"I'm honored to have this opportunity." Wei Ran agreed without thinking. If there was a chance, he would of course want to take a look.
Just at this time, the motorcade had stopped. Hans glanced at the inconspicuous dessert shop on the roadside, and then patted the little guy who had been holding flowers and sitting quietly in the back row.
He stepped out of the spacious carriage under the guidance of his guide.
Just as the car stopped, Maura and her daughter Anna were already waiting at the entrance of the small yard. And it could be seen that they had carefully cleaned the yard in the past two days.
There are old traces left behind, but at least it looks clean.
"Let me introduce you"
As Wei Ran spoke, he opened his satchel again and handed the original copy of the manuscript to Maura. After the other party took it, he gave a brief introduction to both parties.
To Wei Ran's expectation, Hans not only knew Russian, but even spoke it very well. What surprised him, Jima, and even Anna was that Maura could even speak a few simple words in German. This undoubtedly surprised both parties.
Communication has become much easier.
After Hans finished introducing the children and grandchildren of the family who came with him, Maura also introduced her daughter Anna to them.
While Anna was bringing freshly baked egg tarts and various other homemade desserts to the little guy who was losing his teeth, Hans and his family also walked into the not-so-spacious living room and sat down. As for Wei Ran and Jima,
Then he and the few men and women in suits who came over occupied the tables and chairs in the yard, sharing the same freshly baked desserts.
After more than an hour, the little guy with a mouth full of food scraps ran out of the room, took Wei Ran's arm and walked into the room. After they entered the door, Anna allowed Anna to take him
He picked him up and wiped the chocolate from the corner of his mouth with a tissue.
"Victor, come and sit quickly."
Hans invited Wei Ran to sit next to him, holding in his arms a matryoshka doll that was the size of a thermos and extremely exquisitely made. He pointed at the original memoir manuscript on the table and asked, "Victor, open this original memoir manuscript."
Choose a price you are satisfied with. Of course, this is in addition to the investigation fee."
Wei Ran took the coffee from Anna and said with a smile, "As I said when we were in the car, this manuscript went missing after Mr. Ivan died unexpectedly, although it would take a lot of effort to get it back.
Some effort. But I think it’s better to give it back to Ms. Mora and Ms. Anna. This has nothing to do with the investigation itself, right?"
Hans glanced at Wei Ran in surprise, hesitated for a moment and then said to Maura, "Since Victor has said so, Maura, I will leave this manuscript to you for safekeeping."
Maura hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and agreed to the former's suggestion. She signaled Anna to put away the file bag placed in the center of the coffee table.
Hans carefully put the oversized matryoshka doll in his arms into the wooden box at his feet and said, "Moura, if it is convenient, I would like to go and lay a bouquet of flowers on Mr. Ivan's grave."
Maura and her daughter who had just sat back down looked at each other, then sighed and said in a slightly depressed mood, "Let Hannah take you there, I will prepare lunch for you."
Hans, his wife and Wei Ran, who was sitting on the other side, looked at each other, then stood up and nodded, "Please prepare more beetroot soup and potato pie."
"Of course it's no problem." Maura smiled and watched the people in the room go through the door under the leadership of her daughter, leaving only various expensive gifts around the sofa.
"Jima, you stay." Wei Ran pointed to the house behind him, "Protect Ms. Mora inside."
"Do not worry"
Ji Ma deliberately patted the belt covered by the suit in front of the men in suits who were practicing German with him.
When Hans' son saw this, he immediately winked at the men in suits under the oak tree. The latter nodded in return and called his two companions to stand at the door of the yard.
Ignoring the neighbors watching the excitement across the street, everyone, led by Anna, walked towards the vast cemetery, which was only two to three hundred meters away.
Along the way, Wei Ran also briefly described in German the encounters between Maura and her daughter two days ago under Hans's active questioning.
After listening to Wei Ran's story, Hans had already frowned. Just now, Maura had flatly rejected his offer to take them to settle in Germany. He originally thought that their mother and daughter were living a pretty good life, but he didn't expect it.
It was so bumpy and difficult.
In Hans's silence, everyone followed Anna through the dilapidated streets, lush trees, and densely packed tombstones on the lawn, and finally stopped in front of a tombstone that was just shrouded in sunlight through the canopy of the trees.
It can be seen that there originally seemed to be a red five-pointed star on this tombstone, but five corners have been deliberately chiseled off, and a crisp swastika has even been painted on it with black paint.
But it can also be seen that the swastika painted with paint has been polished with sandpaper, leaving only a vague outline. Under the tombstone, there are still a few bunches that are either withered or in progress.
Blooming bouquet or wild flowers.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Anna showed a plain smile that did not match her age, "Although it is true that some idiots are not friendly to our family, there are also some people who still remember the old guys buried here, and they don't mind.
Take the kids to my dessert shop to eat some egg tarts and drink a cup of coffee."
Hans sighed, took the bright red that his grandson had been holding in his arms, knelt down and gently placed it in front of the tombstone, "Anna, can I give Mr. Ivan a new tombstone?"
"So be it"
Anna refused matter-of-factly in a calm tone, "Even if it is made of iron, there will always be some idiots who will find ways to turn it into what it is now. Those who remember them don't need a better tombstone at all. Those who don't want to remember
, even if I bury them next to them and pour water on them, I still can’t remember them.”
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "I have only seen such ridiculous things in Mr. Ivan's memoirs."
Hans sighed, put his forehead on the tombstone and closed his eyes. After a long time, he stood up with the help of his son and said, "Let's go back."
Wei Ran, who was walking last, also placed the flowers in his hand under the tombstone, patted the broken tombstone gently, said goodbye to his friends in another time and space, and silently followed everyone back to the dessert shop.
Naturally, it was no longer convenient for him and Jima to participate in the next affairs of their two families, so they simply said goodbye to everyone in advance and took a rented car back to the hotel in Kiev city ahead of schedule.
"Is this the end of the matter?" At the door of the hotel, Jima returned the rented car and pistol to the beautiful girl, took the deposit returned to him, and waited until the other party drove away.
asked a little disappointed.
"Otherwise, what else do you want?" Wei Ran squinted at the sun above his head and said as he walked towards the hotel, "In two days we will have the opportunity to follow Mr. Hans and his family to visit Berlin."
"Really?!" Ji Ma suddenly became energetic after hearing this, "It seems that I have to contact you in German in advance."
"German prepared in advance?" Wei Ran waved his hand before the other party opened his mouth, "Forget it, I have already guessed it, you don't need to say it."
Ji Ma pointed his middle finger at Wei Ran's back and said dissatisfiedly, "Maybe you will need me to translate for you then."
Wei Ran raised his hand and said perfunctorily without looking back, "Come on Jima, I'm looking forward to that day."
While the two of them were waiting, another two days passed. The Hans family brought Maura and Anna, mother and daughter, who had changed into new clothes, and called Wei Ran and Jima who were waiting in the hotel.
We rushed to the airport and boarded the flight to Berlin.
After the plane landed, everyone drove to the banks of the Spree River. Compared with Berlin in 1945, Weiran could not find many familiar buildings when he returned to his hometown. Even the original clinic was
The location is now occupied by the Palace of World Culture. As for the former, it was moved to the other side of the Spree River.
On the bank of the cold windy river, Hans, who was already in his sixties, acted like a tour guide, pointing to the Palace of World Culture on the opposite bank and explaining, "As long as I can remember, my father and mother have often told me that the American Palace
The location where the 'Pregnant Oyster' is built used to be an alley.
My family's clinic was at the end of that alley a long time ago. Later, in order to build that ugly building, we had to move to its current location on the opposite bank.
I even clearly remember that when I was a child, when the weather was good, I could easily see the Berlin Wall from the roof of the clinic. At that time, my parents often told me that Uncle Ivan was on the Berlin Wall.
the other side."
Jima looked at the building on the other side of the river and whispered to Wei Ran, "I think it's quite beautiful."
"maybe"
Wei Ran muttered absently, turned around and looked at the clinic behind him, which was not much different from the one in his memory. He couldn't help but ask Hans, "Is this clinic still open now?"
"It hasn't been in business since my father and mother retired."
Hans led everyone into the clinic and said, "They lived here in their later years until my father passed away two months ago, but by that time our hospital chain had already opened to several states in Germany."
Under the introduction and guidance of Hans, Wei Ran and Jima walked into the clinic last. Compared with the curiosity on the faces of Jima and Maura, Wei Ran found too many familiar arrangements here.
.
The iron-frame hospital beds and dentist chairs that can be seen upon entering, as well as the kerosene gas lamps hanging overhead, and the metal medical first-aid kits neatly placed on the table in the corner are all a little bit integrated with the clinic in my memory.
Hans specially led everyone to the bathroom, bent down and gently lifted the light green enamel bathtub, pointed to the hole below with bright light, and said with emotion, "I have always been curious about why the entrance to the basement was built here.
Fortunately, Mr. Ivan’s memoirs gave me the answer.”
"Can we go down and take a look?" Anna asked, holding her mother's hand.
"Of course, of course!" After Hans said that, the first one bent his waist and got in along the hole.
A group of people lined up to enter the basement, which was the only place that was different from Wei Ran's memory. It could be seen that after the war, perhaps it was that idiot Mario and his wife Mora who expanded the basement.
The basement is now almost as large as the ground. Not only are the shelves near the walls and around the load-bearing columns filled with food and supplies, it even has a fully equipped operating room.
On one of the specially vacated walls, there are photos in frames.
These group photos include photos of Doctor Rocky and Nurse Leni taking Mario and Maura fishing in the Spree River as teenagers, Mario and Maura running from a distance holding hands with books on their backs, and their respective
There were photos of them puffing out their cheeks and blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. There were also photos of the two of them putting on white coats and wedding dresses as they grew older.
Even in the photo of the two of them getting married, the person who officiated the wedding was Ivan who was on crutches and missing one leg.
In the next photo, Dr. Rocky suddenly disappeared, and soon after, Nurse Leni also disappeared, and Mario and Maura also had a cute child between them.
As the child in the photo grew up little by little, just like Mario and Mora, Mario and Mora also grew older little by little, until in the end, only Mario was left alone with a cane.
Sitting on the bench in front of the clinic, a pair of blank and old eyes looked lonely at the sparkling Spree River not far away. No one knew what he was thinking at that time.
"This idiot..." Wei Ran muttered to himself after reading the memories that covered an entire wall. Even the pessimistic and negative mood that had been there during this period became a lot more relaxed.
