War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 596 Chen Qi's Daughter-in-law

In the depths of the mountains, the bonfire in the smokeless stove patiently boiled the hawthorn leaf tea in the kettle. Wei Ran, Zhao Shengli and the captive Brendon also finished their hot cans, dressed again and were baked. dry shoes.

"It's time to go." Zhao Shengli put the hot water bottle in his bag, "Let's climb over the mountain in front of us in one go, and we'll figure out how to get back when we get back to the shack."

"Go, go."

Wei Ran greeted him in English, and stretched out his hand to Brendon.However, I don't know if he left a bad impression on the captain before, but his ordinary movement made the latter subconsciously dodge back with both hands and feet.

"Look, you've scared Comrade Leng Buding." Zhao Shengli pulled Brendon up while speaking, and even took the initiative to help him dust off the dirt on his buttocks.

It was still Zhao Shengli who was in the front, and behind Wei Ran, Brendon, who was a prisoner, walked in the middle.However, Brendon's left hand was tied with a legging and Zhao Shengli was pulling it, and another legging was tied to his belt and Wei Ran was pulling it.

The purpose of doing this, in addition to preventing Brendon from doing things in the dark, is also to prevent the three of them from getting separated most importantly.

"Are there tigers in this mountain?" Brendon asked in English as he walked.

"Even if there was, I was scared by your planes and cannons and hid in a place where no one was around." Wei Ran replied casually.

"Soon our planes and cannons will scare you away," Brendon said confidently.

"Just you?"

Wei Ran snorted coldly, "Didn't your general say that you will go home for Christmas after the fight? How long has it been since you went back? Your wife ran to the neighbor's bed and hoarse her voice? Maybe when you go back, There will be multiple dark-skinned sons or daughters."

"You will definitely lose to us in this war!" Brendon retorted palely.

"Yes, yes, but maybe your wife is waiting to use your pension to buy a car and go for a ride with your neighbors."

Wei Ran continued to provoke the other party verbally, "So if you want to satisfy your wife's wish, you can continue to provoke me, I will be happy to help your wife."

Obviously, life-and-death threats are more effective than anything else. Although the American captain was panting heavily, he still kept his mouth shut.

Although Zhao Shengli, who was walking in front, couldn't understand what Wei Ran and Brendon were talking about, he could more or less guess what was going on when he heard the prisoner behind him panting heavily.

"Comrade Wei Ran, can't you treat Comrade Leng Buding a little better?" Zhao Shengli's tone contained a trace of helplessness and tiredness.

"I was nice to him"

Wei Ran replied cheerfully, "I'm chatting with him about his family, asking him if he wants to go home or something."

"What did he say?" Zhao Shengli asked as he continued walking.

"He said he missed his wife, and his neighbors and friends." Wei Ran continued to run the train with his mouth full, "and said he wished he could go back now."

"Do you take me for a fool?"

Zhao Shengli muttered in dissatisfaction, "I really don't understand, you said you can speak American, or you are a shooter sent by the regiment, but why is your ideological awareness so low?"

Wei Ran, who was already teasing him, grinned when he heard the words, wisely he didn't answer the question.And Zhao Shengli didn't say much anymore, he just sped up his pace a little.

As the speed increased, neither Wei Ran nor Brendon had the intention of bickering. When they climbed to the top of the mountain, even Brendon needed Wei Ran's support to take a step.

Zhao Shengli, who was walking in the front, showed a triumphant smile on his face. He didn't give Wei Ran and the two of them a chance to rest, so he sped up the pace of going down the mountain again under the pretext of being in a hurry.

On the downhill road for an hour, neither Brendon nor Wei Ran stumbled. During this period, Zhao Shengli did not intend to help at all, but kept urging them to speed up. Under his "oppression", Wei Ran The relationship between Ran and Brendon has improved a lot, either one helped the other up, or the other helped the other up.

Of course Wei Ran knew that Zhao Shengli did all this on purpose. If he changed the vocabulary commonly used by later generations, it would be breaking the ice for him and Brendon.

But even knowing it was useless. Under Zhao Shengli's iron feet, the only way for Wei Ran to not hold back was to cooperate with Brendon.

It's the same for Brendon. He is a dark man in the deep mountains and old forests. He doesn't even have a nail clipper or a kettle on him, let alone a weapon. If he is really left here, he will never even think about surviving.So even in order to survive, he and Wei Ran had to help each other.

Seeing that Wei Ran and Brendon, who were about to explode, were about to stick out their tongues to cool off, Zhao Shengli, who was walking in the front, suddenly stopped.

"Finally. Finally OK"

"Shh-"

Just as Zhao Shengli signaled to shut up, Wei Ran, who was shoulder to shoulder with Brendon just a second ago, had already covered the former's mouth, and when he blocked what he hadn't finished, he raised his pistol with the other hand. caught his jaw.

After a while, Zhao Shengli imitated a few owl hoots vividly.After waiting for a second or two, there was another cuckoo call.

Before he finished speaking, there were a few ugly crow calls from the opposite side, followed by the same cuckoo call.

"Let's go!" Zhao Shengli stood up while speaking, "Squad leader and the others are waiting for us."

"You already knew they would be waiting for us here?" Wei Ran asked belatedly.

Zhao Shengli replied affirmatively, "Not only do I know that Squad Leader Lin and the others are definitely waiting for us here, but when we arrive, there may be some hot food to eat. Our reconnaissance company has never had the habit of abandoning comrades in arms, and Lin The squad leader must know that I will take you to the shack."

"Are you going to hand me over to the recruiter next?" Brendon asked nervously Chao Weiran.

"You're lucky"

Wei Ran deliberately paused, and then continued slowly, "As long as you cooperate with the interrogation, you will be able to live a prisoner of war treatment that far exceeds the provisions of the Geneva Convention. When the war is over, you can go home."

"You didn't lie to me?" Brendon's tone was still a little flustered.

"Some things you will find the answer yourself." Wei Ran was too lazy to say, put away his weapon and pushed Brendon to follow Zhao Shengli.

"Victory, Comrade Wei Ran, you are back!"

Before the three of them reached the edge of the shack, Squad Leader Lin jumped down from the canopy of a tree, "Hey! And captured prisoners?"

"Squad leader!"

Zhao Shengli stood up straight and saluted. After Squad Leader Lin returned the salute, he put down his hands and said beamingly, "I caught a captain. Comrade Wei Ran said he was an engineer company commander."

"They're going to build an airport"

Wei Ran handed over the captive Brendon to the two soldiers, Da Li and Xiao Gao, who were still wearing unsightly military uniforms, "Ask him carefully, he must know a lot."

"Thank you, Comrade Wei Ran." Squad leader Lin and Wei Ran warmly saluted each other and then shook hands.

"It's not hard," Wei Ran replied, pulling the back of his head, and then he saw Chen Qi, the hygienist, walking over quickly.

"Are you injured?" Chen Qi asked nervously, "A prisoner was taken? Is the prisoner injured?"

"None." Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli responded in unison.

"Chen Qi? Why are you here?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"The squad leader was worried that you and Zhao Shengli were injured, so I followed."

While Chen Qi was speaking, he and Squad Leader Lin greeted Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli and got into the hut.

As soon as he entered, Wei Ran found that the shack had not only been dug a lot deeper, but also expanded a lot in area.Even beside the smoke-free stove that Zhao Shengli dug out with his own hands, there were several hot lunch boxes and an American military helmet that was used as a pot.

"Let's have a bowl of porridge first, I caught a pheasant on the way here, and I have to wait a while before I can eat it." Chen Qi said, filled a bowl of porridge from the helmet and handed it to Wei Ran.

"When did you come here?" Zhao Shengli, who came in together, waited for Chen Qi to serve him a bowl of porridge and asked.

"It's been two hours since we arrived"

Squad leader Lin personally served a bowl of porridge for the prisoner Brendon, and then said to Zhao Shengli, "I knew you would bring Comrade Wei Ran here, so I brought everyone here directly. Sure enough, as soon as I came in, I saw your telescope hanging on the ceiling."

"I seized an American mirror"

While speaking, Zhao Shengli took off the telescope hanging around his neck and handed it to Squad Leader Lin, "My mirror is all gone."

"Keep it." Squad leader Lin waved his hand, "Our class is all counting on your eyes. This mirror is just right for you."

"Thank you, Captain!"

Zhao Shengli beamed and hung the telescope around his neck again, and then he took off the watch that Wei Ran gave him and handed it to Squad Leader Lin, "This is what Comrade Wei Ran seized from the enemy's corpse. In addition, we also seized several gun."

Squad leader Lin glanced at Wei Ran, who was astonished, smiled and said, "You can keep this watch, and I will report to the platoon leader after I go back."

"Let's leave it to Comrade Wei Ran. This watch was originally captured by him." Zhao Shengli had already handed the watch to Wei Ran while speaking.

"I don't care, it's useless for me."

As Wei Ran spoke, he also opened his backpack, and took out the bottles of Coke that he had carried along the way and distributed them to everyone one by one, "This is also picked up, let's share and drink."

"You two have done a great job." Squad Leader Lin took the Coke, bit it skillfully and took a sip, "This will save us from going to catch prisoners again."

"Are you going to capture another prisoner?" Zhao Shengli asked in surprise.

"What's the matter? What happened to the two captives before?" Wei Ran also raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing happened"

Chen Qi also sat down cross-legged, "One of the two captives was Morgan, he was a diehard. We asked him for a whole day and he didn't open his mouth. The other driver didn't know anything at all."

"We are planning to catch two more while we are looking for you two."

Another soldier, Da Li, then added, "That's it, before we do anything, you two will bring back an American company commander."

"No." Warrior Xiao Gao said with a smile on his face, "I thought I had to stay here for one night."

"This time the time is tight and the task is urgent." Squad leader Lin took a bowl of porridge and took a sip. "Everyone eat something to fill your belly. We will go back in an hour."

When Squad Leader Lin spoke, everyone naturally had no objection, but Chen Qi took the initiative to move to the side of the captive Brendon, speaking English with a strong accent and some grammatical errors, chatting with the former.

"Chen Qi, you should learn American dialect from Wei Ran." Zhao Shengli said while drinking porridge, "His American dialect is pretty good."

"Comrade Wei Ran can speak American?" Chen Qi asked in surprise.

"I heard it with my own ears," Zhao Shengli said on the sidelines, and he could still quarrel with Comrade Leng Buding in American.

"Comrade Leng Buding?" Squad leader Lin and the two soldiers sitting next to the captive looked bewildered, "What kind of stupid name is that?"

"What's so sudden, his name is Braden! You've come to grandma's house." Chen Qi corrected him with a wry smile.

"Don't come on the lights? Then it's just a black light." The soldier named Da Li muttered.

"Don't joke about the captive's name"

Squad leader Lin reminded me gently, "Eat quickly, Chen Qi, and don't use him to practice American dialect. After we go back, let Comrade Wei Ran teach you, hurry up and eat now."

Hearing this, Chen Qi brought his lunch box to Wei Ran's side, and asked curiously, "Comrade Wei Ran, who did you learn this American dialect from?"

"Taught by a few friends"

Wei Ran responded vaguely, and then asked, "What about you? Where did you learn American dialect?"

"Taught by my daughter-in-law"

Chen Qi sat down leaning against the wall and explained, "My daughter-in-law and her father went to England to study abroad when they were young. Before the little devil came in, the old man was considered a rich landlord in the family. My daughter-in-law just learned from him. We have learned English for several years, and those of us neighbors who are good at reading and want to read and write can not only go to their house to listen, but also take care of a meal."

"What happened later?" Wei Ran asked curiously, not only him, but even Zhao Shengli and others listened with their ears stunned.

"Nothing later"

Chen Qi said while sipping hot stick noodle porridge, "Later, when Beiping fell to the enemy, their old man scattered his family wealth and bought a lot of knives, guns, etc. for our local area.

But those guys are nothing special enough. Later, the little devil still drove south from Beiping to beat us.

That old gentleman!With their brothers and a few old men, they forced themselves on the embankment with a gun for almost an hour!
I heard from my father that when the old man was killed by devils, his spine was straight.All the males in their family, except for a half-sized boy, have fought with the little devil. "

"What happened next?" Zhao Shengli asked after taking a bite of pickled vegetables.

"Later, some of their daughters-in-law ran away, and some of them threw themselves into the river and followed them. At that time, my grandfather and my father were both our local doctors, and they were family friends.

My daughter-in-law and her grandfather set fire to the house after entrusting her to my father. I still remember clearly that the old man was almost seventy years old, and he was sitting on the grand master's chair in the main room, shouting, "Everyone is responsible." 'burned himself alive. "

Chen Qi sighed when he said this, "In order to survive, my father and mother took me and my daughter-in-law Jing Yin to beg for food all the way to Shaanxi to survive."

"Then you two got married?"

Squad leader Lin asked enviously, and at the same time, he did not forget to distribute the cooked chicken soup to everyone, and even put the two chicken legs with the most meat back into the lunch boxes of the captives Brendon and Wei Ran respectively.And Zhao Shengli also shared a piece of the burnt cornmeal pancakes with everyone.

While these two were busy, Wei Ran also distributed the chicken legs and the meat in the lunch box to everyone except Brendon.

"What are you doing?" Chen Qi asked dissatisfied.

"Hurry up and talk about you and your daughter-in-law." Wei Ran took a big bite of the pancake, "I haven't eaten chicken since I was a child, and my whole body itch after eating it."

"Really?" Zhao Shengli asked suspiciously.

"This thing can have a fake?"

Wei Ran took another big mouthful of pancakes, "I can also drink some soup, and eat a chicken paw to itch all night. Don't talk about this, Chen Qi, talk about you and your wife."

"What else is there to say?"

Chen Qi spread his hands, "We got married after liberation, and she also went to our local school to be a teacher. Originally, I planned to open a clinic at home, but later I heard that I would go abroad to fight the American devils. I also learned a few words of foreign language with my daughter-in-law, maybe I can just use it."

"Is your daughter-in-law willing?" Warrior Da Li joked while nibbling on the chicken's neck.

"My daughter-in-law is very tough, she can't wait to kill a few American devils with her own hands."

Chen Qi shook his head dumbfoundingly, "Her family is so hot-tempered that they were chiseled out of the same mold. If she hadn't been pregnant at that time, I guess she would have signed up to join the army first."

"You daughter-in-law, I gave you a long face!"

Squad leader Lin said with emotion, but for some reason, Wei Ran could faintly hear a trace of sadness in his tone. Obviously, this squad leader Lin is also a person with a story.

"Guess what my daughter-in-law said to me before I set off?"

An uncontrollable smile appeared on Chen Qi's face, "The woman told me, let me catch some American captives for her when I have time, and she said that the family just lacked How about a few long-term workers who don’t spend money. Listen! It’s still the old landlord’s way!”

Before Chen Qi finished speaking, everyone in this small shack, except for the unknown captive Brendon, couldn't help laughing, and at the same time subconsciously looked at the only American present. .

The ghost knows which muscle of Brendon is wrong, not only is he smirking, but even his dirty face is full of complacency.

"Chen Qi, I think this long-term worker is pretty good."

Wei Ran joked with a smile, "I don't know if he will farm the land, but I guess it will be no problem to build a house and build an airport."

"The small place in our village is not enough to repair the airport." Chen Qi grinned and responded with a distressed expression on purpose, "And this is a long-term worker, so it has to be repaired until the year of the monkey?"

As soon as these words came out, the shack was once again filled with laughter, and Brendon, who had almost gnawed off the chicken legs, looked even more complacent.

"OK OK"

Squad Leader Lin, who also couldn't hold back his laughter, pressed his hand, "We don't want to make fun of the prisoners, Chen Qi, you have to tell your wife, the old way of being a landlord is even worse."

"She doesn't think as much now as she used to"

Chen Qi repeatedly made promises, "Now she is looking forward to my return every day after the war, and thanks to Comrade Wei Ran who took a photo of me a few days ago, when it is washed out and sent back, she will probably feel at ease. .”

"Speaking of this"

Wei Ran raised his hand, "Chen Qi, are there enough negatives in the camera? If so, when we go back, we can arrange a photo for everyone when we are busy?"

“Negatives are definitely enough”

Chen Qi said hurriedly, "And I took pictures of all three of them, Squad Leader Lin, and Squad Leader Sun, and I just had to wait for Zhao Shengli, the daughter-in-law."

"Why are you talking about me again?" Zhao Shengli muttered while biting his half-stretched buttocks.

"Since they're all taken, let's take a group photo together when we get back?" Wei Ran suggested again.

"I think this suggestion is good." Squad leader Lin said first, "Everyone eat quickly, eat early and go back early, let's take a group photo after dawn!"

With thoughts, everyone eats much faster.After eating the hot meals like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, everyone changed into a carbine brought back by Zhao Shengli, brought all the seized things, and filled the kettle with hawthorn leaf tea. Start walking back.

Under the night, Squad Leader Lin led the crowd to re-touch the road where the captives were captured in the first place.

In the middle of the night, there were no US military vehicles passing by on this highway. Even the wreckage of the two tanker trucks that had been bombed by Wei Ranan not long ago had been pushed into the flood drainage ditch by the side of the road.

After hiding in the wreckage of the two trucks and waiting for a while, Chen Qi took out three heavy backpacks from the gap in the cab of the bombed tanker.

No need to get started, just by looking at the outline, Wei Ran knows that there is a high probability that there is another landmine in this bag.

"Squad leader, let me also plant mines?" Wei Ran whispered, he was too willing to do such a thing.

"Be careful and listen for the signals of victory."

While Squad Leader Lin was speaking, he first pointed to the direction of Zhao Shengli who was hiding in the same tree as before, and then took a backpack from Chen Qi and handed it to Wei Ran.

After receiving the backpack containing four American square mines, Wei Ran pulled out his engineering shovel and climbed onto the road.

Glancing at the positions of Squad Leader Lin who was planting mines and health worker Chen Qi, Wei Ran ran for a full distance of two 300 meters in the direction of the U.S. Army camp until the road turned slightly curved. The four landmines were carefully buried in a straight line that cut the road at 45 degrees.

This arrangement, coupled with the slightly curved turns here, basically eliminates the possibility of being ridden by the wheels safely.

On the other hand, since this place is far enough away from where Squad Leader Lin and others planted the mines, no matter which side bombs first, the American deminers will most likely relax after failing to find the mines for 200 meters in a row. Nervous, happily boarded the car again to go to the second mine.

After burying the mines and camouflaging the ground, Wei Ran immediately ran back, gathered with Squad Leader Lin and others who had already completed the mine-laying work, and then called Zhao Shengli who was hiding on the tree and kept watch, and the two men who were hiding in the forest. Under the cover of the night and the roadside forest, two soldiers and one prisoner rushed to the direction of the volunteer army's position as fast as possible.

As the distance got closer, everyone became more cautious. Even the captive Brendon was gagged and his hands were tied behind his back.And the flares raised from time to time by the US military positions in the distance and the searchlights sweeping back and forth also made them have to stop and wait from time to time even if they crawled forward all the way.

In such a long torment of stop and go, a group of seven people finally passed through the US military's defense line smoothly, and returned to the volunteer army's position before the sun jumped out of the horizon.

“This trip is not easy”

Zhao Shengli, who was the last to jump into the trench, was completely relieved, "It's only been two nights, why is there such a big piece of barbed wire?"

"No matter how thick their tortoise shell is, it's no different from a sieve."

Squad leader Lin had already untied the captive Brendon's hands tied behind his back while speaking, and then pulled out the rag from his mouth, "Everyone have a good rest, I'll send him there."

"Squad Leader Lin" Wei Ran, who had just drank the last sip of tea in the kettle, hurriedly called to stop him.

"What's wrong?" Squad leader Lin stopped, turned around and looked at Wei Ran.

"Come back soon when you're done with your work." Wei Ran pointed to the glow in the sky, and continued, "The sky will light up when you look at it, and I'll call Squad Leader Shang Sun later, let's take a group photo together?"

Squad leader Lin smiled when he heard the words, and responded cheerfully, "Okay! After we send him to the back, I'll come back and take a group photo with you!"

　[-] in [-] update
　　
　
(End of this chapter)