Red Moscow

Sokov thought that in a few months, the great famine would come, and then there would be a shortage of supplies. Although I can buy what I need in the officer's store, the quantity purchased may be limited. It may not have much impact on my family of three, but it will be difficult to help Asiya's parents. Therefore, it is very important for him to find a suitable purchasing channel.

"Yasha," Sokov said after Yakov finished speaking: "Do you have any questions, where do they get these sausages and bacon, and why are they open to the public?"

Yakov slowly shook his head and said: "I asked, but he refused to tell." Perhaps he was worried that Sokov would have any bad associations, so he quickly added: "His meat products may be The black market goods confiscated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs may also have been produced on a nearby state farm.”

Sokov was thinking in his mind: If it was a black market product confiscated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it should be sold in some stores in Moscow. How could it be sold in a small station like Borodino? The only remaining possibility is that there is a state-run farm nearby, and the meat products sold here should come from there.

Yakov raised his hand to look at the time and said to Sokov: "Misha, it's almost lunch time. Let's go get something to eat."

Sokov got up this morning and followed Yakov here before he had time to eat. He was already so hungry that his chest touched his back. When Yakov heard what he said, he immediately urged the other party: "I usually have breakfast at nine in the morning, but I followed you out early this morning. I didn't have time to eat at all. I was already starving. Hurry up. Find out if there is any restaurant nearby and let’s go get something to eat.”

"Come with me." Yakov said with a smile: "I just asked. Although the station here is not big, there is a pretty good restaurant. Let's go there to eat."

The two of them walked forward along the platform, and sure enough they saw "Restaurant" written on the door of a bungalow not far away. When they opened the glass door and went in, they could see several rows of long tables covered with tablecloths, with neat sides on both sides of the table. There were armchairs on the ground. Not far away, there are several dining windows, with two people busy inside.

Yakov walked to one of the long tables, pulled out a chair and sat down, then shouted in the direction of the window: "Waiter, waiter!"

Following Yakov's shout, a wooden door next to the window opened, and a young girl with an apron around her waist walked out. After she came to the two of them, she asked politely: "Two comrades, generals, may I ask your question?" Need something?”

"Where's the menu? Bring your menu."

The girl took out a menu from her apron pocket, placed it in front of Yakov, and said politely: "Comrade General, please order."

Yakov flipped through the menu, ordered a few dishes casually, and then asked Yakov: "Misha, what do you want to eat?"

“What you ordered is enough, there’s no need to order more.”

After hearing what Sokov said, Yakov returned the menu to the waitress and said to her: "Just serve these dishes first."

"Okay, Comrade General, I will bring your order as soon as possible."

Perhaps because the dishes Yakov ordered were all ready-made, they were served quickly. In less than five minutes, the waitress brought all the dishes. She habitually said: "Wish you a good appetite!" After saying that, she was about to leave, but was stopped by Yakov.

"Comrade General, do you still want to order?" The waitress thought that Yakov wanted to order more, so she quickly took out a pen and paper from her apron pocket, preparing to record what Yakov wanted to order.

But Yakov shook his head and said, "Waiter, I'm not ordering food, but I want to ask you something."

Knowing that Yakov was not ordering food but asking about something, the waitress quickly put the pen and paper into her pocket, and then asked carefully: "Comrade General, what do you want to know?"

"Can we get to Moscow from here?"

"Of course, of course you can go to Moscow." The waitress gave Yakov a positive reply: "There is a train to Moscow at six o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the evening, and the journey time is two hours."

"Since you can go to Moscow from here, but when I just entered the station, I didn't find a ticket window here. What's going on?"

"Comrade General, the reason why there is no ticket office is very simple." The waitress said shockingly: "Because you don't need to buy a ticket to take the bus from here."

"Ah, you don't need to buy a ticket to take the train from here to Moscow?" Yakov asked in surprise: "So, anyone can board the train here and go to Moscow?"

After listening to the waitress's reply, Sokov began to think in his mind. Since there is no charge for taking the bus here, he can go back to Moscow whenever he wants. Especially after Yakov has done his business here, if Yakov is delayed by something and cannot leave temporarily, he can take the train here back to Moscow.

Although the waitress said that there was no need to buy a ticket to return to Moscow from here, Sokov was still full of doubts. If people here don’t need to buy a ticket to take the train to Moscow, how does the railway department maintain it? So he tentatively asked the waiter: "Comrade waiter, I would like to ask, you said it is free to ride the bus here, does that mean that everyone can ride here free of charge?"

"Comrade General, it is indeed free to ride the bus from here, but it is not for everyone." The waitress explained to Sokov: "For example, if you are a soldier, you can enjoy it as long as you show your military ID when boarding the bus. The benefit of free rides. And if you are traveling with your family, your wife and children can also enjoy the same benefits."

"But if ordinary people want to take the bus and there is no ticket office here, what should they do?" Yakov asked.

"They can get on the bus and make up their tickets." After the waitress said this, she left with the tray.

After the waitress left, Sokov and Yakov began to eat.

Not long after eating, he heard the sound of a train coming into the station outside, and Yakov casually said: "Maybe it's a train from Moscow!"

After a few minutes, dozens of soldiers poured into the restaurant.

When they saw Sokov and Yakov sitting at the long table, they all stopped and stood at attention to salute them.

After entering the restaurant, these soldiers chose to sit far away from the two people to avoid the psychological shadow of having two generals sitting next to them while eating.

The waitress walked between the long tables, asking the newly arrived soldiers what they wanted to eat.

"I really didn't expect that such a small station would have such a good business." Sokov looked at the busy waitress and said with emotion: "When I retire one day, I will open a restaurant here, maybe it won't be long. , you can make a lot of money.”

"Come on, Misha." Unexpectedly, Yakov said with a smile after hearing this: "Not to mention whether your superiors will allow you to retire. Even if they are allowed, it is probably impossible for you to open a restaurant here."

"Why?"

"The reason is very simple." Yakov said: "This restaurant is state-owned and can obtain a large amount of fresh ingredients at low prices. If it is a private restaurant, the issue of ingredients alone will be enough to give you a headache. If it is not cheap and fresh, If you don’t have enough ingredients, this restaurant won’t be able to continue to operate. I think you should just keep writing books, and you might make more money than opening a restaurant.”

After hearing this, Sokov laughed dryly and said: "Yasha, you are right. You can stay at home and write a book without being exposed to the wind and sun, and your time is quite free. But if you become a restaurant owner, you will have to purchase ingredients every day, The chef’s cooking and so on, it’s just a bunch of headaches for you.”

While the two were talking, Sokov suddenly heard someone calling him from behind: "Misha, Misha, is that you?"

Sokov turned his head and looked behind him, and found a young girl wearing a long beige trench coat and a floral silk scarf around her neck standing behind him. He thought she looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him before. .

"Misha, we are old friends." The girl's face showed an unhappy expression: "We haven't seen each other for more than a year, have you just forgotten me?"

Sokov stood up hastily and turned to face the girl. Observing from a different angle, he immediately recognized the other party: "It's you, Agelina!"

Seeing that Sokov recognized her, the girl's face showed a smile: "Misha, you finally recognized me."

"It was just because of the angle. Although you looked familiar, I didn't recognize you." Sokov said apologetically: "I hope you don't mind."

"We haven't seen each other for more than a year. It's normal for you not to recognize me." Agelina said, pointing to the empty seat next to Sokov, and tentatively asked: "Can I sit down?"

"Of course, of course." Sokov quickly pulled out the chair from under the table and asked Agelina to sit down: "What do you want to eat?"

The waitress in the distance saw a beautiful girl sitting next to the two generals. She quickly came over and asked politely: "Girl, what would you like to eat?"

Agelina asked the waitress for a menu, and after ordering two dishes, she said to her: "I just want these, please hurry up, I'm already starving."

"Don't worry, girl." The waitress said, "The food you ordered will be delivered in a few minutes at most."

After the waitress left, Yakov kept staring at Agelina. He thought she looked very familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her. He turned to look at Sokov and said with a smile: "Misha, since this is your friend, can you introduce him to me?"

"Of course, this is Agelina. I met her when I was still a company commander. At that time, the troops I commanded disguised themselves as German soldiers and occupied a German prisoner-of-war camp. All our commanders and fighters were detained there. Rescued. And Adelina was the translator of this prisoner of war camp at the time. Adelina," Sokov said to Adelina: "This is my good friend General Yakov, you can be like me Same, call him Yasha."

"That's right." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Yakov said with a smile: "Just call me Yasha, it sounds more friendly." When he stood up and shook hands with Agelina, She said with some confusion, "Agelina, you look familiar to me. Have we met somewhere?"

"Have we ever met?" Agelina responded politely: "But I have no impression at all."

Since Agelina said she had never seen her, Yakov felt unsure: "Maybe I got the wrong person."

"No, Yasha, you did not recognize the wrong person." Sokov's eyes scanned the two of them: "You have indeed met."

"What, have we met?" After hearing what Sokov said, the two asked in unison: "When?"

"Yasha, do you remember that we once dined in a restaurant in Moscow, and the waiter in the restaurant said that we were not qualified to stay there, and even called the police. Do you still remember this?"

After Sokov reminded him, Yakov immediately remembered that there was such a past incident, and nodded and said: "Yes, such a thing did happen."

Seeing that Yakov remembered the time and place of the meeting, Sokov turned to Agelina and said: "At that time, you accompanied a foreigner to the restaurant for dinner. When I went over to greet you, you said that I recognized the wrong person. , your name is not Agelina, but Aina. From your answer, I heard that you were on a mission, so I quickly said that I had the wrong person. Do you remember? "

At this moment, Agelina also remembered the chance encounter in the restaurant. She nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "Yes, I was performing a secret mission at the time, so I adopted a false identity. You came over to talk to me at that time." When I said hello, my heart beat faster, and I was deeply afraid of arousing the suspicion of the target person. Fortunately, you were more clever and said that you had admitted the wrong person, and resolved my crisis in time. "

"By the way, why are you here?" Sokov asked curiously.

"After the war, I returned to Moscow. However, my superiors did not arrange a job for me for the time being, so I had to stay at home." Adelina explained to Sokov: "I heard that Baghra will be reburied here. I came here specially to take a look at Ji Ang’s remains. It is said to start at two o’clock in the afternoon, so I should be able to make it in time after I finish my meal.”

"Agelina, I regret to tell you that the burial ceremony has been postponed." Sokov said to Agelina: "Since the double-headed eagle sculpture on the monument has not been completed, the burial ceremony may have to wait for two days. sky."

"What, the burial ceremony has been postponed?" Agelina was shocked after hearing this. She tentatively asked Sokov: "Misha, is your news reliable?"

"Of course it's reliable." Yakov interrupted: "We came here from Moscow specifically to participate in Bagration's reburial ceremony. But unfortunately, because some preparations were not done in place, it was originally scheduled to be held today. The burial ceremony has been postponed. This news was told to me personally by the curator of the museum."

"Yes, Agelina, what Yasha said is true." Sokov said: "Almost an hour ago, we were chatting with the curator in the museum."

"So, if you want to see the burial ceremony, you need to stay here for two days?"

"Yes, that's true." Yakov said proactively: "Agelina, if you can't find a place to stay for the time being, you can follow us back to the museum after dinner. I believe the museum director will be able to provide it for you. Arrange a suitable accommodation.”

After hearing Yakov's words, Agelina did not immediately express her position. Instead, she cast a look at Sokov for help, hoping to get a reasonable suggestion from him.