War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 58 Nikolai Visits
Early the next morning, the bleary-eyed Wei Ran was dragged by his aunt to run from department to department in the city, and successfully put the studio under his own name.Even the name, at her insistence, changed from "Alexis Studio" to "Time Studio."

After finishing all the formalities, the hot-tempered aunt didn't stay idle at all, and went directly to the travel agency next door to start working, and Wei Ran also returned to the studio to continue thinking about the plan.Except that the various licenses and certificates that were originally hung on the wall were replaced with new ones, the rest did not seem to have changed much from the past.

It's just that in the afternoon, with the sound of horseshoes rattling from far to near, a well-polished old Harley parked steadily at the door of the studio.

"Mr. Nicholas, why are you here?"

Wei Ran looked at the old man straddling the motorcycle in surprise and asked. Behind this old man, there was a dirty Ural truck, and the one who jumped out of the cab was just separated yesterday. quarter horse.

"I received the photo of the monument from you yesterday, and I'm ready to come and have a look."

Nikolai took off his gaudy helmet and hung it on the handlebar, looking at the Mamayev Hill not far away with emotion on his face, "When I left here last time, this city was still in ruins, I didn't expect the change So big."

"You, you came from Kazan after riding all night?!" Wei Ran's eyes widened.

"It was I who drove all night to pull President Nikolai's motorcycle from Kazan." Jima yawned with dark circles under his eyes, "Mr. Came by train."

"Come in and sit down!" Wei Ran hurriedly greeted the two of them to enter the studio, and when he finished making coffee and served it, Nicholas said slowly, "I went to see that monument, and there are quite a few around it." flowers."

Wei Ran smiled, "So there are still many people who think they are heroes."

"Stalingrad is gone, what's the point of being a hero?"

Nicholas muttered stiffly, and before Wei Ran could say anything, he took out a Lenin medal from his leather jacket and pushed it to Wei Ran, "Young man, how about doing me a favor?"

"You said" Wei Ran looked at the medal lying on the table, and then turned to look at the expectant Nicholas.

Nicholas glanced at the yawning Jima, and then calmly flirted with Wei Ran.

"Jima, do you want to go to my bedroom and sleep for a while?" Wei Ran turned his head and asked.

"It would be great if I could." Jima, who was already sleepy to death, was not polite, and let Wei Ran guide him into the bedroom.

Helping the other party close the door, Wei Ran sat down at the table again, quietly waiting for Nicholas' next words.

Picking up the Lenin Medal and shaking it, Nicholas said in a low voice, "This medal should have been awarded to a former colleague of mine. He was sent to West Germany in the early 70s and passed the Berlin Wall. A lot of valuable information came back. But before the collapse of the Soviet Union, he suddenly disappeared, and I haven't seen him since then."

"So... you hope I can find this person?" Wei Ran's eyes widened, "Did you overestimate my ability?"

"Overestimate your abilities?"

Nicholas glanced at Wei Ran, "You can find me from an anti-tank gun, maybe you can also find out where he is now from a Lenin medal."

The speechless Wei Ran opened his mouth, and changed the subject dryly, "Not everyone has a good body like you, maybe he has already."

There was pain and hatred that could not be concealed on Nicholas' old face, "As long as it can be found, it doesn't matter even if it's a corpse."

"Can I... ask why?"

Wei Ran asked hesitantly, from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to help this favor, even if he thought about it with his butt, he knew that if he found a person who could not be found by the KGB in the Soviet era, he would inevitably cause trouble for himself.But the painful expression on the face of the aged Nicholas made him really unable to say no.

"My wife and children were all killed by him."

Nicholas' eyes turned red, and he said in a low voice, "For a long time, we all thought that the Americans or West Germans did it. But it wasn't until after the disintegration of the Soviet Union that I learned from a German who had also retired. Intelligence agents know the truth."

Wei Ran looked hesitant, "If you can't find it"

Nicholas sighed, "Young man, a KGB without the background of the Soviet Union is not much different from a stray wild dog. His only advantage may be that he can hide himself very well."

"let me try"

Wei Ran vaguely picked up the medal, turned on the computer, and followed the number on the back to enter the official website of the Ministry of National Defense to inquire.However, no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find the existence of this medal at all.

"Is there no record for him?" Nicholas obviously didn't expect this result either.

"Do you have anything else that can find out his identity?" Wei Ran prevaricated, "If not, I'm afraid."

"Yes!" Nicholas stood up resolutely, "There are many more, but they are all in Kazan, Victor, if you have nothing to do, how about going back with me now?"

"Mr. Nicholas, you should know that my hope of finding him is actually very slim. Even if his detailed information is on this medal, after so many years, it is very difficult to find this person who does not know if he is still alive. And most importantly, it was really an accident to find you last time."

Nikolai's expression froze, and he sat back in his chair, "I've been looking for this person for almost the rest of my life since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and I've given up on it, but I didn't expect you to be able to find me.

Not sure how you did it, but I'm not that curious.Victor, no matter what method you use, you may be the only hope for an old guy like me who could die at any moment. "

"Let me try." Wei Ran looked at the expectant Nicholas, and finally gritted his teeth and agreed.Whether he can find it, he has no idea at all, but he can no longer say a word of rejection.

"Then we're going back to Kazan now?"

Nicholas impatiently suggested that he originally wanted to mention this matter to Wei Ran yesterday, but he didn't want him to return to Volgograd directly after going to the Red Flag Forest Farm in a hurry.

"Aren't you here to continue shopping?"

"I've already walked around today." Nicholas shook his head. "If I can really find clues about that person, maybe I will move back here to live in the future, and I will have plenty of time to hang out by then."

(End of this chapter)