War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1830 It depends on fate

"Listen to the car"

Before Wei Ran opened the car door, Hirano Aoi shouted to stop the rickshaw driver in out-of-tune Chinese.

After the car stopped, Hirano Aoi stepped out of the rickshaw and then pushed open the door of the photo agency - she did not notice Wei Ran sitting in the car.

Seeing that this girl, who had no vigilance at all, was still waiting foolishly at the door, Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, reached out to open the car door, and gently patted the roof with his other hand.

"I didn't see you just now"

Hirano Aoi quickly apologized, then glanced inside the car, "Is Mr. Qin not here yet?"

"not yet"

While answering, Wei Ran had already pushed open the door of the photo studio and said, "Come in and wait."

"Alright"

Before Hirano Aoi finished her words, she had already walked into the photo studio before Wei Ran and sat down on the sofa in the reception area with a familiar look.

"Mr. Wei, do you have any news about Manager Qi?"

Hirano Aoi asked, "How is his health? Is he still in Shencheng? When are we going to Mr. Ji's house?"

"I"

Wei Ran was about to say something when the second rickshaw stopped at the door of the photo studio. Zhang Taichuan, who also had a camera hanging on his chest, jumped off the rickshaw without waiting for it to stop and waved to the two people in the photo studio.

"He's here, let's go."

Wei Ran, who had just sat down, changed his words, stood up and walked towards the door again.

"Get in the car quickly, we don't have much time." Zhang Taichuan said as he opened the driver's door and got in.

Seeing this, Hirano Aoi immediately quickened her pace and sat in the back seat, while Wei Ran hurriedly locked the door and sat in the passenger seat, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Coffin Shop"

Zhang Taichuan started the car while talking. "Someone is injured, seriously. We must do everything we can to save him. Also, Ms. Hirano, how about you learn photography from us today?"

"No problem," Miss Hirano agreed simply.

"Isn't Old Yan in the coffin shop?" Wei Ran asked.

"Several drivers were drinking with him."

Zhang Taichuan replied, "But we still have to hurry. We have to come back after dark. Tonight at 8 o'clock, everyone, including Mr. Hirano, must practice for Boss Mu."

"Practice it?"

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment and asked a new question, "Do we have time to take pictures?"

"Someone will help take pictures later," Zhang Taichuan said as he increased the speed of the car again.

"What's the situation with the injured people?" Hirano Aoi asked.

"We rescued this person from the puppet army"

Zhang Taichuan explained, "He was tortured severely, and when they rescued him, he was shot in the thigh."

"Do you know his blood type?" Wei Ran asked the question he wanted to know, as it was related to the success rate of rescuing the wounded man.

“Blood Type A”

Zhang Taichuan immediately replied, "Since the incident with Manager Qi last time, we have all tried to test our blood types. Three members of the firewood collection team with type A blood are already waiting there."

Hearing this, both Wei Ran and Hirano Aoi breathed a sigh of relief.

"What time is it now? What time is the farewell banquet?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"It's 17: now," Hirano Aoi stretched out her arm, revealed a watch on her wrist, took a look and replied.

"The farewell banquet will be at 7:30 p.m." Zhang Taichuan said, "We have to rush back to the theater before 7 p.m."

"The time is not much, but it should be enough." Hirano Aoi said a little nervously.

"That's enough," Wei Ran answered more confidently.

"Mr. Qin"

Hirano Aoi asked with a slightly nervous look, "Manager Qi, will he leave with Mr. Mu?"

Hearing this question, Zhang Taichuan asked after a brief silence, "Do you want him to leave?"

"leave"

Hirano Aoi answered with unexpected simplicity, "It would be nice if he could leave this dangerous place."

"He will leave with you," Zhang Taichuan said.

"Oh, then I feel relieved." Hirano Aoi could not hide her disappointment in her answer.

Zhang Taichuan, who was sitting in the driver's seat, smiled and then asked curiously, "Why does Miss Hirano like Manager Qi?"

"Why would such a thing require a reason?" Although Hirano Aoi's face turned red, she still answered in a voice that was almost drowned out by the roar of the engine.

"Then do you want to leave with him?" Zhang Taichuan asked a new question.

"I do, of course."

Hirano Aoi sighed and said distressedly, "But even if I selfishly follow him and leave, will he accept me?"

Without waiting for Wei Ran or Zhang Taichuan to answer, Hirano Aoi said, "So I won't leave. I have to do something to prove that I am different from the nuclear recruiter in his impression. Even if he still can't accept me, at least I won't have any regrets."

"It's great to be young." Zhang Taichuan said with emotion in Chinese.

"Yeah." Wei Ran sighed.

"What are you talking about?" asked Hirano Aoi.

"We were talking about how great it is to be young." Zhang Taichuan smiled and switched back to Japanese.

"What about you? Do you have someone you like?"

Hirano Aoi seemed to suddenly become interested and asked, "Mr. Qin, my brother once told me that you were recruiting students to study abroad? Did you have someone you liked at that time?"

"Yes, of course." Zhang Taichuan answered very calmly.

"Is she recruiting nuclear personnel?" Hirano Aoi asked.

"No"

Zhang Taichuan shook his head, "She is from Jinling."

"She is now"

"died"

Zhang Taichuan's tone was still calm and even the smile in his voice had not diminished at all. "In 1937, 12 years after the recruitment, her family members all died. She hanged herself in the apartment she rented after seeing the news."

"I'm sorry." Hirano Aoi tried to say something in a panic.

"fine"

Zhang Taichuan smiled and shook his head. "I brought her ashes back and scattered them in the Qinhuai River. Her family lived by the Qinhuai River. It was a wealthy family with two courtyards. I was worried that I wouldn't be a good match for her, but I didn't expect that."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask these questions."

Hirano Aoi's tone became increasingly flustered, even to the point of tears, as she once again thought of the photos that often appeared in her nightmares.

“You’re better than me”

Zhang Taichuan's tone was particularly gentle at this moment, "At least you were brave enough to tell Manager Qi."

"You...you haven't yet."

"Yeah, no, it was too late." Zhang Taichuan didn't seem to have any intention of hiding anything, and even his gentle smile didn't change much. "I wish I had half of your courage at that time."

Hearing this, Hirano Aoi secretly clenched the wide cuffs of her kimono, and the only sound left in the carriage was the noise of the engine.

While Hirano Aoi was waiting in agony, Zhang Taichuan drove his car to the coffin shop and said as he turned off the engine, "Give me your camera."

"okay!"

Hirano Aoi quickly took off the camera hanging around her neck and handed it to the other party. Wei Ran also walked around to the rear of the car, opened the trunk lid, took out the Rollei twin-lens reflex camera from the camera bag and handed it to the other party.

“The wounded are in there.”

Zhang Taichuan raised his finger and pointed at the door with a cotton curtain, but he turned and walked out of the yard of the coffin shop, and someone immediately closed the gate of the yard.

Wei Ran and Hirano Aoi did not dare to delay. They picked up the medicine box from the trunk and ran quickly into the room with cotton curtains.

This wooden house was exceptionally warm. The few windows were hung with thick cotton curtains and a bright kerosene lamp hung overhead. Below and to the side of the lamp, on a coffin board, lay a man covered in wounds.

Against the wall, in addition to a steaming copper basin, brand new towels and surgical gowns, three members of the firewood collection team had rolled up their sleeves and were ready.

"Mr. Wei, use mine!" One of them saw them come in, immediately put out his cigarette and raised his arm and said.

"Don't make any noise"

Wei Ran didn't give the other two a chance to speak. He pulled out the pistol from his waist and placed it on another coffin board next to him. Then he switched to Japanese and said, "Ms. Hirano, you will do the preoperative preparations."

"it is good"

Hirano Aoi agreed straightforwardly and swiftly opened the box that Wei Ran had placed on the coffin board.

Without rushing to wash his hands, Wei Ran picked up a pair of surgical scissors and cut open all the blood-stained clothes on the unconscious wounded man, revealing the injuries all over his body.

Several of his teeth had fallen out, his face had burns from a branding iron, and his chest and back had a mixture of new and old whip marks.

Especially his collarbone, which had a No. 8 wire passed through it and was tightly twisted. But this was not the worst.

Both of his arms had suffered severe fractures. Not only had the nails on his ten fingers been pulled out, but they were also dislocated and even his palms were pierced by wire.

In addition, he did have a gunshot wound in his thigh that had been treated rudimentarily and most likely had broken bones.

There doesn't seem to be enough time.
As Wei Ran spoke, he had already picked up the syringe and injected anesthesia into the wounded man.

"Should you listen to me or you?" Wei Ran asked Hirano Aoi who was washing her hands.

"I'll listen to you," Hirano Aoi responded, "I've never seen such serious injuries before."

"You will take care of all the injuries other than fractures and dislocations. Once you are done, come and help me."

Wei Ran said, switching back to his native language, "You three come over here and help hold him down. Don't let him move."

Upon hearing this, the three members of the firewood collection team immediately came over and held down the wounded man.

"Cover your mouth"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already started helping the injured man recover his broken arms and dislocated fingers.

By the time he had carefully put on the splint, Hirano Aoi was also ready. Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately picked up a pair of pliers and cut the wire that pierced the wounded man's collarbone and palm.

This process is undoubtedly painful and cruel, but it is necessary.

A little time wasted to pave the way for the treatment of Hirano Aoi. At this time, the anesthesia had fully taken effect, and Hirano Aoi immediately started blood transfusion without any reminder. Wei Ran took advantage of this time to wash his hands and began to treat the gunshot wound on the wounded man's leg.

If we follow Wei Ran's previous treatment standards, if we want to keep the wounded alive and want to save him within the limited time, the most sensible thing to do is amputation.

But it was difficult for reason to prevail at this time. Wei Ran took a look at the blood transfusion channel that had been established and made a decision with gritted teeth. He wanted to save his leg, even if it was just for appearance, it would always look better than an empty trouser leg.

This also forced him to speed up, faster than ever before.

Gradually, the coffin shop that served the dead began to be filled with stronger and stronger smells of disinfectant and blood, and the person responsible for blood transfusion was replaced by a second person.

Fortunately, Hirano Aoi joined in, making Wei Ran's speed a little faster.

With her help, when the third person's blood transfusion was about to reach its limit, Wei Ran finally dug out the bullet embedded in the bone and sutured all the parts that had to be sutured together.

"Time?" Wei Ran asked while bandaging the patient.

"Seven o'clock and eight minutes," Hirano Aoi answered immediately.

"Don't give him water before dawn, or he will die." Wei Ran switched to his native language and warned, "When will they transport him away?"

"Early tomorrow morning"

One of the firewood-collecting team members whispered, "Someone will come to buy a coffin tomorrow morning. He'll pay a lot. We'll send it over on a cart."

"Is there any tetanus antitoxin?"

Wei Ran switched back to Japanese and asked, but at the same time he couldn't help but think of the child in the Xuqing Bookstore. Because of this, he didn't have any hope for the answer to this question.

“Yes, but it’s possible.”

"beat"

Wei Ran made a straightforward decision, "It's better than dying of tetanus."

Hirano Aoi was stunned for a moment, then took out the injection and prepared herself.

While she was pushing the antibiotics into the wounded man's body, Wei Ran had also finished bandaging the wound on his leg.

"Burn the old clothes immediately," Wei Ran whispered, "We'll need to find a doctor to continue the treatment after we send them away."

"Doctor Zhang is already waiting outside the city," one of the team members whispered hurriedly.

"That's good"

Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief and told Hirano Aoi the news.

"Please give all these to Mr. Zhang. They must need them very much." Hirano Aoi said as she packed the medical equipment that had not had time to be sterilized back into the box.

"If it's convenient, please give this box and its contents to Mr. Zhang."

Wei Ran helped translate, then asked Hirano Aoi to take off her surgical gown and gloves, and quickly walked out of the room.

At this time, Zhang Taichuan was already sitting in the car waiting, and the car was filled with thick second-hand smoke.

"Do you want to smoke?" Wei Ran asked Hirano Aoi.

"The smoke in the car is enough for me to drink a pot of wine"

As Hirano Aoi spoke, she had already gotten into the smoke-filled car, and the second half of her sentence was still in out-of-tune Chinese.

Wei Ran smiled, opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, then took the cigarette that Zhang Taichuan had helped to light and put it in his mouth.

"Today we accompanied Ms. Hirano to the county town of Shencheng and took pictures of the sunset and many vendors."

Zhang Taichuan stepped on the accelerator and said, "In addition, we also saw an old man performing monkey tricks and took a photo of him."

"I've got that in mind," Hirano Aoi said while coughing.

"Open the car window," Wei Ran said, puffing out smoke, "will we make it in time?"

"There's still time. Captain Jin will try to help delay it for a while."

Zhang Taichuan hesitated for a moment and then asked, "The wounded man."

"It depends on fate."

Wei Ran sighed. He was almost certain that even if the wounded man survived, his leg would probably have some sequelae to a greater or lesser extent. But as long as he could survive, he was at least sure that the leg would not be just a decoration.

"It all depends on luck," Zhang Taichuan sighed, but never explained the identity of the injured man.

"Carry the flowers."

Hirano Aoi, who was sitting in the back row, was quietly repeating Chinese words that she couldn't understand at all. No one knew what this extremely pale-faced girl was thinking at this moment.