War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1481 24 chance

On the first night in the grassland, the heavy rain in the first half of the night turned into the snowy grits that Weiran had experienced before entering this historical period.

When the snow that could almost freeze them to death finally stopped, the morning glow on the horizon had been dyed golden red by the sun that had not yet jumped out of the horizon.

On the meadow that had already been soaked by rain, everyone sat in a group back to back, with the patient Jiang Yu squeezed in the middle. The people sitting in a circle were also wrapped in a red cashmere shawl.

When the heavy rain turned into snow last night, the little lama took the initiative to take it off and let everyone gather around him. It was also thanks to this shawl that it was five meters long and one meter wide. Otherwise, Wei Ran would even feel that I could have been frozen to death last night!

Shivering, he put the water-dropped harmonica into his soaked pocket, and then put it away in a metal book. When Wei Ran was about to get up, Squad Leader Liu next to him also let go of his hands, which he was responsible for holding at both ends. Phi sheet.

"Same comrades."

Squad leader Liu, who was also trembling, said with a pale face, "Start. Start calling the names."

There was a pause, and he tried to raise his voice, "Cooking. Cooking class, Li Zhuang."

"Have"

Li Zhuang, who was almost curled up in a circle, gave a trembling response. Wei Ran, who was next to him, could even hear the tiny sound of the opponent's teeth colliding with each other frequently.

"Zhang Aji!" Squad leader Liu continued to call the name, "Zhang Erwa"

"Yes." Zhang Erwa, whose whole body was dripping with water and whose shoulders were covered with ice, responded feebly.

"Jichun. Chunlan"

"Yes," the pale Nurse Ji responded weakly.

"Jiangba Kelsang," Squad Leader Liu continued to call out names with great energy, "Jiangba. Jiangba Kelsang?"

"Yo"

The little lama, who looked like a drowned rat, responded feebly. At this time, his upper body was only wearing a red novice vest (Dongga), and even the sheepskin hat he was wearing before was buckled on Jiang Yu's head. .

"Wei Ran." Squad Leader Liu looked at Wei Ran, who was the last to join.

"Yes!" Wei Ran tried his best to make his response more forceful.

"Jiang Yu?"

There was a hint of worry and expectation in Squad Leader Liu's tone. At the same time, like everyone else, he turned to look behind him at the patient surrounded by them.

After waiting for half a minute, Jiang Yu, who was back to back with Li Zhuang, weakly raised his hand in response.

"His fever hasn't gone away yet." Nurse Ji touched his forehead and said shivering.

Squad leader Liu nodded, tried to squat unsteadily, and said with force, "Let's light a fire and get some hot water to warm ourselves up and get our bodies moving."

Hearing this, Wei Ran stood up staggeringly with the anti-Japanese sword in his hand, shook off the accumulated ice on the bamboo hat on his head, staggered to the side of his bamboo basket, and took out a bundle from it Firewood.

While everyone was busy, a bonfire was finally raised again, and the copper ladle was filled with the rainwater collected last night.

While everyone was warming up around the campfire, Wei Ran, who was still shaking uncontrollably, walked towards the bamboo basket he had soaked in the mud last night and pulled it up with considerable effort.

Pushing it down with force, Wei Ran used an anti-Japanese sword to dig out the cold and smelly mud bit by bit, trying hard to find any small fish and shrimp that could be used to feed his hunger.

However, in this basket full of mud, his only harvest was an unknown fish that was slimmer than a disposable lighter.

Squeezing the fish head firmly to ensure that it would not slip away from his hands, Wei Ran moved to the edge of the meadow, rinsed it in the cold water, then returned to the bonfire and threw it into the steaming pot. In a copper ladle.

"Did you catch it in a bamboo basket?" Squad leader Liu asked happily as he was throwing some wild vegetables leftover from last night into a copper ladle.

"Only one," Wei Ran sighed helplessly.

“Only one is also a pot of fish soup”

Monitor Liu was particularly optimistic. He took three slices of ginger from Zhang Erwa, which had been cooked countless times, but were only about the size of a Band-Aid, and threw them into the pot. He said confidently, "Maybe. "Xiao Jiang will feel better after eating the fish you caught!"

Before he finished speaking, he took out another piece of beef jerky that Wei Ran gave him yesterday and generously threw it into the pot.

I hope so.

Wei Ran glanced at the sick Jiang Yu who was lying beside the campfire, and the young soldiers Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa who were helping him wring out his clothes.

At this moment, the little lama patted his arm gently, then pointed to the folded drape, then made a twisting motion of towel, and said "Comrade!"

Nodding towards the other party, Wei Ran picked up one end of the folded shawl and helped the other party wring out the cold water adsorbed on it.

"Comrade!"

After placing the wrung-out shawl on the bamboo basket, the little lama pointed at Wei Ran's soaked clothes and made a gesture of twisting the towel again.

Seeing this, Wei Ran happily took off the patched singlet on his upper body, and with the help of the other party, he almost carefully squeezed out the water - they really had to be careful, this dress was already very old, and it might be possible if he was too strong. They just screwed it up, even though they were so hungry that they had no strength left.

After Wei Ran put on his clothes again, Nurse Ji, who had just left alone, came back from a distance, stepping on the meadows. She had just gone to find a place to wring out the water stains on her clothes.

With the excuse of needing to pee, Wei Ran hurriedly chose a direction to leave before Nurse Ji walked onto the meadow where they were living. He turned his back to everyone and took out the Rolleiflex with the horse fur waterproof cover from the metal book. opposite.

After some inspection, in addition to the film in the camera body, there was also a spare film stuffed in the accessory compartment of the camera case.

For this old antique that uses 120 film and a 6x6 format, two film rolls mean it can take 24 photos.

In other words, he only had 24 chances to press the shutter to record something.

This time, Metal Book did not mention any requirements for taking photos in the return mission, but Wei Ran had never felt like he did now that the opportunity to press the shutter was so precious.

24 photos. What should I take?

While Wei Ran put away the camera, he murmured to himself, searching for the answer in his heart.

Looking up at the sky, Wei Ran, who was already a professional film photographer, made some adjustments to the antique camera in his hand, and then turned around and walked towards those lovely comrades.

When he returned to the bonfire, Squad Leader Liu was using a spoon to take out the beef jerky that had been thrown into the copper ladle, and carefully cut it into 6 equal parts with a knife.

"Thanks to Comrade Wei Ran"

When Squad Leader Liu saw Wei Ran coming over, he said happily, "Not only do we have fish soup to drink this morning, we also have beef to eat. Even if we don't waste these things, we guys should walk a few more miles today and try to catch up as soon as possible. Big army!”

After the three nurses from Ji gave a confident response, Squad Leader Liu poured wild vegetable soup into everyone's bowls and said, "In addition, Comrade Wei Ran took out four strips of beef jerky and 157 pieces of beef jerky." A grain of highland barley and two peppers are more than our rations.”

After saying this, Squad Leader Liu also put the only small fish Wei Ran caught in the morning and the pieces of ginger into the enamel jar of the patient Jiang Yu. As for himself, he still only had a few wild vegetables and grass roots.

"This distribution is unfair," Wei Ran said, exchanging his enamel jar with that of Squad Leader Liu.

However, before he could pick up the enamel jar that belonged to Squad Leader Liu, Zhang Erwa had already used a spoon to take out the piece of cooked beef from his jar and threw it into this jar.

Less than half a second later, Li Zhuang threw his piece of beef into Zhang Erwa's vat. Even the little lama took a small spoon and took out his piece of beef to prepare for the sick ginger. Put it in Yu's tank.

"Stop fighting"

Nurse Ji, who was feeding wild vegetable soup to patient Jiang Yu with a small spoon, suddenly said, "Stop fighting, Jiang Yu. Comrade Jiang Yu has already sacrificed his life."

Hearing this, everyone was stunned, and then everyone put down the jars in their hands and silently took off their hats. Seeing Nurse Ji put down the enamel basin and slowly closed Jiang Yu's eyes with her hands, the little lama panicked and subconsciously put down the wooden bowl to take off his hat, but he didn't realize it until his hands touched the top of his head. , his hat is still on Jiang Yu’s head.

"I should have given Comrade Wei Ran the beef jerky he brought out last night," Squad Leader Liu said regretfully.

"That's not your fault"

Nurse Ji sighed, "Even if he ate, he just didn't have a full stomach."

"I'm not qualified as a cooking squad leader, I"

"Monitor Liu"

Wei Ran didn't give the other party a chance to finish his words, "Eat breakfast while it's hot, and then we'll leave early and try to survive."

Hearing this, Squad Leader Liu couldn't help but trembled. He picked up the enamel jar that once belonged to Weiran and contained fast beef. He suppressed his grief and said, "Comrades, let's, let's eat!"

Before he finished speaking, Nurse Ji poured Jiang Yu's breakfast into the copper ladle, refilled it with water, and then took out the piece of beef about the size of his fingertip and put it into Li Zhuang's cup. in the tank.

While eating the simple breakfast in silence, Wei Ran noticed Nurse Ji's uncontrollable crying of self-blame, and saw the tears falling down her face covered with frostbite and with sunken cheeks and dripping into the enamel bar.

Almost the same self-blame also appeared on the face of Squad Leader Liu. Thinking about it, they may all think that they failed to fulfill their duties.

With a silent sigh, Wei Ran drank his two cups of breakfast in two gulps, then stood up and walked to his bamboo basket, pretending to rummage around for a while. When he returned to the campfire, he already had it in his hand. There is an extra Rollei twin reflex camera.

"Take a photo"

Wei Ran said as if he didn't notice the surprised looks on everyone's faces, "Take a photo with Comrade Jiang Yu, and then let's set off."

"Where did you get the camera?" Nurse Ji asked curiously.

"My own," Wei Ran explained matter-of-factly, "Would you like to take a photo?"

Nurse Ji and Squad Leader Liu looked at each other. After a moment of hesitation, the latter still called on Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa to help, and put Jiang Yu into one of the military uniform jackets that had just been wrung out and had fewer patches.

Finally, after sorting it out carefully for him, Squad Leader Liu put Jiang Yu's body in his arms, and the rest of the people, including the little lama, also sat around.

Finding a basket upside down on the ground, Wei Ran positioned the camera and turned the selfie lever, then ran to the others, sat down next to Zhang Erwa, and took the first group photo in this period of time.

"Is the filming done?" Li Zhuang asked after seeing Wei Ran stand up.

"The photo is ready"

Wei Ran couldn't help but look at Jiang Yu who had quietly died, and hesitated whether to take a photo of him alone.

In the end, Wei Ran, who no longer wanted to leave such regrets, picked up the camera and pressed the shutter for the second time towards Jiang Yu, who was lying flat beside the campfire.

Before he could fasten the horse fur cover on the camera, Squad Leader Liu handed the brown linen vest originally worn to Jiang Yu to Nurse Ji, "Nurse Ji, please wear this vest."

"No, leave it to."

"I'll leave it to you"

Squad leader Liu waved his hand and said, "Now you are weak and a lesbian, so you can wear it.

Comrade Ji Chunlan, you have to take care of yourself. Everyone's health depends on you. If you fall down, not only will it increase the burden on us, but who will treat us? "

"The monitor is right"

Li Zhuang endured the sadness of losing his companion, picked up the half of the unfinished thatched vest that was used as a cushion for Jiang Yu last night and said, "And Li Zhuang and I will be able to make two vests tonight, and we will wait for the day after tomorrow." Or the day after tomorrow, everyone will be able to dress warmly.”

"Just put it on"

Wei Ran pretended to stuff the camera into the bamboo basket and held it down with the remaining firewood while consoling him, "That vest is so heavy, I won't wear it."

Hearing this, Nurse Ji shook her head helplessly. When she was about to take over the already soaked vest, she noticed that the little lama pointed at Jiang Yu, and then took off his waistcoat.

"Do you want this vest?"

Nurse Ji thought she understood what the other party meant, and subconsciously handed the brown linen vest she had just taken from Squad Leader Liu to the little lama.

"Comrade! Comrade!"

The little lama waved his hands repeatedly while repeating this Chinese word, then put the waistcoat on the ground, and then pointed to the patch-covered Red Army uniform beside Jiang Yu, which was originally worn by the latter.

Immediately afterwards, he patted his chest again, "Jiangpa Kelsang! Comrade! Resist Japan! Revolution!"

"His squad leader, does he want Comrade Jiang Yu's clothes?"

Li Zhuang asked uncertainly, and then saw that the little lama had raised his hands to salute them.

"He wants to join us," Nurse Ji and Wei Ran said their guesses almost in unison.

"Then." Squad Leader Liu sighed, "Then give him one."

"Save the newer clothes for Comrade Jiang Yu?"

Li Zhuang suppressed his tears and said, "Two days ago, when he was still awake, he said that he only put on new clothes and new shoes after joining the army."

"Leave him a new pair of straw sandals," Zhang Erwa said, turning around and starting to dig through their bamboo baskets.

"Leave him the pair I made last night."

Wei Ran said, first taking out the not so beautiful pair of straw sandals from his waist and silently putting them on Jiang Yuman's injured feet.

"Should we just leave him here?" Wei Ran couldn't help but ask after Li Zhuang and Squad Leader Liu helped Jiang Yu sort out his remains.

"Stay here"

Squad leader Liu sighed and made a decision, "Save your strength, we have to walk out of the grassland alive, so that their sacrifices will be valuable."

After finishing speaking, Squad Leader Liu took out a copper whistle hanging around his neck from his collar, held the mouthpiece in his mouth and blew it hard.

"beep--!"

The penetrating sharp whistle still echoed in this excessively quiet grassland. Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa, as well as the little lama who hurriedly put on the patched Red Army uniform, and even Nurse Ji, whose eyes were red, also automatically They lined up in a row and began to adjust their formation with small steps.

After coming back to his senses, Wei Ran also ran over and lined up next to the little lama.

"Take a break! Stand at attention!"

"Salute——!" When Squad Leader Liu issued the command, everyone raised their right arms, including the little lama Jangpa Kelsang who had just put on half of his military uniform and had not even fastened all the buttons.

"Let's go!" Squad Leader Liu inserted a wooden stick next to Jiang Yu and issued the order through gritted teeth.

After a moment of preparation, Wei Ran picked up the pole again, which only contained some damp firewood, and walked behind Squad Leader Liu and the little lama who were holding wooden sticks.

Behind him were Li Zhuang, who was also carrying a pick, leggings, and straw sandals, as well as Zhang Erwa and Nurse Ji who were walking all the way looking for withered grass stems and wild vegetables.

Behind all of them, on the not-so-big meadow, there was only Jiang Yu, a Red Army soldier who would never wake up again. He was wearing the new clothes that weren’t actually new and didn’t look good. new straw sandals. a lonely man.