War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 803

In the storage room of the B & B inn, Wei Ran stared at the objects on the bamboo and wooden table for a long time, and finally picked up the lighter with the name "Liang Yimin" written on it, and the two-headed cigarette with the remaining paint on it. Gun Oiler.

Putting these two things on the lid of the camphor wood box, he didn't go out in a hurry. Instead, he began to think about how to get one of these two things for a reasonable reason.

Whether you want to help Xia Shushi and his animal friend investigate this time, and if you want to investigate, whether you need to use a metal notebook can be put aside first.

In case he really needed to investigate, he couldn't come again, and he couldn't use the metal book in such a place that was monitored by cameras.

That being the case, it is very important to get a medium in advance that can make the metal book work.

Picking up the helmet again, he looked carefully at the orthographic characters written in red paint on it, Wei Ran looked at the paint characters on the lighter, and finally unscrewed the double-ended gun oil pot to take a look.

After thinking for a while, Wei Ran put these things on the table one by one, and then opened the door.

"Brother Wei, do you see anything?"

Before he could walk out of the storage room, Xia Shushi and the second emperor who had been waiting outside immediately stood up, and the latter asked the question he was most concerned about.

"I can see something." Wei Ran nodded with a smile, and then looked at the curious boss, "Do you want to listen to it together?"

The thankful boss nodded immediately when he heard the words, and even turned around and took a can of Coke for Wei Ran from the refrigerator.

Taking the Coke politely, Wei Ran pretended to take a sip, and then said, "I guess Xia Shushi can also see that among those things, except for the helmet, the key things are actually different."

"The lighter and the kettle made in 1943?" Xia Shushi responded very quickly.

"really"

Wei Ran nodded, "If the owner of the lighter and the helmet are the same, the name Liang Yimin is the most critical clue. In addition, if the stainless steel kettle is also his, it can be basically judged that the people who used these things at that time did not participate in the retreat. Operation Savage Mountain."

"I've looked through the documents about the expeditionary army these days," Xia Shushi continued, "but I didn't find any records related to the name Liang Yimin."

"There were so many people in the two expeditions, and there were so many mechanics on the Burma Road. Such a huge number, plus the incomplete records of the archives at that time, it is normal to not be able to find them."

At this point, Wei Ran picked up the Coke again, glanced at the owner of the hotel who was listening, and then said with regret, "However, it is only the first trouble that can't be found. After finding out, we have to find a way to prove that the steel helmet was worn by this soldier named Liang Yimin."

"How do you prove this?" The Second Emperor asked without knowing why.

"I think of a method for the time being"

Wei Ran deliberately didn't go to see the boss, "The first method is to find a criminal investigation policeman or something, and take notes to verify that the orthography and the name on the lighter are written by the same person.

This at least proves that the characters on the lighter and the helmet were written by the same person, and indirectly proves that the person who wrote it knew Liang Yimin and also the helmet. "

"Also, is there another way?" The boss subconsciously asked.

"Among these things, the most important ones are the steel helmet, the lighter, and the stainless steel US military kettle."

Wei Ran, who had been waiting for him a long time ago, said with a smile, "The rest of the odds and ends can only be regarded as extras at best. If you can explain the text on the helmet and lighter, those things together can probably sell for eight thousand. , if you don’t know clearly, I guess I won’t be able to sell it at a high price.”

Speaking of this, Wei Ran deliberately paused, turned his head to look at the boss, and said with his fingers, "I looked at those enamel kettles just now, and more than half of the eight kettles are leaking.

If this is not missing, you can still sell it for one, two thousand, two thousand, three thousand, no problem, but now, no one wants five or six hundred.Of course, if you want to mend it secretly, it is estimated that it will be worth fifty or sixty after it is mended, and you have to meet someone who is blind. "

Without waiting for the boss to say anything, Wei Ran continued, "Let's not mention the stainless steel kettle for now. The aluminum American kettle is barely a product of the pre-World War II period, and it can be sold for three or four thousand with little bumps. The German lunch box is also It can be sold for several thousand, and it is hard to say for three British army lunch boxes. Those who are willing to buy can sell one or two thousand, and those who are not willing to buy will not even look at it.

As for the other little bits and pieces, like that small knife and oil pot, if you are willing to sell them, you can probably sell them for 500. If you don’t want to sell them, you can keep them for yourself. They are all bad street things. "

After the big conversation, Wei Ran still didn't give the hotel owner a chance to speak, and pointed at Xia Shushi, "Generally speaking, among your things, the really valuable ones are probably the steel helmet and the lighter, and even the stainless steel The water bottle, at best, can only be regarded as a clue item.

But if you want to sell these things at a high price, the premise is that you have to let him find out clearly. If you can't find out clearly, you really don't expect to sell these things for much money. "

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran took another sip of Coca-Cola, "What's the matter, it's just such a matter, I'm not interested in these things, and the main premise of the above things just now has to be that those things are not fake."

"What do you mean by that?" The owner of the homestay was suddenly unhappy, "I brought these things back with me, so they can't be fake!"

"Before you brought it back?"

Wei Ran put down his Coke and asked, "As far as I know, Myanmar is not only rich in jade but also wood. As far as these two jobs are concerned, this kind of steel helmet can be used as a protective helmet, and it can also be used on the helmet you wear. Orthographic counting is also completely plausible."

"you are"

The owner of the homestay opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to explain it for a while.Although Wei Ran is making up a foolish thing, but his family knows his own affairs, and his cheap father-in-law works in the local jade mine.

"If you have confidence"

Wei Ranhu nonchalantly pointed in the direction of the storage room, "The paint in that double-headed oil pot is all dry, you can spend 20,000 yuan to go to a professional research institute for an appraisal to see the composition of the paint. , Maybe we can determine the production time and manufacturer of the paint."

"One, ten or twenty thousand?" The boss grinned, then shook his head, "I don't have that spare money, you youngsters are probably trying to trick me into doing an appraisal?"

"Boss, how much did I charge you to see that broken helmet of yours these days?" Er Shi asked helplessly, "Why don't you refund me the money and keep the broken helmet for yourself?"

"It's not that I forced you to spend the money." The bald boss immediately turned his face, obviously not planning to return the money to the former.

"Since you don't want to do this, you don't want to do that, and you don't want to sell that steel helmet at a high price. How can there be so many cheap deals in this world?"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he threw the finished cans into the trash can, got up and walked outside and said, "Brother Soseki, let's arrange where to go tomorrow."

"Okay! I've found a place a long time ago!" Xia Shushi was also clever, stood up immediately, and started recommending the surrounding attractions and delicacies as he walked out.

"correct"

Wei Ran, who had already put one foot over the threshold, turned around again, and reminded II who was also about to get up, "Brother II, if the boss is going to sell you that broken oil pot for you to do a test If so, you have to think about it."

"What are you thinking about?" Er Shi, who had already realized that Wei Ran seemed to be trying to get him, asked in a daze.

"What else to consider"

Wei Ran bluntly reminded, "A broken steel helmet whose origin is not clear dares to sell so expensively, how can he sell that broken oil pot for at least tens of thousands? Anyway, don't agree to this matter, you want to buy that steel helmet , I want to verify the authenticity, so it doesn’t matter if you are willing to test it, but the market price of that broken oil pot is at most 100 yuan, so don’t waste your money.”

"Don't worry!" The Second Immediately patted his chest and assured, "I will definitely not let him cheat."

"That's fine, let's not eat here at night, let's go to another place."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran ignored the bald boss with an ugly face, turned around and left the room, took Xia Shushi for a half-circle along the corridor, and found a place to sit down.

After receiving the thin cigarette from Xia Shushi, Wei Ran squinted his eyes, followed the light blue smoke and looked at the Second Emperor who still hadn't come out of the room where the front desk was, and commented with a smile, "Your friend is quite smart." what?"

"He's really not stupid." Xia Shushi leaned against the vermilion lacquered pillar and commented, "He's just a bit of a dude sometimes."

Hearing this, Wei Ran smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Did you see anything else?" Xia Shushi asked in a low voice.

Wei Ran nodded incredulously, and also lowered his voice and said, "Those things can be used by at least four to five people. The most important thing for fighting in tropical and subtropical jungles is to bring enough water, so two water bottles for one person, if you look at it this way, Those eight enamel kettles are just enough for four people to carry.

This is confirmed by the five lunch boxes.After all, you can bring more water bottles, but it is not necessary to bring too many lunch boxes.After all, it was Savage Mountain, and there was nothing to eat in it.Bringing too many lunch boxes is a burden. "

"What do you want to say?" Xia Shushi looked at Wei Ran puzzled.

"Ignoring the kettle produced in 1943, let's assume that those people went to Savage Mountain at that time, assuming that there were four to five people at that time, each of them brought two jugs of water, an extra jug of kerosene, and two lamps. Oil lamp, a sapper shovel and sapper pick."

After constructing the preliminary background, Wei Ran asked abruptly, "But why did only the man named Liang Yimin leave his lighter, and also the helmet full of orthographic characters?"

"You mean this Liang Yimin." Xia Shushi frowned.

"In a place like Savage Mountain, you don't need me to tell you the importance of a lighter, do you?"

Wei Ran continued to throw out one obvious question after another, "There is also the aluminum American kettle that is obviously used to hold kerosene. It has a lighter and fuel. No, considering the two kerosene lamps, even if the kerosene pot There is no need to throw away the lighter, and there is no need to throw away the helmet with so many orthographic characters written on it. It obviously has a special meaning.

If all these things were discarded, then it can be guessed that this soldier named Liang Yimin died somewhere in Savage Mountain. "

Seeing that Xia Shushi fell into silence, Wei Ran took a puff of cigarette and said slowly, "Of course, we may have another guess."

"What guess?" Xia Shushi asked subconsciously.

"Maybe only Liang Yimin survived?"

Wei Ran looked at Sui Sui who was waving at him on the second floor, and said while waving in response, "If he survives for some reason, he will keep these things that belonged to his comrades in the same way."

Having said that, Wei Ran looked at Xia Shushi, "What about you? Which guess do you prefer?"

"Me?" Xia Shushi spread out his hands, "From a personal point of view, I certainly hope that there will be survivors."

Having said that, Xia Shushi immediately realized something, and turned to look at Wei Ran, "You mean, maybe you can find something at the house of his little daughter-in-law who ran away?"

"I didn't say anything"

Wei Ran spread his hands, "But I know that if you really want to investigate this kind of needle in a haystack, going to his little daughter-in-law's house is the most likely."

Before Xia Shushi could say anything, the Second King had already walked out of the room where the front desk was.

"It seems that your friend took down the oil can." Wei Ran said with a smile.

"I forgot to ask just now, do you think there is something wrong with that oil pot?" Xia Shushi looked at Wei Ran curiously.

"I once investigated a cannon that had a shell casing remaining in the barrel of that cannon, which was also filled with paint."

Wei Ran slowed down, suppressed the memories of those friends in the Don 19 position, and continued with a normal expression, "At that time, I found the identity capsules of several Soviet Red Army soldiers in the solidified paint at the bottom of the shell casing. .”

"So you suspect that there might be something hidden in that small oil pot?" Xia Shushi asked in surprise.

"Shh-"

Wei Ran made a gesture, and the latter immediately closed his mouth, and at the same time gave Wei Ran a thumbs up in surprise.

"These are just speculations. After all, the oil pot is not big, and the things hidden in it will not be too big."

As Wei Ran said, he raised his chin towards the second generation who was walking towards the two of them, "But it's a possibility after all, so let your friend arrange it, don't eat here at night, find a place far enough away place. Additionally"

Wei Ran grabbed Xia Shushi who was about to get up, "Also, buy some turpentine, some paint stripper, and a bottle of diesel or gasoline by the way. Let me think about it. In this way, buy a kettle to heat it up quickly Get a washbasin, get a bucket of water, and finally find a place, and let's see if we can get the paint out."

"Turpentine, paint stripper, diesel or gasoline." Xia Shushi nodded after muttering, "I'll let him arrange it!"

"Let's meet at the door." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he got up and walked towards the stairs, "I'll call them down."

"wait wait wait"

Xia Shushi held Wei Ran back this time, and asked with a wink, "Brother, if those two twins or that little beauty don't have boyfriends, can you introduce me to each other? Or give me a contact information. I'm looking for someone to practice Russian."

"they?"

Wei Ran patted Xia Shushi's shoulder dumbfounded, "You should give up on this, you can't handle the three of them."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran didn't bother to explain, so he took a few puffs of cigarette butts, strolled up the wooden stairs to the second floor, leaving only Xia Shushi scratching the back of his head with regret, turned and walked towards The second who came by himself.

Walking slowly to the second floor, Wei Ran asked Sui Sui who was taking pictures, "How does the room feel?"

"It's okay, the scenery is pretty good, and you can see the Erhai Lake at a glance." While Suisui was speaking, Anfisa, who was leaning against the door, also made a gesture of covering one eye and one ear to Wei without any trace. .

Seeing this, Wei Ran secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and said with a smile, "Clean up, we'll go to another place for dinner tonight."

"Did you see anything just now?" Sui Sui asked curiously.

"It's hard to say." Wei Ran winked, "Hurry up and change your clothes! Let's try the special dishes here today."

Hearing this, Sui Sui stopped asking any further questions, and greeted sisters Katenka and Lola to go back to their rooms and change their clothes.

When the group of them went downstairs and left the inn, Xia Shushi had already been waiting in the cab of the commercial van for a long time.

"Where's your friend?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"He prepared the materials as you ordered."

After Xia Shushi and others got into the car, he took out a double-ended gun oil pot from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran, then stepped on the accelerator, drove the car far away and said, "With your Dongfeng, this is finally I cheated that dead boss."

"How to say?" Wei Ran unscrewed the lid of the oil pot, and asked absent-mindedly while looking at the solidified paint inside.

Xia Shushi looked happily at the B&B that was getting farther and farther away in the rearview mirror, and kept explaining, "The Second Emperor agreed to take this thing for testing. Correspondingly, after receiving the test report, the boss, Refund him all the viewing fees that cheated us before."

"Are you really going to test it?"

"Test what test?" Xia Shushi curled his lips, and went back to find someone P to get a test report.

"That's all right." Wei Ran screwed on the lid of the oil pot and put it in his pocket while speaking.

In less than half an hour's drive, Xia Shushi, with the help of navigation, parked the car at the door of a restaurant.

"Just here, Qinshou said that their Bai cuisine is the most authentic."

Xia Shushi introduced everyone while leading them forward, and when he was about to enter the door, he said "Please come in" in Russian.

It's a pity that although sisters Katenka and Lola both responded, there was a clear sense of distance in both their tone and demeanor.

Xia Shushi didn't take it seriously, and after bringing everyone to the box that had been parked in advance, he didn't even have the intention of waiting for the Second King to come over, so he called the waiter to serve the food.

From the distinctive three-course tea, to various small pastries made of dairy products and flower products, and various mushroom products that are said to be non-toxic, when all kinds of dishes are served in turn, the big round table is filled. At that moment, both sisters Katenka and Lola fell into a daze, and then skillfully picked up the chopsticks and began to taste one bite after another.

Wei Ran and Sui Sui were also rude, anyway, Xia Shushi said that he didn't have to wait for the second generation, and he liked eating better than anyone else.

During the dinner, the Second Prince was not there, so the topic naturally revolved around him.According to Xia Shushi, the Second Emperor was his friend who grew up with him since the crotch pants era, and the relationship between the two was closer than brothers.

However, when asked why the second emperor was interested in that helmet, and what industry the second emperor was engaged in, Xia Shushi hemmed and hawed about him, obviously not wanting to talk about these topics.

Fortunately, neither Wei Ran nor Sui Sui was stunned, and the other party didn't want to talk about it, so naturally they wouldn't continue to follow this topic.

Seeing that the meal was almost finished, the Second King also knocked on the door and came in, picked up the teacup, touched Wei Ran and the others, drank it down and said, "Everything is ready as you said. "

"How's the food?" Wei Ran put down his chopsticks and asked Suisui and the others in Russian.

"Can I pack a portion of this and take it home?" Sister Katenka asked, pointing to the only piece of flower cake left on the table, not thinking that such a request would embarrass their boss.

"Can you pack a copy of this, please?" Wei Ran switched back to Chinese and said to Xia Shushi apologetically, "These foreigners think the taste is very good."

"No problem! Of course no problem!" Xia Shushi left the box before speaking.

Seeing this, Sui Sui also stood up at the same time, picked up the cup, drank the remaining half cup of sweet rice wine in one gulp, randomly picked up a piece of paper, wiped his mouth and said expectantly, "Let's go, we I also want to see what good things are in that little pot."

"Let's go." Wei Ran smiled at Er Shi who stood up, and followed the latter out of the box.

After waiting in the parking lot for a while, Xia Shushi got into the business van with four gift boxes, distributed them to the four girls in the car, then started the car, followed the off-road vehicle driven by II, and drove straight into the In a neighborhood not far away.

"It's here"

When the car stopped, the second king took out a key, opened the shutter door of a garage, and at the same time kept explaining, "I have bought all kinds of things in the garage that I temporarily rented nearby, and I will send all of them to you." Came here."

Before the words fell, the rolling shutter door was pushed down over the head with a slam, and immediately after, the second emperor also turned on the lights of the garage.

Looking at the things on the table in the middle, Wei Ran also had a paratrooper gravity knife in his hand.

Use the tip of a knife to open the lid of the bucket of water. After putting away the knife, Wei Ran poured the water into the thermos and heated it quickly. Then he took out the double-ended oil pot from his pocket, and then took out a pair of rubber gloves to wear. Then unscrew the two metal caps, pour the paint stripper into it and tighten the caps.

After waiting patiently for a few minutes, Wei Ran waited for the water in the thermos to boil, then threw the oil pot into the washbasin, and then poured hot water on it.

“The next thing is to wait”

Wei Ran took off his gloves and put them in his pocket, pointed to the chemical cleaners on the table and said, "Try all kinds, I can always find a way to melt the paint in the oil pot, and then I will know if there is any paint hidden in it." something."

(End of this chapter)