War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 2001 Wedding Banquet, Guests

When the white light faded once again, Wei Ran returned to the farm in Edelweiss Clara's dream.

After glancing habitually at the person inside the window, Wei Ran's attention finally settled on the open metal notebook in front of him, quietly watching the quill pen write down new content:

Act V

Character: Photographer Wei Ran
Returning tasks: Take at least two group photos and attend a wedding.

wedding?

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment when he saw the last two words written by the metal quill pen.

However, when he came to his senses, all he felt was fear and unease.

He was afraid, afraid that some people still hadn't survived.

As his worries subsided, the white light gradually faded, and he saw the tools that could be used this time.

A Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera, a camera case, a portable flask, and a suitcase filled with clothes—that's all.

Surprisingly, this time there were no weapons.

Has the war ended?

As Wei Ran muttered to himself with worry, the white light gradually faded, and he was able to see everything around him clearly.

This was still the same tailor shop, and he was standing at the entrance of it.

But the shop was empty except for the counter.

Looking at himself, thankfully, he wasn't wearing a Soviet military uniform this time, but rather a Zhongshan suit from his suitcase.

He looked around, then sat down on the steps, placed his suitcase on his lap, and opened it.

In this box, besides the three small yellow croakers, there was still a bag of krill from the young Taoist officer Fu Wenyao, a wine gourd from Wen Laoga, and a fish knife from Wang Bingchu.

But there were still no weapons here, not even the three spare magazines for the PPK pistol.

"Brother Wei, that's great! You're still coughing! Still coughing!"

Subconsciously raising her head, Wei Ran saw Dong Weixin.

At this moment, he was wearing a gray cloth long gown, and his figure was unusually thin, but he still had the Super Icanta camera that he had borrowed from the nurse Amy hanging around his neck.

Fortunately, the nurse named Amy was still by his side.

It had been quite a while since we last met, and the nurse's belly was already showing. However, she had a worried look on her face, and her red eyes suggested that she had been crying not long ago.

After coughing for a while, Dong Weixin finally calmed down. Then, he beckoned Wei Ran to follow him into the clothing shop and explained in a low voice, "I've taken over this place. From now on, I'm the owner of this shop."

"This used to be the place"

"He's dead. He hanged himself last winter."

Dong Weixin said calmly, "I took over this place and buried that old gentleman."

"Alright"

Wei Ran sighed, "From now on, you two will just stay here and live your lives. And Amy, is she pregnant?"

"yes"

The young nurse, Amy, nodded happily, but then sighed sadly.

"The Soviet troops have all withdrawn. She is a field hospital, so she must also be withdrawn."

Dong Weixin said, "It's good that you're leaving. I think we might have to fight again someday."

It's really inconvenient for her to be here with such a big belly. She should go back and take good care of herself; then I won't have to worry about her."

Will you come looking for me?

The young nurse, Amy, hugged Dong Weixin's arm tightly and asked with teary eyes.

"Yes, I will go."

Dong Weixin said, "As soon as the war in China is over, I'll immediately go to the other side to find you, take you to Dongjia Village, and take you to Xifengkou for a... cough cough cough! A celebratory drink! Cough cough cough."

"Okay, I'll wait for you to come find me."

The young nurse, Amy, nodded in agreement to Dong Weixin's fragile promise, which seemed as thin as a sheet of paper.

"Brother Wei, cough cough cough! Can you take a group photo for us?" Dong Weixin requested. "Let's take it right here."

"Okay, I'll take the pictures for you."

As Wei Ran spoke, he placed his suitcase on the counter, and under the cover of the suitcase, he took out his Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera and pressed the shutter button on the couple sitting on either side of the octagonal table by the counter.

In just a short while, a Soviet ambulance pulled up in front of the clothing shop.

Immediately afterward, as the car door was pushed open from the inside, Head Nurse Su Shengnan called out, "Amy, we should go."

"I"

"We should go."

Su Shengnan repeated, "Do you want to be a deserter?"

"go"

Dong Weixin gently comforted him, "I'll come to Khabarovsk to find you after the war is over."

"Are you really going?" Nurse Amy asked, hugging Dong Weixin tightly.

Wei Ran gently pressed the shutter again, took a picture of them, walked out of the empty clothing shop, took out a wine flask, shook it, then unscrewed the lid and handed it to Su Shengnan, "Have you... found him?"

"no"

Su Shengnan took the wine pot and took a big gulp. "Luckily, he... he might still be alive."

"Perhaps he's still alive."

Wei Ran took the wine jug back from the other person. "And you? Are you still... still waiting?"

We're leaving.

Su Shengnan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said, "Otherwise, I would have shot at these magic-absorbing silk warriors."

"after."

Let's talk about the future later.

Su Shengnan seemed particularly agitated, but her attention was inevitably drawn to the string of five-emperor coins on her wrist. "I will never allow any of my nurses to fall in love with a patient again. It's too stupid and too painful."

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran paused for a moment, then handed the wine pot back to the other person, saying with a bright smile, "This is a wise decision."

"Do you really think so?" Su Shengnan asked in surprise as she took the wine pot back.

"Of course, that's really what I think."

Wei Ran's expression grew even brighter. "If I were you, and if I encountered a nurse like that again, I would teach her a lesson she would never forget."

Hearing this, Su Shengnan smiled, looking at the nurse Amy who finally walked out the door, and at her protruding belly.

Finally, as Amy climbed into the car door that Dong Weixin had opened for her, she sighed, "This is indeed a lesson she'll never forget, but... she probably won't regret it."

"And you?" Wei Ran asked finally.

"I?"

Su Shengnan smiled, picked up a canvas bag and tossed it to Wei Ran, then stepped on the gas and drove forward while loudly replying, "I will remember this lesson for the rest of my life."

"We'll meet again," Wei Ran said loudly as he took the canvas bag.

"Looking forward to that day"

Su Shengnan's answer became even more carefree, "Let's drink together then!"

"it is good!"

As Wei Ran responded, he also looked down and opened the canvas bag that the other person had handed him.

This Soviet canvas bag contained sealed tubes of film, each labeled with a detailed date and address.

Besides that, almost half the space was filled with penicillin! There were also several extra boxes of medical equipment. "Thank you!"

Wei Ran shouted loudly, "These penicillins are extremely precious in this era!"

Su Shengnan simply waved her hand out of the car window in response, and then increased the speed of the car.

"These."

After glancing into the bag, Dong Weixin paused for a moment, then subconsciously pulled out the Luger P08 that Wei Ran recognized so well and looked around.

“These things must be sent away,” Dong Weixin said immediately. “I heard…”

"Keep these with you."

Without saying a word, Wei Ran pulled Dong Weixin back into the shop, then took out a vial of penicillin from his bag, and despite the other's objections, flicked it away and sucked it into a glass syringe.

"I'll give you an injection, for your lungs."

"Cough cough cough cough cough—cough cough!"

"If you don't use it, this one will be wasted."

As Wei Ran spoke, he reached out and grabbed Dong Weixin's hand, gently twisted it, and pressed him against the counter, then gave him a shot in the buttocks through his pants.

"you."

Gripping his buttocks in pain, Dong Weixin angrily said, "Brother Wei, you're wasting this! Do you know how much this one has?"

Stop talking nonsense.

Wei Ran put away the syringe. "Let's get down to business. What are your plans next?"

Speaking of this, Dong Weixin sighed, sat down with one buttock dangling, and said in a low voice, "Once these big-nosed Japanese devils leave, I'm afraid the two parties will immediately start fighting."

If we can hold this place, everything will be fine. If we can't hold it...

After a slight hesitation, Dong Weixin sighed, "I have to stay, even if it's just to be an eye, I have to stay."

"Is there anything I can do?" Wei Ran asked.

"We definitely need you to do something."

As Dong Weixin spoke, he picked up the wicker box at his feet, placed it on the counter, and opened it. "Over the past year, Amy and I have accumulated quite a few rolls of film, so I'll entrust them to you for safekeeping."

"it is good"

As Wei Ran spoke, he pulled over his own suitcase and packed all the film rolls they had taken, as well as the film rolls Su Shengnan had left behind, into the suitcase, but left the penicillin in the bag behind.

I'm not taking these with me.

Wei Ran said seriously, "If we're about to start fighting for this place, these things will come in handy here."

"Alright"

Dong Weixin nodded. "I'm planning to open a photo studio in this shop. Brother Wei, you can't stay here. You should leave."

You should go find them, whoever you can. We'll meet at Xifengkou after the battle is over.

"You need to take good care of your health," Wei Ran reminded her.

"I know"

Dong Weixin looked at the Super Icanta on the counter, sighed silently, and then began to cough uncontrollably.

It was amidst this coughing sound that the white light once again engulfed Wei Ran, who was about to pat the other person's back.

This time, the white light faded much faster than Wei Ran had expected, and after the white light, he found himself standing on the Great Wall!

Just as he was lost in thought, a person lit a long string of bright red firecrackers under a dilapidated watchtower not far away, which still bore the marks of war.

Amidst the crackling of firecrackers, the man pulled a girl dressed in an old-fashioned military uniform, opened a jar of wine placed at the edge of the battlement, poured a bowl of wine, and splashed it onto one side of the city wall—the side that had once been used to protect the wounded and the soldiers.

"Father! Mother! The war is over!"

In the viewfinder of the camera Wei Ran instinctively raised, Zhao Shouxian shouted at the top of his lungs, "The war is over! The new China has been founded! I'm back! I've found a wife! Her name is Wang Yimo! Father! Mother! Old Man Wen! Old Man Feng! Uncle Guo! Uncle Wang! Me!"

Amidst the abruptly stopped shouts, Zhao Shouxian, already an adult, ripped off his military cap, knelt on the city wall, and wailed loudly.

Beside him, Wang Yimo, who was also an adult, gently comforted him, and together with Zhao Shouxian, they placed the military caps they had taken off on the wall behind them.

As Wei Ran kept pressing the shutter, the couple respectfully knelt down in the direction that the soldiers who guarded this place in 1933 had risked their lives to protect, kowtowed three times, and poured three large bowls of wine.

It was only at this point that Zhao Shouxian and Wang Yimo finally discovered Wei Ran.

"Uncle Wei! Is that you, Uncle Wei!" Zhao Shouxian shouted excitedly, pulling Wang Yimo along as they ran over.

But then, the two of them went back in unison, put their military caps back on, and came back with a full bowl of wine.

But at this moment, Wei Ran panicked. He looked around and searched, only to find that he was the only guest who had attended the wedding alive.
"Uncle Wei! Have a bowl of our celebratory wine!" Zhao Shouxian said enthusiastically, and placed the wine bowl in front of Wei Ran.

"Okay, I'll drink it."

Wei Ran took the wine bowl and gulped down the full bowl of bitter wedding wine, letting it seep into his mouth and into his heart.

"Them...where are they?"

Wei Ran placed the wine bowl on the edge of the stack and asked cautiously.

"them."

Zhao Shouxian panicked for a moment, and Wang Yimo subconsciously gripped his hand tightly.

"Where are the sorghum stalks?"

Wei Ran asked nervously, "Isn't he Mr. Huo's student?"

"Alas! He's dead!"

Zhao Shouxian sighed heavily and sat down again against the city wall. "In 43, the Japanese were using bacteriological bombs on the Wei River. He and his aunt... sigh—!"

"They're all dead?"

Wei Ran asked blankly, he thought... he thought he could survive.

"Dead, all dead."

Wang Yimo, who was also in tears, suppressed her grief and said, "Their child was two years old at the time, a boy, and he also contracted cholera."

"I'm useless, I'm utterly useless!"

Zhao Shouxian slapped himself repeatedly in remorse, "I couldn't save them, I couldn't save a single one of them, I... I'm useless!"

"Is there any left?"

Wei Ran gripped Zhao Shouxian's wrist and asked with difficulty, "Is there anything else?"

"Mr. Huo is also dead."

Wang Yimo closed her eyes. "In 1942, when the Japanese launched the May 1st Great Sweep in central Hebei, Mr. Huo was arrested and tortured to death."

The Japanese tortured him for two days and two nights, and finally burned him to death.

"Is there any left?"

Wei Ran gripped Zhao Shouxian's wrist tightly, as well as the camera he was holding in his other hand.

"It's gone, it's gone."

Zhao Shouxian said blankly, "Uncle Guo has been out of contact since 1937."

The last time we contacted Uncle Dong was in 45. Two young men and two young women came to us with a letter from him, and we haven't heard from him since.

"He...he's not in touch with us either?" Wei Ran panicked.

"They all said they would come, they all said they would come to the wedding banquet."

Zhao Shouxian, weeping bitterly, pounded on the bullet-riddled bricks of the Great Wall, but no guests appeared except for Wei Ran.

But ironically, even though Wei Ran doesn't belong to this time and space at all.

"Get up"

Wei Ran patted the other person's shoulder forcefully, "Today is a joyous day, wipe away your tears, I'll take a wedding photo for you!"