Red Moscow

"Oh oh oh, that's it." Sokov nodded and said, "I didn't expect that Bukharin actually served as the editor-in-chief of "Izvestia"." He thought of Bukharin during the great purges in 1938. , was convicted of assassinating Lenin, Kirov, Minzhensky, Gorky and other crimes. He was identified as an imperialist spy and sentenced to death for treason. Therefore, I asked cautiously, "After what happened to him later, "Izvestia" "Have you been affected?"

"There must be some influence." Werner said: "Not only the chief editors and editors whom Bukharin trusted were implicated, but even the sympathizers were punished." Perhaps because he felt that the topic was too sensitive, he At this point, he changed the subject in time, "Comrade General, have you bought a ticket?"

"No, I haven't bought a ticket yet." Sokov also decided to go back to Moscow temporarily. How could he buy a ticket in advance? When Werner asked about it, he replied: "If I can't buy a ticket at the station, then I will wait." The fare will be paid again for the bus.”

"It's okay, Comrade General, you don't need to buy a ticket." Werner took out a card from his pocket and handed it to Sokov: "I have a preferential travel certificate issued by the railway department. Even if I don't buy a ticket, I can Enjoy a private room. I bought my ticket back to Moscow when I came here. You just need to take this preferential treatment certificate and get on the bus with me."

"Okay." Now that Werner has solved the ticket issue for himself, Sokov doesn't have to rush to the station and has enough time to handle things here properly: "Comrade screenwriter, you eat slowly, I'll go first Take care of something.”

"Okay." Werner nodded and said, "Go and do your work. We will just meet at the station at eleven o'clock."

After Sokov left the carriage, he returned upstairs and knocked on Yakov's door.

Yakov opened the door and was very surprised to see Sokov standing outside the door: "Misha?!"

"Yes, it's me!" Sokov stepped into the house and said bluntly: "I'm going back to Moscow today."

"What, you are going back to Moscow today?" Yakov asked in surprise: "You are not going to write your novel?"

"I finished writing it yesterday." Sokov explained: "I returned to Moscow today to prepare to take the manuscript with Werner to the publishing house to discuss publishing matters with the editor-in-chief."

"Werner?" After Yakov repeated the name twice, he immediately remembered who this person was: "Oh, you are talking about the screenwriter of the crew, he has only been here for two days, why is he so anxious to come back? Moscow?"

"I don't know the specific situation." Sokov said: "But he took the noon train and left Vladimir, and I went with him."

"I finished the novel, but you didn't say anything to me." Yakov said in a complaining tone, "I missed an opportunity in vain."

"Our rooms are not far apart. You can come over at any time." Sokov asked: "Why didn't you come over last night? If you came, you could have a sneak peek."

Unexpectedly, Yakov sneered after hearing this and said: "Who said I didn't go there last night? When I just walked to the door, I heard some kind of movement in the house. The sound was not quiet. How could I be in this kind of situation? I wanted to disturb you, so I turned around and came back."

Sokov's face suddenly turned red, as red as a pig's liver: "Did you really go to my place last night?"

"Of course." Yakov nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "If I guessed correctly, the girl in the room at that time was the female clerk from the Municipal Secretariat, right?"

Faced with Yakov's question, Sokov did not answer, but changed the subject: "Yasha, it is actually very easy for you to read novels. When Agni and the others left last night, I took the shorthand material I gave it to him and asked him to write a new manuscript overnight and hand it to him before Werner left Vladimir. But now I decided to take the manuscript to the publishing house in Moscow myself, so that the manuscript they were transcribing, It’s not that important. After they finish transcribing it, you will help me keep this manuscript."

"That's no problem." Sokov nodded and said, "I'll go over and say hello to Agni and the others now."

Just when Sokov opened the door and was about to leave, Yakov said from behind: "Misha, please pay more attention to your health. Although you are young, you will stay up all night. It won't be long before you My body completely collapsed."

Sokov's face had just returned to normal. When Yakov said this, he suddenly turned red to the root of his neck. He didn't dare to talk, walked out of the room quickly, and closed the door behind him.

After a few minutes, he came to Agni's room. There were four or five people sitting in the room, all engrossed in writing something. When Sokov saw it, he knew that they were transcribing a new manuscript.

"Comrade Agni," Sokov came to Agni and said to him: "I plan to return to Moscow today at noon with the screenwriter comrade. You can copy this manuscript slowly, there is no need to rush."

"What, Comrade General, you want to go back to Moscow?"

Seeing Sokov nodding in affirmation, he continued to ask: "What about this manuscript? Who should we give it to after we finish transcribing it?"

"Leave it to General Yakov who came with me." Sokov said to Agni: "He is a good friend of mine and lives very close to me. After you finish transcribing, send this manuscript to Leave it to him."

"Okay, Comrade General." Agni nodded vigorously: "After the transcription is completed, I will hand this manuscript to General Yakov."

Sokov walked around the building, met everyone who needed to say goodbye, and explained to them that he was going to return to Moscow. After finishing his work, he returned to his room to pack his things, and a thought suddenly came to his mind: Before leaving, should he go see Karina again?

But he quickly rejected this idea. The reason why he made such a hasty decision to return to Moscow was to avoid Karina. If he went to see her now, and if she hugged him and cried a few times, would he still be able to decide to leave as decisively as he did now? Anyway, Tokopalova had already conveyed her intention to leave, so it would be better not to meet her.

When Sokov arrived at the station, he walked through the ticket hall and went straight to the platform.

We made an appointment to meet at 11 o'clock, but since I came on foot and was not familiar with the road, I also took the wrong road, so when I arrived, it was already a quarter of an hour late. Not seeing Werner's shadow on the platform, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little confused. He only knew that the train was at noon, but he had no idea what train it was and what time it departed.

Fortunately, he saw a railway worker passing by and quickly stopped him: "Comrade, I want to ask you something."

When the staff saw it, it was a general. They couldn't help but be awe-struck and asked respectfully: "Comrade General, is there anything I can do for you?"

"I heard that there is a train back to Moscow at noon. I wonder what platform it is on and what time does it leave?"

"Comrade General, are you going back to Moscow?"

"Yes, I want to go back to Moscow."

"Can I see your ticket?"

"Sorry, I don't have a ticket." Sokov quickly took out the bus discount card from his pocket: "I only have this!"

The staff member took the preferential treatment card, looked at it over and over for a while, then handed it back to Sokov and said: "Comrade General, there are two trains returning to Moscow at noon. One train stops at 11:40. It’s at platform three; the other one is at twelve fifteen and stops at platform five.”

"Then what platform number are we here?"

"Platform No. 1!" The staff saw that Sokov was familiar with the environment in the station and quickly explained to him: "If you go over the overpass on the right, you will reach Platform No. 3. As for whether this is the train you want to take, You need to ask the conductor."

After thanking the staff, Sokov jogged up the overpass and arrived at platform three.

Sure enough, there was a train parked here, and at the door of each carriage stood a uniformed conductor, carefully checking the passengers' tickets. After confirmation, let the passengers board the train.

Sokov stood on the platform, looking at the train in front of him blankly, muttering to himself: Is Werner on this train? If so, which car is he in?

He was a little annoyed and blamed himself for not asking more questions in the morning. If he had found out the train number and carriage Werner took, he wouldn't be as confused as now.

Just when he was feeling uneasy, he suddenly heard someone calling him: "Comrade General, Comrade General!"

Sokov looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a window opened in the No. 7 carriage not far away. Werner leaned out half of his body to greet him: "Comrade General, I'm here, come here quickly, train It’s about to open!”

After figuring out where Werner was, Sokov felt ecstatic in his heart. He quickly rushed to the door of Car No. 7 and handed the preferential treatment certificate in his hand to the female conductor in front of the car door: "Comrade conductor, I'm here Got a ride privilege pass!”

After the female conductor saw Sokov's attire clearly, she did not take the preferential treatment certificate from his hand, but politely said: "Comrade General, please come in!"

After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but be stunned, and then asked: "Girl, won't you check my preferential treatment certificate?"

"Comrade General." The female conductor said with a smile: "Even if you don't have a preferential ticket, your military rank and the medal on your chest are the best proof of your free ticket. The train is about to leave, so hurry in."

Faced with such a reasonable and considerate female conductor, Sokov smiled at her and said: "Thank you!" and then boarded the train.

Following the corridor to the door of the box, Werner had already stood up from the bed to greet Sokov: "Comrade General, you are finally here. I thought you had changed your mind and did not intend to return to Moscow."

"How could this happen?" Sokov walked into this slightly narrow box, sat opposite Werner, and explained to him: "When I was walking over, I took the wrong lane, which delayed me a little bit. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"Comrade General," Werner had a surprised expression on his face after hearing what Sokov said: "Don't you know that the crew has a special car that can take you to the train station?"

"I don't know, I really don't know." Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "When I went to say goodbye to Director Petrov, he didn't tell me that there was a special car!"

"What did you say when you said goodbye to him?"

"I told him that I want to go back to Moscow with you and go to the publishing house to meet the editor-in-chief to discuss the publication of the new book."

After listening to Sokov's words, Werner slapped his hand on the bed where he was sitting and said, "Hey, I guess there is something wrong with this sentence."

Sokov asked in confusion: "Why?"

"Because when I came to the station, a special car took me there." Werner explained to Sokov: "You said that you and I went back to Moscow together. Comrade Petrov would naturally think that the two of us came to the train station by car together. , I will definitely not send a car to see you off again.”

After Werner's explanation, Sokov felt that he had wrongly blamed Petrov. It was not that the other party deliberately refused to send him a car, but what he said caused him to misunderstand. But luckily, I finally caught this bus at the last moment.

Just as the train Sokov and Werner were riding slowly pulled out of Vladimir Railway Station, Karina ended her morning's work and went to the filming location of the crew upstairs to see if there was anything she needed help with. place.

As soon as she went upstairs, she met Kopalova and greeted her with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Kopalova, are you here for an interview?"

Before Kopalova could finish her words, the male reporter walking next to her said, "Yes, we just came down from the top. We have finished shooting the morning scenes. We will start shooting in the afternoon after lunch." He stretched out his hand to Karina and said in a friendly tone, "If I remember correctly, your name should be Karina. I met you when I came here to apply for a pass yesterday."

"Hello, Comrade Basha." Karina knew the male reporter's name was Basha from the sign hanging on his chest, so she said politely: "You have a good memory. I did apply for the pass for you yesterday. .”

Basha didn’t know that something embarrassing had happened between Kopalova and Karina, and took the initiative to say: “Comrade Karina, it’s noon now. If you don’t mind, you can have lunch with us. ?"

If Basha was alone, maybe Karina would agree to his request, but now there is a Kopalova beside him who makes her feel embarrassed. She can only politely refuse and say: "I'm sorry, Comrade Basha." , I appreciate your kindness. I still have a lot of work on hand, so I can't accompany you to dinner." After that, he went straight upstairs.

Looking at Karina's back, Basha suddenly discovered a problem. Kopalova, who usually likes to talk, was silent just now. She didn't even seem to respond to the other party's greeting to her. Thinking of this, he asked Kopalova tentatively: "Kopalova, do you know this Comrade Karina?"

"I don't know her." Kopalova answered simply: "I've never seen her before, how could I know her?"

But Basha still raised his own question: "But if you don't know each other, why did she take the initiative to greet you just now?"

"Who knows." Kopalova said impatiently: "Basha, are you going to have lunch? If not, then I will go alone."

"Go, of course." Seeing that Kopalova was unhappy, Basha didn't care to guess why she had such a reaction, and quickly agreed: "Then let's go to the restaurant downstairs now. I heard , the food here tastes quite good, I want to experience it myself today to see if it is exaggerated."