Red Moscow

Werner's face showed a look of dissatisfaction: "Comrade Agni, what do you mean? Do you think I would deliberately lose General Sokov's manuscript?"

"Comrade screenwriter, that's not what I meant." Agni noticed Werner's displeasure and quickly explained to him: "I never doubted that you would lose Comrade General's manuscript, but I was worried that you would lose the manuscript. After handing it over to the publishing house, they will make some unnecessary mistakes every day because of their busy work every day."

Werner, who was originally very angry, calmed down a lot after listening to Agni's explanation. He felt that what the other party said was reasonable. The publishing house received so many manuscripts every day, even if he took this manuscript to find a publisher he was familiar with. The editor-in-chief, if he is too busy, may hand over the review work to the editor below. Don't be afraid of ten thousand in everything, just be afraid of the unexpected. If you really lose the manuscript, it will be a troublesome matter.

Werner was silent for a moment, and a bold idea suddenly came to his mind. He turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade General, I have an idea that can avoid the loss of the manuscript. Do you want to hear it?"

Sokov stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, indicating that the other party would come and listen.

Werner turned his attention to Agni and others and said: "I think you can give this shorthand record to Comrade Agni and let them write a new manuscript overnight. When I leave tomorrow, Just take this new manuscript and leave, while the original manuscript remains in your hands. Even if there are any mistakes here, I can make them right."

Sokov was a little excited about Werner's proposal, but considering the content of more than 200,000 words, it would be a bit overwhelming for Agni and the others to complete it in one night, and he was somewhat hesitant: "A novel of more than 200,000 words, It’s impossible to copy it all in one night…”

"Comrade General," before Sokov finished speaking, Agni took the initiative and said, "If we find more people, there should be no problem."

Sokov secretly calculated that if he wanted to complete this work within ten hours, at least ten people would be needed. Using so many people at once, not to mention Agni, even Werner might not be able to make the decision. Thinking of this, he said: "I want to discuss this matter with Comrade Eisenstein and see what he wants."

"Comrade General, the deputy director should have returned by now." Grudit said, "I'll go find him."

After getting Sokov's permission, Grudit quickly ran out of the room.

"Comrade General," Werner said to Sokov: "We must make two preparations now: First, before I leave Vladimir, Agni and others have completed the transcription of the new manuscript, and I will take the newbies with me. The manuscript will be returned to Moscow..."

Sokov rushed to say: "If it is not completed, you will take the manuscript in my hand to Moscow according to the original plan, right?"

"Yes, it is indeed the case." Werner said: "I just thought about the problem too simply, thinking that I just need to go to the publishing house with the manuscript and ask my old friends for help, so that the book can be published as soon as possible. But I forgot that if he is away, or is too busy with work recently and has no time to read it, and instead leaves it to his editors, then the manuscript may indeed be lost, so it is completely necessary to prepare another manuscript. .”

Grudit came out quickly and said with a disappointed face: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, Comrade Eisenstein is not here."

"Aren't you here?" Sokov asked casually, "Aren't you back yet?"

"It's not that he didn't come back, it's that he left."

"Left? Where did he go? Did he go back to Moscow?"

"No, Comrade General." Grudit shook his head and said, "He did not go back to Moscow, but went to the Battle of Stalingrad to serve as a frontline for the crew."

"That's a pity." Sokov shook his head after hearing this, and then said to Agni: "Comrade Agni, it seems that with your existing manpower, you will not be able to re-write a new copy before the screenwriter comrade returns to Moscow. New manuscript.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Agni was a little hesitant, but he still took the shorthand manuscript from Sokov's hand and said: "Comrade General, I think we can try it, even before the comrade screenwriter leaves, It is impossible to complete the transcription of a new manuscript, but it can also ensure that there are two manuscripts in this world, and even if one is lost, it will not harm the overall situation."

"Okay." Sokov raised his hand and patted the other party's shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

After Werner and others left, Sokov closed the door and prepared to lie down and rest. Even though he was not the one to write the novel this time, it is also very mentally taxing to recite a novel that I read many years ago.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he lay on the bed, before he could close his eyes, he heard a knock on the door from outside.

He thought Agni and the others had forgotten something, so he came back to get it. He got up, opened the door, and said outside, "Did you forget something?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he was stunned because the people standing outside the door were not Agni and the others, but Kopalova, who had just had breakfast with them in the morning. He asked awkwardly: " Kopalova, why are you here?”

"Why, Misha, have you forgotten that we made an appointment in the morning to come to your place tonight to read the novel you wrote." Kopalova tilted her head and looked into the room, "Where is your novel? You haven’t written it yet, have you?”

"Come in quickly." Worried about being seen by others, Sokov poked his head out and took a look. When he found that there was no one else in the corridor, he pulled Kopalova in and said at the same time: "The novel has been finished. , the manuscript is on the table, you can read it yourself." Then he closed the door.

Kopalova came to the table, picked up the thick manuscript, and said with emotion: "Isn't such a thick manuscript 100,000 words long?"

"There are 220,000 words in total." Sokov told Kopalova: "If I were to write it, it would take at least half a year. But fortunately, Comrade Eisenstein, the deputy director of the crew, found some stenographers for me. and the scribe. I only need to dictate the plot that I have conceived, and the stenographer will naturally record it and give it to the scribe for transcription.”

Kopalova nodded, then began to read the manuscript, and said: "Misha, please pour me a cup of tea, and I will read what you wrote first."

When Sokov poured a cup of hot tea and placed it in front of Kopalova, she looked up at Sokov and asked: "Misha, you haven't had dinner yet, have you?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "I plan to wait a while before eating."

"I brought you two sandwiches, so you don't have to go down." After saying that, Kopalova opened her satchel, took out a sandwich wrapped in paper, and handed it to Sokov: " I bought it according to your taste."

"Thank you." Sokov's stomach was already growling at this moment. He took the sandwich from Kopalova's hand and started eating it.

As soon as she finished a sandwich, she saw Kopalova slap her face on the table and then raised her head. When Sokov saw this, he couldn't help but asked a little guilty: "Kopalova, what's wrong?"

"Misha, is this manuscript really written by you?"

"I didn't write it. The stenographers and scribes did it. I just dictated it."

"I really didn't expect that after several years of not seeing you, you would become a stranger to me." Kopalova looked at Sokov and said, "I told you when I was in the coffee shop in the morning. , writing something is simply nonsense. Every time I ghostwrite for you and let you submit the work. But from what I just saw, if you don’t have many years of writing experience, you can’t write such an article. Misha , can you explain to me what’s going on?”

Hearing Kopalova's question, Sokov seemed very embarrassed. This book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was originally another work, and he just made it available more than ten years in advance. However, in order to dispel the other party's suspicion, he still came up with a far-fetched reason: "Maybe in the past few years in the army, I heard too many stories about the war. As time went by, I came up with the idea of ​​this book. .”

Although such a reason seems far-fetched to Sokova, Kopalova believes it to be true: "Well, it is possible. You have listened to other people telling similar stories a lot, and then you can sort it out and write it yourself. I think such a book is still possible.”

After taking a sip of tea, she asked: "Misha, are you going to publish this book? If you want to publish it, I can help you. You know, although I am just a photojournalist, I know many people from publishing houses. I know the editor, and even their editor-in-chief. If I hand this manuscript over to him, maybe he will look at my face and publish the book.”

"Thank you, Kopalova." After Sokov thanked Kopalova, he said politely: "But there is no need to trouble you."

"Misha, what kind of relationship do we have? Do you need to say thank you for helping you?" Kopalova said: "You don't have to worry about causing trouble to me. I can use my connections to help you publish this book." To help you."

"No, Kopalova, you misunderstood." Seeing that the other party misunderstood what he meant, Sokov quickly explained to her: "It's not that I don't want you to help, but someone has promised to send this book to A publishing house in Moscow. With his presence, the chances of this book being published are very high.”

"Who?" After hearing what Sokov said, Kopalova immediately asked vigilantly: "Who gave you such a promise?"

"It's Comrade Werner, the screenwriter of the crew." After Sokov said Werner's name, he was worried that Kopalova didn't know him, and specifically added: "He wrote the script of the movie being shot now. of."

"Oh, it turns out it's Comrade Werner." After hearing this, Kopalova nodded and said, "He has connections in the publishing house, so it would be more appropriate for him to come forward than me. Misha, I'll be waiting for you." The book is published.”

"Kopalova, you haven't finished reading it yet, how do you know that my book will definitely be published?" Sokov said to her with a smile: "You'd better finish it before talking."

Kopalova flipped the manuscript on the table and said: "Misha, a good book with more than 200,000 words, no matter how fast I read it, it will still take me all night. I will stay with you tonight Here, you won’t object, right?”

"Ah, you want to stay?" Sokov was a little surprised.

Seeing Sokov's stunned expression, Kopalova continued: "Is it inconvenient? Will it affect your date if I stay here?"

When Sokov heard what she said, he chuckled: "How could that be? This is the room assigned to me by the guest house. I live alone. How could someone come to date me?"

When Kopalova heard what Sokov said, a sweet smile appeared on her face: "Since I won't disturb you, then I will stay here tonight and read the novel you wrote. You have no objection, right?"

"No objection, no objection." It was difficult for Sokov to refuse Kopalova's enthusiasm. According to the other party, the two parties were originally lovers. If this damn war hadn't suddenly broken out, they might have gotten married now. Since there is such a relationship, there seems to be nothing to worry about when a man and a woman live together in the same room.

Perhaps because Kopalova is a journalist, she reads books very quickly. Within an hour, Lida was seen returning from visiting her son and met two German paratroopers in the forest.

Seeing this, she put down the manuscript, raised her head and said to Sokov: "Misha, I want to ask, is what Lida did right? If the enemy came to attack the settlement, wouldn't she hide and say nothing? Put your comrades in danger?"

Sokov never dreamed that Kopalova would ask such a weird question. After the muscles on her face twitched violently twice, she explained with some embarrassment: "Kopalova, I want to correct you on two points. Wrong. First, the enemy did not come to sneak attack the camp. They were just passing by to attack our military targets further behind. Second, Lida was bare-handed at the moment. If the German soldiers really found out, they might not wait for her to shout. If she spoke out, she would be killed by the enemy. Even if she shouted out, the place was so far away from the surrender point, and the female soldiers inside were still sleeping. No one could hear her cry, and her sacrifice would be in vain. meaningless."

After hearing this, Kopalova nodded slowly, as if she suddenly understood: "So that's it. I thought Lida was afraid, so when she saw the Germans appearing, she could only hide in the grass in the forest and dare not say a word. .”

Lida has always been Sokov's favorite female soldier character. Now when he heard Kopalova call her a coward, he felt the need to correct her: "Lida has never been a coward. On the contrary, she is very brave. This A little bit, you can see it later in the plot.”

"I know, Misha, I was wrong." Kopalova knew very well that the author loved the characters she created very much, and could not tolerate others saying something bad about her, so she quickly apologized to him: "Lida She is a brave female soldier, I misunderstood her, please don’t mind.”

After saying that, she picked up the teacup on the table and said to Sokov with an aggrieved look: "Misha, I've finished my tea. You won't even drink a cup of tea because you're angry with me." I shouldn’t be the one to fall, right?”

Sokov couldn't help but smile, took the teacup in her hand, walked to where the samovar was, turned on the faucet below, and gave her a cup of hot tea. Then he walked back to the table and placed the tea cup in front of her: "Kopalova, remember to call me when you finish drinking. I can refill your cup at any time."