War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 384 Public Opinion and Zero Rent Broken House
Declining the invitation to go back to the Hongqi Forest Farm with Karp to rest, Wei Ran, who was worried about the early start of the class, made an excuse to find a house the next day, so he found a hotel near Kazan University to live in.

After watching the car driven by Karp disappear at the corner of the street, Wei Ran, who had been worried about the other party's tricks since getting off the plane, was completely relieved, and walked into the hotel with his suitcase. Lobby.

While he was sleeping soundly, Karp, who was driving to Hongqi Forest Farm, was thinking about Wei Ran asking him to help him get a house in Kazan, trying to analyze whether there was something behind Wei Ran's decision What other secrets are hidden.

Time came to the second day in a blink of an eye. Wei Ran, who had had enough rest, rented a car familiarly, and then wandered aimlessly in Kazan City, preparing to determine the approximate scope of his home.

And this is also a rare opportunity for him to wander around the city so comfortably since he has been studying and living in Hongqi Forest Farm for so long.

If you introduce this ancient city according to Sui Sui’s mouth-opening guide, Kazan’s most famous title is the well-deserved third capital of Russia besides Moscow and Petersburg, and the city that can be compared with the former two. A series of adjectives such as a long history.

Of course, it would be much simpler and more down-to-earth to introduce this city in the way of Jima-this is a beautiful city rich in beauties.

And this point has been repeatedly confirmed time and time again just from the time when he and Jima were "chivalrous" in this city and played the cameo role of "Scumbag Terminator".

In addition to the beauties all over the street, the various historical buildings in every corner of the city are also exceptionally beautiful, such as the Russian-style onion-roofed church, the yurt-style round dome with the Golden Horde origin, and a little Asian-style Lama Temples, a large number of Qingzhen Temples coexisting with the Orthodox Church, and even the typical Stalinist-style symmetrical buildings of the Soviet era can be described as dazzling.

Correspondingly, it is not easy for Wei Ran to find a "small dish" that suits his own taste and is affordable by his wallet in this beautiful complex shaped like a table full of delicacies from mountains and seas.

To put it simply, I can't afford or even rent what I like, and I can afford to rent or buy, but the retina shows resistance and even disgust.

Due to all these, Wei Ran was completely dazzled in the week before the start of school at Hongqi Forest Farm, so that in the end he was even ready to give up the idea of ​​moving the studio here.

During the period when he was tortured by the difficulty of choosing, the interview he had conducted in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow was also put on the screen in the last few days of February. Before March, the stories about the Rzhev battlefield and related relics were exhibited.

This interview has both good and bad aspects for Wei Ran. On the good side, his identity as a historian has more and more gold content and credibility. dug it out.In addition, even a very small number of Xinagnus who came out of nowhere began to use his nationality and the photos of the red flag of the Capitol that he had found before to talk about things, beating around the bush and preaching some dirty things.

And when the discussion about him on the Internet intensified, Monica, who was far away in the farm on the outskirts of Turin, Italy, also accidentally saw the news about Wei Ran in the pop-up news that popped up recently and recognized him .

Not only that, even her good friend and best friend Katenka recently began to complain to her, complaining that she was just doing some justice for a poor historian, and she was subjected to countless abuse on the Internet.

And after seeing the vicious private messages and screenshots of abuse from Katenka, who choked several times on the phone, Monica, who is only in real life, took a deep breath and opened a record like a warrior. Know how many social accounts and text documents of corresponding passwords.

"here we go"

In the detached house next to Gubijing Pasta Restaurant, Katenka opened a software while talking, "Our good friend Monica has already started, now let's see her real fighting power!"

"Shall we use our friends like this?" asked a girl who was busy under the range hood in a dark room with the curtains drawn.

"friend?"

Kajianka glanced at the gateway address on the software that was just opened, which was constantly beating and changing as Monica switched accounts, and asked in a flat tone, "Where are our friends from?"

"But the boss"

"If the boss treats Monica as a friend, or Monica regards the boss as a friend, shouldn't Monica say a few words for the boss?"

"You misunderstood, I'm not talking about Monica"

The busy girl under the range hood mixed the solutions in the two test tubes into a beaker fixed in the middle of the ice cubes, waited for the reaction inside to complete, and then said, "I mean our Boss, he must be our friend, we use him to test Monica's fighting ability? No matter what it's called, do you think it's okay? In case it's discovered."

"What's wrong? Besides, how could he find out? I didn't do anything at all, did I?" Katenka said naturally, "Besides, it's not a bad thing for him, you will never forget it."

"I didn't forget, I say again, I didn't forget."

The girl under the range hood cleaned the used test tubes and said, "But the so-called helping the new boss gain an advantage in public opinion, shouldn't it be speaking for him? Why do you provoke public opinion conflicts?"

"This kind of thing is much more complicated to explain than the cockroach medicine you want to mix"

Katenka hit the Enter key heavily while speaking, and then continued, "Simply put, only controversy can attract attention. Only when attention is attracted, will more people know about our new product. boss."

"But what about those with brain problems?" While the girl under the range hood asked, she also dripped sweetener and cockroach attractant into the solution that had just been prepared.

"Don't we have Monica?"

Katenka pointed to the constantly jumping comments on the screen, "Our good friend Monica is like a filter, she will help us get rid of the garbage, which is much more convenient than us doing it ourselves."

"I always feel that after the boss knows"

"Don't worry, he won't know." Katenka glanced at the animal tooth necklace on the corner of the table, and said with certainty, "How could he know these things?"

"Just don't get us into trouble"

While speaking, the girl under the range hood poured all the prepared medicine into a plastic spray bottle, and sprayed it carefully on the food residues accumulated on the dining table, the gaps in the sofa, and the gaps in the doors and windows of each room.

While the two of them divided the work to exterminate the cockroaches, Karp also found Wei Ran two days before the class at Hongqi Forest Farm.

"Have you been looking for a house for the past few days?" Karp asked with great interest, "The interview about you has attracted countless controversies, are you in no hurry?"

"Is there any use for me?"

Wei Ran rolled his eyes, "If you want to scold, let them scold, anyway, the chrysanthemum grows on their ass. Besides, why don't you ask who deliberately set up the question in that controversial interview?"

"I don't know that. I was never responsible for your interview."

Karp resolutely shirked his responsibility, and then asked, "Since you are not in a hurry, how about I show you a house? Maybe you will be interested."

"Where is it?" Wei Ran, who was studying the rental information on the laptop screen, raised his head and asked.

"The southeast side of Kaban Lake, the scenery is very good." Culp explained like a conscientious real estate salesman, "and there is no rent to pay."

"Is there such a good thing?" Wei Ran immediately shook his head and refused after being surprised for a short time, "Forget it, I won't go."

"Why?" Karp looked puzzled at Wei Ran who continued to browse through the rental information and asked.

"Based on what I know about you, even if there is a house that does not require rent, you will charge some extra as hard work."

Wei Ran said without raising his head, "But since you can say that you don't have to pay the rent, then I must pay more than the rent."

"Victor, it seems that you are smart." Karp smiled, "But this time it's different, it's Teacher Daria, and she is going to lend you her home."

"Teacher Dalia's home?" Wei Ran looked up at Karp suspiciously.

"What kind of expression is that on your face?" Karp asked angrily.

"No, nothing, just a little surprised." Wei Ran quickly closed the laptop screen while speaking, "Ms. Daria is from Kazan? This is the first time I know."

"She's not from Kazan." Karp sighed but didn't explain. Instead, he turned and walked out of the hotel. "If you want to see it, follow her."

There is no hesitation here. Just for the reason of Teacher Dalia's house, he has to go and have a look. As for whether to use the other party's house, it is natural to satisfy his curiosity first before thinking about it. .

Getting into the car driven by Karp, before Wei Ran could get any valuable information out of his mouth, the other party had already driven the car to the roadside on the southeast shore of Kaban Lake.

The so-called Kaban Lake is actually three lakes extending from northwest to southeast in Kazan City. If you are not a local, you may only think that they are a relatively wide river.

However, Wei Ran clearly remembered that just a year before he came to Russia to study, Mao Zi used this lake water system as a prototype to shoot a broken movie that could only be regarded as [-] cents special effects at most.

And the location where Karp parked is the southeast coast of the first Kaban Lake in the northwest direction.However, it is different from what Wei Ran imagined. Although the lake view here is quite beautiful, behind a road, what can be seen is a large wasteland surrounded by colored steel tiles.

Looking up, there are still lush birches and oaks scattered behind the color steel tiles, and not far from this area, there is a wall that looks very old Old buildings.

“It's an old winery”

Karp pointed to the old buildings not far away and explained, "It has existed since the end of the 18th century. Until the Soviet era, the water from Lake Kaban was still used to make wine, but now it is barely considered a scenic spot."

"Could it be the house you're talking about?"

Wei Ran stared blankly at the winery complex in the distance, if it could be called a complex of buildings, one knew how big it occupied.If such a large area and the buildings inside that can almost be regarded as cultural relics can be used for free, even if some conditions are agreed to Karp or Teacher Daria, it seems that it is nothing.

"Did you steal Mr. Gorbachev's dog food?"

Seeing that Wei Ran was staring eagerly at the winery not far away, Karp reluctantly took out a bunch of keys from his pocket, and opened the rusty iron lock on a small door on the wall with colored steel tiles, "Come in and see Look, this is the place for you to use for free."

Realizing that he was dreaming a sweet dream, Wei Ran shook his head in disappointment, and reluctantly followed Karp into the simple iron door.Compared with the shabbiness outside the iron gate, although this piece of wasteland surrounded by colored steel tiles seems to occupy a large area, the actual situation is not much better.

Not to mention the waist-high weeds, wild birch trees growing wantonly, and the fallen leaves piled up under the two old oak trees, just facing the roof of the three-story building in the direction of Kaban Lake , all collapsed together visible to the naked eye.

In addition, a flower wall with iron fences was built around the building, and those colored steel tile walls were tied to this circle of walls with iron wires.And on the rusty gate of the wall, there is still a tattered signboard of "Kaban Lake Candy Company".

While Wei Ran was observing the environment inside through the flowered wall, Karp also gave up the futility of using the key to unlock the gate of the wall, bent down and picked up a broken brick that had fallen from the flowered wall and smashed it hard.

Accompanied by a loud bang, the broken brick in Karp's hand shattered into dross, but the fist-sized, rusty iron lock with a half-truncated key was unscathed.

"You wait for me to get down," Garp said, before Wei Ran opened his mouth, he lowered his head and drilled out of the small door on the colored steel tile wall, and came back shortly after with a pair of hydraulic pliers.

Seeing the other party's appearance of "I'm actually prepared for a long time", Wei Ran had to swallow the words that had come to his lips, and was ready to see what scary conditions Karp would offer with such a pile of ruins later.

It took a lot of effort to open the iron fence door, and Karp held the hydraulic pliers in one hand, and took out a PSS micro-sound pistol from the holster under his arm with the other hand.

"Don't be nervous," Karp said with a smile, "No one has been here for a long time, maybe there will be some small animals or drug addicts hiding here."

"Is this enough to make people nervous?" Wei Ran muttered angrily, and asked curiously while raising his vigilance, "Is this really Teacher Dalia's home?"

"To be precise, it should be Daria's husband's home," Karp explained as if squeezing toothpaste.

"Teacher Dalia was married?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

"Of course, remember Kirov's veteran Leva who runs a camera shop?"

Karp gently pushed the moldy wooden door on the first floor of the building, but before he could push the door open, the wooden door clattered into the lobby on the first floor of the building.

"Remember..." Wei Ran fanned the dust in front of his eyes, squinted his eyes and held his breath at the same time.

Compared with the large yard of 60 meters square outside, this building covers an area of ​​about 500 square meters at most, and the inside of this door is basically an evacuated large warehouse. On the slightly cracked concrete floor, except for some Apart from the tin candy boxes packed in wooden boxes and a lot of faded wrapping paper waiting to be used, there are no personal items to be found at all, and there are even many inexplicable graffiti on the walls.

"Her husband was Leva's partner at the time and heir to the confectionery company. Unfortunately, he didn't make it back from Grozny alive. Darya was already dead at that time."

Karp stopped abruptly in the middle of his explanation, and then stepped into the interior of the building, tapping on the concrete wall with the hydraulic pliers in his hand to check, and at the same time selling hard in his mouth, "It's not bad, The quality of the building is very good, as long as you simply fix the roof and redecorate, it will be fine to hold your funeral here."

"Can't you say something auspicious?"

Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, and at the same time was thinking about how to tactfully refuse. It is true that he wanted to move his studio to Kazan, but he didn't have to. Such a broken place.

"Then say something auspicious"

Karp swung his arms round and smashed the hydraulic pliers in his hand onto the stairs leading to the second floor in the distance. Seeing that the stairs did not collapse, he walked up the stairs and continued, "Daria asked me to tell you , if you are willing to move your studio here, and try your best to repair this dilapidated house, by the way, leave the two sunny rooms on the far left on the third floor to her. After she dies, this house will be yours .”

"That's an auspicious word." Wei Ran shook his head dumbfoundingly, "Is this His Majesty Dalia wanting to make me the crown prince?"

"Besides, she asked me to tell you"

Karp, who was standing at the corner of the stairs, stopped and said with a smile, "Ms. Dalia said that if you plan to refuse, be prepared to double the content of all courses in March."

"Why?" Wei Ran asked puzzled.

"Of course it's because she is your teacher and has the right to decide your class."

"No, no, no." Wei Ran added without waiting for the other party to finish, "I mean, why do you have to use this place for me?"

"No matter how good a house is, it will collapse if no one lives in it for too long."

Karp turned around and continued walking towards the second floor while explaining, "Daria has never come here, but at the same time she is very worried that this dilapidated house will completely collapse into ruins.

Then you took the initiative to jump out and rent a house to live a two-person world without parental restraint with your little girlfriend.So Victor, do you think there are other better candidates besides you? "

(End of this chapter)