War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1533: The Accident of Lure the Tiger Away from the Mountain

"Where did you go yesterday?"

In the medical tent at the rear of the ambulance, Edelweiss started a new topic.

“I had some trouble yesterday.”

Hot Air Balloon explained nonchalantly, "Those bastards from the Phalanges didn't let me into the West District until yesterday evening. Speaking of which, I got some inside information from the Phalanges."

"What news?" asked the sewing machine curiously.

"The boss of the Falange seems to be making some big moves recently"

While handing out lunch boxes to everyone, Hot Air Balloon whispered what he had heard, "He seems to want to distance himself from Yishelie."

"Where did you get the news?"

Cradle also subconsciously lowered his voice and asked, "If it's true, this is probably good news."

"A journalist friend of mine"

Hot Air Balloon didn't seem to have any intention of keeping secrets. "He recently got a chance to interview Mr. Barrel, and he helped me get permission from the Falange to come in."

"Can you be more specific?" Edelweiss asked.

"That gentleman doesn't want to sign a peace treaty with Israel. He wants real peace, a peace based on the premise of driving all foreigners, including the Palestinians in the refugee camps, out of the country."

"Hasn't everyone evacuated now?"

Cradle asked in confusion, "Whether it's Xuliya, Yiselei or 8jie, haven't they all withdrawn? Even the international forces that were supervising them have left, haven't they?"

"But the Yishelie people don't want to leave, and even if they do, they still need an obedient 'land manager'.

Obviously, the administrator holding the spear does not seem to be ready to continue to obey the orders of the chair lie man. "

Hot Air Balloon spread his hands and said, "These are the exact words of my journalist friend. This is all he told me."

  No wonder.

Wei Ran sighed secretly. When this topic started, he found that he was once again deprived of the right to express his opinion by the metal notebook.

The only thing he could still do with his mouth at this moment was to eat the rich paella in the lunch box as hard as Rama did.

Although he had no right to speak, Wei Ran's mind was free to think.

The "rumors" just brought by the hot air balloon further confirmed his previous speculation.

It was a pity that he had no way of expressing his thoughts. Even his ancestor did not give him the opportunity to guide these people to think in this direction.

“That’s all the gossip.”

The hot air balloon lit a cigarette and asked, "Now it's your turn to make a choice. Do you want to leave at 5:30 tomorrow afternoon?"

"Since it's war."

"It's probably more likely that an accident will happen at this time."

The hot air balloon finally expressed the concerns that Wei Ran wanted him to worry about. "On the eve of peace, there will definitely be serious bloodshed, so my friends, I suggest that you start tomorrow..."

"We are medical workers," Cradle said first, "Since there will be bloodshed, we should stay."

Before she finished speaking, the sewing machine spoke up, "Edelweiss, you and the veterinarian should leave first, and take Ed and the children with you."

“I don’t plan to leave”

Edelweiss was the first to say, “I don’t see any reason to leave when medical support is needed here.”

"I don't plan to leave either," Wei Ran said, and continued to eat the food in the lunch box.

“We won’t leave either.”

Rama, who had been eavesdropping, wiped his mouth and said, "I don't understand a lot of what you are saying, but no matter what happens next, I will not leave."

Before anyone could open their mouths, Lamar forced out a smile, "But if it's convenient, can you take my brother Ed's body away?

He has always wanted to go to the other side of the sea. Can you take him away?

Also, there are things left by my parents, please take them away too, anyone can help me keep those things."

"What about you?" Edelweiss couldn't help asking.

“I’m going to die here”

"I will definitely die here, but I still want to stay and try to do something," said Rama, who was exceptionally calm and smiled brightly.

Still without giving everyone a chance to speak, Rama said to himself, "You don't have to worry about us, if you can leave, leave as soon as possible.

Dalal, Hanward and I will continue to work in the hospital, and we will become great doctors or nurses like you in the future, I promise."

"You saw it"

Edelweiss gently held Rama in her arms, "We both have enough reasons to stay now."

Taking a deep breath, Hot Air Balloon nodded with difficulty, "Okay, I understand. I will take Ed away."

"Please help me get some things out of here."

The cradle spoke up, "Rama, can you take a picture of us? I want to send it to my child Yashar."

"My pleasure, ma'am," Rama responded enthusiastically.

"Edelweiss, can you lend me the tin box that contains your chocolates?" Cradle continued to ask.

"sure"

Edelweiss nodded without thinking and said, "The box is with my notes. You know where it is."

Hearing this, Cradle nodded, stood up, walked to the back of the car, opened a small drawer, took out the tin chocolate box, then opened another drawer and took out a stack of photos.

"Rama, how about sending your parents' belongings to our house?"

Cradle asked, "I hope you can come to my house when you have time and take a photo of our Yashar. Of course, we also want to invite you to try the Rabbit Riding BBQ."

“I will definitely go”

Rama promised earnestly, "When I come of age, or when the war is over, I will definitely go."

"Then it's settled"

Cradle said, and took out another bottle of makeup remover. After wiping off the stains on her face, she stood up hand in hand with the sewing machine, "Let's go, let Rama take a photo of us."

“Let’s go take a picture at the front of the car,” suggested the sewing machine.

"Do you mind if I take a picture for you?" Wei Ran asked, putting down his lunch box. "I also brought a camera."

"Of course," the sewing machine agreed happily.

"You brought a camera?" Edelweiss asked Wei Ran suspiciously, "Why don't I remember?"

"I'll get it for you."

Before Wei Ran finished his words, he had already left the tent. After Yaolan untied the scarf tied to the steering wheel in the cab, he also picked up the jacket that was deliberately hung on the side of the backrest, and using it as cover, he took out the camera from the metal notebook.

After he left and closed the door, the sewing machine and cradle couple also leaned against the car door, took off their masks and stood side by side.

“I’m going to shoot it.”

As Rama reminded them, the sewing machine couple also had bright smiles on their faces.

"Click". In the flashing light, Rama pressed the shutter.

“Please help me take some things too.”

Edelweiss, who was standing behind Wei Ran and watching him take pictures, said to the hot air balloon holding a chocolate box.

"No problem, what do you want to take away?" the hot air balloon asked cheerfully.

"this"

As Edelweiss spoke, she had already taken off the necklace with the military ring on it and handed it to Hot Air Balloon, “There is another baby sent from here in the hospital, and I specifically asked him to be taken care of by Nurse Ayub.

Can you find the baby and take the necklace with him to my grandfather's house?"

"Do not worry"

As the hot air balloon spoke, it put the necklace, which still carried the warmth of Edelweiss, into the tin box and placed it on the carefully folded handkerchief.

Almost at the same time, the cradle also put in a Polaroid photo that had not yet been fully developed.

“These pictures of the children are the identification information of all the children I have delivered since I came here.”

The cradle warned earnestly, "You must deliver them to our home safely."

“Nothing can go wrong”

The balloon made another pledge, "I swear to Allah on my wife and children."

"Mr. Hot Air Balloon, do you want to take a photo together?" Wei Ran asked, shaking the camera in his hand, "We are just one person short."

"My pleasure"

The hot air balloon paused and said, "Let's take Ed with us?" "Okay," Wei Ran responded briefly.

Still with the ambulance as the background, Wei Ran waited patiently for Edelweiss to help Ed wipe the blood and stains off his face, and for Cradle to re-apply the black stains on his face.

Everything was ready. Everyone sat on the ground and squeezed Ed's body in the middle, leaving a seat for Wei Ran - next to Edelweiss.

After handing the camera to a helper Rama found, Wei Ran sat next to Edelweiss. Before the person who helped take the photo raised the camera, the latter tentatively and carefully leaned his thin body on Wei Ran's shoulder.

"Click"

The person who helped take the photo waited until everyone was ready, then pressed the shutter and returned the camera to Wei Ran.

"Can I take another photo for you?"

Wei Ran shook the camera in his hand and asked Rama who was staring at Ed's body in a daze.

Turning his head to look at Wei Ran, Lama nodded obediently, sat next to Ed who was leaning against the tire, and subconsciously reached out to grab the latter's cold hand.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran pressed the shutter button towards the brother and sister, and then waited until Hanward and Dalal sat on both sides of the brother and sister before pressing the shutter button again.

"Mr. Wei Ran, can I take a photo with you alone?"

Edelweiss, who had been waiting by the side, asked as Wei Ran put down the camera. She had wiped off the black stains on her face and neck, and even her short light blonde hair seemed to have been simply trimmed.

After looking at this shy yet bold girl, Wei Ran couldn't bear to refuse and handed the camera to the hot air balloon standing next to him.

"Veterinarian, as a gentleman, you should gently hug the girl next to you." The hot air balloon reminded in a joking tone.

After a slight hesitation, Wei Ran finally reached out and gently placed his hand on Edelweiss's waist and hips, and at the same time subconsciously looked at the girl who was looking up at him.

Seeing this, the hot air balloon decisively pressed the shutter as Edelweiss's face turned red.

Almost at the same time, Edelweiss, who seemed a little panicked, tacitly kept a distance from Wei Ran, who seemed equally panicked.

It is easy to guess why Edelweiss was panicking, but Wei Ran was panicking precisely because he guessed what Edelweiss was thinking, and then he remembered Qi Qi, the girl in the castle who once had the same idea.

He was afraid. He was afraid that Edelweiss would end up like Qi Qi.

He was too lazy to think again whether he would really not change the historical fragments he intervened in, nor was he too lazy to think about whether the girl's death last time was because he, a person who did not belong to the same time and space, was "untouchable".

But he would rather believe that he really has an influence on history and time, and would rather believe that he is an "untouchable" taboo for the people of this time and space.

Or rather, he didn't dare to take the risk, and was unwilling to add unnecessary dangers to Edelweiss in this already dangerous battlefield where life and death were at stake.

  Why bother.

Wei Ran took the camera handed to him by the hot air balloon with a sigh, while the latter simply bent down, picked up Ed and said, "I'll leave this to you. I'll send Ed to the freezer of the ship first."

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, he added, "I'll stop by the hospital and take the baby away. Edelweiss, what's the baby's name? I mean, what are you going to name him?"

"Ed"

Edelweiss said subconsciously, "Ed. Ed Holler, that's it, just call him this name, Ed Holler."

"Ed Holler, I remember this name."

The hot air balloon said, carrying Ed onto his motorcycle, "Come over and help me hold on."

Seeing this, Sewing Machine was the first to run over and help hold Ed's body. While the hot air balloon was tying him to his back with a rope, he asked, "Rama, are you really not leaving?"

"No, sir." Rama answered decisively and firmly again, "We choose to stay."

"Let's go," the sewing machine said to the hot air balloon.

The latter nodded, started the off-road motorcycle, and sped away with the manic roar of the engine.

“Let’s get ready to go back.”

The sewing machine looked at those who still hadn’t given up and said apologetically, “Rama, please translate for us.

We can’t waste all our precious time here, we need to rush back to the hospital where there may be more injured people who need urgent treatment.”

Hearing this, Rama, who had been looking at the back of the hot air balloon, came to his senses, nodded in agreement, and then ran towards an old man not far away.

After a while, several young men with scars on their hands came over and helped them pack up the tents and other items while speaking something in Arabic, and then secured them firmly on the storage rack on the roof.

"Let's go back"

The sewing machine took a last look at the ruins not far away and the bulldozer that was still working, "Let's go save more people."

"Let me drive this time." Before Edelweiss finished speaking, she had already opened the driver's door and sat in.

Amid the roar of the engine, Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, opened the passenger door and got in.

Almost at the same time as he fastened his seat belt, Edelweiss also drove the car and left with an almost shrill roar of the engine - her driving style was really different from her temperament.

They rushed back to the hospital in silence and bumpy traffic, and the situation there was almost as bad as they had expected.

There were many wounded people sitting or lying outside the operating room waiting for treatment. Among these people, almost half had burns of varying degrees of severity, while the other majority suffered from vomiting and diarrhea at the mildest, and coma and convulsions at the worst.

They didn't even bother to say hello to the hot air balloon crew that had arrived just before to pick up the baby. The already extremely tired crowd immediately joined the rescue work without stopping.

As for burns, Wei Ran, a "veterinarian" with a serious medical specialty and good at cutting off arms and legs, could do something, but he was completely helpless against the patients who were obviously suffering from food poisoning.

Compared to his helplessness, Edelweiss, who had been helping him before, became the main force at this time, and the little girl named Dalal became a more "useful" assistant than Wei Ran.

Seeing that he couldn't seem to be of any help, Wei Ran asked Rama to help find the person who brought the injured over and after some questioning he figured out the cause and effect of the matter.

The burns came from the oil splash caused by the flour dust explosion at a food supply point. There were about 20 to 30 injured. The explosion happened at lunch time. Now, almost all of the injured have been treated.

But in comparison, the situation of food poisoning is much more serious.

According to Rama's inquiry, the source of the poisoning was the only well in a settlement that had also been cut off from water. A dead rat appeared in the well - a rat killed by rat poison.

Although these all seem to be accidents, when Wei Ran asked Rama to find a map of Beirut printed 20 years ago and marked the locations of the three accidents on it, he found that if these three locations were connected, they would almost form a perfect equilateral triangle.

Looking at the time of the accident, the building collapse caused by the unexploded bomb occurred before sunrise in the morning, the flour explosion occurred at noon, and the poisoning incident occurred in the evening.

If this was a coincidence, God would probably have smashed his own eggs and stepped on them.

"Don't worry"

However, when Wei Ran was distracted, Rama said something that made him feel like he was falling into an ice cellar, "The hospital is already trying to contact for support."

"Support? What support?" Wei Ran, realizing that something was wrong, raised his head abruptly, "Where will the support come from?"

"Sabra and Shatila"

Rama immediately replied, "I heard from Nurse Ayub that there is a UN medical team and another humanitarian medical team there, and they are on their way."

"grass!"

Wei Ran's heart completely sank. Although he had not been to those two places, he knew clearly that the next massacre would take place there!

This is to lure the tiger away from the mountain!

  Lure the tiger that cannot be touched away from the "mountain" where the slaughter is about to begin!

If he still said that the subsequent massacre was not premeditated, he could crack God's eggs with his own hands!

He opened his mouth and was about to say something, but the burning sensation at the base of his palm calmed him down immediately. He took a deep breath and said in a pretended cheerful tone, "That's good, that's good, Rama, go and tell Mr. Sewing Machine and Mrs. Cradle about this good news, and of course, Edelweiss."

“I was just about to tell them the good news.”

Rama said innocently, "With so many people coming to help, you can all take a break."

"Yeah, it's time to take a break."

Wei Ran forced himself to look happy and snapped his fingers. "Well, Rama, you go inform them. I'll go to the black market to see if I can buy some medical supplies. The medicines sent by the hot air balloon may not be enough."

"How come I didn't know there was a black market in Beirut?" Rama looked at Wei Ran suspiciously.

"Children are not welcome in the black market," Wei Ran smiled, "Okay, let's go and inform them of the good news."

Hearing this, Rama did not doubt it and rushed into the operating room.

  I need to find some people who can understand me or who can let me understand you.

Wei Ran muttered something incoherently, let the wounded in the corridor pass, and ran back to the garage.

After climbing over the wall and returning to the inconspicuous yard behind the garage, Wei Ran first took a careful shower, then changed into a Falangist uniform that had been cleaned by the children, and then put on a pair of green work pants that had also been cleaned on the outside.

Finally, he wrapped an inconspicuous tattered blanket around his body and covered his head with a khaki scarf that belonged to someone unknown. Wei Ran climbed over the wall again, deliberately limping on one leg, and randomly changed direction, walking step by step along the dilapidated street, while looking for a suitable target.

After walking aimlessly for more than half an hour, he suddenly hid in the ruins of an empty building without any warning.

After waiting quietly for a moment, he cautiously stuck his head out and looked along the wall at a pickup truck parked on the side of the road diagonally opposite.

The pickup truck was not started and there were no weapons or markings on its body.

But even so, it still caught Wei Ran's attention, because there was a not-so-coordinated snake-bone antenna installed on the roof of the car's cab.

Not only that, at the door of the wreckage of the three-story building next to the car, there were three strong men who were not wearing uniforms but were fully armed, surrounding a burning oil drum.

What particularly concerned Wei Ran was that he not only smelled the aroma of food from afar, but also vaguely heard someone say in Hebrew, "When can we leave?" and the response that followed - "Shut up!"

I subconsciously looked up at the roof of the building. It was pitch black and there was no light at all.

After a moment's hesitation, he hid back in the ruins of the building and left from the other side, then made a big circle and went to the back of the three-story building.

Although there was no one guarding this place, Wei Ran almost subconsciously believed that there must be mines buried there. If it were him, he would definitely place a few mines there for defense.

After thinking it over, he went back to his original hiding place, hid in the shadow, curled up against the wall, and wrapped himself more tightly with the tattered blanket - like a real refugee.