War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1732: Lies of the Scumbags

In the smoke-filled basement studio in the library, Wei Ran spent several hours scanning all the negatives in the box except the aerial films into electronic versions.

In addition to these, he also scanned and archived Grant's two photo albums in another box.

He had been thinking of exchanging the two photo albums for the gold coins in the box that the metal book had given him.

However, when he took the gold coins from the curtain of the box, the box could not be put back into the metal book. In desperation, he could only put the gold coins back to their original place and scan them for record.

When all this was done, it was already nine o'clock in the evening, and Su Su had given up the idea of ​​urging him to go back for dinner.

Stretching tiredly, Wei Ran restored all the films and boxes to their original state, and then, as if he had just remembered, he took out the thing in the red vortex called "Tu Wan".

However, when Wei Ran saw the object hit the ground with a "bang", he couldn't help but feel a little frightened. This was an E46 cluster incendiary bomb! All the insurances were released, and there was a cluster incendiary bomb with the word "发" written on it!

Fortunately, the collision with the floor just now did not cause the incendiary bomb to explode, but it was already scary enough.

After calming down, Wei Ran couldn't help cursing again. This thing was of no use to him, absolutely no use at all!

Reluctantly putting the cluster incendiary bomb back into the metal notebook, he walked to the table and sat down, picked up the note he had written before and read it, then burned it to ashes, got up and left the library basement and returned to his home next door.

"Can you finally give it up?"

Sui Sui, who was watching TV with a facial mask on on the first floor, greeted him, then covered her nose and said in disgust, "Why do you smell so much like cigarettes? Go take a shower and change clothes. I've saved some food for you."

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately went upstairs to his bedroom, took a hot bath and changed into a comfortable set of pajamas.

When he walked out of the room, Sui Sui had already brought dinner to the living room on the second floor and opened a bottle of beer for him.

"What progress have you made at work today?"

Sui Sui sat cross-legged beside him and asked curiously, "Why did you finish so late?"

“There has been some progress”

Wei Ran took the beer handed to him and replied, "The business introduced by Ninel will probably have results soon."

"When will we be done?" Sui Sui asked, "It's about time for us to go back home and prepare for the New Year."

"When do you plan to go back?" Wei Ran turned his head and asked.

"Wait until you're done?" Sui Sui asked back, "If you're quick, I plan to go back in the middle or end of the month."

“In time”

Wei Ran readily agreed, "I will definitely finish my work before the end of the month. Speaking of which, what are your plans for the New Year and after the New Year?"

"All my employees will go back with us to celebrate the New Year."

Sui Sui said immediately, "They will be free to go wherever they want. Koko will also spend the New Year with us. By the way, Sebastian from the Elk Foundation will also come with us to check the finances. That's about it before the New Year. There are no plans for the New Year yet."

"In that case, let's go back earlier this year." Wei Ran made the decision while eating and smiling.

"You seem to be in a good mood?" Sui Sui came closer and asked, "Is there something good going on?"

"The New Year is coming soon and I'll be going home soon, but I'm not in a good mood." Wei Ran replied with a smile, but secretly shook his head in his heart.

Sui Sui is the one who knows him best and can detect his mood changes the most, but he can't even tell her a word about those secrets.

After finishing dinner with an unspeakable feeling of guilt and chatting with Sui Sui, the two returned to their room early and seriously reviewed the basics of biological genetics.

The next day came in a blink of an eye. Wei Ran got up early as usual and started his morning run with his dog Belia. As usual, Sui Sui was dragged out of the bedroom by the Kajianka sisters shortly after her husband went downstairs. She changed her clothes with sleepy eyes and started the daily exercise that she could not avoid.

On this morning, which was full of energy despite the snowflakes floating in the sky, everyone had their breakfast and went back to their busy work.

Although he still had investigations on the Spanish International Brigade and suspected Yugoslav guerrillas to carry out, he began to feel lazy again. It was not easy for him to return to this relatively peaceful time and space, and he had to spend a few days of down-to-earth life to give himself a break.

On the other hand, he was also prepared to do something to find a reasonable excuse for himself to discover the Downey brothers' camera box.

Because of this, he spent the entire morning carefully selecting several negatives from the album sent by Brad's grandson, a gentleman named Grant, last night, and developed large photos one by one.

Asking a few unreliable little girls who had nothing to do to help put the photos into frames and hang them in the library, Wei Ran took out his mobile phone, tilted his head back to take a few good pictures of the photos, and then posted a status without any text on the social software.

These photos include group photos of the Dumbo crew and the Moby Dick crew, group photos of the two crews having a party together, and photos of the dusty bombers. Without exception, there is no trace of Brad in any of them.

Brad was almost certainly present when these photos were taken, standing behind the camera holding the Kodak Gold Medal camera himself.

"Mr. Victor, is there anything else we can do?"

These young girls who were conscripted into the army asked with great energy. They were bored every day and were eager to find something to do.

"If you are bored, why not take down all the photo frames and wipe them." Wei Ran casually arranged a job that was not tiring but extremely time-consuming.

"I'm calling everyone to come and help!"

As the leader of the little gangsters, Katyusha, spoke, she had already pressed the intercom hanging on her shoulder and called all the other little gangsters over at a very fast speed.

Wei Ran confidently handed the library over to these young girls, and as he walked out, he took out his cell phone and made a voice call to Xia Shushi.

"what happened?"

After waiting patiently for about 20 seconds, Xia Shushi's greetings came through the phone.

"Isn't it convenient?"

Wei Ran asked in the same straightforward manner as he stepped into the basement of the library.

"It's just me, Qin Qi and my old man," Xia Shushi answered simply, obviously throwing back the question of whether it was convenient.

"How is the old man?" Wei Ran asked as if he was chatting.

"Still the same, still in good health."

Xia Shushi said, "Brother, just speak directly if you have something to say. There is no need for us to beat around the bush."

"I plan to do something in the old man's name," Wei Ran said as if he was waiting for the other party to say this.

"In the name of my old man?"

Xia Shushi pondered for a moment and asked tentatively, "Is it related to the Tide Moss Battlefield?"

"How did you guess?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

“You are a historian.”

Xia Shushi said, "Except for this matter where you need to borrow my father's name, I really can't think of anything else he can help you with."

"I can't hide it from you"

Wei Ran admitted with a smile as he walked into the studio, and then he began to make up stories, "It is indeed related to the Tide Moss Battlefield. I accepted a client's commission to find some things. Now the things have been found, but those things were illegally sent from the north by someone.

This process is not so legal. If it is leaked, my friends there may have to be bombarded, and there are some things in it that I plan to keep."

"So the things were brought back by my grandfather from the battlefield?" Xia Shushi asked confidently, obviously following Wei Ran's train of thought. "How come you have friends over there?"

"Yes, Mr. Xia brought it back from the front line."

Wei Ran answered the first question and ignored the second one. He actually had friends there, and his children were all in his hands.

“I’m not happy about this.”

Xia Shushi said directly, "All the seized items should be attributed to the credit. Although I don't know what you are interested in, the items that you are interested in seizing are probably worth a lot of money. My old man has been observing the three major disciplines and eight points of attention all his life. How can we..."

"My consciousness is low. It's my consciousness that is low."

Wei Ran said, "But are you sure you don't want to see what I want to take away before you say this?"

"What is it?" Qin Qi's voice came from the microphone.

"The stuff is still on the way. I'll send the photos over later."

Wei Ran continued to say a lie without any pressure, "If you think this is okay, after I return to China in a while, you two can go to Tianjin to find me."

"No, what on earth are you so secretive about?" Xia Shushi asked with increasing curiosity. "I'll send it to you right away."

Wei Ran said this and simply hung up the phone. Then he packed up and compressed the negatives scanned last night, as well as the scans of the two photo albums left by Grant, and sent them all to the email address provided by Ka Jianka.

A moment later, Xia Shushi also sent a message: It has been received and is being downloaded.

After turning off the screen of his mobile phone, Wei Ran took out the wine flask he carried with him and took a sip of cider, secretly thinking about the omissions here.

He still wanted to keep the two photo albums that Grant took during his trip to China after World War II, and he wanted to keep the photos he took on the battlefield of Moss Moss of the most brutal side of the war.

After trying to exchange the negatives and albums for gold coins but being rejected by the metal books, this solution was the only feasible option he could think of.

Grant's suitcase and even his body sank into the Taedong River more than half a century ago and disappeared. Now that he has "found" them, it is possible that they were picked up by the volunteer soldiers of that year.

Among the surviving veterans of the Volunteer Army that he knew, the two old men Chen Qi and Zhao Shengli were really not suitable to come forward. He even didn't know how to ask them to help with this matter.

He was also even less sure how Mr. Zhao Shengli would criticize or educate him after hearing his request.

In this case, Mr. Xia, who has suffered from severe Alzheimer's disease, becomes the only candidate.

An old soldier who remembered nothing, his grandchildren found some captured trophies at home that were suspected to be brought back from the Tide Moss battlefield, and they happened to see his good friend looking for these things.

Although there may be a few coincidences, it is natural to keep those negatives and albums, and at least, I have the ownership of them.

Next, he only needs to inform Mr. Grant, who has entrusted him with the task, of the good news at the appropriate time.

There was only one reason why he went to so much trouble: he was not sure whether this Mr. Grant would be as neutral as Mr. Grant was back then.

He was even more unsure whether he would be willing to make the albums and negatives public after they were handed over to him. But at the same time, he couldn't keep them privately, as those photos needed to be acknowledged by the descendants of the Downey brothers.

Since he didn't want to gamble on the other party's character and position, he didn't mind trying a relatively safer method.

As for whether this matter is worthy of the Downey brothers back then, Wei Ran does not have such psychological pressure.

He believed that they would not mind him doing this, and he could even guess that Grant might be very happy that he could make his negatives public.

Of course, there was nothing they could do even if they were unwilling. Boss Wei had already made the decision, and now it all depended on Xia Shushi.

After waiting patiently for half an hour, Xia Shushi also called via video.

"Did you see it?" Wei Ran asked before the other party spoke.

"I saw over a hundred photos of the US military abusing Chinese volunteer prisoners of war, as well as a reporter named Grant Downey's experiences in China during the Liberation War, and his regretful memories of a senior named Yang Minhua."

"Mr. Xia, can you help with this?" Wei Ran asked seriously.

"Tell me about your plans," Xia Shushi asked bluntly.

"I want you to meet with Grant Downey's descendants as the owner of those negatives"

Wei Ran paused, first briefly introduced the cause and effect of the matter, and finally said, "So I hope you can come forward to persuade him to make public the negatives he just sent to you, and donate them to our official museum for permanent collection and exhibition."

“I don’t know if my grandpa would want to do this.”

Xia Shushi said, "But I am happy. My grandfather doesn't remember anything and he never mentioned this matter. I am not sure whether the things were brought back from the battlefield by my grandfather, but they are indeed in my home."

"That's what I mean."

Wei Ran smiled and said, "In the box I just mentioned, there is a photo of Brad Downey and General LeMay. I can give that photo to my client. As for the rest, we can negotiate if we can. If we can't reach an agreement, then we can't do it anymore."

"I understand. When will you bring the things back?" Xia Shushi asked simply.

"In the near future, the details have not been decided yet, just wait for my news." Wei Ran said with a smile.

"Then I'll make some preparations too," said Xia Shushi.

"What are you preparing for?"

"Renovate the house in my hometown, otherwise how could I find the box you mentioned?" Xia Shushi asked as a matter of course, "Do the whole show."

"It's settled then." Wei Ran smiled and hung up the phone.

"Don't you always say that historians can't lie?"

Qin Qi waited until Xia Shushi hung up the phone and then teased curiously, "Why are you so cooperative with Wei Ran this time?"

'This time is different'

Xia Shushi threw his phone onto the coffee table, then laid down comfortably with his head resting on Qin Qi's legs and said, "Wei Ran has no selfish motives, he just wants those photos to be made public. I am the same, as long as those photos can be made public, it doesn't matter if I am shameless, right? That stuff is not something you can eat or drink.

Besides, if I'm shameless, everyone can see what the Americans did back then, so this deal is not a loss at all."

"If I don't go to hell, who will?"

"I'm not going to hell. Whoever wants to go there can do it, but I have to do this."

Xia Shushi took over the topic, "My grandfather still remembers the Chaoshan battlefield, and I can't go back to that period of history to see what he went through. Helping to make those photos public is almost the only thing I can do.

Besides, this is not a falsification of history. Isn't the historical truth that the broken box was thrown into the tide? So what? They can throw it away, but we can't pick it up and take it home?

And again, Brother Wei's client wants to check the matter of the broken cigar, so when the time comes, just give him the photo of Mr. Brad and the barbecue chef that he mentioned."

"Do you think Wei Ran really has no selfish motives?" Qin Qi asked, looking down at Xia Shushi lying on her legs.

“I don’t see any selfishness.”

Xia Shushi said, "Although we are all scumbags, he is actually much simpler than me and your second brother in some matters. If he really has any selfish motives for this kind of thing, he shouldn't have contacted me."

"Who should we contact then?" Qin Qi asked curiously.

"Is it better to go to the embassy than to me?"

Xia Shushi said very clearly, "If there is any selfish motive, it is me who took advantage of his favor."

"Aren't you helping him?" Qin Qi asked puzzledly.

"This is similar to what I mentioned to you before, that we went to Australia to help the farmer investigate the album of Japanese massacres."

Xia Shushi said, "I will come forward. As long as I am a little more generous, Mr. Brad Downey will owe me a favor. Even if I only take out the cigar that Wei Ranti and the photo of Master Li, I can get tens of thousands of US dollars by just talking to him."

"so much?"

Qin Qi asked in astonishment, "Sui Sui told me last time that studying history doesn't make money."

"Compared to her business, it's not that profitable."

Xia Shushi thought about the speculations hidden behind Wei Ran and his "verifiable achievements", then shook his head helplessly, "Forget it, I take back what I just said. Researching history is indeed not very profitable, but this does not apply to that scumbag."

"Is it useful to you?" Qin Qi asked with great joy.

"Can't"

Xia Shushi said helplessly, "Comparing people makes people die, and comparing goods makes things worth throwing away. If Wei Ran hadn't helped me make a few big bucks, the used bookstall my grandfather left me wouldn't have been able to survive on the minimum living allowance at best."

"At worst, I can support you"

Qin Qi said confidently, "It's just a gigolo. Sui Sui can make that scumbag Wei Ran a gigolo, so I can make you a gigolo, too!"

“It’s quite soft, and quite big.”

Xia Shushi, still lying on Qin Qi's legs, looked at the mountains above his head and swallowed involuntarily.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

As Qin Qi spoke, she had already reached out and covered Xia Shushi's eyes.