War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1990: Resistance against Japan comes first, defense of the country is paramount.

With the departure of Feng Huotou, the low thatched hut fell silent again. Wei Ran, who had difficulty even turning over, couldn't see whether Zhao Shouxian was still busy in the main room behind him.

The only clear feeling he had at that moment was the real pain and weakness in his body.

He even suspected that all the injuries he had sustained from entering different historical moments were now surfacing all at once, with interest.

In a daze, he once again entered that strange dream where he seemed to be standing on the Great Wall, counting corpses with one arm raised.

He didn't stop until he heard someone calling his name faintly, until he felt someone help him up.

Slowly opening his eyes, Wei Ran's blurred vision gradually cleared, and he finally saw that the person who helped him up was none other than Wang Bingchu, whom he had saved years ago.

In front of him, sitting cross-legged on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a rough porcelain bowl and a porcelain spoon, was Zhao Shouxian.

"Brother Wei, you're finally awake."

When Wang Bingchu saw Wei Ran looking at him, a relaxed expression immediately appeared on his face.

"Uncle Wei, have some soup, chicken soup, it'll help you recover."

As Zhao Shouxian spoke, he brought a spoonful of thick, white meat broth to his lips.

You're just trying to fool me, kid.
Wei Ran had no strength to refuse at this point, so he could only swallow it all. Fortunately, he didn't care what kind of soup it was. He wouldn't mind even if it was made from the flesh of two Japanese soldiers.

After the two men poured a bowl of soup into his stomach, Wei Ran regained some strength.

"Is he still alive?" Wei Ran asked in a hoarse voice.

"She's alive, she's alive!" Zhao Shouxian said hurriedly. "Uncle, Yimo, she..."

"I...I don't know."

Wei Ran nodded with difficulty toward Dong Weixin, "Ask him. He knows."

After he finished speaking, he clearly felt Wang Bingchu, who was supporting him, tremble slightly. Obviously, he was afraid of hearing any bad news.

"What about you?"

Wei Ran asked weakly, "Bingchu, what are you doing here?"

"then"

Wang Bingchu sighed, but omitted many details. "When I was about to die, I was taken back and sent to the hospital of the 29th Army. Later, I became a stretcher bearer. Then the 20th Army was stationed in Nankou, so I stayed here, thinking that maybe I could find you. Sigh!"

"Why don't you go home and visit your family?" Wei Ran asked weakly.

My older brother is no longer in Xifengkou.

Wang Bingchu sighed, "I...I'm a deserter, and General Zhang is branded a traitor. How dare I go back? Go back...wouldn't I be condemned behind my back?"

"Ugh"

Wei Ran sighed silently and helplessly, and the slightly stuffy thatched hut became even quieter.

"Where's Chef Feng?" Wei Ran asked a new question.

“He went to gather firewood,” Wang Bingchu explained. “I just shot a pheasant and rushed back to deliver it ahead of schedule.”

"It really is chicken." Wei Ran smiled and changed the subject, asking, "How many days have I been asleep?"

"This is the third day it's gotten dark."

Zhao Shouxian said worriedly, "He still hasn't woken up. If this continues, I'm afraid..."

"I heard you separated from Shouxian and went to guard Nanyuan with Guo Guanggun?" Wang Bingchu asked. "You...you..."

"Nanyuan could not be defended."

Wei Ran looked at Dong Weixin and muttered to himself, "Guo Guanggun was seriously injured. We first escaped to Gu'an, and then he was sent there."

"Cough cough."

Before Wei Ran could reveal all that he knew, Dong Weixin coughed because of the small spoonful of broth that Zhao Shouxian had put in his mouth.

Perhaps it was thanks to that cough that Dong Weixin finally woke up.

"This Yama's Palace... how come it's not as spacious as my father's Hall of Gathering Righteousness?"

Dong Weixin's dazed and disdainful remark inexplicably brought a smile to Wei Ran's face.

You're still alive.

Zhao Shouxian put down his bowl and spoon, grabbed Dong Weixin's wrist, and while taking his pulse, asked, "Uncle, can you tell me how Yimo is now? What happened to her gun?"

"Are you Zhao Shouxian?"

Dong Weixin, who had just been in a semi-conscious state, seemed to have regained his senses immediately, and asked with exceptional clarity. He even grabbed Zhao Shouxian's wrist tightly.

"It's me, Uncle, Yimo."

Zhao Shouxian tried his best to suppress the panic and unease in his heart, while Wang Bingchu tremblingly picked up his pipe from the tobacco basket and pressed down a pot of tobacco leaves with trembling hands.

She's alright.

After saying this, Dong Weixin seemed to have lost his soul again, and said weakly in a hoarse voice, "Wanping. After the city fell, they followed Mr. Huo and fled south to Gu'an. Gaolianggan'er's injuries worsened."

After these words were spoken, not only Zhao Shouxian and Wang Bingchu, but even Wei Ran tensed up.

"fortunately."

Dong Weixin continued haltingly, "Mr. Huo's female student, her maternal grandfather, surnamed Ren, was a well-known local doctor who saved Brother Gao's life."

After another pause, Dong Weixin continued, "Brother Guo was also saved by that doctor."

They planned to travel together with Mr. Huo to Mount Wutai.

At this point, Dong Weixin turned his head sharply to look at the flower-shaped gun between him and Wei Ran, "Yi Mo asked me to tell you that no matter whether or not you find your second uncle."

Resisting Japan is our priority, defending the nation is paramount. If we survive the war against the Japanese invaders, we will share a bed; if we perish, we will be buried together.

"Okay, okay, I agree."

While taking his pulse, Zhao Shouxian wiped the corner of his eye with his other hand, took a deep breath, and muttered, "Resisting Japan comes first, defending the country is paramount."

You're still a child.

Wei Ran sighed and turned to Wang Bingchu with difficulty, "What do you say about this marriage?"

"I'll prepare 10 Japanese soldiers' heads as a dowry for my niece," Wang Bingchu solemnly promised.

"That's enough," Wei Ran said, but then everything went black and he lost consciousness again.

When he regained consciousness, it was already broad daylight outside the paper window.

Dong Weixin, on the other hand, was already sitting on the windowsill, puffing on a hand-rolled cigarette while staring blankly at the courtyard outside.

"Are you okay?"

After asking the question, Wei Ran realized that his physical condition seemed to have lessened somewhat—at least he spoke with more confidence, and it seemed...
Thinking of this, Wei Ran tried it, and sure enough, he was able to struggle to sit up. However, he still couldn't exert any strength in his fractured leg, and the splint was too stiff.

"It's been several days already, can it still be hovering on the brink of death?"

Dong Weixin stubbed out his cigarette butt, which was almost burning his fingers, in a broken bowl on the windowsill, and said worriedly, "When I got up this morning, Shouxian took Yimo's paddle."

Before Wei Ran could say anything, the other person said, "Our Mauser C96 and Kowloon belt were also borrowed by Chef Feng and Brother Wang Bingchu last night."

"Borrowed it?" Wei Ran subconsciously looked around, but there were no weapons left on the kang mat. "Brother Wang said he was going to prepare a dowry for his niece Yimo."

Dong Weixin said with some regret, "Cook Feng said he has to go and prepare betrothal gifts for Shouxian."

"Ugh"

Wei Ran shook his head, and slowly moved to the windowsill. He tore off a piece of window paper from the tattered window frame, picked up a pinch of tobacco from the tobacco basket, slowly rolled a cigarette, lit it, and took a light puff.

"That Mr. Huo"

At this moment, Dong Weixin spoke up, "He is a Communist."

"How did you know?"

Halfway through his sentence, Wei Ran asked again, "Why are you bringing this up?"

"It was actually his suggestion that we come to see Shouxian this time."

Although Dong Weixin lowered his voice, his eyes were exceptionally bright. "He hopes that I can take Shouxian, Cook Feng, and Brother Wang Bingchu to Mount Wutai to fight the Japanese!"

So that’s it.
Wei Ran finally understood why he knew nothing this time, while Dong Weixin, this "outsider," had become the mouthpiece.

"You came all this way just to invite them to fight the Japanese at Mount Wutai?" Wei Ran finally couldn't help but ask.

"That's why Mo was worried about Shouxian's safety and insisted on coming here to find him."

Dong Weixin shook his head helplessly, "That stubborn girl can't be persuaded at all. She says she wants to go, but Brother Gao and Brother Guo are just making things worse."

Finally, there was no other way, and luckily, my classmates and teachers pooled together some weapons to send over, which is why the two of us made this trip.

"But right now..."

"yes"

Dong Weixin felt increasingly remorseful. "Back then, I thought I was going to die, and I didn't want to come all this way for nothing. So, I blurted out what Yimo had asked me to tell her."

"That has nothing to do with it."

Wei Ran took a puff of his pungent tobacco. "Wang Bingchu doesn't even dare to go home. He feels like he's deserted."

"also?"

"It's not"

Wei Ran sighed, "Back in Wanping City, Wen Laoga, who didn't survive, Gao Lianggan, who was injured, and Guo Guanggun all felt that they had deserted and become traitors."

"Does Brother Wei think so too?"

Dong Weixin asked in a daze, "We failed to defend Nanyuan, we are deserters too, we are betrayers."

I don't think so.

Wei Ran didn't give the other person a chance to finish speaking, "Whether it's them, you, or me, none of us are deserters or traitors."

"Can"

"Aren't we still killing?"

Wei Ran leaned against the pile of bedding and said, "As long as we keep killing the Japanese, we are not."

"That's good."

Dong Weixin breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. Otherwise, how would I face my father and the uncles of the Juyi Hall after I die?"

Seeing that the young student soldier stopped halfway through his sentence, Wei Ran couldn't help but ask, "Them?"

"Alas! They're all dead. Except for me and Wang Paotou, who brought me to school, everyone else is dead."

Dong Weixin clenched his fists. "The Japanese devils, along with their collaborators and traitors, forced my father to become a traitor for the sake of the mountain stronghold he was on."

When my father was a child, he followed my grandfather and chased away countless white-haired devils. How could he bear this humiliation?
I heard from Wang Paotou's letter that the Japanese set fire to that hilltop, and not a single one of them managed to escape.

For a moment, Wei Ran opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

"Wang Paotou said he wasn't coming back to find me; he was going to join the Anti-Japanese United Army."

"When we have the strength and power, we can kill a Japanese soldier on any day of the year, buy some wine, and then just find a place to pay our respects."

Dong Weixin muttered, "It's been over a year, maybe it's already gone."

"The Anti-Japanese United Army is not dead, the Anti-Japanese United Army is still alive."

At this moment, Wei Ran said, "They are still fighting the Japanese. The Wang Pao Tou you mentioned is definitely still fighting the Japanese."

"How did you know?"

Before Dong Weixin could finish speaking, Feng Huotou strode in through the broken window frame.

He was wearing a nine-dragon belt around his waist, with two German-made Mauser pistols strapped between the belt and his body. He was also holding something in his hand.

"squeak"

The wooden door of the low thatched hut was pushed open, and Feng Huotou bent down and crawled in. He then threw a string of blood-stained objects onto the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked in a strong voice, "Brother Wang hasn't come back yet?"

Not yet.

As Dong Weixin responded, he and Wei Ran looked at the string of things that the other party had thrown onto the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

It was a string of ears strung together with hemp rope, the right ear, a human ear, no, a Japanese soldier's ear.

"Please pass this message on to Brother Wang."

As he spoke, Feng the cook picked up a ladle, scooped a ladleful of water from the large water vat in the corner, poured it down his throat, then threw the ladle onto the vat lid. As he walked out, he shouted, "My son Shouxian's betrothal gifts are all ready!"

"How did he become his son?" Dong Weixin asked, bewildered.

"yes."

Wei Ran watched the receding figure outside the window, a smile playing on his lips as he murmured, "How did he become his son?"

"I wonder where that silly boy Shouxian went."

Dong Weixin's worried mutterings also wiped the smile off Wei Ran's face. "He absolutely mustn't get into any trouble, or else I'll be in real trouble!"

"No, nothing will happen," Wei Ran reassured her, suppressing his own worry.

"When will this damn Japanese devils ever stop killing us?"

While cursing, Dong Weixin moved to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), picked up the string of betrothal gifts, and then limped to the head of the kang, where he hung them with difficulty on the wall next to the stove.

"How many days has it been?" Wei Ran abruptly changed the subject.

"What do you mean, what day?" Dong Weixin asked.

"How many days have we been here?" Wei Ran asked again.

"We arrived on the day of the Autumn Equinox, and today..."

Dong Weixin counted on his fingers, "Today should be the Beginning of Autumn, that's right, it's been a full half month."

"It's been half a month already."

Wei Ran was momentarily stunned. If they had already been here for half a month, wouldn't that mean...?
The battle to defend Nankou has reached its most difficult stage.
How many more days can we play? Three or four days?
Will they survive?
My new book, "Ruins Explorer," is seeking votes, collections, recommendations, and investments. Wishing everyone a double National Day holiday and double their wages afterward!