War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 354 Friendship at the Door ([-]-in-[-] update)

Although the hunting in the morning was blocked by Wei Ran's secrets, Sui Sui's idea of ​​eating a cold American pig's ear became a pity.

Fortunately, after breakfast, Diego's daughter, the girl named Blanca, invited Sui Sui to climb to the top of the hay warehouse with her, each holding a cheap .22 bullet, But a shotgun with a high-power scope shot a rabbit all morning.

As for the bitter master Wei Ran, under the watchful eyes of Kajianka, the wives of Makar and Diego, the three foodie women, he re-made a large pot full of braised rabbit meat and a full twenty or so spicy rabbit heads .

He sent cash to Gorman, and the fat sheep slaughterer provided him with future development plans and reached a cooperation agreement. He even taught two recipes that these foreigners regarded as secret recipes. This trip to the United States can be regarded as The task was overfulfilled.

Therefore, after everyone had lunch, the three of Wei Ran also found an excuse to leave after a brief discussion.

"Aurora, Victor, and Karenina, I will always wait for you to come and play in the summer."

While Makar was speaking, his wife Jessica also pulled out two suitcases, one large and one small, from the house and handed them to Suisui and Katenka respectively.

Without waiting for the three to ask, Makar took the initiative to explain, "I made you all a pair of denim outfits, I hope you like them."

Before Wei Ran could thank the three of them, Diego also brought his daughter Blanca to send a gift.The family's gifts are also very distinctive. In addition to the three tequila bottles in glass bottles the size of thermos pots, there are also three large Mexican straw hats with very national characteristics.

This is not over yet, the girl named Blanca also took out two animal tooth necklaces with leather cords, and put them on the necks of Sui Sui and Katenka respectively.

According to the little girl's explanation, the animal teeth used in these two necklaces were pulled out from the mouths of wild boars she hunted with her own hands.Although this necklace looks too wild, it can be seen that both Suisui and Katenka like it very much. Of course, whether the latter's liking is true or not, I am afraid that only Katenka knows.

Putting all the gifts from the two families into the pickup truck, Makar took two insulated lunch boxes and said honestly, "The rabbit meat and rabbit heads made by Victor are delicious, and I am going to bring them to me. Mom, try it, okay, let's go."

"Why doesn't Mrs. Uma come to live on the farm?" Sui Sui asked curiously after getting into the car.

Makar shook his head, "Maybe she is waiting for someone."

Sui Sui was startled, and was about to say something, but saw Wei Ran winking at her, and immediately changed the subject cleverly and said, "Makar, remember the social platform account I told you, before summer comes , Be sure to update the photos frequently, I want to bring people to play, but it all depends on the photos you took."

"Do not worry!"

Makar immediately reassured, "I'll keep my wife updated every day."

"Your family's life can also be updated occasionally, maybe many people will like it." Wei Ran added with ulterior motives, "Especially your children and your mother, it will be a very precious memory. "

Seeing that Makar readily agreed, Wei Ran didn't say any more. It was entirely his idea to encourage the other party to set up a social platform to share photos, and the real purpose was just to let Gorman who was far away in Kazan You can often see his wife, son and grandson with the same name.

The group rushed back to Odessa while chatting, and visited Mrs. Uma who lived alone again. Then they bid farewell to the family, took a taxi back to the hotel, and drove the business class that had been parked in the hotel parking lot to the hotel. Heading in the direction of Houston.

"Suisui, where is the meteorite that Makar sent earlier?" Wei Ran asked while flipping through the photos Suisui took in the past two days on the return bus.

"Here it is!" Sui Sui immediately opened the small bag and took out the small stone from the interlayer.

"I'm going to give this to Makar's father, do you have any objection?"

"Of course I have no objection!" Sui Sui shook the animal tooth necklace still hanging around her neck, "I already have a better gift."

"Aurora, will there really be many tourists going to his farm?" Katenka, who was in charge of driving, suddenly joined the topic.

"There will definitely be many people willing to come!" Sui Sui vowed, "You must come to help when the time comes, and I will give you a salary that satisfies you!"

Katenka smiled at Sui Sui through the rearview mirror, but didn't say anything, let alone explain why she asked such a question.And Wei Ran didn't continue this topic after thinking for a while.

It took them seven or eight hours to rush back to Houston. Katenka took them to a high-end hotel and made an appointment for the next day's itinerary.

In the next few days, like a real tour guide, Katenka took Wei Ran and Sui Sui all over the American space city, until it was only one day away from the tour group that came with him. When returning to China, Katenka told Wei Ran an unexpected news.

"You still remember the video of you saving that lawyer on the plane?"

In a certain restaurant in Chinatown, Katenka took advantage of Sui Sui's time to go to the bathroom, handed over his mobile phone and gloated, "Someone recognized you."

Looking at the large stretch of unfamiliar pinyin on the other party's phone screen, Wei Ran decisively returned it to the other party and asked, "What's written on it?"

"To put it simply, it was recognized by a Russian netizen. He recognized you as the historian who found the first photo of the Soviet red flag on the Reichstag in Berlin, and claimed to have seen your interview on TV."

As Katenka said, he dug up another video and showed it, "This is the video made by the netizen just mentioned, and the content is probably the comparison between the clips of your interview and the face of the lawyer on the plane when he rescued him. , and there’s even a clip of you rejecting the Poles’ right to exhibit that photo.”

"When did it happen?" Wei Ran asked with a frown. The time when he was recognized was so coincidental that the moment he heard the news, he began to wonder if it was Teacher Dalia and others. masterpiece.

"The video was posted about half an hour ago"

Katenka turned off the phone screen, and continued to gloat, "It seems that for the rest of the time, if you don't want to be chased by the media, you can only wear a mask or hide in the hotel."

"It doesn't matter, I should leave tomorrow night anyway."

Wei Ran thought for a while, seeing that Sui Sui had come out of the bathroom, he speeded up his speech and said, "In this way, you don't have to be with us later, if you want to continue playing, you can continue playing, if you feel that it will cause you trouble, just Leave America immediately."

"No problem," Katenka replied briskly, and refocused on the plate of pork stewed vermicelli that she had never eaten before.

"Someone recognized you." Sui Sui hurriedly sat down and said in a low voice, "The news I just saw, someone recognized your identity."

"Recognize it if you recognize it." Wei Ran said indifferently, "We will go back to meet Director Chen after this meal. Anyway, we can return to China tomorrow."

"According to the agreement, my work should also be over." Katenka said in a timely manner, "I hope we will have a chance to meet next time you come to play."

"There must be a chance!" Sui Sui said affirmatively, she had already thought about letting this big sister Ka work for her.

The three chatted and laughed after finishing their meal, and when Suisui and Director Chen confirmed the location of the hotel where the other party was staying, Kajianka sent the two of them there, and took a copy from Wei Ran by the way. It seemed like a good salary, so he simply drove away.

However, in less than 10 minutes, the girl changed her clothes and wig, wearing a pair of sunglasses that covered most of her face, and blatantly sat in the lobby on the first floor of the hotel, leisurely. Flipping through a fashion magazine I just bought.

And at the front desk of the hotel not far from her, before Wei Ran and Sui Sui had time to check in, the old lawyer Carlos, who had been helped by Wei Ran at the airport, approached him.

"Mr. Wei, we finally meet again." The elderly Carlos warmly extended his hand to Wei Ran, and at the same time, an Asian boy who followed him also started to translate in real time.

Unobtrusively glanced at the remaining bruises on the other party's forehead, the scabbed wounds on the lips, and even the repaired teeth and wrists that seemed to have no problem, Wei Ran shook hands with the other party politely, "Carlos Sir, how did you find this place?"

"Thanks to Mr. Chen's help," Carlos explained without concealment.

That Director Chen?

Wei Ran cursed secretly, and he had already pulled him into the blacklist of his own travel agency in his heart. This tour guide sold him once before he got on the plane, and now he came again, even if he was not from his own travel agency. The tour guide already has some bad rules.

Suppressing the resentment in his heart, Wei Ran showed an indifferent smile, and reached out to hold the other party together, "Mr. Carlos, I didn't help you, and you also took the corresponding risk yourself."

"Although that's what I said, it really helped me relieve the pain at that time." Carlos said enthusiastically, "Mr. Wei, please give me a chance to thank me in person. How about at least having dinner together? I have prepared some small gifts."

After listening to the Asian translation, Wei Ran hesitated for a while and looked at Sui Sui, and finally nodded in agreement. Since the other party has already found this place, he must give some face, and anyway, tomorrow I'm about to go back, and it's not a loss to have a good relationship with a lawyer.

When Wei Ran and Sui Sui brought the luggage full of gifts back to the room and came down, Carlos immediately warmly greeted them to leave the hotel and got into a business car parked at the door.

Before going out, Wei Ran glanced at Kajianka, who was hiding in a corner and showing the animal tooth necklace to him with a smile, and then at Sui Sui, who was walking in front of her heartlessly, and made an OK gesture indiscriminately .And the latter also left the hotel immediately after Wei Ran got into the car, followed by a taxi parked in front of the hotel.

To Wei Ran's surprise, Carlos did not take him and Suisui to some restaurant or other places, but took them back to his home - a single-family villa that is not cheap just by looking at the location .

"My wife's cooking skills are no worse than Michelin chefs"

Carlos ostentatiously praised the white old lady who was busy in the restaurant, and then led Wei Ran and Sui Sui, who was acting as a translator, into a study room, but the Asian young man who was with her before was not at all. Did not follow through the door.

"Mr. Carlos shouldn't just want to treat us to a meal, right?" Wei Ran asked directly after sitting down on the sofa in the study with Sui Sui.

"In the beginning, I really just wanted to thank you for helping me on the plane." Lawyer Carlos said with a smile while serving a cup of coffee to the two of them.

"What about now?" Sui Sui directly asked the question Wei Ran wanted to ask after finishing the translation.

"Not long ago I found out your identity on the Internet"

Carlos sat on the sofa opposite Wei Ran with a cup of coffee, and said simply and straightforwardly, "For me, there is no harm in knowing a young historian with outstanding achievements. For you, knowing a barely It's not a bad thing to be a notorious American lawyer, is it?"

“Not really a bad thing”

Wei Ran smiled and nodded after listening to Suisui's translation. Simply put, this matter is nothing more than the other party's desire to expand their network, even if it seems that this network cannot bring any benefit to both parties for the time being.

Carlos said with a smile, "Of course, it is undeniable that I have an innate affection for Chinese people, and this is also one of the important reasons."

"Because of Chinese culture?" Sui Sui asked curiously after finishing the translation.

"No, no, mainly because of my father's influence"

Seeing Wei Ran and Sui Sui's puzzled faces, Carlos put down the coffee cup in his hand and explained, "My father participated in the 38-degree war. He was a truck driver at the time, and later became a prisoner of the Chinese Volunteer Army. When he was alive, he often told me that although he was a prisoner of war at the time, it was the happiest and most incredible period of time he spent, and it was a memory that completely changed his concept.”

"Mr. Carlos, I'm starting to be interested in your father's story." Wei Ran waited for Sui Sui to finish the translation and said.

"Before that, let me ask you a question."

Carlos, who was talking about sex, asked with a smile, "Wei, do you know when your China hosted the Olympic Games for the first time?"

"Of course I know, in 2008." Wei Ran answered this simple question without even thinking about it. That year brought Huaxia too much pride, but also brought too much pain. He grew up under a red flag How could the Chinese people in China not know the answer to this question?

However, Carlos shook his head proudly, "This is a question I like to ask Chinese people the most, and it is also a question that is difficult for Chinese people to give a correct answer, so let me tell you the correct answer now!

The first time you held the Olympic Games in China was on November 1952, 11. The venue was the playground of Bitong Middle School in Beihan. My father was one of the competitors in that Olympic Games. "

Having said that, Carlos stood up on his crutches, walked to a glass cabinet against the wall, took out a rather beautiful cloisonne vase from it, and carefully placed it on the table.

"This is the prize my father got for participating in the Olympic Games. He participated in the basketball game at that time, and according to him, his grades were not bad." Lawyer Carlos said happily, "That sports meeting also completely changed my father. Before he was captured, he was a staunch racist from the American South."

"What about after that?" Sui Sui asked after hastily translating.

"In that game, he won a certain basketball game with several black prisoners of war who were also from the United States, and later joined the club organized by the prisoners themselves. Later, they also caught rats together during the health campaign, Exchange a mouse's tail for a cigarette.

Those precious experiences made him and the black people whom he used to hate discrimination become very good friends, and it also made him and I have a natural affection for Chinese people all our lives. "

As Carlos said, he took out a white jumper full of signatures from the glass cabinet. The signatures on the clothes were far more than English names that Wei Ran couldn't understand, and there were many others that he could understand. Some of those names are bookish, and some sound extraordinarily simple, but among these Chinese names, there is an additional sentence written in strong brush characters: "Fight to imperialism! Long live the great unity of the people of the world!" "

Returning the precious jumper to the other party, the latter sent it and the cloisonne vase back to the glass cabinet, then sat down again and said with emotion, "It can be seen that you don't know much about that Olympic Games."

"To be honest, this is the first time I know."

Wei Ran said frankly, there is no shame in not knowing, and the real clown is pretending to understand. Since he is a historian, he will not pretend to understand in such matters.

"My father spoke highly of that sports meeting"

Carlos spread his hands, leaned on the back of the sofa and said slowly, "In my father's words, there were prisoners of war from 14 countries participating in the sports meeting. If you want to gather so many nationalities in the prisoner-of-war camp, I am afraid that even World War II would not be enough. easy.

But what he praised the most was that the Olympic Games was probably the only one after World War II where no athletes used doping, and black and white Americans were completely equal in the true sense. Even my father said that he forgot that he was a Pow, who totally sees himself as a basketball player. "

While Carlos took the initiative to tell his father's story, Wei Ran and Sui Sui also became quiet listeners. It wasn't until the old lady outside the study called them out for dinner that the three of them realized that it was already dark outside the window. up.

Carlos, who had been telling the story just now, drank the last bit of coffee in the cup, and then opened the glass cabinet against the wall again. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a slightly faded Bayi cap badge from it and handed it to Wei Wei. burn.

"Mr. Carlos, this is..." Wei Ran looked at the red five-pointed star lying on his palm, and couldn't figure out what the other party wanted to do for a while.

"Give it to you"

Carlos said generously, "This cap badge was a gift from the Chinese soldiers in charge of managing my father when he was repatriated after the war. Now I give it to you."

Wei Ran has no reason to refuse such a precious gift, and his acceptance of this cap badge is also equivalent to accepting the other party's friendship.

Sighing secretly that this old guy can be a man, Wei Ran put it in his wallet as a treasure, then raised his head and said, "Mr. Carlos, I have no reason to refuse this precious gift."

After listening to Sui Sui's translation, Carlos smiled gently, but did not use this topic to continue, "Okay, now let's try the dinner cooked by my wife, believe me, this is the real Texas Food."

Wei Ran and Sui Sui glanced at each other, followed each other out of the study room, sat on the dining table under the greeting of the old lady, continued chatting, and enjoyed a surprisingly calorific dinner.

After eating and drinking enough, Wei Ran and Suisui bid farewell to the old couple, and returned to the hotel in the commercial vehicle that brought them here.

"That lawyer Carlos really just invited us to have a meal and make friends?" Before Wei Ran closed the door, Sui Sui asked the doubts that had been lingering all afternoon, "And he also gave the hat badge to You, I always feel that he has other purposes."

"Whatever his purpose is"

Wei Ran locked the door behind him, glanced at the two large bottles of tequila on the table, and said nonchalantly, "I don't know when I will come to America next time, but the old man should have no bad intentions. If the cooperation with Makar runs into trouble, maybe he can really help."

"I hope so, but." Sui Sui didn't finish her sentence, she was picked up by Wei Ran and put on the bed with an exclamation.

(End of this chapter)