War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 144 Invitation

Under the ruins of the clinic shrouded in gunpowder smoke and artillery fire, in the basement that may collapse at any time, Marco, who was shot, stood up unsteadily, and he staggered to Wei Ran.

When the drooping head was lifted up, what was revealed was a terrifying meat ball huddled together by countless rotting poisonous snakes, rats, and maggots.Before he could react, Marco stretched out his hand, which was also full of maggots, and stabbed directly into his chest.

"what!"

Wei Ran woke up from the nightmare with a loud cry, and then saw the startled Ji Ma leaning his entire upper body against the door of the driver's cab, and the egg tart that he just took out of the paper bag in the former's arms was even worse. It was buckled on the gear lever impartially, as if wearing a small hat.

"Are you going to scare me to death?" Wei Ran and Jima complained in unison.

"Crazy" the two cursed again in unison.

"Get out of the car, we're at the hotel."

Ji Ma didn't bother to argue, picked up the egg tart on the gear lever and threw it directly into the rear compartment, then opened the door and jumped out with lingering fear.

Wei Ran, who was still in the car, regained his composure, and then opened the car door, carrying a paper bag that was more than half empty, and followed Jima into the hotel.

"Are you okay?" Jima finally asked in the ascending elevator.

"What could be the matter?" Wei Ran handed the paper bag containing the egg tarts to Jima, "It's just a nightmare."

"Shall I find you a beautiful witch for divination at night?" Jima took the paper bag and asked winkingly.

"Forget about the pretty witch, is there any smoke?" Wei Ran asked before the elevator door opened.

"I remember you don't smoke?" Although Jima said so, he still took out a crumpled cigarette case from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran along with the lighter.

"There's nothing to do these two days, you can go and play wherever you want. But don't drink and don't cause trouble, just wait for my call at any time." Wei Ran got out of the elevator and got into his room before he finished speaking.Only Ji Ma was left behind, looking at his back suspiciously.

After returning to the room and locking the door, Wei Ran leaned against the door and slowly sat on the floor, took out a crumpled cigarette from the cigarette case and lit it, and then coughed continuously.

After barely smoking a cigarette, Wei Ran, whose face was flushed red from choking, stood up dizzily, then took out his mobile phone and called Professor Alexey.

"Why did you think of calling me, you bastard?" As soon as the call was connected, Professor Alexey's loud and angry voice came from the receiver.

"Those two small knives are almost done with the investigation." Wei Ran said while sitting on the sofa as he stubbed out his cigarette butt.

"What did you find?" Professor Alexey immediately became interested.

"It's hard to say yet"

Wei Ran replied ambiguously, "I'm in Kyiv now, you can ask the middleman, if it's convenient, ask that Jew to call me, I have to communicate with him directly about some things."

"Have you gone to Kyiv? Be careful. I'll call the intermediary now, and you keep the phone open." Professor Alexey ordered, and before Wei Ran could say anything, he simply hung up the phone.

Taking advantage of the time when the other party contacted, Wei Ran randomly picked a seemingly simplest Chinese musical instrument after searching on the shopping website and placed an order.Then he stretched his body and closed his eyes against the back of the sofa.

When he was about to fall asleep again, the clear and pleasant cell phone rang suddenly, and he regained consciousness in an instant.After rubbing his face vigorously, Wei Ran pressed the answer and hands-free buttons.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" The person on the other end of the phone asked directly without any foreshadowing, and the calm bass was the usual calmness of the superior.

"I want to know the relationship between you and Mr. Mario first." Wei Ran also asked straightforwardly.

"He is my father." Hearing this answer, Wei Ran followed up and asked, "Also, I need to know your mother's name."

The other party was silent for a moment before replying, "Mola"

Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to ask, "Have you heard of Mr. Ivan from your father or mother? Mr. Iwan with one leg."

"You found Mr. Ivan? Is he still alive?!" The calm tone on the other end of the phone finally changed, "Tell me, where is he!"

“Come to Kyiv”

Wei Ran sighed, "Mr. Ivan passed away in 88. If you would like to meet his descendants and read his memoir about your father's experience, come to Kyiv."

"I'll go there as quickly as possible!" The man on the other end of the phone said this, but he didn't hang up the phone in a hurry, but asked after a moment of silence, "Young man, how are they doing?"

"Not too good," Wei Ran said truthfully.

"Is there anything else I need to answer?" The person on the other end of the phone asked proactively.

Wei Ran thought for a while, "What should I call you?"

"Hans"

Wei Ran was stunned when he heard the words, and after realizing it, he said with a smile, "Then, Mr. Hans, see you in Kyiv."

"See you in Kyiv" Hans on the other end of the phone responded to Wei Ran expectantly before hanging up the phone.

"Hans. That's a good name." Wei Ran threw his phone aside, looked at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, and couldn't help but think of that old man who was full of "stupid".

Two days passed in a flash, and early in the morning, Jima rented a Mercedes-Benz car that was probably new through the beautiful girl who had been discussing biology in his room for the past two days under Wei Ran's gesture. , changed into the suit that he had prepared in advance, and dragged Wei Ran to the airport.

After waiting at the airport for nearly an hour, a thin, silver-haired old man walked out with a large family, men, women and children, and several accompanying men and women in suits.

Chao Wei Ran and Ji Ma, who was holding a pick-up sign from a distance, beckoned. The old man stretched out his hand and asked in German, "Which one is Victor?"

"Hello, Mr. Hans." Wei Ran shook hands with the other party, and also replied in German, "I am Victor."

"Your German and investigation speed far exceeded my expectations, can you tell me about the investigation process?" Hans didn't let go of Wei Ran's hand at all, and asked impatiently as he walked out.

"Of course, we can chat slowly in the car."

Wei Ran, with bloodshot eyes, waved to Jima, who quickly threw the pick-up card into the trash can on the side, leading everyone to leave the airport, "But I didn't expect so many of you to come, so..."

"It's okay, we have prepared the car in advance." Hans also waved his hand behind him, and immediately a man in a suit came out, leading everyone into the parking lot with Jima.

"Take our car." Hans couldn't help but drag Wei Ran into a commercial van they rented, and drove the rest of the people who came with him into other cars, leaving only one With a long head and a tiger brain, he is somewhat similar to the little guy who was Mario back then.

Led by the car driven by Ji Ma, the convoy slowly drove out of the parking lot and headed straight for the dessert shop.

In the car that was driving smoothly, Wei Ran took a copy of Ivan's memoir manuscript, together with the two youth regiment knives and the Second Class Patriotic War Medal, as well as a sheet full of honors and medal numbers in German. He took out the white paper and handed it to Hans, "I started the investigation from the Soviet Union's Patriotic War Medal of the Second Class that you provided. According to the original owner of this medal, Mikhail, I found out that I was with him once. Several comrades in the Berlin battle, and finally locked Mr. Ivan."

Hearing this, Hans sighed, "When I was very young, I heard from my father that we had a friend from the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, after the Berlin Wall was built, we lost contact completely. Victor, said How did you find him? How did you find this memoir?"

"This is the hardest part of the whole investigation"

Wei Ran sighed with a wry smile, and took out an excuse that he had thought up in advance, "In order to find Mr. Ivan, I searched a lot of files from the Soviet era, and finally found the current address by following the clues. As for this manuscript, it was in 1988. It was a complete accident that Mr Ivan disappeared after a burglary that took his life on April 4."

It was so ambiguous, it seemed like he didn't say anything, but it also vaguely expressed the complicated answer of the whole process.Hans didn't care, but took out a pair of exquisitely crafted reading glasses from his coat pocket and put them on, carefully reading word by word the records of what happened during and after the Battle of Berlin in the manuscript of the memoir.

It wasn't until the car passed by the huge cemetery that Hans carefully sorted out the memoirs he had read, and said with emotion, "I didn't expect my father to be a member of the fragile youth group. He and my mother never told us about the matter. Even Mr. Ivan, I always thought it was my mother's foreign relative."

"Your father, Mr. Mario, and your mother, Ms. Mora, they must have lived a happy life in their later years, right?" Wei Ran couldn't help but think of the little boy with an injured butt in the basement where everyone was sheltered. The baby and the little Jewish girl who survived.

"Just like in this memoir"

Hans said with a smile, "I still remember it very clearly. When I was young, my mother often said that my father was her trophy, and until my mother passed away, she always called my father a fool. ...presumably that's why they didn't tell us anything about what happened in that basement at the end of the war."

Wei Ran couldn't help but smile when he heard the words, he could even imagine the happy expression on the old Mario when he was called a fool by the same old Mora.

Hans shook the copy of the memoir manuscript in his hand, "Victor, are you interested in going to Berlin with me to see what the clinic mentioned in this memoir looks like now?"

　Thanks to Flying Hands, Kabukabu lalalala, and Blue Flying Point for rewarding 100 points respectively

　　
　
(End of this chapter)