War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 46 Goodbye Nikolai

Returning to the studio with Federer and the trailer arranged by the other party, the latter immediately ordered the workers to load the anti-tank gun, even the shell casing that had been cut in half, and put it into the In a pre-prepared plastic box.After Wei Ran washed out a photo of Aleutian and Zoya again and gave it to the other party, Federer went back to the boss with satisfaction.

After sending away the big client who was like a boy who spread money, Wei Ran put the investigation fee paid by the other party into the safe, and then he couldn't wait to close the shutter door, and took out the expensive pistol presented by Mr. Alexander from the gun case. The original pistols purchased by Professor Alexey were placed together.

Comparing the two, the former, which uses a lot of titanium alloy parts, is much heavier than the original polymer gun body, but because of the extra wooden handle patch, the grip of the former is much more comfortable.

At the same time, Wei Ran also discovered that the pistol presented by Alexander not only did not have any markings or logos on the sleeve except for the anti-skid groove, even after disassembly, there was no crucial part found on any of the parts. gun number.

Anyway, after staying in Russia for such a long time, he immediately understood the value of this pistol besides the extravagant materials.Simply put, this expensive pistol is probably not even documented.

But this also leads to another problem. If it is just a normal pistol, such as the original pistol bought by Professor Alexey, because there is a gun number, and Professor Alexey has also registered his identity with a high probability.So even if the police find it, as long as it is not taken out of the studio, it will not be a big problem.

But such a black gun, even if it was just kept at home, would be a big trouble if it was found by the police.At a certain moment, he even wondered if this was a trap deliberately set by Alexander.

And once this kind of suspicion emerged in his heart, Wei Ran suddenly felt that the gun in his hand became a bit hot, and began to think about where it would be safest to hide it.

"Can those red swirls in the notebook hide something?"

Wei Ran's heart moved, he got up and locked the shutter door, summoned the notebook and turned to the page that was originally used to store the Leica camera.The red swirl has been empty ever since he got the old Leica out.

Not daring to experiment with that expensive pistol, Wei Ran sent the original pistol that Professor Alexei gave him into the vortex without any psychological barriers.To his ecstasy, the pistol could actually fit inside!

Trying to close the leather book, there is no hindrance at all, even turning it back into a tattoo is no problem.Summoned the cowhide notebook again and turned to the corresponding page, and saw the gun handle floating in the red vortex at a glance!

Really can!Wei Ran ecstatically pulled it out, and even disassembled it into parts for careful inspection, but found no damage.

"Since the pistol can go in, can other things work?"

Wei Ran became interested, and searched all kinds of things including seasonings, films, cash and even a double-barreled shotgun.However, to his disappointment, the vortex seemed to be unable to hold other items except the pistol, and even the bullets could only be sent in the magazine.

"So, is the vortex propped into the shape of a pistol, or are there other restrictions?"

Wei Ran looked at the table full of fragments and muttered to himself, but he was pondering a bolder guess—whether putting things in a cowhide notebook can bring them back to the battlefield of World War II?

Suppressing the crazy idea of ​​finding a random war relic and going back to World War II to try again, Wei Ran sent the unnumbered black gun, which was presented by Alexander, loaded with bullets into the red vortex in the notebook.Then he went into the darkroom and developed all the street scenes taken in Kazan a few days ago, as well as the photos of Nikolai.

Compared with the colorful digital photos and color photos, the unique texture and gray scale of black and white photos seem to send the street scene of the city and the old man in the KGB uniform of the Soviet era back to the last century, while the gradually drying silver salt The unique graininess of photo paper also seems to cast a layer of false age mottled on those frozen moments.

Waiting patiently for the photo paper to dry completely, Wei Ran put Alexander's letter of commitment, Nikolai's photo and the corridor taken at the gate of the abandoned school, together with the corresponding negatives, into photo frames, and finally stuffed them into the backpack. Hanging that old Leica around my neck, I can't wait to drive straight to the direction of the airport.

For this trip to Kazan, Wei Ran had other plans besides handing over Alexander's letter of commitment and the fifty thousand dollars to Nicholas.

He had happily asked the professor to help him find a place where he could learn some life-saving skills, but he didn't expect that the unreliable old thing arranged for him to be a group of fans who played war reenactment.

Even if you think about it with your toenails, even if you learn everything from them, it's probably useless at all.It’s even better not to learn it. After all, once you develop muscle memory, your body’s subconscious reaction will not give your brain time to think when you encounter a life-or-death situation. At that time, I’m afraid you won’t even know how you died.

But Nicholas is different. He is a KGB who survived the war years. As long as the other party is willing to teach him a half way, he is much more professional than those actors who play blank bombs.By the way, he might also be able to find out from Nicholas the real reason why the Aleutian company commander at the 19th position was sent to the correctional battalion.

However, the plan couldn't keep up with the change. When his flight landed at Kazan Airport, and when he took a taxi to Nikolai's school again, he found that the old man was cleaning up with that young gangster with assorted hair. luggage.

"Victor, why don't you call me?"

The little gangster patted Wei Ran's shoulder happily, and then said with regret, "But you didn't come at the right time, Mr. Nicholas is going to travel far away."

“It's okay to leave late”

Nicholas, who had already tied his luggage to the Harley motorcycle, said indifferently, "I was going to ride a motorcycle to Volgograd to see the monument you mentioned, but I didn't expect you to come again so soon. "

"The monument will be erected in a week, at the gate of the topography museum in Volzsky"

Wei Ran first answered what the other party was most concerned about, and then said with a smile, "Mr. Nicholas, I'm looking for you this time for something else."

As if he understood the meaning in the eyes of the former, Nicholas took off the luggage on the motorcycle without any haste, and then handed the car keys to the little gangster, "Jima, help me go to the city to change the oil on the motorcycle, Come back with something to eat and drink."

"Mr. Good Principal" the gangster Ji Ma happily took the key, and skillfully stepped on the Harley motorcycle and left the abandoned school.

"You have a really good relationship with those punks." Wei Ran couldn't help but said.

"They're not punks"

Carrying a small amount of luggage, Nicholas walked towards the small building on his own, and at the same time he did not forget to explain, "They are all good children I watched growing up, but the aesthetics of hairstyles are really bad. But you, why did you come to me again so soon?"

Wei Ran patted his backpack, "I'll bring you something."

"Could it be that you sent back that application report again?" Nicholas' tone was filled with a trace of expectation, but at the same time, it was accompanied by imperceptible disappointment.

"Sorry, I can't bring back that application report for the time being."

Wei Ran followed the other party into the classroom that he had visited once before, and then took out those photo frames from his bag, together with the fifty thousand dollars in cash, and put them on the desk one by one.

"This is my client's promise to you. With this letter of commitment, you can bring back the ZIS-19 anti-tank gun that fought at the Don 3 position together with the application report for free at any time. The other party is even willing to bear all the shipping costs.”

After receiving the letter of commitment that Wei Ran handed to him first, Nicholas read it over and over several times, and then said leisurely, "Where did you find this idiot?"

"After all, it's not Ukraine, so there are quite a lot of such fools."

Wei Ran smiled, and without waiting for the other party to say anything else, he directly pushed the stack of cash on the table over, "This fifty thousand dollars is also given to you by the other party, and he hopes that you can use the money to improve your life. If you are interested in this There is doubt about the amount of the money, and the letter of commitment has the contact number of the other party, and you can call to verify it at any time."

"You're an idiot too." Nicholas glanced noncommittally at the cash on the table, and then focused on the photo of himself.

"This is the photo I took for you last time, and the other one is the passageway in this yard that I took. Their negatives are all behind their respective photo frames." While Wei Ran was speaking, he pushed the last two photo frames to the other side.

Picking up the two black and white photos and looking at each of them, Nicholas nodded in satisfaction, and then asked abruptly, "You didn't come this time just to send these things back, did you?"

Wei Ran nodded frankly, "There are indeed two other things, but they have little to do with what's on the table."

"Let's talk about it." Nicholas lit a cigarette and asked nonchalantly.

"I checked his combat history through Aleutian's identity capsule, and found that the reason he was sent to the correctional battalion was that he deserted during the Moscow Defense War. This may be one of the reasons why the application report he submitted was not approved. , so I thought."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, Nicholas sighed, "Because of Zoya"

"That war correspondent Zoya?" Wei Ran looked at the old man sitting on the ground in confusion.

Nicholas nodded, "According to the information I found, during the defense of Moscow, Zoya was seriously injured while reporting on the front line of the Ruza River. It was Aleutin and the combat team led by him who sent Zoya back to the rear. The hospital, but also because he went AWOL and almost let the Germans tear through their defenses."

"So he was sent to a correctional camp?"

Nicholas nodded, "It was them. At that time, the infantry squad led by Aleutian was all sent to a correctional battalion in Siberia. Even if Zoya hadn't published an article about Aleutian and Reports and photographs of his combat team fighting, they probably never made it out of the correctional battalion."

"Where did you find these clues?" Wei Ran asked.

"I worked in a correctional camp for a period of time. At that time, I deliberately went to the correctional camp where Aleutians and others were imprisoned through some means. But even so, it took a lot of effort to find clues about the World War II after the war." Nicholas said this, stood up while leaning on the table, and said as he walked out, "Take the things you brought and come with me!"

Hastily pulling the photo frame and cash on the table into his backpack, Wei Ran followed Nicholas up to the second floor and re-entered the spacious room.

While Wei Ran took out the contents of the backpack and put them on the table, Nicholas rummaged through the bookshelf behind the office desk, finally pulled out a file bag, tore off the yellowed paper, and He took out a well-preserved Communist Youth League Pravda and handed it to Wei Ran.

"This is the newspaper that I found with great difficulty"

Nikolay pointed to a blurry photo on one of the pages and said, "This is the Aleutian and his combat team that Zoya took during the defense of Moscow. The article next to it is a report about them."

"The Brave Warriors Who Guarded the Ruza River"

Wei Ran glanced at the title of this article, and then found Zoya's name in the corner, but the time this newspaper was published was in February 1942.Thinking about the time when Nicholas went to work in the correctional camp, there was an interval of nearly ten years. To find this newspaper at that time, Nicholas undoubtedly devoted a lot of energy.

After carefully reading the whole report, Wei Ran was secretly stunned. In this report, apart from Company Commander Aleutian and Vanya, there were a few other unfamiliar names, but the positions and companies of these people were all listed. Zoya wrote it in some details of the battle.

This is obviously intentional. In Zoya's writing, Aleutian and others are also portrayed as fearless heroes.But from the beginning to the end, they never mentioned the fact that they were sent to the correctional camp, let alone the fact that they had saved themselves.

"Can I take this newspaper with me or make a copy?" Wei Ran raised the camera around his neck, "Or let me take a photo."

Nicholas nodded happily, and said while putting the newspaper in the file bag, "After the monument you mentioned is built, this newspaper will be yours. Now tell me about the other thing you came to find me. What is it!"

"I want to learn some knowledge from you." Wei Ran thought about it and said an excuse that he had thought up in advance, "I might become a battlefield photographer in the future. I want to know how to survive on the battlefield."

Nicholas stuffed the portfolio back into the bookshelf, and said without looking back, "Although you deliberately didn't look into my eyes this time, your tone and small actions prove that you are not telling the truth."

　Two in one chapter
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(End of this chapter)