In the darkroom of the county TV station, Wei Ran carefully took out a half-shot film from the Zeiss camera that was almost filled with yellow sand.
Carefully rolling it into the developing tank bit by bit, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief and started the rinsing process step by step.
Under his careful operation, the roll of film was quickly developed and finalized, and Wei Ran also saw the moments recorded in it.
To put it into detail, this film only took 3 photos in total, one of which may have been filled with fine scratches due to the yellow sand polished by the years.
The other two photos are relatively well preserved, but they are only relatively good. Waiting for too long has caused irreparable damage to these two photos, so that the pictures are somewhat mottled.
While waiting for the film to dry, he roughly cleaned up the Zeiss camera, which had already been damaged, and then opened the thick door.
Before he could come out, everyone, including the camera, was focused on him.
"Fortunately," Wei Ran said, "The film in the camera took 3 pictures in total, and they were all developed."
Hearing this, everyone led by Secretary Bai and County Magistrate Ma breathed a sigh of relief.
"Teacher Wei, your cell phone." Sister Juan, with red eyes, handed over Wei Ran's cell phone.
"Have those photos been scanned out?" Wei Ran looked at the photographer who offered to help.
"Swept out"
The photographer said, and quickly pointed to the large screen not far away that was obviously moved temporarily, displaying the photos recorded in the two films one by one.
"While you were busy just now, I used your mobile phone to send those to Sister Ram." Sister Juan said at the side.
"Sorry, Sister Juan"
Wei Ran politely thanked the other party and handed the film in his hand to the photographer again, "It's up to you to scan out the three pictures here."
"Okay!" This time, the photographer felt much more confident.
While he was busy, Wei Ran placed the camera he was holding on the table and let another photographer aim at it and take pictures one by one.
Without waiting too long, the slightly mottled black and white photos were projected on the big screen one by one under the control of the photographer. Everyone present gathered around and looked at them one by one.
Compared with the people around him, Wei Ran saw familiar shadows in these three photos.
In the first photo, Nurse Ji was giving an injection to an infant and a woman wearing a headscarf holding a baby.
The little baby was lying on his mother's shoulder with half of his butt exposed. Perhaps because of the pain, his little face that happened to be facing the camera was crying so hard that almost all his facial features were twisted together.
In contrast, Nurse Ji's face was full of smiles. Next to her, the copper lunch box was placed on the Kang mat. On the wall not far away, there was also the oil lamp that also accompanied her out of the grass.
Deeper into the camera, outside the open windows and doors, there are several men and women with towels on their heads and some half-grown children standing on the millstone, watching the excitement.
In the second negative, Li Zhuang was photographed in military uniform. He was standing on the edge of a well holding a pole, with two wooden buckets filled with water at his feet, and around his neck.
, and even carrying five or six water bottles.
Around him, there were other fellow villagers with towels on their heads. Some of them were holding poles, and some were smoking pipes with one foot on a wheelbarrow. They all had smiles on their faces, and seemed to be smiling.
Listen to what Li Zhuang said.
There was also a fellow man also wrapped in a towel who seemed to be shouting at the donkey cart to turn. The cart pulled by the donkey not only had two large wooden barrels, but also sat a child who seemed to be eating something.
However, when he saw the third photo, Wei Ran couldn't help but tremble.
Although this photo was polished by sand grains and made fine scratches like meteors, he could still easily distinguish it. In the picture, the little lama with tears streaming down his face was sitting on the edge of the Kang, and Li Zhuang seemed to have been shot in the abdomen.
Lying in his arms, his once extremely clear eyes had lost their sparkle, but there was still a smile on his face.
Beside the two of them, Nurse Ji covered her mouth with one hand and held her military cap in the other. Her eyes filled with tears were also filled with sadness.
"And that's all"
The photographer sighed after speaking, and in the silence of everyone, he gently placed the film on the table next to the camera.
"The little baby who got the injection should be An Da"
Uncle Yao suddenly said, "My grandfather often told me when he was alive that Nanda had a severe fever when he was a child. It was the Red Army soldier who stayed at my house at that time who invited a military doctor to give Nanda an injection before he recovered."
I was lucky enough to survive the fever.
My grandfather also said that Anda was the first person in the whole village to receive an injection at that time. In order to thank the Red Army for rescuing Anda, he even went to carry water for the Red Army."
"In those days, medicines that could reduce fever were very expensive..." County Magistrate Ma sighed.
"Because they are ordinary people"
Secretary Bai's almost subconscious and very natural words made Wei Ran tremble again.
He had no intention of exploring whether Secretary Bai and County Magistrate Ma were doing their best in their duties and whether they had done practical things for the people.
But at least at that moment, he really saw the shadow of Li Zhuang in Secretary Bai.
"I..."
Wei Ran took a deep breath and said, "I'm a little tired. Sorry, I want to find a place to rest."
Hearing this, Secretary Bai nodded and winked at County Magistrate Ma, who immediately asked the photographer to turn off the machine.
"Teacher Wei, let me arrange a place for you." While Secretary Bai was speaking, he had already opened the door for Wei Ran.
"Thanks"
Wei Ran did not refuse the other party's kindness, and waved to the others as a greeting. Carrying his bag, he followed Secretary Bai out of the room and got into the car parked downstairs.
"I heard Comrade Ram in the video say that you drove to us from Ganzi yesterday?"
As the car started, Secretary Bai also lowered the window a little, and then gave Wei Ran, who looked a little lonely, a cigarette.
"right"
Wei Ran took the cigarette, took out the lighter under the cover of his pocket, lit it for the other party first, then lit the cigarette for himself and took a big puff.
"Where did you stay last night?" Secretary Bai asked casually in the swirling smoke, as if he was having a conversation.
"Mountain Castle Memorial Hall" Wei Ran replied absently, he just... just thought he could find Li Zhuang's grave from those three photos.
"Mountain Castle?" Secretary Bai raised his eyebrows.
"Um"
Wei Ran nodded, "At the entrance of Mountain Castle, I took a nap in the car and then came here."
“This is my first time encountering it”
"What?" Wei Ran asked absently.
"This is the first time I've met a young man like you."
Secretary Bai looked at the scenery outside the window and said, "My child is about the same age as you. I dare not say how outstanding he is, but if it were him, he would not drive from Ganzi to Mountain Castle all night because of this matter.
, and came to our small county town from the mountain castle."
Before Wei Ran could say anything, Secretary Bai shook his head, "That child can't stand the pain, and he doesn't dare to risk getting into the abandoned cave like you. I'm not afraid of your jokes. If he knows that there are worms and rats inside, you
Even if you beat him to death, he won't get in."
"Baishu..."
"Now I'm not a secretary."
Secretary Bai put the cigarette in his mouth as he spoke and took off the jacket with the party emblem on it, "Wei Ran, I'm curious as to why you did this?
To be honest, I have read about you in the news in the past two days, but when I got to know you, I found that you are very different from the rumors."
"What's this?" Wei Ran asked absentmindedly as he puffed out a cloud of smoke out the car window.
"Curious, just curious." Secretary Bai replied calmly, "The curiosity of a party member."
“I came by car”
Wei Ran, who was still looking at the scenery outside, his tone still slightly rude and absent-minded, stared blankly at the retreating scenery outside the window and said, "When the road section is good, that pickup truck can reach a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour. Just like that, I never
Yesterday morning I drove until evening to get to the Mountain Castle."
"Those Red Army soldiers walked step by step with their feet."
Secretary Bai, who seemed to have found the answer, sighed, "It took several months."
"Yes, it took several months."
Wei Ran slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke that drifted in the wind, "They don't have leather shoes to wear, they are not as old as me, and they are probably not as old as your young master."
"yes"
Secretary Bai nodded, "According to our county's archives, there are many young soldiers in the 16th, 15th and 15th centuries, and many of them died for us."
"The soldier who died in the last photo was named Li Zhuang."
Wei Ran said, minding his own business, "His father was also a Red Army soldier. He died when the Allergic Party encircled and suppressed the Central Red Army in 1932. He was 13 years old at that time."
Taking another puff of cigarette, Wei Ran continued, "After his father died, his mother let him join the Red Army.
He was young, so he falsely declared his age before successfully joining the army and was assigned to the cooking class. Shortly after that, his mother died of illness.
In 1936, he was crossing the grass with the cooking team and was seconded by the health team to take care of the wounded who were left behind. The female nurse in the photo was from the health team, her name was Ji Chunlan."
After flicking away the cigarette butts that were about to burn out, Wei Ran took out his cigarette case, took out two cigarettes and gave them to Secretary Bai who had also finished smoking. The latter also took out a disposable lighter and lit the cigarettes for him and him.
Cigarette in mouth, "By the time Li Zhuang walked out of the grass, he was already the squad leader of the cooking class.
Before him, the cooking class had sacrificed two squad leaders in order to get out of the grassland, and he was the only one left in the cooking class."
Having said this, Wei Ran lit up the screen of his mobile phone, pulled out the three old photos that Sister Juan had just sent to him, pointed at Nurse Ji and the little lama in the photos and said, "After Li Zhuang became the acting squad leader of the cooking class, he
The order I received was to take Nurse Ji and Jiang...Jiang Yu out of the grassland alive. At that time, Jiang Yu was still a common man."
"all these are..."
"It was all mentioned in the notes left by this revolutionary senior named Jiang Yu. He and Nurse Ji later got married and had children, but Li Zhuang did not survive and he stayed here forever.
Until now, I haven't even found his grave. I went to the Mountain Castle to find his grave, but the people there told me that there is no tomb of the Red Army martyrs in the Mountain Castle, and those Red Army soldiers are buried around it.
There are ravines in the mountains.”
Turning off the phone screen, Wei Ran took another puff of cigarette, "Look, they have done so much and paid so much. I just drove a long distance, it's nothing at all."
"Are you also a party member?" Secretary Bai asked abruptly.
Wei Ran shook his head, "No, I'm still studying in Russia."
Secretary Bai smiled gently, "Everything you just said seemed to come from the mouth of an old party member. You are obviously a young man, but you feel like an old party member to me."
"I'm a historian," Wei Ran said with a self-deprecating smile, "I have a stale smell all over my body, maybe."
"Young man, don't be too sentimental."
Secretary Bai patted Wei Ran on the shoulder and said with relief, "Communists don't care where they are buried in the future, let alone how much suffering they have to suffer for the good life of the people. Okay, let's get out of the car.
I will arrange a room for you to have a good rest."
"Thanks"
Wei Ran smiled, waited for the car to stop, stretched out his hand to open the door, picked up his bag and followed Secretary Bai into a hotel on the roadside, letting the latter arrange a room for him.
Declining the other party's kindness to send him upstairs, Wei Ran walked into the elevator alone, got into his own room, and fell asleep with the remaining drunkenness.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In this sleep, Wei Ran fell asleep in the dark and the sky was extremely solid.
When he was awakened by a knock on the door, the sunshine outside the window was particularly bright, and a few pigeons were standing on the edge of the floor-to-ceiling window, cooing.
I took out my phone and pressed the power button. The phone, which had run out of battery before going to bed, had turned off on its own.
Without taking out his spare cell phone, Wei Ran put away his bag that was still thrown aside, stood up and opened the door which was still being knocked rhythmically.
"I'm about to ask someone to come and open the door," said Qin Er, who was wearing a formal suit and walked into the room in a familiar manner.
"When did you arrive?" Wei Ran asked, yawning.
"yesterday"
Qin Ersi was already sitting on the sofa while he was talking. He took out his cigarette case, popped one out and lit it, "I heard you were sleeping, so I didn't call you."
"Yesterday?" Wei Ran was stunned, "What time is it now?"
"4:30 pm"
As Qin Er spoke, he pushed over several pieces of folded A4 paper, "You have been sleeping all day. I have brought the camera crew over there to finish all the filming and interviews. Now it's time to
I'm about to interview you. This is the question I want to ask. You should be prepared. There will be an exclusive interview with you tonight. Tomorrow morning I will probably go to those cave dwellings and Uncle Yao's house to shoot some scenes."
"An interview with me?"
Wei Ran, who was still not fully awake, reacted immediately, then picked up the papers, opened them and glanced at them.
"This time you and Xia Shushi are the protagonists."
Qin Er said in a puff of smoke, "Even Xia Shushi and his teacher didn't come forward, giving all the opportunities to show off to you two. I say brother, you can't let me off the hook when the time comes."
"What's this?"
Wei Ran shook the paper in his hand dumbfounded.
"I'll give you a layer of armor so that the Yankees won't miss you every day."
Qin Er said with a playful smile, "Besides, there is another matter. It's all up to your own free will."
"What's the matter?" Wei Ran threw the pieces of paper aside and asked.
"Let's go back together when things happen here."
Qin Er paused and said, "When I get back, my stupid father wants to invite you to my house for a meal."
"Going to your house for dinner?"
Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses and nodded happily, "No problem, it's convenient for me at any time."
"When the time comes, take your Queen and those beautiful girls with you."
Qin Er said casually, "My stepmother is so curious about what's going on with you, the prostitute, and those girls."
Stepmother? Wei Ran suppressed the weirdness in his heart and still happily agreed, but he didn't even answer the question about the "general prostitute".
“That’s all there is to the business.”
Qin Er took out his cell phone and checked the time, "I have an event later, do you want to go?"
"Social entertainment?"
"Uncle Yao and his family were also invited to the reception meal arranged by the county for the film crew." Qin Er stood up as he spoke, "Are you going?"
"I won't go." Wei Ran waved his hand and chose to refuse.
"Then you continue to rest"
Qin II had already walked out of the room while he was talking, "By the way, remember to call your Queen. I have arranged the evening discussion and will come back to pick you up."
After saying that, Qin Er had already helped to close the door from outside, leaving him only a room full of second-hand smoke.
Waving his hands to disperse the surrounding smoke, Wei Ran stretched hard and checked the room unhurriedly. Then he charged his mobile phone and went into the bathroom to take a good bath.
After wiping it clean, he took out his suitcase and put on the sleek but uncomfortable formal attire. Only then did Wei Ran make a video call to Suisui, and while the call was connected, he looked at the other person.
Those unread messages sent previously.
That night, Wei Ran formally accepted an interview with domestic official media for the first time. As a historian, he told the story of the little lama and others, and also described his process and experience of finding Sister Juan's family.
wait.
For him now, accepting interviews has long been familiar, but facing interviews with his own official media still makes him a little nervous and excited.
Of course, the one who was more excited than him was Sister Juan who had already returned home.
She was excited that she had the opportunity to be interviewed, but she was also afraid of the embarrassing dilemma she might face after the identity of her former beloved family was revealed.
Unfortunately, she had completely forgotten the password and security issues of her blog account from more than ten years ago, so naturally she had no way to delete the dark history that she did not want to look back on before the interview was broadcast.
In the next few days, Wei Ran accompanied the film crew to film the entire process at the entrance of Uncle Yao's old cave dwelling, then took their family to say goodbye to Secretary Bai and others, and then drove the pickup truck again, taking the film crew with him.
He traveled thousands of miles to Ganzi, and together with Xia Shushi, who was still staying here, he accepted the second round of interviews at Uncle Jiang's house.
By the way, he also witnessed Sister Juan personally handing over the wooden box and other items that Wei Ran dug out of the cave, together with the single negative and the small medicine bottle that she discovered more than ten years ago, to Mr. Jiang Ji.
Not only that, he also met the grandchildren of Squad Leader Liu as he wished, and listened to them talk about the changes in their hometowns. He also witnessed the special gifts that Uncle Yao’s family brought to Uncle Jiang’s family, and various gifts that Uncle Jiang and the Liu family gave back to Uncle Yao’s family.
A return gift.
In the blink of an eye, Teacher's Day arrived. Wei Ran and Xia Shushi, who had completely recovered from their colds, also said goodbye to Uncle Jiang and his family who were seeing them off, and followed Qin II on board the flight back to the capital.
In the future, how Uncle Jiang's family, the descendants of Squad Leader Liu, and even Uncle Yao's family will continue the red friendship has nothing to do with him, but Wei Ran knows that the three families will definitely cherish this special friendship.
"Brothers, I just got some inside information."
On the flight that was about to take off, in the last row of the economy class where few people were willing to sit, Qin Er, sitting in the middle, turned on his mobile phone in airplane mode and lowered his voice and spoke to the people on both sides.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "What inside information?"
Xia Shushi, who was still fiddling with his cell phone, asked absently. He was chatting with his prospective girlfriend for the last few words before his cell phone went offline. As for Wei Ran, who was sitting by the window, he just turned his head.
"Those 27 photos, and everything you found, will be held in a special Long March exhibition on November this year. It is said that the three families will be invited to the capital as guests by then. And we are still digging into the Jiang family's children.
Those military exploits seem to be prepared for publicity together."
Qin Er put away his mobile phone and said, "Especially those 24 Long March photos, which are almost the only real-life photos of the Long March."
"That's not the case"
Xia Shushi, who was finally willing to turn on airplane mode, was not surprised at all, "Let's put it this way, the historical value of the more than 20 photos found by Wei Ran in our country is almost equal to or even exceeds that of the Berlin Reichstag building he discovered before.
The top photo of the red flag has historical value for the Soviet Union and Russia."
"You don't seem happy at all?" Qin Er looked at Wei Ran who still didn't say anything.
"I'm happy, I'm happy." Wei Ran forced a smile, "I just feel a little regretful."
"Comrade Li Zhuang's grave has not been found yet, right?" Xia Shushi, a fellow traveler, was the first to guess Wei Ran's heart.
Wei Ran nodded absently and sighed, "It would be great if we could find his grave."
"The most regretful thing in history is always regret," Xia Shushi said, "It is a pity that Qin II died..."
"Hey? Who are you insinuating?" Qin Er was unhappy.
Glancing at his scumbag brother, Xia Shushi continued, "It's a pity that He's Bi cannot be found, and it's a pity that the preface to the Lanting Collection was buried with him.
More recently, I regret that I failed to catch up with the industrial revolution and suffered the humiliation of the Eight-Power Allied Forces. I regret that the land was ceded over and over again to pay compensation. I also regret that the country was weak and had little devils riding on its head.
It is a pity that there are not many generous people like Senior Li Zhuang recorded in the history books. It is a pity that even though we know that they existed, we can no longer find any trace of them."
Having said this, Xia Shushi smiled and said, "But fortunately, there is one thing we don't have to regret. It can even be said to be as lucky as winning the jackpot."
"Which one?" Qin Er asked curiously.
"Blessed by our revolutionary ancestors," Wei Ran murmured to himself and gave his answer, "Born in this prosperous China."
"yes"
Xia Shushi, who was also looking out the window, nodded and said with great certainty, "They will definitely not regret it after seeing what is happening now."
