War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1510: Sister Juan of the Burial Love Family

Near noon, Wei Ran stopped less than 500 meters away from the coordinate point.

This place is less than a hundred meters away from Hulu River on the map. According to the information sent by Xia Shushi in the morning, this was where the Second Red Army assembled its troops during the Battle of Shanchengbao.

The information related to this place does not end here. According to the information obtained by Anfia through the reverse search of the photo of "Hulu River" rephotographed by Wei Ran, this photo appeared on the Internet about ten years ago.

According to the blog page that first posted the photo, she found the negative of the photo under her own closet.

Unfortunately, this blog post does not have many views. Now it seems more like a diary-like record of life.

Also because of the characteristics of the Internet era at that time, Anfia helped him find a photo of a Shamatte girl with dyed yellow hair taken in front of a small supermarket in this blog filled with a lot of Martian words.

Fortunately, although the girl in this photo has thick makeup as if she fell into a flour mill or a cement bag, and although there are flashing watermarks such as "Funeral Family" and "No matter how great Chopin is, he can't play Juanjuan's sadness" on the photo.

But you can always see the words "Xiaojuan Supermarket" on the supermarket sign, as well as the words "XX Township Franchise Store" in the corner.

However, when Wei Ran found the place according to the map, the supermarket was still there, but the sign had been changed to a bigger one, and even the name had changed from "Xiaojuan Supermarket" to "Juanjie Supermarket", but the words "franchise store" were gone.

Taking another look at the girl with the Shamatte hairstyle on the tablet, Wei Ran thought seriously about whether the supermarket owner would try to find a hole to crawl into or kill him to silence him after seeing the photo. Then he mustered up the courage to push open the car door and walked into this small rural supermarket with the tablet in hand.

This supermarket is not very big, probably less than 100 square meters at most, and it only has one floor. The things sold on the shelves are no different from those in most rural supermarkets, with needles, thread, rice, flour, grains, oils, fruits, vegetables, water, electricity, and hardware all available.

"What do you want?"

At the counter on the side of the entrance, a slightly plump older sister who looked to be around 30 years old and was busy watching the commentary of a palace fighting drama on her mobile phone asked without even raising her head.

She was wearing camouflage work clothes that were convenient for work, and an apron with the census slogan printed on it. Her long, shiny black hair was tied into a neat bun.

I looked up at the business license of the individual industrial and commercial household hanging on the wall behind the female boss. The name of the operator was "Yao Juanjuan".

"I'll find someone," Wei Ran said carefully.

"Looking for someone? Who?" As she spoke, the female boss finally raised her head and looked at Wei Ran with confusion.

"that."

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment and kindly reminded, "Be prepared."

"Ah?" The female boss became more and more confused, and at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

“I’m looking for this person”

As Wei Ran spoke, he finally turned on the screen of his tablet and showed the other party the Shamatte photo he had selected in advance.

"ah!"

The female boss screamed, her face turned red in an instant, and she stammered, "Where did you find this photo?"

"It was because of this photo that I found the photo just now."

Wei Ran slid the screen at the right time and brought up the photo of "Hulu Riverbank" to show the other party, and said, "It is because of this photo that I came here specially."

“This photo is not.”

Sister Juan, still blushing, looked at the photo on the screen, "Oh! I remember it now! I remember this photo, I..."

"Found it under your closet"

Wei Ran said promptly, "You asked in your blog if anyone knew the origin of this photo. I am here to answer your question, but I also have something else to ask you."

“I have forgotten the account and password of that blog.”

Sister Juan still couldn't get over the embarrassment that made her scalp tingle, so after muttering something, she immediately changed the subject and asked, "Who are you? Why do you look familiar to me?"

"Do I look familiar?" Wei Ran immediately realized that something was wrong.

"oh--!"

Sister Juan slapped her thigh and said, "I remember it now! A few days ago, I was with a Tibetan uncle who helped tow a truck. History teacher! History teacher, right!"

  A history teacher is a history teacher.

Wei Ran grinned and nodded reluctantly, "It's me, Sister Juan, I came here this time to..."

"Come on! Take a photo with me first!"

As Sister Juan was talking, she ran out from the counter, holding up her phone covered with diamonds, took a photo with Wei Ran and sent it out, adding a sentence, "That Soviet Russian whore on the Internet came to my house!"

Pretending that he was blind and saw nothing, Wei Ran patiently waited for the other party to finish her work before asking, "Um, Sister Juan, that photo."

"Yes! I've kept it all along!"

Sister Juan said as she enthusiastically called out to Wei Ran, "Come with me, I'll see if I can find it out."

Hearing this, Wei Ran obediently followed the other party, passed through the back door of the small supermarket, and then crossed the red brick yard, and was let into the living room by the other party.

"Just sit there and wait for a while. I'll go find it for you."

As she spoke, Sister Juan placed a cup of hot tea and a box of cigarettes on the coffee table in front of Wei Ran, then she went into the next room and closed the door.

Taking a sip of tea, Wei Ran looked around the living room of the farmhouse. The floor with beautiful patterns, the children's toys scattered all over the floor, the large-screen TV and the laptop computer casually thrown on the sofa all suggested that this was a well-off family with good living conditions.

Through the window, he could still see the Jinbei van parked in the yard, and the words "home delivery" on the rear of the van. Before he finished his cup of tea, Sister Juan, who had a head full of dust from somewhere, opened the door and came out, placing a pink tin box with a combination lock on the coffee table.

Sister Juan picked up a rag and wiped the dust off the iron box. Then she took out a pair of pliers from the drawer of the TV cabinet. Obviously, she had forgotten the password of the small lock.

"Sister Juan, let me do it, no need for pliers." Wei Ran said with a smile.

After a slight hesitation, Sister Juan handed the box to Wei Ran and warned, "You are not allowed to open it."

“I only open locks”

Wei Ran said this, grabbed the lock ring and started turning the combination dial.

There were only three passwords in total, and it took him less than half a minute to successfully open the combination lock. Then he pushed the iron box, which was still locked, to Sister Juan who was sitting opposite him.

"Aren't you a famous person in Xizang? Why do you come here just for a photo?" While taking off the padlock, Sister Juan finally remembered that she had not yet questioned Wei Ran about his purpose.

"It's not Siddha, it's Ganzi."

Wei Ran paused and explained, "My friend and I were looking for a Red Army soldier. I took great pains to find the photo you sent me online and confirmed that it was related to the Red Army soldier we were looking for. Then I drove here overnight."

After he explained this, Sister Juan finally opened the tin box that was as big as three packs of instant noodles stacked together.

Seeing her cherished look, Wei Ran tactfully sat back - who doesn't have a youth that they don't want to recall but also cherish?

After waiting for a while, Sister Juan took out a white transparent glass medicine bottle that Wei Ran was very familiar with from the tin box.

He would never forget that this small medicine bottle was originally placed in the cloth bag of the oil lamp. He also remembered that it once contained two matches and a ball of pure white cotton wool. But now when he saw the medicine bottle again, it only contained a brown film.

However, Sister Juan did not give the small bottle to Wei Ran. She just held it in her hand and showed it to him, saying, "The photo was developed from this film."

"Was this the only photo you found at that time?" Wei Ran asked.

“I only found this one.”

Sister Juan still didn't hand the small medicine bottle to Wei Ran. "There was only one negative in the medicine bottle at the time. I saved up a week's pocket money to develop that photo."

Before she finished her words, a man who looked to be about the same age as Sister Juan and was also wearing camouflage work clothes, and a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties, walked in from outside.

“This is my dad and my brother.”

Sister Juan introduced as Wei Ran stood up.

"Uncle Yao, Brother Yao, hello." Wei Ran introduced himself politely, "My name is Wei Ran, and I am a historian."

"That history teacher, right?"

The camouflaged brother spoke quickly and shook hands with Wei Ran.

  Well, a history teacher is a history teacher.

Wei Ran was too lazy to correct him. This history teacher is much better than that guy, right?

After some polite exchanges, Wei Ran sat back on the sofa at the invitation of the two people who were obviously called back by Sister Juan.

After patiently waiting for Sister Juan to help explain the purpose of his visit, Wei Ran spoke and briefly recounted what had happened before.

“That’s probably what happened.”

Wei Ran took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, then continued, "I came here this time to help that old Red Army soldier find his lost things."

After he finished speaking, the living room fell into silence.

After a while, the old man Yao said, "Young man, I'll tell you the truth. If my words are harsh, please bear with me, an old farmer."

"Uncle, just tell me whatever you want to say." Wei Ran politely picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for the other party.

Uncle Yao tapped the table gently and said bluntly, "Young man, I don't trust you. In recent years, many people have come to our place to buy antiques from door to door. If you want to make up a story, yours is not a good one."

After a short pause and a sip of tea, the uncle continued, "If you are telling the truth, find someone we can trust to be your guarantor.

Don't worry, if this is really something from the old Red Army and old revolutionaries, we will definitely not hold on to it and will not hide a single word of what we know.

But if you don’t have a guarantor that we old farmers can trust, then Juanzi will not give you the photos, and will not tell you anything else. We will also immediately hand over the things left by the old Red Army to the township government. "

"Of course!"

Brother Yao, who was accompanying us, also said at the right time, "We are guests from afar. It's almost noon. If Teacher Wei doesn't mind, why don't you have a meal at our house and take a rest?"

"Uncle Yao, what you said makes sense."

Wei Ran said politely, "I'll make a call right now and find someone who is influential enough to vouch for me."

"Juanzi"

Uncle Yao immediately expressed his attitude, "Prepare a few more dishes for lunch! Dajun, go to the cellar and get a bottle of good wine."

After saying that, Uncle Yao patted Wei Ran's shoulder affectionately and said, "Let's have a couple of drinks later."

"I'll contact a guarantor now."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already taken out his cell phone and called Xia Shushi. He knew that the other party would definitely have a way. Even if he didn't, his scumbag brother Qin II would also find a way for him.

(End of this chapter)