War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 2031 New Scandal
Inside the transport vehicle cabin, unique to Apoli, the constantly running air conditioning keeps the temperature exceptionally pleasant.

On the long wooden table, a pot of stewed meat, a basket of freshly baked bread, a large bowl of borscht, and a plate of spicy kimchi made by Lyubov were all that was needed for the meal.

Of course, of course, of course, there was also a bottle of vodka that was frozen solid and almost covered in frost.

"Children, please sit down."

Apoli greeted them kindly, and Lola and Lyubov, who were in charge of serving the dishes, sat down next to Wei Ran and him respectively.

“This toast is to our new life,” Apoli said, raising the glass that Lyubov had just filled.

“Yes, it’s definitely a new life.” Lola, dressed in a well-fitting suit, confidently picked up her glass.

She's no longer the petty thief who climbed over the wall, stepped in dog poop, and was tied up with one leg for a whole day. Now, she can skillfully help Her Majesty the Queen with her daily work.

Manager Lola—this was the title this young woman heard most often when she wasn't with Wei Ran, Sui Sui, and the others.

"Cheers to our new life."

Lyubov was the second to agree. This girl, who usually kept a low profile and had little presence, would soon become the "mistress" in the public eye.

"cheers"

Wei Ran smiled as he picked up the cold, frosty enamel mug. He was no longer the novice who followed the professor to earn pocket money, and soon he would no longer be a "renowned historian." He was going home too.

As the first chilled drink slid down their throats and into their esophagus, bringing a wave of warmth, the four of them, like a family—no, they were already a family—picked up forks or chopsticks and some hot bread to enjoy this family feast.

"Boss, will I have to work here from now on?"

As Lola stuffed a large mouthful of stew into her mouth, she asked indistinctly, having worked for most of the day and already feeling very hungry.

"Will not"

Wei Ran didn't shy away from talking to Lyubov and Apoli, saying, "You'll probably be going to China in one or two years."

Over the next year or two, the travel agency business will gradually be handed over to the people of Greva.

"That's good," Lola breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you were going to abandon me. I've already tried so hard."

"It's precisely because you've worked hard enough that you're staying on to do the handover work," Wei Ran explained with a smile.

“What about the studios? What will happen to the studios?” Lola continued to ask.

"Maya will be in charge of most of the work at the Time Film Studio, which is also the Red Flag Forest Farm."

Before coming, Wei Ran, who had been taken to a meeting by the Queen, reassured her, "You don't need to worry about that; she'll talk to Maya about it."

"What about here?" Lola pointed out the window. "What about our home?"

When these words were spoken, even Apolis perked up his ears.

We'll still come back occasionally in the future.

Wei Ran explained, "In addition, Lyubov will also live here, and of course, Beria as well."

Are you planning to abandon Belial?

Lola asked sadly, "And what about Fortune and Treasure, Sean, and the Peppa Pig that we didn't finish eating last time? Them..."

"stop"

Wei Ran let Liu Bofu, who was trying not to laugh, pour him a drink, while explaining, "Zhao Cai Jin Bao, Belial, and Sean will all be taken to China, but by the way, when did Paige eat the leftovers? I don't remember raising a pig?"

"Ah, these are the leftovers from the day before yesterday. We've decided to keep raising them."

Lola swallowed hard as she spoke, "His brothers and sisters must taste delicious!"

"Shall we eat it tonight?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Wei Ran's suggestion was immediately met with Lola's brainless, gluttonous agreement.

"So let's toast to Qi for the second cup."

Apoli said with a smile, "This old man looks young next to you young people."

"Then we'll reserve our third drink for Ivan."

"Apolis"

The old man, holding his wine glass, said, "From today onwards, I'll stick to the name Apoli."

"Let's finish this glass first, and then we'll toast Comrade Apoli."

"cheers!"

The girls raised their glasses with Wei Ran and Apoli and drank the ice-cold vodka in one gulp.

Giving the two girls enough time to eat and calm down, Apoli asked while Wei Ran was pouring drinks for everyone, "So from now on, it'll just be Lyubov and those Hela girls next door?"

"Aren't you planning to move in?" Wei Ran asked, picking up his full wine glass.

“I still prefer living here,” Apoli patted the thick wall of the carriage.

"In that case, let's turn this place into a nursing home."

Wei Ran smiled and told Sui Sui's plan, "When you old folks need someone to take care of you, you can all come and live here. How about we let Liu Bofu be the dean then?"

“I have no objection,” Lyubov said immediately.

“I’m taking this seriously,” Apoli said, raising his glass as well.

"Homage to Apolis!"

Wei Ran raised his glass and clinked it with the other person's, which was also a way of giving the other person a reassuring answer.

"Cheers to Apolis!" The other three also clinked their glasses together.

By the time this belated lunch ended, the setting sun was mostly obscured by the buildings. Apoli was unusually drunk, and Wei Ran helped him to the single bed where he snored loudly.

Lola was also drunk, or rather, unsurprisingly, drunk as well.

This was much simpler. Without Wei Ran even having to say a word, Liu Bofu, who had only drunk three cups of wine like Wei Ran, grabbed the walkie-talkie on the table and called over the pink-clad delinquents. They then carried Lola back to the house next door.

Also because Lola drank too much, the little piglet named Peppa was lucky enough to live for another night.

"Boss, Miss Coco and Miss Marlene are still waiting for you. They just came back from shopping," the pink-clad girl's squad leader reminded her.

"I see"

Wei Ran nodded, and at the same time hugged Belial, the dog who was wagging its tail and rushing towards him.

By the time he finally managed to calm the big guy down, Coco and Miss Marlene, who had come out after hearing the news, were already sitting by the fountain at the entrance, each holding a cup of coffee, watching the commotion for quite a while.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Wei Ran said awkwardly while scratching his hair, which had been licked by Belial and looked like a mango pit.

"We can even wait a little longer."

Marlene made a casual joke, "Mr. Victor, would you like to take a shower and change your clothes first?"

"Have you had dinner?" Wei Ran asked, gesturing for the two women to walk towards the room.

“I’ve already eaten, but I’m still not full,” Coco said as she walked, carrying her coffee cup. “I heard there’s a whole suckling pig that was left over and is still alive?”

"How about I leave it to you?" Wei Ran asked casually.

"no problem!"

Coco immediately beamed with joy; this little rich girl was indeed still reminiscing about her days as a butcher.

"How about I help?" Marlene asked eagerly.

"Come with me! I know where that little piglet is!"

Coco acted as if she were in her own home, leading Marlene toward the fence in the corner.

Seeing this, Wei Ran smiled, went into the room and upstairs, and took a good bath amidst the little pig's short squeals.

When he changed into some casual clothes and came downstairs, the suckling pig had already been brushed with sauce and put into the oven. Even the internal organs, pig ears, pig head, and pig tail were being braised by Coco using the Chinese method she had learned from Wei Ran.

"Sui Sui said you're retiring and going back to China?"

Coco, who was in charge of cooking, opened a bottle of ice-cold beer and handed it to Wei Ran.

"That's right"

Wei Ran took the beer and clinked glasses with the other person and Marlene. "Sui Sui asked me to bring a proposal. When do you plan to take a look at it?" "No need to look at it. Just tell me the general content." Coco said while brushing sauce onto the headless suckling pig.

"Sui Sui has already established herself in Eastern Europe."

Wei Ran took a swig of beer and said, "The Golden Fleece can provide you with ample assistance and a sufficiently secure rear area. So, are you two interested in reaping profits in Europe?"

"You mean, making money?" Marlene asked, her eyes shining. "Making money through plunder?"

"And you don't have to worry about wart-ridden people coming to your door begging for food."

Wei Ran clinked beer glasses with the other person again. "Coco is a newly rich woman, and she is also the president of the Golden Fleece."

"Hair length," Coco corrected seriously, even using the Chinese word "hair length."

“Okay, it’s hairy.” Wei Ran corrected him in Chinese with a helpless expression.

"So?" Marlene pressed, even though she already had a guess.

"Aurora and Coco will allocate a significant portion of the Golden Fleece funds for you to squander."

Wei Ran smiled and said, "What you need to do is use this money to earn the expected return, and the rest is yours."

"only these?"

"As long as you can make money and achieve the corresponding business objectives, the amount of investment you receive will increase, and the money you earn will also increase," Wei Ran said with a smile.

"What is the ultimate goal?" Marlene asked, suppressing her excitement and volume.

"Coco only needs activity funds."

Wei Ran clinked beer bottles with Coco, saying, "She and her Golden Fleece will rely on the funds raised to become an investment group."

And you, Marlene, will, in the foreseeable future, gradually become a wealthy woman with an investment group secretly backing you up, capable of recklessly acquiring and expanding in Europe.

"Target, who is our target for devouring?" Marlene immediately pressed.

"Who do you think has the most money?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Of course it's a wart."

Marlene had only uttered the first half of the sentence when she suddenly understood.

"Snapped!"

Wei Ran snapped his fingers. "You don't need to worry about security or illegal activities. You just need to engage in legitimate business competition."

"Deal!" Marlene almost impatiently stretched out her hand to Wei Ran.

As for how illegal the parts were, her good family upbringing prevented her from being curious about things she shouldn't know.

"I'm just a historian"

Wei Ran smiled and took a small step back. "I don't know anything about business."

"I admit I made a stupid mistake, I'm sorry."

Marlene immediately reached out her hand to the cook, Coco, while also sincerely expressing her apologies.

"It's ok"

Coco shook hands with the other party. "Mr. Victor has always been my guardian."

“That’s a rare job,” Marlene said with a smile.

"It's rare indeed, but he's very responsible."

Coco has learned from Sui Sui how to give hints to others, and she knows exactly how to do it.

That's basically all the content of Sui Sui's plan.

Wei Ran said, "The specifics will probably require you to go to China and discuss them with her in person."

"no problem!"

Coco and Marlene, these two are about to be paired up, and this wealthy duo, one in the spotlight and the other behind the scenes, gave an exceptionally straightforward answer in unison.

"Victor, will you be staying in China from now on?" Coco asked.

"Maybe"

Wei Ran said ambiguously, "I'll probably be with Sui Sui often; wherever she goes, I'll go."

"In that case, I'll invite you to my house often!" Coco said with a beaming smile.

"It's my pleasure," Wei Ran said, clinking beer bottles with the other person again.

"I always thought you two were really like the rumors said."

“That’s impossible,” Coco and Wei Ran answered almost simultaneously.

"Okay, okay," Marlene, whose appearance was somewhat unattractive, laughed and changed the subject.

As the sun completely set, the aroma wafting from the oven not only attracted Hela, the girl next door, and the pink-clad punk, but also woke Lola from her slumber.

In deep remembrance of Peppa Pig, more and more ingredients were placed in the oven, and Wei Ran and many girls raised their ice-cold beers time and time again.

That evening, laughter and cheerful conversation filled the mansion of a renowned scholar on the shores of Lake Kaban.

That same evening, rumors of a romance between Wei Ran and Liu Bofu became a hot topic online due to their intimate behavior at the airport.

What's particularly interesting is that these news stories disappeared all at once shortly after they started, which only fueled more speculation.

In Tianjin, on the third floor of a small Western-style building, Sui Sui, who was teaming up with the Kajenka sisters, Lu Xinda, and Marta late at night to rampage through the Grand Canyon, also came across news about her man after another ranked victory.

“Aurora, I don’t quite understand,” Marta asked, puzzled. “Why did you do that?”

Everyone thinks he and I are a couple.

Sui Sui tossed her phone onto the table, opened her mouth to take the watermelon that Lu Xinda had poked with a toothpick and put into her mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed, saying, "But now that this news has come out, it's like I've broken up with him."

"I don't understand, have you two broken up?"

Lu Xinda poked the second piece into Anfisa's mouth, and after the other opened her mouth to take it, she immediately poked the third piece into Anfisa's mouth and handed it to Anfisa.

"idiot"

Marta took the watermelon that was offered to her mouth and explained, "Of course they didn't break up, but from now on, the 'rumor' about them will be disproven, right?"

"The idiom is used well!"

Sui Sui snapped her fingers, though not very successfully. "But it's mainly to guard against potential obstacles in the public opinion field in the future. I'm different from him. I'm a Russian in law, so this queen can't have any scandals."

"But the boss has way too many scandals, doesn't he?"

Lu Xinda finally spoke a fair word for Wei Ran, "This time it's already disgusting pedophilia."

"It's to make Coco and Olena give up, right?"

Marta abruptly asked, "Who would like a disgusting pedophile's fart?"

"I will never admit to this."

Sui Sui shrugged and said with a big smile, "But Coco and Olena are indeed too threatening."

"Where is the threat?" the Kachenka sisters asked in unison, their voices filled with the same bewilderment.

"One of them is better than me, about as rich as me."

Sui Sui counted on her fingers and said, "The other person is also his teacher's daughter. No, no, those two are definitely a threat."

"Isn't Lyubov a threat?" Lu Xinda asked a stupid question.

“Unless he really is a pervert,” Marta joked with a laugh.

"The boss is driving us crazy," Lu Xinda muttered, pouting.

"hey-hey."

Sui Sui and the Kajenka sisters exchanged a glance and then gave each other silly smiles.

She wouldn't tell Marta or Lucinda that those were just excuses as well.

As for the real reason, it's not something they can know, nor is it necessary for them to know, and even I don't need to know.