Watching the sunset, Wei Ran, who had been busy all afternoon, also took advantage of the time. Before the middle-aged couple whom he met yesterday came back from get off work, he declined the invitation of the two old people to have dinner together and took Jialin with him. He left this secluded fenced courtyard with gifts from the two old men Na and Zurab.
On the way back to the off-road vehicle, the old couple stuffed two large boxes of potatoes and a large box of mixed vegetables with cucumbers and tomatoes into the large trunk. In addition, there were also a large carton of apples and five cans of themselves.
Pickled pickles and five cans of homemade pickled tomatoes.
Even Mr. Zurab secretly gave Wei Ran a large bottle of vodka that he brewed from potatoes.
Of course, Wei Ran didn't express his true intention all day long. He just helped them with their farm work all day long. By the way, he used his Rollei double-reflector to help them walk under the apple tree.
Just took a group photo with a happy smile at sunset.
After driving face to face with the oncoming Chinese SUV, Weiran also increased his speed while dialing the number of Yin Wan, a professional accountant in Shenhu, and directly expressed his hope that the other party could come to Osinowitz Port as soon as possible.
Accept your request to go back.
Since his precious daughter was in need of health care, this old guy was happy enough and quick enough. Almost as soon as it got completely dark, he drove the broken fishing boat converted from military to civilian use and parked it in Osinowitz.
pier.
"Did you find anything?"
As soon as he saw Wei Ran, Old Yin Wan immediately asked, followed closely by his two precious daughters, sisters Suisui and Katenka, and even Jima, Maya and Lola all came out of the cabin like dirt.
They popped up one after another like dogs.
"Let's not talk about it for now, come here and help move things." Wei Ran said, having already stuffed a large box of apples into Yin Wan's arms.
The old guy glared at Wei Ran who was trying to show off, and walked back to the cabin with the box of apples in his arms.
With the help of these friends, I moved all the fruits, vegetables, and food and drinks obtained through labor into the cabin. I gritted my teeth and tried to sell them until Wei Yan, who was sinking into the lake, adamantly refused the job of sailing back.
Like Jima, he picked out a big, red apple, peeled it with a paratrooper knife and put it in Suisui's hands.
After making jokes and rambling all the way back to the small island in the middle of the Neva River, Wei Ran explained what he had found, and finally led his destination to the fence.
In the courtyard.
"So you can probably be sure that these things came from the two old people in that yard?" Old Yin Wan asked.
"Probably so"
Wei Ran took a big sip of the hawthorn leaf tea handed over by the little girl Lola, and then said slowly, "I won't mention the specific investigation process. Now we only have to go to the two old people to verify it."
Come on, Olga, the decision is now in your hands.
I am certain that the bayan on the stand was not an instrument stolen from Shostakovich’s former residence, and the music score most likely has nothing to do with that former residence.
So you can choose to continue to hold these things openly, or you can choose to go to those two old men and listen to their opinions."
Hearing this, Olga breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and then said without hesitation, "Do you still need to consider this kind of thing? Dad, how about we visit those two old people early tomorrow morning? By the way, we will also give them some money.
Just prepare some gifts."
Hearing this, Lao Yinwan looked at everyone triumphantly, and seemed very satisfied with his baby daughter's decision. He patted his chest and said, "Then let's go visit tomorrow! Your mother has made a lot of mogu sauce.
and smoked fish, and we also grow a lot in our vegetable garden..."
"I think it's best for you to exchange some gifts."
Wei Ran had to remind, "I have been working in their vegetable garden for a whole day. The two old men are living a completely self-sufficient life. There is no shortage of any agricultural products. Even the vodka is made by the old gentleman himself."
Brewed. If you don’t believe me, just look at the fruits and vegetables I brought back.
Besides, considering the dried fish in the box, I don’t think giving smoked fish as a gift is a good choice.”
"Victor, what do you suggest?"
Mrs. Yana, who had been listening just now, took a sip of the fruit wine in her glass and asked.
"Um..."
Wei Ran pondered for a moment, first looked at Olga, then at Olejian, and then at Sui Xin who was sitting in a wheelchair.
"Say something quickly," Suisui urged while poking Wei Ran's itchy flesh with her fingers.
"According to my investigation, those two old gentlemen were both faculty members of the Leningrad Conservatory of Music."
Wei Ran paused and continued, "So I think there should be no more appropriate gift than helping them with farm work for a day, holding a music performance, and giving them a sculpture at the same time."
“That’s a good way!”
Olenna immediately agreed, but then said with a grimace, "But I can't make a sculpture in one day, even the smallest one is not that easy."
"I took pictures of them with a camera, but it requires a darkroom."
Wei Ran paused for a while and then continued, "By the way, I also want to give them some gifts. In addition, if the sculpture cannot be finished in one day, it will take a week, and if it cannot be finished in a week, it will take a month. The difference is just more visits.
Spend more time with them, I think this is a good thing for both parties."
"We don't have room for you to find a darkroom."
Daria responded unhurriedly, "But the scanner in my room can scan negatives. I bought it some time ago specifically to scan negatives. I also bought a lot of photo paper and a fairly professional printer.
"
"I need to use it later," Wei Ran said immediately.
"No problem at all"
Dalia looked at Wei Ran with a smile, "So is this the Teacher's Day gift you gave me? Your Chinese Teacher's Day is today?"
"It was yesterday"
Wei Ran smiled and responded, "If you don't mind, just think of it as my Teacher's Day gift to you, so that you and Uncle Yin Wan don't have to pay the investigation commission."
"I don't want to owe..."
"You'd better not be so harsh"
Daria reminded Old Yin Wan before he finished speaking, "His commission is not low. As far as I know, there have been more than one idiots willing to spend 200,000 euros to hire him to investigate the historical truth."
"Then consider it a Teacher's Day gift."
Old Yin Wan immediately changed his mind and said, "Anyway, I taught you how to drive my precious fishing boat."
"Your tuition is really expensive..."
Jima, who had been listening to the excitement just now, couldn't help but muttered something, and then Maya blocked her mouth with her eyes.
After confirming the itinerary for the next day, Olga immediately pushed Sui Xin and left everyone. The two of them had a gurgling discussion, and it was obvious that they had some plans.
"Did you really find out in such a short time?"
Suisui leaned into Wei Ran's ear and whispered, "If you are one day late, the bet between Olga and Olena and I will be lost.
"What did you bet on?" Wei Ran asked curiously in a low voice.
"Hey, I can't tell you this yet." Suisui responded vaguely, and then changed the topic to other aspects.
Before dinner, Wei Ran took the opportunity to borrow the scanner in Teacher Dalia's room, scanned the negatives in the metal book one by one into electronic versions, and then printed them.
The children captured in the photos were a little thinner than Wei Ran's impression, but they were just as energetic.
And the changes in the number of people in those photos also silently told the pain those children experienced.
Finally, he found the one at the door of the cement house next to the playground among the group photos. There was no gas in this photo, but the crashing fighter jet in the background was particularly clear.
Continuing to scroll back, these black and white photos record too many tragedies, from the dead bodies in the snow on the roadside, to the mother and son who committed suicide, to the brother and sister who starved to death one after another, to the scenes in the air-raid shelter.
A group photo of the children visibly relieved at Osinowitz Pier. Even on Lake Ladoga, the collapsed girl and various wreckage floating on the water, as well as hats one after another.
"Snapped"
Wei Ran put the unfinished photo paper into an envelope and placed it on the table, trying hard not to fall into the heart-wrenching despair again.
After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, he collected the negatives, disconnected the printer from his notebook and walked out of the office.
Time flies and the next morning arrives. When everyone wakes up early, everything outside the window is enveloped by the continuous autumn rain. Even the temperature has dropped by several degrees, causing everyone to go back to their rooms and take out their coats.
Weared on the body.
After hurriedly finishing their breakfast and then grabbing some gifts prepared by Mrs. Yana, everyone boarded the fishing boat and braved the rain along the Neva River to Lake Ladoga first, and then along the lake shore to Osinowitz.
After everyone got into the large Iveco van that was parked here yesterday, Weiran himself acted as the driver and rushed to the secluded courtyard next to the forest.
Before the car stopped, he saw the two old men busy stringing the sunflowers harvested at an unknown time on poles and hanging them on the corridor beams of the wooden house.
However, it was obvious that the overly abundant harvest also made this job, which had come earlier due to rainfall, a bit hectic - especially since the two old men were almost eighty years old.
"Grandma Galina, Grandpa Zurab, do you need my help?"
Wei Ran parked the car at the gate of the fence yard, opened the car door, leaned out most of his body, stood up straight and asked.
"It's Victor!"
Zula's wrinkled face immediately showed a happy look, "Galina and I were just talking about how it would be great if a great young man came to help us like yesterday, and then you came."
"I brought some extra helpers today," Wei Ran said, making an OK gesture with his hand still in the cab.
After getting the signal, Jima immediately opened the car door and let Maya get out first, carrying the pie and mushroom sauce made by Mrs. Yana herself.
Immediately afterwards, Suisui also walked down with sisters Lola and Katenka, and took out Sui Xin, her wheelchair, and the piano case containing the guqin Youquan.
Behind these girls, the sisters Olga and Olena also worked together to carry the wooden box out of the carriage.
Seeing so many young people getting out of the car, the two old people who were busy in the corridor in front of the door were a little confused for a moment.
With a wink at Olga, Wei Ran and Ji Ma took over the work from the hands of the two old men with smiles on their faces. With the help of the Katenka sisters, Lola Suisui and Maya, they took over the work of the two old people.
A sunflower tray, only slightly smaller than a washbasin, was strung up with bamboo poles and placed one after another on the beams of the corridor.
At the same time, after a brief moment of astonishment, the two old men who had been robbed of their jobs were all attracted to the box carried by the sisters Olga and Olena.
"This box..." Grandma Galina looked at the box on the table in the corridor in disbelief, and wiped her hands with her apron excitedly, "You are..."
"Hello, Teacher Galina, I am Olga, a student who graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory of Music in St.."
As she spoke, Olga opened the box and told very frankly how she was deceived by her mentor and wasted a summer vacation cleaning up the musical instrument warehouse, how she stole the box, and even hoped to find the owner of the box, even her
All the stupid things that stupid dad did were introduced without reservation.
Finally, the girl let out a long breath and said, "Anyway, Teacher Galina, we are here to return these precious memories to their owners. Fortunately, we finally found this place."
Hearing this, Galina and Zurab, who was sitting as the narrator, looked at each other, and then looked at Wei Ran and others who had finished drying the sunflower trays and were working together to clean the corridor.
"So Victor yesterday..."
"right"
Wei Ran straightened up and said equally calmly, "I always want to confirm whether the person I'm looking for is really the owner of that box."
"Come in and sit down"
Galina reached out and touched the box, "Children, please bring it in too, and let me tell you the story of this box."
After hearing this, these young people immediately lined up and walked into the room, sitting in a full circle around the long table in the living room.
"This box is actually my mother's relic."
Galina said, "She used to be a member of...Forget it, let's call it the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. She used to be the administrator of the school's musical instrument warehouse. But that was a long time ago.
When I was little, every time on Children's Day, she would open this box, play a piece of music on the bayan, sing a song, and cut off a piece of paper that was only about half the size of her little finger.
I was fed small pieces of bread, and later when I was older, I was even given a bite of dried fish."
Having said this, Galina picked up the dried fish, pointed to the remaining ring of tooth marks on it and said, "This is what I left after the last time I ate it when I was 12 years old. From then on, she started using that dried fish."
Bayan taught me how to play the piece and how to sing a song, but he never let me eat the unpalatable bread and dried fish there."
“We had it when we got married”
Zurab reminded, "On June 1, 1964, on the dock, each of us ate a thumb-thick piece of black bread. I will never forget the unpleasant taste in my life. That was also what I ate.
It’s the longest piece of brown bread ever.”
"The piece of bread you eat was actually made by my mother herself."
Galina carefully wrapped the dried fish and the piece of black bread in newspapers while explaining, "She is very disgusted with the waste of food, but when you are as young as these guys, you are not someone who cherishes food.
.”
Before Mr. Zurab could speak, Granny Galina continued, "However, since my mother retired, I have never seen this box again. I always thought that it and the contents inside had been thrown away.
Well, I didn’t expect it to be placed in the school’s musical instrument warehouse.”
"Can you tell me a story about your mother?"
Wei Ran said, taking out an extremely thick envelope from his bag, "I found the film of these photos in the archives of the Conservatory of Music, and it was through these things that I found you."
After taking the envelope and opening it, Galina took out the thick stack of photos. She just glanced at the top group photo and sighed. Then she put down the photos in her hand, stood up and said,
"Kids, I also have these pictures in my house."
With that said, the old lady had already walked to the piano and opened the green velvet cloth surrounding the glass cabinet with the snare drum.
Before she could open the originally blocked glass cabinet door on the lower floor, Wei Ran, who was nearest, widened his eyes in surprise.
This not-so-big glass cabinet is filled with various medals and certificates in several rows. In addition, there is also a familiar-looking cigarette case and lighter from Weiran. Of course, there are also
There is a silver hearth and a set of two volumes of "The Resurrection".
[In view of the general environment, this site may be closed at any time, please move to the permanently operating source app, huanyuanapp as soon as possible]
In particular, most of those medals had appeared in the records in the metal book, but Wei Ran did not expect that there were as many as 17 Red Flag Medals of Labor here!
"These are the medals and certificates my mother and Uncle Keleluo and Aunt Laihia received."
Grandma Galina said proudly, "There are two Red Flag Medals of Labor that I have won."
"The other two are mine," Mr. Zurab said equally proudly.
But then, the old couple sighed in unison, "Unfortunately, the Soviet Union is no longer around."
Amid the silence of many young people, Grandma Galina took out a photo album stained by time from the cabinet, gently wiped the dust on it with her sleeve, and then handed it to Wei Ran.
"Let's light the stove," Galina said to Mr. Zurab, and at the same time took away the kerosene signal lamp placed on the stove.
"It's really time to light the stove"
As Zurab said, he declined Jima's attempt to help. He slowly opened the lid of the box next to the stove, picked up a German coconut kettle from inside, opened the lid and poured half a cup of kerosene into the pot on the stove.
On top of the firewood, he took out a box of matches, lit one and threw it into the stove.
When the flames, with the help of kerosene, firmly adhered to the firewood that had been put in for who knows how long, Mr. Zurab also found a small shovel, shoveled some briquettes from the airdrop box and threw them into the furnace, and then
The fire sealing lid was closed.
The faint smell of smoke slowly filled the room. Grandma Galina also placed the kerosene signal lamp in her hand on the long table where everyone was sitting, sat down again, and talked about her mother Ke in a leisurely manner.
The story between Na and her.
As she told the story, the yellowed photo album was passed back and forth among many young people.
Grandma Galina's story is not much different from what Wei Ran experienced, but it is equally cruel and full of cold and hunger. Especially when paired with the yellowed photo album, it makes these young people feel like they have fallen into an ice cellar.
I generally felt a bone-deep fear.
After a long time, the rain outside the window became heavier and heavier, and Mr. Zurab also received a call. Their daughter was going to the dock to accompany her son-in-law on duty, and she might not be able to go home tonight. And Galina's story was gradually coming to an end.
.
"This is their story"
Grandma Galina took the hot tea from Lola and held it in her hand, "My brothers and sisters, Uncle Matvey and almost everyone in the story are buried in Osinowitz Cemetery. I
After my mother retired, she also moved here.
As I said at the beginning, every June 1st, I have to taste the bread and the dried fish, and accompany my mother to the cemetery to play for my brothers and sisters.
Bayanqin singing.
It's a pity that I have no impression of those brothers and sisters at all, and June 1st at that time was not Children's Day at all."
"Grandma Galina, can you still sing that song?" Wei Ran asked abruptly.
"Do you want to hear it?"
Grandma Galina said, having already picked up the bayan on the table, "Let me try how to play that piece of music. I hope this bayan can still be used."
"It can still be used," Olga, whose eyes were red, said quickly, "its tone is very good."
"let me try"
Before Galina finished speaking, she had already hugged the bayanqin in her arms, and Mr. Zurab also took the lead and sat next to the Lilly Card piano.
Soon, a slightly sad melody resounded in the small wooden house shrouded in the autumn rain. The old man sitting on the chair also sang the song for children in desperate situations with the accompaniment of the music.
Their songs:
The white Neva River is filled with red artillery fire
In that cold ruins, there are a group of happy little guys
...
With the accompaniment becoming more and more powerful and hopeful, the lyrics sung from the old man's mouth were also filled with more and more hope and confidence.
After a long time, as the last lyrics were sung, both the bayan in her arms and the piano not far away fell into silence one after another.
"Papa pa pa" Olga was the first to applaud, followed closely by the other young people who also applauded one after another.
"Grandma Galina, what's the name of this song?" Suisui, with red eyes, asked.
"name?"
Galina smiled and replied sadly, "There is no name. This song has no name. Just like the children who did not survive the war, they have no names and do not need names."
