War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 341 The Two People Who Asked Wei Ran for Help (Two in One)

On the side of the road in front of the store, Wei Ran opened the car door and was about to put the suitcase full of clothes he bought at a high price into the back seat, but then he found that old man Gorman was sitting in the car. It's on!
"Why are you here?" Wei Ran, who almost took out his gun from his notebook, was really taken aback by the opponent.

"I've been waiting for you here for a long time, it's too cold outside, so I can only sit in the car."

Gorman explained in a natural tone, "As for what I'm going to do, let's get in the car first."

After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran put the suitcase into the trunk which contained a lot of sundries, and reluctantly got into the cab.

It wasn't until the car started that Gorman said slowly, "Don't be nervous, it's a private matter for me to come to you."

"Private matter?" Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked anxiously, "What private matter?"

After hesitating for a moment, Gorman asked, "How about taking a trip to Odessa for me when you have time?"

"Odessa? Ukraine? What are you doing there? Killing people?" Wei Ran asked a series of questions from his wrinkled mouth, but his tone made it clear that he was not happy.

"No, no, no, it's not Odessa in Ukraine, it's Odessa in the United States, in Texas." Gorman paused and continued, "You don't need to kill people, as long as you help me find someone, To see how she is doing, take a few pictures from a distance at most."

"she?"

Wei Ran immediately grasped the key words in the other party's words, and deliberately looked at the old guy sitting in the rear compartment through the rearview mirror with a playful expression.

"My wife, my ex-wife." Gorman shook his head helplessly, "Let's get out of here first."

"Where are you going?" Wei Ran simply stepped on the accelerator.

"Go ahead, turn right at the second intersection, there is a coffee shop on the left, go there."

"No problem." Wei Ran responded without asking any more questions, and drove the car to the destination according to the other party's guidance.

It can be seen that Gorman is very familiar with this place. After leading him into the coffee shop, he found a corner farthest from the window and sat down.

When the waiter brought the coffee to the table, Gorman just slowly stirred the coffee in the cup, as if he didn't know what to say.

Sighing, Wei Ran lost his curiosity, "Tell me what I can do for you."

"No. You don't need to do too much, just see how her life is."

Gorman showed a little bit of panic, "Also... and my son, check to see if he is married and has any children, that's all, that's all."

Seeing the other party looking at him with hopeful eyes, Wei Ran finally nodded after hesitating for a moment, "That's all?"

"that's it"

Gorman took out a half-folded A4 paper from his pocket, opened it, and pushed it to Wei Ran. He tapped the two pictures printed on it with his callused fingers and said, "The one above is the one I found with the street view map. What the house looks like, the picture below is her."

Speaking of this, Gorman took out a pen that looked very old, and wrote down a string of addresses that seemed to be as detailed as the house number on this A4 paper in English that Wei Ran could not understand.

"Gorman, why don't you go by yourself?" Wei Ran finally couldn't help asking his inner doubts.

"I'm already dead, otherwise it would be impossible to live to this day."

Gorman said something that Wei Ran could understand but didn't understand, then put away the pen, and continued in a flat tone, "Because of some reasons I can't tell you, I'm worried that I might go It's going to get her into trouble."

After a moment of silence, Wei Ran asked again, "How long have you not seen her?"

"The last time we met was two months before the disintegration of the Soviet Union"

Gorman showed a bleak smile, took out a roll of US dollars from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran, "Find a reasonable excuse to give her the money, it's only less than [-] US dollars, and you can't even declare it when you enter the country." None."

Looking at the roll of old banknotes handed over by the other party, Wei Ran thought for a while and said, "You know, my aunt runs a travel agency. Besides, my parents also run a travel agency, so I have a way to bring more money there ,if."

"Then wait for me." Gorman stood up before he finished speaking, and left the coffee shop almost at a trot.

Less than 10 minutes before and after, this old guy who usually made Wei Ran a little scared came in with a computer bag that was not too big, and asked in a slightly lowered voice, "There are more than 5 dollars in it. The ones I bought are exactly [-], can I bring them over?"

"It's not a big problem." Wei Ran took the computer bag, and finally asked the last question, "Why did you let me go?"

"Or do you have a better candidate?"

Gorman asked back. Seeing that Wei Ran didn't speak, the old guy sighed, "At least you are trustworthy, and your identity is relatively clean. Unlike us, you will attract attention wherever you go. You should always worry about whether you will have old friends. Knock."

"What time?" Wei Ran asked bluntly.

"No hurry." Gorman paused, then chased after him, "Of course, the sooner the better."

Isn't that just impatient?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, but he didn't break through the window paper after all, "I'll make an arrangement, and leave immediately after returning to Volgograd."

"Okay, I'll wait for your news."

Gorman rubbed his face vigorously, "I remember that your English is not very good, and you can hire a local interpreter at that time. Also, if possible, you'd better start from Huaxia, so that it will be safer for you and her. "

"You can rest assured about this kind of thing"

Wei Ran threw the roll of cash on the table into the computer bag, "Don't you need me to give her something?"

Gorman opened his mouth, but then shook his head flatly, "Forget it, no need, there's no need for the dead to disturb the living."

Without waiting for Wei Ran to say anything more, the old guy simply got up and left the coffee shop.

Watching the other party go away, Wei Ran did not leave in a hurry.From the ordinary life of the old man and his sons and grandchildren in the tailor shop not far away, to the matter that Gorman just asked for help when he went further and further away, to the experience of old man Nicholas and even Gorman a few months ago. That lesson Intale taught himself with Sui Sui.

These things hit Wei Ran's heart like waves one after another, making him more vigilant about what he had learned in Hongqi Forest Farm, and also more and more aware of what he should and should not do in the future.

"Confucianism violates law with literature, while chivalry violates prohibition with martial arts"

Wei Ran muttered to himself an ancient Chinese saying that Gorman had given him back then, and finally stood up and left the coffee shop with his worn-out computer bag.

On the way to the airport while driving the car, he began to think about the preparations he needed to make for this trip to the Lighthouse Country.

Among other things, the first and most important thing is a reliable translation, otherwise, with my scumbag English, I am afraid that it is unknown whether I can find my destination.

After thinking about it, apart from Sui Sui, who seems to be barely able to speak English, this reliable translation seems to be the only one left for his employee Kajianka.

But neither of these two seemed to be suitable, not to mention Sui Sui, he didn't want his family to know about his messy affairs with Hongqi Forest Farm.

As for Kajianka, her foundation is also not clean, and if she lands, she will be caught, which is also a trouble, and even if it is not good, she has to let herself in.And most importantly, since Gorman secretly chose to find him at this time, he made it clear that he didn't want others to know about it.

Can't you really borrow a tour guide from home?After thinking about it all the way, he finally decided to go back to the studio first.

Taking the flight of the day, after a long and boring flight and successfully landing in Volgograd, Wei Ran, who drove back to the studio in an off-road vehicle, found that the travel agency next door was extremely lively.

Curiously, he opened the door and walked in. What made him dumbfounded was that in the spacious office, except for a few who were busy, the rest had already set up a Great Wall on the mahjong table in the conference room.

And as Wei Ran entered the door, Mao Zi, who was playing mahjong, also stopped his work very quickly.It wasn't until they saw who was coming, that those morons who had been led by Professor Alexei breathed a sigh of relief.

"My aunt is on a business trip again?" Wei Ran asked habitually, taking advantage of the boss's absence to fish for fish and play mahjong, this has long been an open secret.

Not to mention him, even my aunt knows it clearly, but the nature of the work of a travel agency is actually the same, as long as the work that should be done is done, as long as you don’t drink alcohol at work, play mahjong or even have a small barbecue at the door It's all common.

“No business trip”

The girl at the front desk, whose face was full of bastards, explained while touching the cards, "She went to Finland to watch the professor make a movie, and she went there half a month ago. She probably won't be back until after Christmas, Victor, Come here and help me fight for a while, I lost six games in a row."

"What about you? Why don't you have a holiday?" Wei Ran helped the little girl out of a card and continued to ask.

"I can't take a vacation"

The little girl at the front desk simply gave way to Wei Ran, and while wiping the amphibians in various poses on her face with a wet towel, she explained, "There have been a lot of tourists recently, most of them went to Inta, and there are two more tonight. A batch came to Volgograd, and tomorrow there will be another batch returning to China."

"stop stop"

Wei Ran hurriedly stopped the other party from continuing to speak, otherwise, according to his usual experience, he might be pulled into a strong position.

"Huh!"

Mao Zizhuang, who was sitting next to Wei Ran, yelled in Chinese characters, and then grabbed the card that Wei Ran had just thrown.

"Victor, do you want to go to Finland?" the Maozi tour guide of Hu Pai asked in Chinese, "The boss said that the professor's acting is very good."

"I'll forget it, I still have things to do these two days."

Wei Ran, who lost the card just after sitting down, had no intention of continuing to play, so he simply gave up his seat to Maomei at the front desk, "You guys continue to play, is anyone looking for me this month?"

The Mao girl at the front desk just wiped her face clean, as if she just remembered, she shuffled the cards and said, "About half a month ago, Mr. Nicholas took a wooden box from your studio with someone. , the boss opened the door."

"I know this, is there anything else?"

Wei Ran replied indifferently, the wooden box that was taken away was filled with the things that sent him back to the Rzhev battlefield, and Dalia greeted him before going to the Hongqi Forest Farm for class.

"No, no, yes!"

The little girl stopped what she was doing, "A week ago, less than a week ago, a Chinese girl in a wheelchair came to you."

"In a wheelchair?"

"That girl said her name is Sui Xin"

The Chinese-speaking male tour guide reminded me, "I was there at the time, but the boss wasn't there at the time, so she left without saying anything."

"is her?"

Wei Ran finally got the number right. Isn't this Sui Xin the girl that my aunt introduced to him to teach him how to play the piano when Dalia and teacher Karp sold him the Guqin Youquan?At that time, I even visited the small supermarket opened by his family.

But why did she come to find herself?Wei Ran suppressed the doubts in his heart, and continued to ask, "Is there any more?"

The little girl at the front desk thought for a while and then shook her head, "It's gone."

"Go ahead and play." Wei Ran simply turned around and left the travel agency without giving others a chance to ask him to help.

Back in the studio, Wei Ran took out his cell phone which had been shut down for a long time, charged it up and turned it on, he searched in the address book and dialed the number of Sui Xin who had met once.

"I'm Wei Ran, I'm sorry I just came back. Just now the front desk of the travel agency told me that you came here to look for me?"

"I thought you changed your number." Sui Xin on the other end of the phone replied with a smile, "I did look for you before."

"What?" Wei Ran asked curiously, "Is there something wrong?"

"There is indeed something"

The girl on the other end of the phone hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you at the travel agency? I'll find you if it's convenient?"

"I'll go find you, the car hasn't turned off yet." Wei Ran hurriedly said, it's not that he didn't want the other party to come, it's just that the other party's physical condition may not be convenient to come here.

"That's fine, thank you."

Sui Xin on the other end of the phone obviously heard Wei Ran's kindness. After thanking her, she hesitated for a moment and said, "Well... can you bring your guqin with me? I want to borrow it."

"Borrow the Guqin?" Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, and then simply replied, "Okay, no problem."

Sui Xin breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the words, and quickly said, "Then thank you, I will treat you to hot pot tonight."

"I'm leaving now"

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran hung up the phone. Although he didn't understand what the other party was suddenly doing with the Guqin, he had helped him at the beginning, so naturally he would not refuse.

As for the Guqin Youquan that the other party wants to borrow, it is not a problem that it is still in the country. Isn't there a bed of Yaoguang in the metal book?

Taking the mobile phone that was barely charged, he dug out two bottles of gin that he bought last time as a souvenir, and finally took out the piano case from the metal book, Wei Ran locked the shutter door, and returned the engine The warm off-road vehicle restarted, and followed the memory to find the small supermarket run by Sui Xin's family in the urban area of ​​Volgograd.

Before he could stop the car, Sui Xin's father was already waiting at the door, and obviously, the other party had recognized the ostentatious off-road vehicle, and behind this uncle, there was a rich The middle-aged woman was standing behind the wheelchair where Sui Xin was sitting.

Wei Ran felt a little embarrassed that the other party's family was waiting for him so grandly.He quickly parked the car on the side of the road, took a gift and a piano box to greet him.

"Why are you here with wine again, kid? This time it's our girl asking for your help." Sui Xin's old father refused.

"Didn't you tell me to invite me to eat hot pot? You have to drink some wine?" Wei Ran pretended to be dazed and asked back, imperceptibly dispelling the only unfamiliarity and restraint between the two sides.

"That's fine, if you want to say that, uncle, you're welcome. Let's drink a bottle tonight!"

Sui Xin's father simply took the wine in Wei Ran's hand, dragged him inside and introduced, "This is your aunt, she didn't see her when you came back last time."

"Hello Auntie"

Wei Ran greeted the other party politely, and the latter responded gently.Sui Xin, who has been pushed by her all the time, since Wei Ran got off the car, has been staring at the piano case with specks of light in his hand, and the chubby Baozi also showed surprise on her face .

The two parties entered the supermarket politely all the way, and Wei Ran immediately discovered that there was an elevator installed near the original staircase in the supermarket. Obviously, it was for Sui Xin who was sitting in a wheelchair.

Take this elevator to the second floor, and after the elevator door opens, you will go directly to the classroom that Wei Ran once visited.

It's just that compared with last time, there is not a single student in this classroom today. At the same time, there are a few more Huaxia air purifiers near the glass windows, and on a small table on the side of the elevator, A stick of incense the size of a toothpick was also burning.

"After your boy came last time, I got several air purifiers back."

Father Sui Xin introduced with a proud face, "Even this elevator was installed at that time, and I also bought a lot of mille-soled cloth shoes from China to wear for those hairy guys. This time, even if sitting in this room Even a hundred people can no longer smell stinky feet and body odor."

“This incense smells very good”

Wei Ran said with a sincere compliment.It can be seen that this father loves his daughter enough, otherwise he would not have made so many changes because of a sentence he casually mentioned at that time.

Waiting for Sui Xin's mother to bring a pot of jasmine tea, Wei Ran accompanied the family of three and continued to be courteous. It was not until Sui Xin's parents left the classroom on the pretext of preparing ingredients for the hot pot that he and Sui Xin Pulled the topic to the real thing.

"Are you going to hold a guqin training class?" Wei Ran asked in surprise after hearing Sui Xin who was sitting in a wheelchair finish speaking.

"After you came here last time, there were quite a few idiots clamoring to learn it. Later, more and more people wanted to learn it. Those idiots insisted that the Guqin has fewer strings than the Guzheng, so they are eager to learn."

Sui Xin said with a headache on her face, "Because of this, I deliberately practiced for almost half a year before picking up what I learned before."

"then you."

"I actually want to borrow your piano to record some teaching videos"

Sui Xin glanced at the piano case that had been placed at Wei Ran's feet, then raised her finger to the bed of guqins hanging on the wall not far away, and explained with a distressed expression, "Guqins are too expensive, especially since It’s even more expensive to ship here domestically, and those amateur guqins are barely enough for beginners to practice, but the sound quality is too bad for recording teaching videos.”

"Did you buy so many guqins?" Wei Ran asked in surprise. From the moment he entered the door, he noticed that there were twenty guqins hanging on the wall.

"I don't have that much money"

Sui Xin's steamed stuffed bun showed a smug look on her face, "I actually bought only five beds myself, and the rest were paid for by students who want to learn piano."

"The idiots are all over the place"

Wei Ran couldn't help muttering, and then he happily picked up the piano case at his feet and put it on the table, "Then you try this piano, I sent the Youquan bed back to China last year, this one It's called Yaoguang, and I bought it not long ago."

"This violin case alone doesn't look cheap. It seems to be... really eight treasures gray lacquer? Which foolish local tyrant is this who is not short of money? He actually made a piano case with eight treasures gray lacquer?!"

Sui Xin's eyes widened. She had noticed this piano box since the first time they met, but she never expected that the craftsmanship of this piano box was really as guessed.

"Ghost knows who is a fool who doesn't need money." Wei Ran held back a smile and glanced at the tattoo on the tiger's mouth on his left hand, but his mood was much more comfortable. It's been a long time, and finally someone helped him to curse.

"You can buy this, I suspect you are a tomb robber."

"Maybe I accidentally poked the nest of the piano." Wei Ran made up nonsense, and dismissed the topic perfunctorily.

Sui Xin swallowed, but she didn't touch the piano case on the table. Instead, she took out two wet towels and wiped her hands carefully. After drying, she carefully opened the buckle on the piano case.

With some effort, she took out the heavy and scary Guqin Yaoguang. After looking at the silk strings on it, Sui Xin looked at Wei Ran with a strange expression and asked, "Have you learned how to play the piano?"

"Why do you ask that?" Wei Ran asked curiously as he helped move the piano case to the side.

"They all use silk strings. Novices can't play well with this kind of strings."

"It's just a few random picks and pulls," Wei Ran said modestly.

"Why don't you play a song first?" Sui Xin seemed to be aroused by curiosity, "Let me see how you're doing."

"I'll let it go"

When he came back from Moscow, Wei Ran, who had already decided to be a low-key person and not pretend to be B, hurriedly said that although the metal book only taught him a piece of Guangling San, he knew how difficult the piece was. If it pops out, it will be regarded as a monster if it is not done well.

But if he was really asked to play the song "Xian Weng Cao", which has been abandoned for who knows how long, maybe this girl would have to scold in her heart that people are stupid and waste money.In short, Wei Ran, who thinks he is not a fool, would not do such plain scolding.

Seeing this, Sui Xin didn't force herself, took out two paper towels and wiped her hands carefully, and then lightly put them on the strings of Guqin Yaoguang.

In a short while, in this warm and empty classroom, a piece of piano music that Wei Ran had never heard sounded, and the surprised look on Sui Xin's face became more and more serious.

Although Sui Xin can play the guzheng and the qin, her skill in playing the qin is far inferior to that of Chen Guangling. Even Wei Ran can tell that this girl is much better than Chen Guangling's son Chen Luoxiang. gap.Of course, even so, it is definitely enough to fool the underdogs.

But for Sui Xin, even though she is not skilled enough, she can also feel that this guqin is still above the secluded spring bed she has seen before!

"Where did this idiot with a lot of money find good pianos one after another? Let alone a novice, even me using this piano is a waste of money."

Sui Xin glanced secretly at Wei Ran, who was sitting cross-legged drinking tea, and finally secretly gave a comment that the latter thought would not appear as long as he didn't touch the strings.

(End of this chapter)