War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1507 The Little Lama's Diary and Regrets

That afternoon, Wei Ran, who was driving on this route for the fourth time, parked his car at the gate of Uncle Jiang's house for the second time as if he was familiar with the route.

As soon as the two of them pushed the door and got out of the car, the family who had been waiting at the door for a long time immediately surrounded them. Old man Jiang Ji even personally hung two white Hada around the necks of Wei Ran and Xia Shushi.

"Grandpa, Uncle Jiang, Aunt Yangjin, and Sister Ram, I didn't expect to meet you again so soon." Wei Ran greeted them warmly.

"We didn't expect you to be such a big celebrity," Ram said with a smile.

"Celebrity? What celebrity?" Wei Ran asked in confusion.

Without waiting for anyone to explain, Old Man Jiang called Wei Ran and Xia Shushi to go inside and walked into the living room which was still filled with the smell of incense and butter tea.

After a brief introduction to Mr. Jiang's family and Xia Shushi, Aunt Yangjin also brought various foods including barley, beef jerky, etc.

After some polite exchanges, Xia Shushi, at Wei Ran's suggestion, took out the newly discovered glass medicine bottles, pipe bowls, pipe holders and other items and placed them on the table one by one. Then he took out his mobile phone, pulled out photos of the glass bottles and other items that he and his girlfriend had found before, and showed them one by one.

"The story begins more than half a month ago."

Xia Shushi cleared his throat and recounted everything in detail, from the time he and his girlfriend, no, girlfriend-to-be, drove to Ganzi, to the time he invited Wei Ran to come here to look for more clues, and how they were preparing to find the person in the photo.

After he finished his "story", the sky outside the window darkened. With the help of Ram, Aunt Yangjin filled the kitchen table with a large table full of sumptuous meals.

“Let’s eat and talk.”

After a sigh, Mr. Jiang extended the invitation. Wei Ran and Xia Shushi immediately drank the butter tea in their bowls and sat down at the dining table as arranged by the other party.

It was not until Wei Ran and Xia Shushi drank the butter tea in their cups that Old Master Jiang Ji insisted on refilling their cups with butter tea that he spoke, "The story begins with my father. His name is Jiang Yu, and he was an old Red Army soldier who had participated in the Long March."

In Mr. Jiang Ji’s story, he seemed unaware that his father was once called “Jiangba Gesang”, let alone that Jiangba Gesang was once a lama.

But he knew very clearly that his father was wounded during the liberation of Chamdo, and that his mother died on the Chaoshan battlefield and was buried in the Chaoshan Martyrs Cemetery.

According to his narration, after his mother died in the Chaoshan battlefield, his father Jiang Yu took him and his eldest sister Zhu Hongjun to Jingchu. It took them more than half a year to find squad leader Liu's wife and children. Even his eldest sister Zhu Hongjun later married squad leader Liu's son Liu Xinmin.

But after returning from Jingchu, his father Jiang Yu would take the yak to the grassland to look for Captain Liu's belongings whenever he had time. He wanted to give the medicine bottles left by Captain Liu to his wife and children, and he also wanted to hand over the leftover meals from the kitchen team to the organization.

But unfortunately, he was unable to fulfill this wish until his death.

Because of this, his father Jiang Yu made a will early on, requiring him and his sister to be sky-buried in the grassland after his death, to accompany those who had not left the grassland.

"So my great-grandfather and great-grandmother were actually Red Army soldiers?" the girl named Ram asked in astonishment, "I never knew about this."

"Don't say you don't know." Uncle Jiang picked up the wine bowl and clinked it with Wei Ran and Xia Shushi, "I haven't even heard dad talk about it."

"He never allowed your aunt and I to talk about this with anyone else. He said it was not something to brag about."

Old Master Jiang Ji shook his head and sighed, then said to his son Jiang Xiangyang with a hint of blame, "Unlike you, Maomao and Zhuangzhuang have only achieved a little success in the army, but you show off to everyone you meet, and you want to let everyone in Ganzizhou know. If I hadn't stopped you, wouldn't all those honors have been hung on the gate?"

The old man was scolding his son. Wei Ran and Xia Shushi didn't know whether to stop him or not. They simply picked up a big piece of beef jerky each and started chewing it with gusto.

However, the female soldier Ram kept giving the thumbs up, looking like she was saying, "Grandpa is right!"

As for Aunt Yangjin, whose Chinese was not very good, she seemed to be accustomed to it. She just smiled and poured wine and tea into everyone's bowls, and handed various delicacies to Wei Ran, Xia Shushi and her beloved daughter Ram.

"Ram, good boy, go get my bag."

After Mr. Jiang Ji finished his meal, he ordered Ram, who was holding a wooden bowl and clinking glasses with Wei Ran and Xia Shushi.

"I'm going right now!"

Ram drank the highland barley wine in the wooden bowl in one gulp, stood up and left the restaurant, and soon returned with a felt shoulder bag.

Taking the bag, Old Man Jiang Ji took out two things that Wei Ran was very familiar with.

The first thing, of course, was the kerosene lamp hanging in the clinic. The second thing was the copper lunch box.

The old man handed over the two things. Wei Ran and Xia Shushi put down the unfinished beef jerky in their hands in unison, wiped the oil stains on their hands on their trouser legs, and then took out a pair of rubber gloves from their pockets and put them on before taking the things handed over by the other.

"Grandpa, can I open it?" Wei Ran asked, holding the lunch box.

Old man Jiang Ji nodded. "These two things were left to me by my mother before she went to fight in Chaoshan. She said that if I miss her, I should light the oil lamp and eat well with that lunch box."

Gritting his teeth, Wei Ran carefully opened the lunch box, only to find a few other things inside.

There are two party membership cards, a marriage certificate, a red plastic cover, a 32-page notebook, a small red bag, and a fountain pen.

"Those are my parents' party membership cards and marriage certificate," Jiang Ji explained, "as well as the honors they have received."

Seeing that Uncle Jiang Xiangyang, his daughter Ram, and Xia Shushi who was holding an oil lamp had all gathered around, Wei Ran and Old Man Jiang Ji looked at each other, then stood up and walked to the table on the side, took out the things inside one by one and placed them on the table.

Needless to say, there were the two party membership cards and the marriage certificate. When he opened the small red package, he found a pile of medals from the Anti-Japanese War, the War of Liberation and even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as two red cap badges.

After looking at Jiang Maomao's solemn expression, Wei Ran took out a pair of silk gloves from his pocket and put them on, then opened the red notebook.

On the first page, there was a yellowed family photo. In the photo, there was a little lama and Nurse Ji wearing old-fashioned military uniforms. In between them, there was a little boy wearing a smaller military uniform and a half-grown girl who looked quite heroic.

"this is me"

Jiang Ji pointed at the little boy holding a rattle in the photo and said with a smile, his old face full of memories.

Turning the page, Wei Ran found that it was filled with neat Tibetan writing.

"In the 16th year of the Tibetan calendar, I finally joined the Red Army and was in charge of making fire in the kitchen squad. However, at the end of that year, squad leader Li Zhuang died.

Before he died, he held my hand and said something to me, but I didn't understand Chinese, so I didn't know what he said.

Fortunately, Zhuoma was right next to me at the time. I saw her crying, crying very sadly, just like how sad Ram was a few years ago when she learned that her father’s eyes had been gouged out.

After the squad leader died, Zhuoma gave me this notebook. The translator told me that Zhuoma wanted to teach me Chinese and Chinese characters.

I wanted to learn. If I knew Chinese, I would know what they said. I really wanted to know what they said, and what those friends who didn’t make it out of the grass said. ”

At the bottom of the page, Wei Ran saw a few Chinese character phrases that looked like scribbles but were still recognizable: "revolution", "anti-Japanese", "comrade" and "Jiang Yu".

"Can you understand Zangwen?" Xia Shushi asked Wei Ran in a low voice.

"don't know"

Wei Ran responded as a matter of course, then looked at Ram, "Can you help us translate it?"

"Okay," Ram nodded and translated the contents of the notebook page by page into Chinese.

In this notebook, apart from the occasional Tibetan calendar, there is no detailed time record. What is recorded in it are mostly trivial matters after the little lama walked out of the grassland, as well as fragmentary memories of his experience in the grassland.

The difference is that at the bottom of each page, there are several Chinese words, and the back of the page is filled with these words.

As he turned the pages, Wei Ran learned more stories about the little lama. After joining the Red Army, he worked in the kitchen for less than a year, and then was selected into the pistol squad. Even the box gun became his weapon.

Later, he was one of the first soldiers to enter the Battle of Chamdo after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After that, he was wounded and retired with half of his arm lost. He gave the box gun to his wife, Nurse Ji, who took the gun to the Chaoshan battlefield, but they never met again.

"Today, I decided to take Jiang Ji and Hong Jun to look for squad leader Liu's children to see if they are doing well and if they need help."

On one of the pages, Wei Ran softly read out the neatly written traditional Chinese characters on the paper.

On another line of the page, the young lama wrote, "I met my sister-in-law and nephews and nieces. They didn't know that squad leader Liu had died.

My sister-in-law was heartbroken upon hearing the bad news. My nephew Xinmin had joined the army a few years ago and was now visiting his family. He would return to Chaoshan soon to continue fighting against imperialism. My niece was already married and her child was still in swaddling clothes. They lived a very tight life.

Looking down, there is another line, and the content seems to have nothing to do with the previous paragraph. "After returning with Jiang Ji and the Red Army, I thought about it day and night and decided to find the remains of squad leader Liu and give them to my sister-in-law as a souvenir.

It can be considered as an explanation to squad leader Liu and my nephews and nieces. I just don’t know if I can still find that small hill after such a long time.”

I continued to flip forward, but the handwriting on the next page had changed color.

“I have been teaching for 29 years and I feel that my time is running out. I have four regrets:

First, squad leader Liu’s belongings have not been found to date.

Secondly, during the battle of Shanchengbao, because it was his first time on the battlefield, he lost the camera he had borrowed from the chieftain's house and the film he had shot while crossing the grassland in a panic.

Third, I have failed to train more literate and patriotic Tibetan children for the country, which is a real shame to the Party and the country."

  Having written this far, the next part changed to the golden Zang script:

My last regret is that I miss my Dolma. I have been thinking about her day and night since the autumn of 1952.

If there is an afterlife, even if I have to climb thousands of snow-capped mountains and walk thousands of miles of grassland, I still want to see you again."

Suppressing the bitterness in his heart, Wei Ran turned the yellowed paper to the back one page.

On this page, however, the words turned blue and were written in neat traditional Chinese characters: "Jiang Ji, Red Army, when I die, please help me put on my old military uniform. There is no need to hold a grand funeral. Just send a telegram to the Red Army, Xinmin, and Xinshu. Send my body to the deep grassland and find a place for sky burial.

Jiang Ji, you should concentrate on running your clinic and treating and saving people's lives. You are also a party member and you should always put the people first.

"Hongjun, you and Xinmin should live a good life and raise your children. Also, apologize to Xinmin and Xinshu for me. I failed to find their father's belongings. I hope they won't blame me."

Looking up at Ram, whose eyes were red and who was trying to cover her mouth, as well as old man Jiang Ji who was sitting next to him, and even Jiang Xiangyang and Yang Jin who were sitting on his left and right to accompany him, Wei Ran turned the heavy page to the next.

To his surprise, the next few pages were filled with lifelike pen drawings.

In these pictures, there are squad leader Liu, Zhang Erwa, Li Zhuang, Nurse Ji, the little lama himself, Jiang Yu, the sick and wounded who voluntarily stayed, even the wills carved on the pine trees, and the nurse Wang Zhen who protected the revolutionary weapons with her body.

There is also squad leader Liu who jumped into the mud just to get some horse meat for everyone, Zhang Erwa who is about to sink in the mud, the back of a man carrying nurse Ji, the back of a man carrying a load, and so on.

On the back of these pen drawings, the little lama also wrote down in detail what happened at the time and the difficulties he faced.

But on the last two pages, there are two glass medicine bottles and a larger wide-mouth medicine bottle.

He clearly remembered that the medicine bottle once contained their only medicine - those spores from horse dung.

But in this pen drawing, there seem to be two rolls of film in the medicine bottle.

“We found this”

Xia Shushi said this in a hoarse voice, pointing to the two medicine bottles drawn on the last page.

After saying that, he looked at Jiang Ji again, "Grandpa, my teacher will send another medicine bottle over tomorrow."

"well"

Mr. Jiang Ji nodded repeatedly, then turned to look at his son, "Xiangyang, have you called your uncle and aunt?"

"Yes," Uncle Jiang Xiangyang said quickly, "They will be here tomorrow."

"Okay, okay."

Jiang Ji looked at Wei Ran and Xia Shushi again, "Boys, I want to thank you very much!"

“It’s not over yet”

Wei Ran glanced at Xia Shushi, then turned the page in the notebook, pointed to the picture of the medicine jar wrapped in horse manure, and said very seriously, "The old predecessor had four regrets, and we found the remains of squad leader Liu, which made up for the first regret.

"Uncle Jiang, you have raised such excellent children, which undoubtedly makes up for the third regret. If the old man is still alive, he must have met his wife.

But there is still one regret that has not been completed, so this matter is not over yet. Mr. Jiang, even if you want to thank us, you have to wait."

"Wei Ran, you want to find this?" Xia Shushi pointed at the medicine bottle drawn on the paper and asked in surprise, "This is not easy to find!"

"You were able to accidentally discover the first medicine bottle, and I was able to meet Uncle Jiang's family by chance before I had any clues."

Wei Ran said seriously, "We have encountered such a small probability event. I believe that we will always find a way to find the lost medicine bottle."

Hearing this, Xia Shushi gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! Then let's give it a try!"

"So you are really a serious historian?" Ram, whose eyes were red, asked abruptly, "I thought you..."

"What?" Wei Ran, who felt that he was more handsome than her just now, couldn't help but ask when he saw the girl looking like she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Take a look for yourself." Ram hesitated for a while, and finally picked up his mobile phone, found the WeChat friend circle of the person named Zhang Yang whom he had added not long ago, and then handed it to Wei Ran.

"Fuck! I met that Soviet boss whore, brothers!"

After taking a look at the text of this circle of friends, Wei Ran couldn't help but twitch his lips, and then clicked on the pictures under the text.

Here are the photos he took with Zhang Yang and Uncle Jiang's family at noon.

There were also screenshots of the news about Wei Ran who was nearly killed in a plane crash not long ago, and there were also photos of him walking out of the airport with a group of beautiful girls.

There was even a photo from even earlier, of him taking a group of girls to play at an amusement park.

"Which living god gave you this nickname?"

Xia Shushi came over to take a look and said with great delight, "Tsk tsk tsk, the Soviet Union's chief whore, this nickname is even more famous than Su Su's Queen Inta."

"It was really unnecessary for me to pull that bastard's car out of the mud," Wei Ran muttered with twitching lips, which immediately made everyone in the room who were originally in a sad mood laugh out loud.

"Hehe! Now let's see how you, an international scumbag, can harm the innocent and kind-hearted Miss Ram."

In a private room of a small hotel in Hongyuan County.

The self-driving traveler named Zhang Yang sat cross-legged on the single bed, holding a can of cold beer in his hand. He was looking at the circle of friends in which a post had just been liked by his new Tibetan soldier sister Ram, and muttering to himself smugly. At the same time, he did not forget to pick up a piece of beef jerky given by Uncle Jiang and took a big bite.

He didn't have any improper thoughts about the girl named Ram, and he had no ill will towards Wei Ran. He was simply kind-hearted and didn't want the beautiful girl to be cheated by a scumbag - he would never admit that he was jealous.

"A-choo! A-choo!"

In the living room of the Jiang family, Wei Ran sneezed twice in succession. Old man Jiang immediately urged him to take medicine, and Uncle Jiang Xiangyang also warmly invited the two brothers to stay overnight.