War Photographer's Notebook

On the day of returning home, Wei Ran went to a fly restaurant highly recommended by Qin II and treated the two brothers to a delicious Jinmen dinner.

"How about you two staying together?" Wei Ran said on the way back to the small foreign building.

“Forget it”

Qin Er quickly waved his hand, "I'm not being polite to you. I have business to do tomorrow morning."

"You have a really serious job, giving injections to the female overseas students who came from the Japanese, right?" Wei Ran joked with a burp.

"You have such a good reputation, you beast," Xia Shushi joked.

"It would be great if I gave the devil bitch an injection."

Qin Er, who was in charge of driving, gave each of the brothers a cigarette and said helplessly, "A few of my bad friends want to insert young actors into the movie we are planning to shoot, and some of them are thinking of using our movie to launder money. Woolen cloth."

"Can you agree to this?" Xia Shushi immediately became unhappy.

"It's weird that you agree. If I don't send a few of them in, it's just a matter of giving them face."

Qin Er said angrily, "But don't worry, I will solve these troublesome things, and I will make sure not a single J8 hair gets involved."

"Then I'll go back and do it"

"My stupid dad misses you and wants to introduce you to a girlfriend." Qin Er said gloatingly, "A girlfriend who is as old as Zabiru."

"Then I'll go back with you." Xia Shushi made a decision immediately.

Having said this, Qin Er looked at Wei Ran through the rearview mirror, who was listening to the excitement, "Originally, my stupid dad wanted to see you, but I refused. It's better not to see you. If you do, it will be trouble."

"It's up to you"

Wei Ran replied without thinking that his scumbag friend obviously had nothing to do with his father. As a friend, it was Qin Er who had the final say whether to see him or not.

When the topic reached this point, Qin Er also drove the car to the door of Xiaoyanglou, slowly stepped on the brakes and said, "I have made arrangements for Brother Yang. He will arrive in Hajiang City tomorrow morning and wait for you. You When you decide to leave, just fly directly to Wenshan Airport and call Brother Yang when you get there."

"Row"

Wei Ran was not polite and just turned to look at Xia Shushi, "My client's adoptive father's belongings will be left to you for safekeeping. Don't lose them."

"You have to be at ease"

Xia Shushi patted the backpack beside him and said, "I can't lose it. You should be more careful when you go to the monkey."

"See you later"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he simply opened the car door and stood at the door watching the two scumbag brothers disappear into the night in the car.

Turning around and walking into this small western-style building that held too many memories, Wei Ran opened the garage and took a look at the antique Volkswagen van that was shipped back from France.

While eating, he had already learned from Qin Er that the car was transported back through his channel.

After taking a look at the car in the garage, which was good-looking but had no sign and could only be used as a decoration, Wei Ran turned around and walked into the interior of the small foreign-style building, climbing the stairs all the way to the top floor.

In just a month or two, although one-third of the flowers on the terrace on the third floor of this small foreign-style building were dead, the remaining ones that survived grew extremely lush.

After doing some extra work of pruning and pruning the flowers and plants, Wei Ran turned off the remote monitoring, then went downstairs to the ginkgo tree, took out the guqin Yaoguang, and began to play the song that carried too much The long-awaited Guangling San.

When the song ended, he simply got up and went into the basement, into the darkroom hidden by the large mirror, took out the Bayi bar from the metal book, disassembled it and carefully wiped every part.

Although he has returned to China now, he has not returned home, and has not even contacted his parents. After all, they have not returned home yet. They have not been home for a long time.

The two days of living in the small foreign-style building passed by in a flash. During these two days, Wei Ran, who was obviously very impatient, tried his best to suppress his temper, just like when he was the "young master" in this small foreign-style building. In that way, every day when I get up, I am busy sweeping the yard, cleaning the room, pruning flowers and plants, and playing Guangling San under the tree.

At noon on June 6, Cha Xifeng finally sent news - he had arrived in the increasingly difficult city of Ha Giang, bringing with him the last relic of his adoptive father, an August 10st rifle.

After hanging up the phone, Wei Ran weighed his phone. After all, he just sent a message to Brother Yang who was arranged by Qin Er. Without notifying Suisui, he got up and left the small western-style building alone, and took a taxi to the airport.

That afternoon, when he took a flight and arrived at Wenshan Airport via Sichuan-Sichuan transfer, Wan Qiu, a beautiful tour guide who had received him in Palau, had been waiting at the airport for a long time.

"Mr. Wei, long time no see." Wan Qiu greeted Wei Ran from a distance, "Didn't Miss Suisui come with you?"

"I ran out secretly without telling her this time."

Wei Ran shook hands with the other party while explaining, "I didn't expect to trouble Miss Wan Qiu again."

"Mr. Wei, you're welcome. It's no trouble at all."

Wan Qiu smiled, led Wei Ran and asked as he walked outside the airport, "Are you going to rest for a night before going to the port, or are you leaving now? Even if we rush there at this time, the port office has already closed, and the border crossing can only Wait for tomorrow.”

"If it's convenient, let's go today."

Wei Ran smiled and joked to himself, "I have to try my best to go back before Suisui knows that it will be harder for me to go secretly. She always feels that it is too dangerous there."

"The harder it is, the safer it is actually," Wan Qiu explained with a smile, "Of course, I mean compared to being free of electricity."

Wei Ran smiled helplessly, "In her eyes, it's no different from being free of electricity. They're both a ghost place."

After chatting all the way through the topic of Ka Yaozi, the two walked out of the airport and got into a domestic off-road vehicle with a local license plate under Wan Qiu's guidance.

"Next we have to drive to Tianbao Port, which is 130 kilometers away. The whole journey takes about two and a half hours."

Wan Qiu started the car and drove out of the parking lot while introducing the route, "Do you want to go to Laoshan Scenic Area to see it?"

"Okay, let's not go now." Wei Ran changed his tone and replied, "Let's wait until we come back. Let's go after we come back."

"it is good"

Wan Qiu seemed to notice Wei Ran's urgent mood. While answering, he stepped on the accelerator slightly and increased the speed of the car. At the same time, he did not forget to introduce the local customs and the port's transit regulations on the road.

According to the girl's introduction, the border crossing at Tianbao Port they were about to arrive at was extremely convenient, but the time limit for each crossing was only a short week.

In other words, he can only stay on the other side for a week at most, and then he has to return to the country and cross the border again.

In the late autumn introduction, when they arrived at Tianbao, it was already past seven in the evening, but even so, this small town in the valley was still extremely lively.

As he lowered the window, the conversations he heard in his ears were not only coming from various parts of the motherland and local dialects, but also mixed with the Yue difficult language.

The casual and friendly conversation seemed to be back before the war that spanned 10 years, and it seemed that the two sides had become brothers again. It seems that these "brothers" have learned enough lessons from that war.

Rubbing his temples to get rid of the unfriendly thoughts in his mind, Wei Ran, who remained silent, led Wan Qiu to a local B&B that looked relatively clean.

Declining the dinner planned for late autumn, Wei Ran changed into a set of clothes that were cool enough and left the B&B alone to stroll around the port town.

Nowadays, the continuous artillery fire can no longer be heard here, but what can be seen everywhere are tourists from their own countries and border residents coming to do business from the other side, as well as "goods supermarkets" or "more difficult boutiques" almost one after another. Of course, there are also various jewelry shops selling emeralds, and there are even a constant stream of tourists in the shops.

As he walked around, he also filled his stomach with various local snacks he encountered along the way.

It's a pity that until he decided to return to the B&B to rest, he didn't meet Wang Beizhan, who seemed to be running a border trade business here, or maybe he had met him but just didn't recognize him.

Time flies and the next morning, under the leadership of Wan Qiu, Wei Ran is almost stuck in crossing the border, and meets Brother Yang who has been waiting on the other side for a long time.

"Mr. Wei, Brother Yang will accompany you next."

Wan Qiu shook hands with Wei Ran and said, "I will wait for you in the town opposite."

"Then we'll have to worry about Brother Yang," Wei Ran said politely.

"We are all our own people, so there is no need to be so polite."

Brother Yang warmly greeted Wei Ran and got into the off-road vehicle he drove. The two said goodbye to late autumn and drove along the increasingly difficult National Highway No. 20 to Ha Giang City, kilometers away.

“The harder it is to ban guns”

Waiting for the car to start, Brother Yang pointed to the co-pilot's glove box as he spoke, "But it's the same as not being banned. There are self-defense weapons I prepared for you in there. Take it with you."

"No need." Wei Ran simply waved his hand without opening the glove box, "I don't know how to use it. It's a burden to carry around."

Hearing this, Brother Yang secretly rolled his eyes but didn't bother to expose the other party. Instead, he simply changed the subject by sharing cigarettes and said, "I have sent people to the hotel where your client is staying to keep an eye on him. By the way, He did an investigation."

"Did you find anything?" Wei Ran asked with interest as he took the cigarette from the other party.

"This Mr. Cha is not simple." Brother Yang's words aroused Wei Ran's interest.

"What do you say?" Wei Ran lit a cigarette and asked.

"He formed a public welfare organization for demining in Vietnam called Dongfeng."

"Dongfeng?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

"right"

Brother Yang continued, "This public welfare organization has been carrying out demining activities around Laoshan, I mean on the land belonging to Vietnam, and it has also opened a demining school. According to our investigation, even the Vietnamese military has something to do with his demining school. cooperate."

"Study on demining?" Wei Ran thought for a moment and asked, "Is there more?"

"Have"

Brother Yang continued, "Next, internationally, Mr. Cha also controls a demining company registered in the United States. This demining company is not large, but its reputation has always been good, and it is said that it employs The staff are all Vietnamese.”

"What's the name of his demining company?" Wei Ran asked casually.

"It's also called Dongfeng," Brother Yang replied, "but this demining company seems to have run into problems in recent years."

"When was his demining company established?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"In 2005," Brother Yang continued to answer, "Mr. Cha held 2008% of the shares. The first order came from the Yuehan military. In , he established the Dongfeng Demining School. The school address is at the one you provided to II. The village covers a very large area.”

"what?"

"In addition, Mr. Cha doesn't seem to be very kind to the people in his hometown."

Brother Yang replied with some confusion, "He bought most of the land around three villages, and the villagers in two of the villages were properly resettled. However, the villagers in the village where he grew up were used by him with the help of the army. Due to his relationship with Fang, all the villagers were driven away from the land he bought, without any resettlement at all. "

Ah.

Wei Ran snorted coldly in his heart. Those villagers killed Cha Xifeng's mother back then. He just drove those villagers away instead of driving them into the minefield. This was considered friendly.

"Is there any other news?" Wei Ran asked.

"Mr. Cha has an adopted son named Zhan Cha, who is now the principal of the demining school.

In addition, he also has a daughter studying in the United States. Because this clue is of low value, we did not investigate in detail. "

Hearing this, Wei Ran nodded and did not continue to ask. Brother Yang, who was driving, also kept quiet.

The 20-kilometer journey took nearly an hour. When the car stopped, Zha Xifeng, who had received a call from Weiran in advance, had been waiting at the door of the hotel for a long time.

However, what Wei Ran didn't expect was that Zha Xifeng, who was wearing a set of quick-drying clothes at this time, was actually wearing a certain bonny hat on his head, with a large five-leaf camouflage on one side and a tiger stripe camouflage on the other. Bonnie hat!

This hat is extremely worn, the edges have been worn to the point of burrs, and there are even patches in some places. Even the shell of the silent bullet hanging on the tether was polished to a shine without a trace of rust.

"Comrade Wei Ran, I didn't expect you to be willing to come here to investigate in person."

As Zha Xifeng spoke, she helped Wei Ran, who was sitting in the passenger seat, open the car door. Her enthusiastic attitude was filled with undisguised gratitude and a hint of uneasiness.

From his point of view, he should really be grateful to Wei Ran. Not to mention that it had been less than a week since he asked the other party to help investigate the matter. The most important thing was that the two of them had never discussed the commission from the beginning to the end.

This was enough to show Wei Ran's sincerity, but the commission that had not yet been agreed upon also made Zha Xifeng a little uneasy.

After shaking hands with the other party, Wei Ran responded in an easy-going manner, "Mr. Zha, you're welcome. I only have a week to come this time. How about we go directly to the place where you and your adoptive father met and take a look first?"

"Okay, of course!" Cha Xifeng nodded immediately.

"Take our car"

Wei Ran said, and helped the other party open the door of the rear compartment. Seeing this, the latter, after being polite, followed Wei Ran and got into the rear compartment.

When the car started running again, Wei Ran asked curiously, "Mr. Cha, why are you wearing such a hat? It has a camouflage pattern."

"Big five-leaf camouflage"

Zha Xifeng answered without waiting for Wei Ran to finish, and said with a proud tone, "It's a birthday gift from my adoptive father. It's a 20th birthday gift. Over the years, whenever I go back to the more difficult times, I will wear it." it."

"Can I take a look?" Wei Ran asked calmly.

Hearing this, Zha Xifeng hesitated for a moment and then happily took off the old bonny hat and handed it to Wei Ran.

After taking the hat and looking at it, Wei Ran returned it to the other party. While the latter put on the hat again, he also asked slightly uneasily, "Comrade Wei Ran, I don't know about this commission."

"Let's wait until I find out the true identity of your adoptive father and his comrades about the commission." Wei Ran said nonchalantly.

Hearing this, Zha Xifeng opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything after all, but his expression seemed to be ready to be slaughtered.

Although Wei Ran saw something from the other person's expression, he just smiled and did not explain anything. He just asked irrelevant questions and listened to the other person's introduction of the scenery along the way.

At about 10:30 in the morning, under the guidance of the navigation system and Zha Xifeng, Brother Yang drove the car to the former village along a road with fairly good conditions.

"I bought the land in this village, including the mountain and the land in the other two villages on the other side of the mountain."

At the entrance of the village, Zha Xifeng lowered the window and pointed in all directions outside the window and explained, "A large number of landmines were laid around these three villages during the war years, so despite the large area, the price is very cheap.

More than ten years ago, I used these lands to open a demining school. The demining knowledge I taught was also learned from my adoptive father. "

Speaking of this, Zha Xifeng pointed to the terraces not far away and said, "That's the artillery position that was bombarded back then. Do you want to take a look?"

“Go and have a look”

Wei Ran nodded. Of course he wanted to see the effects of the shelling back then. "You mean this is now a demining school? Why didn't I see the students?"

"Since I learned that you were coming, I informed you that this place is on holiday."

Zha Xifeng explained confidently, "So as not to affect your investigation ideas, in addition, all the mines on that mountain have been cleared. If you plan to go further, there are enough experienced and skilled people here." Good demining engineer.”

Having said that, Brother Yang also slowly stepped on the brakes, then opened the co-pilot's glove box without concealment, took out a Glock pistol in a quick-draw holster, and fixed it on the On the thigh.

However, Zha Xifeng opened the car door as if he didn't see it, and enthusiastically guided Wei Ran along the steps beside the terraces to the tunnel that was bombed back then and said, "This is the place that was bombarded back then."

Before he finished speaking, he turned around and pointed to the hilltop not far away and said, "That's where I was first arrested."

"I'll go around by myself"

As Wei Ran said this, he took out a bottle of DEET from his pocket and sprayed it all over his body before walking over.

Time has only passed by more than thirty years, and many of the traces left by the shelling back then have been covered up by grass, shrubs and overgrown trees. However, it is obvious that Zha Xifeng has arranged for people to clean up the place in advance, so he You can clearly see the bombed artillery and trucks, as well as the collapsed tunnel opening, leaving only a gap less than 20 centimeters high.

"There are still a lot of corpses in there."

Zha Xifeng explained, "There are many corpses on the land below our feet. I remember clearly that when I was a child, for about half a year, I could smell the smell of corpses wafting from here to the village. ”

"Isn't there anyone willing to clean it up?" Wei Ran asked as he walked down the terraces.

Zha Xifeng shook his head, "Everyone is worried that there will be unexploded shells."

"Take me to worship your adoptive father," Wei Ran said as he walked.

“The road is a bit far”

Zha Xifeng glanced at Brother Yang who was walking in front of Wei Ran, "We'd better drive there."

"No problem" Brother Yang responded with a word that was as precious as gold.

The three of them got in the car again and drove along the concrete road deep into the village for about ten minutes. They stopped under the guidance of Zha Xifeng until the village behind them was blocked by mountains.

The moment he pushed open the car door, Wei Ran heard the sound of flowing water, and then saw a small waterfall that was no more than as high as a basketball hoop.

Around the waterfall, two layers of locked steel barriers equipped with cameras were installed. There are also many big red signs hanging on this barrier, with warnings in Vietnamese such as "An important source of water, please keep away."

There is a stone step inside and outside the barrier, but the end of the step is inside the barrier, behind the small waterfall.

Through the barrier and the small waterfall, Wei Ran couldn't see what was behind the waterfall.

"My adoptive father's grave is in the cave behind the waterfall."

As Zha Xifeng spoke, she took out the key and opened the steel barrier door monitored by the camera.

After passing through two locked blocks, the three of them came to the back of the waterfall. There was also a door here, a heavy explosion-proof door.

Without avoiding Wei Ran and Brother Yang at all, Zha Xifeng opened the explosion-proof door, and then pressed the switch fixed on the rock wall.

As the dim lights turned on, the tunnel was illuminated in detail, revealing various types of mines placed along the way.

"take it easy"

Zha Xifeng picked up a landmine at random and explained, "These landmines have been eliminated from danger, and even the explosives inside have been removed."

Hearing this, Brother Yang cautiously picked up a land mine and weighed it. The light weight made him slightly relieved, and then he nodded towards Wei Ran.

"here."

"In 90, I met my adoptive father again in this cave."

Zha Xifeng walked forward and explained with a smile, "I was bullied by people in the village at that time, and I was hiding here crying, and then he appeared and bandaged my wound.

Since then, I have often visited him through this natural tunnel, learned Chinese from him, learned how to clear mines, and raised bees with him. I even caught a monkey for him to keep as a pet.

In Cha Xifeng's fragmentary but extremely detailed memories, the three of them walked in the tunnel for a long time, and finally stopped at a fork deep in the tunnel, where the light above their heads extended to the limit. Right in front is an explosion-proof door made of cement.

"From here on, not even my adopted son or my daughter is allowed in."

As Zha Xifeng said, he took out another set of keys and opened the locked explosion-proof door.

As the heavy concrete door was slowly pushed open, Wei Ran also felt the air rushing towards his face.

"Go in that direction"

Zha Xifeng pointed to the direction where Wei Ran had seen Squad Leader Dao for the last time and said, "Go in that direction and you'll find my adoptive father's cemetery."

"Can I go and see for myself?" Wei Ran suddenly suggested, "I want to go and see for myself."

Hearing this, Zha Xifeng hesitated for a moment, picked up the large flashlight hanging on the rock wall and handed it over and said, "Okay, but the exit at the other end has been sealed, leaving only the vent. Outside the vent It is a wildlife sanctuary established by me in conjunction with the local area.

Also, there are a lot of bees living at the exit, you have to be careful, finally."

"What?" Wei Ran asked as he took the flashlight.

"Don't hurt those bees," Zha Xifeng said, "That's also a relic left by my adoptive father."

"it is good"

Wei Ran nodded and winked at Brother Yang. The latter nodded and took a step back, blocking the not-so-wide explosion-proof door with his body. He also blocked Chaxi, who seemed to be trapped in childhood memories again. phoenix.