War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1517 Special Program

On September 9, Wei Ran took the girls and Uncle Jiang, who was also invited as a relative, to Sister Juan's house to enjoy a local farm feast.

It was on this night, when Wei Ran and others, who had drunk too much, took a car driven by Anfisa, who had deliberately not drunk, and rushed back to the hotel in the county town under the cover of darkness, the memorial ceremony in front of Li Zhuang's tomb in the morning was also broadcast on the local TV news channel.

There was nothing special about this news, and the content was just "paying tribute to the revolutionary martyrs", and it did not even reveal the details of the content to be broadcast on National Day.

But such a piece of news spread at an unexpected speed thanks to the popularity of "the well-known historian Mr. Wei Ran" and that ridiculous nickname that he did not like.

"Gua Ni Ni! Why is this boy on TV? I've seen him before and we even smoked cigarettes together!"

In the security room at the entrance of the Shanchengbao Memorial Hall, the security guard who was over 50 years old subconsciously exclaimed in their local dialect when he noticed the news on TV.

On the bank of the Yellow River, in a Delica van that had been parked on the roadside for two days, Zhang Yang, who had just finished making tomato and egg rice, had not yet had time to find today's portion of electronic pickled mustard tuber before he saw Wei Ran and Uncle Jiang again on the news.

"Fuck! Why is Brother Whore still with Uncle Jiang? Ram is not here too, is he?"

Zhang Yang exclaimed, and subconsciously wanted to send a message to Ram, with whom he had never chatted since they added WeChat, to ask him something.

But in the end, he was once again too shy to send even an emoji. He reached out and pulled his two-dimensional wife's pillow over to sit under his butt, put a big spoonful of rice into his mouth, and while chewing it in big mouthfuls, he browsed the news related to Wei Ran.

Time flies and it is the last day of September. A historian who had returned home ten days ago finally stopped fiddling with the drone samples that he had almost smashed.

At noon that day, he and Sui Sui packed their luggage early, said goodbye to the elderly at home, took the high-speed rail to the capital, and followed the staff who came to pick them up to the hotel that had been arranged in advance.

Before they even entered the hotel lobby, they saw Mr. Jiang Ji and his family, as well as the grandchildren of Squad Leader Liu, who were also invited.

This time, he not only saw Ram in military uniform, but also saw Jiang Zhuangzhuang in military uniform. The brother and sister both had several particularly conspicuous military medals hanging on their chests.

“Let me introduce you.”

After the two sides greeted each other, Ram, who was wearing a military uniform, introduced enthusiastically, "This is my brother Jiang Zhuangzhuang, and his name in Tibetan is Deji."

"Hello, Comrade Wei Ran."

Seeing that Jiang Zhuangzhuang, who was about 27 or 28 years old, raised his hand to salute decisively, and then when Wei Ran subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to return the salute, he took the initiative to extend his hand and shook hands with him enthusiastically.

"Hello"

Wei Ran couldn't help but sway as he was held tightly by those hands that were covered with calluses and had a conspicuous scar on the back of the hands.

This soldier, who looked only a few years older than himself, was more muscular than in the photo, and his temperament was more friendly, but he also instantly smelled the unique scent of a veteran from him.

After coming to his senses, Wei Ran, who was wearing a formal suit and a pair of plain glasses that showed his scholarly temperament, enthusiastically introduced Su Sui beside him to the Jiang family.

Just as they finished their greetings, Sister Juan and her family came out one by one from another business car that had just arrived at the hotel entrance.

Both parties greeted each other one by one, and Wei Ran also saw Xia Shushi and his future girlfriend Qin Qi who were also invited.

After getting to know each other again, everyone walked into the hotel together.

"What are your plans for tomorrow?" Wei Ran asked Xia Shushi in a low voice while waiting for check-in.

“Just visit the one you found.”

"Please correct it. We found it together." Wei Ran said quickly.

“Then we all found it together.”

Xia Shushi said indifferently, "Anyway, we will all go to see those precious photos together tomorrow, and then we will each accept an on-site interview. But don't be nervous, we brothers are just supporting roles this time."

“Why am I nervous?”

Wei Ran muttered something incoherently, and followed up the topic by asking, "Where are those photos on display?"

"You don't know?" Xia Shushi looked at Wei Ran strangely.

"Do you think I know?" Wei Ran spread his hands. "Second Master called me yesterday and asked me to come here today. I didn't even receive an invitation."

“This is a jerk.”

Xia Shushi patted his forehead and explained, "This time, all the items are on display at the National Museum. As for where they will be displayed in the future, I don't know, but I heard that there will be a permanent exhibition wall for those photos at the Military Museum."

"Isn't this my name going down in history?" Wei Ran asked with pretended pride.

"I've said it before. It's no worse than the photo of the red flag on the Capitol that you discovered. It's even more precious." Xia Shushi was unusually serious this time.

"It's a pity that there's not enough," Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes," Xia Shushi nodded, "only more than twenty."

For a moment, both of them fell silent. However, Sui Sui and Qin Qi, one holding Ram's arm and the other pulling Juanjie and her daughter together, were taking a lively photo.

That night, Wei Ran suffered from insomnia, which was a rare occurrence.

In the previous ten days, the official media had gradually released snippets of information to warm up the event, and even the most important news channel in that half hour had mentioned and previewed it.

But the more this happened, the more inexplicably scared he became. The paradox was that even he himself didn't know what he was afraid of.

After this long yet short night, when the bright sunshine rose again, the invited guests took the same Coaster and arrived at the National Museum on time, and walked into the exhibition hall as invited guests.

When those huge black-and-white photos came into view, Wei Ran, who deliberately walked at the back of the crowd, couldn't help but fall into those memories that existed yet not existed.

"What's wrong?" Sui Sui, who was slowing down with him, was the first to notice his abnormality.

"It's okay, I'm fine."

Wei Ran smiled, raised his hand and pointed at the person in the photo and said, "That's squad leader Liu. I told you two days ago that he is the squad leader of the kitchen squad."

"What about that one?"

Sui Sui raised her hand and pointed at a photo and asked, even though Wei Ran had introduced those young Red Army soldiers to her more than half a month ago.

"Zhang Erwa, he was the second squad leader of the kitchen squad, he was..."

Amid the hustle and bustle of tourists, which became quieter as they walked forward, Wei Ran introduced the people in the photos one by one, telling stories "that he heard from the diary of senior Jiang Yu."

At the same time, in the Baiyangdian village which was also busy because of the holidays, the two elderly people, as well as Wei Ran and Su Su's parents were sitting together, watching the special program on TV, watching Wei Ran who appeared from time to time, and listening to him talk about the process of his discovery.

In Langshi, a city near the capital, Chen Qi, a veteran who had fought in the war against the US and aided Chaoshan, also recognized Wei Ran in the same program and quickly picked up the phone to call his old comrade Zhao Shengli. Zhao Shengli, who happened to be watching the program, also recognized Wei Ran before he received the call. The still optimistic veteran immediately told his children and grandchildren who had come back to spend the holiday with him what happened when Wei Ran came to visit him.

Also seeing Wei Ran on TV were the descendants of the Li family far away in Sichuan, a taxi driver in Teng County, the security uncle in the security room of Shancheng Castle Memorial Hall, Zhang Yang who was still driving along the Yellow River, and Wang Beizhan who was drinking tea with Lu Yao.

There is also the boss who is still running a B&B in Yunnan Province. He once hosted Wei Ran and happened to have recently spent a large sum of money to marry a new Vietnamese wife. He was the one who was "blinded by money" and donated the relics of the Expeditionary Force for free.

Among those who recognized him were his childhood playmates, teachers during his school days, neighbors from his hometown in Cangzhou, and even the construction team that had helped him renovate his small Western-style house, and so on.

On this special day when the whole country was celebrating, as Wei Ran, Xia Shushi and Mr. Jiang Ji took turns telling the stories in the program, those who recognized Wei Ran, those who didn't know him, and all those who were watching the program were all pulled back to that extremely cold and hungry summer on the plateau in 1936, and the despair of not seeing the sun.

As old photos appeared from time to time, in front of the screen or in the exhibition hall, some people trembled, some cried out loud, some clenched their teeth and fists, and some closed their eyes.

Finally, the people on the show finished telling the story, and finally, the black and white photos were replaced by colorful videos.

In the video, Jiang Maomao, a female soldier of the Zang ethnic group, wearing a military uniform and with a military medal on her chest, stood beside a beautiful alpine meadow. She shouted "Stand at attention" herself, then raised her hand and saluted forcefully, making a silent promise.

In the video, Jiang Zhuangzhuang, a soldier of the Zang ethnic group who was also wearing a military uniform and had a military medal on his chest, stood at the edge of the sentry post with a gun in his hand. He shouted "Stand at attention" in a hoarse voice, and saluted in unison with his border defense comrades, also making a silent promise.

Just like the promises made by those young Red Army soldiers in those black and white photos.

At the end of the show, little Li Lingxi, wearing a school uniform and a red scarf, shouted "Salute" in a crisp voice.

In this final video, Li Lingxi and her cousin raised their hands together and saluted towards Li Zhuang's tombstone like the Young Pioneers.

Behind these two little people, the Communists with party emblems on their chests stood together with the ordinary people who were born and raised on the Loess Plateau, bowing their heads in silence for their common beliefs.

"The ceremony is over!"

With Li Lingxi's final command, the special program, which lasted more than two hours, ended with only a black screen and the villagers' conversations in dialect.

At the same time, Wei Ran, who was still in the exhibition hall, had just finished the on-site interview with him. He was staring blankly at the oil lamps, lunch boxes, medicine bottles, and even cameras and films in the display cabinets. No one knew what he was thinking.

"There's something you may not believe"

Xia Shushi, who had also been interviewed earlier, pulled Qin Qi over and said.

"What?" Wei Ran turned around and looked at the other person and asked. Even Sui Sui, who was holding his arm, looked over curiously.

"There were quite a few smart people on the Internet who questioned the authenticity of the Long March."

Xia Shushi pointed around and said, "Now they can finally shut up."

"Questioning the authenticity of the Long March?" Wei Ran reacted, "Why question this?"

"They thought if there really were so many people on the Long March, how could there not even be a photo of it?" Xia Shushi explained. "Since there were no photos, the Long March must have been fake."

"Are you sure these words came from a normal person's mouth?"

Before Wei Ran could say anything, Sui Sui couldn't help but say, "We didn't take any pictures during the Battle of Red Cliff or the Battle of the Straw Boats. So these things didn't exist, right?"

"If the Long March didn't exist, then Kaishen Logistics had been chasing the air wall all along?" Qin Qi couldn't help but roll her eyes. "According to this logic, these smart people weren't filmed when they were born."

"Hey, hey, hey, pay attention to your image." Xia Shushi quickly stopped his quick-witted girlfriend, "You are a university teacher after all."

"I'm just being rude," Qin Qi snorted, "such a moron should be run over by a dump truck."

After exchanging a glance with Wei Ran, Xia Shushi wisely stopped talking about this topic and asked, "You guys are probably going to Kazan, right?"

"It's almost time. Once we finish things here, we'll set off."

Wei Ran changed the subject and said, "I can't stay at home forever just because of Captain America."

"makes sense"

After Xia Shushi finished speaking, he winked at Qin Qi, who also said as if she had just remembered, "My cousin asked me to tell you not to worry about the Americans. My uncle asked my brother-in-law to greet the Americans for you."

"Have you said hello?"

Sui Sui subconsciously asked the question that Wei Ran wanted to ask but shouldn't ask, "Sister Qiqi, your cousin's husband is so useful? What does he do?"

"It seems to be diplomacy, maybe, I guess."

Qin Qi said uncertainly, "I only met him once, and I don't remember the details."

Xia Shushi immediately stated, "Don't look at me, I don't know anything about his brother-in-law either."

"Thank the Second Emperor and Uncle Qin for me," Wei Ran said sincerely, "By the way, where is the Second Emperor?"

"It seems like I have something to do"

Qin Qi obviously didn't care where her cousin went. Instead, she took the opportunity to ask, "Sui Sui, do you still have those black dried corn and mushrooms that you made last time? My uncle likes them very much, so he asked me to ask."

"It's your favorite"

Xia Shushi couldn't help but mutter half a sentence, and then he said shamelessly, "That's right, get another one weighing ten or eight kilograms, and then I'll help you pass it on to the second emperor's father."

"It's only eight or ten kilograms. Do you think that thing is cabbage?" Wei Ran shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Just as the four young people were in a corner of the museum, trying to change the mood by discussing food.

The 28 black-and-white photos including "By the Hulu River" and the special program also began to spread wildly on the Internet as if they were bundled together with Wei Ranru.

Just as these photos and programs were reprinted by international news and attracted more attention, in the port city of Antalya, far south of Tuerqi, a restaurant specializing in Tuerqi barbecue was just preparing to start its day's business.

At the fairly spacious entrance on the first floor, employees wearing white hats are busy skewering pieces of meat. These pieces of meat waiting to be roasted are not only ingredients, but also their best signboard to attract customers.

On the third floor of the restaurant which is not open to the public, the restaurant owner, who weighed more than 100 kilograms as early as ten years ago and is also the fourth-generation chef of the restaurant, has just woken up.

According to his usual daily habits, after getting up, the chef staggered to the balcony and sat on the slightly worn but as comfortable as ever small sofa. He browsed the news while waiting for his wife, who was resting in a separate room from him, to get up and bring him the daily cup of black tea.

But today, before his wife brought him tea, he exclaimed, using the word "God", whom he no longer believed in sincerely, as an interjection like "F*ck".

Immediately afterwards, the fat man with a clumsy body dropped his phone and ran to his study which served as a storage room.

The black-and-white photo of "Hulu River" was displayed on the screen of the mobile phone that he threw on the table.