War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 278

Just when Herbert rushed to the door of Time Studio with the clues and items he got from Amanda, Wei Ran had already boarded the flight to Vienna.

Not to mention the gloomy Herbert who wanted to kill at the entrance of the studio, after Wei Ran landed in Vienna the next day, after careful disguise, he took out the badge in the food box, and once again walked into the Brand tree hole bookstore.

The moment he saw Wei Ran, Katenka, with red and swollen eyes, threw himself into his arms as if he had found a backbone and began to cry loudly.

When he came back to his senses, Wei Ran gently hugged the bewildered girl, patted her on the back, let her vent her suppressed emotions in his arms, and wet himself with tears by the way The only shoulder of a formal suit.

After a long time, Katenka finally stopped crying, sniffling and gently pushed Wei Ran away.

He took out a decorative square scarf from the jacket pocket of his suit and handed it to the other party. Katenka took it and wiped the tears on his face, and then blew his nose without any image.

Putting the scarf on the bar, Kajianka brushed his hair, pretending to be relaxed and asked, "Do you want to see her?"

"Where is she?"

"in hospital"

Katenka leaned against the bar and sat on the floor, "She had a sudden heart attack yesterday afternoon. Although I did some rescue work on her, she died before the ambulance arrived."

"Did she say anything at the end?"

Wei Ran also sat down against the bar counter, pretending to put his hands in his pockets as a cover, took out the silver jug ​​from the metal book and handed it to the girl beside him.

Katenka took the flagon and opened it, raised his head and took a sip of whiskey. After calming down a bit, he said, "She said her name was Karenina. She also asked me if she was exposed."

Taking another swig of whiskey, Katenka burst into tears again and said in a crying voice, "She said she wanted to see the Tula River, and also wanted to go to the library in Tyumen and get the borrowed "Anna Kale Nina is back."

Wei Ran looked at the gaudy girl next to her who was still dressed and asked, "Shall we go and see her?"

"Okay" Katenka returned the wine jug to Wei Ran, and stood up while supporting the bar behind him.

"Do you need to change your clothes?" Wei Ran asked tentatively.

"Yes, I need to change clothes." Katenka looked at what he was wearing, then turned and ran up the stairs.

In less than 5 minutes, the girl came down wearing a wrinkled black lady's suit.But her gaudy short hair, like the pair of Martin boots on her feet, was a bit out of place with this suit.

Without correcting the other party's small details, Wei Ran silently followed Kajianka out of the bookstore, took a golf car driven by the latter to the hospital, and finally saw the old man in the mortuary with a peaceful face as if he was asleep .

Looking around, seeing that there is no camera here, Wei Ran turned his attention to Kajianka who was standing aside.

The latter seemed to know what he wanted to do, just nodded slightly, and then walked towards the door, with his back to Wei Ran trying to stand up straight.

Carefully rolling up old Katenka's sleeve, Wei Ran found the wound according to Nicholas's prompt, and then found a mole the size of a grain of rice near the wound.

After careful observation to confirm his identity, Wei Ran took out the badge provided by Nicholas from his pocket, and pinned it lightly on the inner lining of the old Katenka's coat.

After tidying up the other party's clothes, Wei Ran motioned for the girl who was guarding the door to come over, and asked hard-heartedly, "When will you be cremated? I'll send her back."

"Just this afternoon."

The new Katenka held the slightly frosty palm of the old Katenka, "I think she must be eager to go back."

Wei Ran sighed, "Then this afternoon."

The young Katenka bent down and finally hugged the peaceful old man, went through various procedures with the help of Wei Ran, and then took her to the local crematorium.

Until the two of them watched the old man's body being sent to the cremation furnace, Katenka, who had been strong all the way, threw himself into Wei Ran's arms again, carefully releasing suppressed cries and grief.

It took only one afternoon to complete the funeral without any ceremony. When the coffin nominally containing the ashes of the old Katenka was buried in the cemetery, the young Katenka looked at the tombstone that marked the end of the work and remained silent. After a long time, he took Wei Ran back to the Shudong Bookstore in the dark, and took him directly to the third floor which was still dirty and unsightly.

Carrying the scattered clothes on the sofa to a chair on the side, and then pulling the unfinished pizza on the table and other various food and beverage boxes and bags aside, Katenka put the boxes containing the previous generation cards The jar of Jianka's ashes was placed on the table, and then he took a few deep breaths. After Wei Ran sat down on the opposite sofa, he asked anxiously, "What should I do next?"

"Live in another place, wherever you want." Wei Ran replied according to Nicholas' instructions.

"Anywhere?" Katenka raised her delicate eyebrows, surprise was written all over her pretty little face.

"Anywhere." Wei Ran looked at the other party puzzled, "Is there a problem?"

"No. No problem!" Kajianka looked at Wei Ran incredulously, "Who do I need to contact in the future?"

"No." Wei Ran spread his hands, "Just let me know where you moved."

"Just to let you know?" Katenka pressed.

Seeing Wei Ran nodded hesitantly, Katenka was obviously relieved, "It seems that you will be my boss from now on."

"Wait, I'm your boss?" Wei Ran looked at him puzzled.

Katenka nodded seriously, and then said, "If you have no doubts, now I need to see your real appearance."

"Now?" Wei Ran wanted to refuse subconsciously. He really didn't want to get involved in these things, but thinking about it before he set off, Nicholas specifically told him to agree to whatever request the other party made, and suddenly fell into a trap. hesitated.

"certainly"

As Katenka said, he stood up, found a half-used bottle of makeup remover from a pile of cosmetics and various underwear that he didn't know whether he had worn or not, and handed it to Wei Ran, then pointed A door in the distance, "There is the bathroom."

After receiving the makeup remover handed by the other party, Wei Ran sighed secretly, got up and went into the bathroom which was also piled with all kinds of clothes waiting to be cleaned.

Cleaning up the camouflage on his face, restoring his dyed pale blond hair, Katenka had changed from his suit to jeans and a T-shirt when he emerged from the bathroom.

"Are you Asian?"

Katenka looked around Wei Ran, the surprise on his face became more and more intense, but before Wei Ran opened his mouth, he continued, "I just sigh, don't give me any answers, now you can It's back to its original appearance, do you need me to find some cosmetics for you?"

"I brought it myself"

Wei Ran pointed to the briefcase on the sofa, and was not in a hurry to restore the previous disguise, but sat down and asked, "Have you decided where to move?"

Katenka held the ashes urn on the table in his arms, shook his head and replied, "I haven't thought about it yet, but as long as it's in Europe, of course, Russia or the former Soviet Union countries will be fine."

"Why?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

Katenka looked down at the urn in his arms, but just shook his head and asked, "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Do you have any request?" Wei Ran looked at the other side and asked back.

"Don't be too remote. At least there should be stable electricity and internet, convenient transportation, and better security." Katenka thought for a while, and continued to add, "If possible, it's better to be in a warmer place."

"How about Italy?"

Wei Ran thought of the useless Guppyi pasta restaurant that he had rented out, "If you can speak Italian, you can go to Turin. I rented a restaurant there, and it's still empty."

"As long as I don't need to pay rent in the future," Katenka replied in proficient Italian.

"If you said something in Italian, you'd better say it again in German or Russian." Wei Ran spread his hands pretending to be blank, "I don't understand Italian."

"I said, as long as I don't have to pay the rent in the future." Katenka's mood improved inexplicably, and he said it again in German.

"The expenses have exploded, I hope Mr. Nicholas can reimburse you." Wei Ran murmured to himself. After this calculation, it would cost 15 euros a year, which is not a small number.

Having made up his mind, Wei Ran wrote down the detailed address of Gubijing Pasta Restaurant, as well as the landlord's weird request and contact information when he first rented the place, and handed it to Kajianka.

After the other party put away the note, Wei Ran continued to ask, "Do you need my help for the next move?"

"I can do these myself"

The young Katenka hesitated for a moment, and asked with a hint of pleading in his tone, "However, can you stay and have a few drinks with me today?"

Wei Ran opened his mouth, and finally nodded in agreement.Seeing this, Katenka breathed a sigh of relief.

After he re-disguised his face, Katenka finally took a look at the urn on the table, got up and took Wei Ran downstairs to leave the bookstore, and went straight to a nearby supermarket that was still open.

Following this girl who looked about the same age as Sui Sui, they bought some snacks and alcoholic drinks in the supermarket, and the two returned to the second floor of Shudong Bookstore, which was closed to the public.

Katenka, who was silent along the way, kicked off his shoes, poured himself a glass of red wine, nestled himself on the sofa, sipped the wine in the glass, and stared at the stairs leading to the third floor with tears daze.

As a bystander, Wei Ran sighed secretly. He didn't know the story between this girl and that old Katenka, let alone what kind of life they lived in those years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Knowing what it meant to them when I walked into this bookstore instead of Nicholas.

But he knew that Katenka, who was curled up helplessly on the opposite sofa at this time, was just like the woman named Katenka at that time, just like that winter night more than [-] years ago, in a place where she might The moment that I had foreseen but was not prepared for, lost all my support in the blink of an eye.

(End of this chapter)