"Have you seen it?" Wei Ran's tone was filled with just the right amount of surprise. His original intention was to see if the other party could recognize these photos, but he didn't expect the process to be so easy.
"Where did you find this negative?" The old man turned around and asked.
Wei Ran paused for a moment and replied in a calm tone, "I found it by accident while investigating some things. What about you? Where did you see these photos?"
"My father's legacy"
The old man put all the newly developed photos and negatives into a paper bag and handed them to Wei Ran, and then proactively invited him, "If you are interested, you can go upstairs and have a look with me. Maybe I remembered it wrong.
"
"Of course I'm interested." Wei Ran nodded simply and accepted the invitation.
"Come with me!" the old man said, already reaching out and opening the wooden door of the darkroom.
Following the other party out of the darkroom and slowly walking up the creaking wooden stairs to the second floor, Wei Ran did not hide the surprise on his face at all.
In this room, which is also not that big, there is a particularly conspicuous glass cabinet against the wall facing the staircase. There are several cameras of various models in this cabinet, including a Leica camera body, and even
There is also a bullet embedded in it, and next to the camera, there is actually a harmonica with a German trademark on it.
"Most of those are my father's relics"
The old man opened the glass cabinet and took out a plastic book that was almost identical to the photo album in Wei Ran's hand.
Seeing that Wei Ran had been staring at the camera with bullets in the glass cabinet, the old man smiled and explained, "That was the camera my father used when he participated in the Battle of Rzhev. If it hadn't helped block a bullet,
, my father may not live until the end of the war."
"Is he a war reporter?" Wei Ran asked as he followed the other person and sat on an old sofa.
"no"
The old man shook his head, "He is just an ordinary soldier who likes photography. Even before World War II, he was a member of the choir."
Having said this, the old man took out a pair of reading glasses from his coat pocket, put them on, opened the photo album in his hand, and said while searching, "The photos in this album were all given to him before he was injured and left the battlefield.
Taken by his comrades. After the war, he sent a copy to each person according to their address. When I was a child, I often heard him telling me stories about his comrades."
"Tonya took the photo?"
Wei Ran secretly frowned. These photos were obviously taken by himself, so how could they be taken by Tonya? But think about it, the film used when taking these photos was provided free of charge by Tonya, who has the title of artist.
Yes, it's fair to assume that these photos were taken by the other party. I just pressed the shutter button for him a few times.
After reluctantly convincing himself, Wei Ran went up to take a look, and then discovered that the photo album in the old man's hand was not much different from his own, except that the film corresponding to each photo was missing.
"found it"
Just when he was distracted, the former had stopped what he was doing, pointed to the fixed photo on one of the pages and said, "It seems that my memory is not bad. Young man, please take out that photo of yours."
Opening the paper bag he had been holding in his hand, Wei Ran took out the newly developed photos and put them on the album. The two photos were old and new. There may have been more than half a century between them, but the two photos were frozen in time.
The Soviet Red Army soldier was equally young.
"Where are the negatives of these photos?" Wei Ran asked knowingly.
"I don't know that"
The old man returned the recently developed photo to Wei Ran and asked again, "Where did you get that negative?"
“Rzhev”
Wei Ran replied cheerfully, "I found it in an abandoned wooden house on the outskirts of Rzhev."
"Only one negative?"
The old man asked doubtfully, and then put on his reading glasses again and looked at the address recorded under the photo in the album. Unfortunately, the address was far away in Ekaterinaburg, and the distance from Rzhev was different.
It's like a thousand miles away.
After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran shook his head and replied calmly, "Actually, what I found is also a photo album, the same one as the one you have in your hand. Each photo in it has a corresponding negative. And..."
"And what?"
Wei Ran spread his hands and said with regret, "And there was a piece of paper with the address of this camera store in the photo album. Unfortunately, the piece of paper could not be saved. I actually followed it.
I found it based on the address on the note."
"No wonder"
The old man took off his reading glasses again and asked with a smile, "So young man, what do you want to do here?"
"I want to hear the story behind that photo album." Wei Ran paused and continued, "I also want to ask you some questions."
"That's all?"
Seeing Wei Ran nod, the old man sighed, "Looking at my age, you should know that my father passed away a long time ago."
Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, picked up a pen from the table in the middle of the sofa, wrote on the back of the paper bag containing the photos, and said, "I am looking for stories about these three people, they are Danila, Llano and
Revry.”
Taking the paper bag with three names written on it, the old man leaned on the sofa and thought for a while, and finally said, "When I was young, my father Tonya told me a story more than once. Maybe this story can tell you
Some clues.”
Seeing that Wei Ran was listening attentively, the old man said leisurely, "In my father's story, after he was injured on the front line, he was sent to the first aid station behind the position for rescue, and he recovered from his injuries at that first aid station.
During his days, he once heard the doctor who treated his injuries talk to a wounded man who was also injured.
At that time, there was a nurse named Llano, together with her fiancé, a sniper named Danila, and with the help of a postman, oh, the postman seemed to be named Revry. In short, this nurse and her
My fiancé and the postman escorted an artillery observer named Andre to sneak into the German position to cause damage."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! The old man paused here, picked up the photo album on the table, opened it, and pointed to the photo of Dr. Pasha and the photo of the soldier named Boris.
Said, "Every time my father talked about this, he would open the photo and point to these two people and tell me that the story came from their mouths."
"What happened next?" Wei Ran asked calmly, turning the phone with recording turned on upside down on the table.
"There will be no future"
The old man closed the photo album, "I asked my father more than once at that time, but he said that although the first aid station where he was recovering at that time was not far from the artillery position, he only heard those artillery fire once.
Before those people could return, he was sent to a rear field hospital to recuperate.
But when he was in the field hospital, he also met the brother of Nurse Lano. But he didn't know whether Nurse Lano, his fiancé, the postman and the artillery observer came back in the end."
Having said this, the old man looked at Wei Ran and asked, "What about you? Where did you hear these names?"
Wei Ran pointed to the envelope that the other party was still holding in his hand, "Near the wooden house I just mentioned, located on the outskirts of Rzhev, I found the tombstones of the three people, as well as the tombstones I just mentioned.
Photo album and the address of this camera store.”
"That's all I know."
The old man said this, took the initiative to extend his hand, and added the belated self-introduction, "Sergey is my name, and my father's name is Tonya. During World War II, he was a member of the 673rd Regiment of the 220th Division of the 31st Group Army of the Soviet Red Army.
An ordinary soldier."
"Victor" Wei Ran took the other person's hand and said his name, "Temporary consultant of the Patriotic War Museum."
"I thought you were a digger," Sergey said with a smile.
"Mr. Sergey, can I use the story you just told me as information for my investigation?"
"There aren't many people left who remember those poor guys, so go ahead and use them."
Sergey generously let go of his hand and said generously, "Also, remember to take away the flushing fee you paid later."
Wei Ran smiled, did not answer the question, and asked instead, "Mr. Sergey, how was your father...how was his life in his later years?"
"not bad"
A flash of memory appeared on Sergei's old face, "The war left him lame in one leg and injured his throat, making his voice sound as unpleasant as scratching glass with a stone.
But no matter what, at least he survived. After the war, my father became a photographer. Although he was not very famous, he also took some pretty good works."
"Like those in the darkroom?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.
Mr. Sergei nodded, "The photos in that darkroom are almost the most satisfying works of my and my father's life."
"That photo album may be his most satisfying work..."
"The photo album?"
Sergey shook his head inconspicuously, "That photo album may have brought him only regret. Basically all the people in that photo album died in that battle, and my father was one of the few survivors.
.”
"At least he survived," Wei Ran muttered to himself, and then changed the topic to this old man named Sergey.
To his surprise, this old man's life experience was much richer than the dry records in the metal book. He did indeed briefly serve as a reporter for Komsomolskaya Pravda.
But during that time, the kind-faced old man in front of him and his colleagues covered the entire process of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. However, in this old man's evaluation, the reporters at that Olympics were actually better than the athletes.
There are many more, he is just the most inconspicuous among them.
But even so, Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh secretly. This incident started from the relics of the owner of a certain apartment in the ring apartment built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and ended with a person who once reported on the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Reporter of the Olympic Games. This may be just a coincidence, but he is willing to believe that this is a joke played by fate that is not too big or too small, but is not funny at all.
More than half a century has passed, and the only one who still remembers those people at that time is a child who was born after the war and only listened to stories from his father. Even the child who chased his father and asked "what happened next"
The child has now become a dying old man.
But he may have been the only person in the world, other than Wei Ran, who knew about the death-like mission at that time.
