War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1508 Hulu River

That night, Wei Ran and Xia Shushi stayed at the request of Mr. Jiang Ji.

After closing the door, Wei Ran quietly looked around the exceptionally clean and warm room.

On the hard single bed, the blue checkered cotton sheets were exceptionally smooth, and the quilt at the head of the bed was folded into a tofu block that he couldn't bear to open.

There are two photo frames on the bedside cabinet. One of them is a picture of a young man wearing a Tibetan robe and riding a motorcycle with a particularly bright smile. The other is a picture of the young man wearing a military uniform and saluting at the boundary marker.

There were some books on the desk not far away. On the bookshelf next to it, there were no books at all, but a basketball and a football with names written all over them, as well as badminton rackets, a high school graduation photo, and a guitar that seemed to have been covered in dust for a long time.

After checking the room, Wei Ran pulled the heavy curtains and put on rubber gloves. He had no psychological barriers and easily pried open the locked wardrobe in the room.

But when he saw what was inside, he was stunned.

In addition to several sets of blue-and-green physical training suits and a desert camouflage military coat, there is also a high school uniform with various Zang languages' blessings written on it, and a set of desert camouflage training uniforms.

However, unlike those clean school uniforms, physical training suits and military coats, this set of training uniforms covered with transparent plastic bags had traces of blood, oxidation and blackening, as well as various damages in many places.

Especially in the thigh, there was a hole that seemed to have been pierced by a sharp object. Around the hole, there were not only traces of being cut by scissors, but also traces of a large amount of dried and oxidized blood.

I gently opened the only drawer in the closet. There were even fewer things inside, just a bank card, a CD, and a sealed envelope.

There was no writing on the envelope, but a photo of Uncle Jiang's family was pinned to it.

In this group photo, Mr. Jiang Ji is sitting in the middle, with Uncle Jiang and Aunt Yangjin sitting on both sides of him. Behind the three of them are Jiang Zhuangzhuang and Jiang Maomao in military uniforms, and each of them is smiling very happily.

Gently separate the photo and the envelope, and on the back of the photo, there is a message in Tibetan: "I love you, just like I love our motherland. I guard the border to protect you."

After hesitating for a moment, he restored everything he had peeped at to its original state and quietly locked the closet door again.

Sitting on the corner of the bed, Wei Ran silently took out the metal notebook and once again took out the negatives from the paper bag next to the latest page of photos.

"The negatives are easy to find, but where can I find the medicine jar?"

Wei Ran was secretly having a headache, as he had not figured out how to take out these negatives properly.

After much fruitless thought, he finally stuffed the film back and secretly decided to plan a trip to Shancheng Castle as soon as Xia Shushi's teacher came to meet him tomorrow, to see if he could find a reasonable excuse to take out the film there.

"I haven't even looked at the carrying pole yet." Wei Ran patted his forehead and took out the carrying pole from the golden vortex.

  Um.

When Wei Ran took out the carrying pole and the bamboo basket, he felt as if he had been hit by a club. His head went dizzy, and then a look of ecstasy appeared on his face.

Just at that moment, the living ancestor had already stuffed the "Instructions for Use" into his hands.

According to the rules of the broken book, the two baskets on the pole can hold any two things, but only two things. Even if you want to take out the things inside, you don't have to use the trouble of using a lunch box.

To give a simple example, suppose you fill these two bamboo baskets with apples and pears respectively, then later you can fill them with various varieties of apples and pears.

There are limitations. If you choose to put apples and pears in it, then you can only put apples and pears in it forever. Don't even think about secretly stuffing a banana in it.

  So what should be put in it? A unique substance? A nerve agent? Or radiation or a virus?

Wei Ran subconsciously thought of all kinds of dark and shameless things, but when he looked up at the shoulder pole and bamboo basket on the floor, he calmed down.

In the middle of the bamboo shoulder pole placed on top of the two bamboo baskets, a wooden gun case was firmly fixed with a belt. On top of the gun box, there were two leather magazine pouches, each containing a 20-round magazine.

Even if he only looked at the tail sticking out from the rear of the gun box, he could be sure that it contained the box gun he had been dreaming of for who knows how long.

  Didn't you say you would leave nothing for me?

Wei Ran mumbled something incoherently, rubbed his eyes, sat cross-legged beside the carrying pole, opened the lid of the wooden gun box, and pulled out the brand new and shiny box gun.

This Mauser 712 with a rate of fire selector is equipped with a 10-round magazine. On one side of the magazine well, there is an especially clear engraving of the words "Long Live the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army".

On the other side of the magazine well, there was an engraved photo of him and squad leader Liu and others taken on the grass. It was the first of the 24 photos he took.

Gently touching the delicate marks that looked like pen lines, Wei Ran put it back into the gun case and turned to look at the two bamboo baskets.

The two bamboo baskets were round on top and square on the bottom, and were woven very densely. The basket mouth was half a meter in diameter, and the height was probably less than half a meter. Each bamboo basket also had a Red Army hat as a lid.

I gently lifted the bamboo basket on my left hand side, and found it was empty.

He used his other hand to lift the bamboo hat on the right bamboo basket and leaned over to take a look. Wei Ran couldn't help but shudder and quickly pulled the bamboo basket closer.

In the basket was a large brown glass bottle with a wide mouth. At the mouth of the bottle, a yellowed old photo and a card the size of a disposable lighter were tied with hemp rope.

Picking up the photo, he recognized it at a glance. The picture showed the little lama and Nurse Ji sitting side by side on the bank of a river.

One of the two men was holding a wooden stick and seemed to be writing something on the ground, while the other one was tilting his head, holding a notebook in one hand, and his fingers in the other hand seemed to be gesturing with something.

There was a large glass medicine bottle on the ground between the two people. Behind them were undulating loess hills and vaguely visible cave dwellings.

Turning it over, there are a few vigorous black pen words written on it - "Winter of the 25th year of the Republic of China, on the banks of Hulu River."

Looking at the card again, there was a set of gold-embossed coordinates on it.

After a moment's hesitation, he untied the hemp rope, put the cards and photos into his pocket, then carefully picked up the glass bottle and aimed it at the overhead light.

With the help of the light, he could clearly see that there were indeed two rolls of film and several folded sheets of paper, which looked like stationery, in the glass bottle.

In addition to these things, he also found a box of matches and a handful of what seemed to be hay.

  Do you want to open it?

Wei Ran looked at the severely oxidized Bakelite lid of the glass bottle and became hesitant. Finally, he suppressed his curiosity, took out the lunch box, and put the glass bottle and the photo he had just taken out into it.

As for what to put in the two bamboo baskets, there is no rush to make a decision for the time being.

Taking out a spare mobile phone from the lunch box, Wei Ran opened the satellite map and entered the coordinates on the card.

"More than 700 kilometers?"

After seeing the search results on the screen, Wei Ran subconsciously searched the distance between this location and the mountain castle.

This time, the distance shown on the page was still about two hundred and sixty to two hundred and seventy road miles.

Just at this moment, someone knocked on the door from outside. Wei Ran quickly put away the lunch box and carrying pole, then opened the door and saw Xia Shushi standing outside.

"shush"

Xia Shushi, with a towel around his neck and wet hair, gestured and walked into the room. He waited until Wei Ran closed the door before asking, "How are you going to find it?"

"How do you find it?" Wei Ran asked absentmindedly.

"What else could it be?"

Xia Shushi said unhappily, "But you boasted in front of Mr. Jiang, where are you going to find those two rolls of film now?"

"It must be the mountain castle."

Wei Ran answered as a matter of course, "We now know very clearly that Senior Xiao. Lao belonged to the Second Red Army and participated in the Battle of Shanchengbao. At that time, he lost the camera and film he borrowed from the chieftain. We also know that after he left the grassland, he was first assigned to the kitchen squad."

"What's the use of knowing this?" Xia Shushi asked unhappily. "Of course it's useful."

Wei Ran pretended to be confident and said, "Help me find the information about the Second Red Army's participation in the Battle of Shanchengbao as soon as possible, especially the information related to logistics mobilization and troop assembly."

"Do you have any ideas?" Xia Shushi asked while wiping his hair.

"The senior was still in the kitchen at that time."

Wei Ran was more confident at this time, "That was a victory. In other words, it is basically impossible for the kitchen squad to go to the battlefield, especially the new recruits who just joined the Red Army."

"Go on," Xia Shushi became interested.

"Even if he goes to the battlefield, he may have reason to carry a camera, but he has absolutely no reason to carry a glass bottle containing film. This makes sense, right?" Wei Ran asked more clearly.

"That makes sense, keep going."

Xia Shushi agreed without comment. He wanted to see what was the difference between them, as they were all historians and this scumbag who was always hanging out with women.

"Since it's impossible to go to the battlefield, we can only stay in the rear."

Wei Ran asked a question slowly, "When is it most likely for a new soldier to lose things?"

"It's not right to fight. Should the troops march out?" Xia Shushi reacted very quickly and followed Wei Ran's train of thought.

"I'm afraid that's the only way." Wei Ran thought for a moment and added, "I guess that thing might have been left at the home of a fellow villager."

"Not too possible"

Xia Shushi had a different view at this time. "That place is now a red education base. If anyone had such a precious old item, they would have taken it out 50 years ago."

“He was in the kitchen.”

Wei Ran patiently advised that after all, he was a historian majoring in the history of war, and if nothing else, his ability to tell stories was still good.

"The place where cooking is done?" Xia Shushi reacted immediately.

"Newcomers to the cooking class"

Wei Ran reminded, "Besides, he is from the Zang tribe. You can't expect him to be the chef, right?"

"Can you finish what you want to say at once?" Xia Shushi completely lost his patience.

"A new soldier was just assigned to the kitchen squad. I guess he was assigned to the kitchen squad because of malnutrition.

Not only is it convenient for him to prepare a special meal there to nourish his body, but there are also people he knows there.”

Wei Ran paused and continued, "As for the kitchen team, since you don't cook, your job is just to fetch water and chop wood."

"You mean he lost it while fetching water or chopping wood?"

“These are just speculations”

Wei Ran changed the subject and said, "We still have to go and see it in person, at least go to the mountain castle. As for the search for information and documents, it's up to you."

"I'll try to help you find it."

Xia Shushi obviously didn't have high hopes for this, and said with a hint of blame, "Mr. Jiang is so old, and you are so rash to make such big promises. If you can't find it in the end, then Mr. Jiang will inevitably be disappointed."

“You’ll find out if you look for it.”

Wei Ran perfunctorily replied without commenting, then changed the subject and asked, "What are your plans for tomorrow?"

“I just contacted the teacher.”

Xia Shushi finally replied, “What he meant was that after he comes over to meet the Jiang family tomorrow, he wants to take a look at what Mr. Jiang showed us today.

Then we will talk to them and after getting their opinions, we will decide whether to report the incident publicly."

"In that case, I plan to set off early tomorrow morning." Wei Ran said abruptly.

"So urgent?"

Xia Shushi, who was about to leave, stopped and asked, "Do you have any clues?"

"If I had a clue, I wouldn't have to rush."

Wei Ran spread his hands, "I've already said it, I want to go to the mountain castle first, maybe there will be some clues there."

"go by yourself?"

"Will you come with me?"

"I'm not going. This is the key point." After saying this, Xia Shushi finally opened the door and walked out.

After closing the door, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief. He was already wondering who took the photo he had just found in the bamboo basket, and most importantly, whether this photo was widely circulated in the world.

  Anyway, let's go to the coordinate point first.

Wei Ran muttered to himself for a while, and finally got into the mood to pick up a new set of toiletries that Uncle Jiang had helped prepare, and opened the door again and walked into the bathroom.

That night, all kinds of teasing about Wei Ran had even reached Su Su's ears, but compared to those teasings that were not malicious, they were more like teasing out of envy, jealousy and hatred, which both she and the Kajianka sisters noticed keenly.

Aside from these jokes, there seem to be more and more positive comments about Wei Ran and Uncle Jiang on the Internet.

In a small villa outside the fifth ring road in the capital, Qin II proudly weighed his phone and said, "Isn't it just a good review? Isn't it hard to say? Even if I am praised as Liu Xiahui..."

“Be careful not to overdo it”

An old man who looked to be in his 50s or 60s and looked 70% similar to Qin Ershi, or rather, Qin Ershi looked 70% similar to him, looked at the drizzle outside the window and reminded, "Too much is as bad as too little, and it will harm your friend."

"I know, I know"

Qin II said perfunctorily, "You came to me just to ask me to buy some water army to give my friend good reviews?"

"It's rare that you have made a friend who is worth mentioning."

The old man walked out and said, "When things over there are over, invite your friends to your house for a meal."

After a long silence, Qin II nodded reluctantly, "I'll think about it."

Hearing this, the old man facing the French window also smiled and said, "It's a family dinner."

"Okay," Qin II responded vaguely, and the living room of the villa fell into a slightly awkward silence again.