War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1506 Man-Made Accident

After Wei Ran gulped down the bowl of Qianghuo soup, the people sitting around the table started chatting with each other.

According to their own accounts, Zhang Yang, whom they met by chance, had just graduated from college this year, and then used the money he saved from working part-time in college to buy the eight-hand van outside. He also packed it up for a whole month, and only set out from Chengdu, where he studied at college, a week ago.

In other words, his journey around China is currently in an embarrassing state of failure.

The Zang girl named Ram is actually still an active-duty soldier, but she is just on leave to visit her family. Coincidentally, the day she returned home was the same day Zhang Yang set out on his self-driving journey from Chengdu.

This little coincidence also made Zhang Yang secretly insist that this was the so-called "fate".

Of course, compared to Zhang Yang who was stealing glances at the girl, Wei Ran, who claimed to be here on a "business trip", was more curious about the family and the old man in the photo.

Because of this, his words naturally led in the relevant direction intentionally or unintentionally.

Through indirect inquiries, he successfully learned that in addition to running a herbal medicine purchasing station, Uncle Jiang and his wife also raised dozens of milk-producing yaks at home. Although they were not rich, they were considered a well-off family.

Now is the season for harvesting Notopterygium wilfordii and Duhuo radix. The couple had originally planned to dig some truly wild Notopterygium wilfordii and Duhuo radix, prepare them, and let their daughter take them with her when she returns to the army to prevent a cold.

In addition, they also plan to send some to their son who is also serving in the military.

Talking about their son, Uncle Jiang said proudly, "Our Zhuangzhuang won a second-class merit award last time! People from the district came to give us big red flowers and honors!"

At this point, Uncle Jiang, who had already changed into a set of clean clothes, proudly and enthusiastically invited Wei Ran and Zhang Yang to go next door. However, the girl named Ram blushed, and quickly got up and slipped into the kitchen to help her mother prepare meals for the guests.

Ignoring Zhang Yang who was stealing glances at the girl and wishing he could go to the kitchen and use himself as food, Wei Ran finished his butter tea, stood up and followed Uncle Jiang to an empty room on the first floor.

As he lifted the curtain, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. There was no furniture in the room except for the display cabinets on one wall.

But on the wall opposite the display case, there are two plaques with the words "Home of the Third Class Heroes" and one with the words "Home of the Second Class Heroes". There is also a big red flower on each of these three plaques.

"These are the honors that Maomao and Zhuangzhuang have received in the army."

Uncle Jiang casually picked up a clean white towel draped over the radiator and wiped the three plaques while proudly introducing them, "The same is true in the display case over there. I originally wanted to put them all in the living room."

When Wei Ran turned to look at the display case, Uncle Jiang also introduced, "Maomao has good grades. He can get a certificate every semester when he is in school. Zhuangzhuang is not like that. He is a poor student. Oh my!"

At this point, Uncle Jiang, who was originally slapping his head with a headache, pointed to the trophies and honors in the display case, then smiled and continued, "But it's different in the army. This kid won a third-class merit that year and a second-class merit this year. He's already a platoon leader now."

  The little lama and Nurse Ji should be very pleased.

Wei Ran quietly listened to Uncle Jiang "showing off" his two children and his concern for his son who was "almost your age." At the same time, he secretly regretted that he did not see anything familiar in this glass display case.

Just at this moment, with the sound of the iron door outside the window being pushed open, a sturdy old man walked in from outside.

The old man wore a red felt hat and a white coat. Especially around his neck, besides a string of prayer beads, he also had a stethoscope.

"My father is back," Uncle Jiang explained with a smile, "He runs a clinic in town."

"How old is the old man?" Zhang Yang subconsciously asked the question Wei Ran wanted to ask.

“It’s already 75.”

Uncle Jiang greeted Wei Ran and the other man to go out, and replied with a smile, "When he was young, he was a barefoot doctor. He has been running that clinic for his whole life. He said he would continue to do it until the day he can no longer work."

  Nurse Ji's wish also came true

Wei Ran muttered to himself in his heart, and when he and Zhang Yang followed Uncle Jiang back to the living room, the old man just walked in.

"Are these two young men here to buy medicinal herbs or to see a doctor?" the old man asked with a smile in Chinese as he entered the room.

"neither"

Uncle Jiang quickly introduced Wei Ran and Zhang Yang, and the two young men also greeted Uncle Jiang very politely.

"You little kid, have you caught a cold?" Old Master Jiang immediately developed an occupational disease after Wei Ran couldn't help sneezing again.

"It's okay," Wei Ran said quickly, "Uncle has already given me Qianghuo soup to drink."

"How long do I have to wait before I can get better after drinking that?"

Mr. Jiang, who had already sat down, had moved to sit next to Wei Ran while he was talking. Then he put on the stethoscope and motioned for Wei Ran to lift up his clothes.

Seeing Uncle Jiang's helpless look, Wei Ran smiled and unzipped his windbreaker and the down vest inside, allowing Uncle Jiang to put the stethoscope on his chest through his thermal underwear.

After patiently waiting for a moment, the old man nodded and said, "It's not a big problem. The altitude here is a bit high for you mainlanders. If you are not in good physical condition, a common cold may turn into pulmonary edema. How about this, you continue to sit down, and I will go back to the clinic to prescribe some medicine for you."

"No"

"Don't worry, I don't want your money." The old man made the promise without waiting for Wei Ran to say no.

“Let him go”

Uncle Jiang didn't seem surprised. "My father can't stand seeing anyone get sick."

"In that case, old man, why don't I go with you?"

Wei Ran, who wanted to refuse, took the initiative to say, and while speaking, he drank the cup of butter tea in front of him and stood up, "I'll drive you there. I just want to go to the town to buy some things."

"Okay." The old man was particularly happy. While he was talking, he had already walked to the door of the living room.

After temporarily bidding farewell to Zhang Yang, Uncle Jiang and others, Wei Ran followed the old man who was in good health and left the small courtyard.

Helping the old man to sit in the passenger seat, Wei Ran followed his instructions and drove the car to the center of the town, finally stopping in front of a small store.

This small shop doesn't even have a name, the only sign is the red cross on the roof.

When Grandpa Jiang opened the locked door and walked in, Wei Ran actually felt like he was back in Grandpa Sui Sui's medicine shop when he was a child.

The store is only about 20 square meters in total. There is a bench covered with beautiful carpets on each side of the entrance, and a wooden table with a patina is placed opposite the door.

Behind the medicine table was a shelf filled with various large and small medicine bottles. On one side of the shelf was a cabinet with a glass window, which seemed to contain some instruments for treating external injuries, and on the other side were two oxygen cylinders fixed on a trolley.

Compared to these scenes that seemed to take him back to the rural clinic of his childhood, what really caught Wei Ran's attention was the area directly above the medicine table.

  On the thin iron chain hanging from the ceiling, there was an oil lamp that looked very familiar to him!

Next to the oil lamp, there were two other thin iron chains hanging a framed medical license. The name column on the certificate read "Jiang Ji".

"Old man, why is there an oil lamp hanging here?"

Wei Ran pretended to be curious and asked Old Man Jiang who had walked to the other side of the medicine table and started working.

"It"

Old Master Jiang smiled and said, "We didn't have electricity here before, so this is used for lighting. I've been using it since I started practicing medicine."

"This is what it is."

Wei Ran wisely did not continue asking. After a while, the old man had already got the medicine for him.

There were several Gankang pills whose outer packaging looked like small medals, plus five or six bags of cold powder. In addition, the old man opened the drawer of the medicine table, took out a not-so-big empty medicine bottle, unscrewed it and knocked it on the table. Then he turned around and opened a bottle of vitamin C containing 1000 pills. He scooped out dozens of pills from it with a small medicine spoon and put them into the empty medicine bottle.

It was also during this opportunity that Wei Ran discovered the second familiar object in the open drawer of the medicine table—the copper lunch box that Nurse Ji inherited from Wang Zhen.

Just from the patina on the outside, you can tell that this lunch box is a commonly used item. The surface is so clean that there is no rust or even dust.

“That’s enough.”

Mr. Jiang said, "If you think it's not serious, drink the cold granules. If you think it's serious, take this big pill.

There is also this vitamin tablet. Taking one tablet every day can increase your immunity. Our place is at a high altitude and the temperature changes greatly. If you are not careful, you will catch a cold easily. "

"Thank you"

Wei Ran came back to his senses and quickly thanked him, "Grandpa, how much are these?"

"I told you I don't want your money," the old man said with a big wave of his hand, "Let's go to my son's house for dinner."

Wei Ran suppressed all the questions that he wanted to ask immediately, helped the old man into the car, went to a small supermarket on the side of the road to buy some fruits as gifts, and then drove back to Uncle Jiang's home.

The following afternoon, Wei Ran and Zhang Yang enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of local specialties at the invitation of Uncle Jiang's family. They also learned how to make tsampa and added Uncle Jiang on WeChat - this was Wei Ran's main purpose.

After lunch, Wei Ran took the opportunity of Xia Shushi's phone call to bid farewell, and the enthusiastic Uncle Jiang also gave him some small gifts - a full pot of steaming butter tea, a bag of yak jerky and a box of milk residue. Without caring about Zhang Yang, who didn't know whether he would stay or continue to travel around China by car, Wei Ran said goodbye to this warm and hospitable family and drove back to the hotel in Songpan County alone.

"What have you been doing for most of the day?" Xia Shushi, who had been waiting at the hotel entrance, asked without waiting for Wei Ran to get out of the car.

“Went to where we were camping”

Wei Ran shook his satellite phone in preparation, "I lost my satellite phone there, and I rushed back to get it. How about you? Are you okay?"

"It's nothing, you're the one making a fuss."

Xia Shushi sniffed his nose and said to Wei Ran as he walked towards the hotel, "My teacher has already asked someone to restore the photos. Hurry up and take out the second medicine bottle you found. I'll take a few photos and send them to my teacher."

"So fast?" Wei Ran asked as he walked in.

"What's the hurry? It's been several days." Xia Shushi said, "But you, why did you take so long? By the way, is the car still there?"

"here I am"

Wei Ran smiled and replied, "I was helping someone tow a car on the road, and was treated to a meal by a fellow villager from the Zang tribe."

After chatting for a while, the two took the elevator upstairs and arrived at the door of the room.

After opening the door and letting Xia Shushi in, Wei Ran first placed the food and drinks sent by Uncle Jiang on the table. Then he opened the safe, took out the things he found, and placed them on the newly spread bath towel again.

"Where are the photos? Can you send them to me?" Wei Ran said before Xia Shushi took out a mirrorless camera from his bag.

"Send it yourself"

As Xia Shushi spoke, he unlocked his cell phone, pulled up the chat history between him and his teacher and handed it to Wei Ran.

Clicking on the photo in the chat, Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh. This photo was only half restored, and only the two children in the arms of Liu Banzhang's wife could be seen, but for his wife, only the face from the nose bridge down could be seen. The face from the nose bridge up was still blurry.

Fortunately, on the back of the restored photo taken in the second picture, two unclear names "Xinmin" and "Xinshu" can be vaguely seen.

This was not in the original photo, and it was also in the historical fragment that Wei Ran experienced. He did not notice who wrote it.

"What are you and your teacher going to do next?"

While Wei Ran was reading the conversation between Xia Shushi and his teacher, he asked Xia Shushi who was taking pictures.

"My teacher plans to contact the official media," Xia Shushi said, "to see if he can find relevant people through official channels, but this involves a prerequisite."

"What's the premise?" Wei Ran asked as he forwarded the two photos to his WeChat.

"First of all, we must at least make sure that these things we found are indeed relics of the Red Army." Xia Shushi stopped what he was doing, took the phone handed to him by Wei Ran and said cautiously, "This is different from posting a missing person notice. If we find them and it turns out that they are not relics of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, many people will inevitably be disappointed and dissatisfied. If someone with ulterior motives exaggerates, it will bring discredit to the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army."

"I understand." Wei Ran nodded, "This photo doesn't need to be kept secret, right?"

"That's not necessary."

Xia Shushi replied, "I have already posted it on WeChat Moments and asked my friends in the same field to help me find it."

"If you say so, I'll try posting it on my Moments as well." Wei Ran continued the topic.

"casual"

Xia Shushi responded nonchalantly, gently turned the bottle found by Wei Ran, and continued filming from a different angle.

After some thought, Wei Ran looked at the time and then posted the restored front and back of the photo, as well as its original appearance, on his Moments, and attached a caption that read "Looking for Liu Xinmin and Liu Xinshu".

After waiting for a while, he clicked into Uncle Jiang's circle of friends and liked several videos of him playing Zamnie and singing on the grassland while his wife and daughter were dancing in the distance. He also attached a few messages of praise that middle-aged and elderly people liked to hear.

  I hope you guys still keep in touch.

Wei Ran prayed silently, and at the same time secretly hoped that Uncle Jiang would "courtesy" to look through his circle of friends, give him a like, and by the way.

He hadn't even finished his prayer when the phone in his hand began to ring with a series of message alerts.

Before he could click it, he found that Uncle Jiang had already called him via video.

"Is the Queen checking on us?" Xia Shushi asked gloatingly.

"My fellow Tibetan friends just invited me to their home for dinner," said Wei Ran, pressing the answer button and even turning up the volume.

"Jiang Da."

"Young man, where did you see the photos in your circle of friends?" Uncle Jiang, holding up his mobile phone, asked before Wei Ran could finish his polite words.

Pretending to be surprised, Wei Ran looked at Xia Shushi, who was staring at him with wide eyes. He then "reacted for a moment" and asked excitedly, "Uncle Jiang, do you know the person in the photo?!"

"I know him! Oh! I know him!"

Uncle Jiang suppressed his excitement and said, "The two kids in the photo are my uncles."

Before he finished speaking, the camera was pointed at Mr. Jiang, "Young man, did you find this photo in a glass bottle?"

This one sentence alone says enough.

"Yes, old man, we did find that photo in a medicine bottle." Wei Ran said and glanced at Xia Shushi, who had already picked up his phone and started to make a call. "Old man, is it convenient for me to meet again and talk?"

"Convenient, convenient!" Old Master Jiang Ji nodded quickly, "Where are you? I'll go find you, I..."

"No need, let's go find you. We'll leave now." Wei Ran said first.

"Okay, okay! I'll wait for you at home." Old Man Jiang Ji said quickly.

"Let's go now," Wei Ran made the assurance again and then hung up the video.

"You found it now?"

Xia Shushi, who had just hung up the phone, looked at Wei Ran in astonishment, "Your luck is too good, isn't it?"

"lucky?"

Wei Ran grinned, "I'm really lucky. I was almost killed in a plane explosion some time ago."

"Hey, just pretend I didn't say anything." Xia Shushi patted the back of his neck. "Shall we set off now?"

"Let's go," Wei Ran said, already standing up, "Have you contacted your teacher?"

"I have contacted him," Xia Shushi said quickly, "He said he will come with another bottle tomorrow."

"Then let's go"

Wei Ran wrapped the things on the bath towel with a towel and stuffed them into the bag one by one. At the same time, he couldn't help wondering how much Grandpa Jiang Ji knew about his father's generation.

Of course, at the same time, neither Wei Ran nor Uncle Jiang knew it, as they were busy preparing for their second meeting.

Zhang Yang, who had already driven his broken bread to Hongyuan County, had already edited the video recorded by his dashcam and posted it on his social media platform, praising "Uncle Jiang" and "Brother Wei" for their selfless help. He also deliberately posted a photo of himself, Uncle Jiang's family and "Brother Wei" taken in front of his broken bread before leaving.

Although he didn't have many fans on the social media platform, and even though he confused Wei and Wei, it did not prevent someone from immediately recognizing Wei Ran, who had nearly died in a plane crash not long ago.

"Fuck! He really is that Soviet Russia's chief whore!"

In a small hotel in Hongyuan County, Zhang Yangteng sat up from his single bed. "I was wondering why he looked so familiar! It's over! Sister Ram is in danger!"

"A--A-choo! A-choo--!" At the entrance of the hotel, Wei Ran sneezed twice in a row.

"You have a cold too?" Xia Shushi asked gloatingly, "How about I send you to get some oxygen, too?"

"It's okay, let's hurry up."

Wei Ran took out a tissue and blew his nose, then asked Xia Shushi to get into the pickup truck which had not been cleaned yet and left Songpan County again.

Little did he know that while one of the brothers was busy driving and the other was busy making phone calls to report new discoveries, the video that Zhang Yang edited and posted on the social platform became popular because of the appearance of a well-known historian who was very popular outside the country.