War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1708 The Name on the Seal
On the day they arrived in Madrid, Diane, on behalf of Mr. Hans, warmly treated Wei Ran and others to a sumptuous Spanish meal, and they also enjoyed a flamenco dance.

Overall, except that the rice in the paella was a little undercooked, the rest of the food and dance performances were more in line with the tastes of Wei Ran, Sui Sui and the Kajianka sisters.

As for Channing, an American who only deserves to eat McDonald's, he has no right to be picky about his diet.

"You should have a good rest today."

After sending Wei Ran and others back to the hotel after having a good meal and a few drinks, Diane followed Comrade Channing, who had been eating and drinking for free but had deliberately not drunk any alcohol, and before entering the hotel door, he apologized and said that he was going to visit a local friend. Then, he drove his rented car and disappeared from sight as Wei Ran, Sui Sui and others watched him go.

"I'll take you on a tour of Madrid tomorrow," Diane said as she and Wei Ran and others continued to walk towards the hotel.

"Sister Diane comes here often?" Su Su asked curiously.

"I got here only two days earlier than you did."

Diane waved her hand, "But Mr. Hans arranged a tour guide for us."

"Is there a bullfighting show in our itinerary?" Sui Sui asked the question she had been looking forward to on the way.

“I’m afraid not.”

Diane explained, "I was looking forward to the bullfight before I came here, but the bullfighting season in Spain is from March to the end of October every year. We were late, so there will be no bullfighting during this season."

"What about wrestling? Will there be Spanish wrestling?" Sui Sui continued to ask.

“This wish will be granted.”

Diane said as she helped everyone press the elevator switch, "From what I heard, there will be a very exciting wrestling show before the auction."

Before Diane finished her words, the elevator door opened and everyone walked into the elevator.

After agreeing on a meeting time for tomorrow, Wei Ran, Sui Sui and the Kajianka sisters moved into a three-room suite arranged for them by Mr. Hans.

This arrangement might just be a little joke played by Mr. Hans, or it might just be a smokescreen that he helped to release. Regardless of the original purpose, at least it avoided the hidden danger of being divided in terms of safety.

While the Kajianka sisters were checking the room, Sui Sui also pulled Wei Ran to sit on the sofa in the living room and asked, "Are we going to participate in the auction this time?"

"Do you want to take some photos to take back?" Wei Ran asked with interest.

"If there's anything I'm interested in, I'd really like to take some photos and bring them back."

Sui Sui said excitedly, "I haven't participated in a formal auction yet."

“This auction is probably not formal.”

Wei Ran muttered to himself, but said, "Except for that flag, you can try to take pictures of other flags if you are interested in them."

Hearing this, Sui Sui immediately realized something, "So that flag..."

"Mr. Hans is going to give it to me as a gift"

Wei Ran paused, and then "adapted" the segment in which Hans took him to meet his friends in a conference room in another hotel in a more decent way, and then told it to Sui Sui.

"We have to thank Mr. Hans very much"

Su Su heaved a sigh of relief when she heard that. It's not that she knew nothing, she just wasn't curious about it. Now that Mr. Hans was willing to help her, she was finally not so nervous anymore.

“There will be opportunities later.”

Wei Ran agreed with a smile. Although he owed Mr. Hans a favor this time, he did not expect anything from him.

While the two were chatting, the Kajianka sisters carefully checked the suite again, and only went into their own bedrooms after making sure it was safe.

"Let's go back and rest too."

Sui Sui yawned, opened her arms and let Wei Ran carry her into the bedroom.

While these young people were busy adjusting to the jet lag, Channing had already driven his rented car and followed the navigation to the door of a small antique shop.

At the same time, in the conference room of the hotel where Mr. Hans took Wei Ran, none of those "respectable people" left.

“We’ve been sitting here for a long time.”

Rabbi Roytz spoke up, “So gentlemen, do you have any new ideas?”

“Be on time for the auction”

One of them stood up and said, "I don't want to be locked up by that vampire and used as raw materials, and he just invested a large sum of money in me this year."

"What if we kill that vampire?" one of the old guys in the conference room suggested, "and kill that Chinese guy at the same time."

"I haven't heard anything. I will attend the auction on time in three days."

As Rabbi Roitz spoke, he stood up and walked out of the smoke-filled conference room at the same time as the first person who stood up.

For a moment, there were noises of tables and chairs, and in the blink of an eye, the only person left in the conference room was the one who proposed killing Mr. Hans.

"The stakes offered by the person who posted the bounty are far from enough to balance the risks of killing the vampire Hans, and they are not even enough to pay for the trouble of killing that Chinese man."

Mrs. Alona, ​​who was the last one to leave the room, kindly reminded them, "Everyone is just pretending. Mr. Hans is just giving everyone an excuse not to attack that Chinese man. I didn't expect that only an idiot like you would be tempted by that ridiculous reward."

After saying that, Mrs. Alona ignored her old friend who had cold sweat on his face and was the last one to leave the meeting room.

Almost at the same time, Mr. Hans, who was resting in the room, also received a call from Rabbi Roitz.

"What a pleasant surprise," Mr. Hans said with a smile, "Rabbi Royce, see you at the auction."

“See you at the auction”

Rabbi Roitz hung up the phone with a smile, then looked at his companions and walked into the elevator with tacit laughter.

On the second day after arriving in Madrid, Wei Ran, Sui Sui and the Kajianka sisters, who had recovered from the jet lag, were led by Diane and a middle-aged female tour guide who could speak Russian, and they spent their time wandering around the streets and famous attractions of Madrid with great interest.

Generally speaking, the attractions are very nice, but the experience is greatly reduced by those petty thieves who pretend to be enthusiastic and come up to chat with people but are actually always trying to rob or cheat you of your property.

After two consecutive days of touring several famous attractions, Channing, who had been missing for the past two days, finally returned to the hotel on the eve of the auction and knocked on Wei Ran's door.

"Victor, please come to my room." Channing said nervously as Wei Ran opened the door.

After a slight hesitation, Wei Ran looked back at Anfisa, then raised his chin towards Sui Sui who was brushing her teeth and washing her face in the bathroom.

After Anfisa nodded, Wei Ran walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Following the seemingly defenseless Channing into his room across the street, the latter motioned Wei Ran to close the door, and immediately put the backpack he had been carrying on the table, "Victor, guess where I have been these two days?"

"To be a wrestler?" Wei Ran gave a nonsensical answer.

"I'll be hammered into mincemeat"

Channing grinned, excitedly asked Wei Ran to sit down, and lowered his voice, saying with a little pride, "I found the old house where the flag was found, and spent some money to find some other interesting things inside."

"Take it out and let me see it?" Wei Ran said as he looked at the other person's bulging backpack.

"Of course, I asked you to come here to share the surprise."

As Channing spoke, he had already opened the zipper of his backpack and took out the items inside one by one. The one closest to him was a medal of the Second Spanish Republic, which was awarded to soldiers who participated in the International Brigade.

The second item taken out was a Soviet SSH36 steel helmet, which is an absolute rarity because of its limited existence. Even if one is in poor condition, it can be easily sold at a high price of two thousand US dollars, which is already a high price for a steel helmet.

The helmet in front of him had neither stress cracks nor bullet holes, and even the original paint had not been corroded by rust.

What is particularly important is that a hammer and sickle is painted on the left side of the helmet with white paint, and a red triangular star is painted on the back of the head. On the right side, three blocks of red, yellow and purple are randomly painted from top to bottom as if with fingers dipped in paint.

"This medal and this helmet cost me 3500 euros," Chanin said, taking out the third item from his bag. This time it was two seals tied together with a red cloth.

The first seal was made of blood red with yellow spots and had a square cross-section. The yellow spots on the seal were all carved into the shape of a carp, which was exceptionally beautiful.

Looking at the second seal, it is a cylinder with nothing carved on the top, but there is a hole with a piece of red cloth passing through it.

The red strip of cloth also passed through the gaps left between the carps carved on the previous seal.

After getting Channing's consent, Wei Ran took out a pair of silk gloves he carried with him and put them on, then picked up the square seal and looked at it.

"Yu Yanlin Yin, Yu Yanlin Yin? Is he a Chinese?"

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the second seal. This time, half of a Japanese name was engraved on the seal: Matsui.

As for the other half, unfortunately, a piece of this seal, whose material could not be identified, was knocked off, leaving only the surname Matsui.

“These things were found in that old house.”

Chanin said, "The medal and the two small stones were in a leather bag the size of a palm, which was fastened to the straps of the helmet."

"Have you been working on these things these two days?" Wei Ran asked curiously after putting down the two seals.

“I also got some information.”

Channing said, “The owner of the old house died 30 years ago, and the current owner has no direct blood relationship with the original owner.

He didn’t even know there was something in the safe in the basement, let alone that the flag had been stolen.”

"Have you told the other party?"

"I'm not a fool," Channing spread his hands, "I just bought these things and did nothing else."

"that's it?"

"of course not"

Chanin said, "According to the current owner, he cleaned up the old house this fall and found a photo that was suspected to be of the original owner. Someone offered 100 euros to buy the photo."

"100 Euros?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows. "What's in the photo?"

"He just said it was a photo of a few soldiers and didn't think there was anything special about it."

Channing pointed to the helmet on the table. "But he remembered that someone in the photo was wearing that helmet."

"How about selling these things to me?" Wei Ran asked.

"no no no"

Channing waved his hand without thinking, "Victor, even though we are friends, I am not going to sell this helmet. It will become my collection, and I want to keep it..."

"Where are these?"

Wei Ran pointed at the two seals and asked, "How about selling them to me? 3500 Euros."

"make a deal"

Channing agreed to this sure win deal without a second thought, "Victor, are these two seals anything special?"

"This seal may have come from a Chinese soldier"

Wei Ran pointed to the blood-red seal and said, then pointed to another one, "This seal seems to be a nuclear recruit. I want to try to find their owner."

"If you find it, remember to let me know the good news," Channing said.

"I will transfer the money to you later," Wei Ran said as he put away the two seals.

"Will you bid in tomorrow's auction?" Channing nodded and asked a little nervously.

"At least I won't bid on that flag"

Wei Ran said, "But I'm not sure whether Mr. Hans and his friends will make an offer."

“I am very satisfied if you can say that.”

Channing breathed a sigh of relief. The reason he asked Wei Ran to come over was actually to test the other party's attitude.

As for being able to sell the two small stones that were just given to him at a high price of 3500 Euros, it was purely a pleasant surprise for him.

Without wasting any more time in Channing's room, Wei Ran said goodbye and left with the two seals in his hand, returning to their room.

"What happened?" Sui Sui, who had been waiting for Wei Ran to close the door, asked immediately.

"I lost 3500 euros, but I got this."

Wei Ran shook the seal in his hand and said, "Can you lend me your lipstick?"

"I'll get it!"

Before Sui Sui finished her words, she ran back to the bedroom and came back soon with a lipstick.

After taking the lipstick, Wei Ran, who had already washed his hands, rubbed the lipstick on his fingers, and then rubbed the lipstick on his fingers on the seal.

At the same time, Anfisa also took the letter provided by the hotel and asked Wei Ran to put the seal on it.

"Yu Yanlinyin? Yu Yanlin? Is he a Chinese?" Sui Sui asked.

"At least he's of Chinese descent," Wei Ran said as he looked at the seal on the letter. He then took out his cell phone and played back the photo of the flag that Channing had sent him. He also found the words "Fight for your freedom and our freedom" written in Chinese in the photo.

"Do you think that this sentence on the flag was written by Yu Yanlin?" Wei Ran asked Sui Sui.

"I don't know," Sui Sui shook her head, "but I want to believe that he wrote it."

"Fighting for your freedom and ours"

Wei Ran was playing with the seal he had just bought but had not yet paid for, while he kept repeating the Chinese words on the flag, while at the same time focusing his attention on the triangular stars pinned on the previous photo.

If there was a Chinese or Huaxia person named Yu Yanlin who participated in that battle, and if he wrote that Chinese sentence on the flag, then, would one of the 27 triangular stars be his?
If one of them was his, did that mean he was killed?

Confused by these questions, Wei Ran couldn't help but look forward to tomorrow's auction - he wanted to get the flag that could be described as "romantic", and he was even more curious about the stories of a group of unknown people hidden behind the flag.

"Do not worry"

At this time, Sui Sui patted Wei Ran on the shoulder and said firmly, "If those soap guys are unwilling to take a picture of the flag and give it to you tomorrow, I will take it and give it to you!"