War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 532
Taking advantage of the time to refuel the car, Wei Ran also strolled to the side of the two Ural trucks with a flatbread filled with barbecue.

"Victor, do you still remember us?" A bald middle-aged man who also held a big roll of meat in his hand asked enthusiastically.

"Of course I remember, Uncle Seryozha." Wei Ran touched his fists with the big bald head, "I even dislocated your arm at the pier in Yakutsk."

"Are you provoking?" Sergei said dissatisfiedly, "Why didn't you say that I forced you under the table?"

"I drank too much at that time and don't remember anything"

Wei Ran was very bachelor, and then he bumped his fist with the person next to him who was holding a watermelon, and said with a playful smile, "Uncle Osip, when we had academic exchanges in the warehouse of the power plant, I seemed to have You dislocated your arm."

"Seryozha, this little bastard is deliberately provoking." Osip said dissatisfiedly, pulling the beard on his chin.

"Forget it, I'm getting old, and I don't want to fight him." Sergey Sha, a ghostly ghost, evaded.

"Four 50 years old is not too old"

Wei Ran broke through the other party's excuses, and then changed the subject and asked, "Don't talk about this, why did you two cut your hair and grow beards instead?"

"It's too hot in this damn place during the day, so I cut my hair." Seryozha said perfunctorily.

"It's too cold here at night, and it's easy to freeze your jaw, so you grew a beard. Do you have any opinions?" Osip asked in the same tone, "I heard that you were fired by that crazy woman Daria?"

"That's right"

Wei Ran took a hard bite of the burrito in his hand, and glanced at the young man who stood behind the two of them and was busy fetching water from a large stainless steel tank.

"Don't worry, my own people"

Seryozha also took a bite of the pie in his hand, and explained vaguely, "His name is Soliman, and he is Saleh's son. Soliman, come over to say hello."

It was said that a young man named Soliman came over, first wiped the water stains on his hands on the white Arab robe he was wearing, and then stretched towards Wei Ran, with a sunny smile, and slightly Some stumbling Russian said, "Hi, I'm Soliman."

"Victor" Wei Ran shook hands with the other party.

"You guys talk first." Soliman pointed to the water tanker behind him, "I have to keep an eye on it."

"Soliman is a shy boy." Osip took a bite of the watermelon, "and he is more polite than you."

"And without dislocating your hands"

Wei Ran deliberately teased the other party again, and immediately asked, "You are not staying in Yakutsk, why did you come here?"

Seryozha took another bite of the pie, "Don't try to irritate us and say something, what that old Gorman taught you is useless to us."

"I just treat you as friends." Wei Ran spread his hands innocently.

"When your friend is easy to dislocate?" Osip threw away the watermelon rind in his hand and mocked.

"Okay, stop talking about the dislocation."

Seryozha had eaten the last bite of the pancake while speaking, and before swallowing it, he took the initiative to explain, "Anna is short of manpower, so we came here together, and we will also be employees of the studio in the future."

"You don't need to go back to Yakutsk?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

"No, I'll never have to go to that ghostly place again where pissing on the side of the road can freeze the faucet." Seryozha said with a smile on his face, "And even our family has moved to Kazan. Ma their village."

"Congratulations!" Wei Ran's tone this time was extraordinarily sincere.

"Thank you for this."

Osip deliberately wiped the sticky watermelon juice on Wei Ran's shoulders, "Go and cheer up, we have been waiting for you here for more than half an hour, let's go to the shooting scene together later."

"Specially waiting for me?"

"Why are you thicker than Karp?" Seryozha said, lowering his voice a little, "We came here for the refrigerated truck."

"in there"

"You'll find out when you get to the shooting scene." Sergey Sha said this, but he said that he was in a hurry, "Okay, go and refuel your car."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't ask any more questions, and after bidding farewell to the two acquaintances, he turned and returned to the side of the pickup.

Standing in line to refill the car, Saleh was the first to leave in the tanker.But after the refrigerated car was driven out of the gas station, the young man named Baja pushed open the door of the driver's cab and went straight to a small shop that didn't know what he was running on the other side of the road.

The young man Soliman, who was with Seriosha before, took over the driving of the refrigerator.

"It's like a drug deal, what's the point of making a bad movie?"

Wei Ran complained dumbfoundingly, and let the two tank trucks sandwich the fresh truck and his armored pickup truck.

Under the leadership of Saleh, a group of five trucks left the Siwa Oasis in the setting sun, and then drove along the road for more than ten kilometers. They did not line up until there was no traffic around them. off the road.

After bypassing several sand beams in a row, the last remaining ray of sunset was completely blocked by the raised sand dunes in the distance, and the five cars turned on their lights one after another.

After lowering the tire pressure a little, after Wei Ran had enjoyed the initial off-road fun, all that was left was the fatigue caused by continuous driving.

After driving for more than an hour in the endless desert, Saleh, who was in the lead, stopped with double flashes.

"Take a break for an hour"

On the radio channel, Saleh said in Russian, "Soliman, remove the board and ask Victor to help you."

"Ok"

Listening to the Russian response from the young man on the radio, Wei Ran, who was about to have another bite of melted ice cream, had no choice but to put down his lunch box and open the car door.

Under the glare of the headlights, Soliman had already climbed onto the roof of the refrigerated car, untied two wooden boards that were more than three meters long and half a meter wide, and then dropped several sacks.

At the same time, Saleh and the others were not idle. They each untied a roll of khaki-colored canvas from the roof of the cab, and were dragged by ropes to cover the oil tanks and water tanks on their respective vehicles.

After the three old men finished their work, Wei Ran also helped Soliman hang two wooden boards with chains on the rear of the two water trucks, and fixed the sacks filled with yellow sand on them.

It didn't take much to ask, no doubt this was done to smooth out the ruts they had left behind.But why he was so cautious, Wei Ran couldn't find the answer at all. As for what was in that refrigerated truck, I'm afraid he would only have a chance to find out after arriving at the destination.

After finishing his work, Wei Ran only had time to urinate before turning off the radio under Saleh's urging and continuing on his way.

This time, the five vehicles changed from going side by side to end-to-end. The two water tank trucks dragging boards no longer protected the refrigerated truck, but were at the end.

As the saying goes, there are advantages and disadvantages. Although this does eliminate the rut marks, it also greatly affects the speed. After a whole hour, the odometer only jumped 20 kilometers.

At this speed, it might take them another five or six hours to get to the shooting location.

"There can't be a nuclear bomb in that refrigerator car." While Wei Ran was making arrangements secretly, Saleh, who was in the lead, stopped again.

Looking through the rearview mirror shrouded in yellow sand, Wei Ran could only see Seryozha and Osip who were in charge of driving the water tanker pushing the door and walking to the rear of the car. Soon after, they returned to the cab and had two shots. Double flash.

After a while, the convoy started again. This time, no matter whether it was the water tank truck behind or the cold fresh truck in front, they once again went hand in hand, following the leading oil tank truck to increase their speed.

"When it comes to off-road, we still have to look at Maozi's car."

Wei Ran looked at the trucks on both sides and couldn't help admiring. Whether it was the KAMAZ that has been galloping on the Dakar field all year round or the three outdated Ural 4320s around them, even though they each carried a heavy load supplies, but it is still like walking on flat ground in this desert.

Even the pickup truck I was driving didn’t insult its pure pedigree from GAZ off-road trucks because of the heavy armor, cargo box and the fruits in the compartment.

Of course, this is the man-eating Sahara desert after all. Although the soft sand under the wheels could not trap them, their speed was inevitably affected.

Qiang continued to drive for nearly three hours, until they circled a winding sand dune again. Under the dazzling headlights, Wei Ran finally saw a canvas tent with the Milky Way above his head and yellow sand under his feet.

And around the tent, not only were more than a dozen Ural trucks parked, but even the off-road vehicle that already belonged to Jima was also on the list.

"It's finally here." Wei Ran stepped on the brake wearily, the journey was really hard enough.

"Victor, you are finally here, please drive the car beside me."

On the radio channel, Jima yawned and asked, "We will help you set up a tent during the day. By the way, do you want to take a shower? Look at the car that my flashlight is pointing at, where you can take a hot shower." Water bath, the car next to it is a dining car, there should be a lot of food in it."

Through the car window, he glanced at Jima standing at the rear of the off-road vehicle that once belonged to him, and then at the two Ural trucks with square cabins pointed at by the bright flashlight in his hand.

Wei Ran's face was already full of astonishment. He thought that the shooting conditions in the depths of the desert must not be much better, but he didn't expect that there would be a hot bath waiting for him.

"Are you really here to make a movie?" Wei Ran picked up the radio and asked while driving the car to Jima's side.

"Of course we're here to make a movie"

Jima outside the car door replied in the mobile station by taking off his pants and farting, and when Wei Ran opened the car door, he immediately continued with a hippie smile, "But this place is definitely better than any broken hotel in Siwa Oasis. Comfortable."

However, before Wei Ran could say anything, and before he jumped out of the cab, the satellite phone on the dashboard rang.

Scanning the screen, seeing that the caller was Teacher Dalia, Wei Ran immediately pressed the answer button.

"Are you there?" Teacher Dalia asked on the other end of the phone.

"Exactly, not even two minutes."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, seeing that Dalia on the other end of the phone did not respond, he asked after a moment of silence, "Teacher Dalia, what's wrong?"

"Mrs. Valentina has just stopped breathing"

Teacher Daria said with a sigh, "She asked me to thank you for her, thank you for finding her Vajim."

Looking at Ji Ma outside, Wei Ran directly closed the car door, hesitated for a moment and asked, "What else did she say?"

"She said she finally didn't have to suffer anymore."

Daria responded almost raving, "She walked very peacefully, Comrade Vajim's body was beside her, and her grandson was with her on the other side. I think she should have no I'm sorry."

"I think so"

Wei Ran sighed, "Teacher Dalia, help me put a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of vodka in front of her and Vajim's tombstone."

(End of this chapter)