War Photographer's Notebook

Fleeing to Mr. De Winter's farm that afternoon, the farmer, Mr. De Winter, left the farm in a carriage with the ID photo film taken by Wei Ran and a notepad full of names and ages.

When night fell, Mrs. Lena was the first to bring two nurses to deliver sumptuous meals.Almost at the time when everyone worked together to place these meals on several dining tables in the room, De Winter also drove back in the carriage.

In the not-so-big but extraordinarily clean room cleaned up by the children, the young and carefree children crowded around the dining table by the fireplace, enjoying the unlimited supply of Hot milk and dinner, while whispering and discussing their respective division of labor.

Even after a fair and just election, these children elected Dominic and Nadia, who were inconvenient to move around, to be the captains of the two small teams of boys and girls.

Don't think that this is an easy job. Although the two of them don't have to do anything personally, they are responsible for assigning work to each partner.

It is not only the young couple who also need to take responsibility, even the two girls who were rescued halfway in the forest were assigned to tell bedtime stories to young children.

And at another separate dining table some distance from the fireplace, Wei Ran also raised the wine glass with the Walters and Mr. De Winter again and again, and drank the jug of wine he "brought".

Satisfied with food and drink, Wei Ran changed the medicine for the injured children with the help of the Walters, and then took the children except Dominique and Nadia to the second floor along the ladder, crowded In the four rooms that were temporarily cleaned up.

During the dinner, Mr. de Winter once said that three of the four rooms on the second floor were used by his children before, and the other was shared by the three children who were about the same age as Dominic. study.

But since the three children and their mother were burned to death by the Germans in the spring, the upstairs room has been vacant, and it was from that time that Mr. De Winter, who had almost lost his mind about life, began to Never went up to the second floor again.

Now, with so many children living in at once, Mr. de Winter seemed to come alive. Not only did he drink a few more glasses on the dining table, but he also burned all the fireplaces in the room.

"Victor, you can just stay here."

At the stairs, Mr. De Winter in pajamas wiped the corners of his eyes and said, "You can live as long as you want, my farm can produce enough milk, and there are enough potatoes and sausages in the cellar, enough for the children It’s fine until the war is completely over.”

"We'll do something to help"

After making arrangements for the last child, Wei Ran said, "Uncle De Winter, if there is any work on the farm, you must not be polite, they...we can do something, and we will feel more comfortable."

"well!"

De Winter agreed with a smile on his face, "If you need your help, I will tell you... no, no, I will tell Dominic and Nadia, they are the captains, right?"

"Yes" Wei Ran smiled and nodded.

"Then, rest early."

Derwent sniffed his rosacea and said loudly as he walked downstairs holding on to the banister, "Good night, Victor, good night, children."

"Good night, Uncle Derwent!" the children who were eavesdropping on the conversation in the room immediately responded in unison.

"It would be great if those three little guys were here, you will definitely become good friends..." De Winter muttered to himself and got into the bedroom next to the room of Dominique and Nadia.

"I don't know what happened to Sophie and Qiqi..."

Wei Ran, who was standing at the stairs, also muttered something in a low voice, and then began to wonder whether Captain Timov, the American soldier, survived.

In the early morning of the next day, when Wei Ran, who was laying on the floor in a room full of lightly wounded people, was awakened by a little guy accidentally stepping on his hand, there were already scattered snowflakes outside the window.

Including Jonas, whose eyes were covered with gauze, several energetic early
The children who just woke up lined up in front of the window, or breathed on the glass window, or wrote and drew on it with their fingers, leaving some fleeting graffiti, and some stared out of the window The two dueling goats giggled.

Going to the bed and looking out, Wei Ran also noticed that there were already a few older children helping De Winter, who was also an early riser, busy on the farm amidst the "Good morning" .

Pushing the door and going downstairs, the girl named Youta who was rescued in the forest was busy boiling milk and eggs in an enamel pot, and the girl who was rescued with her by Wei Ran, who seemed to be called Boyi, was at this time But outside the house with a window, bread was being made in an oven.

"Good morning, Victor." The girl named Uta greeted the savior first.

"Good morning, Victor." Boyi who was outside the window also greeted after hearing the movement.

"Good morning." Wei Ran responded politely, and then asked curiously, "Why are you guys preparing breakfast?"

"We discussed it with Mrs. Lena yesterday"

Boyi pushed open the window from the outside, supported the window sill with his flour-stained hands and said, "From now on, we can take care of breakfast, so they don't have to get up early."

"Boy and I used to work in a bakery, so it was easy for us."

While speaking, Uta handed a piece of dough to Boyi through the window, "And you, Sophie and everyone saved us, we always have to do something for everyone, just telling bedtime stories is not enough."

Seeing that the two girls seemed to come out from the shadow of the two chain dogs, Wei Ran also secretly heaved a sigh of relief.After hesitating for a while, he tentatively asked, "Yuta, Boyi, you... do you know Captain Letz? Captain Letz, the quartermaster of Fort No. 3, do you have any news about him?"

Uta and Boyi looked at each other, Qi Qi shook his head and said, "Sorry, we don't know Captain Letts."

"But among the sisters who went to Fort No. 3 with us at that time, some people seemed to say that the crippled quartermaster was their former teacher."

Boyi didn't know what he thought of, so he shivered subconsciously. After some hesitation, he lowered his voice slightly and continued, "Before...before I was taken away from the fortress by those two demons, I seem to have heard them talk about that Quartermaster."

"What did they say?"

Wei Ran immediately asked, he actually wanted to ask these two girls yesterday, but at that time the two girls looked in a trance, obviously it was not a good time to ask for clues.

Boyi's face became a little pale, and his thin body subconsciously leaned closer to the warm oven, and then he said, "I remember one of them was worried, would it be because Laitz came back and found them Keeping Utah and me here will affect our financial resources.”

"And then?" Wei Ran subconsciously asked.

Boyi clenched the blanket on his body, and replied with a trembling tone, "I didn't hear what the other said, but I saw that he seemed to wipe his neck. I guess they must want to kill Get rid of me and Utta."

"Okay, it's over."

Wei Ran tried his best to keep his tone gentle enough, "Those two bastards are dead, forget about them, after the war is over, you will soon be able to start a new life."

Just when the three of them were about to continue talking, a four-wheeled carriage with a canvas shed ran in behind Boyi at the entrance of the farm outside the window.

Before the carriage stopped, De Winter went up to meet him, and took two cloth bags from the woman driving the carriage.

"Victor!" Derwent beckoned to Wei Ran who was standing by the window from afar, "Come out!"

"coming!"

Wei Ran also waved his hand in response, then smiled apologetically at the two girls, and quickly ran out of the house to meet them.

"Victor, send these passports to everyone."

De Winter handed the two cloth bags in his hand to Wei Ran, "This bag is the passport prepared by Comet Line for you and the children. You send them out immediately and let the children carry them all the time."

After Wei Ran took over the cloth bag, De Winter handed over the other one, and said apologetically, "This bag is for your train tickets and your destination. Victor, eat later After breakfast, I will take you and the uninjured children to the train station, and you will take the noon train to Mons today."

Without waiting for Wei Ran to ask, De Winter took the initiative to explain, "Don't get me wrong, Victor, I am looking forward to your continued life on my farm. But this is the decision of Comet Line, and it is for your own good. .”

"Uncle Derwent, those wounded..."

"Except for Dominic and Nadia who are unable to move, the rest of the children, I, the Walters and some other helpers will send them over to reunite with you one after another."

De Winter pointed to the outside of the farm and said, "I just got the news that the Americans are already looking for the people who passed through the minefield yesterday, and even exchanged fire with the Germans on the opposite side.

So in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, staying away from the border is the best solution, so that you can also be safer.Frankly speaking, because it is close to the border, everyone's nerves are very sensitive. "

Having said that, De Winter patted his chest again, "But don't worry, the Walters will take good care of Dominique and Nadia, and when they can get out of bed and move around freely, I will personally Send them to Mons to meet you."

"Then I will trouble you." Wei Ran, who had no choice, simply agreed with the other party's arrangement with a grateful face.