War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1856 The world is both big and small
"Now that we have finished discussing the threatening letter and Hirano Daisho, Mr. Wei, why don't we talk about something else?"

In this traditional Japanese restaurant, Mao Musashi started a new topic without any warning, or rather, she couldn't wait to do so.

"Other things? What things?" Wei Ran asked curiously. He even put down the Lucky Beans that he had only taken two bites of.

"I searched for your information on the Internet last night," said Mao Musashi.

“I’ve seen it too!”

Qianxun immediately agreed, "The sisters around him are so beautiful! If only they could be signed to He Shao..."

“That’s not what I wanted to say.”

Mao Musashi said quickly, "Of course, the girls around Mr. Wei do have good images."

"How about we talk about business?"

Wei Ran glared at Sui Sui who was smiling like a little fool beside him, and tried to get the topic back on track with a somewhat helpless look.

"I know you are a very famous historian"

Mao Musashi said, "Mr. Wei, I would like you to help me find my father and mother."

"Who are you looking for?" Wei Ran's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

"My dad, and my mom."

Mao Musashi repeated, "My father's name is Kentaro Musashi, and he joined the JRA under the influence of Gentaro and Chiyoko.

But he is not as clear-headed as Gentaro and Chiyoko, or as gentle as them, and he has never quit the JRA.

Of course, he wasn't wanted by the JRA either, I guess it was because he was hiding well."

"Do you want me to help you find your father?" Wei Ran asked again.

“And my mother”

Musashi Mao said, taking out a palm-sized photo frame from her pocket and pushing it to Wei Ran, "This is my father, Musashi Kentaro, and my mother. Sorry, I don't know her name."

After taking the small metal photo frame from the other person, Wei Ran's hands couldn't help but tremble.

This is a color photo, or to be more precise, it is a color 600 type photo paper.

He didn't know how many types of instant cameras used this film, but he happened to know that the Polaroid 600 instant camera used this film.

He happened to know that a couple from Doctors Without Borders used such a camera in Beirut.

That seems to be
An orange Polaroid 600 EMS version of the instant camera
Then
How many 600-type Polaroid cameras are there in Beirut?

This is still an unknown, but
"Mrs. Musashi, can I open this photo frame?" Wei Ran asked.

"sure"

Mao Musashi said, "Last night Chihiro seemed to tell you something about my father. He sent me back to this house in the winter of 1982 and then immediately returned to Beirut. He never showed up again.

All I have of him and my mom is this picture frame and a shortwave channel.”

At this point, Musashi Mao took a deep breath and pointed to the radio frequency band clearly engraved on the back of the stainless steel photo frame that was only the size of a cigarette box. "I still remember that when Chiyoko was teaching me how to use shortwave communication to send telegrams, she told me more than once that if I had anything to say to my father, I could just send him a telegram on this channel."

"What time period?" Wei Ran asked.

Mao Musashi raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then quickly replied, "Tokyo time every day from 11 to 12: in the morning, or from : to noon."

Hearing this, Wei Ran just did a quick calculation and sighed in his heart. These two time periods happened to be the time when Beirut was not busy.

"Do you know what your father does in Beirut?"

When Wei Ran asked this question, he had already taken out a pair of silk gloves and put them on. He carefully opened the stainless steel photo frame in his hand and slowly pulled out the photo paper.

Sure enough, there were a few lines of Japanese written on the back of the photo paper: In 1981, in Beirut, I met the person I loved deeply.

Wei Ran fell into reminiscence as he looked at the Japanese words written on the back of the photo. Unfortunately, as far as he could remember, he didn't seem to have met the two people in the photo in Beirut.

"I don't know. I guess he was fighting," Musashi Mao replied. "I don't even know if he used his real name at the time."

"Is this the only photo frame he left behind?" Wei Ran asked.

"only these"

Musashi Mao nodded, "It is said that he left it for me when he sent me back."

"Were all the telegrams sent to him clear?"

While Wei Ran asked the new question, he had already taken out his cell phone and handed it to Sui Sui beside him. The latter tacitly turned on the camera function and took a photo of the front and back of the Polaroid photo.

"The encryption was done by using the katakana shift method using the 50-character syllabary."

Mao Musashi, who looked increasingly surprised, quickly explained, "It's hard to explain if you don't understand Japanese. Chiyoko said that this method is almost impossible to explain to people who don't understand Japanese. Of course, that was in that era."

"Although I don't know Japanese or katakana, even in that era, there was no encryption method that was unsolvable. Of course, cultural differences can make people confused for a short time."

Wei Ran carefully put the Polaroid photo back into the frame and gave it back to Mao, "But that's not the point. It's enough for me to know that the telegram was encrypted."

"Can you really find them?" Mao Musashi asked excitedly.

“I can’t guarantee that.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he took off his gloves and took the phone handed to him by Sui Sui. He sent the photos he had just taken, along with Musashi Mao's request, by email to Yashar, the fat chef of Rabbit Rider, and the new generation of Doctors Without Borders and their helpers.

As for whether the time difference would disturb their sweet dreams, Wei Ran didn't care. The fat man Yashar was most likely riding the rabbit, but the others were not certain.

Sure enough, in less than five minutes, Mr. Holler was the first to respond - he would help ask and was honored to have the opportunity to help Wei Ran.

"I have started investigating, but I can't guarantee that I can find it in the end." Wei Ran said as he put away his phone.

"Has it already begun?"

Mao Musashi panicked after hearing this and said quickly, "Please wait a moment! We haven't discussed the commission yet! Even if I sell Chihiro, I can't come up with such an outrageous sum of 20 euros!"

"Mom! What drunken talk are you talking about!" Chihiro, who had already finished half a sandwich, no, six sandwiches, shouted in dissatisfaction.

“This is not drunken talk”

Mao Musashi made an analogy that didn't seem right, "He's like the most expensive cow in Tokyo."

Fortunately, the words she hadn't finished saying didn't come out because Chihiro covered her mouth in time.

"My mother's brain has been damaged by alcohol." Qianxun apologized repeatedly, "Please ignore her drunken words."

"It's okay," Sui Sui said happily, "I have a father like him, so he's already used to it."

"I really want to thank the professor's good daughter on his behalf," Wei Ran shook his head helplessly.

"Anyway, I really can't afford that much money." Musashi Mao pushed Chihiro's hand away and said, "I originally wanted to fight..."

"For Hirano Aoi's sake, this time it's free."

Wei Ran spoke first to stop the other party from making the shocking statement that was about to come out of his mouth, and then said, "But I really can't guarantee whether I can find it."

He really had no way to guarantee it. No matter what, he didn't want to go to Beirut again. All he could do this time was to "ask a friend."

"That's okay"

Musashi Mao breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, "I was planning to hire you as a commission for the things I kept. Since Mr. Wei is willing to help me, whether I find him in the end or not..."

Before Mao could finish her words, Wei Ran's phone rang with an email alert.

"Please wait"

Wei Ran opened the email and found it was a reply from Yashar. In this email, there were also the front and back of a Polaroid photo.

Sure enough, Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh when he saw the content sent by the other party.

This world is so big that two people who are waiting for each other may never see each other again in their entire lives.

Sometimes this world is too small, so small that two people who seem to have nothing in common can intersect because of a piece of photo paper.

Just as he guessed, the photo of Mao Musashi's parents was indeed taken with that camera.

In the photo sent by Yashar, an Asian man with a beard who did not look very tall was sitting on the side of the operating table, holding a woman in his arms who seemed to have stopped breathing.

There were deep wounds on the woman's face that could be seen to the bone. One of her eyeballs was hanging out and had not been treated yet. Her left hand had been blown off at the elbow.

He had been to Beirut, and he could even recognize that the photo was taken in the hospital outside the refugee camp. Even if he couldn't recognize the background of the photo, he was absolutely sure that the woman's arm was definitely blown off.

But even so, the Palestinian woman leaning on the man's arms was still holding a baby girl whose umbilical cord had not yet been cut.

Because the original photo was taken clearly enough, and because Yashar took the photo clearly enough, he can even see it clearly from this retake.

The woman was wearing a ring that looked like it was made of a bullet shell on her right ring finger, which was barely resting on the baby. The Asian man holding her also had a wedding ring on his left ring finger, which was from the front line of the battle.

He seemed to be deliberately showing their wedding rings. Was he trying to prove the legitimacy of the baby's birth?

Wei Ran didn’t have an answer, so he looked at the second photo sent by Yashar.

This is the back of the photo. It says in Arabic mixed with Japanese:

The daughter of 8th generation fighter Hana Amir and internationalist fighter Musashi Kentaro from JRA, her names are Lea and Musashi Mao, and her birthday is September 1982, 9.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran finally turned up the brightness of his mobile phone screen, saved the two copied photos in the album, then gently placed them on the table and pushed them to Mao Musashi who was sitting opposite him with both hands.

"I think I found your father and mother."

Wei Ran said, "If that date is your birthday, then I understand why your father gave you this name."

After just one look, Mao covered her mouth. She had never seen her father and mother, but she recognized at first glance that the people in the photo were her parents.

"Let's go outside and get some fresh air."

As Wei Ran spoke, he stood up, holding his own breakfast, and left the restaurant with Sui Sui and walked towards the courtyard outside, temporarily giving the restaurant to Mao.

"very nice"

Sui Sui, who was also holding breakfast, sat cross-legged on the wooden porch and spoke without any context.

"What's good?" asked Wei Ran, who sat next to her.

"Isn't it great that Hirano Aoi has changed as a person again?"

Hoho picked up the super thick sandwich with both hands and took a big bite. While chewing, she said, "Although Mao's father's choice may be a bit too violent, he is at least just, isn't he?"

"That's true." Wei Ran also picked up the super thick sandwich on the plate and took a bite.

"I don't know if her father is still alive, but at least her family has slightly changed my negative view of nuclear recruiters."

Sui Sui continued as if she hadn’t noticed the three little idols approaching from behind, “At least I’ve confirmed that there are still righteous people among the nuclear recruits.

If someone talks to me about this topic in the future, I can tell them with certainty that I know several nuclear recruiters who can be called righteous. "

"It seems that her wish has really come true," Wei Ran said with a smile.

"Hirano Aoi?"

"Hmm" Wei Ran nodded and took another big bite of the sandwich. He had never thought that this crappy thing tasted so good.

"So will you keep looking?" asked the girl named Chizuru. "Can you find Mao's father?"

"I can't guarantee it," Wei Ran answered truthfully.

Before the three little idols could say anything, and before Sui Sui could say anything, Qianxun came out of the living room, bringing Wei Ran's phone with her. "Mr. Wei, my mother said that she plans to give you everything we have saved after the cartoonist makes his choice."

"Give it to me? Why?" Wei Ran asked puzzledly after taking the phone.

"She said the best destination for these things is to send them to China."

Qianxun said bluntly, "But she doesn't want to attract attention. For a nuclear recruiter, it takes a lot of courage to donate these things to China. She admires Hirano Aoi and wants to be that kind of person.

But she didn't have the courage to do it, she was worried that it would cause trouble for the parents of the three of them."

"How could this happen?"

"I understand"

Wei Ran nodded without waiting for the three kids to finish their words. Mao's action was undoubtedly the wisest approach based on practical considerations - especially since the father of the twins was a policeman.

No matter what kind of policeman he is, given the seniority-based office bullying and xenophobia of the devils, he might really get into trouble because of Mao's donation of these things.

"Thank you for your help."

Qianxun paused, bowed and said, "If...if it's convenient, I'll take care of my grandfather's affairs."

"I try my best"

Wei Ran responded seriously, then found Xia Shushi on WeChat and once again made a voice call without caring whether the other party was awake or not or what he was doing.