In his thoughts, the off-road vehicle driven by Wei Ran had already left Loewge far behind on the other side of the Volga River. The scenery on both sides of the not-so-flat road has changed from farmland and factory buildings to dense pine forests.
Finally, when the satellite navigation indicated that it had reached the location closest to the destination, Wei Ran, who had been distracted almost the whole way, slowly stepped on the brakes on the road that passed through the forest.
Parking the car on the side of the road, Wei Ran looked around the surrounding environment, took out the sunflowers and vodka he bought in Rzhev, and then took out a handheld GPS and opened it. Stepping into the coniferous forest covered with a thin layer of snow.
Before taking a few steps, he had already matched this place with his recent experience. Perhaps it was a coincidence or God's will, this was actually the place where the group of them separated from the injured Gioia and decided to continue looking for the German artillery position.
Glancing at the distance between himself and his destination on the GPS, Wei Ran looked around vigilantly. After making sure there was no one there, he waved his hand and took out the white-painted half-track from the metal book. motorcycle.
Lifting his legs to get into the driver's seat, and skillfully starting the engine, Weiran drove this old antique car slowly through the dense coniferous forest with the roar of the engine.
Just from the remaining cut marks on the surrounding pine trees and the healed bark, we know that there may be people here every year to harvest rosin. This is good news, at least you don’t have to worry about accidentally crushing them. On top of dangerous objects such as landmines left over from World War II.
Observing the surrounding environment all the way, Wei Ran drove his half-track motorcycle across an icy creek, and finally stopped at a building that had long since collapsed, leaving only a stone fireplace and chimney. wooden house near the wreckage.
On the snow covering the ground around this ruin-like wooden house, except for a series of footprints left by some unknown animals, there are no traces of human activities at all. It was obvious that no one had been here for a long time.
Putting away the stalled half-track motorcycle, Wei Ran circled around the remains of the wooden house, and soon saw a slightly crooked piece of wood under a pine tree not far from the house. stone tombstone.
Taking out the rarely used anti-Japanese sword from the metal book, Wei Ran cut some pine branches to use as a broom, sweeping away the snow around the tombstone, and then cleared the clumps of dry After clearing away the weeds, we finally saw clearly the words carved on the tombstone.
On this not-so-big tombstone, there are only three names engraved on it: "Reveli", "Danila" and "Lano", and these three don't even have surnames. There seems to be something engraved under his name.
Using the tip of a knife to dig open the frozen soil around the lower edge of the tombstone, a simple line of Russian clearly recorded everything these three people had done - they defended Rzhev with their lives.
Sighing, Wei Ran put away the anti-Japanese sword in his hand., took out a bottle of cold vodka and three cups from his backpack, filled them one by one and placed them in front of this long forgotten tombstone, and then took out the bouquet of sunflowers that were still blooming and placed them Beside the tombstone.
Standing silently in front of the tombstone for a moment, Wei Ran took out his mobile phone and took a photo, then walked towards the wooden house not far away with only some remains left.
The only thing that is still intact in this house is the stone fireplace. In the snow-covered stove, there are three bricks supporting a rusty German helmet. This is the only relic from World War II and may be the only memory of that war in this wooden house.
Without moving the helmet or taking out the half-track motorcycle, Wei Ran followed the track marks left when he came and walked step by step towards the road built in the Soviet era outside the forest.
After taking more than an hour to leave this quiet and peaceful forest, Wei Ran got into the car and rested for a while, then immediately turned around and drove towards Moscow.
Finding the gravesites of Danila and the others was not beyond his expectation. Next, he would see what was waiting for him at the address in Moscow provided by the metal book.
Having rushed all the way back to Rzhev to fill up the car with gas, Weiran didn’t waste much time and immediately continued driving towards Moscow.
Following the address provided in the metal book, he stepped on the brakes at the end of an old-looking street.
Just in front of the car on the left, not far across the road, there is a small store. The slightly faded billboard lists various services including photography, printing and hearse rentals. Business scope. Opposite it, directly in front of Weiran, is a hospital that looks as old as the street.
On one side of the door, in addition to an old Lada car produced in the Soviet era, there was also an extremely clean black Iveco van.
It’s just that at this time, there was a husky raised by someone who didn’t know who was raising it. He was sticking out one leg and treating the tire of the Iveco as a small tree that needed to be fertilized, pouring it heartily. Soak in urine that may quickly freeze into a beautiful amber.
After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran summoned the metal book, took out the photo album that was placed with the cloak and boots, randomly selected a photo negative of a soldier from it, and carefully used a newspaper found in the car. The bag was packed and put into the pocket.
Pushing open the car door, Wei Ran crossed the road and slowly opened the glass door of the store.
"Taking photos or printing? Or renting a car?" A girl who looked to be in her twenties at most stopped playing the accordion and asked.
Looking at the old man sitting on the sofa not far away, Wei Ran took out a package wrapped in newspaper from his pocket as usual and asked politely, "I want to develop photos, film photos. You are here..."
"No problem"
This girlPutting down the accordion, he simply asked, "How do you want to wash it? Regular sizes can be printed directly on the computer for 500 rubles each. If the size is too large, you may need to pay extra. If you want to use traditional methods to wash it, you need to look at the condition and selection of the film. The photo paper is billed separately."
"Just use the traditional method. How long will it take to get it?" Wei Ran asked, holding the paper package, "I want the fastest way."
"Half an hour," the girl said, then turned to look at the old guy next to her, "Is it okay, grandpa?"
"Let me see the film first," the old guy said with a smile. While talking, he took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket and put them on slowly.
"No problem" Wei Ran handed the paper bag in his hand to the other party, and at the same time looked at this small shop with an area of only 50 square meters at most.
It is not much different from the common print shops in China. There are various examples and samples hanging on the three walls around this small shop, including several with Gorbachev's head. Model's portrait photo frame.
Just when Wei Ran was thinking about the blood relationship between the old man and the young man and Tonya, who had the title of "artist" on the battlefield of Rzhev, the man who looked like he was over 10 years old The old man in his sixties turned off the lamp and said, "This negative is in pretty good condition. Young man, what size do you want to print it in?"
"Normal size is fine," Wei Ran replied quickly.
"The flushing fee is one thousand rubles"
The old man offered a price that was a little expensive but not too expensive, and then said, "Of course, if If you are willing to pay an extra thousand rubles, you can watch the process of developing photos up close next to me."
This old man is quite good at business...
Wei Ran looked weird. He muttered to himself, then happily took out two large tickets and handed them to the girl behind the bar at the door who was playing "Gun Card" on the accordion.
The latter just pointed at the bar with his chin, but did not stop playing. Seeing this, Wei Ran simply put the money on the bar and used the water glass on the table to help hold down one corner. Then he followed the old man through a wooden door and walked into a darkroom that was only ten square meters in size at most.
Compared with the ordinary "print shop" outside, the walls around this darkroom are covered with large-sized black and white photos.
Some of these photos are of battlefields that took place in unknown places, and there are also Soviet street scenes with the characteristics of the times, and there are also Topol missiles displayed during the Red Square military parade. Even the largest one is The only color photo captured was the precious scene of the Soviet flag being lowered from the top of the Kremlin on the night when the Soviet Union collapsed!
"During the Soviet era, I was a reporter." The old man said calmly, "Almost half of the photos here were taken when I was a reporter."
"The other half What?" Wei Ran asked.
The old man closed the door and configured the necessary equipment for developing photos."The other half was taken by my father. He is a real photographer."
"The photos are really good."
Wei Ran said sincerely , this is not a compliment on his part. Compared with his photographic skills, which were easy to become a secular monk on the road to becoming a monk, any photo displayed in this darkroom can be called a "work".
"The only thing that makes a good shot is that you are close enough and press the shutter enough times."
The old man was well prepared and took the photos specially selected by Wei Ran. After fixing it on the old enlarger, he began to explain in detail the principles and precautions of the steps to develop photos. From this point alone, the two thousand rubles I just paid out have already been earned back.
Although his own skills in developing old photos are not bad, this old man who never even introduced himself by name is definitely a professional. By the way, Wei Ran also learned some tricks that he didn't know if he would use in the future.
The short half hour passed by. When the old man took down the photo that Wei Ran had hung on the rope not long ago, he subconsciously frowned, "Why do I feel like I'm in this photo?" Where have you seen it? ”
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