War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1527 Pigeon Ceremony

In the operating room, Wei Ran sutured the major's shoulder wound with extreme care and bandaged it carefully.

"All right"

Wei Ran finally fixed the major's shoulder wound with medical tape and said, "I deliberately used intradermal sutures so that there won't even be a scar left after the wound heals."

"Thank you," the major blurted out an English word.

"This is an operating room run by Doctors Without Borders, open to all injured people."

Wei Ran said with a smile, "Of course, to be on the safe side, you'd better stay in the hospital for a while, and by the way, it's best to restrain your men."

"Sorry, I don't understand what you are saying. I don't speak a word of English." The major lying on the stretcher spoke in Hebrew, which Wei Ran could understand.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying."

Wei Ran spoke in English, and then deliberately switched to German, Italian and Japanese to ask again, until he was sure that the little chair could not speak any language of the Axis powers. Then he asked Rama to call Ed, who was still standing at the door of the operating room, and call back the Falangist outside.

Wei Ran repeated his previous suggestion and gave the major an extra injection of painkiller before finally saying, "Since you don't plan to keep him in the hospital for observation, you must make sure he recuperates in a clean enough room after you return, and change the dressing every day. Otherwise, if he gets infected, at least amputation will be necessary."

"What's your name?" asked the Long Spear member who had once threatened Wei Ran.

"veterinary"

Wei Ran took off his bloodstained gloves and answered, "My code name is"

"I meant your name, not your nickname," the Falangist demanded.

"My name is Grandpa." Wei Ran's English answer was mixed with a standard Chinese word.

"grandfather?"

"Hey!"

Wei Ran responded happily and gave a thumbs up, "Few people can call my name right the first time. Sir, you may have a talent for languages, and you may be able to become a linguist in the future."

Perhaps it was because Wei Ran's praise was sincere enough that this obviously uneducated Falangist showed a bit of unconcealed pride on his face, and at the end he even repeated Wei Ran's "name" twice, and both times he received Wei Ran's particularly loud response and thumbs-up.

After some "compliments" and $50, the not-so-filial grandson was finally sent away safely, and everyone in the operating room breathed a sigh of relief.

It was not until Dalal guarded the door of the operating room again and until Ed and Hanward pushed the new wounded in that the sewing machine said in a reproachful tone, "Veterinarian, what were you doing just now? Your behavior violated Hippocrates."

"stop"

Wei Ran did not give the other party a chance to blame him. While treating the new wounded, he explained, "First of all, I am a veterinarian and not under the jurisdiction of Mr. Hippocrates. Secondly, if the Hebrew-speaking major gets better so quickly, I'm afraid someone will come to cause trouble for us soon."

“Hebrew?”

The first one to react was Edelweiss on the other side, "You also speak Hebrew?"

"I've learned a little," Wei Ran answered casually.

"Why would someone bother us even though we cured his injury?" Cradle asked, but the sewing machine seemed to have understood something.

"Then he will have a high fever and faint. The people responsible for protecting him will focus on taking care of him and will not have the energy to retaliate against us. Similarly, the major is busy with his fever and has no time to pay attention to us."

"But."

"Will not"

Wei Ran had already guessed what Edelweiss wanted to ask. "I have repeatedly reminded him that if he doesn't stay in the hospital, he will easily get infected. If he really gets infected, it will be because those Falangists didn't take good care of him. It has nothing to do with us."

"What if he chooses to stay in the hospital?" asked the sewing machine.

“Enough antibiotics”

Wei Ran gave a solution without any psychological pressure, "We are doctors. We can always find a way to keep him in a state of neither death nor life. I actually hope he stays. As long as he stays in the hospital for one day, the Long Gun Party will not attack the hospital."

"We are Doctors Without Borders. How dare they attack us?" Cradle said as a matter of course.

"Who knows?"

Wei Ran rubbed the base of his left hand which had become burning, knowing that the living ancestor was already warning him, so he wisely did not continue the topic.

"I have another question for you"

Edelweiss on the opposite side said as she used a hemostatic forceps to hold a piece of gauze to wipe the sweat from Wei Ran's forehead.

"What's the problem?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Your name just now"

“That’s what Grandpa meant.”

Wei Ran explained in French, and immediately, the three adults in the operating room and 11-year-old Rama all laughed.

"This is the first time I've seen someone as bad and courageous as you." Cradle shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"He's a veterinarian," Edelweiss was the first to give the answer, and everyone, including Rama, nodded in agreement.

During this not-so-small episode and casual chat, Wei Ran, with the cooperation of Edelweiss, completed the treatment of the wounded who had just been sent in.

In the following morning, apart from four women giving birth in the next bed, no other injured people were sent over.

Out of respect to the best of her ability, Edelweiss took over the work of the sewing machine and cooperated with the cradle. With the help of the little translator Rama, she welcomed one little angel after another coming into this suffering world.

Compared with the busy ladies, Wei Ran and the sewing machine got some rare free time.

However, the two did not dare to go far, and they each lit a cigarette at the door of the operating room.

“I delivered my son myself.”

The sewing machine leaned against the door frame and took a puff of cigarette happily and said, "That was my first time delivering a baby. The cradle, I mean Julia, she gave me all her trust."

"It can be seen that you and your wife have a very harmonious relationship," Wei Ran said, also taking a puff of cigarette.

“A lot of people don’t believe we’re together.”

Sewing machine, no, Mr. Selin said with a smile, "After all, she is a hottie and I am a bunny rider."

“Nationality is not the point”

Wei Ran smiled and said, "You joined MSF for her and are willing to take risks with her. This is what I am talking about. It is a great thing."

"We are doctors, we just changed the place where we carry out medical work." The sewing machine didn't think it was a big deal. "And you are here too, right? You are as great as Edelweiss."

Before Wei Ran could say anything, Hanward hurried over. When he saw Wei Ran and the sewing machine standing at the door, his eyes immediately lit up, but soon he shouted Rama's name loudly.

In less than ten seconds, Rama ran out with a Polaroid camera hanging around his neck and a huge helmet on his head.

Seeing Hanward saying something anxiously, Wei Ran and the sewing machine looked at each other, turned around and went into the operating room tacitly, and changed into a new set of surgical gowns and rubber gloves as quickly as possible.

Before they finished, Lamar ran into the operating room and translated with a panicked tone, "Boys, there are a dozen or more boys, they..."

Rama gritted his teeth and continued, "They have been castrated and are on their way now."

"Castrated?"

The sewing machine let out a cry of surprise, and Edelweiss and the cradle next door, who were still busy delivering the baby, looked over in surprise. "They have been sent to the hospital and will be in soon." Rama said anxiously.

"How are they doing?"

Wei Ran was already standing next to the simple operating table while he was speaking. "Notify Ed that four people can come in at a time."

"Hanwad just said that several people have lost blood severely. I have already notified Dalal to prepare for blood tests and asked Hanwad to help find a blood donor." Rama forced himself to calm down and said.

"well done"

At this time, Edelweiss also came over from next door, "Remind them that when looking for blood donors, they must remember to avoid direct blood relatives."

"I've already reminded her," Rama said as he helped to pull the curtain of the woman in labor next door tighter.

Before the young translator finished his words, the wooden door of the operating room was pushed open, and a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties, holding back tears, put a little boy who looked younger than Rama, with a pale face and already convulsing, on a stretcher.

"Stop the pain, push three more stretchers in," Wei Ran and Sewing Machine made arrangements almost in unison, "Let the family leave immediately."

While Rama was calling for Ed and Hanward at the door for help, Edelweiss had already taken out the anesthetic injection.

Soon after, Ed, Hanwad and Dalal pushed in three stretchers and placed the three boys who were brought in later on them. Dalal began to draw blood while asking questions in Arabic, which they could not understand, at a very fast speed.

Behind this 14-year-old nurse, Rama quickly used a pen to write names on medical tape and stuck them on the test tubes containing blood samples.

Ed and Hanward also shouted loudly, taking away the adults who were back to the operating room to make room for the already limited space.

As anesthetic needles were pushed into the wounds, the expressions of the four young injured people lying on the stretcher finally did not look so painful.

However, Wei Ran and the sewing machine did not rush to start rescue work. Instead, they just cut open the blood-stained clothes and examined the wound in silence.

"It's a dove salute," the sewing machine said firmly, "a provocative dove salute."

"These beasts should be made into soap"

Wei Ran murmured in a cold voice, "Only the four children sent to the operating room had their "gun skin" almost peeled off, and even the "gun tip" was incomplete. This will undoubtedly bring great pain and lifelong psychological trauma."

“Now is not the time to curse”

The sewing machine looked at Edelweiss, who had already left the operating room with a painkiller injection, and said while putting on new gloves, "Start as soon as possible. This time you..."

“I’ll be more careful.”

Wei Ran, who was also changing gloves, made a promise and carefully started the operation.

Soon, a man in his 20s wearing a robe was brought into the operating room by Dalal. The girl skillfully used the blood transfusion equipment to connect the blood of the man and the nearly unconscious child on the operating table.

As the dark red blood flowed into the child's body, Wei Ran was the first to breathe a sigh of relief, but he didn't care what the blood donor said in an angry tone. This operation was simple, but it was also extremely difficult.

Soon after, a baby crying was heard next door, followed by a fleeting flash of light and Rama's communication in Arabic.

There was no rest at all, and Cradle and Edelweiss, who returned to the operating room almost at the same time, also joined in to help.

“There are 26 children in total.”

Edelweiss stood opposite Wei Ran and spoke very quickly while helping, "I asked a local nurse who can speak English for help.

These children went missing last night and were found this morning in a bombed and abandoned school classroom. Two of them had bled to death when they were found.

After a pause, Edelweiss gritted her teeth and said, "They were all tied to the stair railing with wire, gagged and blindfolded. According to the child who was in the best condition, they were kidnapped and taken there yesterday, and then someone hurt them and left."

"Who found them?" She asked with her back to Wei Ran's sewing machine, suppressing her anger.

"A child found theirs," said Edelweiss.

"Let's save people first," Wei Ran said in a hoarse voice.

For a moment, the operating room became quiet.

Fortunately, except for the first few children whose conditions were really serious, the conditions of the later ones were somewhat better, which undoubtedly made the treatment much faster. But even so, the pain these children had to endure was no less.

As one child after another was sent out and another was sent in, time passed quickly.

But the only news about Beirut on the radio that was still working was that international forces were about to leave Beirut.

Finally, with their operating room and the operating rooms of two other hospitals working almost non-stop, 24 children were successfully treated.

But there was no way to quell the anger inside and outside the operating room.

Wei Ran, who came from the future and was caught in the situation but stayed out of it, knew clearly that this was a warm-up for later conflicts, and was more likely just a prelude to the 200-kilogram bomb.

But no matter what, choosing to attack a child, especially using such despicable means, is really too disgusting.

He was almost certain that there would be more such "dove ceremonies" before the 14th, and that they would not stop after the 14th, but would only become more numerous and more unscrupulous.

There was no time for these four people to rest at all. Other wounded were sent in soon after. They had not eaten or drunk anything for the whole day and only had time to drink a pot of tap water mixed with glucose injection solution contributed by Wei Ran to replenish their consumed energy.

Fortunately, perhaps it was the calm before the storm, or perhaps it was to save face for the international troops who had just left.

When the sun set, the operating room they were in charge of finally got a chance to rest.

"what time is it?"

Wei Ran sat down against the outer wall of the operating room, lit a cigarette and asked in a hoarse voice.

"Seven thirty-one, much earlier than yesterday. It seems that the overall situation is indeed getting better."

The overly optimistic Edelweiss also leaned against the wall and sat down next to Wei Ran. She took out the wine flask that Wei Ran had given her before from her pocket, unscrewed the lid and took a sip of the spicy golden millet wine. After grimace-shivering for a while, she returned it to Wei Ran.

After taking the wine jug and taking a sip of the wine which had the other person's body temperature, Wei Ran handed the wine jug back to Edelweiss.

Seeing the other person looking at him in confusion, Wei Ran smiled and said, "This is your birthday present. We agreed in the morning that we would celebrate your birthday again in the evening."

Hearing this, Edelweiss was stunned for a moment, her two big eyes curved into crescent shapes, and she happily took the wine jug and said with a smile, "I like this gift!"

"It's rare that today ends early, let's go back and celebrate Edelweiss' birthday."

Cradle suggested, "I also need to think carefully about what gift to give you. Frankly speaking, if the veterinarian hadn't just reminded me, I would probably have to go back to the garage to think about it."

"You go back first"

While talking, Wei Ran stood up shakily and said, "Remember to bring the radio back. I need to go out for a while."

"What are you going to do?" the sewing machine asked subconsciously.

“Get some fresh air”

As Wei Ran spoke, he took off his surgical gown and handed it to Ed. Then he quickened his pace and ran out without looking back.

However, in the dim corridor and sky, no one noticed that in his sleeves he not only contained a homemade noose, but also a sharp, blood-stained scalpel.

"I guess the angry Mr. Dongfeng is about to wake up."

Edelweiss murmured to herself, but her voice was so soft that only she could hear it, and the German she spoke was understood by only she.