War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 44 Another Identity

When Wei Ran woke up from his hangover after sleeping until the sun was up, there were two sparrows chirping around among the luxuriant leaves and leaves outside the window, and in the shade of trees farther away, there were A few children wearing open diapers are brandishing small plastic shovels and working hard to build their castles in the sandpit.

"You're finally awake." In the lobby on the first floor, Nicholas greeted without raising his head, and concentrated on cleaning the well-maintained old Harley.

"Do you want to go back to Volgograd with me?" Wei Ran leaned against the pillar in the corner of the hall, yawning and asked.

Hearing this, Nicholas stopped his work, threw the rag in his hand onto a small basket beside him and shook his head, "Forget it, I won't go, after the cannon you mentioned is actually built as a monument, Just remember to let me know, if I have time then, I will go and have a look."

"No problem, I've written down your phone number."

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, then took out the old Leica from his bag and handed it to the other party, "This is the relic of the female war reporter Zoya, let me keep it for you as a souvenir!"

Wiping the stains from his hands on the pants, Nicholas took the camera and looked at it, and then returned it to Wei Ran, "It's yours, if you can, use it to take a photo for me .”

"No problem." Wei Ran readily agreed, and asked after taking back the camera, "Where shall we shoot?"

"Wait a minute, I'm going to change." After Nicholas finished speaking, he got up and walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

During Wei Ran's waiting, half an hour later, Nikolai was wearing an old-fashioned Soviet military uniform, holding the application report for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union sealed in a photo frame, and slowly walked down the stairs.

What is quite special is that the collar patches, epaulettes and cap wall of the military uniform worn by the other party are all blue, and there is even the Russian letter "ГБ" on the epaulets.Coupled with the KGB badge on the right side of the chest next to the ribbon, all of this pointed out how terrifying the other party's identity was.

"Are you a KGB agent?"

Wei Ran pretended to be surprised and asked, in fact, as early as when he saw the leather book provided the opponent's post-war experience, Wei Ran had already had a vague guess about his identity, but he did not expect that Nicholas would be so happy revealed his identity.

"Put away your false surprise"

Nicholas mocked, "Since you can find me, then my previous identity shouldn't be a secret to you."

Wei Ran, whose cleverness was exposed, showed an embarrassed expression, shook the old Leica in his hand and changed the subject, "Where do you want to shoot?"

"Come with me!"

Nicholas led Wei Ran to an empty classroom at the left end of the first floor, and walked up to the podium, "It's right here."

Wei Ran looked in surprise at the various old-fashioned weapons placed on the desks in this room, then silently walked to the middle of the classroom, and pointed the camera at Nicholas who slowly raised his right arm.

With the crisp shutter sound, an old soldier saluting with a photo frame in his arms was permanently frozen on the film.

After finishing taking pictures, Wei Ran raised the camera again, "Nicolas, do you want me to give you the film?"

"Just remember to send me a copy after washing it."

Nikolai waved his hand nonchalantly, "The Soviet Union is gone, and I'm almost 90 years old. I don't have any secrets to keep covering up, as long as you don't treat my photos as exhibits."

"No, I promise." Wei Ran said, patting his chest.

"Okay, take this report and get out, someone outside will take you directly to the airport."

Nicholas stuffed the photo frame in his hand to Wei Ran, and finally asked worriedly, "If you don't need it, remember to send it back to me, and send it back together with the photo just now."

Wei Ran nodded, took the photo frame and put it in his bag, bid farewell to Nicholas who was sitting in a daze on the chair, and after leaving the abandoned school, got into a van parked on the corridor.

This dirty van contained a lot of hunting tools, and even a shotgun with a scope and an old-fashioned double-barreled shotgun were fixed on the roof.Not surprisingly, the driver was one of the gangsters who brought him to find Nikolay yesterday.

After the other party waited for Wei Ran to sit still, the assorted-haired gangster immediately stepped on the accelerator and headed straight for Kazan along the cracked road.During the more than an hour's drive, the little gangster who was driving was hesitant to speak the whole time, until Wei Ran got out of the car, he couldn't help but say, "Hey! Friends, come and spend more time with Principal Nicholas. "

Seemingly seeing the other party's doubts, the little bastard explained to Wei Ran a piece of paper with a phone number on it, "Although I don't know what you talked with him yesterday, but Principal Nicholas hasn't been so serious for a long time. I'm so happy. In the morning, he even rode his motorcycle to go around the village. So if you have time in the future, come and accompany him more, call me when the time comes, and I'll pick you up at the airport!"

"no problem!"

Wei Ran directly dialed the other party's number with his mobile phone, and at the same time did not forget to say, "Victor, my name is Victor, and I may come again soon."

"Victor? That's much easier to remember than the name you told us yesterday"

While recording Wei Ran's phone number and name on his mobile phone, the little bastard introduced himself, "Jima Allah, you can call me Jima or Allah. When you come next time, I will invite you to Kazan's largest in a bar with Ukrainian girls for drinks."

"Then it's settled." Wei Ran touched fists with the other party, and walked into the waiting hall with his backpack.

Taking a flight back to Volgograd on the same afternoon, Wei Ran did not rush to the studio, but found a hotel near the airport to stay. It was not until two days later that he estimated that it was almost time before driving. Returning to the studio with his own bun.

Before the car came to a complete stop, Professor Alexis, who was drunk in the studio, immediately picked up the mobile phone placed on the table, pressed the launch button and shouted, "Come here, my dear! Victor, the little bastard, is finally here!" came back!"

At the same time he released the launch button, Zhou Shujin, who was at the travel agency next door, who was arranging tasks for the staff at a meeting, immediately dropped the folder in her hand, and ran out with all the men and women under her hands to surround him who had just left the van. Wei Ran who came down.

"Where's your girlfriend? Why didn't you bring it back?"

Zhou Shujin opened the car door and saw that the carriage was empty, and her tone became extremely disappointed. On the contrary, the young hair girls behind her were secretly relieved. Fortunately, the bones were not taken away by other dogs.

"What girlfriend?" Wei Ran asked unclearly, and then looked at Professor Alexei who was still confused.

"Didn't you go to see your girlfriend?" Zhou Shujin's expression turned into complete disappointment.

"I went to Kazan to investigate the clues of the cannon, didn't I leave a note?" Wei Ran said helplessly.

Realizing that something was wrong, Professor Alexei had already woken up most of the wine at this time, and hurriedly took Wei Ran with one hand and his tigress and walked into the studio, "Forget about girlfriends and artillery, let's go first Let’s talk about more important things! Victor, that PPK pistol has been bought by Mr. Alexander.”

　Thanks to the emptiness, silence and coldness, the great cheap dog who rewarded 100 points respectively

　　
　
(End of this chapter)