War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1899 Going Home Needs No Reason

In the large house with a small courtyard on the first floor, where the elderly couples Cheng Huaiqian and Cheng Xiaoxian lived together, Li Yizhong and Lu Yue were surrounded by the two families in the warm living room, as they recounted the story of Grandpa Cheng from their memories to the two elderly couples.

On the coffee table in the living room, besides fragrant tea and fruit, all the remaining space was reserved for the two anti-Japanese broadswords, both bearing numerous nicks and chips.

"I remember, I remember the battle in Hengyang City."

The elderly Cheng Huaiqian sighed, "That was the last time I saw my father. I always thought... Alas!"

After that sigh, Cheng Huaiqian refused the help of his nephews and nieces and stood up on his own. "Wait a moment, I'll go get some things."

“My father has never believed that my grandfather died in battle, and he still doesn’t believe it to this day.”

Chen Fengnian, Cheng Huaiqian's eldest son and the eldest of the four brothers, sighed. He seemed to have guessed what his father, Cheng Huaiqian, would bring out—Wei Ran had a rough idea as well.

As everyone waited patiently, Cheng Huaiqian emerged from his bedroom, carrying a patched-up Japanese-style bag and a satchel printed with "Serve the People".

"This was given to me by my father 44 years ago, the last time I saw him," Cheng Huaiqian said, opening the tattered Taro bag and taking out a heavily chipped Japanese lunchbox.

Under the watchful eyes of Wei Ran and the other two, Cheng Huaiqian opened the lid and tray of the lunchbox and took out a Leica camera in a leather case.

This camera was left to me by my father.

Cheng Huaiqian said, "Starting from 44, every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival, I would use this camera to try to take a family photo."

At first, it was just me and my uncle Chen Shun taking photos. Later, my younger brother Xiao Xian joined us. Then, we all got married, had children, and my uncle passed away. So, the number of people in the two group photos we take every year has been increasing.

I've always thought that if my dad ever comes back, I could show him around and have a good talk with him about this whole family.

As he spoke, Cheng Huaiqian took out a photo album from the satchel printed with "Serve the People" and opened it.

Upon seeing the five photos on the first page of the album, Wei Ran couldn't help but shudder.

The first photo is a group photo of Cheng Guanyin, who suffered from mustard gas burns, his wife Liu Yanzhi, and their son Cheng Huaiqian. All three of them have sad expressions on their faces, and the background is the house that serves as a hospital ward.

The second photo shows Cheng Guanyin, covered in wounds, embracing Cheng Huaiqian in his arms, with the same house in the background.

The third photo is a picture of Cheng Guanyin and his wife Liu Yanzhi, still in that house.

The fourth image shows Cheng Guanyin, wielding a large sword, leading the wounded back to the battlefield.

The fifth photo, however, shows Liu Yanzhi, wearing a nurse's apron, holding Cheng Huaiqian's hand with tears in her eyes.

Turning the page, on the next three or four pages, the only people in the group photo are Chen Shun and Cheng Huaiqian. Then, Cheng Bingquan's family of three appears. This time, the background is the rock on the banks of the Xiang River, and a young Cheng Xiaoxian carrying an anti-Japanese broadsword.

As you flip through the photos, Cheng Bingquan and his wife Huang Qingqiu appear only a few times before abruptly disappearing. The only people left in the group photo are Chen Shun, Cheng Huaiqian, and young Cheng Xiaoxian. The background of the photo has changed to the seaside, but the big knife is still there.

Not long after flipping through the photos, Chen Shun disappeared, and only Cheng Huaiqian, a young girl with braided hair, and Cheng Xiaoxian, who was still holding that big knife, remained in the photos.

Later, Cheng Xiaoxian had a girl by his side, and the girl with braids next to Cheng Huaiqian had a chubby baby in her arms.

As time went on, more and more people appeared in the group photos, and the Cheng brothers gradually aged from their prime. However, the photos, starting from a certain page in this album, changed from black and white to color.

"Is this camera still usable?"

Wei Ran looked at the Leica camera on the coffee table with curiosity and asked, "This is a rare Leica IIId camera. The number produced is extremely small, but it has a Selfie lever."

He clearly remembered that the camera came from a frontline junior officer named Yang Qizhi during the Battle of Shipai.

"It works. It's been repaired countless times over the years."

Cheng Huaiqian said, "During the most difficult years for our family, we couldn't bear to sell this camera, just in case my father came back."

At this point, Cheng Huaiqian fell silent.

"I'm sorry, sir, we're late," Li Yizhong said apologetically.

"It's not your fault, sigh! How can I blame you all?" Cheng Huaiqian sighed. "At least we found it."

"Old man"

Wei Ran asked, "Why don't you all discuss it and see who goes to bring Senior Cheng Guanyin back?"

"Yes, it's time to discuss this matter," Cheng Huaiqian said. "I'm still able to move around, so I have to go."

“I’m healthier than you, so I have to go too.”

Cheng Xiaoxian added, "My father kept mentioning my uncle when he passed away, so I definitely have to go."

“You four brothers, the second and third are with you, while the eldest and fourth, along with their female relatives, are at home making preparations.”

Cheng Huaiqian arranged, "Forget about the younger generation; they all have jobs. Ask around and see who can come back to kowtow. I still have some money; I'll cover the travel expenses."

"No need for plane tickets."

Wei Ran said, "I've arranged everything. You just need to give me your ID cards, and we can go get the passes today."

"Once we arrive in Tainan, my family will arrange everything, including a hotel."

Li Yizhong then added, "My father and my grandfather received a lot of care and love from Cheng Azu when they were young. It's a good thing that Cheng Azu is able to come home this time. My family and Yueyue's family also want to do something to help."

"This"

"Let's prioritize getting Elder Cheng home first," Wei Ran said. "Everything else is minor."

"Alright"

Mr. Cheng Huaiqian was decisive enough to accept the kindness of Wei Ran and his two nephews and nieces, and he even let his younger relatives take photos of their ID cards and send them to Wei Ran.

After passing this information on to Qin Ershi, Wei Ran and Li Yizhong tacitly refused the Cheng family's offer to stay overnight. They allowed Cheng Xiangshui to drive them to a nearby hotel, while also urging the family to apply for travel permits as soon as possible.

"Brother Wei, what are you planning to do?"

In the hotel room, Li Yizhong finally couldn't resist his curiosity.

"Sui Sui has already applied for flight routes."

Wei Ran gave a sufficiently extravagant, yet absolutely necessary, answer.

"I'll give you that camera set after this is all over."

"That's fine."

Wei Ran waved his hand, "Actually, I have no interest in collecting old cameras, and I have not been hired by you to do so."

At this point, Wei Ran solemnly introduced himself, "Let me reintroduce myself; I also serve as the honorary deputy head of the CBI Family Reunification Team."

"Um, hello," Li Yizhong said awkwardly, shaking hands with Wei Ran.

"So I'm doing this on a voluntary basis."

Wei Ran smiled and said, "But once they arrive in Tainan, we'll have to trouble you to take care of them. I can only handle their transportation."

"No problem, leave these to me!" Li Yizhong patted his chest and made his promise.

After roughly agreeing on the plan, Wei Ran returned to his room and went straight to sleep.

Meanwhile, the Cheng and Chen families, as well as Mr. Li Minghua and his close friend Mr. Lu, who lived far away in Tainan, all began intensive preparations for Cheng Guanyin's early return home. Naturally, Sui Sui, who lived far away in Kazan, also began preparations.

Things went much more smoothly than anyone expected. On Wednesday morning, the family, led by the two old men, Cheng Huaiqian and Cheng Xiaoxian, received their travel permits.

It was around noon that day that an An-74 small plane with a new paint scheme landed on Qing Island, following a pre-approved route.

The fuselage of this small plane is decorated with a pattern of the Great Wall and a white dove carrying an olive branch, with the five large golden characters "Loyal Souls Return Home" in the center. On the tail, there is the emblem of the family-finding group and the words "1931-1945".

Witnessed by numerous cameras, and watched by Qin Ershi and Xia Shushi hiding behind the cameras, Wei Ran and Li Yizhong, along with the elderly Cheng Huaiqian and Cheng Xiaoxian's family, boarded the plane specially prepared by Sui Sui.

Our first stop is Huanghua International Airport for a short refueling stop.

Sui Sui, who appeared as a crew member, explained, "Then we will fly directly to Tainan Airport and make a stay of up to 48 hours before returning via the same route."

"So this counts as a non-governmental exchange?" Lu Yue asked in a low voice.

"This is the best way."

Sui Sui said with a smile, "That's exactly the reason why the CBI Family Search Team exists."

"It's just to let the venerable Cheng Guanyin go home."

Wei Ran gestured for Sui Sui to sit beside him and said, "It's just going home. Going home doesn't need a reason or conditions." "Indeed," Li Yizhong sighed, "Going home doesn't need a reason."

"I bet there are still many veterans whose ashes are waiting to be sent home, right?"

Having already been reminded, Sui Sui asked, "We can actually do this together in the future."

The CBI's family tracing team has ample experience and manpower to help veterans return home.

I will talk to my dad about this.

Li Yizhong made his promise, understanding that this was the beginning of contact between the two sides, and that it was for the same goal—to bring more veterans home.

After a somewhat long flight, the small plane, which had flown in from Vladivostok, took off again after a refueling stop in Changsha and finally landed at Tainan Airport.

When Cheng Huaiqian and the others walked out of the airport led by Wei Ran and Li Yizhong, Mr. Li Minghua and Mr. Lu had been waiting at the arrival gate for a long time. Also waiting was a middle-aged man whose appearance was somewhere between Mr. Li Minghua and Li Yizhong. Obviously, he was Li Yizhong's father.

At this point, there was nothing more for Wei Ran and Sui Sui to do. The two of them, along with the Kazhenka sisters who also appeared as crew members, habitually walked at the back of the group.

“It’s pretty much what I expected,” Sui Sui said with a beaming smile.

"What are your expectations?" Wei Ran, pushing a huge suitcase, looked at the other person with confusion. "What are your expectations?"

"I knew you'd find Grandpa Cheng's family!" Sui Sui said proudly. "I knew I was right!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran simply smiled, pushed his enormous suitcase, and followed the crowd out of the airport.

Led by Li Yizhong's father and grandfather, the group traveled by car to the cemetery to pay their respects to Cheng Guanyin, who was buried in the same cemetery as Li Xiaowu.

Immediately afterwards, the group traveled by car to Mr. Li Minghua's Old Shanghai Photo Studio.

This time, the three-wheeled motorcycle that was originally placed on the second floor of the garage had been moved to the yard in advance. Li Minghua, who was over seventy years old, and that old man Lu were recounting their memories of "Uncle Cheng" as if they were old friends.

However, at this moment, Wei Ran did not listen in. Instead, he took Sui Sui and the Kajenka sisters to Lu Yue's guesthouse not far away.

This is where they will be staying tonight, and also where Cheng Huaiqian's family will be staying.

In the not-so-spacious courtyard behind the building, Wei Ran finally opened the oversized suitcase he had brought.

There's nothing else inside, just the small hanging stove that the Zhao family father and son made for Wei Ran.

As the charcoal fires above and below the hanging stove were ignited, Wei Ran skillfully began to work in the borrowed kitchen.

"Is this the skill you learned in a week?" Sui Sui asked curiously from the kitchen doorway, her face covered in flour.

"Of course."

Wei Ran said smugly, "I can't use anything else now that I'm living off a woman. The real skill is in making sesame cakes, preparing sausages, and stewing meat. I'll make it for you whenever you want to eat it."

"And now?" Sui Sui asked, "Why did you come here specifically to do it?"

"This story begins with Lu Yue's great-grandfather."

Wei Ran, who was scalding the dough, sighed and briefly recounted what he knew before saying, "Although we came here to bring Cheng Guanyin home, it's rare to meet a descendant of a fellow villager. Putting everything else aside, at least let Lu Yue's grandfather have a taste of his hometown food on behalf of his father."

"I'm full and I don't miss home," Sui Sui said subconsciously.

"Yeah, when you're full, you don't miss home," Wei Ran muttered, before getting busy with his work.

"Let me help you!"

As Sui Sui spoke, she had already rolled up her sleeves. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Keep an eye on Kachenka and don't let them touch anything on the cutting board."

Wei Ran assigned him an extremely important, even crucial, task.

That evening, at the banquet for the Cheng and Chen families, a large plate of sausage and salted tofu soup was placed in front of Grandpa Lu, along with a basket of sesame seed cakes.

“I ate these things in the spring of 1988.”

At the dining table, Mr. Lu picked up a crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside sesame seed cake, skillfully broke it open, and stuffed it with a generous amount of sausage. "That was my first time going to the mainland, with my father."

After saying this, Mr. Lu took a big bite of the sesame seed cake with sausage, chewing it as he said, "It tastes exactly the same as this. I ate it at the entrance of the village where my father grew up."

The villagers who were eating with me said that my father's parents, brothers, uncles, sisters, nephews and nieces were all killed by the Japanese devils, not one of them was left.

After that, my father never went back. He said he was too ashamed to go back, and I never ate that food again.

"The war is over"

Wei Ran made a sesame seed cake with sausage for Sui Sui in the same way, saying, "That kind of thing will never happen again, and you will be able to go home soon."

"Go home early."

Grandpa Lu sighed, then took another big bite of the sesame seed cake, chewing it laboriously with his not-so-strong teeth, trying to find the taste of his hometown in it.

The reburial ceremony began early the next morning after breakfast. Cheng Huaiqian's youngest son, Cheng Xianggen, drove the three-wheeled motorcycle carrying Cheng Guanyin's ashes, and led by Li Minghua in a Mercedes-Benz sedan, which was not far away, to the airport. They eventually drove directly into the not-so-spacious cabin of the specially painted An-74 transport plane.

However, the plane did not rush to take off, nor did the group rush to board. Instead, they went to the pier and let Wei Ran and Li Yizhong each take a group photo of Cheng Chen's family, Li Minghua who was sitting with them, and even Grandpa Lu.

"Brother Li, Brother Lu."

As Cheng Huaiqian spoke, he handed the large sword that belonged to Cheng Guanyin, which he had brought, to Li Minghua with both hands, saying, "Keep this sword here as a souvenir; we don't plan to take it back."

These broadswords were originally a pair, so I'm leaving one to you. As long as you have this broadsword, even if we're separated by the Taiwan Strait, we're still one family, and you'll have a home on the mainland.

"If Brother Cheng says so, we'll definitely have to go there often in the future."

Li Minghua readily accepted the large knife and handed it to Li Yizhong beside him, saying, "You should come to Tainan often in the future. From now on, we're family."

"We'll definitely be visiting each other frequently in the future."

As Cheng Huaiqian spoke, he looked at Wei Ran and joked with a smile, "And Mr. Wei, you can come to my son's shop anytime you want to eat seafood, but you can't secretly hide money under the dishes anymore."

"If that's what the old man says, then I'll have to go on an empty stomach from now on," Wei Ran joked, drawing good-natured laughter from those around him.

"Alright, we have plenty of time to chat on the way."

Grandpa Lu urged, "Don't keep Uncle Cheng waiting. Let's set off quickly. I've been wanting to go back to the mainland for a long time."

“Yes, let’s go, let’s set off now!” Cheng Xiaoxian followed up.

It was something Brother Li and Brother Lu had already planned to do together on the mainland yesterday.
Accompanying them were their respective wives, as well as Li Yizhong and Lu Yue's parents, including the two youngest members of the family, Li Yizhong and Lu Yue.

After settling the anti-Japanese broadswords they had prepared to leave behind, the group returned to the airport and boarded the small plane. Under the watchful eyes of numerous cameras, they politely yielded to each other as they entered the cabin.

Shortly afterward, the specially painted small plane took off gracefully after a brief runway.

But the passengers in the cabin were unaware that outside the airport, an elderly man, also nearing the end of his life and missing three fingers and half a leg, piously kowtowed several times in the direction of the airport, and then, leaning on his cane, walked step by step toward the pier less than 3 kilometers away.

Just as the An-74 small plane carrying the family flew across the strait, Wei Ran also shuddered because of a fleeting burning sensation in the mouth of his hand.

He still didn't know that at this moment, Lin Ayong had slowly moved back to the spot where he had his car accident. Leaning against the roadside tree that had become much thicker with the passage of time, he muttered something regretfully to himself. Finally, leaning against that tree, he gradually stopped breathing—it was the pain of the times.

After a flight of just over an hour, the An-74 transport plane landed once again in Changsha, on the banks of the Xiang River.

As the hatch opened, several unfamiliar ground crew members warmly presented everyone with plates of steaming hot fried stinky tofu, a box of loess soil, a bottle of Xiangjiang River water, and sincere thanks to Cheng Guanyin.

"Going home"

Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief and ate the richly flavored fried stinky tofu with gusto—it tasted almost exactly the same as the fried stinky tofu Cheng Guanyin made back then, only lacking a touch of nostalgia.

That afternoon, Cheng Huaiqian personally carried Cheng Guanyin's ashes to his family's cemetery, replacing his cenotaph, and completing the joint burial with his wife Liu Yanzhi.

Before the ceremony ended, Wei Ran once again chose to run away.

"where are we going?"

Following Sui Sui as she fled, he asked, "Although she ran away, Zhong Zhen, who has already arrived, will take the initiative to contact Li Yizhong first thing tomorrow morning and, as the head of the CBI family tracing team, talk to him about sending more veterans home."

"Since we're already here, it would be a waste not to eat some seafood and drink some beer, right?"

Wei Ran said casually, while stepping hard on the gas pedal. He drove the borrowed van, carrying three pretty girls, searching for the peaceful atmosphere of the city. Fortunately, it was everywhere.

(End of this chapter)