War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1982 Going their separate ways
On his sickbed, Wei Ran struggled to move his body, trying his best to capture everyone in the room except himself with his camera.

When he finally pressed the shutter, the intense white light once again completely engulfed everything in the lens and its surroundings.

When the white light faded again, Wei Ran found himself lying on a mule cart, with Gao Lianggan lying next to him, also injured.

With difficulty, he looked up at the back of the car and saw Wang Yimo and Mr. Huo's female student sitting in the back.

"stop looking"

Just then, Mr. Huo, who was in charge of driving the carriage, sighed, "I'll take you to the countryside to recuperate and seek refuge."

Commander Guo asked me to tell you that you and Commander Gao should go back to him after you have recovered from your injuries.

If he dies in battle, I'll trouble you to send out the photos you took.

Specifically, he left a letter in your arms.

"What's the date today?" Wei Ran asked after failing to get up. "What's the date on the Gregorian calendar?"

Number 11

Mr. Huo sighed, "Wanping City is still under attack. It wasn't easy for us to escape. Don't be foolish and insist on going back to cause trouble."

"At least leave that girl a way out."

"they."

Wei Ran couldn't help but look again at the two girls crying their eyes out at the back of the car.

“My silly student, her brother and younger brother were fighting the Japanese right by the bridge, and to this day, not even their bodies have been found.”

Mr. Huo sighed, "That Miss Wang, it was only because Commander Zhao used the excuse that the two of you needed to be taken care of that she agreed to escape with us."

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran lay down weakly on the cart covered with straw, took a breath, and asked, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know either, I'll just go wherever the road takes me."

Mr. Huo sighed, "I am from Wutai in Shanxi Province. If you have no objections, let's head to Shanxi Province."

My home is at the foot of Mount Wutai, we'll just go as far as we can.

If you survive and then decide you don't want to fight anymore, settle down with us. At least I can find you a way to make a living.

If you still plan to fight the Japanese, then take me with you.

From now on, we'll risk all that extra hundred pounds of flesh; we'll fight to the death for whoever we can!

Hearing the despair and resolve in Mr. Huo's words, Wei Ran remained silent for a long time before asking, "Mr. Huo, you...you also have family."

"well--!"

Mr. Huo, who was already putting on a brave face, let out a long sigh, "My son... my son is a soldier guarding the bridge!"

"he"

"Dead. Dead! Alas—!"

With his back to Wei Ran, Mr. Huo pointed to an urn placed not far away, but tears were streaming down his face, and he was unable to speak.

"Then let's go to Shanxi Province."

Wei Ran sighed, feeling as if a breath was stuck in his throat, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

With difficulty, Wei Ran reached into his pocket and pulled out an unsealed envelope.

However, before he could even pull the letter out of the envelope, the white light surged again and swallowed him whole.

Will the sorghum stalks and Yimo survive?

As he pondered, the white light gradually dissipated, and he noticed that he seemed to have returned to the photo studio he and Gaolianggan had run together.

At that moment, I was sitting at the edge of a square table.

On the other three sides sat Guo Guanggun'er, Feng Huotou with his head wrapped in gauze, and Zhao Shouxian with red eyes.

"Okay, stop crying."

Feng Huotou brought the gourd of wine in his hand to his mouth and took a swig. "Since your father has entrusted you to me, you little brat will fight the Japanese devils with me from now on."

"Fight the Japanese devils," Zhao Shouxian said absentmindedly, his eyes constantly glancing outside.

Don't worry about it.

Guo Guanggun took the gourd of wine and took a swig. "With your Uncle Gaoliang looking after Yimo, nothing will happen to her. Let's focus on what's in front of us."

“Uncle Guo, you and Uncle Wei are not seriously injured, but Uncle Feng can no longer go to the battlefield. He is dizzy even when he stands up.”

"That's what I'm trying to say."

As Guo Guanggun handed the wine gourd to Wei Ran, he said, "The Japanese are definitely not giving up. Cook Feng, since Brother Wen has entrusted the defense of the constitution to you..."

"I know"

Feng Huotou glanced at Wei Ran sitting opposite him, then at Zhao Shouxian sitting next to him, and said, "I'll watch over this child."

"I can rest assured that"

Guo Guanggun breathed a sigh of relief, "I can rest assured now that Shouxian is being looked after by Brother Feng."

As he spoke, he stood up.

"I want to go too."

"Go to the front lines my ass!"

Feng, the cook, shouted, "There are so many wounded now, and you, you coward, insist on throwing your own life into a bullet hole without caring about the lives of the wounded, huh?"

"not me."

"Nothing but a fart! I think you are!"

Feng, the cook, slammed his hand on the table and stood up, but then quickly and dizzily leaned back down, saying, "You little brat, you've given me a headache."

“You were shaken by the cannon fire, not by my anger!” Zhao Shouxian retorted.

"Alright, you two stop arguing and hurry back to the pharmacy to take care of the wounded," Guo Guanggun urged as he walked out. "I'm going back."

"Let's take another group photo," Wei Ran suggested at this moment, "while we're still alive."

“We should take a picture,” Feng Huotou said after a moment’s hesitation, becoming the first to agree to Wei Ran’s suggestion.

Immediately afterward, Zhao Shouxian, whose eyes were reddening again, nodded vigorously.

"Then let's take a picture quickly!"

As Guo Guanggun spoke, he pushed open the door and said, "Let's film it outside, how about filming it outside?"

"Let's film outside then."

As he spoke, Wei Ran got up and limped towards the inner room.

He had already realized that this was a "branch" of people who hadn't been seriously injured and hadn't retreated from Wanping City with Gaolianggan.

Even so, the places where he was shot and stabbed in the white light still burned with pain.

Fortunately, after he went into the darkroom, lifted his clothes, unbuckled his belt, and examined the wound, he was able to confirm that although it hurt, there was no wound in the corresponding location, only large bruises.

Once he was sure he wouldn't die anytime soon, Wei Ran immediately opened the safe. Finding it empty, he quickly took out his camera case and retrieved the photos he had taken and developed.

When he walked out of the photo studio with the photos in his hands, enduring the burning pain, Guo Guanggun and his two companions were already standing on the street, with the young Zhao Shouxian at the center, on either side.

Behind them was the city gate tower of Wanping City.

Perhaps to demonstrate his determination to defend the city, Guo Guanggun deliberately placed his hands on the two German-made Mauser C96 pistols.

Perhaps to ensure he would take good care of Zhao Shouxian, Feng Huotou, whose head was wrapped in gauze, even pulled out his two Mauser pistols and held them in his hands.

Perhaps to prove that he was now a qualified soldier, Zhao Shouxian not only raised two German-made Mauser pistols, but also put on a military cap.

He also deliberately showed off the five-emperor coins on his wrist and the old camera hanging around his neck. Wei Ran, holding the camera, clearly remembered that the hat belonged to Wen Laoga's brother-in-law, the frontline junior officer who sacrificed his life on the Great Wall, the soldier who had studied at Northeastern University and received encouragement from Marshal Zhang.

But at this moment, the only things that could prove their existence, whether it was the excellent officer or the old soldier Wen Laoga, were a military cap and a gourd with a patina from being worn.

Wei Ran carefully took a group photo of the three of them. Before he could even edit the film, a cannonball slammed into the city wall of Wanping City once again, accompanied by a sharp whistle.

"boom!"

The moment the explosion rang out, Guo Guanggun took off running towards the outskirts of the city.

Wei Ran, unable to wait to say anything, also started running after the former.

At the same time, behind them, Feng Huotou grabbed Zhao Shouxian first and shoved him into the herbal medicine shop across the street, which was full of wounded people.

This time, however, before Wei Ran could even see the Japanese soldiers, the white light enveloped him again without warning.

"What the hell are you doing fast-forwarding at this time!" Wei Ran cursed involuntarily.

But then, when the white light faded, he found himself following Guo Guanggun into a muddy trench.

At this moment, he was wearing a heavy nine-dragon belt filled with bullets, and between the nine-dragon belt and his chest were two Mauser pistols in wooden boxes.

That's not all; he even had a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera from that metal notebook hanging around his neck.

He instinctively turned around, only to find that Wanping City was gone.

"How did we get here?" Wei Ran couldn't help but ask.

"It's all because of the Japanese devils. I had a really tough time running around yesterday."

Guo Guanggun sighed, fiddling with the Leica IIIa camera that Gaolianggan had snatched from the Japanese reporter, which he had intended to use to run a photography studio. He sighed worriedly, "Besides, I don't think Nanyuan is as easy to defend as Wanping City."

and many more!
where?!
Nanyuan? Nanyuan? Nanyuan?!
Wei Ran's mind started spinning rapidly, like a slot machine, and in a very short time, it produced three "Nanyuan" entries before he began frantically calling the police.

"What's the date today? What's the date in the Gregorian calendar?" Wei Ran stopped and asked.

"Gregorian calendar? July 27th, what's wrong?" Guo Guanggun's words made Wei Ran's hair stand on end.

"Where's Shouxian? Where did Shouxian and Chef Feng go?" Wei Ran immediately asked.

"Didn't they go to Nankou a week ago?"

Guo Guanggun asked back, "I seem to have forgotten to explain this to you in detail."

"A week ago, after I heard about Wang Bingchu, Chef Feng took Shouxian to propose marriage while the fighting was temporarily suspended."

"Wang Bingchu went to Nankou?!" Wei Ran was even more surprised.

"It's quite a coincidence."

Guo Guanggun decided not to continue walking and beckoned Wei Ran to squat down at the corner of the trench and whispered, "Do you still remember the room full of doctors who had studied abroad when Lengkou fell?"

"Remember, don't you?"

Just a week ago

Guo Guanggun continued fiddling with the camera in his hand, while whispering, "One of the doctors was sent to Wanping City. Back then, we were fighting the Japanese at the front. He was sent to help treat the wounded, and he recognized me at a glance."

I also learned about the Bingchu brothers from him, and this is a good excuse to let Chef Feng take Shouxian away from Wanping City.

At least I survived.

At this point, Guo Guanggun reached into his pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes and gave one to Wei Ran. Then he took out a box of matches and lit the cigarettes for the two of them.

"Brother Wei, do you think we can stop the Japanese?" Guo Guanggun asked in a low voice.

"do not know"

Wei Ran shook his head; how could he not know?

He not only knew, but he knew perfectly well that the Japanese would attack their position the next day.

He knew even more clearly that Deputy Commander Tong of the 29th Army and Division Commander Zhao, who had fought alongside him in the Xifengkou Campaign during a night raid on the Japanese, would both sacrifice themselves in tomorrow's battle.

Thinking of this, he became even more restless. After taking a few puffs of his cigarette, he asked, "Do you know where the division commander is?"

"How would I know?"

Guo Guanggun waved his hand, took a puff of his cigarette and said, "We only have a short time, so hurry up and take a few more pictures for me. I need to send them to Gaolianggan, and then have him send them to my classmates."

"By the way, how do you use this camera? They gave it to me when the sorghum stalks came down, and I still haven't figured out how to use it."

"I'll teach you later. While you have time, why don't you tell me about your female classmate?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already picked up his Rolleiflex double-lens reflex camera.

"Her? Oh, what's there to say?"

Guo, the bachelor, said somewhat shyly, "We haven't decided yet."

"Give me a brief overview."

While adjusting the camera angle and composition, Wei Ran said, "For example, what's her name, where is she from, and how did she get there?"

"Her surname is Xu, the two Xu characters, and her name is Xu Zhixia."

Guo Guanggun said, "Zhixia's father used to be a German comprador, and later he even ran a factory. His thinking was quite progressive."

Back when we were killing Japanese soldiers at Xifengkou, he even organized a fundraising campaign.

Mr. Xu didn't send a large sword; he sent quite a few genuine German-made Mauser C96 pistols.

"And then?" Wei Ran pressed.

"Later...later still..."

Guo Guanggun sighed, "Later, the Great Wall fell, and because Old Master Xu had donated a lot of guns, he was afraid of trouble, so he simply took his family and fled to Nanjing."

"Then what about Miss Zhixia?"

"Her?"

A smile returned to Guo the Bachelor's face. "She's still unmarried. Old Master Xu was pressuring her, so she simply went with her brother to that place. Perhaps... perhaps..."

"Perhaps she's waiting for you to propose?"

When the question was asked, Guo Guanggun's smile became even brighter.

Just then, Wei Ran pressed the shutter button and took a picture of him. "So you're really waiting for me to propose?"

"Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't."

The brief, bright smile on Guo Guanggun's face vanished, replaced by his usual sorrow. "How can I, a soldier with no home or business, whose head is always on the line, have the face to knock on Mr. Xu's door?"

Forget about the betrothal gifts; I'm afraid I might not even be able to save my own life one day, and Zhixia might end up a widow for no reason.

"There will still be a betrothal gift."

Wei Ran pressed the shutter again to record the other person's sorrow.

"My camera?"

Guo Guanggun picked up the camera hanging around his neck and asked self-deprecatingly, "Back then, he was a comprador for the Germans. This thing is nothing special to Mr. Xu."

"Cameras are naturally not uncommon."

Wei Ran carefully put away his camera and said, "We drove out the Japanese devils and got a beautiful land in return. There is no better dowry than this."

Guo Guanggun was taken aback upon hearing this, then smiled bitterly and said, "That would cost me my life."

"So, are you going to change or not?" Wei Ran asked, looking at the other person.

"Change!"

Guo Guanggun replied without hesitation, "Mr. Xu has no choice but to accept the betrothal gifts, whether he likes it or not!"

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