War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1674 Vasily's Mailbox
"Are you crazy?! You want to catch fish with it?"

In the forest, Ruslan looked at Wei Ran in panic as he continued to look for the canned bomb. He then dropped the saw and the rope that was dragging the sled and ran towards the camp, shouting, "I'm going to tell Father Seryosha!"

"It's useless even if you tell Captain Qin. I'm going to kill this fish today."

Wei Ran muttered something, looked around, bent down, picked up another can and threw it into his bag. At the same time, he was thinking that the thing that blew up half of Igor's palm last night was most likely not a can bomb, but the butterfly bomb he had just encountered.

In other words, in order to avoid more people getting hurt, he might need to find a way to eliminate the butterfly bombs he encounters.

Having made up his mind, he simply picked up the saw that Ruslan had just thrown away, and after some searching, he sawed off a "Y"-shaped branch from a birch tree.

"We'll need two rubber bands and a piece of leather." While Wei Ran was weighing the branch in his hand, Seryosha had already run over following Ruslan.

"Comrade Victor, Ruslan said you..."

"That's right"

Wei Ran stuffed the branch he had just cut into his arms and said, "I picked up a lot of canned bombs and I'm going to try to see if I can use them to blow up some fish."

"Are you sure?" Seryosha asked a question that even Ruslan couldn't believe after a moment of silence.

"90%"

As Wei Ran returned the saw to Ruslan, he said, "I guess the last journalist who was killed in the explosion probably wanted to do the same thing."

"But he is dead, killed by a can bomb," Ruslan reminded as he took the saw.

“Journalist is just my side job”

Wei Ran smiled and patted the other person's shoulder. "I am sure about this matter, but I still need you to do me a favor."

"What help?" Seryosha asked without thinking.

"I need a can opener and some rope, and I also need some wood strips from ammunition boxes. These are very important."

Wei Ran said seriously, "Also, I may need to borrow two rubber infusion tubes from Olga, and I also need a small piece of cowhide."

"If you are confident and can catch fish, these are not a problem." Seryosha immediately promised, "I will personally prepare what you need."

"Thank you"

Wei Ran thanked him politely and said, "Ruslan, if you find any can bombs anywhere, please let me know, but don't pick them up yourself."

“You’re a lunatic”

Ruslan paused, "I know where there are canned bombs. There is a whole box of canned bombs. Come with me."

"Walk"

Wei Ran took a step forward without thinking and followed the other person into the depths of the forest.

Soon, he saw a World War II airdrop box hanging on a tree.

The box was almost identical to the one he had seen outside Leningrad, with the white parachute, the messy parachute ropes, and the box itself with skis and handles.

Of course, there are also bomb cans piled up like a mountain right below.

“These will surely be enough.”

Wei Ran sighed while muttering to himself, but turned around and walked back, "Let's go back. I'll come here to get it when I need it."

"Are you really sure?" Ruslan asked worriedly.

"Of course I am sure, don't worry."

Wei Ran said with certainty that he was very sure about this matter, as all the bombs that failed to explode in Baiyangdian could testify to this.

When Seryosha returned to the camp with Ruslan following him almost every step of the way, he had already found everything he needed and was waiting at the door of his shack.

Not only him, but also the nurse Olga and the old and young duo of old Ivan and little Sasha who were responsible for fishing were there.

"The preparations are a little dangerous, everyone go back first." Wei Ran said, "I'll let you know when I'm ready."

"Victor, we don't want another journalist to be killed here," Seryosha reminded.

"certainly"

Wei Ran nodded and took the thing handed to him.

"Old Ivan, Sasha, leave the fishing to our journalist comrades, you and Ruslan go collect firewood." Seryosha gave the order, "Olga, you go too."

After receiving the order, Olga and others looked at Wei Ran, and finally turned around and walked away.

"How's the harvest near the plane that fell yesterday?"

As the other party looked terrified, Wei Ran threw the bag full of canned bombs onto the snow beside the door and asked.

"I only picked up one fish," Seryosha said regretfully, "and it wasn't a big one."

"Dad, it's time for you to leave." Wei Ran reminded while taking out a can bomb.

Hearing this, Xie Liaosha was stunned for a moment, patted Wei Ran's shoulder gently, turned around and walked away.

Seeing this, Wei Ran picked up the things that the other party had helped to prepare, took the can bomb he had just found, turned around and went into the shack.

The things Seryosha helped prepare were quite complete, including a can opener, two rubber infusion tubes nearly half a meter long, a roll of parachute rope, a bundle of wooden planks less than ten centimeters wide, one centimeter thick, and at most half a meter long, and a palm-sized piece of soft cowhide. Judging from the material and color, it seemed to be cut from someone's boots.

After making the fire in the fireplace burn a little more vigorously, Wei Ran lit the kerosene lamp. He then took out two wooden sticks and placed them on the upper and lower ends of the can, and tied them tightly with an umbrella rope.

After completing the preparations, he picked up the can opener and began cutting along the edge of the can.

Soon, only the part of the can lid that was pressed down by the wooden planks was still connected.

He carefully moved the wooden plank that was holding down the can lid like the needle of a compass, then picked up the can opener again and cut the remaining parts of the can lid bit by bit.

Gently lifting the iron sheet at the corner, Wei Ran couldn't help but frown.

This was his first time actually defusing a can bomb, but it actually contained large chunks of meat and potatoes covered in lard.

This was really a temptation too vicious for the hungry people of Leningrad.

The choice between starving to death or being able to eat a bite of meat before being blown to death, it is not difficult to imagine what choice a person with weak willpower and suffering from hunger would make.

Without trying to pick out the meat inside, Wei Ran picked up another umbrella rope and wrapped the two wooden boards holding one end of the can together in circles, but he did not tie a knot, nor was he in a hurry to untie the knot he had tied before.

"This thing is good. It can fry fish and comes with its own bait for making nests."

Wei Ran muttered something amusingly, then without further delay, pinched the end of the rope, picked up the can clamped by the wooden planks, stood up and walked out of the shack.

Looking at Seryosha standing in the distance, Wei Ran waved his hand and said loudly, "Let's go and give it a try!"

"Come with me!"

Father Seryosha immediately called out and led Wei Ran to the ice at the edge of the island.

Soon, he saw Seryosha personally pulling out the pine branches that were blocking the ice hole, and stirring the ice-covered hole with a stick.

"Stay away!"

Wei Ran shouted to remind him. Father Xie Liaosha immediately ran away after hearing this, but he reminded him worriedly, "The ice is very slippery! Be careful!"

"Know!"

Wei Ran also responded loudly, then walked to the edge of the ice cave.

After stepping on the thick ice and looking at the shore more than ten meters away, Wei Ran also had a paratrooper gravity knife in his hand.

With a slight click, he swung out the sharp stainless steel blade and cut the knot tied around a section of the rope without hesitation. Then he threw the can bomb into the ice hole and turned around to run to the shore.

Apart from almost slipping halfway, there was still no explosion behind him until he ran to the edge of the artillery position.

"Could it be that the rope is wrapped around too many times?"

Wei Ran hid behind a shelter made of ice and snow, lit a cigarette and muttered to himself about ways to improve the situation, "Wrap the rope less around, and tie a piece of wood to the end of the rope to increase the pulling force with buoyancy.

Yes, it would be better to tie a stone to the other side of the board to make it sink deeper."

"What are you talking about?" asked Father Seryosha, who was also hiding here. "Why hasn't the canned bomb exploded yet?"

“Maybe it needs some changes”

"boom!"

Before Wei Ran could finish his words, an explosion was heard from the direction of the ice cave. Immediately afterwards, all the ice blocks in the area with a radius of more than five meters with the ice cave as the center were shattered. A water arrow also gushed out from the ice cave and flew seven or eight meters into the air!
In the cold mist raised by the lake water that crashed to the ground in the form of small ice beads, the first thing that came out of the sentry tower was a girl's clear and surprised shout, "Fish! I saw fish! There are several!"

"Victor! You've done a great job!"

Before Seryosha finished his words, he was the first to rush out of the artillery bunker, grabbing a scoop net!

"My best achievement was to get 50 kilograms of fish from a bundle of bombs."

Wei Ran muttered something in his native language, but did not rush out. Instead, he slowly took out the suitcase from his backpack, picked up the gun-style camera, used the telephoto lens to capture the surprised young girl in the sentry tower, and pulled the trigger while she waved at him. "Click"

With the faint sound of shutter, Wei Ran finally took the first solo photo.

Moving the "gun muzzle" to face the lake surface, Seryosha had already scooped up the first fish with the scoop net. Drops of water were dripping from the scoop net, as clear as the smile on Seryosha's father's old face.

"Click" Wei Ran pulled the trigger for the second time and took the second solo photo.

By the time he slowly put away his camera, Seryosha had already caught the fourth fish.

It’s a pity that these fish are not very big, at least they are far from what Wei Ran expected.

Without paying any attention to Seryosha who was still busy fishing out the fish that had escaped the net, Wei Ran had already turned and walked towards the shack. He wanted to make enough canned fried fish as soon as possible during the day, and try to complete the task of catching 20 kilograms of fish tonight.

Returning to the edge of the cemetery, Wei Ran just happened to see the little soldier Vasily, who was using a small sled to dump stones under the forked birch tree.

Before the other party could react, Wei Ran took out his Rollei twin-lens reflex camera and took a photo of him, then asked, "Vassily, what are you busy with?"

"Collect rocks, comrade journalist."

Vasily replied seriously, "These stones are used to build graves for the sacrificed people. This is my job."

"Can I borrow some stones?" Wei Ran asked.

"sure"

Vasily nodded generously. "Feel free to use them. I can find more stones."

"Can you help me deliver it to the door of my shack?" Wei Ran asked rather demandingly.

"no problem"

Vasily nodded, then took out a triangular letter from his pocket and handed it to him, pointing to the fork of the birch tree and said, “Can you help me put the letter into the mailbox?

I can't reach that high. If you can help me, I won't have to climb up on the rocks. This tree is too thick. I can't even hug it and can't climb up at all."

"mailbox?"

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then he tiptoed on the stones under the tree and took a look at the fork of the birch tree.

There was indeed something there. It was a metal ammunition box for a Maxim machine gun. Because of the angle, the ammunition box lay horizontally at the fork of the birch tree and could not be seen at all when standing under the tree.

I tried to pull it, but it seemed like the metal box was nailed to a tree branch and couldn't be removed at all.

Wei Ran tiptoed to open the lid of the box and was stunned. There was a not-so-big transparent glass jar in the box, and the triangular letter in the jar was already half full.

On the inside of the glass jar, facing outward, there is a note with the words "Vassily's mail box to his mother, all letters will be delivered after the war ends" in Russian.

In addition, the rest of the space in the box was filled with a German iron gas mask can, which contained various Soviet badges, rings, and even identity capsules.

Looking back at Vasily who was standing on tiptoe with his head tilted up and looking at him eagerly under the tree, Wei Ran pursed his lips, opened the glass lid of the can, threw the triangular letter in his hand into it, and carefully closed the lid again.

When he closed the metal lid of this special mailbox again, Vasily's red face showed a bright smile, "Thank you, comrade reporter, I will send the stone you asked for right away."

"Do you often write letters to your mother?" Wei Ran asked as he followed the other person towards his shack.

"I write every day, but letters are only put in once a week."

Vasily explained proudly, "My mother is a traffic officer on the ice road. She works every night not far from us with a signal light. Sometimes brother Yuri would secretly take me to sit on the sentry tower for a while and let me look for my mother's signal light."

"Can you find so many traffic lights?" Wei Ran asked, suppressing the soreness in his throat.

"Of course!"

Vasily said confidently, "The brightest signal light must be my mother's. She promised me that she would not leave the island too far. She would also adjust the signal light to the brightest so that I could see it when I stood on the sentry tower."

“I also went to the watchtower last night.”

Wei Ran told a cruel lie with the most sincere attitude, "At that time, I was curious why there was a signal light that was so bright. It turned out that it was your mother's."

"Did you see it too?" Vasily asked in surprise.

"Of course, of course I saw it."

Wei Ran said confidently, "I'm not blind. I can see even with my eyes closed."

These exaggerated words immediately made Vasily laugh out loud, and Wei Ran also sighed in his heart. This might be a secret and lie that the militiamen on this island had kept together.

"Should I unload the stones here?" Vasily asked when he reached the door of Wei Ran's shack.

"Yes, let me do it."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already overturned the other person's sled and poured all the few stones inside out at the door.

"Do you need me to help you pick up more stones?" Vasily patted the small hammer on his waist. "I know where there are the most stones."

“That’s enough.”

Wei Ran helped the man put on his fur hat, squatted down and said, "Vassili, what I'm going to do next is a little dangerous, so if I don't call you, how about you stay away from this shack? I'm worried that I might hurt you."

"Comrade Victor, you must also pay attention to your safety." Vasily said seriously.

“I will be careful about safety.”

Wei Ran smiled and made a promise, then like a magic trick he took out a pen from the metal notebook and handed it to the other person, "I'll give this pen to you. You can use it to write a letter to your mother."

“It’s a pen!”

Vasily's eyes widened, and he asked in surprise, "Is it possible? I have wanted a fountain pen for a long time! My father promised to give me a fountain pen before he died!"

"Okay, it's yours from now on." Wei Ran said with a smile.

"Thank you, Comrade Victor!"

Vasily took the initiative to hug Wei Ran, put the pen into the inner pocket of his shirt, and happily left Wei Ran's shack pulling his small sled.

"I hope you survive"

Wei Ran prayed weakly, bent down, picked up a few stones and held them in his arms, then carried the bag of canned bombs into the shack.

With the experience of the first fried fish can, Wei Ran's subsequent movements became much faster, and he added extra weighted stones and buoyant sticks for pulling the rope to each one.

While he was busy making fishing tools, the cook Vlada also took the seven fish that Father Seryosha personally delivered to her.

These seven fishes were not big. The largest one was probably only one kilogram, and the smallest one was only the size of a palm. But these were enough for Vlada, who was still worried about dinner.

“This reporter is really good!”

Vlada said with satisfaction, "My Olga was praising his medical skills last night. Oh my God! No, what kind of treasure did Comrade Stalin send us? I was actually complaining about him taking up the weight of the artillery shells last night."

"yes."

Father Seryosha sighed, "Vlada, give Comrade Victor more rations for lunch. I have a feeling that he will become as important as Olga and Giannina."

"Then save some from my rations for him," Vlada said as a matter of course.

"Save some of mine for the injured Igor," Seryosha said. "I just want some fish soup."

"Don't be so stupid. You still have to command the children to fight."

Before he finished speaking, the fisherman Old Ivan came in and said, "Save my share. Since the reporter has a way to catch fish, it doesn't matter if I eat less."

"I think the journalist comrades might be able to fill our bellies."

Chief Cannon Jiao Niya, who was helping in the kitchen, said, "Why not give the reporter some time? I have a feeling that he will fill our stomachs."

"Are you in love with him?" asked old Ivan, laughing.

"I'm not that stupid Lisa."

Jiao Niya rolled her eyes and said, "Before the war is over, I will not fall in love with anyone, including our reporter comrade and sentry comrade Yuri."

"Okay, let's stop talking about boring topics about love."

Seryosha glanced at the fish soup being served and said, "Let's do as Jiao Niya said. Let's give the reporter some time. Maybe he can really fill our stomachs."

"Then it's settled"

Jiao Niya urged, "Okay, go and notify the people on duty during the day to come over for dinner, including our reporter comrades. Also, I'll deliver Sonya's meal to the sentry tower later."

"I'll go inform them and deliver the fish soup to the reporter comrade." Father Seryosha stood up before he finished speaking. After a short pause, he took a Soviet lunch box handed to him by Jiaonia, turned around and walked out of the warm kitchen.

At the same time, Wei Ran had already made six or seven cans of fried fish. At this moment, he was using a food knife to sharpen the tree branches he had cut earlier - he had to make a slingshot as soon as possible to defuse the butterfly bombs.

Frying fish and shooting lotus flowers with a slingshot were his greatest childhood pleasures, but they were also the games that most likely got him beaten.

But he never imagined that the game he played as a child would one day be used on the battlefield.