War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1836 I don’t know
After taking a special group photo standing on a stool, Wei Ran's heart sank when he saw that there was no white light rising in the viewfinder or around it.

If white light had appeared when he pressed the shutter button just now, he would still hope that Zhang Zhengqi would survive.

But now, it is clear that his "witness work" in this time interval has not been completed, so what is he witnessing? Death?

Suppressing the speculation in his mind, Wei Ran helped move the table to the side and took a few more photos of Zhang Zhengqi.

When he stopped pressing the shutter, Hirano Aoi, who had been sitting quietly beside him, handed him the film she had taken out, "Mr. Wei, there's no need to rush to develop the photos in here."

"it is good"

Wei Ran took the film and simply responded. He understood the other party's subtext - Zhang Zhengqi was still alive.

"Do you think he will survive?" Hirano Aoi asked herself as she looked at the unconscious Zhang Zhengqi.

"I do not know"

Wei Ran answered truthfully. He had not received any systematic medical training. All he was good at was kicking a person who had one foot on the verge of death back in the most brutal way. However, whether the person could survive or not required more professional rescue.

Unfortunately, although Hirano Aoi may be more professional than Wei Ran, her expertise is limited, especially as they lack sufficiently efficient penicillin.

But in this era, where can we find penicillin in this place like Shanghai? Can we cultivate it ourselves?
Don't be ridiculous. That dad didn't even want to give him an extra cup of hot cocoa back then. How could he let him take advantage of this opportunity now?
"I don't know either," Hirano Aoi muttered worriedly.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Wei Ran asked abruptly, "Reckless love? But he will never accept you."

"I am very clear about this matter. Please don't talk about it every time, Mr. Wei. It's too frustrating."

Hirano Aoi said helplessly, "Also, this is not some reckless love. I am sure that this has nothing to do with love, and there is no love between him and me at all."

"What is that?" Wei Ran asked.

"In Mr. Wei's eyes, are all those who recruit nuclear personnel evil?" Hirano Aoi asked back.

"You are the first kind nuclear recruiter I have ever met."

Wei Ran said truthfully, "I'm not even sure whether your kindness comes from nature or love."

"Does the nuclear recruiter have such a bad reputation in Mr. Wei's mind?" Hirano Aoi sighed.

"Ms. Hirano shouldn't ask me this question," Wei Ran said calmly, "Perhaps you should ask the nuclear recruiter himself."

"I can't refute it," Hirano Aoi sighed, "I hope I will have such a chance to ask everyone in the future."

"I hope they can answer truthfully when the time comes," Wei Ran sighed meaningfully, "Ms. Hirano, we should leave here."

"Will he survive?" Hirano Aoi asked again.

"I don't know," Wei Ran answered again.

"I don't know either"

Hirano Aoi sighed and was the first to leave the lightless room.

"Brother Wei, can he survive?" asked Xiaowu, who had been guarding here since last night.

"I don't know either"

Wei Ran gave a unified reply, but in his native language, "Xiao Wu, take care of yourself too. You can't collapse at this time. We can't spare more people to take care of you, and we may have to evacuate here at any time."

"I know, don't worry, Brother Wei."

Xiao Wu patted his chest and said, "I'm in good health, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of the young master."

"Let me take a picture of you guys too." Wei Ran said, "You sit next to him."

"Hey! Good!"

Xiao Wu responded hurriedly, raised his sleeves and wiped the corners of his eyes vigorously, then sat down beside the operating table with a forced smile, held Zhang Zhengqi's hand, and let Wei Ran take a photo of them.

"I'm going back too," Wei Ran said after putting away his camera.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him." Xiao Wu made the assurance again.

Without saying anything more, Wei Ran walked through the tunnel and returned to Esther's home.

At this time, Zhang Taichuan was drinking tea at the table in the living room. The sound of a wet nurse coaxing a baby to sleep could be faintly heard from the second floor. However, Hirano Aoi seemed to have returned to her room.

"What's the situation?" Zhang Taichuan asked while helping Wei Ran pour a cup of hot tea.

“Everything is fine for now”

Wei Ran took the teacup and answered ambiguously in a low voice, "The next two days are critical. If you can get through it, you can get through it. If you can't, there's nothing anyone can do."

"Go back and rest."

Zhang Taichuan said, "I'll just stay here and guard it."

"You too, take care of yourself." Wei Ran said.

"Go ahead, go back and have a good sleep." Zhang Taichuan waved his hand, "I'll call you if there's anything."

"Then I'll go back first."

Wei Ran put down the teacup, stood up and left the living room, then opened the dark courtyard door and walked out.

Wei Ran returned to his own room in the rented house and fell asleep without even taking off his clothes.

He had to let his body rest as quickly as possible in order to be able to deal with the danger that could occur at any time - the danger from the operating table.

Not long after, Wei Ran fell asleep. However, Hirano Aoi, who lived one building away, tossed and turned in her own room, thinking about various problems, but she was not sleepy at all.

When Wei Ran woke up, it was already completely dark outside the window, and the lights in the other rooms were on.

I stretched my body and walked out of the room. A member of the firewood collection team who was guarding the door immediately whispered, "Mr. Wei, the food is still hot. Would you like to eat something first?"

"No need," Wei Ran waved his hand, "What's going on next door?"

"Ms. Hirano just went over to check," the firewood recruiter said, "Mr. Qin said there's nothing serious."

"Where are Mr. Qin and Captain Jin?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"Mr. Qin just went to the hospital to deliver food to the big horse and the beast. Captain Jin is guarding Miss Hirano in the yard over there."

The firewood collector led Wei Ran downstairs and said, "Also, Translator Qin asked me to tell you that after dinner, please develop the photos you took of the beast during the day and send them to the hospital."

"I see"

Wei Ran agreed, picked up the bowl of porridge on the table in the living room, picked up the chopsticks, filled his stomach as quickly as possible, and then hurriedly left the house.

Wei Ran took a rickshaw to Musashino Photo Studio. Having been completely awakened by the cold wind on the way, he immediately went into the darkroom and started working.

Needless to say, the contents of the camera that apparently belonged to him were basically all of Hirano Daisho's family's. These all needed to be developed and sent to the hospital.

As for the photos he took of Hirano Aoi, Zhang Zhengqi and even Xiaowu, they are all in the camera provided by the metal notebook. Just as Hirano Aoi said, there is no rush to develop them.

In the film that Hirano Aoi gave him, Wei Ran found some other interesting photos in addition to the few selected photos of the baby.

Among these photos, some are photos of Hirano Daisho wearing military uniform, some seem to be photos of the safe in his office, and some are photos of different keys in a bunch of keys.

What is this for?
Wei Ran looked at the safe that had been photographed again in the light. He vaguely remembered that Hirano Aoi seemed to have asked where the album that recorded her brother's murder moments was.

Did she want to get that photo album? When were these taken?

Wei Ran thought for a moment, then selected the photos of the baby taken in the roll of film and developed them into photos.

As for the rest, there was no rush. He just waited for the film to dry, rolled it up carefully, and hid it in the accessory compartment of the twin-lens reflex camera's leather case in the metal book.

After patiently waiting for all the photos to dry, Wei Ran put them into an album, then left the photo studio and rushed to the hospital in a rickshaw.

However, when he walked into the ward, he found that although the food boxes and other items delivered in the morning were still there, there was no one on the bed.

Not only was Esther, who was a patient, not there, but Hirano Daisho and Zhang Taichuan, who was supposed to be here, were also not there.

"Hello, where have the patients here gone?" Wei Ran stopped a Japanese nurse and asked.

"In the emergency room," the nurse raised her hand and pointed in a direction, "over there."

"Thank you"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already run over quickly, and at the same time, he already had some premonitions in his heart. As expected, the big foreign horse might not be able to hold on for much longer. He trotted all the way to the emergency room at the end of the corridor. Hirano Daxiang was sitting on a bench, looking at the closed wooden door of the emergency room with a worried look, and his eyes were red.

Next to him was Zhang Taichuan, holding a windbreaker in his hand.

"Ms. Mieko"

"Postoperative infection," Zhang Taichuan explained immediately when he saw it was Wei Ran.

"How long has it been pushed forward?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

“It’s been over an hour.”

Zhang Taichuan asked knowingly, "Why are you here? Is there something wrong at home?"

As expected, Hirano Daito looked over after he said this.

"Everything is fine at home. Captain Jin and the members of the Seichai team are protecting Miss Hirano and the child."

Wei Ran said as he handed the photos he had just developed to Hirano Daxiang with both hands, "Mr. Hirano, these are photos taken this morning. I hope they can bring you some strength."

"Thank you, thank you, Ryunosuke, thank you."

Feeling very vulnerable at the moment, Hirano Daisho gratefully took the envelope containing the photos. As he flipped through the photos one by one, he couldn't help but fall into memories.

“You’ll be sad too.”

Wei Ran, who was still standing, looked at Hirano Daisho coldly, but said some bland but sincere words of comfort, such as "Ms. Mieko will be fine."

Before Hirano Daito could finish looking at the stack of photos in his hand, the wooden door of the emergency room was pushed open by a nurse from the inside.

"How is Mieko?" Hirano Daito immediately stood up and asked nervously.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hirano," the Japanese nurse said, bowing. "She didn't survive."

"pat"

The stack of photos in Hirano Daisho's hand fell to the ground. Among the photos scattered on the ground were photos of the baby, photos of Mieko, and even photos of their family of three.

"Kawaguchi, Ryunosuke"

Hirano Daisho reacted and said while picking up the scattered photos on the ground, "Please, please send her home."

"What about you, Mr. Hirano? Where are you planning to go?" Zhang Taichuan asked as he and Wei Ran helped him pick up the photos.

"me."

Hirano Daito took the photo hesitantly, but ultimately was unable to give an answer and just left the hospital alone.

"It turns out that he has a heart of flesh and blood."

Zhang Taichuan looked at Esther who was pushed out, and muttered to himself in Chinese that only Wei Ran could barely hear.

"yes."

Wei Ran looked at the body of the young woman on the hospital bed and responded in the same unclear voice.

"Do you think she is innocent?" Zhang Taichuan asked.

"she?"

Wei Ran pointed with his chin at the lifeless woman lying on the hospital bed.

"right"

"never mind"

Wei Ran sighed, "Compared to this, shouldn't we follow Mr. Hirano?"

"Don't worry, there's someone here."

Zhang Taichuan said in a low voice, then he perked up and started to go through various procedures.

After working for about half an hour, Zhang Taichuan drove the car to the hospital entrance, opened the door and allowed Wei Ran to carry Esther's body in.

In silence, he rushed back to the alley entrance. Before the car stopped, a member of the firewood collection team came up, bent over and looked inside, then opened the car door and whispered anxiously, "Mr. Wei, please go and have a look. He... He has a severe fever. Miss Hirano is so worried that she is crying."

"I'll go right away"

Wei Ran and Zhang Taichuan looked at each other, pushed open the car door and rushed in at a trot.

Under the guidance of Zhao Jingrong, Wei Ran ran into Esther's house, passed through the tunnel in the kitchen and came to the next door.

When he walked into the room, he found that not only Hirano Aoi and Xiaowu, but also the brothers Wang Fu and Wang Gui were there.

"Da Wei."

"What's the situation now?" Wei Ran asked Hirano Aoi in Japanese without waiting for them to greet him.

"High fever, convulsions."

Hirano Aoi suppressed her panic and replied, "I have just injected sulfathiazole, and also injected it in the morning and at noon, but..."

"It seems that sulfamethoxazole is of no use to him anymore," Wei Ran sighed. The situation he was most worried about happened.

"What should we do now?" Hirano Aoi asked in panic. She was not much more professional than Wei Ran.

"Wang Fu, call someone over for a blood transfusion."

Wei Ran, who had also lost his direction, forced himself to calm down and said, "Those who have been here before should not come, and those with different blood types should not come to cause trouble, as it will kill him.

Translator Qin can't come either, his blood can't be used, first come if there are any, first come four people, hurry up."

"I'll go right away!" Wang Fu said as he ran out of the room.

"Will this work?" asked Hirano Aoi.

"I don't know," Wei Ran shook his head, "I hope it will be useful."

“I hope it helps.”

Hirano Aoi sighed. She couldn't think of a better way, but she knew that if she did nothing, Zhang Zhengqi might really die.

Soon, Wang Fu brought several members of the grain-collecting team, and Hirano Aoi immediately began to prepare for the infusion.

But these members of the grain-collecting team did not know that Wei Ran was dealing with the situation according to the method for sepsis. As for whether it would work, he really had no idea.

The only thing he could be thankful for was that as the first person's blood entered Zhang Zhengqi's body, he finally stopped trembling.

But perhaps even Hirano Aoi knows that this may just be a false appearance, and what is coming will come sooner or later.

"I want to stay here tonight," said Hirano Aoi.

"This is not something I can decide," Wei Ran sighed.

"Who decides? Mr. Qin or Jin?"

"Mr. Daisho Hirano"

Wei Ran replied, "If he doesn't come back tonight, you can stay here. If he comes back, you have to go back immediately."

“He’s still in hospital.”

'He has left the hospital'

Wei Ran sighed, "Meihuizi, or Esther, she has also returned."

"Come back? Why?"

"Dead, she's dead." Wei Ran explained, "No matter if she's innocent or not, she's dead."

"Is that really the case?"

Hirano Aoi was stunned for a moment, then sighed, "Will he die too?"

"It all depends on fate." Wei Ran couldn't help but say this blessing filled with helplessness once again.

"Then, let's just wait and see."

Hirano Aoi sighed. This time, she spoke the Chinese sentence exceptionally well.