War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1775 Coffee and Stories

"Mr. Victor, is this the cafe you are looking for?" asked Spanish wrestler Miguel curiously.

At the beginning, the flag of the International Brigade was sold at an auction organized by him, and he was also the one who decided to personally give some relics found along with the flag to the young scholar from China, together with his brother-in-law.

Now not too much time has passed, at least not as long as he expected the investigation to take, but the scholar has already found this place.

This was definitely a surprise for Miguel.

Of course it was a surprise. He could find this place through the flag. Could he also help his wife find the hometown they wanted to find?

Almost subconsciously, Miguel began to think, was the other party contacting him for help a hint of demonstrating his investigative abilities?

Regarding this point, Miguel was actually just overthinking it. Wei Ran was simply looking for a local boss to help him.

“This should be what I’m looking for.”

Wei Ran waited for the beautiful female translator to translate the question into Russian before inviting, "Mr. Miguel, to thank you for your selfless help, please let me buy you and your beautiful translator a cup of coffee."

"It's my pleasure, Mr. Victor."

Miguel responded in Spanish with a smile, and at the same time, he unnoticeably lagged behind with his beautiful translator by two steps, following Wei Ran and others into this slightly deserted cafe, which still had some customers.

This semicircular cafe facing the coastline is not too big but not too small. There are about ten tables and chairs placed in a circle under the parasols outside the door. Inside the door, there is a bar facing the door and a dozen tables in total placed on both sides of the door against the floor-to-ceiling windows.

At this moment, at the bar against the wall, a young and handsome guy was leisurely wiping the coffee machine. Not far away, there was a pretty girl of similar age, wearing a black baseball cap, who was lazily leaning on the bar with her upper body, grinding coffee beans with a large hand-cranked grinder.

On the other side of the bar, an old lady who looked to be around 60 years old and had a typical Spanish appearance was sitting on a high stool, playing the Internationale on a harmonica in front of a microphone with a stand.

Unfortunately, there were only a few people singing along in this somewhat deserted cafe, and the singing in various languages ​​actually came from a slightly old speaker hanging above the old lady's head.

"Can you sing the Internationale?" Wei Ran asked sisters Sui Sui and Kajianka.

"Of course," sisters Sui Sui and Kajianka answered confidently at the same time.

"I'll speak Chinese," said Sui Sui.

"I speak Russian, what about my sister?" Anfia asked.

"Italian," Anfisa said.

"Thank you"

As Wei Ran spoke, he also took out his harmonica and continued to look around the cafe while playing the Internationale with the old lady. At the same time, the three girls also sang the Internationale in three languages.

Turning her head in surprise, she looked at Wei Ran and the others. The old lady's expression became much more lively, and then she played the accompaniment even harder.

At the same time, the young man who was wiping the coffee machine immediately turned off the speaker playing the song, and the lazy pretty girl took out two microphones and waved them enthusiastically towards Wei Ran, Sui Sui and others.

Seeing this, sisters Sui Sui and Kajianka moved over and sat at the bar, sharing a microphone and continued singing. Wei Ran sat nearby and let the young girl move the microphone close to his harmonica.

Amid the lively and more authentic singing, the young man enthusiastically took out a microphone and gestured to the wrestler Miguel.

Miguel and his beautiful translator looked at each other, then sat at the bar, shared a microphone, and sang the same song, one in Spanish and the other in French.

Perhaps because of the influence of such a group of "social bullies" tourists, the other guests in the cafe, after cheering, also started singing along in their own language.

It turns out that they all know this song. Or, if they don't know this song, why would they come to this cafe to spend time? So why don't they start singing along?

While Wei Ran was daydreaming, everyone present sang the Internationale. The lazy young girl also raised the microphone and said enthusiastically in Spanish and French, "Friends, thank you for being able to sing this song. As a thank you, you will all get a free cup of coffee!"

Amid the cheers of the guests sitting by the window, the old lady stood up and hugged Wei Ran gently, saying in Spanish, "Young man, you play the harmonica very well."

“You play the harmonica very well too.”

Wei Ran waited for the beautiful woman next to Miguel to help translate and said sincerely, "This is the first time I heard the Internationale in Spain."

“In the past, many people in Spain could sing this song.”

The old lady said with emotion, "In short, welcome to Spain, welcome to Barcelona, ​​I hope you have fun here."

“Thanks for the coffee too”

Wei Ran smiled and said, "Can I look around the store?"

"certainly"

The young girl said before the old lady could speak, "What would you like to drink?"

"Let's have a cup of espresso," Wei Ran said in French.

"You know French?" the old lady said happily, "It seems we can have a good chat. Are you Chinese?"

"That's right"

Wei Ran nodded and was about to say something, but the young girl asked again, "Is it just a cup of espresso? Do I need to add any more?"

"No, just a glass of espresso will do, nothing to add." Wei Ran said with a smile.

"Let me do it"

The old lady said, having put away her harmonica, she slowly got down from the high stool, walked to the bar, and while washing her hands, she asked, "Young man, what's your name?"

"A Chinese name?" Wei Ran asked while looking at the exhibits on the wall.

"certainly"

The old lady wiped her hands carefully with a towel and introduced herself in French. "My name is Hanika, Hanika Rios. What's your Chinese name? When I was as young as you, I followed my mother to Shencheng, China."

"Weiran"

She spoke her name in a clear and loud voice, and Wei Ran also noticed that the old lady bent down, opened a cabinet, and took out a silver coffee pot that was very familiar to him. It was mottled with many years, but was wiped exceptionally clean!

"Wei Ran, I guess the first pronunciation must be your last name, so does the second pronunciation have any beautiful meaning in China?" Hanika Rios asked while rinsing the coffee pot.

"Literally means burning"

Wei Ran sat on a high stool next to the bar, watching the other party's operation and explaining in French, "Maybe it also means to ignite a spark, just like the Internationale."

“Like the Internationale?”

A bright smile appeared on Hanika's face. "That's a very nice name."

"Your name must have a special meaning, right?"

Wei Ran smiled and asked, "Also, why do you want to use this coffee pot? It seems that it has not been used for a long time."

"I am named after a great internationalist fighter"

Hanika took out a silver hammered jar and opened it. She took out some coffee beans and put them into a silver cylindrical hand-cranked coffee grinder that also had hammered patterns. She turned the handle and explained, "She once adopted my parents. She deserves to be remembered. I am very honored to use this great name throughout my life."

At this point, Hanika unscrewed the grinder, poured the slightly coarse coffee powder into the extraction pot and said, "She and her comrades used this coffee pot to drink espresso. In the story my father told me, one of them was a warrior from China.

So I decided to buy you a cup of coffee with this coffee pot, considering that you are Chinese, can play the Internationale, and ordered an espresso. "

"I wonder if I will have the honor to hear the stories of those internationalist fighters?" Wei Ran asked with pretended curiosity.

"Of course, I will gladly share with anyone the stories my father told me about those great warriors."

As Hanika spoke, she took out two silver-skinned hammered eggshell cups that had just been rinsed and placed them under the diversion tube, then added some fuel to the alcohol lamp that came with the coffee pot.

Under the licking of the constantly jumping flames, the coffee pot's diversion tube slowly flowed out mellow but bitter coffee. Hanika also told the story of the 28 stars on the flag, including Amani, falling one after another.

In the story recounted by this old man who was born after the war, many details have become blurred, and many even contain slight errors.

But at least in the story she recounted, she remembered the names of those stars very clearly - including the Chinese name "Yu Yanlin".

“Those are my grandchildren.”

Hanika raised her finger and pointed at the two young men and women, and proudly introduced them, "I named them Clemont and Amani."

"In your story, aren't these two names a couple?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"That's right"

Hanika said nonchalantly but as a matter of course, "I'm not sure when Clemont will meet his Armani again, and I don't know when Armani will meet her Clemont.

Instead of this, it would be better to let them see each other's existence from the time they can remember. I forgot to mention that they are twins.

Their father I named Sergey, and I have another son whose name is Jandi, all from the story of the stars on the tricolor flag.”

"Where's the flag? Where's the tricolor?"

Wei Ran asked at the end of the story, and at the same time picked up the espresso that had already cooled down and drank it all.

“Very regrettable”

Hanica sighed, “During the years when Franco’s drug money ruled Spain, Mr. Domingo took my parents and fled Spain to Italy.

Unfortunately, Mr. Domingo passed away shortly after arriving in Italy. My parents were raised by the parents of the man named Clement in the story I just told.

Later, when my parents grew up and started a family, they returned here, but all they found was this stuff in the landfill basement.

As for the rest of the remains of the flag, my father does not know where Mr. Domingo hid them.”

At this point, Hanika pointed to the locked glass display cases against the walls on both sides of the bar and said proudly, "These were found by my parents in the basement back then. Some of them have even been found and returned to their owners." "Can I take a look around?" Wei Ran asked again.

"Of course," Hanika agreed again.

He exchanged a glance with Sui Sui, who had been listening to the translation nearby, and then immediately came over with the unfinished cup of cappuccino, accompanying Wei Ran to look at the things in the glass display case.

There are quite a few photos here, including a group photo of Clermont and Armani taken with Hanika holding the flag before they set off, and photos they had taken on various battlefields in Spain.

Although these photos are not large in size, they are extremely clear. He even found photos of Joseph, a Soviet doctor who was trapped underneath the collapsed barn. In that photo, there is even the back of Yu Yanlin holding a camera.

Among these old photos, there were some photos taken by Clement and Armani in Shencheng - he even saw the dilapidated ancestral home of Yu Yanlin's family, and saw the group photo of Clement and Armani taken in front of this dilapidated building.

He also saw the photos taken of Huang Youze by Clement or Armani, which also had the dilapidated building as the background.

Continuing to look further, he also saw a photo of the three of them, a photo of Clement working as a barista, and a photo of Armani playing the piano.

Finally, he stopped.

At this moment, in the glass display case in front of him was the silver-skinned hammer-patterned jar painted with a thick layer of three-color paint, which contained Yu Yanlin's ashes.

"Have you thought about what to say?" Sui Sui asked when she saw Wei Ran staring at the things in the jar in a daze.

"Think about it"

As Wei Ran spoke, he walked back to the bar and sat down on the high stool again, "Mrs. Hanika, thank you for the coffee."

"You're welcome, it's just a cup of coffee."

Mrs. Hanika said gently, "I should thank you for listening to their stories."

"Mrs. Hanika"

Wei Ran smiled and opened his briefcase. "Can you give me two glasses and a pot of boiling water? I also want to tell you the story I brought."

"What kind of story is it?"

Mrs. Hanika, who had just wiped clean the antique coffee pot, asked with interest. At the same time, the lazy girl named Armani brought two beautiful glasses, and the young man named Clermont brought a pot of boiling water.

Under Hanika's gaze, Wei Ran took out a not-so-big travel tea can from his briefcase, opened it, and shook some tea leaves he had bought in Shencheng into the cups. Then he picked up the kettle of boiling water and slowly poured the two cups half full.

Pushing one of the cups of tea to Hanika, Wei Ran took out the notebook containing Clemont and Armani's shared memories from his briefcase and gently placed it on the clean desk.

Then, under the shocked gaze of Hanika and the twins, he carefully took out the tricolor flag with 28 triangular stars from the compartment of his briefcase!

"This is the flag!" Hanika was the first to recognize it.

“Yes, this is the flag.”

Wei Ran stood up with a smile and extended his hand to the other party in a very formal manner, "Mrs. Hanika, I am here to deliver another story in the name of a postman. By the way, I also want to send Comrade Yu Yanlin home and send him back to spend a Chinese New Year with his family."

"Welcome, Comrade Postman."

Hanika also stood up and held Wei Ran's hand, "You came at the right time."

"Please take a look at this note first," Wei Ran said with a smile, "I also brought some other things."

Hearing this, Hanika quickly took out a pair of reading glasses and put them on, then carefully opened the notebook - just like old man Yu Guangfu, thousands of miles away, opened the notebook that contained Yu Yanlin's homesickness.

After quickly reading the thick notebook, Hanika looked up at Wei Ran, then looked at the display case not far away in surprise, "So the sealed silver jar actually contains the ashes of that Chinese warrior?"

"Don't you know?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"No, of course I don't know. I always thought it contained coffee beans, so I never opened it."

Hanika had already walked out of the bar while talking, and took out a key. "My father only told me that there was something very important in the silver jar, and asked me to keep it well and wait for the Chinese to take it away."

At this point, Hanika had already opened the display case and carefully took out the silver jar, "I once asked my father who would take him away, but he said he didn't know either.

He could only be sure that when someone took the jar away, China was definitely no longer at war. He didn't even tell me how to determine who to give the jar to."

"but."

“But I’ve found the answer.”

Hanika said as she handed the jar to Wei Ran, "If there is the soul of an internationalist fighter in this, please take him home."

“I’m not just going to take him away.”

Wei Ran hugged Yu Yanlin's ashes tightly, "I am also planning to send Comrade Clement back, or invite you to bring him back."

"Do you know the whereabouts of Mr. Clement?" Hanika asked in surprise.

"He was buried by Mrs. Armani in Yu Yanlin's family cemetery," said Wei Ran.

"When I was your age, my father and mother took me to Shencheng, China, to look for Mr. Clement."

Hanika sighed, "But unfortunately, we didn't find Mr. Clement's burial address, nor did we find Yu Yanlin's hometown.

I didn't expect that just when I had given up hope and was about to close this cafe, you would give me such a big surprise."

"What did you just say?"

Wei Ran looked at Hanika in surprise, "Are you planning to close this cafe? Why?"

“Because it doesn’t make any money.”

At the bar not far away, a young barista named Clement said, "Our coffee beans are of very good quality, but too few people are willing to come here to drink coffee."

"Our coffee is too expensive," the lazy girl named Armani reminded.

“No matter what the reason is”

Clemont spread his hands and said, "If Armani and I go out and find a job, our income can at least double."

"In that case, are you interested in going to China with us?"

Wei Ran smiled and asked, "I will take you to pick up Mr. Clermont, and find a way to bury him together with Comrade Amani.

How about just treating it as a cooling-off period before closing down? I will cover all travel expenses.”

"Are you telling the truth?" Hanika asked in disbelief.

"We won't have to transfer in Southeast Asia or Africa, right?" Amani asked vigilantly.

"Of course not," Wei Ran said with a smile, "Fly directly to China. If you have a visa, we can leave now."

"Please wait a moment"

But Hanika said at this time, "Please wait a moment, I need to inform my mother of this good news first. In addition, if we go to China, maybe we can do another thing by the way."

Before she finished speaking, Hanika had already taken out a cell phone and dialed. At the same time, a young man named Clement pulled Armani, who was not sure if she was his sister or his younger sister, and said in Spanish, which he thought Wei Ran could not understand, "Look at this! I finally know who he is!"

"Who is it?" Armani curiously moved closer to the phone held by the other party.

"The historian who likes to collect pretty girls!"

Clermont said excitedly, "It is said that even the young wealthy man in France is his lover! How did he do it?"

"After all, there is no escape."

Wei Ran mumbled something unclear in his native language.

"What's wrong?" Sui Sui asked curiously.

"nothing"

Wei Ran shook his head in a helpless manner. He, a historian who nominally didn't know Spanish and was completely helpless, couldn't even give an explanation.

"Mr. Victor"

At this moment, Miguel's beautiful female translator asked in Russian after Miguel whispered something into her ear, "Mr. Miguel just eavesdropped on your conversation through me."

“It’s nothing”

Wei Ran said apologetically, "I'm sorry for ignoring you."

“That’s nothing either.”

The pretty female translator said, "If this cafe encounters difficulties in operation, Mr. Miguel is sincerely willing to provide some insignificant help, such as acquiring this place."

"Mr. Miguel wants to buy this place? Why?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

“I love that story”

After listening to the translation, Miguel said, "I think it is necessary to preserve their memory, at least in Spain, so I sincerely want to help do something."