Notes of a War Photographer Chapter 761: Celebrity Effect?
Amidst the falling snowflakes, Wei Ran drove the van with difficulty out of the small forest. After making a big circle, he drove to the wooden house with colorful lights on.
However, Wei Ran did not park the car at the door of the house. Instead, he drove straight to the door of the garage and stopped.
"Get out of the car, Mr. Ruslan."
As Wei Ran spoke, he opened the door and got out of the car, took out the key and opened the repainted iron door of the garage, and then waved to Ruslan.
Although he didn't know why the other party brought him to the garage, Ruslan didn't ask any more questions and followed Suisui who was walking in front into this extremely spacious garage.
"This is..."
Ruslan was stunned when he saw the old Soviet car parked on the side of the garage above the repair ditch. When he saw the half of the aircraft at the rear of the car and the wings hanging on both sides under the guidance of Wei Ran,
When I did that, I immediately thought of something.
"We just discovered this the day before yesterday when we were cleaning the garage."
Wei Ran pointed to the wreckage of the plane, and then pointed to the wings and propellers hanging on the wall, "This is the ME-109 fighter jet equipped by Germany in World War II. They should be the same as the half-section tail we just saw.
integrated."
Without waiting for Ruslan to say anything, Wei Ran rummaged in his pocket again, took out two front-line flight badges and handed them to the other party, and then pointed to the repair ditch under the car, "These two flight badges
It was found there."
Siluke
“And these”
Hearing this, everyone turned to look in the direction of the garage door, only to find that Professor Alexei had walked over, and in his hands, he held a P38 pistol and a TT33 on the left and right respectively.
pistol.
"These were found in the attic a few days ago." Before Professor Alexei finished speaking, he had already placed the pistol on the roof of the car. He also took out the magazines of the two pistols, and then pulled the slides repeatedly.
"Didn't you say it was sold?" Wei Ran asked in Chinese.
"Sold, but I haven't received the money from the seller yet." Professor Alexey blinked and said calmly in Russian, "Maybe there are some clues here."
After saying that, the old man waved to Suisui, "You can talk about the rest, Aurora, come back with me quickly, your twin employees have just baked waffles that glow red."
“It must have roasted the lake again”
Suisui cooed, made a gesture towards Wei Ran, and followed her father out of the garage chatting and laughing, obviously preparing to leave enough room for Wei Ran and Ruslan to talk.
"It seems that you are planning to donate?" Ruslan was not a fool, and he obviously heard Professor Alexei's hint.
“I do have this plan”
Wei Ran smiled, thought for a while and then said with a smile, "Originally we planned to wait until after Christmas to talk to you, but those Gypsy people are obviously worried that we will regret it temporarily."
"So I want to thank those gypsy people." As he spoke, Ruslan picked up the two pistols on the roof of the car and looked at them. "Mr. Victor, can I go to your car and make a phone call?"
"Of course." Wei Ran nodded with a smile and watched the other party get into the van outside the garage.
How could Weihan not be clear about Professor Alexei's suggestion of donating the aircraft? To put it bluntly, this is the same routine and purpose as when he donated the two photos, and it was nothing more than to help himself gain fame.
However, Wei Ran is now a serious consultant of the Patriotic War Museum in Moscow, and this reputation is already enough. In other words, he is not a star, and he really does not need too frequent exposure.
But after all, this was a kindness from my father-in-law, and there might even be some suggestions from Mr. Nicholas in it. While he was thinking about it here, Ruslan had already hung up the phone, opened the door and walked into the garage again.
.
"Mr. Victor, are you interested in becoming the honorary consultant of our museum?" Ruslan asked directly.
"I? Become an Honorary Advisor?"
Wei Ran thought for a while and roughly guessed what the other party meant. To put it simply, this is the benefit of celebrity effect. First of all, he holds the title of consultant of the Patriotic War Museum, so the same goes for the museum on Mamayev Hill.
I don't mind extending an olive branch to them, as this is something that benefits both parties.
After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran asked with a smile, "How about taking Professor Alexei with him? After all, this plane was donated in his name."
"How about donating a good story together? A good story like those two war movies you directed not long ago."
Ruslan proposed new conditions without thinking. Obviously, he, or the person who just talked to him on the phone, had already calculated that Weiran would make such a request.
Taking the two frontline flight badges handed back by the other party, Wei Ran weighed them in his hands and nodded after some thought, "I will try my best to restore the historical truth, but can I help investigate the previous owner of this house?"
Master? See if he has any family members who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad."
"sure"
Ruslan happily agreed, "At the latest the day after tomorrow, we will send professionals to dig out the half of the tail section. We need..."
"Send it here temporarily," Wei Ran said proactively without waiting for the other party to finish. "This garage can be used as a temporary investigation workstation. If your people want to participate in the investigation, they can also join in."
"This is the best thing." Ruslan reciprocated and pointed at the Soviet car. "I have a friend who specializes in helping the museum renovate this old Soviet car. Do you need me to contact you?"
"I'll have to ask Professor Alexei," Wei Ran said and cupped his hands, "Let's go sit in front of the fireplace and have a cup of tea to warm ourselves up.
Ruslan, who had come from the city in the early morning, naturally would not refuse. He followed Wei Ran into the extremely lively room, but he never mentioned anything about the plane from beginning to end.
He didn't mention it, and Professor Wei Ran and Alexei certainly wouldn't mention it. Anyway, with those two flight badges, as long as we find out who this land and this house belong to, even if we don't bother with metal notebooks,
It's easy to know what happened in the first place. In other words, it was just the other party taking the initiative to let go and forming a good relationship with them.
Ruslan was also a wonderful person. After drinking a cup of tea, he took the initiative to say goodbye on the pretext that there was a police speedboat waiting for him at the pier, and asked Wei Ran to take him to the pier.
Specifically calling for Professor Alex to follow him, Weiran drove the other party to the dock of Golonid Island. It wasn't until he watched the other party get on the boat and drive to the other side that he took the "transaction" in the garage and followed him.
Professor Alexei recounted it in detail.
"So, I can also become a museum consultant?" Professor Alexei asked in surprise.
"As long as we investigate clearly what happened to that plane," Wei Ran said as he started the car and drove along the ruts in the direction he came from.
"My good nephew, it seems that I have taken advantage of you this time."
Professor Alexei took the rare initiative to switch to Chinese and said that he knew his own affairs well. Even though he once held the title of professor, in fact, with his level, it is obviously not feasible to become an honorary consultant of an official museum.
Quite qualified, this time it was really like he said he was influenced by Wei Ran.
"My good uncle, I've helped you get points, how are you going to thank me?" Wei Ran asked jokingly.
"I gave you my daughter, what else are you dissatisfied with?" Professor Alexei, who had been grateful a second ago, suddenly turned his face, "Besides, that was my plane in the first place."
"Yeah, everything you say is right." Wei Ran muttered angrily, obviously unable to withstand the killing move of this shameless old guy.
When we were skating all the way back to the car, a few girls who were not afraid of the cold and the crazy dog Beria were already having a snowball fight in the open space in front of the door. Even the aunt looked decent.
He built a snowman with a missing head.
And at the door of the warm wooden house, Mr. Nicholas sat in a rocking chair covered with a thick blanket and looked at the young people in front of him with a smile. In his arms, there were three young people with big ears and dressed in flowers.
The big-eared fox in a cotton-padded jacket was poking his head and looking at the excitement.
"Peng!"
Before the engine could turn off, a snowball flying from nowhere had hit the windshield accurately. Then, the girls also switched their firepower and fired a wave of snowballs.
Seeing Professor Alexei getting a look on his face as soon as he opened the door and walked out, Wei Ran's mood improved a lot. He pulled on his hood, opened the door and joined in the melee.
After being knocked down by the dog Beria twice in a row, and then being almost buried in the snow by the naughty professor, Wei Ran decisively gave in and ran into the bathroom while shaking off the snow from his neck.
Not long after he took a hot bath and got into the sauna on the first floor, Professor Alexei and even Mr. Nicholas walked in each holding a small handful of birch branches.
"Victor, I have bad news."
As Professor Alexei spoke, he handed Wei Ran a small handful of tied birch branches, and then handed the tablet computer in a waterproof bag to Wei Ran.
"What's wrong?" Wei Ran took the tablet without knowing why.
"While I was waiting in line to take a shower, I checked the numbers on the two flight badges."
Professor Alexei helped Mr. Nicholas sit down and placed the drinks and fruits on the table. Then he continued, "You can see the rest by yourself. The two flight badges are different."
They belong to two people, and no matter which one, the name on the gravity knife I gave you is different."
After finishing speaking, Professor Alexei walked out and said, "The specific information is on the tablet. I'm going to take a shower first, and we'll have a chat later."
Watching the other party leave, Wei Ran first picked up a wooden spoon and poured a spoonful of it on the hot stove. After waiting for the steam to evaporate, he lit up the screen of the tablet and watched Professor Alexey find out.
data of.
Just like what the other party said before leaving, these two frontline flying medals are really divided between two people. Not only that, according to the information found, the recipients of these two flying medals probably do not know each other, because they are not from
Two completely different armies.
Forget it, the time and place where the night flight medal was obtained was in Kursk in early August 1943. By that time, the Battle of Stalingrad had already ended.
The German fighter plane crashed into the Volga River during the Battle of Kursk? Wake up, even if the person piloting the fighter plane at the time was a drunkard, it was absolutely impossible.
"It seems that you are no longer in the mood to take a sauna?" As Nicholas spoke, he poured a spoonful of water on the heating stove. Suddenly, steaming water vapor came over the surface, temporarily blocking Wei Ran's sight.
"I thought this was simple."
Wei Ran smiled bitterly and turned off the screen of his tablet. Now he could only hope to find out the past experiences of the owner of this house.
"There are no simple things in this world?" Nicholas said with a smile, "So you'd better enjoy the joy of sauna. At least no one will ask you to go out to do things at this time, right?"
Not always...
Wei Ran muttered secretly, but he remembered clearly that on the battlefield in Finland, he was called out while taking a sauna.
So what about this time?
Wei Ran rubbed the tattoo on the tiger's mouth without leaving a trace, secretly wondering whether he would need to return to Stalingrad.
