Red Moscow

"You must have read Chekov's book, too?"

"Chekhov's book?" Mikhalkov asked with some confusion: "But does this have anything to do with what we are going to discuss?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Werner, who was sitting next to him, burst out laughing, and then said: "Comrade General, what I want to ask you is whether you have watched "The Death of a Civil Servant"?"

"'Death of a Junior Civil Servant'?" Mikhalkov said confused: "What does this mean?"

From his answer, everyone understood that he had never read Chekhov's book, at least not the short story Werner mentioned.

Seeing the confused look on his face, Werner continued: "The Death of a Civil Servant tells the story of a young civil servant who accidentally sneezed on the back of a general while watching a play in the theater, and then became suspicious. He offended the general, and he apologized to the general over and over again, and finally annoyed the general. After being scolded by the general, he died. The novel uses an exaggerated and satirical style to reflect the extreme terror of Russian society at that time and the distortion of people caused by it. character and abnormal psychology.”

"The screenwriter comrade is right, I just want to ask him if he has read this short story." Sokov continued: "But judging from his reaction, it is obvious that he has not read Chekhov's book at all. He is not interested in this short story." Of course I don’t know anything about the story.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Mikhalkov's expression became embarrassed. He said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, I have indeed read Chekhov's novel, but the short story you mentioned happens to be I haven't seen it. I wonder if you would be willing to give me a brief introduction to the content."

"Okay, Comrade Mikhalkov." Sokov sneered and began to explain Chekhov's short story to the other party: "On a beautiful evening, a civil servant Ivan Demi who was in a good mood... Terry Chervyakov, while watching a play in the theater, sneezed and 'accidentally' spattered the general sitting in the front row. He was afraid that the general would regard his carelessness as Deliberately provoking, he apologized to the general again and again, causing the general to go from being indifferent to actually being furious; and Ivan, who persistently claimed that he had no intention of offending and was innocent of any fault. , died after encountering the general's impatience and scolding. On the surface, it seems ridiculous that a person died from his own sneeze. In fact, Ivan died from his own fear of dignitaries. He wanted to apologize and appeal. To relieve his inner fear, even though the general was from another department and had nothing to do with him, he was worried that the other party would retaliate against him, so he kept apologizing, but the result was counterproductive.

After I tell this story, you should understand what I want to express, right? "

"I understand, of course I understand." Mikhalkov took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, nodded and bowed to apologize to Sokov, and then turned around and left the restaurant dejectedly.

"Comrade General, I'm so sorry." After Mikhalkov left, the director of the guest house came over and apologized to Sokov: "I have conveyed your intention to Mikhalkov, but he still insisted on Come and apologize to you in person, I can’t stop him at all.”

"Comrade Director." Sokov raised his hand to interrupt the director's words, and said to him with a smile: "That's it for now, don't mention it again, okay? I'm worried that if I continue to talk about it, you may also He became like that little civil servant who kept looking for opportunities to apologize."

Sokov's words caused a burst of good-natured laughter, and the director knew that at this point, the matter was truly over. He said a few more pleasant words to Sokov, then took his leave and left the restaurant.

"Comrade General," Agni asked Sokov curiously after the director also left the restaurant: "What happened to the fat man who apologized to you just now?"

Sokov remembered that the people in front of him still didn't know the whole story, so he told them in detail what happened the night before. Finally, he said helplessly: "Originally, after he moved out overnight, the matter was settled. But today, he asked the director to apologize to me and invite me to eat somewhere else. I was After refusing, he came over to me in person to apologize. Originally, the matter had already passed, but I didn’t expect him to be so entangled in it. I thought of Chekhov’s short story “The Death of a Civil Servant.”

"Interesting, it's so interesting." Werner couldn't help but applaud after hearing what Sokov said: "Art comes from life and serves life. When I read this short story before, I thought Chekov's writing was too exaggerated. Well, who would keep apologizing for something as trivial as sesame. But what happened today made me realize that I have too little knowledge. If we talk about General Sokov, he is the general in the novel. , then this fat man is naturally the little civil servant who looked frightened because he got into trouble."

"That's right, comrade screenwriter, you are right." Agni nodded and said, "That's what I think. At that time, I saw the fat man constantly apologizing to comrade general, and something came to mind. This is a drama I once watched. I didn’t expect that I could actually see the scenes in the book in reality.”

Sokov finished the food in front of him, looked up at everyone and said, "I just thought about it. If we are lucky today, we can finish the book completely before dark."

"Can we finish the book completely before dark?!" After hearing what Sokov said, Werner immediately stood up and said urgently: "Then don't waste time, let's go back to work now, right?"

"Well, I've finished eating anyway." Sokov nodded and agreed to his proposal: "Then let's go back now."

On the way back to the room, Werner accompanied Xiao and asked Sokov cautiously: "Comrade General, now that Vaskov has joined the two female soldiers Sonia and Lida, will the next plot be in my favor?" What about the direction of the army's development? You must know that Major Rostov, the commander of the military movement at the hub station, and Kiryanova, the deputy platoon leader of the anti-aircraft machine gun platoon, have already set off with a company of reinforcements. As long as Vaskov and the others If people can support us for a few more hours, we may be able to successfully complete the task.”

In response to Werner's question, Sokov smiled and then said: "Comrade screenwriter, are you going to let me modify the original plot?"

"No, no." Werner hurriedly waved his hands and said, "I just want to express my own opinions and have no intention of asking you to modify the subsequent plot."

But after walking a few steps, Werner said to himself: "It would be a pity that such good girls died in vain."

"This is war, comrade screenwriter." Sokov stopped and said to Werner with a serious expression: "Besides, their sacrifices are not meaningless. They used their blood and lives to stop the enemy's destructive actions and make Our army finally won."

After returning to the room, Sokov asked the two stenographers bluntly: "What is going to be recorded next is the best plot. Which of you will record it?"

"Me!" The two stenographers raised their hands at the same time.

Sokov thought about it and finally chose Agni. After all, he spent the most time dealing with him, and it was undoubtedly appropriate for him to record the final plot.

Seeing that Sokov chose himself to record the final plot, Agni was naturally overjoyed. He quickly sat down in his seat, picked up his pen and looked at Sokov: "Comrade General, I'm ready, let's start now!"

Sokov nodded and began to dictate the following plot.

After Vaskov reunited with Lida and Sonia, and after telling each other their experiences, they established a blocking position where the Germans might cross the river, preparing to stop their progress.

After the fierce battle started, although several more German soldiers were killed, Lida was injured in the abdomen by a grenade thrown by the German soldiers. After temporarily repelling the enemy's attack, Vaskov bandaged Lida's wounds and found that her injuries were serious, but there was no medicine to relieve her pain. At this moment, the Germans launched another attack, and Sonia rushed out without hesitation, leading the enemy in the opposite direction so that Vaskov could retreat with the injured Lida.

When the people in the room heard that Leda was injured and that Sonia was alone in attracting the enemy to leave, their hearts were in their throats. Although everyone basically understands that at the end of this novel, the five female soldiers died heroically, their hearts are just like Werner's, full of fantasy. After all, the reinforcements have set off, and maybe in a few hours, or even an hour, they will... It might appear here. As soon as they arrived, Vaskov and the others were saved. Both he and Lida who were injured could receive treatment from health workers, thereby avoiding the possibility of sacrifice.

But what happened next made everyone feel heavy.

Sonia, who first attracted the enemy, died heroically after all the bullets were fired. Lida, who was seriously injured, shot herself with the pistol Vaskov had given her for self-defense in order not to drag down Vaskov. So far, the five female soldiers who followed Vaskov on the mission have all died heroically.

The sacrifice of the female soldiers made Vaskov angry. He picked up the pistol that Lida used to commit suicide. Regardless of the fact that there was only one bullet left in the gun, he resolutely walked along the explosive boxes, water bottles, military boots, and steel helmets discarded by the German army. and a submachine gun without bullets, and found the monastery where the remaining enemies were hiding.

With the only bullet left, he killed the German sentry on guard, picked up the submachine gun on the ground, rushed in and captured five German officers and soldiers, including the German commander.

Although Vaskov developed a high fever due to the infection of the wound and became a little unconscious, he still gritted his teeth and persisted. He would bring all the executioners who killed the female soldiers back to the prison and hand them over. Leave it to the superiors.

When everyone heard that Major Rostov and Kiryanova arrived with reinforcements and joined Vaskov, they couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the story was finally over.

But Sokov continued to dictate the new content. Agni, who originally stopped writing, hesitated for a moment and then continued to record.

The war was over, and Vaskov kept his promise to Lida, went to the place where Lida currently lived, found Lida's son, and adopted him. More than ten years later, Lida's son became a captain. After attending his wedding, Vaskov took him to the place where Lida and the female soldiers died to pay homage to these fallen heroes.

"Okay, the book ends here." Sokov dictated the entire content, breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to everyone: "Thank you for your hard work these days. If my book can be published, I will I will specifically mention you in the preface.”

"Don't worry, General Sokov." Werner said first: "According to my experience, as long as your book is sent to the publishing house, it will not take long to be published and distributed, and there is a chance that it will become this year's Best-selling book." He glanced at everyone in the room and continued, "If their names are written in the preface, they will probably benefit from you and become a celebrity."

Sokov laughed twice and said: "This is as it should be. After all, they have also worked hard. Without their help, it would have taken me at least half a year to write this book."

"Yes, it is a miracle to write a novel of more than 200,000 words in a few days." After Werner finished speaking, he picked up the manuscript recorded by Agni, divided it into two parts, and handed them to He asked Grudit and another scribe: "Please hurry up and copy out the new content. I will go back to Moscow at noon tomorrow. I hope to take the complete manuscript with me when I leave, so that I can publish it. Society, talk to my friend about publishing."

"Don't worry, comrade screenwriter." Grudit said confidently: "We will be able to write down all these contents soon, and we will definitely not delay your work."

"Wait a minute, Grudit." Agni shook his sore wrist and said to Grudit: "Since this manuscript is the scriptwriter's comrade who is waiting for it, I think it would be better to have two stenographers. Also take part in transcribing, which can cut the time in half.”

"Agni is right." Another stenographer also agreed: "Four people transcribing at the same time feel faster than two people."

In this way, the manuscript recorded by Agni, except for a part that Grudit transcribed while Sokov was dictating, the remaining manuscript was divided into four parts, and two stenographers and two scribes started at the same time. The writing speed suddenly doubled.

In less than an hour, the writing work was completed.

Werner summarized the manuscript and said with some excitement: "Comrade General, before I leave tomorrow, I will take this manuscript back to Moscow. Don't worry, I have many friends in the publishing house. I am 90% sure. The book can be published within a month.”

"Comrade screenwriter," Sokov originally wanted Werner to take away the manuscript, but suddenly remembered that Kopalova was coming to his place to read the manuscript tonight, so he said to Werner: "This manuscript is for you to come back to before leaving tomorrow." I’ll get it from here, okay?”

Seeing the surprised expression on Werner's face, Sokov quickly explained to him: "A friend is coming over to read this book tonight."

After hearing what Sokov said, Werner thought that the person who came to see the manuscript in the evening should be the deputy director Eisenstein, so he nodded and agreed to keep the manuscript: "Okay, Comrade General, then I will keep the manuscript and wait. I’ll pick it up from you before setting off tomorrow.”

"Comrade General." Agni organized the manuscript paper for his shorthand and handed it to Sokov: "Please keep this. Even if the manuscript is unfortunately lost, we can write a new one based on this record. The manuscript comes out.”