War Photographer's Notebook

"At least $270 million?!"

In the empty library, Wei Ran waited until Sui Sui finished translating, and finally showed a look of astonishment that he had endured for a long time, and then said, "Quickly ask, what is going on?"

Without waiting for Sui Sui to translate, lawyer Carlos took the initiative to explain, "This matter actually started during World War II. My client was a child who participated in the Siegfried Defense Line reconstruction project."

"Wait a minute"

After Sui Sui helped translate this sentence, she asked Wei Ran puzzled, "I should not have mistranslated, but how could it be a child?" "It's normal, no one in Germany can use it at that time."

Wei Ran took a sip of the coffee brought by Lola and explained, "The Siegfried Line corresponds to the Maginot Line. Before 1944, because the Maginot Line became a joke, this German-built The Siegfried line also becomes dispensable.”

This time, without waiting for Sui Sui to speak, Anfisa took the initiative to act as an interpreter, helping to translate Wei Ran's explanation to lawyer Carlos, and Sui Sui became the audience with Sui Xin and Lola as a matter of course.

In contrast, Korava, who was shopping in the library on a children's tricycle, and Beria, the dog who followed her, were not affected at all.

Waiting patiently for Anfisa to finish the translation, Wei Ran continued, "But after 1944, the situation began to change a little bit. As the Allied forces opened up new battlefields, the position of the Siegfried line of defense became more and more important. important.

So in August 1944, Mustache issued an order to transform this line of defense.However, due to the shortage of manpower, the people who were finally sent here were all children aged 8, [-] or even younger, as well as the elderly and even women in the villages and towns near the Siegfried line of defense.

However, the main job of these people is to dig anti-tank trenches, so they can be regarded as competent.It's just that as the war progressed, this line of defense eventually lost its effect under the bombing of the Allied forces, especially the fool. "

After listening to Anfisa's translation, Carlos nodded, "The situation is basically the same as what my client said. He was a child sent by the German Labor Organization to dig anti-tank trenches at the Siegfried Line.

His uncle was also sent to the Siegfried Line at the time.But in the home behind the two of them, he also has his parents, a younger brother, and his uncle's daughter. "

Carlos paused, waited patiently for Anfisa to finish the translation, and then continued, "In February 1945, like his uncle and other soldiers who were out of ammunition, they chose to walk out of the Hürtgen Forest to visit the United States. surrender."

"Hürtgen Forest?"

Wei Ran's heart trembled, and he waited calmly for Anfisa to finish translating before asking, "

Mr. Carlos, your client said that he and his uncle surrendered after walking out of the Hürtgen Forest? "

"That's true, what's the matter?" Carlos asked puzzled after listening to the translation.

"It's nothing, please continue." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he picked up his coffee and took a sip.

The Hurtgen Forest is an absolute nightmare for American soldiers. It is really luck that the client Carlos talked about can survive until the end.

"In short, my client and his uncle were sent to the Rhine Camp after they surrendered." Carlos spread his hands. "Unfortunately, they are not in the same camp."

"So your client is looking for his uncle?" Sui Suo subconsciously asked in English.

"of course not"

Carlos shook his head, "According to my client's self-report, he lived in the Rhine camp for about four months before he was released, but since then until today, he has never seen him again. uncle. As for the person he is looking for, it is actually his younger brother and his uncle’s daughter.”

Still leaving enough time for Anfisa to translate, Carlos continued, "According to my client, he rushed to his home immediately after he walked out of the Rhine camp alive, but his home has long been changed. became ruins.

According to the information he asked at the time, his parents, his
His younger brother and his uncle's daughter were taken away by American soldiers. "

"Mr Carlos"

Wei Ran waited for Anfisa to finish the translation and asked, "Did your client mention where his home was and the occupations of his parents at that time?"

"mentioned"

Carlos nodded, picked up his coffee and took a sip before answering, "My client said that his home was in the Ruhr industrial area at the time, his father was a mechanical engineer, and his mother was a cashier in the factory. .”

Seeing that Wei Ran was lost in thought after listening to the translation, Carlos paused and continued, "My client suspected that his family members were taken to the United States at that time, so around 1950, he tried to smuggle to the United States. Entered the United States and obtained American citizenship.

But it is a pity that until today, although he has never given up looking for his family, there has been no news. "

"What about the will?" Sui Suo asked in a helpful way.

"He is over ninety years old and has never had a family," Carlos explained. "Now he has lost the ability to take care of himself, so he hopes to find his younger brother or his cousin before he dies. They're not here, so it's okay to find their descendants to inherit his legacy."

As if he felt that the temptation was not strong enough, Carlos explained with a smile, "His inheritance includes a gold mine in Alaska, a farm in Ontario with an area of ​​more than 500 acres, and a 20-acre farm in Hawaii. acre size plantation.

In addition to these real properties, there are tens of millions of dollars in deposits in his account, as well as equities and bonds of almost the same value. "

It was still enough time for Anfisa to translate, Carlos saw that Wei Ran did not speak, and then continued, "According to the conditions offered by my client, before he dies, if anyone can find his brother Or the descendants of any one of the cousins ​​can get a bounty of at least 270 million US dollars, and it is 270 million US dollars after tax.

If he can find the descendants of his younger brother and his younger sister, he will not only get a $600 million after-tax bounty, but also randomly get a farm in Ontario or a plantation in Hawaii by rolling dice. "

"This is a lot of money," Sui Sui sighed first. "A lot of money indeed"

Wei Ran also sighed after Anfisa finished the translation. If they can be found, the reward will be worth at least 600 million US dollars. ． ．This temptation is too great.

"If no heir is found before he dies, all his wealth will be donated to black people with criminal records in the United States." Carlos added with a strange look, "each $[-] until the donation is exhausted. "

"Is this revenge?"

Sui Sui was the first to guess that everyone is not stupid, even the blacks are fine, and he specifically asked the blacks with criminal records, which is clearly trying to confuse the blacks in the United States to commit crimes in order to receive [-] dollars!

"In fact, it is indeed revenge against the United States." Carlos spread his hands, "Of course, in name, it is to eliminate racial discrimination."

"I'm more curious, how does your client have the current net worth?" Wei Ran asked after Anfisa finished translating.

"According to him, his first pot of gold was a lottery ticket he picked up at the door of the store on Christmas Day, the 15th year since he immigrated to the United States."

Carlos said enviously, "The lottery ticket he picked up brought him an after-tax bonus of 1965 U.S. dollars in 27, and he finally got rid of his job as a bartender in a bar."

"You're lucky," Sui Suo couldn't help but sigh.

"He's really lucky"

Carlos said with emotion, "After getting the money, he immediately changed cities and continued to work while looking for his family. During the period from 1965 to 1970, he also took out [-] U.S. dollars to invest in a German-American who was going to mine gold in Alaska.

I believe you all know without me telling you that he hit the bet again. Although the gold mine was not that big, it made his wealth easy
It has been raised dozens of times.Since then, he has been in the business of investing in gold mines. "

Wei Ran thought about it while Anfisa was translating, and then asked a side question again, "You said just now that he didn't start a family?"

"Yes"

Carlos spread his hands, looked at the curious girls around him with a strange expression, finally lowered his voice subconsciously, and explained with a embarrassed face, "Fate is fair, although he has so much wealth, but He does not appear to be fertile."

"What does it mean to be infertile?"

Facing the translated question from Anfisa with a usual expression, the white-haired Carlos scratched his thinning white hair in distress, and explained with a little embarrassment, "I once heard from his personal doctor that he seemed to be No balls."

"puff--!"

Before Carlos finished speaking, Sui Sui spit out the coffee from his mouth, and even Wei Ran, who had been pretending not to understand English, almost missed something.

After Anfisa finished translating with a flat face, Wei Ran finally grinned, "Can I continue asking?"

"I don't know why"

Carlos seemed to guess what Wei Ran wanted to ask again, so he spread his hands before Anfisa opened his mouth, "The missing balls have nothing to do with the bounty of at least 270 million US dollars, what about Victor? If you have Try it if you are interested, it is best to get ready to set off with me as soon as possible, this client of mine may be dying soon.”

"Where are you going?" Wei Ran signaled Anfisa to ask the last question.

"Honolulu, Hawaii"

Carlos replied bluntly, "He has been recuperating there for a long time. If you have more time, we can take his private jet to meet him at any time."

"And a private jet?" Sui Sui's eyes widened.

"I've said it all, my client is a real rich man." After Carlos finished speaking, he picked up the coffee cup, waited patiently for Anfisa to finish the translation, and then put down the cup and asked, "Victor, what do you want?" Do you want to try it?"

"I have no reason to refuse"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he looked at Sui Sui who was eager to try, and after thinking for a while, he asked in a half-joking tone, "Mr. Carlos, do you mind if I bring my assistants?"

"sure"

After listening to Anfesa's translation, Carlos nodded happily, and even pointed to Beria, the dog who was walking around the library with Corava not far away, and said very seriously, " It doesn't matter if you want to bring your pets with you."

"Is it really possible?" Suho asked happily.

"Of course." Carlos nodded seriously, "That private jet is big enough for everyone and your pets."

"What an enviable rich man..." Sui Sui muttered enviously, then looked at Wei Ran.

"So which one of you wants to follow?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Me! Me, me, me!"

Sui Sui was the first to speak, and at the same time, she did not forget to invite the girls around, "Cami must follow. Sui Xin, Lola, do you want to go to Hawaii together?"

Hearing this, Sui Xin and Lola's faces showed heart-beating expressions for a moment, but soon, the two bun-faced girls shook their heads indiscriminately, and refused in unison, "I won't go, I will to stay."

"Are you really not going?" Sui Suo asked unwillingly.

"Really not going"

Sui Xin smiled, "The library will be open the day after tomorrow, and I wonder if anyone bought those photo albums you made at such an expensive price."

"Korava is going to do rehabilitation training tomorrow, and I'm going to be with her." Lola gave a more simple reason.

Seeing that one of the two girls was busy with career and the other was busy with life, Sui Sui didn't force her. However, although she couldn't bring the faces of these two little buns on this trip to Hawaii, she decided to take the three pets at home to meet her. See the world.

Not only that, what Sui Xin said just now also reminded

She, so she didn't wait to give Carlos a definite reply, she personally fetched the largest photo album, and then took a feather seal from Sui Xin to cover it, and gave it to Carlos as a gift lawyer.

"This is truly a special and precious gift"

Carlos opened the album with a look of surprise, and then found in this exquisitely crafted album those photos that Wei Ran had taken on the battlefield to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and found photos of his father when he was young.

With the help of these photos and the signature-filled pullover brought by Carlos, under the translation of Anfisa, Wei Ran and the other party once again chatted about the Prisoner of War Olympics more than half a century ago .

At the same time, Sui Sui had already taken Anfeya, and couldn't wait to run to the house next door, and started packing for this trip to Hawaii.

At noon on April Fool's Day, under the kind invitation of Wei Ran and Sui Sui, lawyer Carlos stayed and had a sumptuous lunch together.And in the afternoon of the same day, they boarded a private business jet parked at Kazan Airport with Wei Ran, Suisui, sisters Katenka and three pets.

Compared with the fatigue caused by the long flight, Sui Sui, who took a private jet for the first time, set a new goal for herself when the plane was about to land.

"What did you just say?" Wei Ran, who was originally sleepy, woke up instantly, and turned to look at Sui Sui who was sitting next to him.

Seeing this, Sui Sui leaned closer to Wei Ran's ear again, and said firmly again, "I said, I will also buy a private jet in the future!"

"Why did you buy such a money-losing item?"

Wei Ran asked dumbfoundedly, no wonder that during the first half of the voyage, this girl kept asking Carlos about the selling price and maintenance cost of the private jet.

"I'm not interested in this luxury"

A self-contradictory sentence came out of Sui Sui's mouth, and then she explained happily, "If you want to buy it, you have to buy the kind of transport plane that Dmitri and the others drive that can pull people and goods."

"And then?" Wei Ran asked happily, as if he was dreaming with the other party.

"Of course I'm going to open a few routes of my own!"

Sui Sui wrung her fingers and said longingly, "Look, we take off from Huaxia's Capital Airport, and the first route goes directly to the small town of Tula and Tuluhansk.

The second one goes directly to Inta. Anyway, we have our own airport in Inta. I asked Alili a long time ago. He said that our airport can take off and land Il-76 transport planes. Isn’t that just right?
There is also a third route. The third route will fly to Maya’s house. When it is not busy, you can use that plane to carry out transportation and sell Inta and Hasa’s local products to Huaxia!hum!I'll be there

"stop"

Wei Ran finally interrupted the other party's dream when the plane started to taxi, and asked with a suppressed smile, "Do you know what this is equivalent to?"

"What is equivalent to what?" Suo Sui, who was still dreaming sweetly, asked blankly.

"You are like a strong man who forcibly took off the hellokitty panties newly bought by a beautiful woman on the street." Wei Ran showed a smirk at the corner of his mouth, "then pulled out the monkey rubber band in the panties to make a slingshot."

"It's ready to break your glass!"

Sui Sui, who rushed to answer the second half of the line, rolled her eyes, and then she couldn't help laughing herself.It's just that, in the girl's big eyes bent into crescent moons, this time they are extremely serious and eager.

After a short wait, the private jet finally landed at Honolulu Airport steadily.Wait until the hatch opens.Lawyer Carlos stood up unhurriedly, greeted Wei Ran and others and walked out of the cabin.

Under the leadership of the other party, they went through the immigration procedures for themselves and the three pets step by step. When they walked out of the airport, there was already a commercial vehicle waiting for them.

"Get in the car"

Carlos was the first to get in while speaking, and at the same time he did not forget to ask, "Victor, shall we meet my client first, or should we stay and rest first?"

"Let's meet up first." Wei Ran said politely after Anfisa finished translating.

Hearing this, lawyer Carlos immediately said to the driver, "Go see Mr. Dominique first."

"OK"

The middle-aged driver in charge of the car responded calmly, and then slowly stepped on the accelerator, steering the car to drive out smoothly.

After waiting for almost 10 minutes while chatting with this client, the commercial vehicle drove into a medical center with a very good environment.

It was during this chat that Wei Ran learned that Carlos was Mr. Dominique's personal lawyer very early on.It was only later that I realized that the Carlos lawyer could communicate in German.

Undoubtedly, this made the communication between Wei Ran and Carlos, who insisted on not knowing English in name, much easier.

However, what he didn't expect was that when Carlos took him all the way upstairs to the outside of a ward.However, it was discovered that the old man called "Mr. Dominique" by Carlos' lawyer was sitting in a wheelchair that looked like "Mr. Hawking's special use", silently looking at the coastline outside the French windows of the ward.

Wei Ran glanced at the urine bag and feces bag hanging on the wheelchair indiscriminately, and then at the oxygen cylinder fixed behind the wheelchair and the oxygen tube fixed at the old man's nostrils. What has this old man experienced or how much wealth he already has, but he still can't resist the erosion of the years.

But what the long years have brought to them is far more than an increasingly inflexible body.Compared with these inconveniences, some memories and regrets that still linger patiently in them are often more tormenting.

Inexplicably, Wei Ran thought of the grandma Valentina who had been waiting for her tanker husband all her life, and the woman who spent most of her life searching for her father's bones after the war. Mr. Noah, and those eternally frozen lives in the hut in the snowstorm where his father was buried.

Of course, there is also Zhou Guochang who did not give up looking for his family members after the war and successfully found them.

For these people, innocence is not the criterion for judging them.But for them, the war, the pain of being separated from their families, and the aimless search for a long time are all interlinked and the same.

So what about the old man in front of him?What has he experienced?
While Wei Ran was staring at the old man's back in a daze, lawyer Carlos, who was over sixty years old, also cleared his throat and reminded softly in proficient German, "Mr. Dominique, I can help you Your man has brought it, and he can communicate directly with you in German

After a full half a minute, the old man in the wheelchair steered the electric wheelchair, which looked very high-end, slowly turning around in a circle.He pointed the face full of wrinkles, age spots, and old scratches at Wei Ran.

"Is that him?" The old man couldn't hide his disappointment in his old and weak tone.

"it's him"

While talking, Carlos took out the photo album Sui Sui gave him before departure, pointed to the black and white photos inside and said, "Look, this is my father, this is my father's friend in China, I didn't ask him anything, I just gave him a hat badge, but he helped me find my father's friends in China."

After a short pause, Carlos flipped through the album and said, "The people in these albums are all excavated from history by this young man. Mr. Dominique, I believe he will be able to help you find your family members who may be alive."

"how long?"

The old man raised his head, looked at Wei Ran and asked, in that old and weak tone, there were both numbness and expectation, more dispensable perfunctory, and a trace of the aloofness unique to the German Junker nobles in the old era. "If you would give me some credit and answer some questions"

Wei Ran paused deliberately when he said this, raised his volume slightly, and said confidently, "At least I won't let you leave too many regrets in this world."

"Since you are so confident, stay and talk to me."

Dominic took a breath before continuing,
"However, I only have 10 minutes."

"It's enough." Wei Ran looked at the lawyer Carlos who was on the side while speaking. The latter smiled, turned around and walked out of this advanced ward, and helped close the door.
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