War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 2008 Family
May 25th was a Friday filled with anticipation. For the village where Wei Ran's maternal grandmother lived, the topic of "Old Han's nephew who has never been a bachelor in eight generations and Old Zhou's niece going to put on a show" finally came true on this day.

Before dinner, a stage had already been set up in the open space at the entrance of the village, and the nameless troupe had arrived long ago to make preparations. Now they were just waiting for the sun to set so that the show could begin.

The real show is about to begin. After four days and nights of continuous revelations by "Justice Killer Shrike" and his "Eye of Horus" organization, regardless of IP address, thousands of photos of inhumane crimes committed by the Japanese army during World War II have now been made public.

Also released were the real information of the perpetrators' descendants in a significant portion of the photos, as well as a small portion of the information of the victims' descendants.

Of course, also released was the detailed evidence of the company that Hela had "beheaded" for more than half a century, which had been destroying evidence of its crimes and its despicable behavior of profiting from three different companies.

As these crimes, which had been so desperately covered up, were exposed to the light of day, protests and demonstrations intensified from North America to Australia. The families of the victims who received the emails also came forward to share evidence that they had hired, or were hiring, "proactive detectives" to help them find the truth.

In these short four days, "fertilizer" was constantly being thrown around the "seeds," and the protests were constantly turning into uncontrolled violent confrontations.

Even within the territory of Zhaohe, foreign tourists have been subjected to armed retaliation by locals.

When this already uneasy world was thrown into chaos by a seed thrown out by a historian, Lola, unusually dressed in formal attire, traveled to China with Su Shengnan's descendant Su Lie and his girlfriend on a private plane borrowed from Jima. In front of numerous media outlets, they publicly donated a large number of photographs.

As the news began to gain momentum in China, someone finally contacted Lola through official channels. It was May 28th, the weekend afternoon when Wei Ran and Sui Sui had just finished directing an unnamed troupe in their grandmother's village for three days of opera performances.

However, on the internet, Eye of Horus continues to make revelations, and has gained a large number of fans who use the same profile picture as him and repost them using their accounts.

Whether Hela's organization is involved is no longer important. The most common phrase in humanity's underlying code is "Watch the show! Join in the fun! Let's have some fun together!"

"I was contacted by an aunt who called herself Dong Chunxi."

In her grandmother's living room, Lola, who was sprawled cross-legged on the sofa, put down her phone, picked up the half-eaten sweet rice cake, took a bite, and said in slightly broken Chinese, "She said she recognizes that camera, and she wants to meet me. She can come to me, or we can go to her."

"Boss, I arranged to meet her tomorrow, just as you told me beforehand."

"Then let's do it tomorrow."

Wei Ran and Sui Sui, who were sitting next to her, exchanged a glance. "How about we be Lola's translators tomorrow?"

"No problem! I can translate!"

Holding a string of candied hawthorns, Sui Sui smiled broadly and gave a perfunctory reply. Then, she asked curiously, "I overheard you talking on the phone just now. Dong Chunxi said she knows Su Lie's grandfather?"

"Uh-huh!"

Lola nodded quickly, took the tissue Wei Ran handed her, wiped her mouth haphazardly, and explained, "She said on the phone that she knows Su Lie. Oh, right, she also said that she hopes Su Lie can come along tomorrow."

"Where did Su Lie go?" Wei Ran pressed.

"It seems they went to Hegang."

Lola replied in her accented Mandarin, "After the last donation interview, he took his girlfriend to Hegang."

"Contact him and tell him to come back as soon as possible," Wei Ran said after thinking for a moment. "Let's also head to the capital ahead of schedule."

"Going today?" Sui Sui asked in surprise.

"Let's get there early so we don't have to get up early tomorrow."

Wei Ran stood up as he spoke, "We've been idle at home for several days now, it's time to get some exercise."

"also"

After finishing her sentence, Sui Sui hurriedly bit off the last candied hawthorn, stood up, and called out, "Xinda! Buy the tickets! To the capital! We're leaving soon!"

"immediately!"

Lu Xinda, who was taking the blood pressure of four elderly people lined up in the corridor outside the door, readily agreed. After meticulously taking the blood pressure of the elderly lady sitting opposite her, she took out her phone and booked tickets for everyone.

At the same time, the Kajenka sisters immediately ran to the room to help Sui Sui pack her not-so-many luggage, while Marta took the opportunity to take the blood pressure of the other elderly people who came to visit.

After saying goodbye to the two families of elders who had already lost interest and had their fill of excitement, Wei Ran and Sui Sui led the five girls to the high-speed rail station in a hurry. They took the next high-speed train to the capital and found a hotel near the agreed meeting place to stay.

That evening, Wei Ran and the girls certainly didn't get any peace and quiet. They barely had time to put down their luggage before Sui Xin and Chen Luoxiang, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, dragged them to their home for a sumptuous dinner.

That night, Su Lie and his friends also took a red-eye flight and arrived in the capital late at night.

Time flew by and it was 10 a.m. the next day. The group took a car to the address given by Dong Chunxi, who had contacted Lola—the other party had chosen her home as the meeting place and was already waiting at the entrance of the community.

From a distance, Wei Ran recognized the other person. Not only did he recognize her, but Su Lie, who was driving, also recognized her and rolled down the car window to wave and call out "Aunt Dong" enthusiastically from afar.

"Do you know her?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"I saw it once when I was a child, but I don't remember it. I was still breastfeeding back then."

Su Lie explained in a low voice, "I only found out yesterday after I received Lola's call and then I called my grandfather. My grandfather asked my dad to send me a group photo they took before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Aunt Dong was so beautiful back then, like a top model."

"It looks pretty good now too."

Sui Sui, who was peeking out, said that she wasn't just flattering him. Dong Chunxi, who was leading them into the community on an electric scooter, had the exotic features that were typical of mixed-race people, and were far more pronounced than Sui Sui's.

Led by the other party, Su Lie parked the car in the community parking lot.

"You must be Lie Lie? You've grown so much!"

As the car door opened, Dong Chunxi outside said enthusiastically in his fluent old Beijing accent, "The last time I saw you, you were only this big. You even peed all over me when I was holding you!"

"Uh... I'm really sorry."

Su Lie awkwardly apologized to his younger self, and then enthusiastically introduced his girlfriend Sasha, as well as Lola and Lola's two translators.

As they got to know each other, Dong Chunxi led everyone into the elevator and asked Wei Ran with certainty, "You're the one who found those things, right?" "How can you be so sure?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

“Those photos could not have been in Uncle Su Wu’s house. They could not have known about their existence, nor could they have known such details as this little girl described.”

As Dong Chunxi pressed the elevator button, she said firmly, "My maternal grandmother committed suicide in 1964. My mother had just come of age when she committed suicide."

I was born in 1975. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, my mother took me to find the son of my maternal grandmother's friend, Uncle Su Wu, in 1997. During this time, the camera remained in the photo studio.

"And then?" Lola asked curiously.

"My father suddenly passed away less than a month after my mother and I went to visit friends in Russia."

Dong Chunxi sighed, "After we rushed home to arrange my father's funeral, the camera disappeared."

At this point, the elevator slowly came to a stop, and the elevator doors opened. As Dong Chunxi stepped out of the elevator, she asked, "So, this charming historian, where did you learn these stories from?"

"I"

Let's keep it a secret for now.

Before Wei Ran could reveal the excuse he had prepared in advance, Dong Chunxi said, "I also invited some other people over."

"Who?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

“You’ll know soon.”

At this moment, Dong Chunxi kept everyone in suspense, took out his key, opened the security door, and warmly led everyone into the lively living room.

This was indeed a lively living room, filled with people, including several elderly people with white hair.

"Come, come, no need to change your shoes, sit down and let me introduce you."

Dong Chunxi greeted everyone warmly, first introducing Su Lie and his girlfriend to the crowd, referring to them as "the great-grandson and great-granddaughter-in-law of Head Nurse Su Shengnan".

Then, while pouring water for everyone, she steered the conversation towards Wei Ran, "I suspect that this historian, Mr. Wei Ran, is the one who actually found the camera and those photo albums. This is his girlfriend, Sui Sui, and this is Lola."

My Assistant

With a smile, Sui Sui took over the introduction and added frankly, "My boyfriend doesn't like to be in the public eye, so he used the excuse of Lola donating those photo albums and cameras, since she happens to have some connection with Head Nurse Su Shengnan."

"Now that the children have finished their presentations, it's our turn."

An elderly man sitting on the opposite sofa, who looked the oldest, said, "My name is Wen Shaotong. In your story, I am Wen Laoga's adopted son, and also Zhao Shouxian's biological son."

The old man, who looked to be over seventy, seemed very pleased with the surprised expression on Wei Ran's face. He pointed to the old lady next to him and said, "This is my second younger sister, Feng Wanping. She is the adopted daughter of Chef Feng in your story. The person sitting next to her is her husband. I won't introduce her, lest you forget her."

As he spoke, the old man pointed to the elderly couple sitting next to his sister, an old woman who looked to be no more than 70 years old, and said, “This is our third son, my own brother. His name is Gao Yuanchao. He is the adopted son of Gaolianggan in your story. The woman next to him is his wife.”

After Wei Ran greeted the two elderly people, Wen Shaotong pointed to the old lady sitting on the other side of him, "This is my fourth daughter, my younger sister Wang Linyi. She is Wang Bingchu's adopted daughter in your story. The one sitting next to him is Xu Wentian. They are a couple."

Seemingly more pleased with the look of surprise on Wei Ran's face, the old man pointed to a middle-aged man who looked to be under 50 years old sitting next to Xu Wentian and said, "His name is Xu Xifeng, and he and Chunxi are a couple."

"We met when I first came to China with my mother and we were looking for my maternal grandfather's grave in Xifengkou."

Sitting next to Xu Xifeng, Dong Chunxi cheerfully introduced, "They recognized me right away, and we decided to be together in less than a month. Now we have two children."

"So young man, the story you asked this little girl to tell you probably matches what we know, but where did you get it from?" Wen Shaotong asked with a smile.

"I"

Wei Ran took a deep breath. "I got the clues from the Japanese. The specifics, I'm sorry, are a trade secret."

"I saw in the recent news that the Japanese were really having a hard time because of some old photos."

With a gentle and refined demeanor, Xu Xifeng chuckled and teased, "I think this Mr. Wei probably already had those photo albums, and he's just trying to add fuel to the fire by having this young girl donate them, isn't he?"

"You guessed exactly right."

Sui Sui said, "He has had those photo albums for a year or two, but he has never been able to find the original owner of the albums and cameras. This time it was just a coincidence that some people on the Internet were targeting the Japanese, so we decided to just take them out."

I just never imagined the world was so small. If we had known it was related to Su Lie's family, we probably would have found all of you grandparents, uncles, and aunts long ago.

"You little rascal, you really care about your boyfriend."

Wen Shao smiled at the old man, "It's rare to find such a young man with such a pure heart. Why don't we, the brothers and sisters, ask Mr. Wei Ran last year to help our nephew's wife, Chunxi, find these things?"

That makes sense.

Gao Yuanchao chuckled and joked, "Now that the item has been found, how does Mr. Wei plan for us to thank you?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran smiled and exchanged a glance with Sui Sui beside him, then asked in a cheeky manner, "Why don't we have to prepare a big feast and a couple of bottles of good wine?"

"You're a very likable young man."

Wen Shaotong laughed heartily and said, "Since Mr. Wei has brought it up, we should at least have a good drink with him today. Xifeng, Chunxi, ask your brothers and sisters to help set up a few tables at home! I'll go get the few bottles of good wine I've been saving!"

"Grandpa, would you mind if we invited a few girls over for a free meal?" Sui Sui had already taken out her phone as she spoke; of course, no one would refuse her little request.

As for Wei Ran's "trade secrets" mentioned in just a few words, there are no trade secrets at all; they're all in the wine.

The story I conceived four years ago when I first started writing this book has come to an end, and this book is probably nearing its end as well.