War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1606 Two Letters

In the mine tunnel that was as bright as daylight by several calcium carbide lamps, Zhao Jinyu, who was lying beside the stove, had not yet regained consciousness. Not far away, Hu Bazhi was still making boots with the remaining mule skin with the help of Miss Hongxia.

Even the youngest member, Yang Shiyi, could already change the dressings for the wounded on her own in an orderly manner.

At the very edge of the mine tunnel, Wei Ran sat cross-legged on a piece of Japanese waterproof canvas, busy with his work.

In front of him was the canvas map, and on top of the map were letters home that he had written.

What he had to do was to put ten extra silver dollars in each envelope - even though he didn't know whether there was a chance to deliver these letters to the corresponding persons in this time and space.

This was already the evening of the third day since they decided to leave. According to the previous agreement, if Big Beard Cui had not returned after dark, then they should leave.

During these two days, Wei Ran not only helped the two wounded soldiers, the Sun sisters, and even Miss Hongxia to write a letter home which they didn't know when they would have the chance to deliver, but also helped everyone take an individual photo and a group photo including himself.

During these same two days, everyone was making careful preparations to the best of their ability for the upcoming escape.

Miss Hongxia and the Sun sisters stewed all the mule meat until it was soft and boneless and filled lunch boxes. They also collected a sack of charcoal.

In addition to sewing pair after pair of boots to keep in the mine, Hu Bazhi also asked Wei Ran to leave a letter for Cui Da Huzi, asking him to take the boots away and distribute them to the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces fighters when he came back.

"What's the weather like outside?"

Just when Wei Ran carefully wrapped all the letters containing silver dollars with the canvas map, Tian Xiaohu also asked.

"Sister Shiyi, go and take a look." said Miss Hongxia, who was busy making the last few pairs of boots with Hu Bazhi.

They have had a lot of work to do these past two days. In order to make these boots, her hands and those of the Sun sisters have been rubbed full of blisters.

"I'm going right now!"

Before Yang Shiyi finished her words, she had already picked up the flashlight and trotted towards the exit of the mine.

"No more waiting," Tian Xiaohu said, suppressing his anxiety, "Let's go tonight!"

"Who is in the same car with whom?" Hu Bazhi asked a seemingly insignificant question without even raising his head.

"If Sister Hongxia can drive a carriage, let her drive with the Sun sisters and Sister Shiyi. The four girls together don't have much weight."

"How can I not know? It's not difficult to command animals!" Miss Hongxia responded confidently.

“That saves a lot of trouble.”

Tian Xiaohu said with a smile, "There are four of us left. Two people in one car, you two can divide it up. Brother Wei, we have two cars with guns."

"We're getting ready"

Wei Ran said, "These two vehicles, each has a Hua machine gun and a Type 38 rifle, and my brother Hu and I also have a box gun each."

"Take the devil's grenade launcher with you too!"

Hu Bazhi suggested, "I remember there were still a few shells when we counted them yesterday. Maybe they can help."

“I’ll bring it with me when the time comes.”

Wei Ran agreed readily. It was just a grenade launcher and five shells. Anyway, he had the sled, so those things wouldn't take up much of the weight.

"The flag, map, and letter should all be left with Brother Jin Yu, right?" Tian Xiaohu continued.

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed silently. It was obvious that Tian Xiaohu wanted to ensure that Zhao Jinyu at least survived.

"no problem"

Wei Ran readily agreed before Hu Bazhi opened his mouth, and at the same time gave a wink to Hu Bazhi who was about to say something.

At this moment, Yang Shiyi also ran back with a flashlight in hand, "It's snowing again, it's snowing really hard!"

"Is it dark yet?" Hu Bazhi asked first.

"You can even see the treetops on the opposite ridge," Yang Shiyi replied immediately.

"We have to wait a little longer," Hu Bazhi made the judgment based on his experience as a hunter.

"In that case, why don't we have a full meal first!" Miss Hongxia suggested at the right time.

"It's time to have a good meal!" Tian Xiaohu agreed, "Have a good meal!"

"Then you just wait!"

As Miss Hongxia spoke, she had already put down the shoes that were about to be made and started working on them skillfully.

This meal is actually simple. The rice seized from the Japanese had been stewed more than half an hour ago. All it takes is to pour the extra soft mule meat and the broth with a layer of fat on it, and it's ready.

Thanks to the sufficient seasoning, objectively speaking, the meal was pretty good, except that there was less rice and more meat.

"What are you going to do next?"

Hu Bazhi came up to Wei Ran with a lunch box that was almost bursting with food and asked in a low voice.

"Let Jin Yu and squad leader Xiao Hu ride in the same car."

Wei Ran, holding a cigarette in his hand, replied in a low voice, "You are much more familiar with this forest than I am, so you can drive the sled and lead them in front."

"What about you?" Hu Bazhi asked in a low voice.

"I'll take Xiao Shen and Xiao Li with me to cover our retreat."

Wei Ran lowered his voice a little, "Let the girls' sleds be in the middle. Brother Hu, you have a heavy task to do, but you must lead the way well."

"Do not worry"

Hu Bazhi, whose attention had been diverted invisibly, patted his chest and made a promise.

“Take this.”

Wei Ran pointed to the letters wrapped in a canvas map beside him and said, "Listen to squad leader Xiaohu, I'll put these here when the time comes."

"I can't read, but I'm not stupid."

Hu Bazhi ate the soft stewed mule meat and whispered, "You helped write those letters, so you can keep them. When you get out alive, you can find a way to deliver the letters yourself. I won't take this crappy job."

Hearing this, Wei Ran opened his mouth, and finally nodded helplessly, "Okay, then I'll take it myself." Hu Bazhi lowered his voice and asked, "Do you think that girl Shiyi can be trusted?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Wei Ran asked back, but at the same time he secretly sighed in his heart. Not to mention Hu Bazhi, he himself has no way out now.

Everything else was fine, but Zhao Jinyu's fever hadn't subsided, and she hadn't regained consciousness. With his half-baked veterinary skills, there was nothing he could do at the moment.

“Nothing to do”

Hu Bazhi whispered indistinctly, "After all, she is a gangster's child. If she dares to deceive us, I will skin her alive!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran did not say anything. He just took out the knife that the other party had given him and cut the mule meat, which was originally very soft and rotten, into smaller pieces. Then he took out the pair of deer antler chopsticks and shoveled the meat into his mouth in big mouthfuls.

For a moment, the only sound in the mine tunnel, which was extremely brightly lit by the calcium carbide lamp, was the clattering of dishes and chopsticks.

After eating and drinking, everyone rested for a while, then carried the wounded and walked out in silence.

After careful observation, Wei Ran opened the iron gate that was almost buried by snow. Before he could see the situation outside clearly, the howling mountain wind blew large flakes of snow in his face.

After squinting his eyes and taking a look, Wei Ran lifted the blanket wrapped around the oil lamp and hung it on the trunk of the birch tree at the door.

Almost at the same time, the Sun sisters and Miss Hongxia led out their only three large animals.

While they were calming the animals, Wei Ran hurried back and moved out the three sleds. While the girls were harnessing the sleds, he took out the pine needles that had been prepared in advance and three braziers made of mud mixed with horse and mule manure and placed them on the sleds.

Following closely behind, Hu Bazhi also carried a sack of charcoal that had been burned in advance and several bundles of firewood that had been chopped in advance onto the sled.

After lighting the brazier, everyone moved out the rest of the things, even the bedding, and finally carried the four wounded onto the car. They covered them with blankets or cotton-padded clothes stripped from the Japanese soldiers, and stuffed each of them with a hot water bottle or kettle filled with hot water.

"Try not to shoot"

As Wei Ran spoke, he handed a submachine gun and a Type 38 rifle to Xiao Shen and Xiao Li who were lying on the sled.

“We are not rookies.”

While Xiao Li was speaking, he had already taken the Type 38 rifle, and Xiao Shen, who was sitting next to him, took the submachine gun.

Hearing this, Wei Ran just smiled, put on the Japanese's waterproof canvas as a raincoat, turned around to close the iron fence door, wrapped it with an iron chain, and buried it with snow. Then he sat on the sled and waited for the first two sleds to start moving. Then he slowly shouted to the big black horse to follow.

Behind him, Xiao Li, whose feet were severely frostbitten but luckily recovered, held the Type 38 rifle in his arms and wrapped it with the Japanese blanket he was wearing. He and Xiao Shen, who had a broken hand and leg, were chatting in a low voice around the brazier that had just been lit in the middle of the sled.

These two wounded soldiers were also the first two Anti-Japanese Allied Forces wounded and sick people that Wei Ran had come into contact with. Xiao Li's full name was Li Hai, an ordinary name. From the family letter that Wei Ran had written for him before, he roughly knew that Li Hai had a younger brother named Li Shan, who had fled to the interior with his uncle several years ago and had not been heard from since.

The family letter he asked Wei Ran to write was addressed to his brother, whom he had no news from and whose life or death he did not know.

He remembered very clearly that in that letter, Li Hai told his brother where his parents were buried after they were killed by the devils, and that if he was still alive and had the ability, he must remember to avenge his parents.

The sentence "I don't know where my brother is" added to the few words in the letter made the letter without even an address seem like a will filled with despair.

In comparison, the letter from another wounded soldier was particularly long.

The full name of the injured soldier, Xiao Shen, is Shen Baoying. Although this young man is only twenty-one or twenty-two years old, according to his own introduction in casual conversation, he was kidnapped by gangsters when he was fourteen or fifteen. Unfortunately, his family could not afford to redeem him. The head shopkeeper saw that he was smart and simply kept him to work by his side.

Unexpectedly, the bandit leader's momentary kindness actually saved Shen Baoying. When he had made a name for himself in the bandit's den and was trusted and allowed to return home, he happened to see the Japanese setting fire to their village - just like what happened in Gaoliang Village, which Wei Ran had visited before and was not far from the Temple of the God of Wealth.

On impulse, Shen Baoying took out the box gun given to him by the shopkeeper and fired at the Japanese. As expected, he was chased by the Japanese all the way. In the end, he was rescued by Zhao Jinyu's brother Zhao Jinshan.

However, Shen Baoying's family letter contained only one name after another, a total of 142 names, or names that were not considered names, such as "Fat Second Aunt" and "Fifth Great Grandfather", as well as a detailed address called "Shenjia Village", and "Mid-Autumn Festival in the 24th year of the Republic of China", a time point that should have represented reunion.

Suppressing the hatred that he could not suppress when thinking of the two letters, Wei Ran shook the reins vigorously, urging the big black horse to go a little faster.

Perhaps it was because the weather was too cold, or perhaps it was because the wind and snow were too strong, but their three sled vehicles encountered neither people nor wolves, and they left Langcaozigou very smoothly.

"There is a light on the top of the hill where Manager Cao lives," said Xiao Li, pointing at the flickering fire in the distance while sitting on the sled.

"I guess the boss on that mountain top now can't be named Cao!" Xiao Shen joked.

"What's your last name, Ai?" Xiao Li held the gun tightly in his arms, "Don't run into us at this time."

"Don't keep saying that." Xiao Shen subconsciously clenched the submachine gun in his hand, "If we die, we have to take a few Japanese with us."

"I've made enough money," Xiao Li said happily, "and I even made a special profit of three."

"I haven't collected enough yet," Xiao Shen took a puff of his cigarette, "I'm still one hundred and thirty-six short."

"There are still plenty of little devils out there."

After Xiao Li finished speaking, he sighed, suppressed his despair and sighed, "When will the special code be killed?"

"I don't know what happened to the captain and the others."

Xiao Shen also sighed, and it seemed that even the cigarette in his mouth had lost its taste.

For a moment, the only sounds in the three people's ears were the sound of the cold wind, the sound of falling snowflakes, and the crunching sound of horses' hooves stepping on the thick snow.

In this despairing silence, three or two sleds, led by Hu Bazhi, were moving against the wind and snow.

A layer of frost gradually accumulated on their bodies, the animals and even the sleds, which took away their body temperature, so that they had to stop every now and then to clean themselves, the animals and the sleds before continuing on their way.

We walked and stopped like this for a whole night. As the sky gradually brightened, the wind that had been blowing all night stopped first, but the snow continued to fall.

"We've been walking all night, we need to find a place to rest."

Hu Bazhi turned around and said, "If we go any further, the animals won't be able to bear it."

"Where are we going to rest?" Wei Ran, who had caught up with them in his car, and most of the Hongxia girls, whose bodies were frozen, asked in unison. They were all extremely cold.

"Front"

Hu Bazhi pointed with the whip in his hand and said, "There is a leeward valley ahead. Let's go there to rest. We can continue walking after we have rested enough."

"Brother Hu, how far is this place from the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces' camp?" Wei Ran asked suddenly.

"That's far away," Hu Bazhi raised his hand and pointed in a direction, "We didn't go that way."

"I don't know if I'll have the chance to see Captain Zhao again."

Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu and others who were also looking in that direction almost sighed in their hearts.