War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1514 Qin Shi Huang's Family Banquet

On the day he returned to his grandmother's house, the two elders, who learned that Wei Ran was going to be on TV soon, asked him a lot of questions while they were eating.

Professor Alexei, who received the Teacher's Day gift as he wished, did not care about it at all. In his opinion, Wei Ran had appeared on TV more than once or twice and there was nothing surprising about it.

In comparison, he was particularly satisfied with the Teacher's Day gift Wei Ran gave him.

Thinking of this, Professor Alexei burped happily, poured himself another glass of almost empty golden millet wine, and skillfully rubbed a handful of spiced peanuts, blowing off the peanut skins with his left hand and right hand.

Professor Alexi drank one more glass with a "slurp" of the leftovers that he had not yet cleaned up. He was so satisfied that he wished every day was Teacher's Day.

In addition to satisfying the curiosity of all the elders in the family, Wei Ran also received small gifts from his parents and aunt - a whole box full of drones of various sizes and colors.

"Where did all this come from?"

Wei Ran picked one up at random and asked curiously. This thing was so light that it had no weight at all. The skeleton design and exposed wires seemed a bit too simple.

“These are the various samples I purchased during market research.” Wei Ran’s mother waved her hand and said, “You can play with them.”

“I’m not a child anymore.”

Wei Ran muttered something in dissatisfaction, but it did not stop him from picking up the matching video glasses, remote control and the simple flying machine and going to the yard.

"Don't blame me for not reminding you"

Sui Sui said, "This thing doesn't look like a drone. You'd better be careful. Also, you must find a place to sit and play."

"Is it harder to fly a plane?"

Wei Ran sat nonchalantly on the lounge chair in the yard. After Anfia briefly explained the operations, he started the remote control and the drone, then put on his glasses and pushed the joystick of the remote control.

"groove!"

Wei Ran let out a cry of surprise and subconsciously stepped back and lay down on the recliner. Almost at the same time, the drone that had just taken off crashed into the large iron gate of the yard with a "clang!"

"Congratulations on achieving the bombing achievement"

Sui Sui, who had been waiting to watch the fun, said gloatingly, and at the same time handed over another larger drone that she had prepared in advance, "Try this ten-inch one, it can fly for 40 minutes."

"This is a children's toy, that's weird."

Wei Ran muttered as he took over the second drone, and asked Anfia, who had followed him, to help him debug it. He also switched to Russian and asked, "How far can this thing fly?"

"This one can fly 15 kilometers without any problem," Anfia replied. "It can last for 40 minutes and carry a load of 3 kilograms."

"What about the speed?" Wei Ran asked.

"With a load of 3 kilograms, it can fly at a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour."

Anfia thought about it and added, "If you don't consider the cost, if you replace it with better parts, you can fly at a speed of more than 170 kilometers per hour."

As if she could see what Wei Ran wanted to ask, Sui Sui picked up a damp brick and urged, "Do you want to try it?"

"Let's go and try outside the village."

Wei Ran became interested and called on sisters Sui Sui and Kajianka to help. They lifted the big box full of drones of various sizes into the car, left the yard and drove out of the village.

The car was parked next to the observation deck where he played the piano every New Year's Eve. Wei Ran had just pulled the handbrake when Sui Sui had already skillfully fixed the complete red brick she brought just under the drone, then connected it to the power supply and placed it on the roof of the car.

Soon, under Wei Ran's careful control, the drone took off shakily amid the sharp buzzing of flies, climbed little by little, and finally no sound was heard.

"How do you feel?" Sui Sui asked Wei Ran in his ear.

"The picture quality is a bit poor, and the picture is so shaky that I almost vomited."

Wei Ran answered truthfully. He didn't dare to increase the speed too much. This thing was really hard to control.

Even with such caution, in less than five minutes, the drone with bricks tied to it finally crashed heavily into the road less than ten meters away from the observation deck, and a large number of bricks and parts flew off with a crisp "bang!"

"vomit--!"

The plane exploded just now, and Wei Ran pushed open the car door and retched - he was "airsick".

Although he had just blown up the machine while trying to increase his speed and felt dizzy and nauseous, he also realized that this thing was indeed a powerful weapon on the battlefield.

There's no need to put any explosives on it. The brick just hit him in the face at such a fast speed that even if he didn't die, he would have been unconscious for a few days.

How about putting a basket of this stuff in the metal book? Wei Ran muttered to himself as he tried to ease his discomfort.

However, after thinking it over, he finally suppressed this idea which sounded very tempting.

After all, this kind of "new era high-tech" will never appear in historical footage. In comparison, filling two baskets of rice may be the best solution.

While Wei Ran was hiding in his grandma's house and enjoying the time-travel machine, the world did not stop moving.

Far away in Lae, Papua New Guinea, the reborn Gorman, with his head wrapped in gauze, was sitting in an air-conditioned room with the air conditioning turned on full blast. Beside him, Mrs. Uma, who had also been transformed, was busy brewing Papua New Guinea's specialty coffee. At her feet, a big-eared fox with gold earrings was spinning around.

Also in Lae, Papua New Guinea, a tropical plantation less than half an hour away from the airport is undergoing massive construction.

In a two-story villa deep in the plantation, Liu Yiwan, who had arrived here less than half a month ago, was telling his wife who had just been sent there about his homesickness and the current situation of his children.

On the second floor of the Time Library on the shore of Lake Kaban in Kazan, Lola, who is trying to take charge of things on her own, is leading the international student staff to handle the tasks that Su Su should have been responsible for.

In an office on the other side of the library, a girl from the Moss tribe, who goes by the alias Liubov, is studying Russian seriously with the help of a foreign student who can speak Bangla.

At Marta's home on Golonid Island in Volgograd, Lyubov's younger brother Sasha has it easier. He is still recovering from surgery and does not need to study too long every day.

Deep in the tropical rainforest in the hinterland of Yuenan, under a lush banyan tree.

On this day, a corpse that had long been rotting and smelling was also broken in half by the wind. Its entrails, which were full of maggots, and the remaining warhead of a 40mm smoke grenade were scattered all over the ground, successfully arousing a group of lively flies.

Time passed quickly and it was September 9th. Wei Ran and Sui Sui, along with the four girls, Kajianka sisters, Marta and Lu Xinda, met up with Xia Shushi and Qin Qi who had come from nowhere.

"Where are we going next?" Wei Ran asked Xia Shushi. He didn't know where Qin II's family was.

"It's outside the West Fifth Ring Road. Let me drive."

As Xia Shushi spoke, he opened the driver's door of the van and got in. Seeing this, Qin Qi also opened the passenger door and got in.

Wei Ran was naturally happy that someone was willing to be the driver. He asked the girls, led by Sui Sui, to get back into the car.

"What are those big bags and barrels of stuff you brought?" Xia Shushi asked curiously as he started the car.

"Are you talking about this?" Wei Ran asked, pointing at the things piled at his feet.

"Can't"

"Is it something delicious?" Qin Qi turned around and stretched out her hand while speaking, "Sui Sui, give me something to try."

“These are inedible now.”

Wei Ran explained with a smile, "My grandma pickled the duck eggs, and my grandpa and Grandpa Sui Sui planted the peanuts and tender corn cobs. I just picked them from the field this morning."

"There are also lotus root powder and corn tubers that my grandma dried. They are delicious."

Sui Sui pointed at a bulging plastic food bag and swallowed, "It tastes better than meat."

"How about we try some later?" Qin Qi asked impatiently, and Sui Sui nodded without thinking.

"The gifts you prepared are quite unique," Xia Shushi said with a smile.

"With so many of us coming here to eat and drink, we can't just leave empty-handed," Wei Ran responded as a matter of course.

Speaking of which, he really treated Qin II as a friend, so he prepared these things.

Otherwise, he would just buy two bottles or two packs of cigarettes to fool people, but he would be reluctant to give away these good things that his elders had worked so hard to make.

"What is that corn tumor?" Xia Shushi changed the subject.

"Big black mushrooms growing on corn"

Sui Sui gave an easy-to-understand explanation, "I'm not exaggerating, this stuff is very difficult to get. You may not be able to find ten kilograms of corn in an acre of corn field, and ten kilograms of corn may not even yield one kilogram of dried corn tubers. These two bags are really precious."

"Can you give me some later?" Xia Shushi asked.

"Don't worry, I got two bags," Wei Ran said preparedly, "one of them is for the two of you."

"Then I'm welcome."

“You’re welcome”

Wei Ran smiled and asked directly, "Do you two know what Qin Shi Huang meant by inviting us to dinner?"

"I really don't know about that." Xia Shushi shook his head and then looked at Qin Qi in the co-pilot seat, "Do you know?"

"How would I know?" Qin Qi responded carelessly, "I'm not very familiar with my uncle, and with his personality, who knows what he's thinking."

"Uncle Qin has a bad temper?" Sui Sui asked carefully.

"On the contrary, he has a good personality." Qin Qi replied, "Except for the fact that he gets so angry at my cousin that he wants to tear him apart, I have never seen him lose his temper with anyone."

"Just a smiling tiger?"

Wei Ran and Sui Sui looked at each other and saw the same evaluation in each other's eyes as in their own hearts.

Fortunately, although no one could guess why Qin II's father wanted to invite everyone to dinner, everyone knew that at least it would not be a Hongmen Banquet, so naturally no one would be too worried.

While chatting about the old Qin family, Xia Shushi drove everyone westward out of the city, eventually drove into a residential area that looked very old, and finally stopped at the door of an inconspicuous two-story villa.

Before they even got off the bus, Wei Ran and the others noticed something interesting.

The villa has a waist-high red brick wall, but this wall is covered with crops such as loofah, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. There is even an old goat and a Labrador dog that looks equally old in the not-so-big yard.

  Looking around, fortunately, there is at least 20 to 30 meters between this villa and the next door, and there are green plants in the middle that provide excellent shelter.

Seeing Wei Ran and Sui Sui looking at them with strange expressions, Xia Shushi and Qin Qi said in unison, "We are right. This is the home of my second brother."

Before Wei Ran, Sui Sui and the others could say anything, and before they could push open the car door, an old man who looked to be in his 50s or 60s and a middle-aged woman who looked to be in her 40s at most came out to greet them. "I guess my second brother must not have come yet."

Qin Qi muttered something in a neither loud nor soft voice, then pushed open the car door and enthusiastically called out "Uncle and Auntie" in Sichuan dialect through the iron gate.

"Get off the car"

As Wei Ran spoke, he opened the car door, picked up a large plastic bucket full of pickled duck eggs and a large bucket full of muddy peanuts and fresh corn, and got out.

"Hello, uncle and aunt"

Wei Ran and Sui Sui and others who followed closely behind and also carried gifts greeted in unison - the Kajianka sisters and others had learned this sentence on the spot.

"Hello, hello, you kids. I'm inviting you to dinner, why are you bringing things?" Qin Shihuang, no, the father of Qin Ershi was much more warm and friendly than everyone imagined.

"They are all grown at home, and I bring them for you to taste."

Without Wei Ran's instruction, Sui Sui took over the task of greeting and being polite.

A few words made the couple smile happily. At their warm invitation, Wei Ran and others walked into this unique little courtyard.

During this short walk of less than ten meters, Wei Ran felt increasingly weird compared to Sui Sui who was chatting and laughing with the Qin couple. There were crops like green onions, leeks and coriander planted in every corner of this small yard, and there were farm tools hanging by the wall, which were no less than those at his grandmother's house.

What is the identity of Lao Qin? Does this farmhouse really like to grow vegetables or is it just a pretense?

Before they could find the answer, they were led into the first floor lobby by Mr. and Mrs. Qin.

"My second brother hasn't arrived yet?"

Just as Wei Ran and others sat in a row on the sofa, Qin Qi, who was helping to pour tea and water, also asked casually.

"That bastard will be here soon."

Old Qin abruptly changed his words halfway through, but the nickname that came out of his mouth made Wei Ran and others look at each other and couldn't help laughing.

"The Second Emperor might be stuck on the road, let's have some tea first."

As she spoke, the second emperor's stepmother also brought the teapot and poured a cup of tea for everyone.

By being polite and humble, Wei Ran also secretly observed the stepmother of the second generation.

Sure enough, it was almost as he guessed. This soft-spoken woman was 80% similar to the dangerous woman named Jiaya in both temperament and appearance.

While he was daydreaming, Sui Sui had already asked Lu Xinda, who could speak Chinese, to help her take out the gifts she had brought one by one.

The Qin couple were also attracted by the unique gift and listened carefully to Sui Sui's introduction. Old Qin even gave her some extra face and cooked some pickled duck eggs for her to try.

In this exceptionally harmonious and comfortable atmosphere, Qin II arrived at the door almost forty minutes late, driving his old SUV.

Glancing carefully at Lao Qin, I saw that the old man's face was indeed stiff for a moment, and then he looked at his wife with a little helplessness. The latter shook her head slightly with a smile, and handed over the pickled duck eggs she had just peeled.

However, Qin II, who was being stared at through the window by everyone, was not in a hurry to come in. Instead, he walked to the side of the goat and the old dog carrying a plastic bag.

"That goat and that dog belonged to his biological mother."

Lao Qin's wife softly introduced, "He was weak when he was a child, so his mother bought the sheep, thinking of giving him fresh goat milk every day. The vegetables in the yard were also planted for him by his mother when she was alive."

He glanced at the woman sitting next to Lao Qin through the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling window inconspicuously, but none of the young people in the room dared to respond to the conversation. They just looked at Qin II outside the window.

I watched him tickle the goat first, then touch the old Labrador, and take out a plate of carrots and a box of canned meat from the plastic bag to feed the two "thoughts", then he clapped his hands and walked into the open door of the villa.

"You are finally here, kid"

Xia Shushi spoke up as Qin II entered, "If you were ten minutes late, I would have thought about taking down the door frame and eating a few bites to satisfy my hunger."

“There’s a traffic jam on the road”

Qin II looked even more carefree than usual. He sat down between Wei Ran and Xia Shushi, picked up a pickled duck egg that had been cooked long ago and knocked it on the table. He said to Wei Ran confidently, "You brought your own dry food to the banquet?"

"Luckily I brought some food with me, otherwise everyone would have lost ten pounds just waiting for you."

Wei Ran teased with a smile. Of course he could see that this scumbag was deliberately trying to stir up trouble, or to provoke Comrade Lao Qin who was sitting opposite him.

"Second generation, everyone is waiting for you, and the meal is ready."

The slightly younger stepmother greeted them gently, "Come on, come on, everyone wash your hands and have dinner. I just fried the corn lumps that Sui Sui brought. I've never seen that before, and I don't know if it will suit your taste."

"What kind of ingredients are difficult for a senior chef like you?"

Qin II flattered in a sarcastic tone, and then he looked provocatively at Comrade Lao Qin who was already glaring at him.

"That's about it."

Xia Shushi would not tolerate Qin II who was deliberately looking for trouble, so he hooked his arm around his neck and walked towards the bathroom.

Lao Qin smiled at Wei Ran apologetically, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you kids. I'll drink three cups as punishment later."

"You can punish yourself"

Wei Ran said in a joking tone, "However much you punish yourself, we will take turns to feed the Second World."

"Then I'll have to drink a few more glasses," Lao Qin said with a laugh, and he stepped firmly on the step that Wei Ran offered him.

The atmosphere of the following dinner was quite harmonious. The Qin couple chatted and laughed with Wei Ran and others, and there was hardly a chance of a dull moment.

However, when the dinner was over and Wei Ran and others were preparing to say goodbye and leave, Comrade Lao Qin did not tell them the purpose of his dinner.

Even his amiable attitude made Wei Ran feel a kind of "innocence", similar to "a classmate's birthday is coming, and his parents asked him to invite all the classmates to their home for a meal to have fun together."

After saying goodbye to the old Qin couple who were standing at the door of the villa to see them off, and Qin II who seemed ready to stay, Wei Ran and the others drove farther and farther away in the van driven by Qin Qi, and finally drove out of this old-looking community.

"So what is Uncle Qin's purpose in treating us to dinner?" Wei Ran finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

"How would I know?" Xia Shushi, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was also confused.

"Don't look at me, I don't know either." Qin Qi, who was in charge of driving, took the initiative to express his attitude.

"At least that auntie's cooking skills are really good," Sui Sui burped, "and the fruit wine she makes is delicious too."

  It's delicious, but it's a tiring meal.

Wei Ran muttered to himself, and at the same time he was thinking that when he had the chance to catch Qin II, he would definitely ask him clearly.

"Are you satisfied?"

At the same time, Qin II, who stayed behind, was still standing at the door of the villa and asked himself.

"Your friend is not a fool as reported in the news."

Old Qin leaned against the door and lit a cigarette, then handed the cigarette box and lighter to Qin Ershi, "You are very smart in the ways of the world, and much more stable than your peers."

"Aren't you as peaceful as you appear?"

While Qin II was speaking, he also took out a cigarette, lit it in his mouth, took a deep puff and asked, "Just tell me, what is your purpose in inviting my friend to dinner?"

"You know shit"

Lao Qin snorted amidst the puff of smoke, "Tell your friend not to be afraid of American retaliation."

"Do you even need to say this?"

"You kid really think that Xiao Xia's little trick is enough to work?"

Lao Qin blew out a cloud of smoke and said, "When you have time, buy some small gifts to thank your little niece."

"Did my brother-in-law help to say hello?" Qin II reacted immediately.

“Go with the flow”

Lao Qin waved his hand nonchalantly to disperse the smoke in front of him, "After all, your friend is quite capable and has recently become a hot topic on the Internet.

Besides, what's the point of the Americans and Vietnamese monkeys taking revenge on a Chinese student? Do you really think it was 30 years ago?"

Qin II suddenly realized something and said, "Oh!", "No wonder you asked me to buy him a navy a few days ago! So that's..."

"You have to have a reason to get your brother-in-law to speak up," Lao Qin said, and crushed his cigarette butt on the doorpost.

"Then why are you inviting us to dinner today?" Qin II asked.

"Your aunt and your aunt said that your friend and the twins who were with him looked a little dangerous.

Your aunt is worried that you will be tricked and almost go to jail again like you did a few years ago, so she invited them to her house for a meal and to read their faces."

"I don't need her to be blind."

"Today, they seem to be doing fine. As a father, I feel relieved."

Old Qin didn't give Qin II a chance to speak. He walked into the villa while muttering unhappily, "Speaking of this makes me angry. Look at your friend. The girls around him are all so pretty. Who knows, if he gets happy one day, he might give birth to five, six, seven or eight girls and boys.

Look at you again, it's ok that you don't find a partner, and it's ok that you've caused a lot of trouble to the Japanese and Korean students studying abroad, but damn, you didn't leave any offspring."

"Why would I want to have a baby?" Qin II retorted unhappily, "I don't want to."

"If you are not feeling well, go to a hospital for a thorough checkup."

Comrade Lao Qin casually hit a critical hit, "If there is a problem, you should treat it as soon as possible. After it is cured, let Wei Ran introduce you to a girlfriend or something."

"No, you haven't finished yet, have you?" Qin II asked with an unpleasant expression, "I am..."

"If you don't like it, forget it"

Comrade Lao Qin snorted, "What are you doing today? Staying home or going out to have fun? If you go out, I'll call a designated driver for you, so you don't crash that car."

Hearing this, Qin II, who had just drunk a few glasses of wine, opened his mouth, finally stomped out his cigarette, and followed Old Qin into the courtyard where he grew up.