War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 258 The Letter in the Can

Early the next morning after arriving in Fort Augustus, Charlotte arranged for a red-haired white girl who could speak Chinese to board a sightseeing boat parked in the river with sleepy Wei Ran.

While waiting to pass through the lock, this English girl named Feng Shufen in Chinese, spoke Chinese with a hint of a Beijing film accent, unhurriedly telling all kinds of strange rumors about the Loch Ness monster. Wei Ran was served a large plate of extraordinarily hearty breakfast.

On the dining table as the ship swayed slightly, in addition to the usual fried eggs, sausages, bacon, and baked beans with tomato that looked good, there was also a dish in the middle of the two that was similar to Huaxia's belly in both appearance and practice. Baorou is seven or eight points similar to the famous local dish Haggis.

Paired with mashed potatoes that will never be late or absent, Wei Ran politely took a sip of the Haggis that Feng Shufen highly recommended, and gave a "pig shook his head" in his heart. A stream of compliments came out.

Taking a big gulp of whiskey to suppress the taste in his mouth, Wei Ran asked curiously, "Shufen, I'm curious who gave you such a good name?"

"My College Classmate"

Feng Shufen also took a sip of whiskey, and explained with a smile, "My English name is Sophie, they sound similar, don't they? As for my surname, it comes from my Chinese boyfriend. Unfortunately, after I finished studying abroad, there is no information about him. All I have left is this surname that sounds a lot like a German nobleman."

"It can be seen that you like this name very much," Wei Ran said with a strange expression.

"Many Chinese tourists I receive, especially many aunties also like it very much. They all said that after knowing my name, they feel a lot younger."

Feng Shufen put down the cup happily, looked at the old man who was sailing the boat with her head, and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Wei, you must be Mr. Sherlock's distinguished guest, right?"

"Why do you say that?" Wei Ran stuffed the fried egg into his mouth, chewing while looking at the red-haired girl sitting opposite.

"He has the weirdest temper and the meanest person in Fort Augustus." Feng Shufen commented in a low voice, "I've never seen him willing to charter a sightseeing boat for anyone."

"So Mr. Charlotte's reputation in the local area is not good?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

"Just the opposite"

Feng Shufen shook her head and denied, "Although Fort Augustus is not big, everyone still respects Mr. Charlotte. Many families have actually received his help."

"This sounds contradictory." Wei Ran became more and more strange.

"That's why he's the craziest old guy in Fort Augustus"

Feng Shufen said with deep emotion, "This old man never attends any parties, never entertains any friends who come to the door, even the Halloween children can't get half a candy from him.

But the residents of the small town, no matter who encounters unsolvable troubles, as long as they ask Mr. Charlotte for help, they will get help.In many cases, even the police in the small town would ask him for help. "

"It's really a strange old man." Wei Ran couldn't help but nodded in agreement.

While the two were chatting, the sightseeing boat also passed through the lock and slowly sailed into the Loch Ness shrouded in drizzle.

"It's not very good to see the Loch Ness monster in this weather." Seeing that Wei Ran put down his knife and fork to go to the deck, Feng Shufen graciously picked up a blanket and put it on her body, and chased after him.

"Can we see you when the weather is good?" Wei Ran asked looking at the calm lake covered in mist.

"No, that kind of thing only appears in legends, even if the weather is good, you can't see it at all." Feng Shufen, who is a bit upright, told the truth mercilessly, "At least from my birth to just now, I have never been on Loch Ness. Ever seen any water monsters."

"You spoil the atmosphere like this," Wei Ran teased, dumbfounded.

Feng Shufen spread her hands, "But that shy water monster brought a lot of tourists to Fort Augustus."

Hearing this, Wei Ran remembered that when he returned to China during the May Day holiday, Sui Sui asked him to help him find a place suitable for summer.

Thinking of this, he simply asked, "Shufen, which season has more tourists in Fort Augustus?"

“Of course it is summer”

Feng Shufen replied as a matter of course, "Even in summer, the temperature here rarely exceeds 30 degrees, and most of the time is the ghost weather like now. When winter comes, there will be no tourists."

"In a month or two, I might bring my friends over for a visit."

"Call me when the time comes"

Feng Shufen immediately smelled the business, took the initiative to add Wei Ran's WeChat and kindly reminded, "Or you can also contact Mr. Charlotte, I believe he will entertain you and your friends well."

“I hope to have the opportunity to come here to play”

Sitting on a deck chair under a sun umbrella, Wei Ran looked at the misty lake, and at the same time brought the topic back to the Loch Ness Monster, trying to create a persona of "Nessie lover".

While he was boating on the lake accompanied by a beautiful woman, Mr. Charlotte on the second floor of the souvenir shop stayed up all night. He urgently contacted a trusted old friend and went to Libya to find the treasure on the map.

For the next week, Wei Ran seemed to clock in for work. Under the leadership of the British girl Feng Shufen, he went out early and returned late every day on a sightseeing boat aimlessly wandering on Loch Ness, deliberately avoiding the French archaeologist. At the same time, he made it clear that he wanted to see Charlotte's jokes and see what treasures he could find in the Libyan desert.

But speaking of it, this week's time was not wasted.He really had a close encounter with the so-called Loch Ness Monster in the continuous drizzle.

However, when he paid a tip of two hundred pounds before the old man who started the boat chased after him, he realized that the thing that was infinitely close to the water monster in the photo, with half of its long neck sticking out of the water, was just It's just a tree trunk floating on the water.

That is, on the day he discovered the "Loch Ness Monster", good news came from Charlotte.It's only been a week, and the other party has actually found the treasure he's been longing for.

While marveling at the speed of the other party, Wei Ran also walked into Charlotte's room again under the leadership of Herbert.

It was different from the scene I saw the last time I came here. In just one week, the Nuo Da room on the second floor of the souvenir shop seemed to have been renovated. Not only the outdoor items that were everywhere, but the dust was gone. , even Mr. Charlotte put on a formal attire in line with his identity and age.

Besides, in the corner of the living room, this time there was also a bald old man in his fifties wearing a desert camouflage uniform.

Witnessed by Herbert, Wei Ran, and the taciturn old man in camouflage uniform, Charlotte personally took out a wooden box that was at most the size of a microwave oven and painted red paint from the plastic storage box.

On the box, there is still a lot of sand, and there are a lot of mold spots in some places.But even so, the rusty iron seals on the box were still intact.

Charlotte let out a long breath, picked up the needle-nose pliers on the table and cut the iron seal.

As the nearly decayed cover of the box was opened by an old man who was almost the same age as it, Wei Ran and others immediately saw that the boxes were filled with red paint, and the names of Carlo and others were written on the side. tin cans, six bottles of whiskey and a set of tea sets that Wei Ran is very familiar with. Besides, there is also a slightly rusty can opener.

Charlotte turned her head and said something to the middle-aged man in the desert camouflage uniform. The latter spread his hands but did not speak. He just poured himself a glass of whiskey.

"What are they talking about?" Wei Ran whispered to Herbert beside him.

"Mr. Charlotte is asking the man named Matt, did he only find this box full of cans?" Herbert translated in a low voice.

While he was speaking, Charlotte had picked up a can from the box and shook it, and then everyone present heard a dull knocking sound from the can.

Dazed for a moment, Charlotte, whose face was full of disappointment, showed a look of surprise, and grabbed the can opener in the box
While the three of Wei Ran were waiting, the thickly painted tin can was opened. After Charlotte poured out the contents and unfolded the oiled paper wrapped on the outside, everyone saw that the inside It turned out to be a silver portable flagon.

This small flagon is exactly the same as the flagon that Wei Ran got from the blue swirl of the metal book, with the same hollow pattern and the same golden lid.Even when he took a closer look, even the words inscribed on the bottom of the wine jug were exactly the same, except for an extra Italian name - Trento.

Holding the small flagon over and over again, Charlotte carefully placed it on the table, then took out a small flagon with exactly the same shape from her pocket, and murmured what.

"He said that the flagon was his father's relic, and his father, Mr. Harry, made the flagon himself." Herbert said actively in Wei Ran's ear.

Putting the two jugs together, Charlotte picked up the can opener again, and couldn't wait to open the second tin can.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, as the tin cans were opened one by one, the number of identical portable jugs on the table gradually increased.

Finally, when all the cans were disassembled, six jugs with the same appearance were neatly placed on the table, as well as a can of well-preserved black tea, a can of sugar cubes that had been glued together, and five Empty cans with letters and a photo.

Gently picked up one of the photos, this slightly moldy color photo was taken on the shore of the picturesque Loch Ness, Harry Burton in the photo looked much more mature than when he was captured in the desert, Beside him, there was a woman who was not beautiful but had a lot of temperament.

In the woman's arms, there was still a baby with a pacifier in its mouth, and beside their family of three, there was also a very old-fashioned car.

"This is me." Charlotte pointed to the baby in the photo, and said a sentence in English that Wei Ran could understand.

Carefully placing the photo on the jug, Charlotte opened the unsealed envelope and pulled out a piece of letter paper from it.

On the slightly yellowed letter paper, written in a neat dark blue pen, there was a line of Italian that Wei Ran could understand, and by the way, the truth about the treasure was revealed.

"My Friend Mr. Pell"

Charlotte read in a low voice:
As I leave this letter, it has been 7 years since the end of the war, and it is also the last time I have been here waiting for the promised birthday party.

Ever since the Second Battle of Alamein, I had been apprehensive about meeting you all on the field again, and chose to be a shameful and honorable deserter the following year, returning alive to England.

Although the war has been over for 7 years, I still don't know if I really met you on the battlefield, should I shoot or surrender?I think the same problem is probably troubling all of us, right?
I made a cask of whiskey myself the month I returned home to Scotland.In the days that followed, I waited for the war to end, and for my friends to uncork the cask of whiskey.

For the past 7 years, I have been visiting here in December almost every year, hoping to meet each of you.

Until 1947, I finally couldn't help digging out the bucket at the bottom of the well, and found a group photo left by someone in the bucket.

As I said at the beginning, it is now the seventh year after the end of the war. During this time, I met a girl during a trip to Italy, and in the summer of 7, we had our own Boy, let's name him Charlotte.

In the future, I will be a dedicated father, so I may not have too many opportunities. At the end of each year, I set aside one month and three months of income to come here and wait for your birthday party. Sorry, my friend.

The other cans in the box with your name on them are my little gifts for you and the whiskey I brewed myself.

On the back of the stationery, I have left my address details, if you have a chance to see these, please be sure to contact me.

Once again, thank you for stopping Mr. Trento who was wounded by me with a pistol in early December 1941, and thank you for choosing without hesitation to make me a prisoner rather than a corpse at that time.

Thank you again for letting me go when you found the water, for sharing the gold coins and nuggets you found at the bottom of the well, for inviting me to your birthday party, and when the party was over, for me to leave this land without war Fuel, fresh water and mellow red wine necessary for the desert.

Regardless of the final outcome of the war, your kindness gave me the opportunity to stay away from the war and thus live to the end of the war.It also gave me the opportunity to be the husband of a girl and the father of a child.Thank you my friend.

Finally, for our friendship, cheers!

captives you once let go
your forever friend
Harry Burton 9 December 12
　There is only one update today, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)