War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1841 Debt Note

That afternoon, Zhang Taichuan took Zhao Jingrong, Lin Qiaoan and Wei Ran to the morgue on the second floor, playing mahjong. With the electric fan on, they began to think about how to deal with the problem of Ichiro Hoshino.

"The best way is to kill him," Zhao Jingrong said as he played with a mahjong tile. "Kill him the day he arrives in Shencheng."

"Kill him and it will be easier"

Lin Qiaoan said, "But if Ichiro Hoshino dies, there will be another Ichiro who will jump out. Our problems have not been solved in reality. Not only our problems have not been solved, but the beast's problems have not been solved either."

"What if you control him?"

Zhang Taichuan suggested, "Didn't he fall in love with the Malay woman you arranged for him? She was the one who left the photo studio."

“That’s definitely the method.”

Lin Qiaoan nodded, "That woman is still alive. Let's find a son for the old ghost."

"I'm afraid not"

Wei Ran spoke up at this time, "Unless we can completely control his social life and his usual speech, but that requires a complete ban. In a place like Shencheng, especially with his connections among the Japanese, this kind of thing is simply impossible and will be easily exposed."

"Do you have any ideas?" Zhang Taichuan asked.

"Ichiro Hoshino must take control"

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment and said, "And after you control it, you must leave Shencheng immediately and leave with a legitimate reason."

"Leaving with a legitimate reason?" Zhang Taichuan and the other two frowned.

“It’s enough to be legitimate in name only.”

Wei Ran said, "Actually, he is still under our control. As long as he leaves Shencheng, no matter where he is, he will be in our hands.
No, it's better to be far away, the farther the better, and then everything can be communicated by letter or telegram.

This will give him enough time to react and give him enough control."

"How come you are so skilled at this kind of thing?" Zhao Jingrong asked curiously.

"I'm sure you've been wanting to deal with that old ghost this way for a long time, right?" Lin Qiaoan joked.

Wei Ran smiled and didn't explain, but continued, "Now it depends on whether it can be implemented. We'd better find a good enough reason to trick him into temporarily leaving Shencheng on his own initiative."

"We need Hirano Daisho to be the raft"

Lin Qiaoan gently slammed the mahjong tiles in his hand, "We need a lead, one that will be enough to make the old ghost excited."

"My cousin in name only."

Zhao Jingrong said, "The director of Dongyi Photo Studio back then, that stupid woman who couldn't control her pants, just ask her to write a letter."

“I’m afraid it’s not enough”

Zhang Taichuan said, "The old ghost is interested in Miss Hirano now. That girl alone may not be enough to attract him."

"Then let Miss Hirano follow Mr. Hirano and leave Shencheng together," Wei Ran said.

"Let her leave?"

"Departure in name only"

Wei Ran said, "What the old ghost is interested in are nothing more than those antiques, and at most Hirano Aoi who is tied to the antiques. In this case, let these things leave Shencheng with Hirano Daxiang. It's also a nominal departure."

"Where to send it?" Zhao Jingrong asked.

"I remember Hirano Aoi once said that she had a sister in Saipan." Wei Ran smiled, "Let's send her there in name only."

"Mr. Musashi will go crazy when he hears this news?" Lin Qiaoan said with great joy.

"I'm afraid we need to stimulate him further," Wei Ran said, "this is not enough."

"Let's put this aside for now. Will the beast really be tempted?" Zhao Jingrong asked.

"His family is still in Osaka. It's useless for him to be interested," said Zhang Taichuan.

“That’s all we can think of.”

Lin Qiaoan said, "You've thought too much, so it's inevitable that the beast will get suspicious. In addition, the focus tonight is to get him drunk, but not too drunk.

We need to cooperate well and buy enough time for Liuzi. Also, Wei Ran, you have to get drunk first and be carried back. Then the reshoots of the photo albums will be left to you."

"In this case, we need to move some of the things from the photography agency back as soon as possible."

Wei Ran immediately said, "I need to zoom in."

"Don't worry, we have them all."

Zhang Taichuan pointed to the next door before Wei Ran finished speaking, "It's next to the surgery room. It has all the printing equipment, which is no worse than the one in the photo studio."

"When was all this prepared?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

“That’s too early.”

Zhang Taichuan pushed down the Great Wall in front of him and said while shuffling the cards, "You hadn't come yet at that time. I was still working in a newspaper office and often needed to secretly take photos of some materials."

“At that time, those things were all placed on the third floor of the theater.”

Lin Qiaoan said as she helped shuffle the cards, "Later, we bought this place and the house next door, and moved those things over here."

"Let me go and take a look later," said Wei Ran, who was also shuffling the cards - their game was over.

Just as Wei Ran went downstairs and crossed the tunnel again to return to the next door to check the printing darkroom, Hirano Aoi had already arrived at the military station with her brother Hirano Daisho.

Only the brother and sister, whose respective positions have quietly changed, know what they talked about.

But it was obvious that as night fell, Hirano Daisho, who was almost a frightened bird, came back with a locked suitcase.

At this time, Zhao Jingrong had already arranged for someone to set up a large table of mixed Japanese and Chinese dishes at the Hirano siblings' home, and also placed several bottles of white wine and several bottles of foreign wine.

Before the alliance banquet began, Hirano Daisho carried his suitcase back to the room where he and his deceased beauty lived, staring blankly at the photos on the wall, at the still young and beautiful Western woman in the photos.

Ugh.
Hirano Daisho breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know why, but ever since Mieko left, no matter how much medicinal wine Zhang Taichuan prepared for him he drank, he could not muster any interest in matters between men and women.

He just thought that he might be too infatuated, and because of this, every time he walked into this room, he couldn't help feeling sad.

Of course, he didn't know that Zhang Taichuan had already replaced his medicinal wine with another one after Dayangma's death.

If those medicinal liquors today could be taken to the future for scientific testing, it would be normal to find motherwort ingredients in them.

After staring at the photos in a daze for a while, Hirano Daisho opened the locked wardrobe in the room, put the locked suitcase he brought back in it, and then locked the wardrobe door again.

He closed the doors and windows worriedly, locked the room for the last time after leaving it, then put the key in his pocket and went next door to check on his beloved son who was being taken care of by his younger sister, Aoi Hirano.

Although the child did not look much like him, Hirano Daisho was extremely satisfied. He was 100% sure that the child was his.

Because of this, he has made up his mind that even for the sake of this child, he will not allow anyone to take advantage of him!
Finally, he picked up the baby and kissed him, then went downstairs to the living room where a table of wine and food had been prepared.

"Mr. Hirano"

Zhang Taichuan, who was waiting at the stairs, stopped Hirano Daxiang, led him into a side room and whispered, "To be on the safe side, I think we need to get Musashi Ryunosuke drunk first."

"You worry"

“You can never be too cautious at this time.”

Zhang Taichuan said, "Mr. Hirano, he has been an outsider in the business from the beginning to the end. Even if we don't doubt him, I don't think it's necessary to let him get involved in our troubles."

"Okay," Hirano Daisho nodded, "Let's have a few more drinks with him later."

"We really need to have a few more drinks with him," Zhang Taichuan repeated with a smile.

In a few words, they formed a united front by saying "let's get one drunk together". Zhang Taichuan and Hirano Daisho were the first to sit at the table, followed by Hirano Aoi who changed into a kimono and came down from upstairs.

"Do you think my sister is pretty?" Hirano Daito asked casually.

"Ms. Hirano is the most beautiful, kindest and gentlest nuclear recruiting girl I have ever met," Zhang Taichuan complimented her, picking up the nice words that the other party liked.

Hirano Daisho didn't say anything, but just warmly invited Hirano Aoi to sit on the other side of him.

A moment later, Zhao Jingrong and Lin Qiaoan also took their seats.

"Where is Mr. Wei?" asked Boss Mu.

"I asked him to go back and get some wine," Zhang Taichuan said, "It's okay, let's eat first."

With just one sentence, Zhao Jingrong and Lin Qiaoan seemed to have realized Wei Ran's status in this drinking party. They immediately and enthusiastically helped the Pingye brothers and sisters to pour each of them a glass of Zhaohe's plum wine, and then they started to eat, drink and clink glasses.

It was not until the five people had finished a round of drinking that Wei Ran finally arrived with two bottles of Wangmao wine, and he punished himself with three cups.

In the following drinking session, except for Hirano Aoi who occasionally advised everyone to drink less, Zhang Taichuan and the other two, as well as Hirano Daxiang, were particularly enthusiastic and frequently clinked glasses with Wei Ran, who was not the protagonist at all. It only took less than half an hour to successfully get him drunk under the table. Watching the two old women helping the drunk Wei Ran leave, Lin Qiaoan picked up a pot of sake and poured it for Hirano Daxiang, "Mr. Hirano, can we talk about business now?"

"It's true that we can talk now." Hirano Daisho raised his glass and clinked it with everyone.

When these "insiders" began to discuss countermeasures, Wei Ran, who had originally had unsteady steps, regained his composure the moment he walked into the gate of the house he rented. Without even waiting for the door behind him to close, he took off his coat and threw it to a member of the firewood collection team, then ran to the room where the tunnel was hidden, and went through the tunnel to the next room.

At this time, in this overgrown yard, two wild cats from unknown houses were fighting. In the room on the second floor, Liuzi, wearing gray clothes and a pair of Japanese pig's hoof split-toe shoes on his feet, climbed up to the roof through the window quietly, climbed to the next door carefully, and then disappeared into the attic dormer window that was not closed at all.

"Don't worry," Xiaowu, who was waiting in the yard, whispered, "Liuzi is very skilled. He can pry open the American lock in two moves. It's not difficult for him."

"Can he find it?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"Definitely"

Xiaowu answered confidently, "Ms. Hirano has asked the maid to inform us of the styles of the suitcases and photo albums. There is no mistake."

"That's fine"

Although Wei Ran said this, his attention was still on the dormer window next door.

Fortunately, after waiting for less than ten minutes, Liuzi had already climbed out of the dormer window and returned quietly to the second floor of the house.

A moment later, he ran downstairs, took out a thick photo album from his arms and handed it to Wei Ran.

'Not Found'

Without waiting for any inquiry, Liuzi whispered, "Mother Guan prepared the keys to the door and cabinet in advance, so it didn't take much effort to open the broken box."

"Come and help me"

Wei Ran took the photo album and walked into the room that served as a darkroom, and started working with Xiaowu and Liuzi.

They were pretty lucky because there was a negative behind every photo in this album, and some even had more than one negative.

But the contents of the photos that were developed and kept as souvenirs were more cruel than the last, so much so that Xiaowu and Liuzi had to take deep breaths again and again to calm down their emotions.

Compared to them, Wei Ran was exceptionally calm. Originally, he was planning to reshoot or use the negatives in the album to reprint, but now, when he saw these negatives, he had a new idea.
He planned to make copies of these negatives, and he even planned to leave the copies to Daisho Hirano.

This idea was undoubtedly greedy and risky, but Wei Ran still couldn't help but start trying it.

With the help of Xiaowu and Liuzi, two laymen, Wei Ran cleaned each piece of film in a fairly detailed manner as quickly as possible. Then he drove the two brothers away and asked them to knock on the door gently at one-minute intervals to help with the timing. He himself busily began to make positive copies of each original film.

This process is a bit complicated, requiring him to laminate the original film and the unexposed film together for a second exposure, which inevitably involves some steps that require dark operation.

With each exposure, the secrets hidden by Hirano Daisho were reproduced one by one.

But this is not the end. The positive films have not been exposed yet. Even if they are exposed, the previous steps will have to be repeated again, and then the copies produced will be similar to the originals.

As time passed, the banquet next door came to an end after all the plans were discussed. The drunk Hirano Daisho returned to the room drunkenly with the help of Hirano Aoi and Zhang Taichuan, unlocked the door and walked in.

After saying a few simple greetings to Zhang Taichuan and his sister, Hirano Daxiang locked the door and checked the locked window with concern.

Finally, he even opened the locked wardrobe and took a look, only when he was sure that his suitcase was still there did he breathe a sigh of relief and staggered down to the bed.

He drank quite a bit in this self-help drinking party.

It started with plum wine, then the Chinese strong liquor that got Wei Ran drunk, the sake that he liked to drink, and the foreign liquor that Hirano Aoi liked to drink.

Out of habit, he poured himself a small cup of medicinal wine that was no longer effective and drank it all. Without even taking off his clothes, Hirano Daisho lay down on the bed, crying silently as he missed the Western woman who was hanging on the wall.

A moment later, Hirano Daisho fell asleep as his tears hit the pillow, but he did not see the person he wanted to see all night.

That night, Zhang Taichuan and Zhao Jingrong got drunk and vomited several times. That night, Lin Qiaoan, who had a strong alcohol tolerance, commanded the grain-collecting team temporarily lent to him, and took away those "antiques" of Hirano Daxiang from the theater that belonged to him and hid them overnight.

That same night, Wei Ran finally made satisfactory copies of each negative before dawn.

However, due to time and equipment limitations, the photos developed from these copies are somewhat inferior to the originals.

Even so, Wei Ran put the copy back to the corresponding position in the album, and kept the original and the positive film used to make the copy.

“The next step is the second chance.”

As Wei Ran muttered to himself, Liuzi took the photo album, stuffed it into his arms, ran up to the second floor, climbed over the dormer window next door in the dark before dawn, and began to wait patiently.

Around five or six in the morning, Hirano Daisho, who had been drunk the night before, was awakened by thirst. Taking advantage of the light outside the window, he picked up the teapot on the table in the room, poured himself a large cup of cold tea, and then lay back on the bed.

However, less than 20 minutes later, Hirano Daisho, who had fallen asleep again, suddenly woke up, covered his stomach and ran to the bathroom.

At the same time, Liuzi, with his face covered, came down from the attic carrying an identical teapot and tea bowl and slipped into his bedroom as he walked into the bathroom.

He first replaced the teapot and teacups in the room with the ones in his hand, then he quickly opened the locks on the wardrobe and suitcase and put the photo album in them.

However, before he could lock the box, he heard the toilet flushing in the bathroom on the second floor.

After looking around, Liuzi gently closed the wardrobe door, picked up the replacement tea set, and hid under the bed lightly.

Almost at the same time, Hirano Daisho also came back, holding his stomach and lying back on the bed.

However, less than five minutes had passed before he turned over again and ran out of the room in a hurry.

Coming out from under the bed again, Liuzi locked the suitcase and the cabinet door as quickly as possible. He carried the replaced tea set downstairs and handed it to the old woman who had already gotten up and started preparing breakfast, then went back to the next door along the tunnel.

"Put it back?" Wei Ran, who had not slept all night, asked in a low voice.

"It's back," Liuzi nodded, "It's in the original position, it hasn't changed at all."

"Thank you for your hard work. I'm going back now."

Wei Ran patted the other person's shoulder, then went back to the next room on the other side through the tunnel. He had drunk a lot last night and had been busy all night, so he was already very sleepy.

While Wei Ran was snoring and Hirano Daxiang was jumping, the morning sun jumped onto the heads of everyone in Shencheng as planned.

But it was just overnight. All kinds of antiques that were originally piled up in the Lihua Theater disappeared overnight. Also disappearing were a few spies who were staring at this place and whose origins were unknown and who had no need to know.

Near noon, Hirano Daisho, who had diarrhea for most of the morning, felt a little better and returned to the military station with the suitcase that he cared about most. In order to save his family, he had to come back at this time even if he had to suffer a setback.

Almost at the same time, Wei Ran, who had just woken up, learned about Zhang Taichuan and Zhao Jingrong's entire plan.

"This is the rough plan we discussed with the beasts."

Zhang Taichuan said, "Nominally, after Mr. Hirano left, I took Miss Hirano's entourage and left Shencheng with her to meet with Hirano Daxiang at Feilu Funeral.

At that time, Hirano Daxiang agreed to leave a letter, inviting Laogui to Feilu Funeral to make money with him, and he would indicate in the letter that this was an invitation from their old friend, Boss Mu. "

"This letter will be left at the photo agency, and Lao Gui will also leave a letter at that time." Zhao Jingrong said, "I will leave with Lao Gui."

"Where are we going?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

“Go to Portugal and Macau”

Zhao Jingrong said, "I will take Lao Gui to Portugal and Macau to take care of him and keep him in contact through correspondence."

"Someone will leave Shencheng for me, Ms. Hirano."

Zhang Taichuan said with a smile, "When you come back, Miss Hirano will return to Shencheng as Mr. Musashi, no, as Mr. Hoshino Ichiro's adopted daughter. This identity is enough to do a lot of things."

"I guess Mr. Musashi won't have any objection," Wei Ran said with a smile.

"He will definitely not have any objection," Zhang Taichuan agreed with a smile, his smile was particularly bright.

"Wei Ran, have you got the photos in that album?" Zhao Jingrong asked a new question.

"It's out. Come with me to take a look." Wei Ran said as he stood up, walked out of the morgue used for discussing things, and went through the tunnel to the next room.

Time was tight last night and Wei Ran did not have time to develop the photos before he hurried back to sleep. Because of this, all they could see at this moment were the original negatives placed on the flashlight covered with a white cloth.

This might be a good thing, because it was in these negatives that Zhao Jingrong found his home in Fengtian, saw Hirano Daisho sitting at the table in Mopanyuan with a samurai sword in his hand, and saw his blood relatives at his feet.

"That's my sister. My sister Jingxian."

Zhao Jingrong murmured to himself as he looked at the film through which the light passed. On that small piece of film was recorded a girl whose body was left in pieces after being blown up by a grenade. Even so, Zhao Jingrong recognized her at a glance - she was his biological sister.

"This revenge. This revenge"

Zhang Taichuan looked at the bodies hanging from the barn in another film on the lamp, and took deep breaths to relieve his emotions. Finally, he said with difficulty, "This revenge will be avenged."

"Collect these"

Zhao Jingrong said to Wei Ran seriously, "Except for developing a copy for Miss Hirano, don't throw away any of these negatives. These are debt notes. We will have to use these debt notes to collect debts in the future."

"Do not worry"

Wei Ran turned off the flashlight and made a promise from the future, "I will not lose any of these, even if I lose my life."

(End of this chapter)