War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 973: Maple Syrup and Throwing Axe

Attorney Carlos in Houston took the recording provided by Wei Ran to discuss the price and countermeasures with the Gravett family. At the same time, Ninel and Ania, who were still in August, were also in full swing for the next blackmail. Getting ready.

In contrast, Wei Ran, who has landed at Sault Ste. Marie Airport in the Canadian border city, is much more relaxed.

Just as he was pushing a small amount of luggage and walking out of the pick-up gate behind four talking and laughing girls, he saw Paul, the real estate management director of the Elk Foundation, from a long distance away.

Originally, he thought that there was a high probability that he would not have any intersection with this American redneck who was responsible for providing life services and real estate management for Dominic and Kou Kou in the future, but he did not expect that there would be a chance to meet him.

Under the leadership of this exceptionally enthusiastic red-neck, a group of people got into a black Saab bus that was big enough for everyone to sit down immediately after they walked out of the terminal.

"Uncle Paul, can you introduce that farm?" Kou Kou asked in not-so-proficient German under Sui Sui's prompt.

"Of course!"

Paul cleared his throat and introduced while driving the car away from the airport, "The farm is located in Bachawana Bay on the northeast shore of Lake Superior, about 50 kilometers away from our current location in a straight line."

After a short pause, Paul continued, "The total area of ​​the farm is about 500 acres. It was originally a gold mine invested by Mr. Dominique, but unfortunately, it is said that it was a very failed investment, and the gold mine there was of very low grade. But fortunately, the environment and scenery are very nice, I heard from Sebastian that Mr. Dominique used to go hunting there."

After the crisp gunshots, a group of unknown birds flew up from the trees in the distance, and two quacking wild ducks also flew up on the surface of the water that was at most a pond farther away.

"for collecting maple sap"

Tantu exclaimed in surprise, then took out a key from her leg bag and opened the door of the wooden house, and at the same time explained, "Please come in, my father and I just cleaned this place a few days ago. This wooden house was originally my grandfather’s house, and after the land was bought by Mr. Dominique, my grandfather still lived here and helped him manage the land.”

Kou Kou hurriedly said, "There's no need to move them, I'm just curious, not trying to clean up these precious photo frames."

Kou Kou, who was still a little lost just now, immediately brightened up. Even Sui Sui, who had been unable to speak because she couldn't understand German, showed great interest after listening to Anfisa's translation.

Tatanka praised without concealment, and at the same time opened the shutter door of the garage with the key, pointed to the quad bikes neatly parked inside and said, "The keys are all on it, and the battery was installed by me the day before yesterday. Tu goes ahead, how about we go to the hunter's lodge first?"

"But it's also very sweet." Tatanka smiled honestly, "Because the tree is old enough, the maple syrup we produce here is also of the best quality."

"It doesn't sound like an English name." Seeing that the other party was not in a hurry to get out of the car, Wei Ran simply didn't open the door.

After a short pause, the father and daughter in the two cars introduced again in no particular order, "It is surrounded by the gravel road, the river just mentioned, and the highway bridge that you can see from the gravel road. This two square kilometers of land belongs to the scope of the farm."

Whenever the water tank is almost full, the workers will drive the tank truck to transport the sap inside to the sugar factory just now.It is a very hard job, we only have less than two months each year, but we have to collect the sap of tens of thousands of trees. "

"Could you give us a show?" Koko said, having untied the ax hanging from his waist and handed it to Tatanka.

Before Sui Sui finished speaking, she and her rich woman friend got on a four-wheeled motorcycle and followed them in no particular order.Seeing this, Wei Ran also casually rode a motorcycle and followed behind him unhurriedly.

Sisters Katenka pulled the trigger on the two wild ducks in no particular order, knocked them down easily, and then looked at Suisui and Wei Ran eagerly.

"Boom!"

On the shore next to the pier, there are several houses of different shapes scattered among the fairly dense forest.

"It's so big?" Wei Ran, Kou Kou and the others who were sitting in two cars gave the same reaction.

Speaking of this, Tatanka spread his hands, "After discussing with Mr. Dominique, we hung up these photos here, if you think"

Tantu had already turned off the quad bike while speaking, then pulled out the pistol from the holster on his waist, aimed it at the top of his head and pulled the trigger.

"It is true"

"Can we stay here for a few days?" Sui Sui, who had been silent just now, asked.

Before setting off, Tatanka took out a few glasses, poured a glass of ice wine for everyone, and then brought out a large plate of maple syrup pudding that was said to be made by himself, and then slowly talked about his relationship with the deceased Dominique. Mr.'s story, while driving the yacht slowly left the pier.

With a distance of less than one kilometer, when everyone stopped their motorcycles one after another, a small forest glade with sparse vegetation appeared directly in front of them.

Tatanka took the ax with a smile, swung his arms round and threw it out without any hesitation.

"See that river that goes into Lake Superior?"

And under the tree trunk, it is so clean that it does not look like a virgin forest at all. In some places, gravel is used to pave out spaces that are not too big. On the spaces, each space is less than half a meter A tall concrete platform, and on some platforms, there is a stainless steel water tank with an estimated capacity of at most one ton.

"That's my daughter Tantu"

At this point in the topic, the two cars also crossed the lakeside road, came to the edge of the 20-meter-wide river as the land boundary, passed through the barbed wire fence with the words "Private Territory", and finally stopped at two buildings. In the open space in the middle of the house.

Not only that, according to Tantu, not only did she study abroad in Paris, but her ex-husband was a Frenchman.Of course, this undoubtedly implies that this is a divorced single woman.

If you are worried, the Foundation will send you and Mr. Victor a detailed list of rental income and expenses after each transfer. "

Tatanka sighed, and waved to Wei Ran and the others, "Children, get on the boat, we have to sail for an hour on Lake Superior to get there."

Tatanka spread his hands, "But he never told us about his military service. Even these photos were discovered by accident when Mr. Dominic came here for the last time and asked us to renovate and rebuild the wooden house."

"After my father passed away, Mr. Dominique asked me to take over the management job." Tatanka recalled with a look of nostalgia, "Later, I became Mr. Dominic's bodyguard and driver, and he liked to see me very much. Throwing axe, my most successful one was killing a running raccoon with a throwing axe."

But Kou Kou, this girl picked and picked an axe, one large and one small two hunting knives, and hung them around her waist very skillfully.

Paul shook his head, "There are a lot of sugar maple trees growing on that farm, which can produce the best quality 1AA grade maple sugar every year. The farm even has a small processing and filling equipment. coffee, which has always been given to his friends by Mr. Dominique as a gift."

"Children, come with me."

"But there are wolves and moose in this forest, and our barbed wire fence won't stop them at all, so you better bring your weapons."

Hearing this, everyone looked at Mr. Tatanka who came over with a pipe in unison.

Tatanka said that he paused on purpose, and then pointed to the farm. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a forest. The open space, where Mr. Dominique built a hunter's cabin, if you are interested, you can go and have a look there."

“It's a really big piece of land”

Wei Ran didn't take it seriously, and simply put his suitcase into the compartment of the next-door Raptor pickup.

"Sounds good, I haven't been on a yacht yet."

"The quality of the maple syrup this spring has been very good and the volumes have been huge. It's a pity that Mr. Dominique is no longer there."

"Such a smart girl"

"I can use those real estate rents as I like, right?" Kou Kou deliberately asked in front of Wei Ran, the guardian of the property.

"This is our sugar factory"

There was no extra time wasted, and the two cars set off one after another. First, they drove along a gravel road hidden among the maple forests to a relatively spacious and flat road, and then drove north all the way for a distance of more than 500 meters. At this time, a highway stretching close to Lake Superior also appeared directly in front of the field of vision.

In addition, there is an Indian ax decorated with furry animal skins, feathers of unknown birds, and various silver ornaments pinned to his waist.

"certainly"

“It's an RV campground”

"What about the other side?"

After Paul made his promise, he opened the car door, waved to the old man who had already got off the boat from a distance, and then helped unload the luggage from the trunk and said, "Okay, you can rest assured Follow Mr Tatanka, he will take care of you."

"Can we use these at will?" Sui Sui immediately became interested, and took out a revolver from inside without thinking.

"Of course!"

Paul expressed regret, "We are currently busy with maintenance and asset inventory of some properties in the United States, so that they can be rented out according to your wishes, so I may not have time to accompany you on vacation here."

While Paul was talking, he had already parked the car next to the pretty wooden house next to the pier, "This house is his home, and the cargo ship is also his property."

While Tan Tu was speaking, he had already opened the trunk of the car she was driving.The trunk of this car is completely a custom-made gun cabinet. In addition to various styles of pistols, there are also various styles of civilian shotguns.

On the side of the pier bridge, there is a cargo ship that looks like it has been docked for some years. On the wall outside the cab of this ship, there is a particularly conspicuous silhouette of an Indian head with a feather crown on his head.
On the other side of the trestle bridge, there is a sightseeing yacht more than ten meters long. This yacht not only has the same Indian head silhouette, but also has the logo of the Elk Foundation. Of course, on this yacht On the deck, there was another man with shawl hair.

Tatanka had already extinguished the yacht while speaking, and waited until his daughter helped to fasten the cable, and then led everyone to the pier.

"No problem at all"

As Tan Tu said, he had already opened the door of the black Chevrolet Tahoe parked by the pier. At the same time, the apologetic Chao Weiran said, "Mr. Victor, can I trouble you to take my father's car? My car The car can only seat up to five people."

In order to let himself remember the lesson of that impulsiveness, Mr. Dominique turned this place into a farm. When he was in good health, he would come to this farm to calm himself almost whenever he encountered difficult choices. "

The old guy greeted him in not-so-standard German, and handed Paul a leather bag with a beautiful pattern, "This is a gift for the three of you."

"No, no, just hang here!"

The father and daughter Tatanka and Tantu sighed with almost the same expression and tone, "Mr. Dominique was almost bankrupt because of investing in this land, but he did not get gold from this land in the end.

"I'll use this"

Paul suggested, "Originally we had a small helicopter here, but since Mr. Dominique's physical condition has been getting worse and worse, that helicopter was taken by Sebastian, that German guy who can't laugh, two years ago." Sold it, and now there is only one yacht that cannot be sold."

"Mr. Tatanka, what are those water tanks for?" Wei Ran slightly slowed down the car and asked the old guy who was following him.

"Then send a copy." Kou Kou said with a smile on her face.

"Do you want to take a car with me?" Wei Ran, who was pretending to be carrying a bow and arrow and a quiver, waited for Sister Kajianka to set off first, and then extended an invitation to Sui Sui.

"Don't you have a gun?" Sui Suo couldn't help asking.

Seeing this, Paul secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then increased the speed of the car, and drove more than half a circle clockwise around the road outside the airport. He didn't let the airport out of everyone's sight at all, and rushed to a not-so-big pier.

When the group of them walked away, Tatanka, who was left at the end, unhurriedly put a pump-action shotgun on his back, then drove both cars into the garage and locked the shutter door, and finally even drove the two cars next to each other. The barbed wire gates on the road were all locked, and then I slowly drove a quad bike to follow.

Listening to the story and sipping wine, I even used the fishing rod on the yacht to try to throw a few rods along the way. The one-hour voyage was naturally extremely relaxing and comfortable.

As Paul said, he reached out and pulled out a maple leaf-shaped glass bottle from the belt, showing it to Kou Kou, Wei Ran and the others, "This is the maple syrup produced on that farm, and it tastes better than the ones sold on the market. much better."

Kou Kou shook her head, "You have taken so many weapons, if they can't kill the beasts that attack us, it's useless even if I take them."

Hearing this, the Katenka sisters who were still riding on the motorcycles immediately clapped their hands together, and then one of them rushed towards the creek connected to the lake, using the excuse of looking for ducks to survey the surrounding situation, while the other stayed in Suizhou. Sui's side continued to act as an interpreter.

"I thought it was a farm with a lot of cattle and sheep."

"Don't let it go empty," Tantu instructed indifferently without saying anything, and at the same time allowed the Katenka sisters to take away a shotgun and a cowhide bullet belt.

What is more special is that this Asian-looking soldier has an Indian ax pinned to his waist, and his uniform does not have any badges at all.

"There are still some things left by my father in the attic." Tatanka pointed to the upstairs, and said nonchalantly, "If you are interested, you can go and see for yourself."

Of course, just looking at the beautiful Damascus pattern on the surface of the ax, you can know that the play value of this small ax is probably far greater than the practical value.

And at a closer position, there is a woman wearing hunting camouflage and blatantly carrying a silver revolver on her waist. She looks like a woman in her 30s and is waving at them.

"No need"

Hearing this, everyone bid farewell to Paul, pulled their respective suitcases, and followed Mr. Tatanka to board the rather beautiful yacht.

"Come with me"

At almost the same time, the father and daughter in the two cars raised their fingers and pointed to the river passing under the highway bridge in the distance, and introduced with almost the same lines, "About two kilometers to the north along that river, it It will turn to the west, about one kilometer west from the turning point of the river, and there will be a gravel road extending south to the side of the highway, about two kilometers in length."

"So you're not going to go to the farm with us?" Kou Kou asked belatedly.

With a soft sound, the spinning ax was accurately nailed to a plastic sign hanging from a sugar maple tree in the distance.

"right"

"Is your father a soldier?" Kou Kou, who entered the room first, looked at the photo frames hanging on the wall and asked in surprise.

Hearing this, Wei Ran smiled as a response, speeded up a little, and caught up with Sui Sui who was running ahead.

And a little closer, next to a tall sugar maple tree, is a log cabin with a very American country style.

Although this is the land of Mr. Dominique, none of the photo frames hanging in this wooden house are related to him. Instead, most of the protagonists are soldiers wearing the uniform of the US Navy in World War II.

Paul replied without thinking, "After deducting taxes and 10% maintenance fund, all the rent will be transferred to your account on a quarterly basis.

Along the way, on both sides of the path less than two meters wide, there are tall sugar maple trees with a diameter at breast height of at least thirty or forty centimeters.

Tan Tu, who was closer, replied directly in English, "We jointly own the river use rights as the land boundary. But our land area is larger than theirs, and we also have mineral mining rights."

"I'm just talking." Kou Kou quickly waved her hand, and asked, changing the subject, "How do we get there?"

"I'll inform Mr. Sebastian later"

Sui Sui, who got off from another car, after listening to Anfeiya's translation, pointed to the particularly lively open space on the other side of the river and asked directly in English.

"It's here"

Tatanka pointed to the surroundings and introduced loudly, "In spring, we will make a small hole the size of a pencil in each tree, and then connect a vacuum delivery pipe, and those water pipes will eventually converge into those water tanks.

"So there are only these two buildings in this farm, and the rest are all maple trees?" Kou Kou asked disappointedly. Looking at the past, except for the intricate paths in the forest, there is no farmland and trees as she thought. Grass and arable land.

Wei Ran, who had no shortage of weapons at all, took a black hunting bow, and then took a quiver and carried it on his shoulder.Although he doesn't know how to use this thing, it looks much more interesting than thermal weapons.

Tatanka opened the car door and pointed to the slightly larger building and said, "Every spring, we collect the sap of sugar maple trees through the vacuum pipeline system and transport them here for purification and bottling. Behind us The building in question is an office, a farm machinery warehouse, and dormitories for temporary workers."

"The old guy on the boat is Mr. Dominique's old friend Mr. Tatanka, and his family usually takes care of the farm."

"I want to try it myself!"

Kou Kou whispered something in French with a little disappointment. Obviously, this girl has begun to miss the days when she killed sheep and pig eggs in the French countryside.

"of course not"

"boom!"

Paul nodded and explained, "Mr. Tatanka is an Indian. When he was young, he was even Mr. Dominique's bodyguard and driver. He will be responsible for accompanying you on the next trip on the farm. If you are interested , let him demonstrate his best Indian throwing axe."

As he got closer, Wei Ran also noticed that Mr. Tatanka, who was holding a pipe and had a goatee, was barefoot, and his wrinkled face looked more Asian than Caucasian. people.

On the trunks of these sugar maple trees, there are still plastic signs, not only marked with unknown numbers, but also a handwritten time.

"There is also a redwood that is forbidden to be cut down by law"

Even Wei Ran saw a row of Indian axes that were obviously biased towards practicality, as well as American hunting bows and a large barrel of bows and arrows.

"I have no objection," Kou Kou was the first to respond.

When Anfeya was lucky enough to drag a plump American char onto the deck, the yacht also slowly slowed down, and finally stopped smoothly at a pier that was also not too big.

"Of course," Tan Tu said extraordinarily generously, "as long as you remember to return it to me when you leave."

"Thank you"

Going all the way against the slightly turbulent water flow, the pier and airport behind are getting smaller and smaller, and finally completely blocked by the rippling lake.

"It sounds like a lot of hard work," Wei Ran echoed without thinking.

It was also through this open space that everyone saw a group of redwood trees growing in the distance.

"Their marksmanship is really good"

"The climate there is not suitable for raising cattle and sheep, but you can raise some reindeer." Paul said with a trace of apology—even though he was not blamed for this matter at all.

When the ax flew out, no matter Wei Ran, Sui Sui or Kou Kou, they all shouted and started applauding, and even Anfeiya who stayed behind to act as an interpreter raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Compared with the casual and habitual on his side, Wei Ran and others who are walking in front feel much fresher at this time.

To everyone's surprise, especially Koko's expectation, this woman named Tantu not only speaks German like his father, but also speaks fluent French, which is good news for her.

The owner of this piece of land has no objection, and Wei Ran and others naturally have no objection.Seeing this, Tan Tu immediately took a shotgun with a scope from the car, and then drove a big red quad bike out of the garage roaring.

Even the content of Mr. Tatanka's self-talk has changed from memories to the scenery of the islands along the way, stories or heroes in some Indian legends.

"How about a sightseeing cruise?"

"Hoo! Awesome!"

"What about now?" Kou Kou asked, "So now there is a hunting ground?"

"certainly"

"I learned the throwing ax from my father." Tatanka said as he motioned the crowd to walk into the wooden house, "he is the real master."

"Duh!"

"Understood!" Sui Sui patted his forehead, "Beer duck is enough tonight!"

"sure"

Tatanka changed into English, "If you plan to play here for a few days, I will send up the vegetables, fruits and meat that I prepared in advance. In addition, let Tantu stay with you. She is very interested in here and I am familiar with it, and she is a very good hunter, at least you can guarantee that you will not be injured by wild animals."

"Then I will trouble you"

Sui Sui politely thanked her, but just by looking at her chattering eyeballs, she knew that this little girl was probably thinking about something again.

(End of this chapter)