War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1782 We are so great!

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Wei Ran, Sui Sui and their parents finally gathered together at several large round tables in the glass sunroom at their grandmother's house in Baiyangdian.

Also coming to celebrate the New Year like in previous years were Koko, Kajianka and others. Even Lola came with her sister from Sui Xin's home.

What is different from previous years is that this year there are two teams of Hela girls and a bunch of Baba Yaga little girls who come to celebrate the New Year.

Of course, there are also Aniya, Daofeng and Olena, who was thrown into the "daycare center" by her sister and brother-in-law.

Compared to the extra girls, the two couples, Jima and Maya, and Olga and Ninel, were taken away early by the scumbag Qin II, and he gave the euphemistic name of "Brothers will take you to celebrate the New Year that TV stations are not allowed to broadcast."

Although I don’t know what this scumbag is up to, this year’s professor has no shortage of drinking buddies.

Not to mention anything else, even if these 40 young, beautiful and sensible girls just toasted him with a small glass of wine each, it would be enough for him to enjoy himself.

As for whether his own cheap son-in-law will be stolen away by these girls, that's nonsense. If he has no confidence in his son-in-law, doesn't he have no confidence in his daughter?

What's more, Comrade Lao Wei, who was sitting at the same table, almost forgot that he had a thing called a son. What could be more important than drinking during the New Year?

For the same reason, although Wei Ran brought back the Japanese relics that Xia Shushi had sent a few days ago, he never even took those things out of the suitcase, let alone looked at them.

The New Year's Eve dinner with five or six large round tables is naturally very lively, but what is even more lively is that after the dinner, the elders will dig out piles of red envelopes in various containers from all over the place.

"Everyone come and line up!"

Professor Alexi, who was already drunk, said as he reached out and grabbed a handful of red envelopes from the open suitcase, "One for each person!"

Amid the girls' cheers, Zhou Shujin also opened her bag, "After you get his, come get mine!"

"Then come to me!"

Wei Ran's mother was even more straightforward. The red envelopes she prepared were put in an enamel basin.

"I have one here!" Comrade Lao Wei said as he opened a shoe box on the head of the kang, picked out a red envelope at random and handed it to Sui Sui, who was standing at the front of the line.

"Thank you, godfather!"

Sui Sui happily took the red envelope, moved sideways, and came to the middle of her grandparents who were sitting side by side at the edge of the kang.

The four elderly people from these two families did not prepare any red envelopes. They prepared something more substantial. Wei Ran's grandparents gave each girl a gold ring, and Su Su's grandparents gave each girl a gold zodiac necklace.

Not only these girls, but also Maya and Olga who were unable to come, and even Qin Qi who only came a few times, also received red envelopes. Wei Ran and Sui Sui's parents also prepared red envelopes for them.

Obviously, no matter how the neighbors on the Internet or even in the village teased and speculated about Wei Ran or Sui Sui, the two elders were afraid of sending any misleading signals, so they simply treated them equally.

As for Wei Ran and his scumbag friends, each of them received 100 yuan, but they didn't even get a red envelope. In the words of Wei Ran's mother, they are already grown-ups, it's good enough to get something.

Although the treatment was getting worse year by year, why would Wei Ran choose this? Naturally, he happily accepted the eight brand new red bills, and also collected the New Year's money on behalf of his scumbag friends.

As in previous years, Wei Ran and Sui Sui either used a cart or an electric tricycle to pull the fireworks and firecrackers they had prepared in advance and rushed to the outside of the village, and started the most important entertainment activity of this festival with a group of friends.

It's just inevitable that this year, there seem to be a lot more people who are jealous of Wei Ran than in previous years.

As the countdown ended and the new year began, the night sky of this bustling fishing village was lit up by fireworks that rose one after another.

At the same time, far away in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Lyubov, who had left China alone a week ago and secretly arrived here on a fruit transport plane, was hiding in a single-family villa surrounded by a 17-year cicada training school with her parents and her younger brother who was also secretly sent here, and they were celebrating their family's New Year's Day in their own way.

After rubbing the hot tattoo on the base of his thumb inconspicuously, Wei Ran hugged Sui Sui and gave her his first kiss of the year. The two of them turned around in tacit understanding, linked their arms, and walked towards the big yard of their grandmother's house, talking and laughing.

"What are your wishes for the new year?" Sui Sui, with a faint smell of alcohol on her body, hugged Wei Ran's arm tightly and asked loudly.

"What is your wish?" Wei Ran threw the question back with interest.

“Common prosperity!”

Sui Sui shouted with great enthusiasm, "I want to make all my friends rich! What about you?!"

"May the world have peace!"

Wei Ran looked at the fireworks that kept exploding in the night sky and said loudly, "That's right, world peace! It would be best if all the explosives were used to make fireworks!"

"We are so great!" Sui Sui shouted proudly amid the fireworks exploding one after another.

"That's right!" Wei Ran also shouted, "We are so great!"

“What are the bosses yelling about?!”

Not far away, Lola, who was holding a Gatling firework in her hand, asked loudly to Lu Xinda who was holding the same firework next to her.

“They say they are great!” Lucinda responded loudly in English, “At least Sister Aurora is great!”

"That's right!" Koko, who was also holding a fireworks Gatling gun, nodded in agreement, "Aurora is the greatest!"

"Mr. Victor is also great, in the night when there is no light."

The Kajianka sisters, Marta, Lola, and even Aniya, who knew something about the inside story, and all the Hela girls subconsciously looked at each other, and the same thought came to their minds.

Also on this New Year's Eve, on the beach of a warm island in the southernmost part of China, several Chinese and foreign scumbags lined up in a row, holding fireworks and Gatling guns as if they were peeing, and shouted loudly to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year.

Late that night, the single girls had a great time and some even gathered together in the middle of the night, chattering in low voices to each other.

The scumbags worked extra hard late that night, which naturally made their girlfriends extra satisfied.

It was almost dawn, and the room and the night sky had become quiet. Wei Ran got up quietly, covered the sleeping Sui Sui with a blanket, put on his clothes, left the room, and gently kicked the crooked-mouthed pug lying by the door to wake him up.

Like in previous years, the man and the dog left the big yard in the night, and Wei Ran walked step by step towards the observation deck at the entrance of the village.

"Listen to the new songs I've been talking about for you this year."

Wei Ran bent down and touched the dog's head, then sat down at the table, took out the instrument case, and took out the ancient instrument Yaoguang from it.

When the expected dizziness disappeared, Wei Ran looked at the village behind him, sat up straight, and calmly plucked the strings of the piano without distraction, playing a piece of music he had never heard before.

As the last sound of the guqin disappeared, Wei Ran did not rush to get up, nor did he rush to put away the guqin that he once needed to play frequently.

This was already the fifth Spring Festival he had survived after obtaining the metal notebook. The unknown song just now was the sixth one he had learned.

But he had no way of telling whether he had become numb or had become strong enough. The feeling of powerlessness brought about by the unchangeable history rarely made him need to rely on playing the piano to calm the resentment and despair in his heart.

“You’re old too.”

Wei Ran lowered his head to look at the crooked-mouthed pug lying at his feet, bent down again and touched the dog's head that came up to him, then plucked the strings again and played the Guangling San that had pulled him back from the abyss countless times, the unrestrained and free-spirited Drunkenness, the Lie Zi Yu Feng, and also the Shenren Chang and Nanfeng Chang that he had learned from Tao Canhua.

Finally, he played the song he had just learned again, and finally gently pressed down the vibrating strings.

“May the world have peace”

Wei Ran muttered something to himself, picked up the guqin Yaoguang and put it into the case, and as he stood up, he put it back into the metal book.

"Go, go home!"

Wei Ran said, bending down to pick up the crooked-mouthed pug wearing a flowery cotton jacket, and walked towards the quiet village in the distance. "Where have you been?"

When Wei Ran, still cold all over, returned to the bed, Sui Sui turned over and hugged him and asked in a daze.

But soon, before Wei Ran could speak, the girl shivered from the cold, and immediately used her hands and feet to push the man next to her away.

After a moment, the even and long breathing made Wei Ran feel a little relieved, and he completely gave up the idea of ​​explaining.

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, as plates of dumplings were served on the table, many girls enthusiastically paid New Year's greetings to the elders of both families - most of them found the taste of home in this Chinese rural courtyard.

The lively New Year activities change day by day, allowing these beautiful girls from all over the world to experience something called peace.

Of course, although so many girls brought a lot of rumors to Wei Ran and even Sui Sui, it was not without benefits - at least there were no leftovers that needed to be heated up today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and then poured together with the leftovers in another plate to continue heating.

Time flies and it is the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Baba Yaga's pink little sisters went to the airport first to leave China and flew to Vladivostok, where they will take a free fruit transport plane back to Kazan, just like when they came here.

By the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, the two teams of Hela girls, each of whom had gained at least one kilogram, also returned to Kazan along the same route, carrying large and small bags of gifts and souvenirs.

However, it was on this day that Xia Shushi brought unexpected news.

"what did you just say?"

Wei Ran, who was lying on Sui Sui's lap and eating an apple, sat up straight and asked, "Say it again?"

"Someone sent a threatening letter to the Japanese cartoonist Hirano Yoto whom you met."

Xia Shushi on the other end of the phone said, "The threatening letter warned him not to continue telling stories about Hirano Daisho, otherwise he would be killed."

"Have you found the source?" Wei Ran became interested.

'Very strange'

Xia Shushi on the other end of the phone said, "The letter was delivered to Hirano Yoto's apartment in Osaka via the post office."

"Can't find out who sent it?" Wei Ran asked.

“I can’t find it, but.”

At this point, Xia Shushi's tone was more strange and undisguised, "The style of the letter is very retro."

"Retro style? Retro in what sense?" Wei Ran urged, "Also, can you finish what you want to say at once?"

"The content of the letter was pieced together from words cut out from newspapers"

Xia Shushi said, "The mailing address is printed, and there are no fingerprints on the letter paper. In short, the style of this letter is like..."

"JRA?" Wei Ran asked.

"That's right," Xia Shushi nodded, "a very old-school JRA in a sense."

"So why is the JRA not allowed to mention anything about Hirano's poop?"

Wei Ran raised some obvious questions first, "In other words, who is imitating the disappeared JRA? And why did they imitate the JRA's method to send threatening letters? And they sent them to the apartment where he lives."

“That’s the problem”

Xia Shushi said, "It's very contradictory. I don't even know whether to say that the other person is smart or stupid."

"I have another question. How did you find the letter?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"That devil didn't bring some things with him. Can someone please help me get them?"

Xia Shushi said, "At that time, a letter happened to arrive, and his people helped to bring it over."

"What about the letter?"

"It was delivered to me early this morning," Xia Shushi said, "but I'm still here taking care of my grandfather. If you want..."

"No need, just take a picture for me." Wei Ran said without waiting for the other party to finish speaking.

"That's fine. I'll send it to you later."

Xia Shushi paused, "Have you seen the things I sent you there before?"

"No, aren't you in a hurry?" Wei Ran asked.

"It's really not urgent"

Xia Shushi said, "What do you say? Are you interested now?"

"Wait, could that threatening letter be sent by some scumbag?" Wei Ran asked suspiciously.

"That's because you're full."

Xia Shushi responded angrily, "Don't worry, that's not the case. If that were to happen, I'd have the beast bite off the foreskin of whoever came up with the idea and use it as a bubble."

"You can't fucking go and bite it yourself, right?" Qin II cursed angrily on the other end of the phone.

"Putting aside your interest, what is your expected goal?" Wei Ran asked without comment.

"Either find Zhang Taichuan"

The person who spoke on the other end of the phone became Zhong Zhen, "Either find the person who sent the letter, or I plan to train that little Japanese guy who draws cartoons, I need someone like him.

I know you don’t like the devil, but this devil is obedient and has no stance. I want to use his mouth and his comics to say something and tell some stories.”

"Let's make an appointment for a face-to-face interview." Wei Ran said.

"The day after tomorrow," the person on the phone became Qin Ershi again, "You decide where to go."

"Go to Tianjin."

Wei Ran changed his mind halfway through his speech and said, "Let's go to Hangzhou and see how your preparations are going."

"Okay, see you in Hangzhou." After saying this, Qin II simply hung up the phone.

"See you in Hangzhou," Wei Ran added into the busy tone of the phone.

"I'll say it first"

Before Wei Ran could speak, Sui Sui said, "I would like to go with you, but I really don't have time."

Sui Sui reminded helplessly, “I just told you yesterday that Mr. Sebastian, the money rake of the Elk Foundation, will come to reconcile the accounts of the Elk Foundation tomorrow.

Besides, we need to discuss the investment in the film and television company and the coffee business with him. You can leave, but I can’t.”

"Then I can only go by myself," Wei Ran said helplessly, but at the same time he sighed in his heart.