War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 612 A Small Conflict Between Captives

In the warm wooden house, as Wei Ran finished eating the soft and rotten baked potatoes in his hands, Instructor Zheng's questioning of him was coming to an end.

Coincidentally, the hygienist who had bandaged the wounds of him and Jack also sent back Wei Ran's camera.

"This is your camera"

Instructor Zheng pushed the camera to Wei Ran together with a box of unopened film, and said in English, "Mr. Victor, we need to review the photos you have taken in your camera. If there is no problem with the review, the relevant The negatives will be returned to you in time. Before that, this roll of film can be regarded as compensation for you."

"Can it still be like this?"

Wei Ran muttered something in his heart, and after hesitating for a moment, he pushed the film back, and said in English, "There is no need for compensation, if possible, I hope you can send me a photo of the group photo I took with those auto soldiers at that time." All right."

"Of course no problem," Instructor Zheng readily agreed.

"One more thing"

While speaking, Wei Ran used the cover of the inner pocket of his coat to take out the portable wine bottle again, and then took out all the chocolates on his body and pushed them to the other party, "If it is convenient, I can pass this bottle of wine and these chocolates to The soldier who saved me and Jack? You see, as you said just now, after we surrendered, we are already friends. Since we are friends, we shouldn’t refuse gifts from friends, right?”

Having said that, Wei Ran deliberately opened the lid of the flagon jug, and poured a little white wine into his mouth with the mouth of the jug a punch away from his mouth, and then swallowed it in one gulp, "Look, these wines are drinkable, and It's Huaxia's liquor, if you're worried about those chocolates being poisonous, I will too"

"Mr. Victor, I will accept your gift for Comrade Liu Haifu." While speaking, Instructor Zheng stood up and extended his hand towards Wei Ran.

After solemnly shaking hands with the other party, Wei Ran took out the only two packs of cigarettes from his pocket contentedly, insisted on giving one of them to the other party, then tore open the remaining pack, and after taking out two packs, Once again, one was given to Instructor Zheng.

After the two of them lit their cigarettes, Wei Ran asked, "Where will we be sent next?"

Instructor Zheng smiled and said, "You will be sent to a safe rear area, where you can wait until the war is over before going home. Well, I will take you to find a place to sleep first, and wait until after dark , someone will send you away."

After finishing speaking, Instructor Zheng greeted Wei Ran and Jack to leave the warm cabin, walked a hundred meters into the distant forest, and placed them in a hut that also had a fire.

"Why are we allowed to live in this kind of place?" Jack waited until Instructor Zheng had left before he said dissatisfiedly, "This kind of place is for mice."

"If you don't worry about being killed by a bomb dropped by our bomber, go to that log cabin"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he was already sitting on a wooden bed next to the stove. After fiddling with the lost camera, he took out a box of film from his pocket and put it in.

Hearing this, Jack sat down on the bed opposite Wei Ran, hesitated for a moment and asked, "Victor, where do you think we will be sent next?"

“Of course a POW camp”

Wei Ran replied absent-mindedly, "Didn't that gentleman just say that? We can wait until the end of the war in a safe rear area, and then we can go home."

"We will definitely be tortured to death," Jack said worriedly, "Maybe they will do some horrible experiments with us."

"Don't worry, it won't."

Wei Ran put the camera loaded with film into the leather case, "It's like going to jail at most, but it's definitely more comfortable than going to prison."

"I came to fight so that I wouldn't go to jail, but I didn't expect to end up in jail."

Jack shook the gold ring on his hand while speaking, "But they didn't take my ring and watch away."

"Those things aren't yours, are they?" Wei Ran asked absent-mindedly.

"of course not"

Jack lowered his voice a little, and said proudly, "These are all found from the white corpses when we cleaned the battlefield."

Speaking of which, Jack rolled up his cuffs, pointed to the watch on his left wrist and showed off more and more proudly, "This watch was obtained from a captain, and he was not dead at the time. In order to get this watch, I had to cut his neck with a piece of shrapnel."

Still not waiting for Wei Ran to speak, Jack pointed to Wei Ran's camera on the bedside, and said with a firm face, "Your camera must have come from that way, right?"

"Probably so." Wei Ran said indifferently.

"As long as these Chinese people don't intend to steal my things, it doesn't seem unacceptable to go to prison in their prisoner-of-war camps." Jack explained to himself, "If I can really live until the end of the war, these things are enough for me to live a few years. It's been an easy year."

"Jack, where are you from?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Detroit"

Jack said dissatisfiedly, "Didn't I say that when the gentleman asked me just now? I also said that I have two brothers and a sister."

"I'm distracted," Wei Ran said indifferently.

Hearing this, Jack didn't pursue these small problems either. He put the cuffs of his hands down and pillowed them behind his head, looked at the logs above his head and said with regret, "Unfortunately, it would be great if Nick was rescued too, we still have an appointment To take him around Detroit after the war is over."

"The racial discrimination there is also very serious, right?" Wei Ran asked absent-mindedly.

"Where is there no racial discrimination in America?"

Jack mocked nonchalantly, "After all, it's the damn white world. In comparison, it's not bad to come to this ghost place to join the war."

"Why do you say that?" Wei Ran turned to look at Jack and asked with a puzzled face.

"Why else?"

Jack spoke the truth more cruelly than the racial discrimination he had experienced in a natural tone, "Although fighting is dangerous, at least there are lower races here than us, right? In their eyes, we are just like us. This kind of noble feeling cannot be experienced in the United States."

"Ah"

Wei Ran withdrew his gaze, and couldn't help thinking of those crying children who were smashed by Jack with a can, but still chasing the truck, and those black women who were fun and cheap.

Seeing that this topic came to an end, the warm shack also fell into silence. After a while, Jack, who was careless, even a little heartless, also snored.

"I don't know what dangers will be encountered on the way to the prisoner-of-war camp." Wei Ran muttered to himself, staring blankly at the logs above his head and fell into deep thought.

During the long wait, the sky outside the shack gradually darkened. When the setting sun was blocked by the mountains again, Instructor Zheng and Liu Yijiao also brought food and two kerosene lamps by the way.

Contrary to Wei Ran's expectations, the food they sent not only included a large plate of steamed buns made of white flour, but also a large bowl of pork and cabbage stewed vermicelli, a large bowl of oily scrambled eggs, and two slightly wrinkled apples.

"Let's eat"

While speaking, Instructor Zheng also gave Wei Ran and Jack a set of silver knives and forks with the US Army logo on them, "When you are full, you can leave the battlefield."

"Thank you, let's eat together?" Wei Ran subconsciously extended an invitation to Instructor Zheng and Liu Yijiao.

"We've already eaten." Instructor Zheng smiled and waved his hands, "Eat slowly, and we'll clean up in an hour."

Watching the two of them leave the shack, Wei Ran glanced at Jack who was trying to stir up a lump of vermicelli with a fork. After hesitating for a moment, he adjusted the kerosene lamp to the brightest, then adjusted the camera, found a good position and pressed shutter.

"What did you shoot me for?" Jack, who still couldn't pick out the vermicelli, asked frantically.

"Nothing." Wei Ran smiled, put away the camera and walked to the door, and looked out through the crack of the door.

Unfortunately, as far as he could see, except for two soldiers standing guard with guns, he couldn't see the standard of the dinner that Liu Yijiao and others had.

After thinking about his identity as a prisoner of war, Wei Ran finally sat on the edge of the table, picked up a knife and fork, took a piece of scrambled egg and stuffed it into his mouth, followed by another bite of the big snow-white steamed bun.

"I should have had a pair of chopsticks back then," Wei Ran muttered to himself, stirring up a lump of vermicelli and stuffing it into his mouth.

After finishing the sumptuous dinner with some effort, Jack picked up the silver knife and wiped it on his cuff before stuffing it into his pocket.

"You'd better put it down." Wei Ran stood up and reminded as he walked to the table, "This will hurt you, and it will also hurt me."

"Don't worry! I'm sure!" Jack said confidently, "As long as we kidnap the one who can speak English"

"Oh!"

Before he could finish speaking, Wei Ran had already pressed the back of Jack's head and slammed his forehead on the table.

"Do you think I'm talking to you?"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he punched Jack hard on the left side of his ribs, and then pinched his wrist holding the knife, and the silver knife fell to the dirt with a thud. on the ground.

"You stinky bastard! I've had enough of you!"

Just as Jack's ruthless words came out, Wei Ran had already picked up the table knife he had just used, and stuck the round tip of the knife with the remaining oil on the corner of Jack's eyes, "Guess if I can cut your knife Eyeball gouged out?"

"Keep it out of my eyes!" Jack yelled in horror.

"You better keep your voice down"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already blocked Jack's eyeballs with the tip of a knife through his lower eyelids, "Otherwise, you might become a one-eyed pirate."

"Victor, put the knife away!" Jack obediently lowered his voice and urged, with undisguised fear in his tone.

"One last reminder"

Wei Ran let the back of the knife slide slowly along Jack's lower eye socket, and at the same time said in a flat tone, "Don't make any trouble until I arrive at the prisoner-of-war camp. If you want to die, you can tell me at any time, and I can let you die." It’s very comfortable, but it can also make you die very painfully.”

"I got it," Jack said eagerly, "Take the knife away!"

"You better remember clearly"

Wei Ran intentionally let the back of the table knife slide down the corner of Jack's eyes, and then lightly swept across his throat and neck until the other person had goosebumps all over his body, then he pressed Jack's hand on the table, with a "duh", He slammed the handle of the table knife on the table exposed between his fingers.

"what--!"

Jack subconsciously yelled, but Wei Ran had already rushed to the opposite side of the table.

"Oh!"

The falsely concealed wooden door was kicked open by the soldiers standing guard outside, and the submachine gun in his hand was subconsciously aimed at the two of them.

"Pick up the table knife and remember to smile." Wei Ran, who was already standing across the table, raised his hands high and reminded in English with a smile.

Jack, who was still in shock, looked at his intact hands, and then at the table knife still clamped under Wei Ran's fingertips.After reacting, he breathed a sigh of relief at first, then made an expression uglier than crying at the little soldier, and slowly bent down to pick up the table knife that had just dropped as a gesture.

Seeing this, the volunteer soldier with the gun was also relieved. After raising the muzzle of the gun, he greeted another soldier who came in later, and took out the tableware and unfinished steamed buns on the table.

It wasn't until the wooden door was closed again that Jack heaved a sigh of relief, and then looked at Wei Ran, but this time he didn't dare to say anything, and sat on his bed honestly, staring at his eyes with black and white. His big eyes looked at Wei Ran opposite him through two kerosene lamps.

(End of this chapter)