War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1790 Don’t Let Them Die in vain

Outside the vent, the Japanese soldier used the wakizashi in his hand to dig into the old woman's cut stomach, then cut open her stomach and picked out some white paste from it.

"Rice"

The Japanese soldier squatted down and brought the lump of porridge carried by the wakizashi to the front of Aunt Wu Si, "Can the servants in Madam Wu's house eat white rice?"

"This traitor is a traitor!"

The pale-faced Wu Siyi scolded her, then switched to Japanese to explain, "Sir, she..."

“I am not a police officer investigating economic crimes”

The Japanese soldier gently placed the blood-stained tip of his wakizashi knife on Aunt Wu Si's shoulder and said, "I'm only looking for the manager of that drama troupe."

“But I really don’t know.”

Before Aunt Wu Si finished her words, the Japanese soldier suddenly waved his hand.

Suddenly, the Japanese soldiers around raised their rifles and thrust forward, stabbing to death with bayonets without any warning several servants who had just been captured from the front and back yards.

At the same time, Wei Ran covered Zhang Zhengqi's mouth tightly amid a series of screams coming from outside.

As Wei Ran and Zhang Zhengqi watched with clenched teeth, the vicious Japanese soldiers used their sharpened bayonets to pierce open the servants' abdomens and stomachs, checking their stomach contents to see if there was any rice, which was not allowed for the Chinese to eat.

"Where is the manager of that drama troupe?" the Japanese soldier asked slowly as he sat back on the stone bench.

"I really do not know"

Aunt Wu Si, who was slumped on the snow, said this with a pale face, and then screamed again - several more servants were killed.

"Ask them if anyone knows where the person I'm looking for is."

The Japanese soldier who was only one meter away from Wei Ran said, and immediately, a translator wearing a mink coat said arrogantly, "Taijun said that whoever finds the people from the troupe hiding here will survive. The opportunity is given to you. It's up to you whether you live or die."

Just as the people in the yard outside looked at each other and then kowtowed for mercy, Zhang Zhengqi also tried to struggle free from Wei Ran's restraints.

"You will die if you leave"

Wei Ran stared at Zhang Zhengqi's eyes and said silently, then looked at Xiao Wu and Liu Zi under the ladder and shook his head at them seriously.

"puff!"

At the same time, outside the vent, another servant was stabbed in the chest by a bayonet, and then his clothes and abdomen were torn open. Fourth Aunt Wu, who had already been frightened silly, covered her mouth tightly and shook her head weakly. She could no longer utter complete sentences.

"report!"

At this moment, a Japanese soldier ran into the house. "Captain Nakamura found the manager of the drama troupe in a nearby house and asked us to send reinforcements to block the troupe."

"Captain Shimizu, take your men to capture him back." The Japanese soldier holding the wakizashi ordered, but showed no intention of leaving.

"Hi!"

A Japanese soldier nearby immediately responded and ran out of the inner courtyard with a squad.

"Sir, now that we have caught the man, is it..."

"puff!"

Before Fourth Aunt Wu could finish her words, the wakizashi had already chopped her neck!

"Pfft!"

Aunt Wu Si fell to the ground, holding her neck from which blood was gushing out. She was then kicked to the ground by the Japanese soldier, who swung the wakizashi in his hand again and cut open her abdomen.

“There is white rice.”

The Japanese soldier threw away the undigested stomach contents and blood that were picked out by the tip of the knife and said, "Don't miss any corner. There must be rice hidden in this yard. Also, kill these people."

Before he finished speaking, the soldiers around him had already decisively stabbed out their bayonets and began to search the house vigorously.

At the same time, Wei Ran, who was hiding in the vent, could only cover Zhang Zhengqi's mouth tightly, and his knuckles were wet by his tears.

Can't cry

Wei Ran looked at Zhang Zhengqi, whose eyes were red and whose whole body was trembling slightly, and silently reminded him. Then he reluctantly put down the camera in his other hand, covered his eyes, and blocked the surging tears.

He had no chance to take a picture at all. The man with the wakizashi was still sitting on the stone bench, and the sound of the shutter could easily attract his attention.

He couldn't even leave the ladder with Zhang Zhengqi. They seemed to be trapped here. They could only watch the corpses outside and the invaders looting all kinds of things that did not belong to them.

He also looked at the figure with his back to him, carefully wiping the blood-stained wakizashi with a towel.

Not long after, a Japanese soldier brought out a small bag of rice, and soon after, another Japanese soldier brought out a box of silver dollars.

Gradually, more and more devils came out of the room with their spoils, and they even caught a young girl who was hiding!

"mother!"

The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, then broke free from the Japanese soldier who was deliberately letting her go and threw herself beside Aunt Wu Si, crying, while the Japanese soldiers around her were already laughing lewdly.

"Mother! Mother!"

The girl, who looked no more than 20 years old, cried out at the top of her lungs and struggled to hold Fourth Aunt Wu, whose neck was half cut off, in her arms.

Just at this moment, Zhang Zhengqi and Wei Ran were stunned. The class leader Zhang Taiyuan was carried in by two Japanese devils!

"I'll fight with you!"

Just when the Japanese soldier with the wakizashi stood up and walked to Zhang Taiyuan, Wu Si's daughter suddenly pulled a Russian lemon grenade from her mother's arms, pulled out the pull ring before anyone could react, stood up and ran towards the Japanese soldier with the wakizashi, while stuffing the grenade into her collar.

This sudden change also made the surrounding Japanese soldiers subconsciously either stabbing forward with bayonets or lying down and shooting. The Japanese soldier holding the wakizashi subconsciously lay on the ground, rolling and running away.

"boom!"

Amid the explosion of the grenade, Wei Ran, who had already shown no expression on his face, pressed the shutter towards the gap amid the blood that was coming towards him.

"Clap!"

Just as he released the shutter, a drop of blood, belonging to an unknown person, was swept through the gap between the two stone mills by the shock wave and splashed on the tattoo at the base of Wei Ran's left hand, bright red and eye-catching.

Amidst a series of screams, Zhang Taiyuan fell to his knees with a plop on the snow that was dyed black and red by blood and smoke. Soon after, dark red blood flowed from the corners of his mouth.

Just before the grenade exploded, he not only did not run away, but instead broke free from the two Japanese devils' restraints and ran a few steps in the direction of the girl with his lame leg - he was also covered by the grenade fragments.

Not only him, the Japanese soldier who was holding the wakizashi before was also holding his thigh and wailing. Obviously, the revenge grenade did not let him go either.

But at this moment, Wei Ran covered Zhang Zhengqi's mouth and eyes tighter, and at the same time shook his head again and again at Xiaowu and Liuzi under the ladder.

In the chaos, the surviving Japanese soldiers hurriedly shouted and carried the Japanese soldier holding the wakizashi and the other wounded away, and by the way, they did not forget to take away all the property that was scattered on the ground by the shock wave.

In just a moment, the house was left with only corpses scattered all over the floor and the thick, inextricable smell of blood and stench.

"Go down, go down." Wei Ran said in a hoarse voice, "Let's go down."

Just as he finished speaking, Zhang Zhengqi, who had completely lost all strength in his body, felt his legs go weak and he slipped down from the top of the ladder. He was hurriedly caught by Xiaowu and Liuzi.

"me."

Zhang Zhengqi struggled to stand up and tried to say something, but the scenes he had just witnessed made it impossible for him to stand up, speak, or control his surging tears.

“Help him in”

Wei Ran whispered, "We can't leave now, and we can't make any noise."

"I, my father, I. I."

"I know I know."

Wei Ran patiently whispered, "We can't go up to collect their bodies yet. We have to wait a little longer. There must be Japanese soldiers and traitors guarding outside. Don't cry. Even if you feel uncomfortable, you have to bear it.

They are already dead, please don’t let their deaths be in vain.”

Hearing this, Zhang Zhengqi bit his arm hard, and then covered his mouth and even his entire face with his cotton hat.

Ugh.

Wei Ran sighed weakly and reached out to press the back of Zhang Zhengqi's neck.

A moment later, Zhang Zhengqi fainted due to cerebral ischemia.

"Carry him back, don't make any noise, especially when he is about to wake up, don't let him make any noise."

Wei Ran whispered, "The devils or the traitors could come in at any time."

"Brother Wei, upstairs."

"Don't ask. No one is allowed to go up or go to the entrance without my order and permission." After saying that, Wei Ran climbed up the ladder again, "Wait for my order."

Xiaowu and Liuzi looked at each other, then carried the unconscious Zhang Zhengqi back to the other side of the cotton curtain.

Sitting on the ladder again, Wei Ran covered his mouth and nose with his hat again, quietly looking at Aunt Wu Si who was lying in agony outside, looking at her daughter's mutilated body, looking at Zhang Taiyuan who was still lying on the snow, and even the old maid who sent them to hide in the cellar, and those innocent servants who died unjustly.

He had to remember what these people looked like. This was the only thing he could and had to do.

I don’t know how long it took, the sky gradually darkened, and the house became completely deserted.

It was not until this time that Wei Ran, whose whole body was almost frozen, started moving.

He came down from the top of the ladder extremely slowly, and walked into the cellar silently. He saw Zhang Zhengqi who had woken up, and Xiaowu and Liuzi sitting on his left and right.

"wait for me"

Wei Ran whispered a word, and with the faint light from the oil lamp around the three of them, he passed through the cotton curtain on the other side of the cellar and climbed up the steps slowly to the top. Listening for a moment, Wei Ran carefully lifted the wooden board to make a gap, looked outside, then lifted the cover and climbed out.

But then, he didn't even take a second look at the corpses on the ground. Instead, he took cover from the pillars of the corridor, crouched down and ran to the window sill of the main room in the inner courtyard, then crouched and moved slowly towards the door of the main hall.

"This devil is really ignorant of the value of things"

Inside the main room, a voice said greedily, "These goodies are just cheap for us."

"They? They're a bunch of idiots! They don't know anything!"

Another voice whispered disdainfully, "I saw it clearly at the time. If the eldest daughter of this family hadn't used a grenade to kill herself along with them, these things would have been destroyed by them.

Look! This is a big ginseng. It’s probably old enough for their licking yellow to be their father.”

"We were also blinded by greed at that time"

The third voice said with regret, "If we had known earlier, we would not have informed them and used this matter to threaten them. Why would we come here to pick up rags?"

"Who says it's not a special code?"

"Why are you talking so much? Search quickly, or you won't even get a sip of soup!"

After the fourth voice finished speaking, the previous ones nodded in agreement, and only the faint light of the oil lamp remained in the room.

However, the four did not notice that a figure had already slipped in along the door.

"puff!"

At the same time that the spear in Wei Ran's hand pierced the back of the first man, the Mauser bayonet in his other hand had also pierced the back of another man.

Wei Ran let go of the two daggers out of habit and rushed to the side of the third man. He grabbed his head and pulled it hard, causing a crisp "click" sound.

"puff"

At the same time as the first two people fell to the ground, Wei Ran had already come close to the fourth person. The latter also reacted from his daze, subconsciously let go of the mink coat and oil lamp in his hands, and tried to touch the box gun at his waist.

Also subconsciously, Wei Ran grabbed the other person's arm and at the same time raised his foot and gently kicked the bottom of the oil lamp as if he was kicking a shuttlecock.

This was indeed subconscious, and even such a reaction was beyond Wei Ran's own expectations.

Even so, his reaction was much faster than the other party's. Almost when the oil lamp rose to the height of their faces again, Wei Ran's "shuttlecock kicking" foot once again unexpectedly kicked upwards at a very close distance.

With a crisp "crack" sound, the kick landed solidly on the opponent's ear and one side of his mandible, breaking his spine with his jaw. At the same time, the opposing force dislocated the elbow joint of the arm that Wei Ran was holding.

This was the opportunity he had been waiting for, and the situation he had been preparing for.

Whether it was because of the allure of money or because of caution, he had long anticipated that someone would sneak in after dark, and he also more or less guessed that there might be someone outside guarding the house - either to prevent someone from sneaking in, or to prevent any survivors from slipping out.

The only thing he hadn't expected was that his leg seemed to have a mind of its own and kicked the only survivor to death, completely thwarting his plan to extract something from the other party.

Reaching out to grab the oil lamp that was about to fall to the ground, Wei Ran hurriedly stood up, while the last corpse fell with a thud onto the mink coat he had just been holding.

What the hell did he learn?

Wei Ran didn't have time to think about it. He just squatted down and held the oil lamp to hurriedly look at the four bodies.

The one who was kicked to death by himself in the end was wearing a white suit inside and a dog-skin coat outside, a dog-skin hat on his head, and a small braid about the length of an arm hanging from the back of his head, with a few copper coins tied to the braid with a red cloth strip.

Looking at the other three, they were all dressed in the same standard puppet army traitor outfit, the only difference was that they were filled with the strong smell of urine, a peculiar smell of opium paste.

After pulling out the bayonet from the back of the second corpse, Wei Ran pulled out his dagger and then took away the box guns from the four traitors. He also took out a lot of silver dollars and military notes from their pockets and put them in his pockets.

Without any further delay, he turned around and ran to the yard as fast as he could. He first picked up the frozen body of Boss Zhang and walked into the half of the small house leading to the cellar. He handed it over to Zhang Zhengqi who had been waiting there for a long time. Then he moved Aunt Wu, the old maid, and the remaining dozen people in one by one, and asked Zhang Zhengqi and the other two to take them to the cellar.

Finally, he found a quilt, carefully buried the body of Aunt Wu Si's daughter, and carefully put it into the cellar.

"Go, go."

Wei Ran called out hoarsely, and walked into the main room of the inner courtyard with Zhang Zhengqi, who was gritting his teeth. He took off the dog-skin coats and hats from the four corpses and put them on himself and them. He also hung box guns on them and said, "The four of us have to survive, otherwise this family will die in vain, so you have to listen to me from now on."

"Brother Wei, we will do whatever you tell us to do!"

Zhang Zhengqi also spoke in a hoarse voice. Xiaowu and Xiaoliu, whose eyes were already red, nodded.

"Go get a candle, and go to the east wing and get some kerosene."

Wei Ran whispered, "Let's bury all these things with you. We can't let the Japanese get away with it."

Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately split up to look for their own things. Wei Ran brought in a pile of bedding and spread it on the table in the main room to connect the doors and windows on both sides.

Soon, the three of them found what Wei Ran needed.

First, he poured kerosene on the inside of the quilt and spread it to both sides. After Wei Ran folded the quilt in half, he placed the candlestick on the quilt and surrounded it with the corners of the quilt. Then he lit a big red candle on it that was only the length of a thumb.

This method was simple and easy to use. Zhang Zhengqi and the other two immediately took action and made similar arrangements in the main rooms in the front and back yards, allowing the lights to be lit again in this house where no one was alive.

When they finished their work, heavy snow began to fall again in the cold night.

"Go, go."

Wei Ran lowered the nose of the box gun and left the back door of the inner house with the three young men behind him.

The translator who was killed by himself was definitely well prepared. The reason was that outside the back door, there was a sled pulled by two mules.

Inviting the three people to get in the car, Wei Ran drove the sled and blatantly left the house.

However, he did not rush to the train station, but instead rushed to the place where he hid the clothes of the four Japanese devils he killed last night.

This is Fengtian in December of 1937. If these four people without passes want to board the train to the interior of the country, they must change into the clothes left behind by the Japanese devils.

Taking advantage of the dim sky and heavy snow, when Wei Ran found the clothes of the two hidden Japanese policemen, the house behind him had already illuminated the sky red with flames.

"Zhengqi, change your clothes, quickly!"

Wei Ran stopped the sled at the entrance of a dark alley and urged, "Xiao Wu, Liu Zi, can you two drive a sled?"

"meeting"

Liuzi took the reins first, while Zhang Zheng and Wei Ran put on the two sets of cold Japanese police uniforms as quickly as possible.

Continuing to wave the whip, Wei Ran rushed to the next place where the clothes were hidden. He signaled Xiaowu to change into a full set of Kwantung Army uniform, while Xiaoliu took over the driving job and shouted at the two mules to run.

"Brother Wei, where are we going?" Liuzi asked.

"TRAIN STATION"

Wei Ran whispered, "From now on until we get in the car, you have to ask the three of us to be more enthusiastic, like... like we are performing on stage."

Hearing this, Liuzi was stunned for a moment, then nodded vigorously, "Taijun, sit tight, drive!"

Under the gaze of the night sky behind him that was illuminated red by the fire, the sled ran through the streets and alleys towards the train station. Wei Ran also blatantly lit the kerosene lamp and hung it on the sled.

Perhaps because of the Japanese uniforms they were wearing, no one stopped them along the way, and most people even chose to stay away from them.

Finally, the sled stopped when it was still some distance away from the train station, and the four people on the sled looked at a barn at the intersection.

Hanging from the beams of the barn were several corpses, swaying in the wind.

There were the old boss, Xiao Sun who had suggested taking a group photo, and the masters who would give advice to Xiao Wu and Liu Zi whenever they had nothing to do.

There was also the host who invited them to sing at a church banquet but never even looked at them once from beginning to end.

They are all dead.

"Come on!"

Wei Ran kicked Liuzi's shoulder blade lightly, and at the same time shouted loudly in Japanese.

Liuzi's body trembled, he looked back at Wei Ran, then shook the reins vigorously, shouted at the two mules to run again, and they ran towards the train station with a clattering sound.

"Zhengqi, you and I will take Liuzi with us."

As Wei Ran got out of the car, he whispered, "Xiao Wu, you don't have to say anything later. Just stand behind us with a gun on your back and imitate me."

"Yeah!" Xiaowu nodded immediately.

"Say hi! Like a devil, and bow."

Wei Ran tied Xiaoliu's hands loosely with a belt and whispered, "Come on, try it again."

"Hi!" Xiaowu immediately bowed and said "Hi".

"It's OK, leave the rest to me, let's go."

As Wei Ran spoke, he called Zhang Zhengqi to help him, and pushed Liuzi, who was tied up behind his back, towards the train station.

"Stop, where are you going?" At the entrance of the train station, a Japanese policeman stopped them.

"Warrant Officer Hirano Daisho ordered us to help escort this important prisoner to Tsuru Castle immediately," Wei Ran responded in a low voice in Japanese, "Behind me is Captain Shimizu."

At Wei Ran's signal, Zhang Zhengqi bowed slightly, and the Japanese policeman also bowed in return, "Please go to the second entrance."

"Thank you"

Wei Ran responded politely, and he and Xiao Wuzi slowly escorted their "prisoner" into the train station.

(End of this chapter)