War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 195 The promise of half a Snickers bar
"Snapped!"

Almost at the same time that Conon finished speaking, Markla, who came over, slapped the other party's face fiercely.Then he took him by the neck and pulled him off the sleigh cart and pressed him into the snow.

Taking advantage of Conon's struggle, Markla easily confiscated the gun on the opponent's waist, slapped the other half of his face fiercely, and then grabbed a ball of snow and pressed it on the former to be slapped. With a flushed face, he said in a cold tone, "Konon, put away your naive prejudices. First of all, those Germans who are retreating at least did not rob Finland like the Soviet Union. occupied land.

Second, those German soldiers were once indeed our friends, but now they are our enemies.Me and my son Carl, and Victor from your occupied Vipri, we're going to kill those German soldiers just as we did years ago to kill the invading Soviets.

In the end, you should never expect us to consider you and the USSR behind your ass as friends.Other than that, if you want our respect, at least talk and act like a sensible adult.At least not drawing a gun on someone sitting in the same sleigh.

can you understand what I am saying?Answer me, can you understand what I say? "

The journalist Kenon, who was stunned by Markla's yelling, came back to his senses, and said with some disappointment, "I understand, I understand."

"this is the last time"

Markla grabbed Conon by the neck and pulled him up, "If I see you trying to point the gun at any of us, including the two animals, I will strip you naked and tie you to a tree." Come on, let you freeze into a guidepost like the Soviets who invaded Finland in 39!"

Pushing Conon back onto the sleigh, Markla let go of the opponent's neck collar, and then took the pistol out of the magazine and returned it to Conon, "You still have a bullet in your pistol. When you fight, I'll give you the magazine back. If you think it's unfair, you can shoot me with the last bullet.

If you have no objection, just write your diary honestly in the sleigh.Keep your mouth shut and don't ask any more stupid questions until we catch up to that fleeing German armored vehicle and shoot him down! "

Amidst the heavy snow falling with goose feathers, the dense coniferous forest is full of unspeakable tranquility.Conon, with two palm prints remaining on his face, was panting violently while sitting on the snow-covered sleigh. After a long time, the young reporter said nervously to himself, "I am from Leningrad. Residents of Leningrad who were besieged by the Germans and you Finns for 1941 days from 900 to the beginning of this year!

During those 900 days, my mother died of starvation, and my fiancée was taken to the bottom of the lake by aerial bombs dropped from above Lake Ladoga, leaving no body behind. "

Speaking of which, Conon unbuttoned his jacket, took off the hat and scarf on his head, pointed to the bullet wound on his chest and the scars on his neck, face, and head with his hand that seemed to have been burned, and said calmly, "These were left to me by the Germans. I survived the siege of Leningrad on less than two hundred grams of bread and rats a day. I chose to be a reporter instead of being a reporter when Leningrad was besieged. Fight with an anti-tank gun.

What do you think I am for?Because journalists are more likely to survive?Or do you think my camera is more powerful than your anti-tank gun and kills more Fabs? "

Markla and his son, who had different positions, did not respond to Conon, who was a little bit collapsed. Instead, they seemed to have not heard, and concentrated on taking care of the two reindeer who had been running for several hours.

Seeing the stalemate between the two sides, Wei Ran sighed, picked up the ax on the sled and handed it to Conon, "If you have the strength to shout here, why don't you chop some while the stove on the sleigh is still extinguished?" Ermu is back, and by the way, it can calm you down."

Conon tried his best to calm down his emotions. It took a long time before he took the axe. After jumping off the sleigh, he stepped on the thick snow and walked to the side of a lying pine tree. He swung the ax in his hand fiercely, as if to All the hatred for the Germans was vented on that dead tree.

The young Karl sneered in a low voice, "Is that Soviet idiot planning to build a house? If we want to chop such a thick log into firewood, we may have to wait a day."

"Take care of your stinky mouth that always causes trouble!" Makla slapped the former hard on the back of the head, "Everyone is a victim of war, who can be better off than whom?"

Carl curled his lips, changed places with his father Markla, put the sack of beans to the mouth of the second reindeer, and said rather unconvinced, "At least the Germans"

"Slap!" Markla slapped his son's face for the third time, "If you say one more nonsense, go back!"

Carl clenched the sack in his hand tightly, and finally closed his mouth obediently.Wei Ran, who had been on the sidelines, shook his head secretly, got up and moved a little away from the sleigh, then hid behind a pine tree, took out the binoculars in the metal book and looked towards the end of the rut.

In the field of vision of the binoculars, the thick pine trees stood quietly on the snow field, and the heavy snow falling from the top of their heads gradually increased their load. Farther away, several foxes struggled to jump into the air, turning their bodies dexterously With the tip of the nose down, poke hard in the thick snow, looking for the rodents that hide under the snow for their hunger.

As he continued to move his sight forward, the ruts were completely covered by the rolling pine forest, making it impossible for him to know the scale of the enemy he was looking for.

With the soft "creaking" sound, Markla, who was carrying a submachine gun, came from the direction of the sleigh cart, and Wei Ran retracted the binoculars in a timely manner.

"Did you find anything?" While Makla was speaking, he took out a piece of smoked venison the size of a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran.

After taking the dry and hard meat sticks and stuffing them into his mouth, Wei Ran shook his head, "I can't see anything, everything is blocked."

"Crossing the mountain in front is Lake Yeris," Markla whispered incoherently.

"Lake Yeris?" Wei Ran stopped chewing the meat strips and looked at Markla in confusion.

"On the other side of Lake Yeris is Muonio"

Marka lowered his voice again, and his tone became more relaxed, "Just pass through Muonio and continue west for a few kilometers to enter Sweden."

"So you want to"

"I don't want anything"

Marka returned to the topic without waiting for Wei Ran to finish speaking, "Karl is only 19 years old, although his mouth is a bit smelly, but there is still a long way to go in the future, just like those retreating Germans, even if they entered Sweden There is also a long way to go to go home.

However, I don't want my son to waste his life in such a cold and snowy place.I believe that those German fathers probably don't want their children to die in such a ghostly place. "

Although the weathered middle-aged man said he didn't think about anything, Wei Ran tasted the decision he had already made from the words behind him.

The former, on the other hand, seemed to feel that there were not enough bargaining chips to persuade Wei Ran, and continued to add, "Whether it's the Soviets or the Germans, neither of these two guests can really be regarded as friends. It’s nothing more than a useful pawn. The only difference may be that the Germans happened to be standing in the same trench as us.”

"Macla, do you need me to do anything?" Wei Ran asked extra formally.

“Nothing needs to be done”

Marka hesitated for a moment, seeing Wei Ran looking at him with scorching eyes, he finally couldn't help but said, "Try not to let our anti-tank guns come in handy, try to keep Konon alive, that's all, that's enough .”

Wei Ran glanced at Conon, who was still wielding an ax vigorously on the other side of the sleigh, and Karl, who was concentrating on taking care of the reindeer. After a moment of silence, he nodded solemnly to Markla.

Seeing this, Makla showed a contented smile on his weathered face, "Okay, let's go too. When we get to Muonio, maybe we have a chance to go to the sauna."

"Not always"

Wei Ran had no hope for this at all. When he was sent here with the same identity last time, he would be called out even if he got into the sauna tent with his clothes off. I'm afraid this time it won't be much better either.

With anticipation of the hot steam, Markla greeted Karl in the distance to get into the car, and then took over the work of driving himself, yelling at the two reindeer who were panting, and continued slowly following the ruts on the snow. go ahead.

This time, the sleigh was much quieter. Conon, who was wrapped in wolf fur, finally stopped asking questions, and even Karl shut his lethal mouth.

Especially when Wei Ran secretly took out four Snickers bars wrapped in oven paper from the food box under the cover of the wolf fur blanket on his body, and distributed them to them. Conon, who was still in a state of confrontation just now, was not a few years younger than him. Karl, under the brief embarrassment and Wei Ran's intentional guidance, also discussed various desserts in the Soviet Union and Finland sentence by sentence.Even Markla, who was driving, asked curiously how those Snickers bars with sweet voices were made.

Faced with this rather difficult problem, Wei Ran, who has been muttering to himself that "foodies know no borders", made up a method that at least sounds extremely simple without even thinking about it. As for whether it is feasible, who knows? What about that?
"After the war is over, if I am still alive, I will open a dessert shop in Leningrad as Victor said."

Conon licked the remaining chocolate left on the oven paper, "I have a hunch that this kind of thing is definitely very popular, especially in Leningrad, which has been tortured by hunger for more than two years, everyone will be willing to buy some to keep at home. "

"I don't think you can make the same delicious taste"

Carl, who is habitually wanting to be venomous, seemed to have thought of something, and generously stuffed the unfinished half to Conon, "This half will be my investment, if you really make it by then, remember Give me ten dollars back."

Conon looked at the half of a Snickers bar in his hand in surprise, carefully wrapped it in baking paper and put it in his pocket, and said seriously, "If I can make it, I will pay you back ten yuan every day!"

Carl licked the remaining chocolate at the corner of his mouth, "Then it's a deal!"

　Thanks to book friends 20180516031723273 for rewarding 500 points

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(End of this chapter)