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.
To be continued...