War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1834 We Chinese have an old saying
In the room with three small gas lamps, Wei Ran was still performing surgery on Zhang Zhengqi. Hirano Aoi, who had calmed down through talking and crying, finally stood by the operating table again, changed into new gloves and began to help Wei Ran.

As the severed intestines were sutured one by one, as large amounts of saline were used to flush the contaminated abdominal cavity, and as the blood transfusion recipients were constantly replaced, time was passing in almost fast-forward fashion.

Finally, accompanied by the crowing of a rooster coming from somewhere, Wei Ran, who had never been so careful before, began the final suture.

He still had no confidence as to whether Zhang Zhengqi could survive in the end. He only knew that at least when he completed the final bandage, he was still breathing and his heart was beating.

"Wow wow wow!"

Just at this moment, the barking of the little yellow dog came from next door. Hirano Aoi panicked and subconsciously looked at Wei Ran.

"Come over quickly," Wei Ran urged without even looking up, "Remember to take off your clothes."

"it is good"

As Hirano Aoi spoke, she had already torn off her surgical gown and other items. She took one last look at Zhang Zhengqi who was unconscious on the bed, boldly bent down and gave him a kiss that lasted for a split second. Then she turned around and quickly ran out of the room. At the call of the mother in charge, she ran into a small room on the first floor and returned to the kitchen next door through a tunnel that had been dug in advance.

"Here we come, wait a moment!"

The mother in charge responded in Japanese, then pointed upstairs and whispered in Japanese, "Go upstairs and take a shower. After sending Mrs. Mieko away last night, Captain Jin and Mr. Wei were watching over you and the child all night because they were afraid."

"Child. Yes, child! Where is the child?" Hirano Aoi asked hurriedly in a low voice.

"He's upstairs too. The nanny has put him to sleep. Let's go check on him after we've dealt with the people outside."

Hirano Aoi nodded quickly, followed another old woman who had just blocked the hole with a stove and quickly went upstairs, went into a bathroom, took off her clothes as quickly as possible and started taking a bath.

"squeak"

Almost at the same time the door opened, the old woman who had sent Hirano Aoi upstairs had returned to the kitchen. She poured the red-hot coal balls in the iron bucket into the cast iron stove, and rubbed off the traces of the mobile stove with her shoe soles. She began to boil the ginseng soup that had been heated countless times.

"This is Mr. Hirano's private residence. There are only women in the house. You can't come in!"

At the gate of the house, the old woman who had already opened the door was shouting in Japanese at the several Japanese policemen outside.

"We need to ask Miss Hirano something."

The police officer outside the door was extremely respectful, “It’s related to the shooting that happened across from her clinic last night.

Someone saw Miss Hirano arriving outside the alley last night in a car from Musashino Photo Agency.

We have found the car and Ms. Mieko at the hospital, and of course, Mr. Kawaguchi.

Please tell Ms. Hirano that we have no ill intentions and are just conducting routine questioning of witnesses."

"Please wait outside the door."

The mother in charge said in Japanese, "I'm going to ask Miss Hirano's opinion first."

"No problem," said the Japanese policeman outside the door, and the mother in charge also closed the door.

At the same time, Wei Ran, who had bandaged Zhang Zhengqi's wound, also passed through the kitchen passage of this house and returned to the building where he and Zhang Taichuan lived together. At Zhao Jingrong's invitation, he walked into a room on the first floor with a large bathtub. There were a few grapefruit leaves floating in the bathtub.

"How's Zhengqi?" Zhao Jingrong asked in a low voice after closing the door.

“I’m still alive, but I don’t know if I can survive the infection.”

Wei Ran threw the clothes he had taken off into a tin bucket, walked into the shower room with a curtain, stood under the shower head, scrubbed his tired body and asked, "Where is the child? The child."

“The child has been buried.”

Zhao Jingrong replied in a low voice, "We are quite lucky. Yesterday at noon, the orphanage adopted a baby boy who survived a difficult birth. The mother was a White Russian nun in a foreign church.

The baby was sent to the orphanage on the day he was born, and I took him back to the orphanage before he could be registered. "

"Where is that nun?" Wei Ran asked.

"died"

Zhao Jingrong replied, "The child is alive, but the mother died of heavy bleeding."

"It's also a big draw."

"without"

Zhao Jingrong explained, "She is a proper nun. I have inquired about the child's father. He was a tyrant and was hacked to death in a fight a few months ago."

"Can the tyrant get together with the nuns?"

Wei Ran asked curiously. At the same time, the bucket of clothes he took off was handed to the kitchen room across a window by Zhao Jingrong, and was stuffed into the stove where flames were dancing by an old man who was cooking inside.

"That's what you said"

Zhao Jingrong sighed, closed the window and continued, "In this chaotic world, how can the foreign Buddha statues in the church be trusted as the bullies who bully the market?"

“Those foreign Bodhisattvas?”

Wei Ran sneered, "They themselves are nailed to the board and can't get down, how can they care about other people's lives?"

"Of course not," Zhao Jingrong said, but he sighed, "Bodhisattvas are so unreliable."

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Where are you going next?" Wei Ran asked.

"I have to go to Dayanma's house to have a look."

Zhao Jingrong said, "Just take your time to wash. Take a good bath in pomelo leaf water to get rid of bad luck. People in the south believe in this, so let's follow the local customs.

Remember, you and I stayed in the big horse yard all night to look after the child and Miss Hirano, and we didn’t come back until dawn.”

"I've got it," Wei Ran nodded, "When will the beast come back?"

"How would I know?"

After Zhao Jingrong finished speaking, he turned around and left the room, and helped close the door from the outside.

At the same time, at the gate of a house, the Japanese police were still waiting. They were really here to investigate for clues, and knowing that the people living here were overseas Chinese, their attitude was naturally much better.

"Gentlemen"

Zhao Jingrong, who was walking towards them, greeted them enthusiastically in Japanese, and then he came up to introduce himself with a smile and a nod, "I am Mr. Hirano's subordinate, Jin Fengrong, who was in charge of the Japanese Locust Station Firewood Recruiting Team."

"Mr. Jin lives here too?" asked the Japanese policeman.

Of course he knew Zhao Jingrong, who seemed to be a friend of Mr. Musashi, who was quite prestigious among the overseas Chinese.

"You are right. I live in the courtyard next to it."

Zhao Jingrong pointed behind him, and then asked in a friendly manner, "I wonder what the Taijuns want to talk to our Miss Hirano about?"

"We're here to find out about last night."

The policeman finally gave some face to Mr. Musashi, who had disappeared for several months, and patiently repeated the shooting incident that took place in front of the Lihua Theater last night.

"I know about this. I heard about it from Miss Hirano last night!"

Zhao Jingrong slapped his thigh and said, "Last night Miss Hirano was really scared! You don't know, Miss Hirano said that the gunmen were less than 20 meters away from the car she was sitting in!"

"Oh? So Miss Hirano saw the murderer?" the Japanese policeman who led the team asked immediately.

"Then I will"

"Squeak-"

Before Zhao Jingrong could finish his words, the dark door opened and the person standing inside was Hirano Aoi, who was wearing a kimono.

"Excuse me, police gentlemen"

Hirano Aoi bowed slightly, "I was just taking a shower and changing clothes, and was about to go to the hospital to visit Miss Mieko, so I was delayed."

"It's ok"

The policeman who led the team waved his hands and said, "Ms. Hirano, we are here..."

"I know"

Hirano Aoi glanced at Zhao Jingrong who was nodding and bowing outside the door, "Thank you, Captain Jin, for guarding me and my child all night last night. Please go back and rest first. The police officer will protect us."

“That’s good too.”

Zhao Jingrong agreed, "Mr. Wei and I are at home. If you need help, just shout. I can hear you."

"Please go back and rest." Hirano Aoi bowed slightly again.

"Please wait a moment," the policeman called out to Zhao Jingrong who was about to leave.

"Sir, please let me know if you have any requests." Zhao Jingrong quickly bowed and said, "We will fully cooperate."

“Is the building in the middle occupied?”

The police pointed to the closed door between the two buildings, where weeds were growing outside.

"That place has been deserted for a long time. Usually, all the wild cats and dogs would hide in that yard."

Zhao Jingrong replied, "It is said that the person who bought the place was also a recruiter. The last time I saw him was in autumn. I remember he said that he seemed to be going back to Kyoto and would probably come back in the spring."

Hearing this, the policeman nodded and said, "I don't have anything else to ask, please feel free to do as you please, Mr. Jin."

After saying that, the police chief walked into the house with a subordinate and locked his other subordinates and Zhao Jingrong outside.

After nodding and bowing to the policemen again, Zhao Jingrong took a few steps back, turned around and walked towards the building he had just left.

After a while, Wei Ran had finished his bath and symbolically soaked his whole body with the pomelo leaf bath water.

When he changed into the new clothes and new leather shoes prepared for him and walked out of the bathroom, the dignified Hirano Aoi also invited the policeman to sit down in the living room, hugged the sleeping baby tightly, and recalled what happened last night with a horrified face.

The two policemen could see that the Osaka girl named Hirano Aoi was frightened, otherwise she would not have started crying after just a few words.

But the two policemen also admired this young girl, who, despite her fear, had memorized the appearance of the two gunmen. Of course, there was no way the two policemen knew that the characteristics of the two gunmen described by Hirano Aoi were the two drunkards who had molested her on the cruise ship from Osaka to Shanghai.

Those two bastards scared her at the time and gave her nightmares for several days.

"You mean Captain Jin?"

Hirano Aoi was visibly relieved when she mentioned the other party, “Last night was all thanks to those three gentlemen.

It was Mr. Kawaguchi who drove me back to get the medicine box and medicines, and after the delivery, he drove Mieko to the hospital.

Mr. Jin and Mr. Musashi Ryunosuke rushed to help as soon as they received the news yesterday afternoon. They found many people who could give Mieko blood transfusions, which allowed Mieko to survive.

And yesterday, after learning about the shooting, it was Mr. Jin and Mr. Musashi Ryunosuke who stood downstairs with guns all night to protect me and my children. "

"They stayed in all night?" the officer asked.

"I don't know. I've been in my room, hiding under the covers."

Halfway through her words, Hirano Aoi looked at the other person as if she had just reacted, and asked angrily, "Mr. Police! Are you doubting me and those three gentlemen?
Mr. Kawaguchi is my brother’s translator! Mr. Musashi Ryunosuke is Mr. Musashi’s most proud disciple! And Mr. Jin, he is not only my brother’s subordinate, but also Mr. Musashi’s friend. Most importantly, they were together last night.”

Halfway through her words, Hirano Aoi looked at the old woman standing behind her and asked, "Did they leave last night?"

"Miss, Mr. Jin and Mr. Musashi Ryunosuke didn't leave the living room at all last night."

The mother in charge also did not give the police a chance to speak. She pointed to the teacups on the table and the ashtray full of cigarette butts and said, "They haven't cleaned up the teacups and ashtrays they used yet. They didn't go back until almost dawn."

"They didn't leave all night last night," Hirano Aoi continued angrily with red eyes, "You! How could you doubt them!"

“I’m not doubting them.”

The Japanese policeman waved his hands quickly, but before he could explain anything, the gate was pushed open from the outside, and then Hirano Daisho, still wearing his military uniform, hurried in.

"elder brother--!"

Hirano Aoi let out a long scream, ran out with the child in her arms, and threw herself into her brother's arms, crying loudly - at the same time, she was trying her best to resist the instinctive disgust in her heart.

"Why did the beast come back? What a coincidence?" Wei Ran, who was hiding behind the window on the second floor, asked with great joy while watching the situation in the yard next door.

“I didn’t expect that either.”

Zhao Jingrong was stunned for a moment, then he breathed a sigh of relief. The beast came back in time, and the game was broken. Now it depended on whether Zhang Zhengqi could survive.

"Old Yan is going to take the blame for what happened last night?" Wei Ran asked, "How?"

"Old Yan has already run away anyway."

Zhao Jingrong raised his chin toward the window and said, "As long as those Japanese policemen are not stupid, they will always find a reason."

"The key is what the beast thinks," Wei Ran said softly as if talking to himself.

"Do you think Ichiro Hoshino is still alive?" Zhao Jingrong asked in a low voice.

"Hard to say"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at Zhao Jingrong, "Is Musashi the old ghost going to take the blame?"

"In the final analysis, Aoi took away Musashi's business."

Zhao Jingrong said, "Now that Boss Mu is gone, whoever takes over his business will not affect the money I and my master can make, and it will not affect your second uncle either. He is the translator of the beast, and I am on his side."

"So the biggest suspect is Mr. Musashi," Wei Ran smiled, "It looks like I'm in trouble. No, it looks like Hirano Daisho wants to bribe me."

"It's your turn to be the banker, and it's also Mr. Hirano's turn to be the banker." Zhao Jingrong smiled, "Mr. Musashi, please don't come back at this time."

"It's just the difference between killing one more or one less."

Wei Ran looked out the window at Hirano Daisho who hurriedly left with Hirano Aoi and the baby, then glanced at the policeman who came out with his face covered for some reason, and said with a smile, "I guess the police will come to question us. Will Captain Yan be discovered?"

"will not"

Zhao Jingrong answered confidently, "It sank in the Huangpu River. If it hasn't sunk to the bottom by now, it's probably out to sea."

"Can't float?"

"There's a big oil barrel with holes in it, and there are two pieces of top-quality stone material inside." Zhao Jingrong said as he and Wei Ran left the room and walked downstairs.

However, before they reached the first floor, the door of the house where the head of the firewood-collecting team lived was knocked - the one who knocked was Hirano Daisho.

"It looks like the police won't have a chance to question us. Let's go."

Zhao Jingrong said in a low voice, and then walked to the gate with Wei Ran. On the way, they each took a heavy food box, which was nominally prepared for postpartum women.

As the door opened, Hirano Daisho bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle and said with great gratitude, "Mr. Jin, Mr. Wei, thank you for saving my Mieko, thank you for protecting my son and my sister. Thank you! Thank you!"

"Mr. Hirano, you're welcome!"

Wei Ran and Zhao Jingrong reacted very quickly and put down the food boxes in their hands. They quickly returned the greeting and bowed, saying, "It's nothing. It's what we should do."

"Mr. Hirano, we are friends."

Wei Ran also said loudly, "We Chinese have an old saying, 'I will take care of your wife'. This is what we should do!"

"laugh"

Zhao Jingrong, who was bowing deeply, almost laughed out loud, but he couldn't help but whispered, "Is this sentence specially used here?"

"He is a weed and doesn't understand."

Wei Ran also answered in a low voice. There was a big door between the two of them and Hirano Daisho, so there was no need to worry about the other party hearing their whisper.

"Ryunosuke is right!"

Hirano Daisho said, "We are friends, trustworthy friends!"

"We are indeed friends who are worthy of trust and reliance!"

Zhao Jingrong hurried out the door and supported Hirano Daxiang, saying, "If Mr. Hirano wants to thank someone, he should thank Kawaguchi first. He risked his life to drive Miss Hirano back to get the medicine box last night, and he also drove Mieko to the hospital."

"Yes, yes! I really want to thank Kawaguchi!" Hirano Daisho said, "I'm going to the hospital now, you guys come with me!"

"We're just about to go."

Wei Ran picked up the two food boxes at his feet and said, "We also prepared breakfast for Mrs. Hirano."

"It was prepared by everyone in the firewood collection team."

Zhao Jingrong said quickly, "Mrs. Hirano gave birth yesterday afternoon, and several people donated blood for her. After learning that Miss Hirano was in danger, everyone patrolled this alley all night and prepared some food in advance."

"Thank you everyone, thank you!" Hirano Daisho was really moved and bowed again to the drivers in the yard.

After the somewhat cumbersome Sakura-style courtesy, Wei Ran and Zhao Jingrong followed the Hirano siblings and quickly walked out of the alley, where a car belonging to the Japanese military station was already waiting.

Naturally, this car could not accommodate so many people, but Hirano Daisho thought of a way to get off the car. He then handed the driving job to Zhao Jingrong, while he and his sister Hirano Aoi sat in the back seat, carefully teasing the baby in the cradle.

After Wei Ran sat in the passenger seat and closed the door, Zhao Jingrong immediately drove to the hospital. At the same time, Wei Ran also heard the conversation between the brother and sister behind him.

"Were you the one who delivered Mieko's baby last night?" asked Daisho Hirano.

"Ok!"

Hirano Aoi nodded. "It took Mieko a long time to give birth to this child. Thanks to Ryunosuke's help, he knew some Russian. It was also with his encouragement in Russian that Mieko was able to give birth to this child."

"Oh? Ryunosuke knows Russian?"

"I studied with a Russian missionary in Tianjin for a period of time," Wei Ran said. "His name is Alexi, and he is a very devout Christian."

"Did Mieko say anything at that time?" asked Daisho Hirano.

"She told me her old name, and she also gave your child a Russian name." Wei Ran said with a smile as he looked at the baby in Hirano Aoi's arms.

"what is it call?"

Hirano Daisho asked, "What is her Russian name? What is the name of this child?"

"Esther Leibovich Elizaveta Goldstein"

Wei Ran replied, "This is Mieko's name. She named this beautiful little guy Morpheus, which means the god of dreams.

I guess she must have chosen such a nice name because she felt like she was dreaming every day after being with you."

"Haha! That's right! This is indeed a beautiful dream!"

Hirano Daito gave up after trying to repeat the name and failed, laughing and saying, "This is my first son, he is really a dream! I will also give him a Japanese name!"

"Brother, I don't think now is the time to waste energy on naming."

Hirano Aoi said, "Mieko has had a severe hemorrhage. I am worried that she may get an infection later. The supplies are already very tight. Brother, you have to find a way to get some medicine for Mieko."

"This is indeed a problem," Hirano Daisho calmed down and said seriously, "I'll find a way."

You have to think of a way to solve it!

Wei Ran sighed secretly. He was almost certain that even if her good brother Hirano Daisho could get the medicine that Hirano Aoi wanted in her previous sentence, half of it would probably be used on Zhang Zhengqi in the end.

However, it was only the end of 1942.

At this point in time, penicillin, which was almost everywhere in the anti-Japanese dramas of later generations, was nowhere to be found in Shanghai at that moment, or even in the whole of China.

In other words, whether it was the pregnant woman Esther or Zhang Zhengqi, their only option at the moment was sulfa.

But that shit
Wei Ran sat up straight and looked at the scene receding outside the window, but his heart felt cold.

Zhang Zhengqi had been injured once, and he was very worried about whether sulfa would still be effective on his wound, especially the infection that was very likely to occur in the abdominal cavity.

It depends on fate.
Wei Ran inexplicably repeated in his heart, not knowing whose blessing he was asking for.