"Ms. Jana, can we...can we open them?" Chris asked nervously.
"Of course." Jiana, who was also a little surprised, nodded and agreed without thinking, then took out a pair of slightly rusty pliers from the wall and handed it to Wei Ran.
After getting nods from the two women, Wei Ran was the first to open the long box with Mika Raikkonen's name on it.
When he opened the wooden lid with some mildew stains, the first thing he saw was a yellow kraft bag and bundles of opened letters. He carefully opened the kraft paper bag, and inside it was a
Zhang death notice!
Placing these things one by one on the upside-down wooden lid, Wei Ran secretly glanced at the death notice. The name on it was exactly "Mika Raikkonen"!
Looking at those envelopes again, the senders are almost all "Sally from Plasi Village" or "Ino from Ahola Village", and although the recipient's address keeps changing, without exception they are all
Mika!
In no particular order, Chris and Jana each picked up an envelope, pulled out a letter full of handwriting, and read the contents silently.
Wei Ran took out a very familiar TT33 pistol from the box. He remembered very clearly that this pistol was exactly what he gave to Mika at that time!
In addition to the pistol, there is also a Finnish military uniform with bullet holes and black blood stains on the chest. Next to the bullet holes, there is not only a Level 2 Cross of Freedom, but also a Freedom Cross in memory of the fallen.
medal.
This medal is officially awarded by Finland to the families of fallen soldiers, and it is not surprising that it appears here, because although the families of fallen soldiers will receive this medal, they are not eligible to wear it.
In addition to these, there is an SVT40 semi-automatic rifle that still smells of gun oil and personal items such as a kettle, a flashlight and a telescope.
At this moment, Chris held up some pieces of letter paper and exclaimed, "I saw my father's name on this! Trot Raikkonen, this is my grandfather's name! There is also a photo!"
Wei Ran and Jia Na looked over involuntarily and saw that in the black and white photo, there was an infant child. Wei Ran also skimmed from the letter paper full of words to the husband Salie had written to her.
Mika's deep thoughts and worries about possible dangers on the battlefield.
"Victor, please open the other two boxes as well." Chris translated what Jana said.
Wei Ran nodded, picked up the pliers again, and after thinking for a moment, opened the box with Sally Brin's name on it.
Just like the box containing Mika's relics, except for a few sets of dresses and some very Finnish accessories, most of the rest of the space is filled with bundles of envelopes.
Place these envelopes again on the upside-down lid. In addition to neatly folded clothes and paper bags containing jewelry, there is a thick stack of photo albums and a book that seems to have been wet with tears.
Several diaries, as well as the Feide camera that Weiran had captured from the Soviet Red Army.
Gently opening the photo album, the black and white photos faithfully record the photos of Sally and Mika. In these photos, Mika has a healed scar on his face. But the faces of the two young people
The overflowing happiness was not affected at all.
The scenery behind this photo, in addition to the familiar village of Plaxi, also includes a relatively prosperous big city. Wei Ran couldn't help but smile on his face. It seemed that Mika really took Sally to the big city.
Honeymoon in the city.
Continuing to scroll back, there is a photo of two people wearing traditional Finnish clothes for a wedding. Sally is holding a not-so-large radio in his arms and Mika is sitting with a big tree branch on his head.
The sleigh pulled by the reindeer was Hassan, and standing next to the reindeer was the old hunter Ino with a smile on his face.
From this photo onwards, the recorded content has a lot more flavor of life. In the picture frozen by the black and white lens, a wooden house gradually rises from the ground, and there is also an extra person in Sally's arms who seems to be crying.
baby.
But in the subsequent photos, Mika appeared less and less, and more often it was Sally standing at the door of their wooden house holding her growing child.
Even if there are occasionally a few photos of Mika, most of them are in military uniform, standing in the wilderness, sitting in a trench, or standing next to the ruins of a village or city holding a rifle. Even that picture
His face, which always seemed to be covered with stubble, also carried an unconcealed tiredness and even a trace of boredom or hatred.
In the quiet warehouse, Chris gently closed the diary, suppressed his sobs, and murmured to himself in Finnish, "It turns out, it turns out that my grandfather... was a hero, and I actually... actually...
"
Wei Ran sighed secretly, closed the thick photo album half-heartedly, and put it back into the wooden box that belonged to Sally.
Without urging, he picked up the pliers again and opened the wooden box belonging to the old hunter Ino.
In addition to a Mosin Nagant sniper rifle, this box also contains an SVT40 semi-automatic rifle equipped with a scope. What is quite interesting is that there is an obvious picture tied with hemp rope on the butt of this semi-automatic rifle.
The greeting card I made in my hand only said a short sentence: "The latest Christmas gift from the Soviet Union, wishing Father Ino a happy holiday. - Mika. 1942"
Wei Ran laughed dumbly, then stretched his neck and looked at the photo album that Jiana had opened. In this photo album, the first photo was taken by Wei Ran on the ice of the suspected commander of the 163rd Division.
The next few pictures are the group photos they took at Sally's house.
But what made him feel both disappointed and fortunate was that, just like the negatives he had obtained, there was no trace of himself in these photos.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! In the next few photos, most of them are old hunter Ino holding a tiger-headed little boy in front of various prey. In each photo
Below, the date of shooting is briefly written.
When the shooting time recorded in these photos came to the winter of 1949, there was also an additional child in the photos, and at the same time, under one of the photos, it was emphatically written:
"On November 20, 1949, I gained a grandson, and little Schuler gained a younger brother. If there is a war in the future, I hope that Tello can become a hero like his father. I also hope that these two poor Schuler and Tello can
A little guy who can trust each other like Mika and I do."
Jana wiped the tears that were about to overflow from the corners of her eyes, "Schuler...is the name of my husband and his father. They are both named Schuller."
Wei Ran, who pretended not to understand Finnish, looked at the two growing children in the photo album that continued to be flipped, and couldn't help but think of the explanation given by the old hunter Ino when he scalded two Soviet Red Army prisoners to death with boiling water that night.
He said that his son was scalded to death by the Soviet Red Army with boiling water. In other words, the child named Schuler had become an orphan at that time?
Considering that the old hunter died of a stroke in 1952, it is not difficult to imagine the ups and downs these two children, who may have just grown up and those who were not yet adults at that time, went through. It is not surprising that they did not know their parents or children at all.
What have our ancestors experienced?
Maybe they know... Wei Ran thought to himself, maybe it was because he knew that he chose to keep it all in the dust and not want to remember it. But no matter what, at least all the secrets have been solved now.
Without disturbing Chris and Jana who were thinking about their own things, Wei Ran quietly exited the warehouse and sat silently on the wooden steps in front of the door. Using the cover of his backpack, he took out the telescope from the cowhide book.
I looked at the lake not far away sparkling in the sun for a long time.
It wasn't until more than an hour passed that Chris, with red eyes, walked out of the warehouse and said, "Victor, call your friends over and help us."
"coming!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Ran quickly put away his camera and called Ji Ma, who had been standing on the roadside smoking, to come over. Under Chris's command, he moved all three wooden boxes to the pickup truck that Jiana had driven out.
"Let's go home," Chris said as he got into the station wagon.
"My dear, you found that teacher..."
Before Akeem could finish speaking, Chris said fiercely, "Don't mention that idiot commander to me again. Not only was my grandfather not him, but he was also the hero who killed him!"
"You deserve it!" Wei Ran muttered to himself, not having the slightest sympathy for Akeem who refused to pick up the pot.
Aggrieved after being yelled at, Akeem started the car and left Ahola Village with the pickup truck behind him. He returned along the road built along the lake and finally returned to Pudong before lunch.
Lashi Village.
No one knew what Chris and Jana were talking about while preparing lunch together in the kitchen. But after the meal, Chris took the initiative to let Akeem take Jima to the city for a night.
Ji Ma naturally raised three hands in approval of such a good deed. Without even waiting for Akeem to say anything, he pulled him out of the house and disappeared in a car.
After closing the door, Chris took out the Ruger P08 pistol from the cabinet and placed it on the table. He apologized to Wei Ran who was left alone and said, "I'm sorry Victor, I'm afraid I can't give you this pistol."
.According to the diary left by my grandmother, it is a relic of Ino Vatanen, and I want to return it to Jana."
"It doesn't matter, this is what it should be." Wei Ran said happily. Although the pistol that Ino's father borrowed from Captain Korpi was of great value to him, it was more valuable to him than the one sitting opposite.
Chris and Jana have a better understanding of its origins and who should preserve it.
"Thanks!"
After listening to Chris's translation, Jana immediately thanked her in Chinese, which she had just learned before eating. She even stood up and bowed at a 90-degree angle in a serious manner.
We in China don’t appreciate this kind of farewell-like thank you...
Wei Ran hurriedly stood up to avoid the other party's bow, and a series of polite words came out of his mouth, fearing that the other party's bow would send him away.
Under Chris's "completely redundant" but necessary translation, the two parties sat down again. Before Wei Ran could say anything, Jiana pushed the SVT40 semi-automatic rifle that had been placed on the table in advance to Wei Ran.
"What is this?" Wei Ran looked at Jiana sitting opposite him in confusion.
"This rifle symbolizes the unbreakable friendship between Raikkonen and Vatanen." Jana waited for Chris to finish the translation and continued, "Victor, after discussing with Chris, I decided to give it to you as a gift.
Thank you for the gift of helping to restore this friendship between our families."
"This..." Wei Ran was about to open his mouth to refuse, but he didn't expect the tattoo on his left hand to become hot without any warning!
