War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 14 Mr. Elijah

"Where's your mistress?" Professor Alexei asked anxiously after getting out of the cab.

"The travel agency is waiting for you." Wei Ran winked and patted his knee, "Professor, come on!"

"I'll take care of you when I come back!" Professor Alexei threw the car keys to Wei Ran, holding a large bouquet of roses, and ran to the travel agency next door.

"This is a good show." Wei Ran happily locked the shutter door again, and strolled towards the travel agency next door.

Before entering the door, Wei Ran heard Professor Alexei explaining something in a flustered tone in his aunt's office, and outside the office, the few employees of the travel agency had already taken out various snacks from the drawer Get ready for the show.

It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"Ten minutes." Wei Ran took an ice cream from a little girl, said while throwing a thousand ruble bill on the table.

"Half an hour!" Sasha, the little girl at the front desk, took out a thousand rubles and put it on the table, while clenching her fists and muttering in a low voice, "Boss, come on!"

"15 minutes" Mira, the female guide, also threw a thousand rubles on the table while placing her bet.

With these three people taking the lead, the remaining people in the travel agency also bet one after another, and after a while, the table was full of banknotes.

After everyone waited patiently, after half an hour, Professor Alexis came out of his aunt's office happily holding a large box of film, and even had a fiery red mark on his face. lip prints.

"Ugh--"

Almost everyone in the travel agency sighed, except for Sasha, the little girl at the front desk who cheered and slid the banknotes on the table into the cardboard box she had prepared long ago.

"You bastards are betting on me again?!" Professor Alexey pushed the wooden box to Wei Ran angrily, "Your vacation is cancelled, now, immediately, go to develop the photos!"

"Are you sure?" Wei Ran asked winkingly holding the wooden box.

Professor Alexey turned his head subconsciously, and then saw his wife leaning against the doorframe of the office and looking at him with a smile.

Professor Alexis quickly smiled, then pushed Wei Ran's shoulder and walked out, "Follow me back to the studio!"

The old and the young went back to the next door while bickering. Professor Alexei wiped the sweat from his forehead immediately after closing the shutter door, "It's okay, it's okay, fortunately, the benefits this time are enough."

"Have you finished talking?" Wei Ran put down the box, asked a question and handed over a cup of coffee courteously.

"Of course!"

Alexei took a sip of the coffee and said triumphantly, "I went to Saratov last night. There was a collector there who took a fancy to Mr. Polevoy's photographs. He will be there in a week. Come pick out the negatives, so until then, we're going to get the pictures developed as quickly as possible."

"I'm going now." Wei Ran picked up the box again and prepared to go to the darkroom. He and the professor quarreled, but the work matters would not be delayed.

"The tank is gone?" Professor Alexis asked nonchalantly, "The photos are also sold?"

"It was taken away about ten minutes before you came back, and the photos were bought, too."

"It's all yours." Professor Alexei waved his hand before Wei Ran finished speaking, "Save some money for yourself."

"Understood." Wei Ran nodded, stood at the door of the darkroom, held the box and turned his back to the professor and said, "Professor, I want to find a place to practice marksmanship."

"Someone came to the studio to make trouble or did someone bully you?" Professor Alexei immediately put down the coffee cup in his hand.

"No, who can bully me."

Wei Ran stepped into the darkroom, and replied loudly through the door, "I'm just interested in the weapons of World War II, and I want to find a place to practice, and learn some military knowledge by the way, so that we may be able to use it when we look for clues in the future." up."

Professor Alexei breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words, and said proudly, "You are asking the right person. After we complete this transaction, I will take you to a place where there must be someone who can teach you."

"Where is it?" Wei Ran poked his head out of the door frame and asked.

"Develop the photos first, and you will know when the time comes." Professor Alexei reached out and pressed Wei Ran's head and pushed him back to the darkroom, "But compared to these, you might as well learn some other really useful things, such as "

"How about German?"

Wei Ran took the initiative to say without waiting for the other party to finish speaking. In fact, Professor Alexei mentioned the matter of learning German as early as his junior year, but at that time Wei Ran had no motivation to learn at all, so naturally he couldn't do it. It's over.

"Your head was smashed by the rolling shutter door?" Alexey stopped his work and looked at Wei Ran with a strange face, "I haven't seen you all night, how did you change your sex?"

"My aunt wants me to go to graduate school"

Wei Ran took out the excuse he had prepared long ago, "I don't want to suffer that, so I might as well go to school to sit in on a course that might be useful in the future, at least I don't need to take the exam."

"This is easy"

Professor Alexey said while fixing the negatives on the film holder, "After the summer vacation is over, you can go back to school to attend German courses, or I can introduce you to a place to work for a while and you can learn it. But for now, you'd better Come back and help me develop the photos!"

Wei Ran, who had already touched the doorknob, sighed helplessly, and resigned himself to his fate to fight Professor Alexei.

After a week of busy work, the film negatives left behind by the war correspondent Polevoi were all developed into photos, and even in order to sell them at a good price, Professor Alexis specially ordered a few plastic skins with a Soviet taste. photo album.

While the old and the young waited, at noon that day, an ordinary black car slowly stopped at the door of the studio.Professor Alexey trotted over and opened the car door for the other person himself. Wei Ran, who was standing by the side, rolled his eyes with a respectful attitude.As the car door opened, a walking stick came out first, followed by an old man with goose skin and white hair covered with age spots.

"Mr. Ilya, we meet again." Professor Alexey enthusiastically shook hands with the other party's age spots.

"Professor Alexei, quickly show me those photos." Ilya, who looked at least 70 years old, urged impatiently.

"Of course, come with me." Professor Alexei enthusiastically led him into the studio that had been cleaned in advance.

On the specially placed long table, there are fist-thick photo albums neatly arranged according to the time when the photos were taken. Next to each photo album, there are corresponding negative photo albums.

Ilya stood in front of the long table leaning on a cane, and let the assistant who came in with him help him pull out the chair, then sat down slowly, and then opened the photo album in front of him.

The spacious and clean studio fell into silence, only the sound of flipping albums and Mr. Ilya's exclamation could be heard from time to time.

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(End of this chapter)