War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1870 The Part Under the Sun
On the morning of the second day after Brother Yang delivered gifts on behalf of Jiaya and Jiaya's friends and boss, Wei Ran, Sui Sui and others walked into the security checkpoint as Sui Xin and Chen Luoxiang saw them off, and soon after, boarded a flight to Vladivostok.

Less than five minutes before the flight took off, Wanqiu, who came from Manila, also walked out of the airport alone, pushing a huge suitcase.

Although Sui Xin and Chen Luoxiang knew that such a helper was coming, they did not expect that he would come so soon.

Because of this, their car had just driven out of the airport and had not yet returned to the school where they stayed last night, but had to turn around and drive back to the airport.

Due to this little coincidence, when Wei Ran and others arrived in Vladivostok and boarded the fruit transport plane that was waiting for them, Wan Qiu, like a workaholic, had already devoted himself to the recruitment and interviewing of the founding team of the Wuming Theater.

“Let’s go to Volgograd first.”

Inside the transport plane filled with a lot of noise, Sui Sui, wearing a communication headset on her head, spoke as she took the fruit salad made by Lu Xinda using the tropical fruits carried on the plane.

"Go visit old man Nicholas?" Wei Ran asked as he took his portion of fruit.

"My parents haven't returned yet. It's reasonable for us to go and see them."

Sui Sui said as a matter of course, "By the way, bring some gifts to the elderly and children in Marta's House."

Wei Ran, who was originally a free man, naturally had no objection to this somewhat roundabout arrangement. It was indeed time for them to go and visit.

For most of the next day, as the transport plane took off and landed continuously, the various sweet tropical fruits and coffee beans in the cabin were unloaded at one airport after another. By the way, various goods that needed to be airlifted were loaded according to the "orders".

Finally, when Wei Ran, Sui Sui and others followed the last batch of fruits to land in Volgograd, even though there was a several-hour time difference between here and China, it was already around ten o'clock in the evening.

After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic crew members, the group just walked out of the airport's staff passage and saw Saveli and Zoya who came to pick them up.

"You are finally here"

Zoya hugged Sui Sui and others enthusiastically, and her husband Saveli also gave Wei Ran a bear hug.

"When will Uncle Alexei and Zhou be back?"

Zoya asked, her father Pasha and Susu's parents are old friends, their family was able to move from the cold polar region to the warm Volgograd, and the whole family was able to work in the Marta House founded by Mr. Alexander, all thanks to the help of Wei Ran and Susu.

“They’re still traveling”

Sui Sui explained, "We just came to visit you and Grandpa Nikolay. We will go back to Kazan tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

“You came at the right time.”

As Saveli led everyone into the car, he said, "Marta's House was recently expanded, and many elderly people and children were sent from the front line. A factory was even built there."

"Factory? What's going on?" Marta, who followed over, asked immediately.

"Get in the car first, I'll explain to you on the way." Zoya said as she opened the car door for everyone.

After everyone got in the car, Zoya helped close the door and sat in the passenger seat. At the same time, Savely slowly stepped on the accelerator.

While they were on the road, they also learned from casual conversation that Mr. Alexander, who runs a titanium metal smelting business, not only expanded Marta's House, but also helped invest in a not-so-large prosthetics production factory.

There is no doubt that except for the key technical positions, the rest of the people working in this factory are basically trained disabled people from Donetsk who came from the front line.

What was even more unexpected was that the director of this factory, or the honorary director, was Mr. Nicholas.

As for the security of the factory, it is undoubtedly those "Inta athletes".

When Saveli and Zoya finished introducing the changes that had taken place during their absence, the car had already driven onto Golonid Island and finally stopped at the door of the log house that Professor Alexei had bought as a holiday cottage.

"Mr. Nicola is too old, so at our request, he moved to Marta House a few months ago."

Saveli said as he pulled the handbrake, "Knowing that you were coming today, the gang friends sent a dozen girls to clean the place carefully this afternoon and replaced the bedding with new ones.

Zoya and I have parked a car in the garage in advance. You can decide to drive to Marta's House tomorrow morning, or wait for me to pick you up."

“The restaurant has prepared a midnight snack for you.”

Zoya reminded carefully, "If you need wine, it's in the garage."

"Thank you, we can just go to Marta's House by ourselves tomorrow."

Sui Sui then made another invitation, "Do you want to stay for a drink?"

“That’s not necessary.”

Zoya smiled and refused, “Although the two of us are not sleepy yet, you look very tired, so you should rest early.”

Hearing this, Wei Ran and the others did not insist. They thanked Zoya and Saveli and watched them leave. Wei Ran and the others immediately went into this exceptionally warm wooden house as if they were familiar with the place.

It was almost 11 o'clock in the evening. Although the people had been traveling all day and had no mood for a meal together, they still ate something simple to fill their stomachs and drank some sleep-aiding wine.

Just like they didn't have to worry too much about safety in China, the Kajianka sisters who returned to Russia habitually asked Wei Ran for two PSS pistols for self-defense while Sui Sui was taking a shower.

That night, the tired people slept particularly soundly due to the alcohol, so much so that when the roar of the engine came from outside the window the next morning, neither Wei Ran nor the other girls had gotten up yet.

He pulled open the curtains and took a look outside. Just by looking at the retro sedan, Wei Ran knew that it was old man Nikola who came.

"Is Zoya here so early?" Su Su asked as she got up sleepily.

"Not yet. It's old man Nicholas."

Wei Ran covered the other person with the quilt and said, "You continue to sleep for a while. I'll go downstairs to take a look."

"Okay," Sui Sui responded drowsily, and then fell asleep.

Wei Ran put on his clothes as quickly as possible and went downstairs. He then picked up the gift that Sui Sui had prepared for Nicholas in advance and walked out of the room.

"Long time no see, Mr. Nicholas." Wei Ran greeted as he opened the car door.

"Long time no see, good boy, come in and sit down." Nicholas greeted gently. On his legs was a big-eared fox wearing a flowery cotton jacket.

Although I haven't seen him for a long time, the old man is still in very good spirits.

"This is the gift that Aurora and I prepared for you," Wei Ran said, putting the several large gift boxes in his hands into the back of the car.

"What are these?" Nicholas asked with interest.

"We brought the foot bath tub with massage function and the silk quilt here specially."

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out a smart watch from the pile of gift boxes, tore open the box, and helped the other person put it on his wrist.

"This watch can monitor your physical health and, of course, your real-time location." Wei Ran said truthfully, "You can even use it to call us."

"You idiot, you actually plan to monitor a KGB?" Although Nicholas said this, he did not refuse Wei Ran.

"That's right"

Wei Ran nodded, "Old man, you are under surveillance. You must take care of your health in the future."

“Thank you for your concern”

Nicholas looked at the smartwatch on his wrist, then refused Wei Ran's request to teach him how to use it. Instead, he took out a pair of reading glasses and put them on. "Although I'm not as young as you, I'm not old yet. I can figure out how to use this thing myself."

“I believe you’ll be fine.”

Wei Ran stopped decisively. This old man who refused to admit his age had his own dignity, although this dignity was a little childish.

"There's a letter in the glove box"

Nicholas said as he swiped the not-so-big screen, and soon after he successfully found or figured out the voice control function.

While the other party was getting familiar with the smart watch, Wei Ran opened the glove box of the car, took out a letter and opened it.

"It was brought back by the kid named Sasha when he traveled to Papua New Guinea," Nicholas reminded casually.

Sasha? Lyubov's brother? Lyubov's son?

After matching the number of the so-so "Sasha", Wei Ran tore open the envelope he had just found.

There was no letter paper in the envelope, only a stack of color printed photos.

Taking them out and looking at them one by one, I found that all the photos were of little yellow-skinned boys.

These little boys even had a piece of cloth tied on their foreheads. On the cloth was not only a small red dot, but also two black characters "ten" and "seven" written on both sides of the dot.

Even without explanation, Wei Ran knew that this was the seventeen-year cicada cultivated by Gorman and Liu Ivan who had faked their death.

And looking at the muscles that are already beginning to show on the arms and legs of these little Japanese soldiers, it is clear that their training has been quite effective.

Continue flipping through the pages, and you'll see close-ups of the cicada babies' facial expressions. The expressions of these children are particularly determined.

"Sasha's father is a good teacher," Nicholas said, starting the car and taking Wei Ran along the seemingly repaired country road towards the shore of the island. "Also, thank you for your help with their family."

"nothing"

Wei Ran responded nonchalantly.

He knew clearly that the family Nicholas was talking about was not "Sasha's family", but the Gorman couple who had faked their death and their children.

Without continuing the topic, old man Nicholas remained silent and slowly drove the car towards the shore. Wei Ran, who also remained silent, slowly flipped through the photos in his hand. Even the big-eared fox hid its mouth in its crotch and remained quiet.

Soon after, the car stopped at the shore. A tent had been set up on the shore not far in front of the car, and even on the still frozen river surface, a fishing hole had been dug out and several fishing rods were set up.

"You camped here last night?" Wei Ran asked in horror.

“I’m not Superman”

As Nicholas spoke, he had already taken off the watch that Wei Ran had just put on him and placed it on the dashboard. He then took out his own cell phone and placed it on top. Then he stuffed the big-eared fox into his arms, opened the car door and explained, "I came here this morning and planned to catch a few fish myself and make some delicious food for you."

"You are the Soviet Superman"

Wei Ran muttered something secretly in his heart, then quickly took out his cell phone and threw it on the seat, pushed the door open, got out of the car, followed Nicholas who refused to be helped, and walked on the snow all over the ground to this camp where only tents were set up.

Seeing Nicholas sitting on a box and putting crampons on his shoes, Wei Ran simply used the photos and envelopes in his hand as kindling, lit a bonfire on the fire table, and then lit the small stove in the tent.

After rummaging through several boxes, Wei Ran found the sterling silver moka pot that was given to him by Mr. Charlotte from England but was taken away by Nicholas. He used the fire to make a large pot of coffee.

By the time he had set up a small pot and started cooking breakfast with the existing ingredients, old man Nicholas returned to the tent carrying five salmon, two large and three small.

"We're lucky, they're all salmon. The salmon tastes really good at this time of year." Nicholas sat down and took out the pet from his arms and put it back on his lap.

"What are you planning to eat?" Wei Ran asked while handing the other person a cup of coffee.

"If you're going to have breakfast with me, we can use this for sashimi."

As Nicholas spoke, he handed one of the smaller salmon to Wei Ran.

Taking the salmon, Wei Ran took out the butcher knife from the metal book under the cover of his sleeve, skillfully peeled off the fish skin and sliced ​​the fish meat, cut it into pieces and placed them on a split birch stake.

At the same time, old man Nikolai put a few slices of bread on the stove, opened a can of caviar, and even poured half a jar of vodka for each of them and habitually added some water to it.

"Tell me about your current situation"

Nicholas picked up a piece of salmon and brought it to the big-eared fox's mouth. He then picked up a second piece, dipped it lightly in the ground salt powder and put it into his mouth. "I only want to hear the part under the sun."

"no problem"

Wei Ran also threw a piece of fish into his mouth. After a little thought, he said, "Under the sun, I am now a postgraduate student, a shareholder and historical consultant of two film companies. Of course, I am also a well-known historian."

"And there are so many dazzling beautiful girls around you"

Nicholas picked up the enamel pot and clinked it with Wei Ran. "This is a perfect cover, Victor. You should thank your girlfriend. She is a smart girl."

"yes"

Wei Ran smiled and nodded, taking a sip of the bland vodka that was full of memories, "Those beautiful girls are too dazzling, and Aurora is too dazzling too.

The light they radiate makes many people not only not associate me with those things in the moonlight, but even my identity as a historian is often overlooked. "

"That's a good thing," Nicholas said with a smile.

"Yes, this is a good thing." Wei Ran nodded.

"From time to time, the children of Inta would bring me new pictures hanging in your library."

Nikolay said happily, "The stories behind those photos are very touching. In addition, I have good news to tell you. Karp and Anna are going to make a movie about my childhood experience by the Don River."

"Really?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"of course it's true"

Nicholas nodded. "Thanks to those kids who are good at computers, they made the filming of this movie much easier. Of course, thanks to Mr. Alexander for his investment."

"I can invest too," Wei Ran said, "I can even..."

"No, no, no, I would rather let Alexander, who was born in the Soviet era, do this."

Nicholas said proudly, "We don't need help from a Chinese boy like you."

"That must be a good movie," Wei Ran said with a smile.

"I will definitely do that"

As Nicholas spoke, he had already scooped a large spoonful of caviar and spread it on the bread slice, then put it into his mouth.

"Would you like to come back to live with me in Kazan?"

Wei Ran, who also picked up a piece of bread, spread caviar on it and invited him, "Or we can move back to Volgograd."

“That’s not necessary.”

Nicholas waved his hands contentedly, “I am living very happily in Marta’s House now, and I am also the director of the factory.

I don't need your care at all, and I don't plan to leave here, I want to die in the Volga.
Screw Volgograd, I'm going to die on the outskirts of Stalingrad."

After saying this happily, Nicholas raised his finger and pointed in a direction, saying with certainty, "Do you know the location of that battlefield?"

"Of course," Wei Ran nodded.

"I'm dead in the future"

Nicholas said expectantly, "Please scatter one-third of my ashes on the battlefield. Just scatter them anywhere. If possible, it's best to choose a windy day."

"What about the other two-thirds?"

Wei Ran asked calmly. For an old man of Nicholas' age, he was qualified enough to calmly talk about everything after death.

"Bury half of the remaining ashes in the yard I left for Jima's parents, and bury them together with my wife and children."

Nikolay said, "The rest will be sent to Fishing Ground No. 33. You and the Kakenkas will be responsible for burying me there."

"no problem"

Wei Ran agreed again, "But I still have more than half a year to go before I turn 27. Anyway, I don't plan to do this for you before I turn 45."

"In this case, I, a poor old guy, can only try to live another 20 years," said Nicholas with a smile.

"Deal," Wei Ran said, picking up the enamel pot.

"make a deal"

As Nicholas spoke, he also picked up the enamel pot and clinked it with Wei Ran.

After drinking the remaining light wine in the glass, Nicholas said, "Let's continue with the previous topic. It seems that you are also a celebrity in your China?"

"It was also because of those dazzling girls, but I was more low-key in China, but I also achieved some results."

Wei Ran told the truth, and also briefly talked about the people he had discovered who were of the same generation and "same industry" as Nikola, and of course, the nameless theater troupe that he and Sui Sui were planning to set up.

“That’s good.”

Nikolai nodded, and said with regret but also great relief, "Fortunately, the Soviet Union is gone. You are the most talented person I have ever met."

"Fortunately, the Soviet Union is gone," Wei Ran said with a smile, "So do you want to eat stewed pig's trotters and pork elbows?"

"Of course. I heard yesterday that you were preparing to come back, so I soaked the soybeans in advance." Nicholas said with a laugh.

This fox-like old guy understood Wei Ran's hint very well - fortunately the Soviet Union was gone, otherwise he would not be able to enjoy these delicious foods.

"In that case, let's go back after breakfast."

Wei Ran picked up another piece of fish meat and pressed it on the bread slice, then added an extra spoonful of caviar on top, "I'll get you something delicious."

"If there is a chance in the future, please have your troupe come to Marta's House to perform for the children."

Nicholas said with a kind smile, "Under the sunshine."

“It is an honor for me and our Anonymous Troupe.”

Wei Ran smiled and promised, "Once the troupe is established, we will definitely come to perform for you and the children."