War Photographer's Notebook

In mid-April, in the Hürtgen Forest on the border between Germany and Belgium, the low roar of engines broke the tranquility of the past.

In the dense forest, two black Mercedes-Benz trucks, led by a half-track motorcycle painted with hunting camouflage, slowly walked along the gravel road on the side of the "Jonas and Okan Brothers Outdoor Store", Drive into the depths of the forest.

Sitting on the driver's seat of the half-track motorcycle was Wei Ran who escorted the statue from Timof Castle in Austria, and sitting side by side on the rear seat of the half-track motorcycle was behind him. The two owners of that outdoor goods store.

Only from these two old guys who are over half a century old, "how is Uncle Dominic" and "what was my father Okan", or "my father Jonas was once" in the prefixes of such sentences , Wei Ran guessed the identities of these two old fellows.

What's more, the names of the two old men are really time-saving and labor-saving. Okan's son is named "Little Jonas", and Jonas' son is named "Okan II". The brotherhood of "Father" also saves Wei Ran the trouble of remembering the wrong name.

Turning over a small slope along the moss-covered gravel road, Wei Ran led the truck behind him through the temporary entrance and exit on the barbed wire fence, and finally stopped by the moat of Elk Castle. The potted pine trees inside the stone bridge and the castle, the scaffolding used as camouflage, and the creepers growing on the scaffolding have all been cleaned up, revealing the original appearance of the castle.

Even outside the moat next to the small bridge, there is still a crane that has been set up to help the hoe, and on the platform inside the castle, there is already a forklift waiting in advance.

"Just drive in!" Okan II who was sitting in the back row said loudly.

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately steered the half-track motorcycle belonging to an outdoor goods store under his buttocks, drove across the broken bridge across the moat amidst creaking noises, and finally stopped at the place where all the pine camouflage had been removed. yard.

Before the car was turned off, Okan II and Jonas Jr., who together must be over a hundred years old, jumped out of the car neatly, or sat in the forklift parked on the platform, or Climbed into the operating room of that crane.

Seeing this, Wei Ran hurriedly directed the two trucks to stop outside the moat, and personally untied the canvas covered by the cargo box, revealing the bronze statues transported from Timof Castle in Austria.

With the help of that crane and forklift, the statues were hoisted from the container to the platform, and then sent to the church that had been cleaned by the forklift, and they were placed in a patchwork under the icon.

After getting the permission of the two old men, Wei Ran used the cover of his backpack to take out the Rollei SLR from the metal book, and took another group photo for the reunited partners in the church.

"Young man, take this."

At the door of the church that was about to be re-locked, Okan II reached out from the cab of the forklift and took out a fake sealed file bag and handed it to Wei Ran.

"what is this?"

Wei Ran took a look at the file bag. On the seal of the paper bag, not only the date was stamped, but also the German and English signatures of lawyer Carlos.

"Mr. Dominique's supplementary will, for you."

While speaking, King Okan II had already closed the wooden door of the church, and said while locking it, "Look at it first. After reading it, we have another thing to tell you."

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately tore off the seal of the file bag, and took out a will written in German and English from it.

After a hasty glance, Wei Ran raised his eyebrows in surprise, then subconsciously raised his head to look at the two old men standing a few meters away.

"We don't know anything"

Jonas Jr. stepped forward and said, "If you've finished watching, we're going to get down to business."

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran carefully collected the will, "I've finished reading it."

"Uncle Dominic said that you will be in charge of the Elk Foundation in the future."

Oh

Kan II lit a cigar and said, "Frankly speaking, this is a good thing for us. Before that, we were always worried that Lily or Sebastian would take over the Elk Foundation."

"Worried about Sebastian?"

Wei Ran repeated in doubt, worried that Lily's greedy woman is still normal, and worried about Sebastian...

As if seeing Wei Ran's doubts, Jonas Jr. also lit a cigar, sat down on the steps of the church door and explained, "If that stingy bastard Sebastian takes control of the Foundation, he will The maintenance of this castle will definitely be terminated immediately after Uncle Dominic's death."

Okan II chased after him and added, "Although this castle doesn't even have interior decoration, the monthly maintenance also costs thousands of euros in labor costs, and the annual roof maintenance is even worse. That's a lot of money, and it's not something we two old guys can afford."

"Uncle Dominic said that you will ensure that the castle will always be well maintained, is that true?" Jonas Jr. asked.

"Yes...that's the case." Wei Ran grinned, "I promise."

"In this case, we can rest assured"

Okan II immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "Young man, we don't know what was written in Uncle Dominic's will, let alone know what was written, but he sent someone to us an envelope the day before yesterday.

In addition, he told us on the phone that when the Elk Foundation encounters serious financial difficulties, you can bring Sebastian to the mill to find us and open the envelope he left with the two of us. "

"Of course, whether we are willing to hand over the envelope to you depends entirely on whether you will supervise the Foundation's dedication to maintaining this castle."

Little Jonas added on the side, "We have already got your contact information from Uncle Dominic, so if one day we call you to complain, you'd better urge that miser Sebastian to immediately Bring people over to repair the castle."

"There's no need for Sebastian to know that Uncle Dominic left us an envelope."

Okan II added a sentence, and then exchanged glances with the little Jonas next to him, and then looked at Wei Ran again, "Okay, there is nothing else, next time you come here, It's time to send Uncle Dominic. Young man, I sincerely hope that day will come later."

"In this case, I hope we will never meet here again." Wei Ran said sincerely.

"Although this wish is beautiful, no one can beat time."

Little Jonas crushed the cigar in his hand, "Okay, Victor, you can leave first, remember to park our half-track motorcycles in the mill and lock the door for us, we will put the barbed wire on later. Put the fence up and drive the crane back."

"Then... goodbye, gentlemen."

After Wei Ran said goodbye politely, he put on his backpack and walked off the platform, drove the half-track motorcycle, took the two trucks that followed, and left Elk Castle, and drove back to the outdoor area next to the mill along the gravel road. supply store.

Parked the half-track motorcycle into the mill as ordered and helped to lock the wooden door. Wei Ran left the Hürtgen Forest in one of the trucks and rushed to the airport in the city.

On the way, he couldn't help but take out the will that he just got and read it again.

According to the content of this supplementary will, when he was in charge of supervising the Elk Foundation, he not only obtained the right to use Timof Castle, but also the French female architect Léa and her maintenance team would be directly led by him , thus bypassing Sebastian who was in charge of making money.

Obviously, Dominic, who is about to come to the end of his life, is very worried that after his death, these two castles, which are almost equivalent to the graves of his family and relatives, will be abandoned, and he is even more worried about him and his partners, as well as Sophie and Timov There is no one to take care of the family, so there is such a supplementary will.

Correspondingly, Wei Ran, who is almost equivalent to the gravekeeper, must ensure that the two castles are maintained in a timely and proper manner—just like he must ensure that Kou Kou can smoothly receive living expenses from the foundation.

At the end of the will, Dominic also clearly mentioned that Okan II, Jonas Jr., the female architect Leya and the lawyer Carlos will jointly monitor whether Wei Ran has performed his work with all his heart.

When this person is all dissatisfied with what he did in his office, that is, when some people criticize what he did to the foundation, even if the heir Koko agrees that he will continue to work in the foundation, All benefits including 10% of the investment amount and the right to use the castle will also be recovered.

"This old guy, this is an extra lock..."

Wei Ran muttered secretly, and finally put away this will, which was actually not attractive to him.

Two days later, under the escort of the private jet, Wei Ran, Sui Sui and the others, including dogs and foxes, also returned safely to Kazakhstan with the exhaustion of the long-distance flight and various souvenirs bought in Austria. Mountain.

The matter of Dominic came to an end for the time being. Wei Ran, who earned 300 million US dollars in half a month after going out and found a part-time job by the way, was not idle.

Because, on the second day after he returned to Kazan, Jima and Maya, who were busy preparing for the filming of the Liuban Forest Guerrilla story film with Karp and others at the Hongqi Forest Farm, took the script and found him. Door.In this movie, Jima is responsible for playing the guerrilla Shura, and Maya, who participated in the role for the first time, also took on the responsibility of playing the female number one guerrilla Jaina.

And the two of them came here this time to let Wei Ran, who provided the original script, help them, especially Maya, who had no experience, to better shape the role image of the female guerrilla Jaina.

However, before Wei Ran finished dealing with the two actors, on the early morning of the fourth day after he returned to Kazan, Xia Shushi, Qin Ershi and Zhong Zhen, who had not been in contact for a while, were silent Flew to Kazan together!
When Wei Ran learned that these people had come to Kazan, the three of them had already sat down in the time library and ordered a cup of coffee each.

Even, when he walked into the library with Jima, who was joining in the fun, Xia Shushi, a bastard, was busy making friends with Lola by virtue of his raw Russian.

"Are these your friends?"

Jima, who was holding a book of lines in his hand, said with a disappointed face, "Why are they all men, and there are no beautiful girls?"

"Even if you are beautiful, do you dare to do anything?" Wei Ran mocked with disdain.

"Is this a question of dare or not? You... who do you think I am!" Jima asked dissatisfied.

"Scum"

Wei Ran blatantly responded in Chinese, but his voice hadn't finished yet, no matter whether it was Zhong Zhen, Qin Ershi, or even Xia Shushi, they all looked over subconsciously, and the expressions on the faces of these people were also very special. Unanimously expressing the same question - why are you shouting ***?
Looking at Ji Ma who was standing beside him with a guilty conscience, Wei Ran sighed resignedly, waved his hand and made a gesture with Xia Shushi and the others, beckoning them and went out.