War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1785: Wusheng Apprentice

The night he arrived in Hangzhou, Wei Ran stayed in a suite on the top floor of the office building.

Zhong Zhen and his little bell also stayed there. Compared to them, it was Qin Er Shi who hurried downstairs after the dinner, using the excuse that he had something to do, and no one knew where he went.

After carefully inspecting the spacious suite, Wei Ran drew the curtains and placed all the clues he had brought with him and the latest clues he had obtained on the mahjong table in the room.

However, he did not do anything else, especially taking out the metal notebook and rushing to die.

He took a calm shower and took out the latest long bag of horsehair under the cover of the suitcase.

Wei Ran took out the coffee pot, lit the alcohol lamp, and slowly brewed himself a pot of bitter Italian coffee.

As he waited patiently, the steam pushed the thick coffee liquid out of the diversion tube and eventually accumulated in the eggshell cup that had been placed there in advance.

Wei Ran took a sip from the full cup of coffee for two. The bitter taste made him shrink his face, but it also dispelled his drunkenness to some extent.

With the little clarity he had regained, Wei Ran took a big sip of coffee and then lit a cigarette.

Although the nature of the matter about the devil's defecation in the plain has changed, in fact, as long as he can find the person who sent the threatening letter, it is enough to ask enough questions, and perhaps he doesn't even need to go back to that panic era.

But at the same time, he knew that perhaps only by going back to that era could he collect more evidence.

"Every man has his share of responsibilities"

Wei Ran muttered to himself for a while, picked up the coffee cup and took another sip of the bitter coffee.

It was inevitable that he couldn't help but wonder, if he could take this opportunity to return to the Shencheng of that era, would he have the chance to meet Clement and the others again.

Or rather, this was the only reason why he was still interested in this matter before the nature of the matter changed.

After smoking the cigarette and drinking the coffee in the cup, Wei Ran took advantage of the time when the coffee took effect and, as if he was stuck in a bug, he lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

He slept particularly soundly that night, but in the suite two rooms away and diagonally opposite, the bell rang for who knows how long.

The next morning, when he woke up naturally, it was almost noon.

He dressed leisurely and pushed the door open, only to find that Emperor Qin II was already waiting in the reception area not far away. However, what he never expected was that sitting next to Emperor Qin II was Miss Jiaya.

"Happy New Year, Mr. Wei." Jiaya stood up and greeted him.

"Happy New Year, Miss Jiaya."

Wei Ran shook hands with the other party and was about to say something, but Qin Ershi had already stood up and walked to the elevator, "You guys chat, I still have to go home to feed the baby, bye."

Before he finished speaking, he had already walked into the elevator and pressed the door closing button.

"The Second is a good man who cares about his family"

Wei Ran uttered a bunch of nonsense without any basis in reality, which he himself did not believe.

“He’d better have a child.”

Jiaya, who was sitting at the tea table, said this while slowly brewing Kung Fu tea. There was no threat in her tone, but Wei Ran was praying for his scumbag friend, hoping that he would have a child.

"Mr. Wei, I came here this time because the Second Master sent me some photos last night."

Jiaya pushed a cup of tea over and said bluntly, "Photos about the atrocities committed by Hirano Daisho during World War II."

"Ms. Jiaya is also interested in these?" Wei Ran asked with a smile as he picked up the teacup.

"Do you remember the two photo albums you found?" Jiaya asked, also holding a cup of tea.

"certainly"

Wei Ran sipped a small sip of tea and swirled it between his lips and teeth. After swallowing it, he took another sip and said nonchalantly, "Although the lucky Mr. Luke was unfortunately killed because of one of the photo albums, Egg and Lu Xinda are living well now."

"Mr. Wei, do you still remember that I held a press conference for those two photo albums in preparation for making a movie?" Jiaya asked with a smile.

"certainly"

Wei Ran nodded, "I remember you also hired a director with a stick in his mouth?"

"That's right"

Jiaya nodded, “I saw photos from last night that looked like Hirano Daisho slaughtering American soldiers after the Battle of Bataan.

So if you can find any relevant clues, I hope you can share it if it is convenient for you. "

"Of course it's no problem if we can find it." Wei Ran picked up the second cup of tea, "Can I know the reason?"

"If the evil is just an isolated case, it is just an isolated case. If the evil is a common phenomenon, it will be enough to cause longer-lasting discussion and hatred."

Jiaya said, also picking up the second cup of tea, "I don't mind letting the Americans see that more nuclear-weapon suckers participated in the killing of their soldiers."

"I don't mind it too much, but I guess if it's just for this reason, it's not worth it for Miss Jiaya to come here in person." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he picked up the fairness cup and poured himself another cup of fragrant tea.

"It's related to Zhang Taichuan"

Jiaya said, "He disappeared in the ink pad. Besides, he is not a spy as the Second Master and you have guessed, nor is he a traitor."

"It seems that Miss Jiaya knows his identity?" Wei Ran asked immediately.

"I do know, but he did disappear from the ink pad."

Jiaya sighed, "Mr. Wei, please help find him."

"He," Wei Ran asked after hesitating for a moment, "Is identity important?"

“Very important”

Jia Ya also poured herself a cup of tea and stared at Wei Ran who was sitting opposite her for a long time. Finally, she smiled and said, "Wei Ran, find him. It's time for him to go home."

"Ms. Jiaya, can you provide more clues?" Wei Ran asked.

"There aren't many clues. I only confirmed his identity yesterday."

Jiaya shook her head and sighed, "Mr. Wei, please take care of this matter."

"Okay," Wei Ran nodded.

"Tea instead of wine. Thanks in advance."

As Jiaya spoke, she picked up the teacup, lowered her body, and clinked glasses with Wei Ran in a very formal manner.

The two drank the tea in their cups. Jiaya put down the cup and said as she walked towards the elevator, "I won't stay long. If you find out anything, please let me know as soon as possible."

“I try my best”

Wei Ran responded gently, but did not try to stop her. He watched her walk into another elevator.

Almost at the same time as the elevator door closed, Zhong Zhen's little bell cautiously peeked out of their room, then immediately retracted.

Then, Zhong Zhen, dressed in a proper manner, walked out of the room.

"That lady left?" Zhong Zhen asked cautiously.

"Why are you so afraid of her?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"You didn't see it with your own eyes. Hey! Forget it, why am I telling you this?"

Zhong Zhen waved his hand and beckoned to Xiao Lingdang who was waiting at the door of the room, saying, "Since that person is also paying attention to this matter, I will not be in a hurry. I will send you any new clues in time."

"What are you doing here?"

Wei Ran glanced at Zhong Zhen who had already pressed the down button of the elevator, and then looked at Xiao Lingling who was walking towards him, dressed in fancy clothes with a small gold bell hanging around her neck.

"What else can we do? There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. It's a rare trip so of course we should go shopping. Besides, we can't help you with anything else."

Zhong Zhen said this as a matter of course, and at the same time he hugged the little bell beside him, and fiddled with the little golden bell on the other's neck with his fingers.

"I don't know when I will go back," Wei Ran said with a smile.

"I won't see you off then. The less we see each other, the better." "I think so too."

Wei Ran nodded in agreement, but he didn't even plan to wait for the elevator with him. He just walked towards his room.

"Aren't you two best friends?" Little Lingling, who was held in Zhong Zhen's arms, asked curiously in a low voice in not very standard Chinese.

"He is indeed a good friend, the most trustworthy friend." Zhong Zhen smiled, took the other person in his arms and walked into the opened elevator.

At the same time, Wei Ran had already opened the door, drawn the curtains and stared at the scenery outside in a daze.

After a long time, he closed the curtains with a bang, carefully packed up all the items and luggage on the table, turned around and left the room.

After taking a last look at the tricolor flag sandwiched inside the bulletproof glass, Wei Ran walked into the elevator, went down and left the office building.

Without saying hello to Qin II or anyone else, Wei Ran took the nearest high-speed train back to Tianjin and returned to the small Western-style building alone.

After carefully looking around upstairs and downstairs, Wei Ran came to the basement with all the clues and placed them one by one on the stage. Then, he could not wait to summon out the metal book.

Now that the New Year is over and they have had enough rest, after the Lantern Festival in a few days, I guess it will be time for them to go to Kazan.

If I start an investigation at that time, if I find something, I will have to come back again. Instead of doing that, it is better to do it first and save myself the trouble.

Of course, on the other hand, he also eagerly wanted to go to the Golden Gate Hotel in Shanghai again.

As he was daydreaming, the metal notebook flipped to the latest page and the feather pen drew a pattern.

In this picture, there is a man wearing a suit and a top hat, but holding a knife in his hand.

Unfortunately, in this sketch-like painting, only the back of this man is shown.

The rest of the scenery around this silhouette is not even drawn.

While Wei Ran waited patiently, the metal feather pen wrote lines of words under the drawn pattern.

Act One

Role: Wusheng Apprentice Wei Ran

Return mission: Take a group photo, escape from the theater troupe and successfully board the train.

Skill task: Kill at least three enemies with cold weapons and snatch at least 10 silver dollars.

Wusheng apprentice?

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment. This was another unexpected identity.

Before he could figure it out, a strong white light came towards him, and he also saw something that could be used this time.

A Mauser bayonet and a food knife, that's all, nothing else.

That's all? Wei Ran was stunned for a moment as he watched the white light gradually dissipate.

Whether he accepted it or not, as the white light faded, he heard the noise becoming clearer and clearer beside his ears - a noise with a familiar and strong smell of corn grits.

"The three northeastern provinces?" Wei Ran couldn't help but tense up.

"Snapped!"

Before he could see clearly what was around him, a slightly rough slap landed on the back of his neck.

"What are you daydreaming about?" a voice scolded with a smile, "It's all over, hurry up and pack up."

"Hey!"

Wei Ran responded quickly, blinking habitually and looking around.

This seemed to be a dressing room similar to backstage. At this moment, there were some people dressed up in theatrical costumes who were busy wiping the oil paint off their faces, and chatting with each other about who sang well and who sang poorly today.

Looking at myself again, I was wearing a black cotton robe with patches on patches, a pair of tattered cotton shoes on my feet, and a cotton hat with patches on patches on my head. In my hands full of chilblains, I was holding a helmet that belonged to an unknown character.

Looking at a mirror not far away, he even felt that he seemed to have lost some weight.

How old are you at this time?

When Wei Ran was muttering this question secretly, he happened to see a young man who was dressed similarly to him and looked to be no more than 20 years old, also wearing a helmet.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately followed behind the other person and imitated him, putting the helmet into a camphorwood box. Then he imitated the other person and put away the various items in different categories.

"Lao Zhang, it's rare for us to perform in such a large garden, why don't we take a picture?" suggested a handsome man who had wiped off the grease on his face.

"Xiao Sun is right."

Another one who had also wiped off the paint said, "It's a waste of your camera to keep it there every day, so just take a picture for everyone."

"Alright! Then let's take a fucking picture!"

The middle-aged man who had just slapped Wei Ran on the back of his head responded, grabbed the boy who had almost helped Wei Ran pack up and said, "Zhengqi, go find your grandfather, get our camera out, and take a picture of us."

"Hey!" The young man named Zhengqi said and ran out.

Not long after, an old man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties, wearing a cotton robe, came in carrying a small suitcase.

"This little bit of film Taichuan sent back will be used to destroy you sooner or later!"

The old man laughed and scolded, "Hurry up, hurry up, take the photo while the lights are still on outside."

"Who will take the photo?" asked Lao Zhang.

"Let me do it!" said the little boy named Zhengqi.

"How can you do this!"

Lao Zhang said, "Well, I'll take the photo."

"How about I take the photo?"

Wei Ran suggested, “I used to be an apprentice in a photo studio, so I know how to tinker with this.”

"How could I have forgotten this?"

Lao Zhang patted his forehead and said, "Then you take the photo! Xiao Wei, there are only two frames of film left in this camera. You have to take a clear photo for our troupe."

"Don't worry"

Wei Ran made the assurance confidently and respectfully took the suitcase from the old man.

The suitcase was well preserved. He gently opened it and found inside was a Rollei twin-lens reflex camera that he was very familiar with, a handheld flash, and even several disposable flash bulbs fixed in the suitcase.

"Do you really know how to use this thing?" the old man asked suspiciously.

"If you really know how to use it, you can rest assured." Wei Ran said as he installed the light bulb on the handheld flashlight.

"If you break the camera that my youngest son sent me, you'll be a handyman for the rest of your life." The old man "reminded" worriedly.

"Even if it's not broken, I can do odd jobs for you for the rest of my life." Wei Ran said shamelessly.

"Boy, you've used all your cleverness to flatter others."

The old man laughed and said, obviously very satisfied with Wei Ran's flattery.

"Where are you guys going to shoot?" Wei Ran asked after he was ready.

"Go outside"

Old Zhang immediately called out, and led everyone, who had already removed their makeup and put on their long gowns again, out of the backstage and onto the stage.

At the same time, Wei Ran finally figured out where this was through the big words and posters hanging on the wall.

Daguan Tea Garden, Daguan Tea Garden in Liaoning Province.