War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1498 Guaranteeing Mission Completion

That evening, a piece of fish weighing nearly half a pound, accompanied by a piece of fish roe the size of a ping-pong ball, and an unlimited supply of fish head soup in a copper kettle, and of course, a small amount of wild vegetables. These foods were not even salty, but were delicious enough for Wei Ran to barely fill his stomach for the first time in so many days.

Pouring himself another bowl of thick white fish soup, Wei Ran collected a full cup of snow grains from the tent and poured it into the kettle.

Although they had a rare full meal, they didn't have much firewood left. However, in the current weather, they might not be able to stop the bonfire that night.

Although it is inevitable to worry about whether they will freeze at night due to lack of firewood, there is also good news.

Apart from anything else, at least the little lama no longer had diarrhea and his face had some color.

In addition, after dinner, everyone gathered around the campfire and continued to make several pairs of wear-resistant fur shoes with the remaining horse skin.

By the way, everyone also dried their feet as requested by Nurse Ji, and allowed her to apply the spores of horse dung bags to the wounds on their feet again.

The third good news is that the wounds on the feet of both Wei Ran and the little lama have scabbed over.

After signaling the little lama to chew two pieces of charcoal again, Wei Ran picked up a piece of firewood and placed it on the bonfire at the entrance of the tent, and suggested, "Let's rest early while we still have firewood. We will set off when the firewood is burned out."

"You guys go to sleep, I'll take care of the fire." Zhang Erwa said without allowing any room for refusal.

"I'll take your place in the middle of the night," Wei Ran, Li Zhuang and Nurse Ji said in unison.

"Go to bed quickly," said Zhang Erwa, as he refilled the enamel jar with snow flour.

Lying side by side on the wet dry grass under the tent, the cold temperature made everyone shiver involuntarily. Before they could say anything, Zhang Erwa, who seemed to have matured a lot overnight, had already picked up the tattered blanket and covered them.

This was destined to be a comfortable yet difficult night. The comfort came from a full belly and the warmth brought by the hot fish soup, but the difficulty came from the temperature getting lower and lower in the second half of the night.

When he was woken up by the cold again, Wei Ran wrapped himself tightly in the thatched vest that had been dried before going to bed but was now damp again. He leaned over and added a cucumber-sized firewood to the campfire at the entrance of the tent, and also glanced at the bamboo basket filled with firewood beside the campfire.

At this time, there were only a dozen pieces of firewood left in the bamboo basket. Although he didn't know what time it was, he knew that these pieces of firewood would definitely not last until dawn.

"Weiran"

"what happened?"

Wei Ran looked at Zhang Erwa who had quietly gotten up in the night.

"Do you think I can be a good acting monitor?"

Zhang Erwa asked in confusion and hesitation, "I'm worried that I won't be able to complete the task assigned to me by squad leader Liu."

"What are you afraid of? We are still here, aren't we?"

Wei Ran tried his best to make his tone sound more matter-of-fact, just to allay the other party's concerns.

“I don’t know when we can get out of this grassland.”

Zhang Erwa sighed worriedly, "I'm afraid there won't be any firewood tomorrow night."

“There’s no point thinking so much”

Wei Ran, who also had no other options, could only comfort them, "Instead of worrying about these things, you might as well go to bed early, sleep a little longer, and take everyone for a few more walks tomorrow."

"Can we really get out?" Li Zhuang also joined the chat in a low voice.

"Yes, definitely."

Zhang Erwa paused and said firmly, "At least let the little lama and Nurse Ji walk out alive."

"How about we set off now?"

Nurse Ji also joined the conversation, "I've been woken up by the cold several times. Walking not only keeps me warmer, but also saves some firewood for tomorrow night."

Hearing this, Wei Ran and the other two all looked at the little lama who had also woken up.

"Little Lama, can you walk?" Zhang Erwa asked, and at the end he pointed in the direction.

"Comrade!"

The little lama immediately patted his chest and added in Zang language, "I can walk."

“Eat this first.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he pulled out two pieces of red-hot charcoal from the campfire, held them with a wooden stick, dipped them into the kettle of boiling fish soup to extinguish the embers, and then placed them directly into the little lama's mouth.

The latter started chewing without thinking, and without Wei Ran's reminder, he took off the kettle he had been holding in his arms and poured the last bit of salt water left in it into his stomach.

Seeing that the little lama seemed to be in good spirits, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and began to make preparations for departure in an orderly manner.

Thanks to squad leader Liu's self-sacrifice, they now have seven kettles and a kettle, as well as an aluminum lunch box and the copper ladle they already had.

Needless to say, the fish meat in the copper ladle had been boiled until even the bones were soft, but this food was not for eating now.

Even the copper kettle picked up from the horse's carcass was filled with boiling, thick fish head soup.

While Wei Ran was busy, the thick fish soup that had been simmering overnight in the copper ladle was poured into the lunch box for safekeeping. Even the little bit of broth left in the copper ladle was not wasted, and half a pot of water was directly poured into it and shaken. After Zhang Erwa poured a cup of fish head soup for everyone, he immediately poured in the "pot washing water".

This was not the end. Everyone collected icy snow grains from everywhere, melted them, boiled them, and then hung them in the kettles that everyone had.

They drank several bowls of fish soup until their bodies warmed up, until the snow in the copper kettle melted and boiled, until the bonfire was about to go out, until everyone folded the oilcloth and blankets into bundles, until Wei Ran took back the bamboo basket that had nothing in it. Zhang Erwa then tied the lid of the kettle with a cloth strip and blocked the spout with a wooden plug, while nervously saying, "Cooking squad! Roll call!"

"Swish!" Everyone, including Wei Ran and the little lama, lined up in a horizontal row beside the campfire.

"Kitchen staff! Li Zhuang!" Zhang Erwa stood up and shouted with all his strength and voice.

"Yes!" Li Zhuang stood at attention and saluted, while responding in the loudest voice possible.

"Ji Chunlan!"

"Yes!" Nurse Ji also stood at attention and saluted, giving the loudest response.

"Jianpa Kelsang!"

"Have!"

"Wei Ran!"

"Have!"

"ready to go!"

"Yes!" Everyone responded to Squad Leader Zhang's order in unison.

Compared with yesterday, not only did everyone now have a kettle filled with hot water in their arms, but in the shoulder pole that Wei Ran was carrying, the bamboo basket at one end contained a bundle of oilcloth, a lunch box wrapped in the oilcloth and filled with fish soup, and a kettle; the bamboo basket at the other end contained three more bundles of patched blankets.

Under the tattered blanket were several pairs of horsehide sandals and a remaining piece of horsehide that was only half a meter wide and one meter long, as well as the pair of iron-footed horses and flint left by Squad Leader Liu, which were wrapped inside it.

In the middle of the blanket were two aluminum-wooden kettles also filled with fish soup, as well as the homemade rifle that was assigned to him by Squad Leader Liu.

Nurse Ji also helped carry the last small bundle of firewood, which consisted of only a dozen pieces, on her back.

Everything was ready. Everyone picked up their weapons and followed Zhang Erwa, who was holding a wind and rain lantern. They braved the intermittent snow and walked down the high ground in the not-so-bright light.

Unlike yesterday, this time, Zhang Erwa, who was already the class monitor, walked in the front where it was most dangerous.

Wei Ran, carrying a load, walked in second. The load was heavier than before, but he felt extremely secure carrying it.

Walking side by side behind Wei Ran was the little lama supported by Li Zhuang and Nurse Ji - even though the little lama felt that he was fine, even though he kept shouting in Tibetan that he could walk, and could even explore the way ahead like before.

Because of the heavier burden on Wei Ran's shoulders, because the little lama was ill, and because of the dark sky and the dim oil lamps, their speed was undoubtedly much slower.

But just as Nurse Ji said before they set off, they didn't walk for long at all before their bodies warmed up. Wei Ran even started to sweat on his forehead because of the last cup of fish soup he drank before setting off.

“I still don’t understand”

Li Zhuang, who was walking behind Wei Ran, suddenly said, "How did we suddenly catch such a big fish? The more I think about it, the more I feel that God is deliberately disgusting us."

"It's disgusting," Nurse Ji echoed with a hint of hatred.

"Yeah, how come there is such a big fish?" Zhang Erwa, who was walking in the front, couldn't help but mutter.

“Big fish.”

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then his heart sank, "I think I know why there is such a big fish."

"Why?" Zhang Erwa asked first, and he even stopped.

"river"

Wei Ran sighed and said worriedly in the flickering firelight, "There are fish only when there is a river, or in other words, there are such big fish only when there is a big river. It is impossible to raise such big fish just by the muddy soup in the meadow, so there must be a river nearby."

"There's another river."

Everyone fell silent. They hoped that they might be able to catch another fish of this size in the river, but they were also worried about how wide the river must be to support such a large fish, and whether they could cross the river successfully.

I don’t know what he was thinking of, or maybe it was because the weather was too cold, but Zhang Erwa, who was walking in the front, shivered, and the oil lamp in his hand also shook, making a series of "squeaky" sounds.

After walking for an unknown number of steps, when they successfully jumped from one meadow to another on the cold muddy soup, Zhang Erwa suddenly stopped, turned his back to the crowd and said, "Li Zhuang!"

"Have!"

Li Zhuang, who was originally supporting the little lama, immediately responded.

"if."

Zhang Erwa paused, gritted his teeth and said firmly, "If there is a river ahead, if I die gloriously, you will be the acting squad leader of the kitchen squad. You must ensure that the little lama, Nurse Ji and Comrade Wei Ran have enough to eat, and that they have fire to roast and water to drink.

Make sure the three of them get out of the grassland alive, go to make revolution, fight against the Japanese, and overthrow the three mountains that weigh on the common people! And save every poor person. "

At this point, Zhang Erwa, who was only about sixteen or seventeen years old, turned around, raised the wind and rain lantern in his hand a little higher, and asked very seriously, "Comrade Li Zhuang, do you have the confidence to complete the task?"

"Have!"

Li Zhuang, who was also only 16 or 17 years old, stood at attention and saluted seriously. In the drifting snow and wind, he roared and gave a firm response, "I guarantee to complete the mission!"