Red Moscow

After Asiya got off work, she went to the stationery counter of the department store to help Sokov buy the paper and pens he needed to write a book.

Unexpectedly, when she came to the document counter, she unexpectedly found that the glass counter was empty and there was nothing. She quickly called a saleswoman who was chatting next to her and said politely: "Comrade salesperson, I want to buy some notebooks and pens. What styles are they available?"

"No, comrade female soldiers." Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, the saleswoman shook her head and said, "They are all sold out. There is no stationery left."

"Ah, sold out?" Asiya's heart couldn't help but thought that if all the paper and pens were sold out, Sokov would soon be faced with the situation of writing without paper and pen. So she smiled and asked, "I wonder when the goods will arrive?"

"It's still early." The saleswoman said impatiently: "The time when the quantity of stationery is most abundant is usually after students' winter and summer vacations, a few months before the start of school. You can wait until then to buy."

"Comrade salesperson, when is the specific time?"

"Usually January, February, and July and August every year." The saleswoman said, "You'd better wait until then to buy."

When Asya heard this, she was anxious. If she couldn't buy paper and pen, Sokov would not continue writing. She quickly said in a pleading tone: "Comrade salesperson, I don't know where your manager is. I want to talk to him." talk."

The saleswoman naturally understood what Asiya meant, and said coldly: "It's useless to ask him to come. He can't conjure up the stationery you want to buy." After that, she stopped talking to Asiya and turned back to talk to him. Colleagues chatted.

Seeing this, Asiya realized that she would definitely not be able to buy the pen and paper Sokov needed today, so she could only leave the department store disappointed.

When Asya returned home and told Sokov about the situation, Sokov fell into deep thought.

He remembered the jokes he had read when he was a child, all about the Soviets.

A man went to the Grand Theater to buy symphony tickets and told the conductor: I want to buy ten symphony tickets!

The conductor told him: "Oh my God, there are no more tickets. You want to buy ten more?"

Unexpectedly, the man replied: "You know, only one of these ten tickets is mine, and the remaining nine are all yours."

Hearing what the man said, the conductor took out ten tickets from the drawer without hesitation.

There is also a story about a man who went to GUM shopping mall to buy a mink coat, but the saleswoman told him: "Sorry, we have sold out of mink coats here."

The man said: "I want to buy two."

"There's not one, how can there be two?"

"I'll buy two. One is mine and the other is for you."

After hearing this, the saleswoman took down two of the latest mink coats from the shelf blocked by the curtain without hesitation and sold them to the man.

"Misha, I'm really sorry. My trip today was in vain." Seeing that Sokov didn't speak, Asiya thought that the other party was blaming herself, so she apologized and said, "I'll go and take a look elsewhere tomorrow, maybe I can..." Get the pen and paper you need.”

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll go to the department store tomorrow and have a look. Maybe I can buy what I need."

"But the salesperson said that their stationery has been sold out a long time ago." Asiya said in a skeptical tone: "Even if you go, I'm afraid you won't be able to conjure stationery."

Sokov laughed after hearing this, and then told Asiya the two jokes he remembered, making the sad Asiya laugh.

"Misha," Asiya asked curiously after laughing, "Is what you said true or false?"

To be honest, when Sokov heard these two jokes before, he never had any doubts about their authenticity. But since I came to Russia, I discovered that this was just made up by some idle and bored people to attract attention.

There is also the most classic joke. When the honor guard of our country’s armed forces participated in the military parade in Moscow’s Red Square in 2019, a Russian friend left an affectionate text under the video: “Hi, comrade, do you know Leningrad and Stalinger?” Where is it? I can't find it on the map.

No more, no more, we have failed, and the white bandits and capitalists are riding on our heads again.

If you want to chase that red star, go east.

Across the Dnieper River, over the Ural Mountains, and at the end of the Siberian Plain, sparks of fire are still burning. "

This passage sounds exciting, but after careful consideration, I found that this was not a message from a Russian netizen at all, but was made up by domestic military fans. Regardless of starting from Leningrad or Stalingrad, it is absolutely impossible to cross the Dnieper River to reach the east. The only famous river it passes through is the Volga River. No Russian would make such a low-level mistake. Just like if you tell others that you will pass by the Yellow River and the Yangtze River on the way from Nanjing to Guangzhou, people who listen to you will treat you as a fool.

"Asia, I also heard what someone said. I don't know whether it is true or not." Sokov explained to Asya: "But this also illustrates a problem."

"what is the problem?"

"Although the counter is empty, there must be goods in the warehouse." Sokov said: "But not everyone can buy these things, do you understand?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Asiya was stunned for a long time, and then slowly said: "You are not going to buy hundreds of notebooks and pens from the stationery counter of the department store, and then give half of them to the salesperson, are you?"

"How is this possible?" Sokov did not expect that Asiya would be so imaginative after hearing what he said, and quickly explained: "Your military rank is too low, and you don't know how many saleswomen you see every day." I am a soldier of the same level as you, so I am unwilling to help you find a manager. But if I come forward, the situation will be different."

"Oh, so that's what you mean." Asia finally understood what Sokov meant: "Then you go and try it. If you still can't buy it, I will find another way."

Sokov came to the department store the next morning. Perhaps because it was not a weekend, there were very few customers in the mall, and the salespeople were standing behind the counter chatting. As soon as Sokov appeared, he immediately attracted the attention of countless people. After all, although generals are not uncommon, such young generals are rare.

Facing the salesmen who saluted him behind the counters on both sides, Sokov did not feel the slightest discomfort and continued to walk and watch.

Today was the first time Sokov visited a department store after the war. He found that most of the counters here were empty. Even if there were occasional merchandise displays, there were very few items inside. If future generations see such a situation, it can only mean one problem: this shopping mall is about to close down, and all the merchants are withdrawing their goods. But in today's era of scarce supplies, it seems to be particularly natural.

After walking around for a while, Sokov still didn't see where the stationery counter was, so he stopped and asked a saleswoman at the counter next to him: "Hello, comrade saleswoman! I want to ask you something!"

Behind the counter was a young fat girl. Seeing Sokov stop to greet her, her freckled face suddenly turned red: "Comrade General, if you have anything to do, just ask. As long as I know, I will definitely do it." Tell you."

"I want to buy some paper and pens," Sokov asked with a smile, "I wonder where your stationery counter is?"

Realizing that Sokov was just asking for directions, the fat girl's eyes flashed with disappointment, but she still pointed to the front and said to Sokov: "Comrade General, just walk along this road for more than thirty meters. You can see a staircase on the right, and you can go up to the second floor from there and you will see the stationery counter.”

After thanking the other party, Sokov followed the route she directed to the second floor and found the stationery counter smoothly.

As Asia said yesterday, the glass counter here is empty, there is nothing. No, it can’t be said that there is nothing. Although there is no stationery, you can see various labels and the prices on them, indicating that pencils, pens, inks and other stationery were once placed on the counter here.

"Comrade General," when Sokov lowered his head to check the remaining labels on the counter, the saleswoman who received Asiya yesterday came over. When facing Sokov, her attitude was much more enthusiastic than yesterday: "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Hello, girl." Since the salesperson's attitude was enthusiastic, Sokov naturally remained polite enough: "I want to buy some paper and pens. Is there any here?"

"Comrade General," the saleswoman said with some embarrassment after hearing Sokov's question: "Our stationery usually has the most complete variety only in January, February, and July and August every year. The rest of the time, there is basically nothing. Stationery for sale.”

"So that's it." When Sokov heard this, his trip was in vain. He might as well find a way to buy it elsewhere: "Thank you then!" After saying that, he turned to leave.

But before he could take a step, he heard the saleswoman say from behind: "Comrade General, please wait a moment."

Sokov turned around, looked at the saleswoman and asked with a smile: "Girl, is there anything else you can do?"

"Comrade General," the saleswoman said with a blushing face: "Although there are no goods on the counter, there may be some in the warehouse. If you have no objection, I will go find the manager."

"Then I'm sorry to trouble you."

When the saleswoman turned and left to find the manager, another older saleswoman came over and greeted Sokov with a smile: "Hello, Comrade General!"

Facing the person who took the initiative to greet him, Sokov responded politely: "Hello!"

"You have become a general at such a young age. You must have fought many battles, right?"

Anyway, he had nothing to do. Sokov felt that chatting with others without leaking secrets would not be a bad thing, so he nodded and responded: "That's right. The big counterattack under Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Kurdish War." I have participated in the Battle of Isk, the Battle of Kharkov, etc."

After hearing this, the old salesman couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise: "Comrade General, you have participated in so many battles, you must have been injured, right?"

"Yes, I was wounded more than once on the battlefield." Sokov said: "Just during the Battle of Stalingrad, I was wounded twice. Later, during the attack on the Dnieper River, I was seriously wounded again. , I almost lost my life..."

"Then you are really lucky." The old salesperson said: "Several of my neighbors enlisted in the army shortly after the war broke out. Now that the war is over, there is still no sign of them."

When Sokov heard what the old salesperson said, he couldn't help but think of Lena from Vladimir, so he asked tentatively: "I wonder if your neighbors have gone to the relevant departments to find out the whereabouts of their relatives?"

"Understood." The old salesperson nodded and said, "But the reply from the relevant parties is that their relatives are missing on the battlefield. Let them go home first and wait for the news. If there is news about their relatives, they will be informed as soon as possible. Notify them."

"So did they finally get an answer?"

"No." The old salesman shook his head and said, "Five months have passed since the end of the war in May, and there is still no news."

"Actually, the war did not end in May." Sokov waited for the old salesperson to finish and immediately corrected her: "In August, we fought a battle with the Kwantung Army in the Far East, annihilating and capturing several of them. One hundred thousand people.”

When the old salesman heard what Sokov said, he asked with some confusion: "Comrade General, is there any connection between the end of the war in a few months and the absence of my neighbor's whereabouts?"

"Of course there is contact." Sokov said with a serious expression: "For the sake of confidentiality, the troops we mobilized from Europe all secretly traveled to the Far East by car. I also participated in this operation code-named 'August Storm's Far East Campaign, in order to prevent the enemy from noticing our intentions, I used a pseudonym for a period of time before the battle began. Even ordinary commanders and fighters would not be able to contact their families under such circumstances. ."

Sokov said this in one breath, staring at the old saleswoman to see if she understood what he meant. But unfortunately, he saw that the other party had a confused look on his face, and obviously did not understand what he meant, so he could only explain further: "Let me put it this way, if all your neighbors are involved, In the Far East Campaign, in order not to expose their targets, they will not be able to contact their families for a long time, do you understand what I mean?"

After Sokov's explanation, the old saleswoman finally understood what he meant. She nodded and said, "I understand, Comrade General. But the situation of my neighbors is a little different from what you said. If they say It was because they had lost contact with their families in order to participate in the Far East Operation, so that was understandable. However, they had no contact with their families at all since they joined the army, and we were all thinking that maybe they died on the battlefield."

At that moment, Sokov almost blurted out and asked the other party to tell him the names of the neighbors, and he went out to help her with the investigation, and maybe he could find some clues. But then I thought about it, now that I have no power, it might not be easy to find a few ordinary warriors, so I'd better stop meddling.