War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 606

In the second-hand bookstore converted from a garage, Wei Ran and Xia Shushi cooperated and weaved one lie after another on the spot, which barely calmed the tearful Xia Chuan.

Helping Xia Shushi to help the old man to sleep on a bed in a room on the first floor of the villa, the two young men of similar ages were relieved.

"Let's chat in another place"

Xia Shushi gently broke away from the hand tightly held by his grandfather Xia Chuan, greeted Wei Ran in a low voice to leave the room, sat on the sofa in the lobby on the first floor and said apologetically, "It was thanks to you just now."

"fine"

Wei Ran waved his hand, looking at the other party hesitantly, he really didn't know whether he should ask or not.

Xia Shushi sighed, "Our old man can't hear the words 'resist US aggression and aid Korea'. It's strange, he obviously doesn't even remember me, every time he hears these four words, he can remember What do you think you are still fighting?"

"Why don't you take this opportunity to treat him?" Wei Ran asked puzzled.

"That's good. Although he doesn't remember anything now, at least he is happy every day. If he remembers it like just now, he will have to fall asleep after crying every time."

Xia Shushi pushed open the floor-to-ceiling window, skillfully took out a box of thin cigarettes from the flower pot and gave way to Wei Ran. Seeing that Wei Ran refused, he nodded and explained, "My grandfather is almost eighty, he How can one's body be able to withstand such a big emotional fluctuation. It's better to just let him live a relaxed life for a few days."

"It's true." Wei Ran sighed, and decisively suppressed the idea of ​​expressing his intention.

"I didn't ask you just now." Leaning on the window sill, Xia Shushi asked curiously, "Why did you come to our city? Are you going to investigate some historical event?"

“Just came to meet a friend”

Wei Ran pointed out the window, and said with a sincere expression, "On the way back, I happened to see a second-hand bookstore here, so I came here out of curiosity. You also study history, so you must know how tempting a second-hand bookstore is."

"Haha! Then you've come to the right place!"

Xia Shushi snuffed out the cigarette he had just smoked in the flowerpot planted with green radishes, and greeted enthusiastically and proudly, "Go! I'll show you my and my grandfather's collection!"

"What collection?" Wei Ran, who was just looking for an excuse, asked curiously.

"Come up with me and you'll know!"

Before Xia Shushi finished speaking, he had already taken out two pairs of shoe covers from the wooden cabinet next to the wooden stairs leading to the second floor, "My grandfather's rules, put on the shoe covers, and if you have a lighter on you, first Put it in that big porcelain basin."

Wei Ran took the shoe cover, looked at the large porcelain basin next to the handrail of the stairs, then looked at the two fire extinguishers placed next to the large porcelain basin, then happily took out the old-fashioned kerosene lighter in his pocket and put it in again. Putting thick cotton shoe covers on the shoes on his feet, he followed Xia Shushi up to the second floor of the villa.

To his surprise, the room on the second floor was much darker than that on the first floor. As far as the eye could see, almost all the walls were filled with bookshelves, and the windows were also drawn with thick curtains. In the living room not far from the stairs, the only decoration is a solid wooden table, on which there are many broken old books, and some things such as paste are placed in the corners.

"A few years ago, when my grandfather still remembered things, he always liked to restore old books here."

Xia Shushi stroked the solid wood table and explained, "This is still a handicraft handed down from our family."

"You usually rely on this skill to make a living?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"You can't support yourself with this"

Xia Shushi smiled, but did not explain in detail. He just pointed to the surrounding bookshelves and said, "Those old books were collected by my grandfather. They are also in the other rooms."

While talking, Xia Shushi casually pushed open the door of a room and turned on the lights.

In this room, which seems to be a bedroom, the large floor-to-ceiling windows are also drawn with thick curtains. The originally fairly spacious room was crowded with four sets of bookshelves, leaving only a few gaps less than one meter wide to walk through.

"The history of Northeast Asia is stored in this room." Xia Shushi pointed to the label on the door, "I wrote the broken words, don't joke."

"You also wrote the signboard of your bookstore?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"When I was nine years old, my grandpa tricked me into writing it."

Xia Shushi grinned, and said awkwardly, "That sign has been hanging for more than ten years. My grandfather asked me to trace that sign every year. He said that I can change the sign when I have practiced calligraphy well. down.

It's a pity that until he doesn't remember anything, my brush calligraphy hasn't developed a shape, so I just keep thinking about it! "

While talking, Xia Shushi pushed open another door, turned on the light as well, pointed to the bookshelf inside and said proudly, "It contains all the historical materials of World War II in Southeast Asia, including the materials and files of our expeditionary force. I go to school At that time, even our teachers came here to borrow books."

"All collected by the old man?"

Wei Ran asked in disbelief, not to mention anything else, the amount of books in these two rooms alone has far surpassed those old Soviet books that he bought at the price of waste paper at the beginning.

“Basically all”

Xia Shushi continued to walk forward, pushed open the third door and said, "It's full of historical materials of World War II related to Gou Ri's little devil."

Before he finished speaking, Xia Shushi had already opened the last door of the room on this floor, "This is related to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea."

Wei Ran probed inside, and found that the collection of books in this room was far greater than that of the previous rooms. There was even a small table on the side of the door. There was a thin layer of dust on the table. Under the dust, There is also a "History of the Chinese People's Volunteers' War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" covered up, and there is even a big red bookmark sandwiched between the pages of the book.

"That's the last book my grandfather read, don't move," Xia Shushi reminded, "Maybe someday he will remember it and read it later."

"How many years has the old man been sick?" Wei Ran asked as he followed the other party towards the third floor.

"Almost four or five years"

Xia Shushi said, "Basically, since I went to other places to go to college, this old man started to forget things. When I graduated from college last year, he sometimes couldn't even remember where his home was."

"Where are your parents?" Wei Ran asked tentatively.

"They're busy." Xia Shushi's tone was still flat but no complaints could be heard, "I don't come back several times throughout the year. I might as well come by myself if I count on them."

Having said that, the two also came to the top floor of this villa.The layout of this floor is the same as that of the downstairs, except that most of the bookshelves on the bookshelves are figurines and weapon models that Wei Ran knows or doesn't know, as well as complete sets of comics.

And in the living room on this floor, there is also a liquid-cooled computer host that does not look cheap and a monitor with a curved screen. In addition, there are a stack of mobile hard drives and two scanners on the table. , and a crystal glass trophy with the words "2017 Outstanding Creator Teletubbies of So-and-so Subtitle Group".

However, sitting side by side on the long sofa behind the computer chair were a few scantily clad, big breasts and fat buttocks—silicone dummies.There are even many colorful wigs and various women's clothing hanging on the hanger beside the sofa.

Although Wei Ran often held or carried this thing in the swimming pool of Hongqi Forest Farm, but seeing these realistic dummies here still made him look at the owners of these dummies with strange eyes.

"Ahem! So what. My hobby is painting"

Xia Shushi pulled over a sheet of air conditioner that hastily covered the dummies, and explained in a pale tone, "I bought them to be models."

"Understand, understand!" Wei Ran twitched the corners of his mouth, and responded with a normal expression as much as possible, "Painting definitely needs a model."

Xia Shushi grinned, sat down on the computer chair, shook the mouse casually, waited for the screen to light up, and after the picture of the four-headed Teletubbies was displayed, he immediately opened a folder and pointed to the densely packed files inside. Classification said proudly, "All the materials I collected are here, and there are almost two T's in total. They are all historical materials and various research documents of Eurasian countries. I even scanned my grandfather's books into electronic versions in the inside."

"Are you sure it's all historical data?" Wei Ran looked at the other party suspiciously.

"That's not right!"

Xia Shushi's expression showed a little bit of unnaturalness for a moment, and then he firmed his tone, "Although my place is small, the number of books is about the same as that of our school's library."

"But, why do you collect so many of these things?" Wei Ran asked puzzled.

"I'm a history student," Xia Shushi said naturally, "Which history student doesn't want to have his own database?"

"It's true." Wei Ran grinned. He also studies history, but he doesn't have any database.

"I also have historical materials on the Soviet-German battlefield." Xia Shushi said pointedly, "If you are interested, I can sell them to you at a low price."

"Can it still be sold?" Wei Ran became interested.

"Of course it can be sold. You can't make much money just relying on the second-hand bookstore downstairs."

Xia Shushi skillfully opened a folder while speaking, got up and gave the chair to Wei Ran and said, "I have all the materials from the signing of the agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany before the blitz on Poland to the end of World War II, although not very comprehensive, and They are all electronic versions, but it is always more convenient than collecting them yourself.”

"The Western Front and North Africa"

Wei Ran stopped halfway through his speech, and said after a pause, "Well, pack it up, as long as there are documents related to World War II and World War II, I'll buy as much as you have!"

"real?!"

Xia Shushi immediately became interested, and greeted Wei Ran downstairs more and more enthusiastically, "Let's go! Let's go to the store to talk! I haven't encountered such a big business for a long time."

"Is this business very profitable?" Wei Ran asked as he followed the other party.

"At most it's just pocket money"

Xia Shushi said frankly, "After all, for the electronic version, a literature can only be sold for ten yuan at most, but occasionally you can make a lot of money when you meet a big customer like you."

"What about your main business?" Wei Ran asked vaguely, "What is your main business?"

Hearing this, Xia Shushi pointed to the cowhide file bag that Wei Ran had been carrying in his hand and said, "I usually rummage through old books, sell materials, occasionally do subtitles or go out to work as a translator for two days. Although the income is not stable, but At least freer than going to work."

Why does this grandson look so dishonest?Wei Ran glanced strangely at Xia Shushi who was walking in front, and couldn't help muttering in his heart.

(End of this chapter)