Red Moscow

"No, Asya, you misunderstood." Sokov explained pleasantly: "The reason why Yasha and I are returning to Moscow at this moment is because our superiors arranged new jobs for us in advance in order to take care of us."

"Arrange new work?" Asiya asked with confusion on her face: "What work will be arranged for you at this time?"

"Asia, you should know that the war is over." Sokov explained: "Our country no longer needs so many soldiers, which means that in the next one or two years, there will be more domestic Large-scale disarmament, many units with great military achievements, including the unit that captured the Reichstag in Berlin, may be deactivated."

When Asya heard this, her eyes widened in surprise. She grabbed Sokov's hand and asked emotionally: "Misha, is this all true?"

"Of course it's true." Sokov gently patted the back of her hand with his hand and continued: "If large-scale disarmament really starts, millions of commanders and fighters will be deployed. It is a quite huge project. If Yasha and I return to Moscow now, we can get arrangements before other commanders change jobs."

Knowing that Yakov was also back, Asia felt a little relieved. If Sokov was really transferred back because he made a mistake, then Yakov would definitely not come back with him. Since the two of them came back together, it proves that things are just as Sokov said, and that the superiors are preparing to arrange suitable jobs for the two of them in advance. After a pause, Asiya asked tentatively: "Misha, I wonder what work your superiors have assigned you?"

Just when Sokov was about to speak, Asiya had already said first: "Don't speak for now, let me guess. If I were to arrange the work, Yasha's best place would definitely be the weapons and equipment department, right?" wrong?"

"You are right," Sokov nodded and said, "Yasha's final destination is the General Ordnance Department, which is the superior department of the Weapons and Equipment Department."

Asiya said "Oh" and then asked: "What about you, Misha, where did your superiors arrange for you to work?"

"My superiors gave me three options." Sokov raised three fingers and said: "First, go to Germany. Marshal Zhukov recommended me to be the garrison commander of Berlin."

"The garrison commander in Berlin sounds good, but the specific work to be done is too trivial and not suitable for you." Asiya actively analyzed: "I think you may not agree to this appointment."

"Yes, I refused directly after hearing this." Sokov continued: "The second option is to go to Kiev. After the war, the Kiev Military District will definitely be rebuilt. After I go, if I am lucky, I can Serve as deputy commander of the military region.”

Asiya was silent for a while, and then said: "The commanders of the four front armies in Ukraine are all marshals. You are just a general, not at the same level as them. I think if the Kiev Military District is rebuilt, the candidate for the commander should be It's a certain marshal. Even if you are appointed as deputy commander, I'm afraid you won't have any real power. If I were you, I definitely wouldn't go."

Seeing that Asiya guessed that he would not choose this option, Sokov was very surprised. Although the other party guessed the reason for his refusal wrongly, Kiev was indeed not his best choice. But this was good, it saved him the trouble of explaining, so Sokov said smoothly: "Asia, you are right, I just considered that my military rank is too low, and after I go there, I am afraid that I will be a person without real power." It was a sinecure, so I refused.”

"You just said that your superiors gave you three choices." Asiya looked at Sokov and asked: "You rejected the first two choices, which means that the third choice is acceptable to you. You are now Tell me, what is the third option your superiors gave you?"

"Let me go to Siberia and manage the 600,000 Kwantung Army prisoners of war captured in this Far East campaign."

"What, asking you to go to Siberia?" Asiya asked with a face full of shock: "How could you be allowed to go to that place? You know, Siberia has been a place where prisoners have been exiled since the Tsarist era. This is what your superiors gave you. Can this appointment be cancelled?”

"How is this possible?" Sokov said, "Although the formal appointment will not come out for the time being, I have already made a choice, how can I go back on my words? If I am at a disadvantage and ask my superiors to cancel this appointment, I might mess things up. It's a mess." Seeing that Asiya seemed to want to say something else, he quickly raised his hand to stop her and said, "Asiya, we'll talk about this later, let's cook now."

"Okay, wait a minute, I will cook for you now." Asiya rolled up her sleeves, picked up the apron and prepared to tie it around her waist, but Sokov snatched the apron away: "Ah Thea, you are inconvenient, so I’ll do it.”

"Misha, I'm not a noble lady, my body is not that delicate." Asiya took the apron back from Sokov's hand and said with a smile: "Besides, it's still early before the child is born, so it doesn't matter at all. I cook."

Seeing Asiya enter the kitchen, Sokov also followed. Although the other party didn't let him cook, he could still help her. While watching Asiya lighting the fire, he asked: "Asiya, you are cooking in the kitchen, don't you feel sick when you smell the oil smoke?"

"No." Asya, as a military doctor, naturally understood what Sokov meant, so she explained to him: "Not all women will experience morning sickness after pregnancy, and some people have very little reaction. I just fall into this category. Except for the last time I had morning sickness when I had a meal with Comrade Stalin in the Kremlin, everything was normal the rest of the time, almost like ordinary people."

Sokov stared at Asiya's belly and found that although it was four months old, it was not obvious: "Your belly doesn't look obvious."

"This is normal," Asiya took out the cutting board and said to Sokov while chopping vegetables: "This is my first pregnancy, and the skin on my abdomen is tight. If I get pregnant with a second child in the future, the skin will become tighter in the same month. Because of the looseness, the belly will look bigger.”

After finishing speaking, he looked at Sokov standing next to him, put down the kitchen knife and vegetables in his hands, and pushed Sokov out with both hands: "Okay, okay, don't always stand next to me, so as not to affect me. I want to show off my cooking skills. Go sit in the living room for a while, and I will call you when the meal is ready."

Although Sokov left the kitchen, he did not go to sit in the living room. Instead, he leaned against the door and continued to ask with concern: "Have your parents been here recently?"

"My father is busy with work in the factory and has very little time to go home, let alone come here." Asiya said, "But my mother comes every weekend to help me clean up the room. Washing clothes and so on. But when she left two days ago, she said that the factory would be very busy recently and she might not be able to come for a while. "

When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but asked curiously: "How busy can a small instrument factory be?"

"I don't know the specific situation." Asiya said: "I just heard from my mother that the production tasks in the instrument factory have been scheduled until the end of next year. If you don't work overtime, you won't be able to complete the tasks of your superiors."

"That's true. The war has just ended, and now all production must serve to restore people's livelihood." Sokov said reasonably: "If your parents don't have time to come over, we can go over and visit them."

"That's a good relationship." Asiya said, "The day after tomorrow is the weekend. If you have nothing to do, we will go over to visit them."

"Okay, no problem." Sokov said: "Before we go, let's go to the officer's store and buy them some good things to take over."

"Now that the rationing system has been lifted, the supply of supplies is much better than before. I don't think there is any need to buy them anything."

"If you want to buy it, you must buy it." Sokov said: "After all, this is my intention for them."

Before Asiya could speak, the phone in the living room suddenly rang, and Sokov quickly turned around and walked towards where the phone was.

"Hello," Sokov picked up the phone and put it to his ear and asked, "Who is it?"

"Misha, it's me." Yakov's familiar voice came from the receiver: "I didn't affect your intimacy with Asiya."

"Don't be ridiculous, just tell me if you have anything to do."

"Misha, that's it." Yakov said on the other end of the phone: "I just got the news that Comrade Ustinov was appointed as the Minister of the General Ordnance Department not long ago. In other words, I became the head of the General Ordnance Department again. His men."

"That's really congratulations." Sokov said this, but he was thinking in his heart that Yakov would not call him specifically for such a trivial matter. There must be more important things, so he asked directly : "Yasha, I'm afraid you didn't call me just to talk about this matter."

Yakov laughed on the phone and then said: "Misha, you really can't hide anything. Yes, I called you because there is indeed something more important."

Sokov, who was originally standing, heard Yakov admit that he had something important to ask him, so he pulled up a chair and sat down, and then asked: "Tell me, what's the matter?"

"When I just contacted Comrade Ustinov, he heard that you actually chose to go to Siberia, and even said it was a waste of talent." Yakov explained to Sokov: "He asked me to ask you if you have any Are you interested in coming to the General Ordnance Department? If you are willing to come, I will definitely arrange a good position for you."

If Sokov was willing to stay at the General Ordnance Department, he would have explained his true thoughts to General Orehov when he was just in the Ministry of Defense. When Yakov asked about it, he answered truthfully: "Yasha, didn't I tell you that I want to go to Siberia instead of joining the General Ordnance Department."

"I just can't understand why you chose to go there because of the ice and snow in Siberia and the harsh climate?"

When Sokov heard what Yakov said, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly, saying in his heart that I chose to go to Siberia just to take care of the more than 600,000 Kwantung Army prisoners, so that no more than 50,000 prisoners of war would return to the island country in the future. But he could just think about this little idea in his mind and would never tell Yakov. He simply replied: "I like to go there."

Seeing Sokov being so stubborn, Yakov could not say anything else, so he could only say the last thing: "Misha, don't forget that you once told me that you planned to talk to the weapons designers of the Weapons and Equipment Department, and give They provide some design ideas for developing new weapons, don’t forget this.”

"Don't worry, I won't forget it."

"I think this matter shouldn't be delayed for too long." Yakov said: "It's the weekend in just two days. You might as well come to the weapons and equipment department and I'll ask the engineers to have a good talk with you."

"Definitely not on weekends." Sokov rejected Yakov's proposal without hesitation: "I just talked to Asya, and I will go to Khimki town to meet her parents this weekend."

"Oh, it's such a pity that you have to go to Khimki town on the weekend." After hearing this, Yakov said with some regret: "Then we will have to find another time."

After Sokov put down the phone, he saw Asiya sticking her head out of the kitchen. He couldn't help but asked curiously: "Misha, who called?"

"Who else, of course, is Yakov." Sokov explained with a smile: "On behalf of Comrade Ustinov, he invited me to work in the General Ordnance Department." After saying this, Assi did not wait for When Ya asked, he took the initiative to explain, "But I have already refused."

"Hey, were you too hasty in rejecting Yasha's invitation?" Asiya asked, "You should think about it carefully and give him an answer before it's too late."

"I have clearly rejected him. It's too late to say anything now." Sokov walked towards the kitchen and rolled up his sleeves: "I'd better help you cook. We can do it together, so we can save a lot." time."

As for Yakov, he made the call to Sokov in Ustinov's office. After putting down the phone, he shrugged, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "People's Commissar, it's a pity that Misha rejected me again. He has made his attitude clear and would rather go to Siberia to be a guard. The boss doesn’t even come to work at the General Ordnance Department.”

When Ustinov heard what Yakov said, he couldn't help but frowned: "Yasha, I don't understand what is so good about Siberia that Misha would rather give up his pregnant wife and many choices than to You can’t run there.”

"I don't know the specific situation." Yakov said with a wry smile: "Maybe he has some unknown ideas."

"Then can he come to us on the weekend?" Ustinov said: "If he wants to come, I plan to talk to him personally to see if I can dispel his idea of ​​going to Siberia. If he is willing to stay, I can go to your father to revise Misha’s appointment.”

"He can't come. He said he was going to Khimki town on the weekend to meet Asya's parents." After Yakov repeated what Sokov said, he took the initiative to explain to Ustinov: "Anyway , he hasn’t met Asiya’s parents for several months. It makes sense to take advantage of the weekend to go over and visit.”

"I think it may be that Asya's parents are too busy to take time to visit them, so they made the decision to go to Khimki Town to visit the two elderly people." Ustinov finished these words , suddenly remembered something, and asked quickly: "By the way, Yasha, have the relevant departments equipped Misha with a vehicle?"

"No, he was not equipped with a vehicle."

"Didn't I just give you a car today?" Ustinov said: "I think you can give Misha the car to use before he leaves Moscow. Maybe he will be willing to stay at the headquarters if he is moved. Maybe the Ordnance Department.”