On the morning of Teacher's Day, Wei Ran, who seemed to have only played the guqin in the hotel room for an hour, left the hotel before lunch and hurriedly left the city in the Iveco loaf rented by Jima.
I found several garbage stations along the way and threw away the suspicious chocolate and honey wrappers and glass bottles separately.
After doing this, he drove straight to Osinowitz, eager to go to the address provided in the metal book to see if he could find the cemetery of those forever young children, and also see if he could
The little baby Galina, who was no longer young, could not be found.
Halfway through the car, when the scenery on both sides of the road was replaced by endless birch forests or coniferous forests, Wei Ran stopped the car on the side of the road.
As he calmed down more and more as he arrived here, he finally had the intention to see what the metal book had to offer this time.
Wei Ran ducked into the spacious back compartment, sat down again, took out the metal book, opened it, and carefully looked at the big red vortex on the back of the latest page, and the row of three ping pong ball-sized books directly below.
Blue swirl.
After thinking for a while, he first took out the object in the first blue vortex. What was inside was the luxurious sterling silver imco4700 lighter that the breeder Matvey gave to him.
This heavy lighter is not only embossed with Alamein vine patterns, but even the windshield is made of pure gold and a German Air Force mission buckle.
Continue to take out the contents of the second small blue vortex. This time, it was the sterling silver cigarette case that Weiyan dug out from the corpse of the German pilot and gave it to Matvey. He then gave it back to himself.
On the front and back of this cigarette box, one is embossed with the eagle emblem of the Second Reich, and the other is inlaid with an extremely rare German retired aircrew medal.
The cigarette box opened with a "click" sound. In addition to the 12 German R6 cigarettes from World War II fixed inside, there was also a photo attached to the inside of the two metal shells.
One of the photos was of Matvey taking a group photo with his little actors and children in the basement. The one surrounded in the middle was Mrs. Via.
The photo on the other side was taken outside the door after Wei Ran and the children moved to the small house on the edge of the playground under Lidya's guidance.
In this group photo, not only were there the presence of sanitary munitions, but above the children, a German aircraft that was blown up in the sky, as well as anti-aircraft balloons, a fire net formed by anti-aircraft guns and other details were captured.
Silently taking out a cigarette and holding it in his mouth, he lit it with the lighter he had just taken out. Wei Ran took a big puff of the French silk cigarette from the 1940s, and then took out the third one while puffing out smoke.
Something in a blue swirl.
This time, what appeared in his hand was a bright red thickened velvet bag with a golden hammer and sickle logo embroidered on it.
Wei Ran couldn't help but reveal a smile, and gently shook out the warm silver hearth from the cloth bag, only to find that there was actually a metal sword and shield badge inlaid on the hearth.
So is this the sword and shield badge on Mrs. Serkina’s body on the third floor of the ruined building where the first basement is located, or is it the sword and shield badge that belongs to Kona?
Wei Ran gently rubbed the warm hearth and fell into deep thought. After all, Ke Na was also transferred to work in an orphanage after the war...
"It should be the belief you both share..."
Wei Ran muttered to himself as he stuffed the still-working silver body stove into a cloth bag, and then took back the three blue vortexes, which were only the size of ping pong balls, along with the lighter and cigarette case.
In the end, he tried to take out the things in the red vortex to no avail. Weiran opened the door and looked around, then bent down and got out of the car, hiding in the shadow of the van, and tried to take out the things inside again.
Perhaps because the space was large enough, it went particularly smoothly this time. However, when he saw the things he took out, he couldn't help but show a hint of confusion.
At this time, what was in front of him was a World War II German airdrop box with a cast iron stove fixed on it.
Compared with the first time he saw this box with skis next to Lydia when she was dying, the box in front of him was obviously reinforced on the ice of Lake Ladoga.
The wooden boards used on more than six sides of this box are all in one piece rather than spliced. On one side, on the evenly applied white paint, there is also a Russian slogan that he had not noticed before with red paint - "Everything for
Victory! All for the front line!"
Gently open the fire sealing cover of the cast iron stove. There is also chopped firewood inside. There is an L-shaped iron elbow pipe and a T-shaped three-way iron pipe in the furnace below for collecting dust.
In the triangular space formed between the stove and the reinforced handle, half-meter-long iron chimneys are firmly fixed with belts.
Gently open the German lock on the lid of the box and lift it 180 degrees. On the inside of the wooden lid wrapped with iron sheets, a half-meter-long panel saw and a Finnish ax of about the same length are fixed with belts.
In addition, there is a fire rod with a wooden handle and a fire hook with a wooden handle.
And inside the box, which was also wrapped in iron sheets, it was filled with pieces of briquettes just like what was seen in the tent on Lake Ladoga.
Subconsciously, he opened the small compartment with a separate wooden lid on the edge of the box. In addition to a German coconut pot filled with kerosene and a kerosene lamp, there was also a glass can wrapped tightly in kraft paper.
, this can with a capacity of one liter contained Salo meat that he did not have time to eat.
"May you never be trapped by hunger and cold..."
Wei Ran murmured a message on the metal book, smiled and closed the wooden cover of the compartment, then closed the lid of the airdrop box, locked the buckle and sat on it, leaning against the black cast iron stove, leisurely
He leisurely finished smoking the cigarette held between his fingertips.
This chapter is not over yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Put out the cigarette butts and put away the airdrop box, Weiran took one last look in the direction of St. Petersburg, got back into the car, drove the van, and continued along the bumpy road.
Highway rushed to the address recorded on the metal book.
At nearly two o'clock in the afternoon, he finally arrived in Osinowitz and successfully found several wooden houses that were surrounded by birch trees on almost three sides.
Just by looking at the distance between these houses, the pier and the lighthouse, he could be sure that this was not the cemetery where the children were buried together, but the address pointed to by the metal book was undoubtedly here.
Just as he was wondering, in the birch forest behind the houses, the whistle of the train and the clanging noise of the track were also heard. A moment later, a train roared past the railway in the forest, but it was
Because those tall and lush trees blocked the entire figure.
After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran parked the car in the shadow of the trees on the edge of the forest, hid in the car, took out his telescope and looked at the wooden houses surrounded by fences.
It can be seen that the people living here are very sentimental. Not only are there a variety of flowers and plants planted around the house, but also a piece of land on the side of one of the wooden houses that looks like a garage has been reclaimed and planted.
Various vegetables and fruits.
Between the two-story wooden house and the garage, there was an apple tree with lush leaves and fruit.
Looking deeper, there seem to be many sunflowers that are ripe but have not yet had time to be harvested.
Just at this moment, an old lady wrapped in a headscarf pushed a small cart to the shade next to the apple tree, and quickly dumped the firewood on the small cart to the ground.
Picking up the towel hanging around her neck and wiping her forehead, the old lady stood on tiptoes and plucked a red apple, wiped it on her teeth and took a good bite.
She casually picked up a log that was only half a meter long but as thick as a thigh and sat down. The old lady ate the flesh of the apple leisurely, and even the remaining core was not wasted, but was thrown away.
Entered the chicken pen not far away.
After wiping her hands carefully with a towel, the old lady went around to the other side of the apple tree, which was as thick as a car tire, and brought over an axe, and skillfully chopped up the log that had just been dumped on the ground.
This old lady has such a good body...
Wei Ran murmured to himself, but did not rush to get out of the car. Instead, he continued to patiently hold up the telescope and observe.
After the old lady chopped all the logs on the ground into sizes suitable for burning, she loaded them back into the cart, and then moved out an oversized log from a wooden house not far away.
stainless steel steamer, and a steel-welded stove frame.
Moving all these things and the newly chopped firewood to the gravel ground next to a faucet, the old lady skillfully placed a pile of chopped firewood on the ground and lit it.
I lit a cigarette myself.
While smoking a cigarette, he supported the three-legged stove on the bonfire, and the stainless steel steamer with a diameter of more than one meter was also placed on it.
Putting the cigarette in her mouth unhurriedly, the old lady turned on the faucet, picked up the water pipe and pointed it at the steamer.
As the water was poured in, a cloud of steam evaporated from the large pot, and then it fell into silence.
After enough water was put in, the old lady tightened the faucet and threw the finished cigarette butt into the bonfire.
Wiping her hands with a towel again, she pushed the empty trolley into the wooden house where the steamer had just been taken out.
Not long after, the old lady brought over fifty or sixty crystal clear glass bottles on a trolley, as well as two stainless steel steaming racks and a stainless steel lid.
First, she placed the steaming rack inside the pot, then placed the obviously recently washed glass bottles upside down on the two-tiered steaming rack and closed the lids. However, she just sat by the bonfire and rested for a while, then continued to push the small
The cart went into the vegetable field and picked out small cucumbers, tomatoes, handfuls of fennel, onions, etc.
She had just pushed the cart of harvest back to the faucet when a white-haired old man also rode a bicycle past Wei Ran's car and rode straight into the large area.
Fence yard.
Under Wei Ran's prying eyes, the old man and the old lady hugged each other affectionately, then put on their aprons and helped them wash the various fruits they had picked.
On this early autumn afternoon, the old couple had no time to spare. First, they used the oversized steamer to make various cans of freshly picked vegetables, and then picked a large basket of green and red apples.
They moved out an old-looking wooden juicer and worked together to produce bottles of fruit vinegar waiting to be fermented.
This was not over yet. After the old couple took a short rest, they started to bake bread and cook food in the open-air oven.
Until the sunset was about to be blocked by the forest not far away, the old couple finally had some free time. The old man also moved two wooden chairs from the room and placed them under the apple tree, while the old lady took out a baby from the room.
Jia Weiran looked at Bayang Qin who looked very familiar.
Soon, the old man took the bayangqin and held it against his chest and started playing. The old woman also sang the song that Wei Ran was very familiar with, the song written by Kona for the children.
Song.
Before the song was finished, a Chinese-made SUV passed by Iveco and drove steadily into the fenced yard and stopped.
As the car door opened, a bald man in uniform, who looked to be in his fifties or sixties, and a woman of a similar age but with a particularly elegant temperament got out of the car one after another.
The two middle-aged men and women were not idle. After getting off the car, they were busy carrying the dinner kept warm around the oven into the two-story wooden house. The old couple also collaborated on another song.
After "In the Forest Near the Front Line", they walked into the lighted room together.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! No longer continuing to peek at the scene in the window lit by light, Wei Ran put away the camera and pinched his eyebrows tiredly, and at the same time closed the door
Eye.
After a long time, until the sky outside the car window completely darkened, he took out the cigarette case again, took out a cigarette from it, put it in his mouth, lit it, and let his thoughts go.
It wasn't until the cigarette burned out that he put out the cigarette butt, drove the Iveco van away from the end of the country gravel road, turned around and drove towards the dock.
Wei Ran randomly found a restaurant that was open at the pier. Taking the opportunity to have dinner, Wei Ran asked the local waiter a few casual questions.
After finishing all the food on the plate with special care, he drove back to the city of St. Petersburg overnight, sneaked into the archives of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music and rummaged around, and then returned to the hotel empty-handed, giving Suisui
I made a video call, and it was revealed intentionally or unintentionally that the investigation had some clues.
After hanging up the phone, Wei Ran took a scalding hot shower and then fell asleep. However, in his dreams that night, he inevitably returned to the basement where he suffered from hunger and wind and snow.
In the blink of an eye, the next morning, Wei Ran didn't even wait for the sun to rise completely, so he drove his car to Osinowitz again, rented an off-road vehicle locally and drove straight to the fenced yard he had visited yesterday.
.
Far away, he saw the old couple who had been observing all afternoon yesterday, busy harvesting potatoes in the morning sun.
The old man drove a small hand-pushed machine in the front to turn over the soil, while the old woman was in the back, picking up the turned-out potatoes into different bamboo baskets according to their quality.
Beside the bamboo baskets, there was a dog of some unknown breed sitting squatting. From time to time, the dog would go crazy and help the old lady dig the soil with its paws.
Or drive away wild pigeons flying from nowhere.
After observing for a moment, Wei Ran finally pushed open the car door, stood at the door of the fenced courtyard wrapped in flowers and vines, waved, and politely asked under the vigilant gaze of the dog, "Hello, can I exchange my labor for some potatoes or other things?"
What kind of vegetables? I guess you wouldn’t mind having an extra helper.”
"certainly"
The old lady waved her hand enthusiastically in response, "Come in! Our dogs don't bite."
Hearing this, Wei Ran opened the ajar wooden fence door and walked along the paved stone road to the edge of the potato field, "Hello, my name is Victor, what can I do for you?"
"
“What a polite boy.”
The old lady turned an empty wooden box next to her upside down and patted it. Then she took off the towel on her shoulders and patted it. Then she invited, "Sit down quickly and help me sort the potatoes."
, By the way, have you eaten? If not, we still have the leftover bread and beetroot soup from the morning. If you don't mind it, I can heat it up for you."
"Don't bother me. The fried fish I had at the pier this morning was very delicious."
Wei Ran responded while sitting on the wooden box, "What should I call you? Also, how should I classify these potatoes?"
"My name is Galina"
After speaking, the old woman with white hair wrapped in a scarf pointed to the old man who was digging the ground with a machine not far away, "That is my husband Zurab. If you want, you can call me grandma and grandpa."
We, I think, are certainly old enough to be your grandparents."
"It's my pleasure, Grandma Galina"
Wei Ran politely changed his name, and at the same time waved to the old man who stopped the machine and turned around to wave to him, "I originally wanted to find some wild fruits or vegetables in the nearby forest, but I overestimated
I have the ability, and then I saw you and Grandpa Zurab harvesting potatoes, so I wanted to ask if there is anything I can do to help.
Of course, it would be better if you could give me some potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., so that I can tell my girlfriend that these are wild vegetables I picked in the forest."
"You little guy is so funny"
Galina was amused by Wei Ran's joke, "You can't pick such wild fruits and vegetables in the forest, but whether you are willing to help or not, I will give you some to take back."
"I will definitely help"
Wei Ran picked up a potato and asked, "How should I classify it? Should I ask about its height, weight or blood type?"
“What an interesting little guy”
Galina smiled like a child and raised her hand to point to a few bamboo baskets lined up in the distance, "The main thing is to pick out the bad ones, those that were eaten by insects, and those that were cut by the earth tiller.
The bad ones must be picked out, they cannot be saved and must be eaten first.”
"If this young man is willing to work harder, he can also help us send the divided potatoes into the cellar."
The man named Zurab reminded loudly, "Maybe we can harvest all these potatoes today. Young man, if you are willing to help, you can have lunch with us at noon, and we will also give you some canned food."
"Then it's settled"
Wei Ran agreed before Galina could speak, "Where is the cellar? I'll send the basket in now."
“The entrance is there”
Galina pointed to the garage-like wooden house with a smile, "There is a trolley there. You can take your time so as not to tire yourself out."
"Don't worry, I have plenty of strength."
After Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already walked along the stone road to the door of the wooden garage. There was no car parked here, but there were many farm tools hanging on the surrounding walls. At the innermost part of the garage, there was also a door leading to the cellar.
Cement gentle slope.
Pushing the cart back to Grandma Galina, Wei Ran carefully poured the potatoes he had picked into the cart. After the cart was full, he carefully pushed it into the garage and groped for the lighting in the cellar.
After the switch was turned on, the potatoes with soil still in them were pushed into the cool cellar.
This cellar is quite large. The surrounding walls, including the top of the head, are reinforced with thick logs and wooden boards. On the wooden shelves against the surrounding walls, there are also various cans and harvested products such as radishes and sweet potatoes.
Such tuber vegetables.
Under the command of Mr. Zurab, Wei Ran buried all the harvested potatoes in the corner of the cellar according to the ratio of one cart of potatoes to one cart of soil.
Obviously, even if the potato field is not large, and even with the help of Wei Ran, the job cannot be completed in one day. So after just busy working until about ten o'clock in the morning, Mrs. Galina walked to the baking field alone.
Beside the stove, I was busy working on lunch.
Wei Ran helped Mr. Zurab use a long pole with a net to pick the ripe apples from the apple tree and put them into frames.
It was through this busy work at noon that Wei Ran also learned a lot of information from side to side.
For example, these two are both 78 years old, and they were both teachers at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music.
They also have a daughter named Lydia, who is a music teacher at the local school in Osinowitz, and her husband is a dispatcher at the dock.
Lydia and her husband come back from get off work every day. They also have a son who is serving in the polar forces but has not been back for a long time.
During the chat, he temporarily sent the apples to the cellar for storage. Mr. Zurab also invited Wei Ran to the two-story wooden house.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw a brown Lilika piano made in the Soviet Union placed by the window on the first floor. There was also a bayan on the table next to the piano.
On the other side of the piano, there is a set of snare drums in a glass-sealed cabinet. However, the lower part of the glass cabinet is tightly surrounded by green velvet cloth, so it is impossible to see clearly what is placed underneath.
What.
In addition to these two items that were particularly familiar to the fire, he also saw a German airdrop box that he was more familiar with next to the fireplace in this room. This airdrop box also had a cast iron stove fixed to the side near the handle.
However, this set of objects obviously has a more commemorative significance, especially the cast iron stove, which also has an extremely clean kerosene signal lamp placed on it.
Except for these, the rest of the things in the rooms on this floor all bear the traces of time. It can even be said that a large part of them seem to be products of the Soviet era.
Before he finished the visit, Zurab asked him to wash his hands and then helped Galina bring lunch.
Hearing this, Wei Ran quickly withdrew his gaze and helped the old lady who was working outside to put the re-baked bread, a large pot of beetroot soup, a fresh vegetable salad, and a potato stew on the table against the wall.
On the dining table. At the same time, Zurab also dug out two small enamel cups and a bottle of vodka that seemed to be brewed by himself.
While eating, Wei Ran chatted with the old couple all over the world, talking about the not-so-distant St. Petersburg and the disappeared Leningrad, the road of life, and the distant Volgograd and Kazan, as well as
Talking about Huaxia, where he grew up, and the pain Huaxia has experienced.
At the end of lunch, Wei Ran also noticed that the two old men habitually wiped away the remaining soup on the plate with slices of bread. They even used slices of bread for their forks and spoons.
I wiped it very clean and ate the bread slices.
Although the old couple did not explain it, Wei Ran knew that this kind of dining habit was not due to poor living conditions or stinginess. It was probably the common shadow of the generation that had experienced the hunger war, and only those who had experienced the long-term
After 872 days of siege and starvation, and witnessing every living thing being starved to death, people truly understand the value and value of food.
Almost subconsciously, Wei Ran, who was already full, carefully tore a piece of bread into four pieces and carefully wiped the soup on his plate.
"Good boy, you don't have to be like this"
The kind Mrs. Galina stopped her gently, "You haven't experienced the Battle of Leningrad, so you don't need to be like us. This is just a habit we have developed since we were young. We don't want today's children to stay like this like us.
This habit will be laughed at."
"Yes...yes..."
Wei Ran sighed secretly, threw the slices of bread soaked in soup into his mouth, chewed them in big mouthfuls, and murmured incomprehensibly, "How could I have experienced that war?"
