I spent my 90th birthday with Nikolai and the villagers I didn’t know at all, and took several rolls of film by the way. Early the next morning, two trucks full of luggage followed the cross-country drive driven by Wei Ran.
The car left the abandoned school and drove towards Kazan amid the farewells of almost all the villagers.
In the brand-new off-road vehicle, the driver became Jima, while Weiran and Nikola were sitting on the only two passenger seats, chatting about their studies at the Hongqi Forest Farm this week.
content and Culp’s plans for his future.
Except for a brief stop in Saratov for a late lunch, it was already after eight o'clock in the evening by the time they arrived in Volgograd.
Nicholas, who insisted on taking a car, was also extremely tired at this time. After all, he was ninety years old. Even though he was in good health, the ten-hour drive was still a big burden for him. But in
When he saw the illuminated statue of Motherland across the road, this old man who had experienced World War II and then joined the Cold War became particularly excited.
Resolutely rejecting Wei Ran's suggestion to go to a travel agency not far away for a night's rest, Nicholas excitedly opened the door of the single-family wooden house he bought. After walking around the upstairs and downstairs, he walked in from
A suitcase was unloaded from the car and given inside.
Wei Ran, Jima and the other two gangsters looked at each other and resigned themselves to carrying all the boxes of luggage from the truck at the door into the house.
After a lot of work, it was more than an hour after they finished moving the last box of things. Almost at the same time that Ji Ma rode over the old Harley that was still in the Weiyan studio, Alexei also brought
Carrying a few insulated lunch boxes, I followed the address and drove over.
While Nicholas, Jima and others were having dinner, Professor Alexei pulled Wei Ran aside and asked in a low voice in Chinese, "What's the origin of that old man?"
"The survivors who were implicated in the ZIS-3 anti-tank gun last time"
Wei Ran pointed to the off-road vehicle outside the door with his chin, "I was preparing to continue my graduate studies in Kazan. Mr. Nikolai helped a lot. He even gave me the car."
"You're so lucky," Professor Alexei muttered with a strange expression.
"I may have to trouble my aunt and you to take care of Mr. Nicholas in the future." Wei Ran said with some embarrassment, "He has no family members anymore, and he is already 90 years old."
"It's not a big deal," Professor Alexei's aunt's mantra came out of his mouth, "Anyway, it's just a matter of adding a pair of chopsticks."
"Where are you? How is work?" Wei Ran asked, changing the subject.
"You were right"
Professor Alexey's face suddenly became extremely bitter, "That bastard Alexander actually wants me to investigate the origins of every collection in his museum."
"I told you not to work for capitalists a long time ago." Wei Ran blocked Professor Alexei in advance without any mercy, "Let me tell you first, I will not go to help, even if I am paid."
"You bastard!" Professor Alexei hit Wei Ran on the top of his head gently, then winked to the side and whispered, "I'll wait for you in the studio."
Wei Ran nodded, and after Professor Alexei drove away, he turned around and joined the dinner, introducing the Chinese dishes on the table to Jima and others while filling his stomach.
After dinner and packing the insulated lunch boxes, Wei Ran said goodbye to Nikolai and Jima and others, who were preparing to rest for the night before going back, drove back to the brightly lit studio a hundred meters away.
"Is something wrong?" After Wei Ran entered the studio, he directly opened the rolling shutter door and sat opposite Professor Alexei.
"Look at this" Professor Alexei pointed to the canvas roll placed on the table.
"what?"
Wei Ran opened the canvas roll while speaking, and then saw a pair of old-fashioned skis, a pair of ski poles, and a Soviet flag.
Seeing Wei Ran raising his head and looking at him doubtfully, Professor Alexey slowly unfolded the worn flag and said in a low voice, "According to my verification, this is the flag of the 163rd Infantry Division of the Soviet Ninth Army.
Master, you always know, right?"
"That infantry division that was completely wiped out by the Finns in the Winter War?" Wei Ran asked uncertainly.
Professor Alexey nodded with satisfaction, "It's them"
"Where did you get it?"
Wei Ran asked, looking at the embroidery patterns and remaining damage on the flag. Following Alexei for so long, he could tell at a glance that this flag was probably not a replica.
Professor Alexey put away the flag and explained in a low voice, "An old friend of mine in Petersburg found this by accident in his wife's old house. Along with this pair of skis and skis,
Rod."
"Did you buy it?" Wei Ran asked with raised eyebrows, "I'm afraid this flag is worth a lot of money, right?"
Professor Arik shook his head, "I don't have that much money to buy this precious flag, but the story behind it is more valuable than this flag."
"What do you mean?" Wei Ran looked at Professor Alexei in confusion.
"Let's talk about the Battle of Suomusalmi first," Professor Alexei asked in an exam-oriented manner.
Wei Ran replied without thinking, "On December 27, 1939, the 9th Finnish Infantry Division almost annihilated most of the 163rd Infantry Division of the Soviet Ninth Army in the village of Suomusalmi in two days.
The main force, and then almost completely wiped out the 44th Soviet Motorized Infantry Division."
Hearing this, Professor Alexei nodded with satisfaction, and then continued, "In this battle, the 163rd Infantry Division of the Soviet Ninth Army not only suffered heavy losses, but even their division commander disappeared until the end of the Soviet-German War.
They never appeared again."
"Don't tell me you want to find the missing division commander" Wei Ran asked dumbfounded.
"No, no, no," Professor Alexey shook his head, "It doesn't matter whether the missing division commander is found."
"Then what are you going to do?" Wei Ran looked at Professor Alexey confused.
The latter stretched out his finger and tapped something on the table, and said with a mixture of laughter and tears, "My old friend suspects that his wife is a descendant of the missing division commander. He hopes that we can find a way to investigate this matter."
"Why?" Wei Ran asked without interest, "And how to prove this?"
"It doesn't matter why! And how to prove it is something you should consider."
Professor Alexei pointed to the small sign on his chest, "I am now the curator of Mr. Alexander's museum, so I cannot investigate this matter."
"What's the benefit? What's the benefit?" Wei Ran stood up and walked towards the coffee pot not far away. He rushed back from Kazan early this morning. The journey was not easy. Now he was so sleepy that he could hardly open his eyes.
"A Hotchkiss 25mm anti-tank gun with four blue crosses on the mantlet"
Professor Alexei raised his voice slightly, "It was also found in that old house. Victor, as long as you can figure out the relationship between the teacher and the old house, that door is worth 40,000 yuan."
