War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1824 Sad Miss Hirano

On the second floor of the bookstore, which was only two bathroom windows away from Heianye Aoi's clinic, Wei Ran and Zhang Taichuan carried Zhang Zhengqi, who was still in a coma, into a bedroom.

"When can Zhengqi move?" Zhang Taichuan took out a set of clothes and threw it to Wei Ran, and asked.

"He was injured much more seriously than Liu Zi was at the beginning, and we couldn't give him a blood transfusion when we were treating him."

Wei Ran took the suit and threw it on the table. "Tonight is the most dangerous night. If you can survive tonight, you can only be sent out. If you can't survive tonight."

“Do your best and leave the rest to fate”

Seeing that Wei Ran didn't change his clothes, Zhang Taichuan simply threw the clothes he had just taken out back into the closet. "Captain Yan will lead the firewood collection team out of the city early tomorrow morning. I guess we can only take risks if we want to send that guest away as soon as possible."

"Join the firewood collection team?"

Wei Ran frowned and asked, "Old Yan is not blind. Although there are many people in the firewood collection team, he can recognize unfamiliar people."

“He won’t recognize it.”

Zhang Taichuan whispered, "He still owes me a lot of big yellow croakers. Gold bars can't stop his mouth, but bullets can."

"What should we do about Zhengqi and Hirano Aoi?" Wei Ran asked.

Zhang Zhengqi and Hirano Aoi are now tied together. It is useless to just send Zhang Zhengqi away, and it is also useless to just get rid of Hirano Aoi. They need a solution that has the best of both worlds.

"I'll find a way," Zhang Taichuan rubbed his face vigorously, "Let's go our separate ways."

"I was worried that it was not safe to leave the car in front of the photo studio, so I sent it to the coffin shop." Wei Ran made up an excuse.

"After I sent Miss Hirano back, I went to ask a doctor for Dayangma," Zhang Taichuan followed.

"Is Zhengqi being taken care of by someone?" Wei Ran, who had already reached the first floor, asked finally.

"rest assured"

Hearing this, Wei Ran picked up an oil-paper umbrella at the door, opened it and looked at it. Seeing that there was no special marking on it, he tucked it under his armpit, pushed open the door and walked out, heading in a different direction from Zhang Taichuan.

After going around in circles and taking a long detour, Wei Ran arrived at the Lihua Theatre. Under the enthusiastic guidance of the doorman, he came to a private room on the second floor, where he met Hirano Daisho and Mr. Aoi, whose cheeks were swollen.

"Mr. Hirano"

Wei Ran greeted him warmly, "I was planning to borrow some clothes from Boss Mu, but when I heard you were upstairs, I came up to say hello."

Glancing at Wei Ran who was soaking wet, Hirano Daxiang waved his hand and said, "I came here to talk to Mr. Aoi about something. Ryunosuke, thank you for sending Xiaokui here. Go down first."

"Yes, I won't bother you two anymore."

Wei Ran said this, and walked out of the box again to help close the door. He winked at Zhang Taichuan who was walking towards him, and the two of them hid next door.

Almost at the same time when Wei Ran closed the door of the box, Zhang Taichuan put his ear to the wooden partition wall, and Wei Ran happened to see Hirano Aoi walking up from the first floor.

At this time, Hirano Aoi had already changed into a kimono, but her tearful face still showed an unconcealable disgust, fear and confusion.

For some reason, Wei Ran, who was peeking through the crack in the door, thought of many people.

For example, the friends and enemies in the hunter's cabin shrouded in a blizzard in Finland, the thief on a train in post-war Germany and the teacher in the apple orchard, and the poor and helpless children in the Afkhan Mountains.

Now the times have changed. For him, a time traveler who can be called a veteran, the woman who seems to be well-intentioned and sympathetic outside the door is more difficult to face than the girl in Stalingrad who has taken root in the softest place in his heart.

From a bystander's perspective, he can persuade anyone to temporarily put aside their hostility, and he can discover the only inconspicuous trace of human brilliance left in the dirty war.

But when it was his turn to really put himself in their shoes, he couldn't help but think of those people who defended Teng County, those people hiding in the dark basement of Xuqing Bookstore, those people in Baiyangdian and those people in the forest and snow.

He found that he could not temporarily accept the friendship of his enemy like Leningrad resident and Soviet journalist Konnon did in the blizzard cabin.

He admitted that he was narrow-minded. He admitted that in that time and space that he was familiar with, his gentleness, love of peace, and opposition to war were perhaps all "pretended" by his indifference or even numbness because he had stood in the perspective of a bystander and God in advance.

But at this moment, he realized belatedly that it was too much for him to accept the spontaneous goodwill and kindness of the woman who was at least 90% innocent.

He even expected that Hirano Aoi would betray Zhang Zhengqi, Zhang Taichuan, this theater, and himself.

If this is what happened next, he would have enough reason to kill anyone.

It was not until this time that he understood Zhang Taichuan's bright smile full of expectation not long ago. He expected Hirano Aoi to be bad, hostile, and to deserve revenge - just like in the previous scene, he had enough reasons to kill one person and two people with one knife on the third floor of the detached garden villa.

But he was wrong, and Zhang Taichuan was also wrong, and their wishes were all dashed.

As they eavesdropped and peeped, Hirano Aoi walked to the door of the next box, wiped her red eyes vigorously, and tried to take a deep breath.

But during this brief preparation time, Mr. Aoi in the box said sincerely, "Hirano, we are old friends. What happened today is not what you think. I really like Xiaokui. I am willing to marry her, build a family with her, and have a child."

"Aoi"

Hirano Daisho said coldly, "You already have a wife and children in Osaka, and you took my sister..."

"Don't you have a wife and children in Osaka?" Aoi asked back, "And this is not Osaka, this is Shanghai!"

Before Hirano Daisho could speak, Aoi had already put forward his conditions, “Hirano-kun, if we become a family, we can definitely kick out that greedy old man Musashi.

You can get more shares by then, and you can even set the share ratio. I just really fell in love with your sister Xiaokui. I can even divorce my current wife. "

"I"

There was an obvious hesitation in Hirano Daisho's tone. Hirano Aoi outside the door also covered her mouth tightly with her hands, then turned around, walked slowly to the stairs, and left the second floor as if escaping.

"Why did Hirano Aoi run away without entering the room?" Wei Ran closed the door completely and whispered in Zhang Taichuan's ear, while also putting his own ear lightly against the partition.

“I need to think about it.”

Hirano Daisho next door said, “And I’m going to ask Xiao Kui’s opinion, and Aoi, I’m warning you.

Before you get a divorce, before I give you an accurate answer, stay away from Xiao Kui, or I won’t mind killing you.”

"Today was really just a misunderstanding"

Aoi stood up as she spoke, "Hirano-kun, I won't disturb you and your sister's dinner. I look forward to hearing good news from you."

After saying that, Aoi opened the door and left the box. Zhang Taichuan also leaned close to Wei Ran's ear and repeated the conversation just now in a very low voice.

In the memoirs of later generations, you, an old man, will not be written like this
Wei Ran snorted coldly, then made a gesture of wiping his neck towards Zhang Taichuan.

Zhang Taichuan could naturally guess Wei Ran's thoughts. Killing the troublemaker Aoi would mean cutting off Hirano Daisho's backup option, so he could only continue to cooperate with Hoshino Ichiro and even Zhao Jingrong. He could even guess that Wei Ran might be planning to put the blame for Aoi's death on Hirano Aoi - he himself had thought of this option.

But in the end, Zhang Taichuan just shook his head slightly and made a gesture to Wei Ran to keep quiet.

After waiting for a while, thinking that Aoi had already gone downstairs, Zhang Taichuan pointed upstairs, and then took Wei Ran and quietly went up to the third floor along the hidden stairs in the box that was not open to the public.

"I'm afraid we'll have to meet with Hirano Aoi tonight."

Zhang Taichuan opened the door of the box on the third floor and looked outside. After closing it again, he whispered, "I plan to give Hirano Aoi a chance."

"Give her a chance?"

“Give us a chance too.”

Zhang Taichuan sighed, "Our current situation is too difficult. Even a little bit of help would be helpful. It would be a shame if this route, which took so long and cost so much to build, was abandoned because of them and that girl."

Seeing Wei Ran about to say something, Zhang Taichuan sighed and said, "You probably don't know?

Now, not only has the price of rice in the city and the concession more than tripled, but cholera has also broken out outside the city. Although the scale is not large, there is a severe shortage of medicine in the areas affected by the epidemic.

In addition, at this time, whether they were the Japanese or the traitors, they had probably begun a large-scale manhunt for Zhengqi and the guest.

Killing Aoi at this time is too risky, and it will easily draw attention here."

Hearing this, Wei Ran fell silent, and then asked, "What do we need to do?"

"Talk to Miss Hirano truthfully," Zhang Taichuan said tiredly, "see if she is willing to help us with anything."

"When are we going?" Wei Ran asked bluntly.

"You go now"

Zhang Taichuan said, straightening his rain-soaked clothes, stood up and said, "I'm going to accompany Mr. Hirano, and I'll help you hold him back. Wei Ran, listen to your second uncle's advice, don't be impulsive. If we act impulsively even once, we will kill countless people."

"Don't worry, Uncle. I've got it in mind." Wei Ran responded seriously and respectfully.

"go"

Zhang Taichuan forced himself to stay awake, patted Wei Ran's shoulder with a tired smile, then walked out of the room alone and went downstairs step by step.

After taking a deep breath, Wei Ran walked out of the box, waved to the waiter who was standing guard at the window in the distance, left the task of locking the door to him, and followed him downstairs.

Hearing Zhang Taichuan's extremely sincere flattery in the box where Hirano Daisho was, Wei Ran couldn't help but quicken his pace.

"Ms. Hirano went backstage again."

Just as he was about to step onto the first floor, a guy with a white towel on his shoulders whispered to him as he passed by.

Hearing this, Wei Ran's expression did not change at all. He just unbuttoned his formal coat and walked to the backstage. By the way, he asked the guys he met where Boss Mu had gone.

When he walked into the backstage, he immediately saw Hirano Aoi, who was curled up in a chair with her head buried in her knees and arms, and several female artists who were comforting her.

Unfortunately, Hirano Aoi doesn't understand Chinese at all, and the female artists who only speak Shengzhou dialect can't speak a few words of Japanese.

This kind of incompatible consolation obviously had no effect. In comparison, Wei Ran's appearance made Hirano Aoi, who felt like she would be sold out at any time, feel like she had found a life-saving straw.

"Dragon."

"Why did Miss Hirano come here to rest?"

Wei Ran invited with a gentle smile, "If you don't mind, why don't you come with me to sit in the compartment? There's an electric fan in there."

Hearing this, Hirano Aoi gritted her teeth, stood up from the chair, and followed Wei Ran into the compartment.

"Help me," Hirano Aoi said without waiting for Wei Ran to close the door.

"Ms. Hirano, how can I help you?" Wei Ran said as he turned on the Watson brand metal electric fan.

Amid the rustling noise, the stirred wind blew on the two of them, causing Hirano Aoi to shiver, and Wei Ran, whose clothes were almost soaked, also shivered.

"I"

Hirano Aoi gritted her teeth and said, "I want to leave Shencheng, I want to leave, I want to escape, I am willing to take Mr. Qi with me!"

“He won’t run away”

Lin Qiaoan pushed the door open and gave the answer that Wei Ran was about to say.

'He will die'

Hirano Aoi said in panic, "Even if I keep it a secret for him, he will die. The police will find him soon."

"Ms. Hirano"

Lin Qiaoan picked up the teapot and poured a cup of hot tea for Hirano Aoi. "Let's talk about your story first. How are you?"

"I"

Before Hirano Aoi could finish her sentence, tears began to flow from her red and swollen eyes again.

"I guess it wasn't Manager Qi who made Miss Hirano so sad," Lin Qiaoan continued.

"Yes, it's my brother."

Hirano Aoi seemed to have finally found someone to talk to, and she repeated what she had just heard outside the box upstairs.

"Ms. Hirano, I am willing to help you."

Lin Qiaoan's tone became more sincere, "But."

"what?"

Hirano Aoi looked at Lin Qiaoan nervously, and then looked at Wei Ran with fear, who also had a smile on his face, and an even gentler expression.

"but."

Lin Qiaoan and Wei Ran looked at each other and asked with a smile, "Where is Miss Hirano going to escape to? Escape back to Zhaohe? Or just escape from Shencheng?"

When this question was asked, Hirano Aoi also fell into confusion.