most popular ones at that time were cold-proof clothing and clothing. Windbreaker, the clothes your aunt sells here are always of the best quality, and each piece of clothing will come with a bottle of Erguotou, five lighters and a pack of cigarettes in the pocket."

"Were those days hard?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

Hearing this, Professor Alexei shivered involuntarily, and then waved his hand, "Let's end this topic here. I don't want to recall that hard life anymore."

After saying this, the two people and the dog also walked into the store.

Glass counters with solid wood frames, solid wood shelves, terrazzo floors, and wool blankets hanging all around the walls.Of course, there is also the portrait of the Great Emperor hanging on the wall directly opposite, the Orthodox crucifix placed side by side, and a portrait of the Chinese God of Wealth that looks very old!
"Hey! Hey! God of Wealth!"

Just as Wei Ran and Gouzi Beria were looking around, an old guy with the same hairstyle as Khrushchev, but who looked more or less similar to Marshal Zhukov, and had a conspicuous rosy nose stood on his side. Shouting in Chinese, he opened his arms enthusiastically and gave Alexei a bear hug that almost turned his back into a Chaoshan beef ball.

Immediately afterwards, this old guy who was the same age as Professor Alexi seemed to know a few Chinese words, so he switched to Russian again and shouted dissatisfied, "Alexi, you bastard is finally here." , I thought you were robbed by skinheads on the road again."

"It's been a long time ago, so don't mention it again."

Professor Alexei waved his hand, pulled Wei Ran over and introduced, "This is my son-in-law Victor. He is Chinese. His mother and Zhou were playmates when they were young. I mentioned it to you a long time ago. Passed."

"I remember! Of course I remember!"

The old guy enthusiastically gave Wei Ran a bear hug, and said with a good memory, "I remember that year when you went back and said you were attending a good friend's wedding, I also gave him a bear skin as a gift. Are your parents right?"

"Yes, those are his parents."

Professor Alexei happily recalled the past events that Wei Ran had never heard of before, "But the bearskin was seized by the bastards at the customs, and Zhou even had a fight with them over it."

"I remember, I remember you mentioned that you were imprisoned in the customs detention room and almost missed their wedding!"

The old guy said happily, "Alexei, where are your daughters and Zhou, haven't they come?"

Professor Alexei flicked his neck and said proudly, "I came here secretly this time, otherwise how could we have a drink? So I only brought this young man with me. By the way!"

At this point, he finally remembered and introduced to Wei Ran, "This is Pasha, my best friend, Victor. When you were a child, you had a set of flying chess pieces carved from walrus teeth, which was made by your uncle Pasha."

"Hello, Uncle Pasha, I still treasure that flying chess set. I didn't expect you made it."

Wei Ran shook hands with the opponent enthusiastically again. As for the flying chess set, he did remember that he seemed to have a set when he was a child, but he had no impression that the flying chess set was made of walrus teeth, let alone that the set of flying chess pieces was now used. His mother is hiding somewhere or even still there.

"If you like it, I'll give you another set."

The pasha uncle was obviously very impressed by Wei Ran's words. Then he reached out and touched Beria's dog head, "Is this little guy your pet?"

"It's called Beria"

Wei Ran smiled and explained, "My goduncle told me that the place where the body was found was a virgin forest, so it would be safer to take it with you." "The name is really scary."

Pasha withdrew his hand as if stung by a scorpion, smacked his mouth and said, "I still remember when I was a child, my mother always used 'Let Beria capture you' to scare me."

"This dog has a really scary name"

While Alexey was speaking, he unceremoniously took down a bottle of vodka from the shelf, opened it and took a sip, "Pasha, my good brother, shouldn't we find a place to have a drink? And, then Where’s the corpse?”

“I’m leaving it at home.”

Pasha lowered his voice following Alexei's last sentence, "Saveli built an ice cellar with ice cubes and snow and froze it. I asked Saveli's father to help take some extra photos, you want see?"

As he spoke, Uncle Pasha led the two of them into the inner room, turned down the volume of the big-ass TV, then took out an old-looking smartphone from his pocket, and pulled up a blurry picture. The unclear photo was handed over.

"I won't watch anymore"

Alexei had already opened his backpack before he finished speaking. He took out a Chinese-made smartphone that Weiran paid for at Kazan Airport and handed it to the other party, "This is a gift for you, Pasha. My good brother, now you need to do two things."

"What's going on?" Pasha asked as he unceremoniously tore open the packaging of the mobile phone.

"First of all, call your son-in-law over and ask him to take my son-in-law to see the body. Also, get some snacks to go with the wine. I haven't even had dinner yet."

"Professor, I, I haven't had dinner either."

Wei Ran, who contributed both money and effort, pointed to the dog squatting next to him after he finished speaking, "It hasn't eaten either."

"Someone will take you to eat later."

While Professor Alexei was speaking, he took out another Baita cigarette produced in China from his bag and pushed it to the Pasha, "right? My good friend?"

"Yes, my son-in-law Saveli will take you to find a place to fill your stomach!"

As he spoke, Uncle Pasha tore open the carton of cigarettes, took out a pack from it, opened it, popped one out, took a deep puff, and said with great emotion, "Since you stopped doing business, I have never had any more cigarettes." I’ve smoked this brand of cigarettes.”

"Have you not quit smoking yet?" Alexei asked with a smile.

"Quit smoking"

Pasha spread his hands and made a call on his old mobile phone while saying, "Actually, I rarely smoke since my wife passed away."

After saying this, the call he dialed was also answered, and the old guy immediately changed to an invisible chat partner.

Taking this opportunity, Wei Ran was also looking at this extra warm rest room.

With an area of ​​less than ten square meters, the ceiling can be easily touched by reaching out, as well as the tapestries nailed to the surrounding walls, the small window that seems to bring people back to the Soviet era, and the radiator with billowing heat waves.

And, of course, there were gloves, hats, boots and woolen socks and large trousers on the radiator.

Other than that, there was only a small bed that was relatively clean but definitely not spacious, a big TV on the bedside table, and a table against the wall.On this table, there are also photos of the pasha and a wealthy woman, as well as a tall and thin young girl and a smiling young man standing behind the couple.

After he finished his observation, Pasha also hung up the phone and threw it on the table. He rummaged through the bedside table and found a wine glass, unlabeled pickles and canned salou meat, and said, "Wait a moment, Saveli is here." He's nearby and he'll be here in a minute.

By the way, Saveli is my son-in-law. He is a sailor, a sailor who specializes in Arctic Ocean routes. You will meet him later. "

"Where's your daughter?"

Alexey helped unscrew a can of Salou meat, poked a piece out of it with the knife on the table, and asked while slicing.

"Zoya is now a ship's doctor, on the same ship as Saveli."

Pasha, who looked contented, smiled and replied, "The two of them can work for half a month and then take half a month off. Their income is much higher than when they were in Petersburg, and they can come and stay with me a few times a month." sky.

Recently, Saveli's parents are also preparing to live in Arkhangelsk. If those corpses can be sold for a good price, they may be able to buy a more spacious house. "

Just after saying this, a tall and thin blond young man came in holding a girl who was also tall and well-proportioned and wrapped tightly in his hand.

"Zoya, Saveli, let me introduce you."

As he spoke, Uncle Pasha put down the glass he had just found and enthusiastically introduced Professor Alexei and Wei Ran to the young couple.

While the two parties were saying hello and getting acquainted, Professor Alexei also took out two other mobile phones that Wei Ran had bought for him as gifts from his bag.

After some pleasantries, the pasha said, "Okay, Zoya, Saveli, take Victor and his Beria to see those corpses. Remember to take him and his Beria first." Find a place to fill your stomach.”

"Isn't Uncle Alex going?" Zoya asked, pulling her scarf apart.

"Let me stay with your father for a while. We haven't seen each other for almost 15 years."

Alexey confidently passed all the work to Wei Ran, "Just take Victor with you. If he thinks those corpses are worth buying, he will pay directly."

"Come with us!"

The tall Zoya immediately waved to Wei Ran enthusiastically, and then she and her husband Saveli left the rest room with the valuable gift they had just received.

"Drink less alcohol"

Wei Ran gave instructions to Professor Alexei, then led his dog Beria, pulled his suitcase out of the store, and got into a Watts van parked at the door.

"The body is on the outskirts of Murmansk"

When the car started to drive on the street with street lights, Savelli, who was sitting in the driver's seat, explained, "It's almost 400 kilometers away from our current location in a straight line, so we have to take my friend's plane to get there, but he Our plane won’t leave for two hours, so we can take you and Comrade Beria to have something to eat first.”

"Then I'm sorry to bother you." Wei Ran put his arms around Beria's neck and asked curiously, "Saveli, why do you go hunting so far away?"

"My home is near there"

Saveli explained, "There is a small fishing village right next to the railway from Murmansk to Moscow. My parents are going to move to Arkhangelsk from there recently. Zoya and I are When I went to help with the move, I took a break to go hunting in the forest and found the body."

As soon as he finished explaining, Zoya, who was sitting in the passenger seat, immediately said, "The body was hidden in a pile of rubble at that time, and I dug it out with my own hands!"

Looking at this tall girl who was probably a few years older than Suisui, Wei Ran asked with a smile, "Why don't you tell me in detail how you found out?"

"We were hunting a reindeer"

Zoya seized the right to explain, "After I hit it, I chased it for almost a kilometer before I saw its body. It was lying near the pile of rubble."

"We were both very tired at the time."

Saveli continued, "And that place happens to be at the foot of a leeward mountain, so we are going to make a fire and rest."

"When I was digging through the snow, the snow shovel in my hand just hit the helmet of the corpse."

Zoya added quickly, "I was shocked at the time. I thought I had dug up an aerial bomb. Last year, there was an unlucky guy in Murmansk who accidentally let a fallen pine tree hit him while he was logging. A German bomb from World War II destroyed half of his body."

"Then we dug through the snow and found that it was a pile of rubble. There was a person buried under the pile of rubble. At first we thought it was the ranger who disappeared from our village a few years ago."

Saveli took up the topic again and explained, "When we dug up the rubble, we found that there was something wrong with the clothes he was wearing."

"So you took him home?"

Wei Ran asked in astonishment. He had discovered that this chatty young couple seemed to be completely reckless, foolish and bold.Who in the right family would carry a corpse home when they see it?

"The two of us made a stretcher out of a tent and carried him back."

Zoya said proudly, "Then with the help of Saveli's father, we made an ice cellar out of ice cubes and snow and froze him to ensure freshness."

Why do you always deal with fresh corpses?
Wei Ran couldn't help but mutter in his heart, but he remembered clearly that Alexei invited him to the Arctic Circle last time, and he also found fresh corpses, but the last time they were found in the Arctic in Finland. The three wax corpses of prisoners of war, this time were the frozen corpses of German elites found in Russia at midnight.

This little coincidence also made him wonder if his father-in-law had a soft spot for this kind of fresh corpse.

Of course, he was just joking. In fact, he himself knew that at this latitude, it would be unusual to find a completely skeletal corpse. On the contrary, such fresh products are more common.

No matter how coincidental the coincidence was, through chatting along the way, when the three of them and one dog arrived at a small restaurant filled with aroma, Wei Ran also got to know something about the couple through chatting along the way.

The girl named Zoya is a top student who graduated from a serious medical university, and her husband Saveli was originally a soldier serving in the navy.

The two knew each other only because Saveli was accidentally injured before retiring and met Zoya, who happened to be an intern. Moreover, their respective hometowns happened to be located in two polar ports not far apart.

Under this small coincidence, after one of them graduated and the other retired, the two of them simply returned to their hometown together, joined an icebreaker that ran the Arctic route, and lived a happy life.

With Beria filling their stomachs with the dog food that the couple kept putting into their mouths and the amazingly caloric meals provided in the small restaurant, the two of them immediately rushed to the airport with Wei Ran and Gouzi, and the familiar door The familiar driver took the shuttle bus to the tarmac and finally parked next to an old-looking An-2 aircraft.

Not only was this aircraft familiar to Weiran, but he could also fly it. Even Beria had jumped out of this aircraft more than once with Weiran.

However, unlike Inta's An-2 aircraft, this aircraft is obviously a cargo type. There are only four chairs in the small cabin, and the rest of the space is used to hold packages such as medicines. But the most important driver didn't know where he was.

"Wait a mininute"

Saveli said hello, trotted to another plane next door, and called two fat men over.

At the same time, Zoya also helped explain that they usually take this small cargo plane to and from the two places. Although the ride is not very comfortable, the air tickets are much cheaper. The only disadvantage is that there is no It's just insurance.

Ignoring this small problem, which was insignificant as long as nothing happened, the black taxi-like cargo plane started to fly as soon as the two fat pilots came back.

Soon, under the control of the two pilots and the command of the tower, the old plane slowly took off, and after some circling, flew straight to the direction of Murmansk.