War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1788 Hiding

In the dark of night, Wei Ran, who was posing as a Japanese soldier, immediately slipped back to the crime scene after settling Zhang Zhengqi.

Fortunately, no one had noticed the situation here at this time, or if someone had discovered it, they had already run away to avoid getting into trouble.

After observing the surroundings, Wei Ran walked into the alley and stripped the clothes, shoes and other items from the bodies of the two Japanese policemen as quickly as possible, and then ran away.

As for the two naked corpses behind them, in the Fengtian City at the end of 1937, no one knew how many poor people froze to death every day. Even more so, no one knew how many poor people who froze to death had their clothes that could be used to keep warm stripped off by poor people passing by after they died. They were not special at all.

After hiding the clothes he had just taken off, Wei Ran went around several pubs and borrowed a few more clothes easily. He also picked up a few unwanted wallets and the ID cards of several Japanese expatriates.

After hiding the clothes in a corner, he returned to the hotel. Fortunately, Zhang Zhengqi was still waiting anxiously and did not run away.

"Come with me," Wei Ran called out.

"Did you find them?" Zhang Zhengqi asked in surprise.

"No, let's go take a bath. There's a bathhouse that's still open over there."

"Go take a shower?"

Zhang Zhengqi reacted quickly and whispered angrily, "Brother Wei, their lives and deaths are unknown now. We..."

"We're going to take a shower"

Wei Ran explained seriously in a low voice, "We are in a hurry, and that small broken yard is full of our things. The Japanese military dogs can find our guests, so they can definitely find us. So no matter how anxious we are, we must take a shower now."

"What happens after taking a shower?" Zhang Zhengqi asked.

"Let's go back and take a look when the time comes," Wei Ran urged, "Let's go quickly, we don't have much time."

Hearing this, Zhang Zhengqi, who was already at a loss, could only nod his head, took his camera bag and left the hotel. He took a few detours to get the clothes that Wei Ran had just hidden, and then walked into a bathhouse filled with steam.

After being occupied by the Japanese invaders, Fengtian of this era deliberately created a false prosperity. But if you use your brain a little, you will know that the people who can come here to consume are basically wealthy businessmen and Japanese expatriates.

"Be more confident and hold your chest high." Wei Ran reminded in a low voice, "No, don't walk in your square steps."

Hearing this, Zhang Zhengqi immediately adjusted his gait, but he could not learn the leisurely stroll like Wei Ran.

Without giving him much time to prepare, Wei Ran had already taken him into this rather luxurious-looking bathhouse.

The bathhouses of this era were not much different from those in later generations. They also had lockable cabinets to store clothes and bath scrubbers.

Just by listening to the accents, you can tell that besides Chinese people, there are also Japanese people coming here. Even some bath attendants can speak a few words in Japanese - just to survive.

While taking off clothes, Wei Ran took a look and soon spotted two people of similar build. The two men were each carrying a bag filled with clean clothes that they would change into after taking a shower.

Carefully noting the locations of the two people's lockers, Wei Ran asked Zhang Zhengqi to first put the camera bag into a separate locker and lock it, and then put the clothes of both people into the same locker.

"Wash quickly"

Wei Ran whispered, "Just rinse it twice and then find someone to scrub your body. After that, we'll leave."

"it is good"

Zhang Zhengqi responded in a low voice and walked into the bathroom with the Japanese soap that Wei Ran had just bought.

Many times, surprises pop up when you are least prepared.

When the two of them entered the steamy bathroom, they immediately saw Old Zhang, Xiao Wu and Liu Zi rubbing bubbles all over their bodies!

Not only that, but Zhang Taiyuan and the guest were actually in this bathhouse! Obviously, everyone had the same idea!

Before the three young men could speak, Wei Ran and Old Zhang and his son each held down the shoulders of Zhang Zhengqi, Xiaowu and Liuzi.

"Don't stare at people you don't know. It's rude. There are a lot of nuclear recruits here. Don't cause trouble for me."

Wei Ran reminded Zhang Zhengqi, Xiaowu and Liuzi in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft.

"I I know"

Zhang Zhengqi quickly turned around, stood under the shower head and soaked his body, then used soap to scrub his entire body vigorously and carefully.

"Let's go take a dip in the pool"

Old Zhang, who was obviously a southerner, greeted them in a fairly authentic northeastern accent and let Xiaowu and Liuzi support him as he walked to the pool filled with mist and sat down.

Soon, Zhang Taiyuan and the guest also walked over naked.

"Walk"

Wei Ran greeted them and walked towards the hot spring pool with the towel he had just bought.

Soon, several "strangers" gathered at the corner of the hot spring pool.

“Coming for us”

In the mist, Zhang Taiyuan whispered, "I just went back to check, and the yard has been surrounded. If things go wrong, they might be all over Fengtian looking for us tomorrow."

"Has anyone been caught?" Old Zhang asked worriedly.

"I don't know yet, but we can't wait until tomorrow. I'll take him away tonight." Zhang Taiyuan said in a low voice.

"Alright"

Old Zhang was silent for a moment and then said, "I will go to the barn to collect people tomorrow. Xiao Wei, you are the eldest brother, you take the three of them to report to Aunt Wu Si early tomorrow morning. Zhengqi knows how to contact her, and she will find a way to send you away."

"Grandpa, you are on your own."

"Your third uncle is guarding outside. He is helping me to collect people."

Old Zhang said in a low voice, "It's settled. No one should settle down. If you can leave, leave. If you can't leave, settle down and look for opportunities. Taiyuan, you take the others and leave first."

"Zhang Baotou" the "guest" said in a slightly strange accent, "I"

"We are one family, so let's go." Old Zhang urged in a low voice, "Xiao Wei, you four brothers should go too."

"Take care, old man."

Wei Ran gave a solemn blessing and asked Zhang Zhengqi and the other two to leave the hot spring pool.

He first opened the closet to find his clothes, then took out two hairpins from his clothes that he had just borrowed from the geisha when he borrowed clothes at the pub, and easily pried open the closets of the two people he had taken a fancy to.

There was no need to respond. Xiaowu and Liuzi changed into the clothes that the two men took off, while Wei Ran and Zhang Zhengqi changed into the clothes in the bundle and left their clothes to the two men.

After changing clothes again, Wei Ran waited for Zhang Zhengqi to pick up the box containing the camera, then took them out of the bathhouse and moved to a relatively luxurious hotel. Relying on the money in the borrowed wallet and the Japanese language, they booked two rooms and moved in.

"Who is that person?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice while checking the room.

"I am not sure as well"

Zhang Zhengqi whispered, "I vaguely know that our visit here is also related to this person."

"You haven't seen him before?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"No, I've never seen it." Zhang Zhengqi shook his head, "My father wouldn't let me ask."

"Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about our trip to Peking to learn martial arts. How much do you remember?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out the wallets he had borrowed from all over his body, took out the valuables inside and counted them according to categories.

"I remember everything. It's only been a few years." Zhang Zhengqi said with a smile, "I still remember that you would secretly work as an apprentice in the photo studio when you had nothing to do."

"yes."

Wei Ran responded vaguely, and in the subsequent chat, he learned a lot of things indirectly.

Also thanks to the aunt who married a wealthy businessman as a concubine, not only did Zhang Taichuan, whom he had never met, get the opportunity to study abroad, but Zhang Zhengqi also got the opportunity to study opera in Peking with the help of the aunt, and even brought Wei Ran, who was considered his aunt's brother, along.

From his memories of going to Peking to study, Wei Ran also roughly learned that Zhang Zhengqi had graduated from the Peking Opera industry and learned a lot of skills.

On the contrary, I first started with Zhang Zhengqi and started as a Wuchou. Later, Zhang Zhengqi chose the long-arm Wusheng, and I was assigned to the short-arm Wusheng.

However, he had no talent for singing opera, and ended up becoming a martial artist that he had never even heard of.

In Zhang Zhengqi's words, this was perfect for him, needless to say. Unfortunately, the two brothers were unable to help their family's troupe complete the transition from Yue Opera to Peking Opera.

By this point in the conversation, Wei Ran had already understood his identity clearly enough, and Zhang Zhengqi also used his memories to calm himself down.

"Okay, go to bed early."

Wei Ran yawned and asked, "How are we going to find that Fourth Aunt Wu tomorrow?"

"Mrs. Wu Si would ask her maid to buy her breakfast every day."

"Bang!" Before Zhang Zhengqi could finish his words, another gunshot was heard outside the window in the cold night.

"Keep Calm"

Wei Ran held the other person down, "It's useless for you to go, hide. No matter who gets into trouble, he will definitely hope that you can hide well."

After persuading Zhang Zhengqi, who was panting heavily, to stop breathing, Wei Ran said, "Go to the next door and look after Xiaowu and Liuzi. You are the young master, and you have to be responsible for keeping them alive."

"I"

"Don't worry, I'll go take a look."

Wei Ran soothed him, "Go quickly, if you are any later they might go out with knives.

Zhengqi, unless someone comes to arrest us, no matter what you see, the three of you must not go downstairs. "

"I understand." Zhang Zhengqi nodded vigorously to make a promise, then stood up, left the room and walked to the next door.

"There's no need to sleep in the second half of the night"

Wei Ran sighed to himself, relit a cigarette, waited for a moment, and then left the hotel - by climbing through the window.

Hiding his body in the night again, Wei Ran walked slowly towards the direction of the gunshots. But soon, he noticed from a distance that the intersection ahead had been blocked by the traitorous puppet army.

Wei Ran quickly walked into a Japanese pub on the side of the road, found a seat and sat down, casually ordered a glass of wine, and patiently listened to the noise outside.

Even he was powerless at this moment. Although the puppet army traitors guarding the intersection outside were easy to fool, he had just seen clearly that the teams of devils inside had an absolute numerical advantage and were able to obey orders. They were definitely the Kwantung Army.

These people are not fools, and they are not as easy to deal with as the two Japanese policemen who were just chasing Zhang Zhengqi.

In other words, he could only hide and watch from afar, waiting patiently, while secretly praying that no one would be discovered or arrested.

As they drank cup after cup of Japanese sake, time passed by, and the puppet soldiers and traitors guarding the intersection dispersed one after another. It was obvious that martial law had been lifted.

Just as Wei Ran was about to leave the izakaya and go to the area that had just been under martial law, two Kwantung Army soldiers wearing dog-skin hats, standard cold-proof cotton coats and cold-proof military boots walked in while taking off their cold-proof masks.

After taking a quick glance with his peripheral vision, Wei Ran sat down again and continued to drink by himself to while away the time, while also listening attentively to the conversation between the two soldiers.

Although the surroundings were a bit noisy, he could vaguely hear the two soldiers' guesses from time to time, such as "Maybe it's a ghost" or "Maybe it's a ninja".

Doesn't that mean no one was caught?

Wei Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued to pretend to drink while listening.

Unfortunately, the two soldiers' subsequent conversation was basically focused on topics such as homesickness and not knowing when they could return home.

But even so, Wei Ran still did not leave first. He was still short of two heads and 10 silver dollars for his skill task, and these two were just right.

As Wei Ran drank cup after cup of sake and plum wine, he saw that the two soldiers had almost finished drinking, so he poured the sake in the cup that he had sipped countless times into his mouth, threw down a few military tickets, staggered to his feet, and left the izakaya first.

He didn't have to wait long before the two slightly tipsy soldiers walked out of the pub carrying their guns. However, before they could catch their breath, a drunkard squeezed in between them from behind and put his hands on their shoulders.

"Carry me to the alley next to it."

Wei Ran whispered in Japanese. At the same time, the Mauser bayonet and the dagger in his hands were placed on the necks of the two men.

This threat was more effective than anything else. The two soldiers shuddered in unison at first, and then obediently carried Wei Ran towards the alley on the side of the road.

"Which division are you from?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

Of course he was curious, because the Kwantung Army at that time were all real elite troops, but they were also basically brainless berserkers.

Logically speaking, in this situation, the two soldiers would not just stop resisting, but would immediately start shouting, unless...

"Osaka Division, we are from the Osaka Division."

The two soldiers immediately responded in a very clear and low voice, "Sir, please calm down. We don't want to die. No matter what you want to do, please let us go."

"really."

Wei Ran snorted in his heart, but whispered in Japanese, "Don't get me wrong, I'm one of us. I'm from the Black Dragon Society. I just want to ask you something."

After saying this, the two soldiers relaxed their subconsciously tense bodies a little.

"Do you know an officer named Hirano Daisho?"

Wei Ran continued in a low voice, "I have important information to pass on to him, but I can't reveal it now."

After saying this, the two Japanese soldiers carried Wei Ran into the dark alley. One of them subconsciously wanted to say something, while the other one, under the cover of night, reached for the bayonet on his waist.

"puff!"

With an inconspicuous cutting sound, Wei Ran raised the handle of the Mauser bayonet in his left hand, using the clavicle as a fulcrum, and then stabbed it fiercely into his chest.

Letting go of the soldier he was holding with his left hand and letting him fall to the ground, Wei Ran easily subdued the remaining one, pressed him against the wall, and whispered in his ear, "Did you catch anyone just now?"

"No, no," the Japanese soldier replied nervously, ""

"Do you know someone named Hirano Daisho?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"No, I don't know him." The Japanese soldier continued to answer.

"When is your birthday?"

"I"

"puff!"

Before the Japanese soldier could finish his words, the dagger had already been thrust into his mouth.

At the same time, Wei Ran pressed the back of his head against the wall, allowing the willow-leaf dagger to easily pierce into his brain along his upper teeth.

He walked slowly to the first Japanese soldier. It was not dead yet, but it had lost all its strength and could not pull out the bayonet at its waist.

Sitting on the other person's back, Wei Ran gripped the handle of the knife and swung it hard, easily killing the other person. Then he took out the wallets of the two men, and at the same time felt the familiar and uncomfortable feeling of a system outage.

He slowly regained control of his body. He didn't even have time to wonder what he had learned. Instead, he quickly stripped off all the clothes from the corpse and wrapped it in his warm coat.

Dragging the naked corpse deeper into the alley, Wei Ran then pulled out the bayonet from the opponent's collarbone.

Using the same trick to strip the second Japanese soldier of all his belongings and finally pulling out a dagger, Wei Ran disappeared into the depths of the alley carrying two bags of clothes and two rifles. Not long after, he took a detour back to the hotel where he was staying and returned to his room disguised as a drunk Japanese soldier.

"how's it going?"

Almost at the same time he walked in, Zhang Zhengqi and the other two asked in a low voice in unison.

'No one was caught'

Wei Ran whispered, "Go to bed early, and leave someone to keep watch and listen to the noise outside. We will go find that Fourth Aunt Wu tomorrow morning."

"Let's keep watch together," Xiaowu and Liuzi said in unison.

"Alright"

Wei Ran nodded and did not refuse. He just reminded in a low voice, "Everyone stay alert. Normally no one will come up before dawn, so wake us up immediately if there is any movement."

"Got it," Xiaowu and Liuzi responded in unison again.

After signaling Zhang Zhengqi and Liuzi to lie down on their beds, Wei Ran sat on the sofa by the window and closed his eyes. But in his hand, he held a grenade that he had just found from the two devils.

He didn't know how long it had been, but just when he thought he had just fallen asleep, he was gently woken up by Liuzi.

"Brother Wei, it's time to get up." Liuzi said in a low voice.

"Walk"

Wei Ran stuffed the grenade into his arms, rubbed his face hard, and followed the three people who were already dressed and left the room.

"Where to find it?"

Wei Ran asked a question that did not get a complete answer last night.

"Mrs. Wu Si would send servants out to buy groceries every day."

Zhang Zhengqi took the opportunity to explain in a low voice while going downstairs, "Her servant, Chen Mama, came with her as a dowry, so she can be trusted."

Hearing this, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

After a while, the four of them had already reached the entrance of the hotel, and only then did they notice that heavy snow was falling outside.

This was undoubtedly good news, at least the four Japanese bodies from last night could be found. Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief and urged the other three to speed up.

It was also through this opportunity that Wei Ran finally had time to take a good look at this fallen city.

Objectively speaking, Fengtian at that time was as prosperous a place as Tianjin and Shanghai.

Western-style buildings and Chinese-style courtyards coexist everywhere along the way. In the distance, you can see almost abandoned city walls and densely packed electric poles and wires.

Of course, there are also the poor people who got up early and the homeless who didn’t make it through last night’s snowstorm.

After walking in the wind and snow for more than half an hour, Zhang Zhengqi led the three of them to stop at the back door of a Chinese-style house that appeared to have two entrances.

"It's right here, let's wait." Zhang Zhengqi said in a low voice, and then he and Xiaowu and Liuzi squatted down against the wall.

"Don't squat. It's inconvenient when you run."

Wei Ran whispered, "Liu Zi, go to the right corner and keep an eye on it. Xiao Wu, go to the left alley entrance. Zheng Qi, you wait here, I'll go to the intersection where we came in and keep watch."

"it is good"

Zhengqi and the other two quickly stood up and responded. According to Wei Ran's instructions, they each guarded different intersections. At the same time, Wei Ran also walked in the direction they came from, leaned against the wall on the side of the road, lit a cigarette, and patrolled the surroundings aimlessly.

Perhaps because of the heavy snow today, the four of them waited for nearly an hour before the small door of the house was opened from the inside. An old woman who looked to be around 40 years old came out carrying a basket.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhengqi immediately came over, brushed the snow off his body, and whispered something in the old woman's ear.

After a moment, the old woman nodded quickly, turned around and ran back in a hurry.

Not long after, the old woman came out from the back door again and waved to Zhang Zhengqi who was waiting outside, and the latter also waved to the other three people inside.

After Wei Ran and the other two came over, the old maid called them in and whispered, "Go hide in the cellar. The head of the family hasn't left yet. It's inconvenient for the young mistress to see you now. I'll bring you food and drinks later."

"It's all up to Mother Chen," Zhang Zhengqi said politely.

The old maid just waved her hand without saying anything, and took the four of them into an inconspicuous side room.

This side room is right next to the corner gate connecting the front and back yards, but the guard inside this side room is a big wolfdog with shiny fur.

"Go! Go! Go"

The old woman patted the big wolfhound with a towel, successfully making it shake its head and tail, lie on the ground with its ears flying and its belly exposed. Wei Ran and the other three took the opportunity to quickly walk into the side room, which was at most half a room.

Bending down to lift the tattered mattress and thick straw curtains prepared for the dog outside, the old woman lifted a wooden cover flush with the ground and urged in a low voice, "Go down quickly, and don't make any noise."

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran and the other three looked at each other, then groped their way into the cellar.

Before the sixth boy, who was walking at the end, could stand firmly, the wooden cover above his head was closed, and the cellar fell into complete darkness.