In the waiting room of Kazan Airport, Diane saw Wei Ran staring at the satellite map on the tablet screen, wisely, she didn't say anything, but stood up silently and brought two cups of coffee from a short distance away.
"Thank you." Wei Ran took the coffee and at the same time brought back his wandering thoughts.
"Did you find anything?" Diane asked, holding a cup of coffee.
Hearing this, Wei Ran shook his head and said, "Not yet. We'd better go to the scene to see the details before discussing."
"About the commission..."
"Let's talk about commissions after I'm sure I can help you."
Wei Ran said in a calm tone, before confirming the commission, he must know whether the incident of this investigation is really related to the Liuban Battle. This will also determine whether he will take over the investigation.
Seeing this, Diane stopped continuing the topic and instead talked about Wei Ran's studio and Time Film Studio, which had always made her curious.
They passed the time before boarding by chatting. After the announcement rang, the two of them each picked up their small luggage and lined up to board the flight to Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
Taking advantage of the five-hour long journey, Wei Ran once again focused all his energy on the graduation thesis that was giving him a headache. Diane saw this and stopped disturbing her. Instead, she began to think about how to deepen her relationship with Wei Ran.
Burning cooperation.
At five o'clock in the afternoon that day, Wei Ran, who was dizzy and tortured by his graduation thesis, pulled his suitcase, followed Diane and left the airport, boarded an off-road vehicle, and headed straight to Liuban, more than 100 kilometers away.
"Mr. Victor's first time in Belarus?" Diane, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked through the rearview mirror and looked curiously at Wei Ran, who was sitting in the back seat and looking at the scenery outside the window.
"first"
Wei Ran smiled and replied, "I've always heard that only Belarus still retains the shadow of the Soviet Union. But it doesn't seem to be much different from Russia."
Diane responded with a smile, "I had the same expectations when I first came to Belarus. Although it looks similar to Russia, if you live here for a long time, you will find that it is actually more comfortable than Russia."
Hearing this, Wei Ran finally retracted his gaze that had been wandering outside the window, "So Ms. Diane is very familiar with this place?"
Diane smiled and nodded, "It should be familiar. About six years ago, a similar charity organization found my great-grandfather here and told our family about the battles he participated in during World War II, the medals he received, and the
Sent back some relics found on my great-grandfather's body."
Having said this, Diane turned to look at Wei Ran, who was sitting in the back row, and said with a smile, "You can't believe that six years ago, I was still a securities trader with pretty good results."
"It's really hard to imagine," Wei Ran sighed cooperatively. At the same time, he had secretly made up his mind to ask Katenka to help him when he found an opportunity to carefully check whether what Diane said was true.
“I find it unbelievable myself”
Diane sat up straight again, "Over the years, I have worked with that organization to send many Germans or Soviets who were missing during the war in Belarus to find their relatives and descendants, or to rebury them and explore the history of that time.
The war they went through. Although this process was difficult, it was much more meaningful than the constantly beating numbers on the stock exchange."
"Where's Edelweiss?" Wei Ran asked abruptly, "What's going on with Edelweiss? I remember the brochure you showed me before. The Edelweiss organization was established less than two years ago."
Diane sighed and continued to explain, "Edelweiss was founded as a result of some irreconcilable differences between me and the organization that once sent my great-grandfather home."
"How about telling me in detail?" Wei Ran asked with great interest.
Hearing this, Diane turned her head again and asked Wei Ran a question, "Mr. Victor, how do you think we should look at soldiers missing in the war? No matter whether they are Germans or Soviets."
"The bottom line in interpreting history is objectivity and truth." Wei Ran simply gave his answer.
"This is the irreconcilable difference between me and the previous organization."
Diane's face full of collagen showed a wry smile, "I have been a volunteer in that organization for a long time before I realized that they sent my great-grandfather home just because I was a good stockbroker at the time.
traders, and I know quite a few millionaires.
I even wonder whether those so-called relics of my great-grandfather were found together with his bones. Or is the person buried in the cemetery not my great-grandfather at all?"
Seeing that Wei Ran didn't speak, Diane sighed and continued, "During the few years of working as a volunteer in that organization, I saw them too many times under the pretext of comforting the living, while they used the excuse of comforting the living to repair the mutilated corpses.
You know whose bones they come from, and you put the relics that you don't know who they belong to, and then you can tell the living with just that oval metal piece that they are their ancestors.
If these can be used as a poor excuse to comfort the living, then how can they explain the concealment of the crimes committed by the missing soldiers in the war? Let the living only remember the glory of the dead and forget or simply not know their ancestors.
The fact that he was an invader?"
Wei Ran shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid this is the reason why the Edelweiss Organization has been unable to develop a situation in Russia, right?"
“The roots are not in Russia”
There was a trace of exhaustion in Diane's tone, "Among those who are willing to fund us, there are really too few people who dare to face the facts and expose war crimes.
They are unwilling, or do not have the courage, or even think it is necessary to tell the living people about the actual acts of aggression or even massacre. Instead, they hope to just whitewash how many missing soldiers they paid to send home, and then exchange them for some ridiculous fame and votes.
,There are really too many such people.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "But what's the point of doing this?" Wei Ran asked again.
"The significance of sending those missing soldiers home is not just to touch their relatives and descendants."
Diane said very seriously, "Let all living people remember the ugly acts of aggression during the war and prevent such things from happening again. This is the key point, isn't it?"
"Although somewhat extreme and idealistic"
Wei Ran spread his hands and looked at this fat woman who was at least twenty years older than him and said, "But at least I agree with what you just said, and I also hope that your actions will be highly consistent with your words.
"
Hearing this, Diane smiled softly and did not continue to explain or try to prove anything. She just said in a calm tone, "Time will prove everything."
“Time will indeed tell”
Looking at the rapidly retreating scenery outside the window, Wei Ran muttered to himself, but he became more and more curious in his heart about how much truth the former said.
It took nearly three hours to complete the journey of more than 100 kilometers. When the car stopped at the entrance of a hotel with a strong Soviet style in Liuban City, the strange city outside the window had already been lit up by street lights.
.
“Let’s have dinner here first and then rest for the night.”
Diane took the initiative to open the car door for Wei Ran and led him to the hotel while saying, "How about we go to the excavation site at eight o'clock tomorrow morning?"
"No problem," Wei Ran said nonchalantly, "It's okay even if it's earlier."
Hearing this, Diane obviously misunderstood what Wei Ran wanted to express, and quickly said, "The excavation site is not far from our current location, and we won't waste too much time."
"It's okay, it's okay," Wei Ran explained straightforwardly, "I have plenty of time."
Diane smiled without further explanation. After taking Wei Ran to the hotel for a sumptuous dinner rich in local characteristics, she personally sent him to the room.
Through the peephole until Diane left, Wei Ran looked back at the layout of the room, then immediately opened the door and walked towards the safe passage not far away.
He casually climbed up two floors and checked the security passage. He immediately took out the authenticator from the food box, then took out the business card Diane left from his wallet and took a photo of it.
After taking the photo, I sent it to Katenka in Italy via webmail.
Putting the authenticator back into the food box, Wei Ran slowly walked downstairs and returned to the room, and then began a detailed inspection of the room.
In the blink of an eye, the next morning, Wei Ran, who woke up on time under the urging of his biological clock, glanced at the screen of his mobile phone. Seeing that Katenka still didn't reply, he took a leisurely cold shower and went downstairs.
Jogging started on the deserted streets.
When he arrived here yesterday because it was getting late, he didn't have a clear impression of the city, but now he discovered that this place is not so much a city as it is a fairly well-developed agricultural industry.
Small town is more appropriate.
Even in the small town, you can see small but vibrant farmland, which also makes the air here exceptionally fresh.
And to be honest, this was his first time to see the excavation party's work site up close, which also made him more and more curious about his upcoming trip.
Almost at the same time that he finished his daily physical exercise and walked into the hotel, Katenka also sent an email. After looking at the familiar spam message on the screen, Wei Ran, who was about to go back to his room, immediately turned around and got in.
Entering the corridor, I took out the authenticator from the food box again.
After some operations, he opened the web mailbox. Wei Ran glanced at the email sent by Kajianka, and an uncontrollable smile appeared on his face.
After downloading the file attached to the mailbox to his mobile phone, Wei Ran simply unplugged the authenticator and threw it into the food box. While putting it back into the metal book, he turned and left the stairwell.