This morning, for the first time, the alarm clock that woke up the Weiran changed from the German shelling to the simple radio, and beside the radio, the little boy named Andre was shaking it hard.
Pedal.
There is no doubt that neither Wei Ran nor the other children who were woken up had any complaints - of course, except for the little baby Galina who slept between Kena and Lidia. However, even this little guy's
The crying and howling were already more powerful than the previous few days.
"Andre, didn't you agree yesterday that I would be the first to be responsible for generating electricity?" Alyosha got up and said dissatisfied.
"I've been awake for a long time and don't want to wait for you anymore."
Andre, who was still shaking his pedals, said happily, "If you want to be the first to generate electricity, you have to get up earlier than me."
Seeing that these children were about to be rolled up, Wei Ran quickly took out a plate of chocolates, stuffed one into each person's mouth as usual, and reminded, "Starting tomorrow, who of you will be under the fire of the German devils?"
Shaking the radio before the sound, I stuffed his chocolate into my own mouth."
Hearing this, Alyosha, who was about to say something, immediately changed his tone and said, "Then we will just crank the generator in the order we agreed on last night."
"If you have the strength, why not go with me to collect firewood from a farther place later."
Kona helplessly reminded the children, "We only have enough firewood to burn today. I'm afraid we won't have enough firewood by this time tomorrow."
Lydia, who had already opened the window shutters, looked at the window that was covered by the snow outside and reminded, "Today is not a good weather."
Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately looked over. At this time, the white area outside the window was obviously buried by snow.
Seeing this, he quickly handed the unfinished chocolates to Kona, put on his flying leather hat and gloves, put on his felt boots and ran out of the basement first and opened the locked iron door. For a moment, the cold wind blew.
Snowflakes rushed towards my face, instantly taking away the remaining warmth on the first floor.
Glancing at Lidya who was catching up behind him, Wei Ran picked up the snow shovel in the corner and left the room against the cold wind. He was busy cleaning up the snow blocking the basement windows, and at the same time he did not forget to raise the windshield again.
.
After clearing the snow around the basement window, when he came back, the children were sitting next to each other at the long table converted from shelves, holding the bone broth that had been cooked all night, and using spoons to
He drank in small sips, and from time to time, he would stuff a piece of aspic into his mouth.
Not only the children, but also the baby in Kona's arms had already hugged the bottle filled with honey water with their young hands.
After taking the bone soup and meat jelly that Lidia handed him, Wei Ran just found a place to sit down when Kena said worriedly, "Victor, Lidia, we have to find a way to get some firewood back today.
Even if we dismantle the chair that can be used as a radio, our firewood will only be able to burn until tomorrow morning or even midnight tonight at best. Even if we burn the bucket of coal, we will only be able to burn it until tomorrow night at best."
"I will think of a way" Lydia made the promise again with difficulty.
"Don't worry too much," Wei Yan put down the hot cup and pointed to the top of his head. "The fuel was actually obtained yesterday."
"What did you say?" Ke Na and Lidya looked at Wei Ran in astonishment.
“This is the second surprise”
Wei Ran smiled and motioned for the two girls to follow him to the first floor. He pointed at the glass jars filled with fuel and said, "I got these from the fuel tank of the German plane yesterday. Kona, you know
The pilot of that plane is still hanging from the wooden beam."
"What did you use to get it back? Why didn't I notice it yesterday?" Lydia asked in surprise.
"Of course it's an oil barrel."
Wei Ran pointed to the sledge placed against the wall with a normal expression. Sure enough, there was an oil drum wrapped in a torn blanket placed beside the sledge.
"It was placed under the chair yesterday. I thought you could find it. Maybe it was too dark in the room at the time."
As he spoke, Wei Ran reached out from the blanket wrapped in the oil drum and took out the two books of "War and Peace" he accidentally picked up yesterday and handed them to Ke Na, "This is what I discovered yesterday. If the child
If they don’t like it, they can at least use it as firewood and throw it into the stove.”
"What stupid thing are you talking about?"
Lydia said angrily, "Although we are living a very difficult life, it is far from the point where we need to burn books to keep warm. And I believe that as long as the weather is a little better, our supply of supplies will definitely be more sufficient than before.
of."
"I think so."
Kona put the two beautifully bound books on the shelf and pointed at the glass jars filled with fuel, "But how to use these fuels? We can't pour them directly into the stove, right?"
"Didn't we pick up a gasoline stove before?"
Wei Ran looked at Ke Na, "Let's make do with that little thing for now. I'll think of a solution in the next two days."
"All right..."
Kona breathed a sigh of relief, "No matter what, we still need enough firewood."
"There will be firewood," Wei Ran said deliberately in a tone of voice, "and there will be bread and horsemeat."
Hearing this, the two originally worried girls immediately smiled and responded in unison with a classic line belonging to Comrade Lenin's guard, "There will be milk, and everything will be there."
Easily building up the confidence of the two girls with a barrel of fuel, the three of them returned to the basement, each drank the bone soup for breakfast, and finished the not-so-delicious meat jelly.
Taking advantage of the warmth brought by the hot soup and the satiety brought by the meat jelly, Wei Ran took the lunch box of Mohe cigarettes that the children had found before and the meat jelly filling a worker's lunch box, and used it as usual
The sledge pulled Lydia and left the warm little house pushed by the cold wind.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Almost before and after, Kona also pulled a sledge truck, took Alexander and Alyosha, and braved the strong wind and got into the surrounding building ruins, like a desperate situation
Like the scavengers in the movie, they are looking for anything that can be used or burned.
More than half an hour later, Wei Ran dragged the sledge to the ruins of the nursing home again.
"Let's go back together tonight," Wei Ran said before Lidya got off the car, "I'm still waiting for you in the basement!"
"No problem," Lidia said, and immediately added, "I will find a way to go back with firewood or coal!"
"I will also think of a solution," Wei Ran also assured the other party.
After bidding farewell to Lidya who left alone, Wei Ran inspected the surroundings as usual, then pulled away the snow that had been carried by the cold wind, and took out the mouse trap hidden in the crevices of the ruins.
The first one is empty, the second one is empty, and the third one is still empty!
Gritting his teeth, Wei Ran rearranged the first three cages and continued to inspect the previously arranged mouse traps.
The fourth, fifth, sixth, and finally the ninth cage, he finally saw a mouse in the cage, a little mouse that was only the size of a duck egg and had long since frozen to death.
Silently, Wei Ran took out the mouse and disembowelled it with increasing proficiency. He also dipped the removed internal organs, which were frozen into ice pimples, with a small amount of honey and hung them again in the mouse trap.
Acts as bait.
After throwing the little mouse into the sack, Wei Ran continued to check. However, the next four cages were still empty and nothing was caught at all.
"One less to make up 11 rats..."
While Wei Ran was cleaning his footprints, he secretly muttered that as long as he caught 11 mice, he would have completed the skill task of mastering the harmonica.
But compared to this task, which he didn't care about at all, he really didn't want to complete another Bayanqin mastery task - even if he had already buried a colleague.
Who will be the next colleague to be buried? Lidya or Kona? Wei Ran sighed secretly, once again escaping this destined to be sad problem.
After leaving the ruins, Wei Ran found a collapsed building that he had not rummaged through before. He first put away the oil drums that had been placed on the sledge, and then began the work of scavenging.
After searching building after building, the most common ones were corpses that had been frozen to death or starved to death. These corpses were generally emaciated, and they were basically old people or children.
Obviously, last night's low temperature helped the people of Leningrad consolidate the ice on Lake Ladoga, but it also claimed many lives.
But at the same time, the fighting outside the city never stopped. From time to time, artillery shells would fly in from outside the city, randomly blowing up certain buildings and taking away some miserable lives.
Silently walking among these frozen and starved corpses, there were two more iron buckets on the sledge behind Wei Ran.
From time to time, he would stop and carefully dig through the already cold embers of the campfire next to the corpse, carefully pick out the charcoal that could still be used as fuel and throw it into the iron bucket that he also picked up.
.
When one of the iron buckets was almost filled with charcoal of various sizes, Wei Ran also stopped at the door of a small room with no door.
This room, which seemed to be a storage room, was not very big. The only window was less than half a meter square. To keep warm, several layers of blankets or quilts were hung at the door.
Under the small window that was half blocked by bricks, there was a pile of still smoking bonfire embers against the wall. There were large traces of smoke on the originally white wall.
Beside the bonfire, a woman who looked about the same age as Lydia but looked haggard was sitting on a small blanket against the corner. She was also covered with layers of clothing.
Warm quilt.
On the other side of the bonfire, against the wall, there was a red copper water tank that was about one meter tall, with a small mouth and a big belly, an extremely slender neck and handle, and a metal lid.
Apparently, this household water tank with half of its belly buried in the campfire also doubles as a radiator.
Right above the bonfire, there was an enamel kettle, but what was boiling in the kettle was just a sheepskin glove...
Looking at the dead woman again, Wei Ran noticed that there seemed to be something in her arms.
Gently lifting the layers of blankets wrapped around her body, Wei Ran couldn't help but clenched his fists. In this woman's arms, there was a baby not much older than Galina.
The baby still held the woman's head in its mouth, but the baby's back, chest and even the woman's chest were all stained red with blood. The woman's hand, which was also hidden under the blanket, was still holding
Armed with a double-action Nagant revolver...
Sighing secretly, Wei Ran silently wrapped the mother and son, who had chosen to free themselves, with a blanket again.
After a moment's hesitation, he took away the one-meter-high water tank, moved to another room, emptied the almost frozen ice water, and placed it on the sledge truck, like an inexperienced murderer.
Yes, he fled the building in a panic, making him sweat from behind.
So many experiences have made him see and even get used to battlefields where flesh and blood are everywhere. He has witnessed or heard the horror of cannibalism more than once, and he has even killed countless people with his own hands.
But the mother who killed herself and her children with her own hands still made him turn pale and his whole body was shaking uncontrollably.
Stumbling and confused, Wei Ran rushed to the basement where Mrs. Weiya was buried. Wei Ran sat on the sledge and hugged his head tiredly.
After a while, he struggled to stand up, dragged the sledge, and returned to the small room where he fled in a hurry.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Push down the bricks on the small window to let in the light and wind and snow outside. Wei Ran took a deep breath, squatted at the door, and faced the man sitting next to the embers of the campfire.
The woman pressed the shutter button of the Rolleiflex camera.
Putting away the camera, Wei Ran bravely took off the blanket on the woman, revealing her thin body, the baby in her arms, the blood dripping on the floor, and the arm still nestled in her body.
The Nagant revolver in his hand.
"Click"
Amidst the sound of artillery fire mixed with the cold wind and snowflakes, Wei Ran, who was squatting at the door again, pressed the shutter again.
Putting away the camera, he bent down and bowed very solemnly, muttering to himself, "I'm sorry, I want more people to know how cruel this war is. I want to let those bastards who worship Na crispy
See clearly what kind of devil they worship. I'm sorry..."
After a long time, Wei Ran finally straightened up while holding on to the wall, and wrapped the mother and son in a warm blanket again.
Leaving the room without any regrets, he dragged the sledge in the biting cold wind, followed yesterday's memory, and found the room of the brother and sister again.
Taking out the key that was still in his pocket, Wei Ran opened the iron door that was locked by himself and walked into the room again. Finding a good angle, he first took a group photo of the brother and sister, and then took a close-up of each of them.
.
Locking the door again, Wei Ran walked with determination towards the basement where Mrs. Weiya was buried. Along the way, he raised his camera more than once to take pictures of the city with only ruins left.
Citizens who gathered around the loudspeaker to listen to the news took pictures of people who were freezing to death and starving to death in various corners.
I also took photos of those optimistic ordinary people who noticed that he was taking pictures and immediately raised their hands enthusiastically and waved to him, or who pulled off their scarves and hats despite the cold and tried their best to wave to him with a smile.
He kept walking and taking pictures all the way. When he arrived at Mrs. Via's cemetery near noon, he saw a sledge truck parked next to the basement from a distance. There was a thin figure beside the sledge truck.
, was rummaging through the ruins, trying to find something.
"Matvey!"
Wei Ran first took a photo of the other person, then put away the camera, calling the other person's name and waving his hand.
"Hey! Comrade Victor!"
After Matvey noticed Wei Ran, he immediately dropped what he was holding, stumbled over, took off his gloves and shook hands with him.
"Are the kids okay?"
The skinny Matvey asked with concern, "When I passed by here yesterday, I noticed that this building collapsed. I was scared at the time."
"The children are all fine, and none of them were injured." Wei Ran said, looking in the direction of the basement, "Unfortunately, Mrs. Via..."
"It's a relief for her..."
Matvey sighed, "Anyway, it's a good thing that the children were not injured. By the way, where are you living now? Are you lacking food? There has been another supply problem in the past two days. I have never encountered this before.
Such cold weather."
"We live in an abandoned middle school in the north. We still have some food and can survive for two or three days."
Wei Ran motioned the other party to sit down on his sledge, and while rummaging through his sacks, he said, "But we don't have enough firewood. The girls are going to get some firewood outside the city. In addition, this is a gift from the children.
A gift for you."
"A gift for me?" Matvey took the two lunch boxes from Wei Ran without knowing why.
"open to take a look"
Wei Ran put on his gloves again and urged him with some expectation. In fact, he was just trying to use Matvey's joy to dispel the negative emotions in his heart.
Seeing this, Matvey opened the aluminum rectangular workers' lunch box with great interest.
"You made this from horsehide and offal?" Matvey guessed the answer at a glance.
"Yes." Wei Ran nodded, "Try it."
"No need"
Matvey unexpectedly closed the lid, "We have also made a lot of aspic. Let's leave these to the children. The shortage of supplies has been severe in the past few days. Maybe these can keep the children going for a while."
As he spoke, Matvey had already fastened the lunch box again and put it decisively on Weiran's sledge truck.
Seeing this, Wei Ran did not insist, but pointed to the other lunch box placed at his feet, "You will definitely not refuse the contents of the other lunch box."
"Let me see it first and then talk"
Matvey obviously also enjoyed opening the gifts. He opened the lid of the slightly deformed lunch box little by little, and then picked up the tray.
Next, his eyes widened and he almost exclaimed with a trembling voice, "Mo Heyan! Where did you get it! And there is such a beautiful pipe?!"
"The children found it. They said that if you accept the gift, you will bring your little actors to perform for them again if you have the opportunity."
While Wei Ran was taking advantage of the other person's happiness to adjust his emotions, Matvey had skillfully picked up a piece of cigarette paper and rolled a Mohe cigarette for himself. At the same time, he hurriedly responded, "No problem! This precious gift
I accepted the gift, and when the weather gets better, I will take the little ones to perform for the children!"
Before he finished speaking, Matvey had already taken out a lighter and lit the Mohe cigarette he had just rolled. Then, he took out the high-end cigarette box that Weiran gave him before and stuffed it over, "I'll give this back to you.
, No, just think of it as a gift from me."
"Can't it be used to offset the performance fee? It's useless for me to want this thing?"
As Wei Ran spoke, he had already opened the cigarette case. At this time, there were only the last two cigarettes and two photos of Matvey left in the cigarette case.
"Of course not! You must have the children go to the zoo in person and hand it over to me after the war ends for the performance fee of 16 rubles. Even less than half a kopeck will do."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! As Matvey spoke, he had already taken away the photo of him, his wife and daughter, and placed it in a lunch box containing shredded tobacco, "What's left is
The picture below of me and my zoo colleagues is given to you as a gift."
"I will keep it well"
Wei Ran smiled, picked up a German cigarette and stuffed it into his mouth, then took out the lighter that Matvey had given him before from his pocket and lit the cigarette.
"I told you that you definitely know how to smoke," Matvey said in a puff of smoke, and even his voice seemed to be stronger and more energetic due to the blessing of nicotine.
"I rarely smoke"
Wei Ran put away his cigarette case and lighter, took another puff of cigarette, and then asked, "Matvey, we are going to get some more horse meat outside the city, and some firewood by the way."
"That's why I came to you." Matvey took a sip of the choking Mohe cigarette, "How about tomorrow?"
"Is it still that time?"
"You can also come earlier." Matvey spread his hands, "Two of my colleagues will also go together this time."
"I will also take Kena and Lidya with me..." Wei Ran gritted his teeth and added with difficulty, "There are also two older children..."
Hearing this, Matvey was stunned. He was silent for a moment, then took another puff of Mohe cigarette, and then sighed, "It's not your fault, Comrade Victor. It's not your fault, with the child."
Come on, I promise not to put them in danger."
"Are you going to visit our place?" Wei Ran changed the topic at the right time.
"Forget it for today." Matvey waved his hand, "I have to go back early today."
"In that case, let's see you tomorrow." Wei Ran said as he took off his gloves and stretched out his hand towards the other party.
"See you tomorrow"
Matvey also took off his gloves and held them with Wei Ran, "I'm still waiting for you at the intersection. Also, help me tell the children that I really like the gifts they gave me, and I owe them a performance."
"I'll tell them"
Wei Ran held the other person's hand and shook it, watching as the other person pulled the sledge and held a Mohe cigarette in his mouth, like a small train puffing out smoke, driven by the wind towards the direction of the zoo.
