Red Moscow

Yakov drove away from Zhukov's villa.

After driving for a certain distance, he turned to look at Sokov who was sitting in the passenger seat and asked tentatively: "Misha, do you really want to see my father?"

"Yes, Yasha." Sokov nodded and replied: "I think there are some things that should be reported to him face to face."

"What are you reporting?" Yakov said with a wry smile: "Tell him that after the spring of this year, Ukraine may experience a once-in-a-century drought, leading to a large-scale reduction in grain production and plunging the country into famine?"

"Perhaps my use of the term 'large-scale reduction in grain production' seems a bit inappropriate."

"That's right." Yakov became excited: "I think your wording is not accurate enough. How can you use words like 'large-scale production reduction'? At best, you can only say that it may happen." A certain level of production reduction’…”

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, he saw Sokov looking at him blankly, and he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Misha, did I say something wrong?"

Sokov smiled bitterly and replied: "I think the accurate statement should be 'large areas of grain failure,' which led to the emergence of the Great Famine."

Yakov suddenly stepped on the brakes, and the car stopped on the side of the road after making a harsh braking sound.

Sokov, who almost hit his head on the windshield, quickly reminded Yakov: "Yasha, tell me next time you brake, so that I don't hit the windshield."

"Misha," Yakov said with a serious expression: "If you say something like "There will be a large-scale grain failure" in front of my father, I am afraid it will bring you unexpected trouble."

"But what I said is the truth." Sokov said helplessly: "If we don't pay attention to it, I'm afraid many people will die due to famine."

"Misha, I understand your psychology, but these things are not your concern at all. You should just be your novelist or military expert."

Facing Yakov's kind words, Sokov felt warm in his heart. The other party was thinking about himself and worried that he would suffer a loss, so he stopped himself from making inappropriate remarks in front of Stalin. But he also knew in his heart that if he remained silent, he could make a fortune in silence, but tens of thousands of people would die of hunger. If Stalin could follow his advice and transfer more than 100,000 or 200,000 German prisoners of war from Siberia Come over and plant potatoes and corn on a large scale, which may reduce the severity of the famine.

Seeing that Sokov seemed to want to say something more, Yakov raised his hand to stop him and reminded him: "I just heard Marshal Zhukov telling you that he would not visit his home again in two days. Maybe I want to talk to you about this."

"Then do you have any suggestions?"

Before Yakov could answer, a police car drove over. After the car stopped, a traffic policeman got out of the car and walked over with his baton. Still far away, he said to the car: "Hey, hey, hey, parking is not allowed here, hurry up and drive away!"

Yakov rolled down the window, stuck his head out and said, "Comrade Traffic Police, we are talking about something and we will leave after we finish talking."

The traffic police officer saw clearly the gold star on Yakov's shoulder patch and was immediately startled. Then he saw the person sitting in the passenger seat, who seemed to have a higher military rank than the driver. He quickly took a step back and raised his hand in salute: "I'm sorry. "Comrade generals, I'm interrupting you! Please continue, stay here as long as you like."

After saying that, he turned around and ran back to the police car, quickly started the vehicle and left.

"Yasha, tell me what you think." Sokov said.

"Marshal Zhukov asked you to go to his villa in two days," Yakov said. "You can have a good talk with him. Maybe he can give you some good advice. Before meeting Marshal Zhukov, Never see my father, this is my advice to you as a friend."

"Yasha, what you said makes sense." Sokov calmed down and thought about it. It was indeed a bit too rash to go directly to Stalin to comment. You know, Khrushchev still had some friendship with him, but when he said that there might be a famine in Ukraine due to drought, the other party's attitude was also very cold. If he had said similar words directly to Stalin, he might have been sent to the ice and snow of Siberia to calm down: "It won't be too late to meet your father after I meet Marshal Zhukov."

Yakov restarted the vehicle and continued driving forward.

"Misha, I think it's best for you to visit Marshal Zhukov before the fifth." Yakov said: "This way I can arrange for you to meet my father on Christmas Day."

"There have been so many people visiting Marshal Zhukov's house to pay New Year's greetings in the past two days. Even if I go, I'm afraid I won't be able to find a chance to talk." Sokov said: "But I will rush to visit Marshal Zhukov again before the 5th. "

"By the way, you just seemed to have told me that you knew Comrade Malenkov."

"Yes, I met him in Berlin, and we took the same special train back to Moscow from Berlin." After Sokov briefly introduced the situation, he asked, "Yasha, why do you ask this?"

"I told you in the villa," Yakov said: "Malenkov is deeply respected by my father and is very familiar with my father's ideas. If you really want to ask my father for advice, you can also go to Malenkov Comrade Husband, let’s hear what he thinks.”

"This is a good suggestion." Sokov nodded and said, "I will make time to visit him."

Yakov sent Sokov downstairs, and when he was about to drive away, he suddenly remembered something: "Misha!"

Hearing Yakov calling him, Sokov quickly stepped forward and asked: "Yasha, is there anything else?"

"It's been a while since you returned to Moscow. I wonder if you have contacted Karina?"

"Karina?!" Sokov felt that the name Yakov said was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he passed it.

Seeing Sokov standing there in a daze, Yakov was a little unhappy: "Misha, when you were still in Berlin, I told you about her. How could you forget?"

After Yakov's reminder, Sokov immediately thought of the girl in Vladimir. Her father and he were taking the same train to Berlin and were attacked by gangs in Poland. As a result, her father Unfortunately, he died at the gunpoint of a gang. He had promised Yakov that after returning to Moscow, he would take time to see Karina. But it took me so long to come back because I was too busy with work. Not to mention visiting Karina, I didn’t even make a phone call to her.

"I remembered." Sokov said with some embarrassment: "But you also know that after I came back, I spent most of my time in the General Ordnance Department and had no chance to see her."

"You can't go to Vladimir to see her, so you can always make a phone call, right?" Yakov said dissatisfied: "But I guess you haven't even made a phone call."

"You are right, I did not call her." Sokov replied cautiously: "The matter between me and her is over. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to see her again."

"It would be inappropriate for you not to go see her." After Yakov said this, he couldn't help but sigh: "Forget it, I have told you what I need to say. As for whether you go to Vladi Mir, it’s your freedom, I have no right to interfere.”

"If I have time, I will drive to Vladimir by myself." Sokov said, "I just don't know if I can find her after I go there."

"I have her phone number here, do you need it?"

"It's great that you have her phone number." Sokov reached out to Yakov: "Hurry up and give me her number."

Yakov took out a folded note from his pocket and said to Sokov: "This is her contact information. I hope you can contact her if you have the opportunity."

"Okay." Sokov took the note and stuffed it into his jacket pocket without even looking at it: "I will make time to see her."

After returning home, Asiya came up to him and asked Sokov with concern: "Misha, you are back! Have you seen Marshal Zhukov?"

"I saw it." Sokov nodded after hearing this and replied: "There are quite a few people who came to Marshal Zhukov's house today to pay New Year's greetings. In addition to Marshal Khrushchev, Malenkov and Rokossovsky, at least Hundreds of generals came to visit. Because there were so many people, I didn’t have a chance to talk to Marshal Zhukov, so after staying for a while, Yakov and I came back.”

"Are you still going out to pay New Year greetings these days?" Asiya asked.

"Maybe I won't go out for the time being." Sokov shook his head and said, "If I have the chance, I will visit Marshal Zhukov, Marshal Rokossovsky, Comrades Khrushchev and Malenkov again."

"These are important people. If you interact with them more, it will be very helpful for your future."

"I hope so."

The next morning, Asiya proposed to go for a walk on the street outside, but Sokov refused: "It just snowed last night, everyone stayed at home drinking, and the shops were not open. , even if I go out for a walk, I have nowhere to go.”

When Asiya heard this, it seemed to make sense, so she went over to discuss with her parents to see whether to cancel their travel plans.

Bakanidze said: "These two days are the New Year, and there must be many relatives and friends coming to our house to pay New Year greetings. I'm afraid it's not polite for us not to be at home. Misha, if possible, could you please bring me and your mother-in-law together?" Send it back to the family area of ​​the instrument factory."

"How long do you plan to stay?" Sokov asked.

After discussing with his wife for a while, Bakanidze replied: "We will be back on the 6th at the latest."

Knowing that Bakanidze and the others would be back on the 6th, Sokov couldn't help but think about it. He felt that he should take advantage of this rare opportunity to visit Vladimir and meet the beautiful Karina. , to find out how she is doing.

Sokov drove Asiya's family to the workers' dormitory of the instrument factory.

When he was about to turn around and leave, Asiya came to the car window and told him: "Misha, I discussed it with my parents. I will go back by myself on the 6th, so you don't have to pick us up. Just rest at home." ”

"Well, I hope you have fun."

When Sokov was driving to leave the town of Khimki, he suddenly saw a sign on the roadside that said "Vladimir", indicating that this road could lead to Vladimir. Sokov quickly parked the car on the side of the road, looking at the sign, wondering whether he should take advantage of Asya's absence to go to Vladimir to meet Karina.

He lit a cigarette and thought about the problem quietly.

When he finished smoking a cigarette and was about to throw away the butt, he suddenly remembered something. Yakov repeatedly urged him to go to Vladimir. Could it be that something unclear had happened?

In order to find out what happened, he threw his pipe on the ground, turned the car around, and drove east along the kilometer.

During the New Year period, most citizens were drinking at home to celebrate the New Year, so there were basically no vehicles on the road.

Driving the bucket truck on the empty road, Sokov couldn't help but worry about one thing. If his car broke down halfway, he might not be able to find a place to repair it. What should he do then?

Fortunately, the worry did not happen. Three hours later, the bucket truck driven by Sokov entered the city of Vladimir.

After entering the city, Sokov first found a place to stop, looking at the empty streets, wondering where Karina was at the moment? Was she on duty at work, drinking at home, or visiting a neighbor?

He took out his cigarette box and prepared to smoke another cigarette to calm down, but found that the cigarette box was empty. The cigarette he smoked before leaving should be the last one.

It was New Year's Day, and all the shops were closed. Even if he wanted to buy cigarettes or eat, he couldn't find a place. Since he had already come to Vladimir, the only thing he could do was to go directly to Karina's house. It would be best if she was at home; if not, he would turn around and go back to Moscow.

He crumpled the empty cigarette box into a ball, threw it out of the car window, and then started the car and drove towards Karina's house.

When he parked the car downstairs, he saw that there was no one nearby. It was obvious that everyone was drinking at home.

Sokov got out of the car, walked into the building quickly, and came to the door of Karina's house with familiarity. He rubbed his face with both hands, stabilized his emotions, and raised his hand to knock on the door a few times.

But there was no movement inside the door.

Could it be that Karina was on duty at work, or went to visit a neighbor? Sokov thought so in his heart, and raised his hand and knocked heavily on the door twice.

This time, there was a noise in the house, and someone could be heard asking vaguely: "Who is it? Who is outside?" Then, footsteps were heard coming to the door.

The next moment, the door opened, and Kalina, who was wearing a long gray nightgown and looked haggard, appeared at the door.

Seeing Sokov standing outside the door, Kalina's expression was a little dazed, as if she didn't recognize who Sokov was.

"Kalina," Sokov saw that Kalina had just been woken up by him and had not yet fully awakened, so she didn't recognize him. He hurriedly whispered: "You don't know me, I'm Misha!"

"Misha, you are Misha!" Kalina heard Sokov's voice and suddenly became sober, "Yes, you are Misha, I finally waited for you to come." As she said, she reached out and grabbed Sokov's arm, and was about to pull him into the house.

Sokov was very cooperative. Before the other party's hand exerted force, he took the initiative to enter the house and closed the door casually. He asked with concern: "Kalina, were you sleeping just now?"