Early the next morning after arriving in Kiev, when Wei Ran walked out of the room, he happened to see Jima in the room opposite the door stuffing a few banknotes into the chest of a young girl. The latter looked like no one else was there.
Wrapped in a tight down jacket, Ji Ma put her head and left a fiery red lip mark on Ji Ma's face. Then she carried a leather bag and walked into the elevator. When the elevator door closed, she even flirted with Wei Ran.
Eyes.
"Is this the guide you're looking for?" Wei Ran turned to Ji Ma, who still had a look of lust on his face, and teased.
"It's enough to have a mobile phone to navigate. How can I find a guide for this kind of making a fortune?" Jima waved to Wei Ran with a silly smile, and whispered with a sly look, "Come in with me first."
Walking into Jima's room without knowing why, the former pointed to the backpack on the bed as if he was taking credit, "This is the main reason why I found that beautiful girl."
"what?"
Wei Ran opened his backpack curiously and saw at a glance that it contained two Makarov pistols, two spare magazines, and two cardboard boxes of bullets.
"I bought it from a local gangster, so at least we can be safer." Jima lowered his voice and said, "Although I have never been to Kiev, this is Ukraine after all."
“It sounds like Russia is so safe.”
Wei Ran muttered to himself, picked up one of the pistols, almost subconsciously opened it and checked it, then loaded the magazine and put it in his inner pocket of his jacket.
"Don't worry, I checked it last night." Ji Ma picked up another gun and put it in his waist, shaking the car key in his hand shamelessly, "Even the girl who rented the gun to us checked it carefully.
As a thank you, he also rented a car for me."
"Rent?" Wei Ran looked at Ji Ma who was loading bullets into the magazine, "Can you rent this thing?"
Ji Ma said matter-of-factly, "It's much cheaper than buying it. We can't take it back anyway, and it's not worth taking it back at all. Why should we spend money to buy it?"
"He is a good comrade who is diligent and thrifty"
Wei Ran couldn't help but took the magazine handed by the other party and put it in his pocket. Although the gun was rented and there was a high probability that it would not be used at all, the other party's attitude towards doing things made him particularly satisfied.
After Jima filled another spare magazine with bullets, the two divided the remaining bullets into their pockets, then left the hotel and drove a tattered Lada straight to the northwest corner of the city.
Potili district.
With the help of the navigation system, the dilapidated car drove along the highway toward the outside of the city, and finally drove into a community on the edge of the city surrounded by cemeteries, farmland, and forests.
Just from the dilapidated buildings on both sides of the street, we know that the people living here may not be living a happy life. And the gangsters with fierce faces who are obviously looking for targets on the street, as well as the girls who are also screening customers on the street, are even more...
This made Ji Ma, who was in charge of driving, sigh that he was lucky to have prepared self-defense weapons in advance.
All the way through the streets and alleys, when Ji Ma stepped on the brakes in response to the navigation prompts, outside the car window was a wooden house facing the street. On the side of the window next to the street, there was also a fluorescent sign with cartoon fonts on it.
Although neither of them knew the Ukrainian language written on it, they could at least understand the ice cream, egg tarts and coffee cups drawn on it.
"Dessert shop?" Ji Ma leaned his head to the edge of the mobile phone screen, "Victor, did you get the address wrong?"
"It should be right here."
Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already opened the car door, stepped on the steps inlaid with various colored stones, and walked to the window with the signboard. At the same time, he also saw the yard with a tall oak tree planted next to it, which was well-proportioned.
There are several tables and corresponding wooden chairs, as well as a rather old-looking slide.
I bent down slightly and looked through the glass window. There were a lot of equipment for a dessert shop placed against the wall of the spacious room. In addition, there was a young girl wearing denim overalls and a peaked cap who was baking in the oven.
Busy ahead.
But in addition, on the wall facing the window, there are two crossed double-barreled shotguns hanging. Right above the shotguns, there is a fluorescent sign that is constantly flashing, which reads in clear enough Russian "
The gun is loaded, please go next door for robbery." There is a similar line in Ukrainian above this Russian sentence, which presumably expresses the same meaning.
Wei Ran burst into laughter, hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and lightly knocked on the glass window.
The girl who was busy inside saw a customer coming, and quickly put aside the egg tarts she had just taken out from the wall, then opened the window and asked in Ukrainian.
Seeing Wei Ran's confused look, the girl immediately changed into Russian and asked, "What do you want?"
“Can the table on the patio be used?”
Wei Ran leaned his upper body on the window sill and asked, "If it's available, some egg tarts, double the amount of coffee, and some other things if you have any."
"Of course." The girl pointed to the car parked on the side of the road, "But you'd better drive the car forward so as not to affect my business."
"Of course" Wei Ran took a step back, straightened up and waved to Ji Ma who was standing by the car, "Drive forward and then come over and have something to eat!"
Ji Mabi gave an OK gesture and didn't even start the car. He pushed it forward a few meters, put on the handbrake, locked the door, and ran over. Before the two of them could sit down, the person with the carrier
The girl in trousers has already brought various desserts and two large cups of coffee on a tray, and placed a small ticket on the table.
"Eat first." Wei Ran winked at Ji Ma, who immediately took back the words that had reached his mouth, honestly picked up an egg tart and stuffed it into his mouth.
While eating dessert, Wei Ran was also looking at the yard, which was not that big. It could be seen that everything here was prepared for children. Even the table they were using was shorter than normal.
Quite a few.
"Victor, are you sure the person we are looking for is here?" Jima asked in a low voice.
"Eat first, and then we'll talk after you finish." Wei Ran was not in a hurry, as if all his attention was focused on the desserts that served as breakfast.
Ji Ma secretly glanced at the girl who was busy in the room, and couldn't help but say, "It's not a loss even if we can't find the old soldier, at least the girl is really beautiful."
Wei Ran pointed to the oak tree not far away, "If you're not hungry, go play on the slide, or build a castle or something in the sand pit under the tree."
Ji Ma grinned and honestly picked up the second steaming egg tart and stuffed it into his mouth.
After slowly finishing the dessert served by the other party, Wei Ran picked up the small note on the table, walked back to the window facing the roadside, handed in a large note, and took advantage of the girl's change.
Kung Fu asked, "Excuse me, there used to be an old man named Mikhail who lived near here. He was a veteran of the Soviet Red Army. Do you know where his home is?"
The girl who was looking for money didn't stop at all and asked in a flat tone, "You don't look like a Ukrainian, what are you doing with him?"
"I just want to meet." As Wei Ran spoke, he took out the memoir manuscript that had been copied in advance from his bag. "I want to know what happened behind this story."
Pushing a pile of change to Wei Ran, the girl picked up the manuscript and glanced at it, then returned it to Wei Ran and said simply, "He is dead. He died decades ago."
"Does he still have any descendants?" Wei Ran stuffed the manuscript and change back into his bag and continued to ask.
Unexpectedly, the girl actually took out a small PSM pistol from the pocket of her overalls and said in a cold tone, "There are still several months until April 20th. Do you idiots really think I am
Don’t you dare to shoot?”
Wei Ran slowly raised his hands and asked confusedly, "Did you admit the wrong person?"
Just as he raised his hands, Jima, who had been observing here, immediately took out his pistol and rushed over, aiming at the girl in the room outside the other window.
"Jima! Put the gun away!"
Just as Wei Ran stopped Ji Ma, a woman with a plump figure and an apron also ran out from another room on the first floor. While wiping the foam on her hands on the apron, she shouted anxiously, "Anna!"
Put your gun away!"
Ji Ma glanced at Wei Ran, and then simply put away the pistol. But the girl in the room didn't move until the fat woman who looked to be in her fifties hit her head gently but not hard.
Holding back his anger, he put the pistol back into his pocket.
"How much do you want?" The wealthy woman opened the cash register as she spoke. "We just started business today and we haven't made much money."
"Mom!" The girl named Anna watched helplessly as the former handed the big ticket he had just received from Wei Ran through the window, and immediately couldn't help but take out the pistol again.
"Madam, I think you may have misunderstood. We are not here to rob." Wei Ran pushed back helplessly, then took out the copied manuscript again and handed it to the woman with a pleading look on her face, "
We are just looking for the author of this manuscript."
Taking the manuscript without knowing why, the woman took out a pair of glasses with medical tape wrapped around the temples from her apron pocket and put them on. She only glanced at the beginning, then looked at Wei Ran doubtfully, "I know you are aiming for
My grandfather came, but..."
"Can we sit down and chat?" Wei Ran pushed the money on the window sill forward again.
After hesitating for a moment, the woman returned the copy of the manuscript to Wei Ran, turned around and took the pistol from her daughter's hand and put it into her apron pocket. She ordered angrily, "Go and make a pot of coffee. Use coffee beans, not instant coffee."
When the girl named Anna reluctantly picked up the coffee pot, the woman pointed to the yard outside the other window and said, "Let's sit in the yard."
Wei Ran turned around and walked back to the yard. At the same time, he whispered to Jima, "Go to the car."
Ji Ma glanced at the middle-aged woman who was walking out of the room carrying a tray, and responded in a low voice, "Be careful yourself."
It wasn't until Wei Ran nodded that he walked out of the yard, using the cover of the old Lada to hold the gun in his hand again. Under the oak tree, Wei Ran and the middle-aged woman sat down on both sides of the table.
It wasn't until Anna poured each of them a cup of fragrant coffee that Wei Ran asked, "Madam, can you tell us about your relationship with Mr. Ivan? This affects whether we should continue to talk."
The woman sitting across the table sighed, "Ivan is my grandfather. If you don't believe it, I can find a group photo of our family and show it to you. Young man, now tell me about your origins."
"Can I see the group photo you mentioned?" Weiran asked in a casual manner.
"Bang!" Anna, who was standing aside, placed the tray in her hand heavily on the table, turned around and walked into the room.
"Don't mind," Anna's mother said with a wry smile, "because of my grandfather, we are often robbed."
"Often robbed?" Wei Ran became more and more confused, but the woman walking opposite had no intention of explaining.
In the silence between the two, Anna took out a group photo. In this old color group photo, Wei Ran could see Ivan missing one leg at a glance. Compared with the battle in Berlin, the figure in the photo was
Ivan is already a twilight old man, but his military uniform is still exceptionally tall and straight, and there are far more medals hanging on his chest than what is recorded in the cowhide notebook.
Anna's mother pointed to the young couple standing behind Ivan in the photo and said, "Those are my parents."
Before Wei Ran could say anything, she pointed to the little girl sitting on Ivan's remaining leg in the photo, "Although the changes are a bit big, that was when I was little. Okay, young man
, can you tell me your reason for coming now?"
Wei Ran flipped through the copy of the memoir manuscript that he had been holding in his hand, and found out the content of Ivan's memories during the Battle of Berlin and the memory of attending Mario's wedding. He put them on the table and briefly made himself known.
introduction, and then briefly recounted the ins and outs of this incident.
"I have seen this manuscript"
Holding a copy of the manuscript, Anna's mother said, "It was after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that my grandfather started writing, but before he could finish writing, he died in 1988 due to a burglary. However,
, where did you find this manuscript? I remember that it seemed to have disappeared after the robbery."
"Finding this manuscript really took a lot of energy out of me, and it was even harder than finding your address." Wei Ran explained vaguely, then directly changed the subject and asked, "You just said that because your grandfather, Mr. Ivan,
Why do you get robbed so often?”
"Because my grandfather was robbed on April 20th."
Anna's mother sighed and explained, "You are not Ukrainian, so you may not know that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there have been some new ones here who worship mustaches, because mustache's birthday is April 20th, but I am
My grandfather was not only a Soviet Red Army soldier who broke into Berlin, but he also died in the hands of robbers on April 20."
Anna, who was sitting aside, saw that her mother didn't want to continue talking, so she simply took over the conversation and continued angrily, "So in the eyes of those idiots, robbing our house has almost become their repertoire on April 20th every year. Even
Usually, the police will come to our dessert shop to cause trouble."
"Why don't you..."
Wei Ran's question only started at the beginning and he couldn't go on. If they had the ability to move, how could they continue to struggle in a place like this?
"Moved"
Anna seemed to see what Wei Ran wanted to ask, and said in a calm tone, "My father moved away more than ten years ago, and even took away all the family's savings. Now we have satisfied your curiosity,
Is there anything else you want to ask?"
Wei Ran opened his mouth, and after a moment of silence, he opened his bag and took out the original manuscript of his memoirs. He handed it to Anna's mother with both hands, "I'm not here to satisfy my curiosity. I just want to return this manuscript to you."
.Also, the son of Mario mentioned in Mr. Ivan’s manuscript might want to meet you.”
Anna and her mother looked at each other, and the latter hesitated for a moment before returning the original manuscript in the brown paper bag to Wei Ran, "When I was young, I often heard my grandfather mention a fool named Mario.
, don’t get me wrong, that’s what he said, a fool named Mario.”
"So would you like to meet that idiot Mario's son?"
Wei Ran's question finally amused the mother and daughter, who had not been happy with each other. Anna's mother nodded after thinking about it, "If he is willing to come, let him come with the manuscript. It just so happens that I also have something.
I want to give it to him."
"I forgot to ask, what is your name?" Wei Ran put away the manuscript and asked.
"Mora" Anna's mother replied with a smile, "My name is Maura. It is said that that idiot Mario named me."
Wei Ran was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but think of that little Jewish girl who was taciturn but extremely strong and smart.
"Ms. Mora, I believe we will meet soon." Wei Ran stood up and said in a very formal manner.
Maura patted her daughter on the shoulder, "Go and pack some egg tarts for Victor to eat on the way."
Anna rolled her eyes, "They've just eaten a lot."
"Go!" Maura slapped her daughter on the butt, and the latter reluctantly picked up the tray and walked into the dessert shop.
Wei Ran did not refuse the kindness. After taking the paper bag full of egg tarts, he politely bid farewell to the mother and daughter, got into the car and randomly chose a direction to visit the inconspicuous dessert shop.
Left behind.
"So the harvest this time is just a bag of egg tarts?" Ji Ma asked disappointedly.
“Go back to the hotel first”
Wei Ran took out an oven-temperature egg tart from the paper bag and stuffed it into his mouth, and said vaguely, "We may need to stay here for a few more days before going back."
"I have no objection!" Jima immediately turned the car around and drove towards the city of Kiev along the road he came from.
Behind them, the middle-aged woman named Maura had already climbed up to the second floor with her daughter, stepped on the ladder and took out a dusty wooden box from the dusty attic.
"Mom, what is here?" Anna asked curiously.
Maura found a rag, wiped the dust off the wooden box, and then slowly opened it, revealing a box full of outdated toys and a colorful matryoshka doll the size of a thermos. She explained with memories,
"These toys were gifts prepared by my grandfather for Mario's son a long time ago. When I was a child, I often clamored to play with these toys, but my grandfather never agreed.
He said he wanted to give the little boy who was about the same age as me a surprise after the Berlin Wall was demolished. Unfortunately, the Berlin Wall remained there until his death. However, not long after his death, the Soviet Union disintegrated."
"Have you never seen the man named Mario?" Anna asked curiously.
Maura shook her head, "Don't talk about me. My parents have never met each other. My grandfather was not a rich man. He only visited Germany once after the end of World War II. My father said that at that time
In order to raise money for travel, he sold all the TVs at home."
Anna rolled her eyes and picked up the big scary matryoshka doll from the box, "How about you let me play with these things before you give them away?"
"Before that, aren't you going to explain where this pistol came from?" As Maura spoke, she took out the thin and scary little pistol from her apron pocket.
"Of course I bought it with my own pocket money."
Anna played with the matryoshka dolls she had opened layer by layer indifferently, "There are no bullets in it. I didn't know until I bought the pistol that its bullets were so bullet-proof...Mom! Look at this!"
Maura, who was about to teach her daughter a lesson, took a few steps towards the table, and then she saw that inside the matryoshka doll that had been removed to the innermost layer, there was actually half a thumb-sized gold bar!
