War Photographer's Notebook

On the morning of the third day after arriving in France, before the sun had fully risen, an unremarkable off-road vehicle drove into the small town that Wei Ran had visited before.

In the cab of this off-road vehicle, Wei Ran is in charge of driving, and the co-pilot is sitting in the co-pilot, the lawyer Carlos who just arrived last night.

But the one who monopolizes the rear seat is the dog Beria who is holding a cow bone and gnawing on it happily.

"That's the old guy." Wei Ran pointed to the small shop across the road that just opened the shutter door.

Looking in the direction of Wei Ran's finger, Carlos noticed the old man standing at the door at a glance.

"It really looks like it!" Carlos couldn't help but exclaimed.

"With whom? Mr. Dominique?" While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already taken a picture of the old man who was cleaning at the door with a pipe in his hand with his SLR camera.

"if not?"

Carlos asked back, "He really looks like Mr. Dominique more than ten years ago. Of course, Mr. Dominique doesn't grow a goatee."

"He has to grow a beard..." Wei Ran couldn't help cursing to himself.

At this moment, a not-so-big refrigerated truck drove over from a distance and honked its horn from a distance.

Seeing this, the old man at the door of the small shop immediately put down the broom in his hand, turned around and took out a fake leather tool bag from the shop and tied it around his waist.

"What is he doing?" Carlos couldn't help asking.

"do not know"

Wei Ran paused, and continued to speak while pressing the shutter again, "But yesterday I asked your staff to find his local friend to find a way to come here and ask."

"How to say?"

Carlos stared intently at the old guy outside the car window, quickly pulled down the shutter door, and then got into the driver's compartment of the refrigerated truck.

At the same time, Wei Ran also aimed the camera lens at the flat-chested girl driving the car, seized the opportunity to take a close-up of the other side's face, and then handed the camera to Carlos who was walking beside him, He steered the car around and followed him far away and explained, "It is said that Mr. Dominic Love is a retired butcher from a local slaughterhouse."

"Butcher?" Carlos raised his eyebrows.

"That's right"

Wei Ran explained with a smile, "His life was not bad at first, but about ten years ago, his son and daughter-in-law died in a traffic accident, leaving him with only one granddaughter."

Wei Ran pointed forward, "If nothing else happens, the girl driving the refrigerated car just now should be his granddaughter Kou Kou Love.

Since graduating from a short-term college last year, this girl chose to come back and run the store just now with her grandfather.Every morning, she and her grandfather would go to a nearby slaughterhouse for a half-day job and come back in the afternoon to run their meat shop. "

"What else did you find out?" Carlos asked with great interest.

"This girl's butchering skills are very good, I saw it with my own eyes."

Wei Ran paused, and continued reluctantly, "In addition, she has been applying for the veterinary examination since last year. Although she has not yet obtained a license, she is already very proficient in castrating animals. These are from a farmer. Asked by my son."

"What else?" Carlos continued to ask.

"She and her grandpa got a great deal"

Wei Ran said as if he was squeezing toothpaste, "If the surrounding farmers want to slaughter animals privately, they will also ask them two, but in France, it is illegal to slaughter animals privately. It is said that last year, his grandfather almost got six months in prison and was forced to pay a fine of nearly [-] euros.”

"return…"

"No more." Wei Ran replied helplessly, "It's not bad to be able to ask so many questions."

"Ok"

Lawyer Cross, who was nearly sixty years old, shrugged his shoulders, but after being quiet for less than half a minute, he continued to ask, "Where are they going?"

"The only slaughterhouse in the area is behind us in the direction
Wei Ran gestured his thumbs behind him, "I guess they are going to make some extra money, so shall we follow?"

"Follow!"

Carlos said without thinking, "Mr. Dominique asked me to see their real living conditions for him."

"Ok"

Wei Ran responded indifferently, drove the car, and followed the small, poor refrigerator car in front of him to leave the town, and finally watched it drive into a private farm.

Stepping on the brakes at a distance, Wei Ran pushed open the car door, and under the cover of his backpack, took out the telescope from the metal book and handed it to Carlos.

"You're really well prepared," Carlos couldn't help but said while taking the binoculars.

"I am a historian"

Wei Ran replied as a matter of course—even though there seems to be no logical relationship between carrying a telescope and investigating historical mysteries.

Fortunately, Lawyer Carlos didn't seem to understand the work of historians, so seeing Wei Ran's tone was so natural, he believed it and raised his binoculars to look into the farm.

Although the telescope in his hand had enough clear and sharp imaging quality, the refrigerated truck drove directly into the warehouse, and even the door of the warehouse was tightly closed from the inside.

Almost when Carlos returned the binoculars to Wei Ran with a regretful face, an old pickup truck drove out of the farm and parked sideways at the gate of the farm.

"Want to go in and have a look?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"I didn't think it would be that easy to get in"

Carlos raised his chin towards the farm gate, "As you said just now, it is illegal to slaughter livestock privately."

"It is not illegal to watch private slaughter"

As Wei Ran said, he got into the car, and after Carlos followed in and sat down firmly, he immediately stepped on the accelerator and drove to the gate of the farm.

Contrary to Carlos' expectations, almost at the same time the off-road vehicle drove to the gate of the farm, the tattered pickup truck voluntarily moved out of the way, and even the young man sitting in the cab was far away, and enthusiastically He waved his hand at Wei Ran.

Seeing Carlos looking blankly at him, Wei Ran explained with a smile, "I have talked with your staff and this farm, today they will hire the couple of grandparents to help them castrate and raise a few piglets And lambs, and by the way, some sheep that are going to be culled.

Of course, these cost money, including the purchase of the slaughtered sheep, which cost a total of [-] euros, which should be included in the investigation cost. "

Carlos twitched the corners of his mouth, and said in a low voice, "You...you really do your job."

"For the $270 million commission," Wei Ran said truthfully.

"You won't lose the commission," Carlos made a promise dumbfounded.

"I have never doubted Mr. Dominique's credibility and your professional competence"

Wei Ran gave a sincere compliment, stepped on the brakes at the warehouse door, waited for the pickup truck behind him to catch up, and immediately pulled out a baseball cap and mask and put them on. As for Carlos, he just forgot, anyway. I haven't seen him with my grandparents either.

Led by the young man who followed, Wei Ran and lawyer Carlos quietly walked into Nuoda's warehouse through the side door.

Before they saw the grandpa and grandson, they heard the shrill squawking of pigs and sheep.Following the ear-piercing sound, Wei Ran could not help grinning. Not far away, the old man named Dominique Love was skillfully pressing a piglet to the ground. The castration operation was completed.

And beside him, the girl named Kou Kou had also lifted an adult sheep upside down with the help of the electric rocker at the rear of the refrigerated truck.

Accompanied by the faint sound of "zi la la", the sheep immediately stiffened its limbs and became motionless.

"Bang Dang" threw the electric shock device into the carriage. The girl rubbed the knife in her hand with the knife sharpener, cut open the sheep's skin expressionlessly, and cut off a piece of skin together with the sheep's head. Toss it aside, and then it's totally pleasing to the eye

The work of cleaning internal organs and dismembering corpses.

In just a few minutes, with a bang, the cleaned mutton was hung on the hook and pushed along the slide rails into the interior of the refrigerated car.

At the same time, the old man on the other side of the truck had skillfully prepared the medicine and started to give injections to the piglets that had just been cut.

As Wei Ran and Carlos watched, eight lambs were skinned and gutted and sent to the refrigerated truck in less than an hour.At the same time, the old man has also castrated 8 piglets and 9 lambs and given some injections that may be vaccines.

"How do you feel?" Wei Ran asked Carlos lawyer next to him in a low voice.

"Very proficient." Lawyer Carlos, who had been secretly taking pictures with his mobile phone just now, sighed, "It can be seen that this job is also very hard."

"Do you want to talk to them?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"Let's talk in their store later." Carlos said, turned around and left the noisy warehouse, beckoned Wei Ran to drive away from the farm first.

Almost before and after they left, the refrigerated vehicle also drove out of the warehouse and stopped at the door of the room. Under the command of the farmer's family, seven of the sheep that had just been slaughtered were sent to a large freezer in the basement. Only took the remaining end and some water to leave the farm and drove towards the direction of the town.

Almost when the refrigerated truck stopped at the door of the store again, Wei Ran, who had changed into a coat, also led his dog Beria, and walked over with Carlos one after the other.

"Young man, I remember you and your pet."

Dominique Love, who just got out of the car, recognized Wei Ran who had already taken off his mask and hat. Of course, to be more precise, he actually recognized Beria who was shaking his head and tail.

"Hello, Mr. Dominique."

Wei Ran greeted him with a smile, and introduced, "This is lawyer Carlos, he wants to talk to you."

"Lawyer? What are you talking about?" Dominic Love's expression changed instantly.

"Don't get me wrong." Wei Ran waved his hand, "He is a lawyer from the United States, regardless of what happened in France."

"A lawyer from the United States?"

Dominique Love looked suspiciously at Wei Ran, then at Carlos, and finally asked, "What's the matter?"

"Do you know German or English?" Wei Ran asked with a smile, "Mr. Carlos doesn't know French." "I know German."

Before the words fell, the girl named Kou Kou had already walked over from the direction of the front of the car. After taking off her gloves and mask, she took the initiative to reach out to Carlos and asked in unproficient German, "I'm Kou Kou, you What can I do with my grandfather?"

Glancing at this young girl whose appearance was six to seven points similar to Long Ma, Wei Ran wisely chose to shut up and pulled the dog back a step, giving Carlos room to talk.

After Carlos shook hands with the girl, he introduced himself very formally, and then said, "Miss Kou Kou, please tell Mr. Dominique Love that I have an inheritance here that he may need to inherit. .So if it is convenient, we need a quiet environment to have a good talk.”

"heritage?"

A hint of bewilderment appeared on Kou Kou's face, but soon, she translated the core content to her grandfather.

"I was raised by nuns in the church. How can I inherit any inheritance?"

After listening to Kou Kou's translation, the old man opened the cabinet door of the refrigerated truck indifferently, "I still have to do business, if you want to cheat some money, you'd better..."

"Ms. Nadia Hill is your mother, right?"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, the old man who was about to carry the sheep into the shop looked back at Wei Ran in surprise, "How do you know?"

It's good to know who your mother is...

Wei Ran suddenly gained confidence in his heart, reached out his hand from his pocket, picked up the prepared one thousand euros and handed it to Kou Kou, deliberately said in German, "One thousand euros, buy one hour of conversation time, as long as you can convince your grandfather willing to take an hour to listen
Listen to what Mr. Carlos is going to say, the money is yours. "

"make a deal!"

Kou Kou had already accepted the money from Wei Ran before he finished speaking, and then, under the sluggish gaze of the old man beside him, he stuffed the money into his pocket as usual, "Grandpa, I think we can just Rest for an hour."

"Let's talk"

Wei Ran patted Carlos on the shoulder lightly, dragged the dog who was trying to jump into the refrigerated truck to get a bite of meat, turned around and got into the off-road vehicle parked by the side of the road.