Red Moscow

The director called a staff member, handed him the note he wrote, and ordered: "Take Karina and Lena to go through the formalities."

The staff member took the note and asked in confusion: "Comrade Director, what should I do with Karina and the others?"

"After careful consideration, I feel that we should cut down the pensions of Lena's two sons." When the director said this, his eyes looked at Sokov, "As General Sokov said, they went It was the most tragic place in the war at that time, and even the bodies could not be found after the sacrifices. If we don't take good care of their relatives, how can we be worthy of their bloodshed and sacrifice on the battlefield. Tell the accountant, Lena's two pensions will be Arrange distribution as soon as possible.”

Facing the director's arrangements, the staff dared not say anything. They could only nod in understanding, and then took Karina and Liena to go through the formalities.

"Comrade General," after the staff and Karina left, the director looked at Sokov and asked, "Are you satisfied with my arrangement?"

Sokov said with a smile: "I think you made a mistake. It's not whether I am satisfied, but whether the families of those martyrs are satisfied. I think if you can provide pensions to the families of all missing commanders and fighters in the city, everyone will understand. Thank you."

Unexpectedly, after Sokov finished speaking, the director shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "Comrade General, I also want to provide pensions to the families of martyrs in the city, but now the city is too I'm poor and can't afford that much money. It's not a big problem to help Lena. If I want to help more people, then there's nothing I can do."

"Yes, the war has just ended, and everything is in ruins." Hearing what the director said, Sokov couldn't help but said with emotion: "Maybe everyone will have to tighten their belts and live a hard life for a few years."

"Do you still remember that classic line?" After the director said this, he saw Sokov looking at him in astonishment, and quickly continued: "It's Comrade Lenin in the movie "Lenin in 1918" What the guard Vasily said to his wife..."

The director's words reminded Sokov, and he interrupted before the other party finished speaking: "Yes, yes, I remember the classic line: There will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything. Next These days may be difficult, but they will get better."

"General Sokov, I agree with your statement." The director picked up the cigarette case and handed it to Sokov. When Sokov waved his hand to refuse, he put the cigarette case back on the table and continued: "Listen He said that the Moscow Industrial Bureau will send people over in the next two days to check the resumption of operations of factories and mines in our city."

The director's words reminded Sokov of the fat man with whom he had a conflict, so he nodded and said, "Yes, there is a guest from the Industrial Bureau. He is probably talking to your city secretary in the city at the moment."

"Oh, do you know the leader who came to inspect?" the director asked in surprise.

"I've seen him before." Sokov said lightly: "I can't say that I know him, but I have met him once."

Seeing that Sokov seemed unwilling to mention the representative from the Industrial Bureau, the director promptly changed the subject: "When the enemy's army was getting closer and closer to Moscow, the Supreme Command issued a relocation order to move all the factories in the interior. Moved to distant Siberia. Vladimir is no exception. About two-thirds of the factories have been demolished and relocated. To be honest, I even went to the factory to help dismantle the machines."

Sokov saw with his own eyes the whole process of dismantling machines when he was in Northeast China. He knew that these tasks are simple to say but very hard to do. He couldn't help but ask: "When I think of the past incident of dismantling machines in the factory, it must be your favorite memory." Something profound, right?”

"Yes, that's it." Regarding Sokov's speculation, the director did not deny it, but answered truthfully: "It's just small machines. Those large machines are not to mention moving, even dismantling them." A very difficult thing." He gestured with both hands and continued, "For example, the bolts that fix the equipment are as big as a coffee cup and cannot be removed by one person. You need to add a four- to five-meter-long socket to the wrench. Then about ten people shouted slogans and worked hard together, and then they could barely disassemble it. I only worked for a week, and I almost fell apart from exhaustion, and some people were even so tired that they went to the hospital."

"Have all the equipment shipped to Siberia been shipped back?" Sokov asked with concern.

"Only part of it was shipped back." The director said: "Some of the equipment was lost due to bombing by enemy planes on the way to Siberia. Although some of the equipment was barely transported to the destination, after several years It has been basically damaged and cannot be used."

"Then where does the equipment you are using now come from?" Sokov asked tentatively: "Is it produced by a certain machinery factory?"

"That's not true." The director shook his head and continued: "As far as I know, the equipment installed in the factory was shipped from the Far East. I heard that it was trophies seized from the islanders and used to compensate for the losses of our country's troops. "

When Sokov heard this, the muscles on his face twitched violently. He never dreamed that some of the equipment disassembled by the Soviet army in the Northeast had actually arrived in Vladimir and had even been installed in the factory. .

Just as Sokov was organizing vocabulary in his mind, he was trying to figure out how to explain to the director that these equipment from the Far East were actually plundered from factories in Northeast China. Then I heard a familiar voice coming from behind: "Misha, you are still chatting with Comrade Director."

Sokov looked back and saw Karina pushing Lena in. He smiled and asked, "Is everything done?"

"Yes." Karina nodded, glanced at the director, and continued: "With Comrade Director's approval note, our process of handling the matter was quite smooth."

"Comrade Director," after Karina finished speaking, Lena, who was sitting in the wheelchair, said with a grateful tone: "Thank you so much for your generosity! If I have been rude to you in the past, please tell me Please forgive me."

The director may not have expected that Lena would suddenly express her gratitude to him, and for a moment he seemed a little at a loss and embarrassed: "Lena, don't say that, this is what I should do. Now that you have received your pension, go home." Have a good rest. If anything happens to you, I think the relevant departments will arrange manpower to take care of you."

"Thank you for your concern, no need." Lena said, "Karina usually takes care of me, so I don't need to trouble others."

After saying goodbye to the director, Sokov and others prepared to leave the Civil Affairs Bureau.

At the door, I met the guard named Bahadur again.

After the guard saw Karina and Lena, he thought they had returned in vain again, so he said in a sympathetic tone: "Karina, are you running in vain again? Hey, like Lena's son. This situation is not uncommon in our city, and so far, no one has received a pension.”

"Uncle Bahadur," unexpectedly, as soon as Bahadur finished speaking, Karina said unexpectedly: "You can't believe it, we have already received the pension."

"What, you got a pension?" When Bahadur heard what Corinna said, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, I've got it."

Seeing that Karina was so sure, Bahadur realized that the little girl was not lying to him, so he asked with some urgency: "Karina, tell me, how did you get this pension?" ?”

"I don't know the specific situation." Karina tilted her head and looked at Sokov, and continued: "After Misha chatted with the director for a while, the director gave us a note and arranged manpower. Take us to handle relevant matters."

"Comrade General," after listening to Karina's words, Bahadur immediately turned to Sokov for help: "Can you tell me what is going on? You know, Karina and the others are trying to solve this problem. I have come here no less than twenty times, but every time I come back without success. But as soon as you come here today, everything is solved. Do you have any secrets? "

"What secret can I have is nothing more than persuading Comrade Director." Sokov didn't know whether Stalin would agree with him after he met Stalin and told him his true thoughts, so Sokov Kove kept a low profile at times like this: "Maybe he figured it out and agreed readily."

"I have a relative who encountered a similar situation. Her husband was killed during the Battle of Kursk, and his body was also not found. Some said he was captured by the Germans, and some said he surrendered to the Germans. But some people think that he may have been killed in the intensive German artillery fire, so his body was not found."

"Comrade Bahadur," Sokov, judging from the director's willingness to help Lena solve the problem, felt that the other party was a real person who did things, so he said to Bahadur: "Bring your relatives here as soon as possible. Go to the director. If you come too late and there are too many people looking for the director, I’m afraid you won’t know when it will be your turn.”

"Yes, Uncle Bahadur." Karina leaned close to Bahadur and whispered: "While not many people know about this matter now, you should handle it as soon as possible. It will be more efficient. If you wait a few days, the city will After everyone here knows about this, if you rush here to deal with it, I'm afraid you will have to wait in a long queue."

"Don't worry, Karina, I'm going to find someone now and try to get things done today." Bahadur said this, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he walked into the duty room, apparently preparing to call. Someone comes to guard the door for you.

"Let's go, Karina." Sokov felt that his mission for today was completed, so he said to Karina: "It's time for us to send Lena home."

After sending Lena home, the two returned to the municipal building.

On the way, Karina said to Sokov in a grateful tone: "Misha, thank you so much for today. Without you, I think our trip today would have been in vain."

"It doesn't matter." Sokov waved his hand and said magnanimously: "It's just a small thing. There is no need to thank me all the time."

"For you, this may be a trivial matter." Karina said: "But for Lena, it is a huge matter, otherwise she would not go there again and again. She ran away to the civil affairs department. In fact, she did not do it for the pension, but to get an explanation for her two sons, so that everyone would know that her sons neither surrendered nor were prisoners, but were defending He died gloriously in battle for his country."

Sokov was thinking to himself: The situation of Lena's son was not bad, but he was included in the list of missing persons. Several generals died in battle. Because their remains were not found in time, they were deemed to have surrendered to the enemy, and their deaths were even pronounced in absentia. Some of them were rehabilitated shortly after Stalin's death; but many more were redressed in the 1980s or even after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

When the two walked into the municipal building, they saw that the extras originally gathered in the hall had dispersed, and even the cameras were gone. It seemed that the filming had been moved to other places. Seeing this, Karina quickly said to Sokov: "Misha, don't worry, I'll find someone to ask where the people watching the show went."

Sokov wanted to agree to Karina's proposal, but suddenly he saw a somewhat familiar photographer walking towards him, so he stopped Karina: "Karina, no need, I saw the photographer walking towards me. Come here, I'll just ask him." After saying that, he walked over to the photographer.

"Comrade General," the photographer suddenly said when the two were still five or six steps apart: "Where have you been? I've been looking for you for a long time."

Sokov remembered that the other party's name seemed to be Yekalenchenko, so he called the other party's name and asked: "Comrade Yekalenchenko, do you have anything to do with me?"

"I'm not looking for you, it's him who's looking for you." After Yekalenchenko finished speaking, he stepped aside to reveal a short man behind him: "It's him who is looking for you."

Sokov looked at the strange man in front of him, and his mind began to think quickly. He did not remember that he knew such a person. And judging from the way he was dressed, he was just an ordinary person, and it was impossible to have any interaction with him, so he asked tentatively: "Hello, who are you?"

"Hello, General Sokov." The short man came over, held Sokov's hand, and took the initiative to introduce himself: "My name is Werner, and I am the screenwriter of this movie."

When he learned that the other person was actually the screenwriter of the movie, Sokov couldn't help being surprised. He quickly held the other person's hand, shook it vigorously a few times, and said repeatedly: "Hello, comrade screenwriter, it's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Vladi Come Mir.”

"Comrade General, I came to see you today because I have something to discuss with you."

"I wonder if we should talk here or somewhere else?"

"Change another place." Werner shook his head and said, "There are so many people coming and going here, it's not convenient to talk."

"Karina," Sokov turned and asked Karina: "This screenwriter from Moscow and I have something important to talk about. Can you find us a quiet place?"

"Of course, Misha." In response to Sokov's request, Karina replied very readily: "I happen to know such a place, which is very suitable for talking about important things. Come with me, and I will take you there. "