War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1803 Sorority

"Can he survive?" On the second floor of the photo studio, Zhao Jingrong did not ask any further questions as Wei Ran seemed unwilling to say.

“Not a big problem”

Wei Ran replied, "He has lost too much blood and needs to be recuperated for a while. The trouble now is to prevent the Japanese from finding this place."

"Don't worry, it won't happen."

Zhao Jingrong made a firm promise, and at the same time he stood up, took out a wooden box from his bag, opened it, pointed at the pair of gilded silver katydids inside and said, "This is the share for Mr. Musashi this time, a pair of Tang Dynasty silver gilded katydids."

"This too"

"That's right"

Zhao Jingrong nodded, his tone serious but his expression winking as he said, "My senior brother got it from a Tang Dynasty tomb. Remember to give it to your second uncle later."

"No problem," Wei Ran agreed.

"It's not convenient for me to stay for long, so I'll leave first." Zhao Jingrong said as he walked towards the stairs. "If you have anything to say, we can talk tonight. He will be left in your care."

"Do not worry"

Wei Ran followed him downstairs and escorted the other person out the door. He immediately locked the shop door on the first floor and returned to the second floor.

After taking a look at the two gilded katydids in the box that looked like old items, Wei Ran simply closed the lid and put it aside. He then checked the props provided by the metal book and even the entire room one by one.

All in all, although a lot of time has passed, nothing in the room has changed.

The props provided by the metal notebook remained unchanged, even the yellow and white objects that he had picked up from someone else's safe in the previous scene were all there.

After locking the wooden box containing the gilded katydid into the safe, Wei Ran began to analyze the current situation.

It is obvious that the concession will soon be ruled by the Japanese who have turned against them with high pressure, and it is still unknown what the attitude of Ichiro Hoshino, who they are relying on, will be.

The most important thing is that he is almost certain that the person Liuzi saw is most likely the devil he was looking for when he entered this period of history, and the devil who killed Aunt Wu Si's entire family in Fengtian that year.

This was also the reason why he had just decided to keep it a secret from Zhao Jingrong. This man was the biological son of Wu Siyi's wife, and he was worried that he would do something impulsive in order to exterminate the whole family.

However, this matter must be told eventually. If he doesn't say it, Liuzi will. And no matter who he tells it to, whether it is Zhang Taichuan, Lin Qiaoan, Zhang Zhengqi or even Mr. Ji, this is a deep hatred.

Can they keep calm? If not, choose revenge.

Almost subconsciously, Wei Ran has been thinking about how to "maximize" the revenge effect while completing the return mission.

On the other hand, he couldn't help but analyze and guess everyone's choices through the regression task.

But in the end, all he could do was to take out the whetstone he bought in the previous scene and carefully sharpen the anti-Japanese broadsword and Mauser bayonet.

Before he could polish the two cold weapons to his satisfaction, the door on the first floor was knocked on from outside.

Then, Lin Qiaoan yelled in a drunken voice, "Boss Weiwei, I heard that you burped and vomited early in the morning!"

Lin Qiaoan vomited outside the photo studio halfway through her speech. Almost at the same time, Wei Ran opened the locked door.

"Boss Mu, how much did you drink? Come in and rinse your mouth."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already supported Lin Qiaoan into the photo studio, and waved to the doorman who was supporting Lin Qiaoan outside the door.

"What happened?" Lin Qiaoan asked while suppressing his drunkenness.

"Liuzi is injured and is upstairs." Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"Gunshots before dawn?"

"Um"

"Can you survive?" Lin Qiaoan asked as he walked into the bathroom.

"can"

Wei Ran stood outside the bathroom door, looking at the bustling street outside. After a moment's hesitation, he whispered, "Uncle Zhao came just now. He found a scapegoat for Liu Zi before dawn. He will find a chance to send Liu Zi out in the next two days."

Hearing this, Lin Qiaoan breathed a sigh of relief, turned on the faucet, rinsed his mouth and asked, "Did Liuzi leave any words?"

"Stayed"

Wei Ran paused, then said, "He said he saw our enemy."

After saying this, Lin Qiaoan was stunned.

Amid the sound of rushing water, Lin Qiaoan turned around and looked at Wei Ran. His eyes turned red. "Are they our enemies in Fengtian?"

"I guess so"

Wei Ran sighed, "There are 19 members of the Mingxiang Opera Troupe, and the Zhao family, including 32 servants, are our enemies."

Reaching out to grab Lin Qiaoan who was about to leave the bathroom, Wei Ran pushed him back in, "Whatever you plan to do, make a decision after you sober up.

This person is not only your enemy, but also mine, my second uncle's, Uncle Zhao's enemy, Zhang Zhengqi, Xiaowu and Liuzi's enemy, and even Mr. Ji's enemy. "

After taking a few deep breaths, Boss Mu put his trembling hands under the faucet and scooped up handfuls of cold tap water and splashed it on his face.

"When will Zhengqi and Xiaowu come back?" Wei Ran took out a cigarette box, took out a cigarette, put it on the tortoise shell holder, held it in his mouth and lit it.

"afternoon"

Lin Qiaoan leaned his hand on the edge of the wash basin, took a few deep breaths and said, "I will be back in the afternoon.

At this moment, a rickshaw stopped in front of the photo studio. Zhang Taichuan got off the rickshaw and said from a distance, "Boss Wei, who was the blind person who vomited such a big pool of vomit in front of your door?"

"Don't tell him"

Lin Qiaoan in the bathroom said abruptly, "Don't tell him about this first. If you two are working around Musashi, even the slightest flaw could cost you your life."

"It's Boss Mu."

Wei Ran answered loudly, and at the same time reached into the bathroom and gently patted Lin Qiaoan's shoulder.

"Why did Boss Mu come to you?"

Zhang Taichuan had already walked to the bathroom door while he was talking, and asked in a low voice, "Is there anyone else?"

"Liu Zi is upstairs, injured." Wei Ran replied in a low voice, "There is no one else."

"Liuzi was injured? Last night? Is he seriously injured?" Zhang Taichuan asked in a low voice.

"It's not serious, but I'm still awake."

Wei Ran finished speaking, and without waiting for the other party to ask, he said, "Second Uncle, please take care of Uncle Lin. I'll go upstairs to get some things."

After saying that, Wei Ran stepped aside to let Lin Qiaoan pass, ran upstairs quickly, and took down the pair of gilded katydids that were locked in the safe.

After such a short while, Zhang Taichuan's expression had relaxed a lot. Obviously, Lin Qiaoan had already "explained" it to him.

"Uncle Zhao asked me to give you this pair of silver-gilt katydids from the Tang Dynasty, saying that this is the share for Mr. Musashi." Wei Ran said as he opened the box and showed it to him.

"How much can this pair of katydids be worth?" Lin Qiaoan asked in a low voice with interest.

"One katydid is worth five small yellow croakers."

Zhang Taichuan smiled and whispered, "These two katydids are like a big yellow croaker. Not only did they pay for the medicine this time, but they will also pay for the medicine next time." "Did Mr. Ji make this thing, too?"

Lin Qiaoan asked in a low voice, "This craft is really valuable."

"What did Mr. Ji do?"

Zhang Taichuan snapped the lid of the wooden box shut and said seriously, "Even if the king of heaven comes, this is also dug out from the grave."

"Yes, yes, yes," Lin Qiaoan agreed without hesitation.

"Okay, don't waste time."

Zhang Taichuan picked up the box and said, "I'm here to collect the debt for Lao Gui. Now that we have the things, Wei Ran, it's time for us to go to work."

"Wei Ran, that old ghost will definitely ask you what I did last night."

Lin Qiaoan whispered, "I went to the Paramount last night and danced for most of the night. Later in the night, I went to a pub with Sun Batou from the Anqing Gang and drank a lot of wine."

"it is good"

Wei Ran agreed, "Sixth son."

"Don't worry, I'll arrange for someone to take care of it."

Lin Qiaoan made the promise as he staggered out of the photo studio. He then drunkenly shouted, "Tonight, tonight! All of you come, call Brother Jin! Let's have a drink!"

"Or forget it."

Zhang Taichuan said with a smile, "Brother Mu is still drunk, why don't you take a rest tonight."

"Where is this?"

Lin Qiaoan waved her hand and said, "Come over tonight! My troupe just happened to be rehearsing a new play."

"If Brother Mu says so, then we really need to have a good drink tonight."

Zhang Taichuan said, "Let's come together in the evening."

"Then it's settled"

After Lin Qiaoan finished speaking, she staggered towards the Lihua Theatre Company across the street. The doorman at the entrance of the theatre company immediately ran over and eagerly helped Lin Qiaoan in.

"Let's go too."

As Zhang Taichuan spoke, he also called Wei Ran, who had already locked the door, to get into a rickshaw.

Out of caution, the two chatted about all kinds of irrelevant topics in the car. Along the way, Wei Ran could occasionally see foreigners of various colors being captured by the Japanese.

Finally, the rickshaw stopped at the entrance of Musashino Photo Agency. After sending the rickshaw driver away, Zhang Taichuan grabbed Wei Ran, handed him another cigarette and lit it, then whispered, "Lao Gui is going to attend some hometown gathering today. I'll take pictures in the front, and you go and develop the negatives and photos. Let's try to go with Lao Gui and see if we can get any unexpected gains."

As he spoke, Zhang Taichuan handed a roll of film to Wei Ran.

"Okay," Wei Ran agreed readily. This job was not difficult for him.

"Did Liuzi say anything after he escaped to your place?" Zhang Taichuan asked suddenly.

"without"

Wei Ran denied in a low voice, "He was already unconscious when I found him, and he hadn't woken up when I left with you."

Hearing this, Zhang Taichuan did not ask any more questions. The two of them finished the cigarettes between their fingers and then walked into Musashino Photo Studio.

Today, the clerk named Nakamura is still in the photo agency, but his attitude is much more polite.

Of course, compared to Nakamura's unexpectedly respectful attitude, what made him even more nervous was the Buddhist shrine in this photo studio, which was said to be "very popular".

In this shrine, there is the stone lotus pedestal that Mr. Ji brought as a reward in the second act. On the lotus pedestal is the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva that Wei Ran sold to Ichiro Hoshino at a high price.

In front of the upper and lower "feces pit" combination, there is a small bronze tripod that is not very big. In the tripod, there are incense sticks that are emitting green smoke.

How many times have I been deceived?

While Wei Ran was complaining, the Nakamura clerk came over and said in an extremely respectful tone, "Senior Musashi, this is the film to be developed today. The president specifically asked you to be in charge of developing it."

"I'll go right away"

Wei Ran waved his hand casually, "Nakamura, do you have other work to do today?"

"No," Nakamura said quickly, "My main job is reception."

The front desk?

Wei Ran secretly complained, then said, "Just find someone to take over your job. How about you come to the darkroom to help me?"

"Can I?" Nakamura asked excitedly, "I'll find someone to take over my job right now!"

Before he finished speaking, Nakamura quickly called over a shop assistant who looked particularly young. After hurriedly making arrangements, he ran over and opened the wooden door of the darkroom and the red light inside before Wei Ran.

The reason why Wei Ran asked this colleague from Nakamura to join him was to find free labor, but his main purpose was to get some information from him.

While Wei Ran was busy "entrusting him with important tasks", he also asked Nakamura for a lot of key information.

First of all, from January 1939 in the previous scene to the end of 1, during these years, Nakamura still worked at the front desk, but Wei Ran had become the "personal disciple" of "Mr. Musashi".

Not only that, even Zhang Taichuan quit his job at the newspaper and worked busy in this photo agency every day.

In addition, Wei Ran also learned from Nakamura that because Musashi Photo Agency's "business is getting better and better," Mr. Musashi bought a car this summer, and Wei Ran and "Senior Kawaguchi" took turns serving as driver and translator.

After learning everything the clerk Nakamura knew, Wei Ran first praised the other party's printing technology, then sent him away on the pretext that he needed his help to package the developed negatives and photos, and then began to personally develop the film that Zhang Taichuan handed to him before entering the door.

This roll of film was obviously taken secretly, and the content captured not only includes Japanese soldiers with different appearances, but also warships and even many people dressed as traitors.

After developing photos from these negatives, Wei Ran continued to work on other rolls of film. After completing all the work, he tried to put all the film negatives and even photos given to him by Zhang Taichuan into the suitcase.

Fortunately, the suitcase was successfully retrieved into the metal notebook.

After developing the last set of photos as requested, when Wei Ran walked out of the darkroom, Nakamura immediately bent over and said, "Senior Musashi, the president is back, and he asked you to come to his office after you're done."

"I understand," Wei Ran replied casually, "I'll leave the negatives and photos in the darkroom to you."

After saying that, without waiting for Nakamura's response, he walked to the door of Ichiro Hoshino's office and knocked gently, and waited until he got permission from inside before pushing the door open and walking in.

"Teacher, I'm done."

Wei Ran bowed slightly and spoke respectfully. In order to get revenge, he didn't mind sacrificing some dignity, so both his posture and tone were sincere enough.

"Ryunosuke, you're finally done."

Hoshino Ichiro's tone and address were much more friendly than "nearly three years ago". "You and Yushan should go to the second floor to change into decent clothes. I will take you to a social gathering later."

"Teacher, with what identity should we follow you?" Zhang Taichuan asked respectfully, "If we follow you as Chinese, will we cause trouble for you?"

"will not"

Hoshino Ichiro said, "You will follow me as my disciples. Okay, go up and change your clothes."

“We’ll go change it now.”

Wei Ran spoke first, then waited for Zhang Taichuan to stand up, followed him out of the office and walked towards the second floor of the photo agency.

Who will I meet at this social gathering?

Wei Ran couldn't help but think, even though he already had a vague answer.