Red Moscow

Watching Maxim leave, Seryosha muttered: "This person is really annoying. Who does Kopalova want to live with? Does it have anything to do with him?"

"Comrade General," Vaserigov said with an embarrassed expression on his face when Seryosha said this. He looked at Sokov and asked, "Seryosha and I will go back to the next car now and won't disturb you. ”

"Don't leave yet, sit down and chat for a while." After Sokov said this, he saw the puzzled look on Seryosha's face and specifically added: "Maybe he is standing somewhere outside the door right now. , If you see him just leaving and you two follow him, you will definitely become suspicious. "

After hearing what Sokov said, Vasergov sat down again and began to think about what he should talk to Sokov.

Just when he was in trouble, Sokov said: "Major, if you have time, help me ask the conductor, how long can our train stay in Budapest? If it lasts long enough, I want to go to the city." Let’s go for a walk.”

Vaserigov originally wanted to ask Sokov what there was to see in a city that was destroyed by artillery fire. But he caught a glimpse of Kopalova sitting next to Sokov, and immediately understood that the person who wanted to go shopping in the city was not Sokov, but Kopalova. He nodded quickly and said: "Okay "Comrade General, I will go to the train conductor later and ask him how long we can stay in Budapest. I will tell you tomorrow morning."

Sokov was very satisfied with Vaserigov's answer, especially the last sentence he said. After understanding the situation, he would report to himself tomorrow morning. He must have been worried that after inquiring about the information from the train conductor, when he hurriedly came to report to himself, he opened the compartment door and saw something he shouldn't have seen. So the best way is to wait until tomorrow morning and report to himself what he has learned.

The few people chatted awkwardly like this for more than half an hour. Seryosha thought that even if Maxim was watching at the door just now, he might have left by now, so he stood up and said goodbye to Sokov: "Mi "Sha, it's getting late. The major and I will go back to the box next door. You guys should have a rest early."

"Yes, yes, Comrade General, you should rest early." Vaserigov also said, "I have to go find the train conductor."

After Seryosha and Vaserigov left, Sokov asked Kopalova with concern: "Kopalova, are you sleepy? If you are, go to bed early."

"Not sleepy, not sleepy." Kopalova shook her head and said, "I slept for so long in the afternoon and I don't want to sleep anymore. Let's chat."

"Okay, let's chat." Sokov stood up and sat on the bed opposite, lay down on it, and said, "Whatever you want to say, I'll be with you."

"Come and lie down with me and talk."

Sokov felt a dull pain in his lower back. He didn't want to repeat his afternoon sleeping position, which would easily strain his lumbar muscles, so he waved his hand and refused: "It's convenient to chat like this. Maybe I'll fall asleep while chatting." ”

"Misha, I remember you have a good friend beside you. You called him Yasha." Lying on her bed, Kopalova asked Sokov sideways: "What is his origin?"

"He is the eldest son of Comrade Stalin," Sokov explained: "I had a very close relationship with him when I was a child. Since my father passed away, I have basically had no contact with his family. Later we met again and it was I who led the troops. A German prisoner-of-war camp was liberated, and Yasha was among the rescued commanders."

"Ah?! Misha, what did you just say?" After hearing what Sokov said, Kopalova sat up suddenly and asked in surprise: "You said that Stalin's son was once captured by the German army and became a German prisoner of war. Camp, is this true?”

"Of course it's true." Sokov nodded slightly and said in an affirmative tone: "You may not know that when Comrade Stalin learned that his son was captured by the Germans, he sent a special agent team to Rescue his son, but because the enemy moved Yakov, the rescue team failed.

At the beginning of the major counterattack under the city of Moscow, I led the troops to seize a German prisoner-of-war camp and rescued Yakov from it. At that time, I only knew that he was Stalin's son, but I didn't remember that he had been my best friend when I was a child. It's all due to amnesia, and I can't even remember my old friends. If he hadn't taken the initiative to tell me this, I wouldn't have known that he was once a good friend of mine when I was a child. "

When Sokov mentioned amnesia again, Kopalova felt somewhat relieved. She clearly remembered that when she met Sokov in Stalingrad, he was not only amazed by her beauty, but also looked at her like a stranger he had never met before. Although Sokov later mentioned amnesia many times, he thought he was looking for excuses to perfunctory him. Looking back now, I realize that I thought too much.

"Misha, I'm sorry."

Sokov, who had closed his eyes to rest, was about to fall asleep. Suddenly he heard Kopalova saying sorry to him. He opened his eyes and asked in confusion: "Kopalova, why did you say sorry to me?" What? Did you do something wrong?"

"I apologize to you because I misunderstood you for so long. I thought you were tired of me and didn't want to marry me, so I pretended to have amnesia and pretended not to know me, so that you could marry other women legitimately." Kopalova said in a heavy tone: "But I just found out that you did lose a lot of memories after you were injured, not only the memories related to me, but also your best friend Yakov when you were a child. You don't remember it."

Finding out the reason why Kopalova apologized to him, Sokov closed his eyes again, waved his hand in Kopalova's direction, and said: "It's good that you know. You can't say that I pretended to have amnesia and didn't want to pay attention to you. Do you hear me?"

"I heard it!" Kopalova replied reluctantly: "I will believe whatever you say in the future. Are you satisfied now?"

The box fell silent.

Hearing Kopalova not speaking, Sokov began to feel drowsy.

Just when he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly felt Kopalova crawling over, leaning close to his ear, and said in a sweet voice: "Misha, your wife had a miscarriage and may not be able to have children for a long time. If you don't mind, why don't we give it a try? Maybe before you return to Moscow, you can have a child of your own?"

"Let's give it a try. Who's afraid of who!"

…………

After several days of driving, the train finally entered the railway station in Budapest.

Sokof sat by the window, looking at the scenery flashing outside the window, and had a bad premonition in his heart. The city suffered a heavy blow in the war that ended not long ago, and many places of interest may have been destroyed in the war. The Chain Bridge that Kopalova had been thinking about may no longer exist.

After the train stopped, Seryosha and Vaserigov came in from outside and said to Sokov: "Misha, we have arrived in Budapest. The train will stay here for fifteen hours. You have enough time to visit this beautiful city."

After Seryosha finished speaking, Vaserigov also asked tentatively: "Do you need me to bring all the guards?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said: "We have our garrison in this city, and the Hungarians are very friendly to us. I don't think there will be any danger. It is enough to have Seryosha by my side."

Vasili Gov knew that Seryosha had been responsible for protecting Sokov. When Sokov asked Seryosha to accompany him to visit Budapest, he said respectfully, "Okay, Comrade General, I will stay on the train with the two guards. If you don't return to the train in time, I will stop the conductor from driving ahead of time."

"Kopalova," Sokov touched his sore lower back, stood up, took Kopalova's hand, led him out, and then called Seryosha, "Seryosha, let's go."

Coming out of the train station, you can see a lot of Soviet patrols on the street.

Seeing Sokov standing at the entrance of the train station, the patrols passing by him would stop, salute him, and then continue to move forward.

Sokov turned around and asked Kopalova: "Kopalova, do you know where the Chain Bridge is?"

But Kopalova shook her head and said: "I don't know. All my knowledge of Budapest comes from books. And the common knowledge about the Chain Bridge also comes from books. I know it is the first bridge across the Danube in Budapest, but I have no idea where it is."

Seeing that Kopalova could not be relied on, Sokov could only set his sights on the patrols.

When another patrol passed by him and stopped, the commander raised his hand to salute him and asked politely: "Comrade Lieutenant, I want to ask where the most famous Chain Bridge in Budapest is. I want to go there to have a look."

"Comrade General," the patrol commander said respectfully, "If you want to see the Chain Bridge, I advise you not to go there."

Sokov asked puzzledly: "Why?"

"In order to consolidate their fortress on Castle Hill, the German army blew up all the bridges on the Danube in 1944, and the Chain Bridge was one of them."

Sokov remembered that Budapest was a city divided into two parts by the Danube. If there was no bridge, what would the residents on both sides do? "Comrade Lieutenant, the bridge on the Danube has been blown up. What should the residents on both sides do if they want to travel?"

"There is a simple floating bridge on the river, and there is also a ferry." The commander said: "If residents want to go to the other side of the river, they can only take a ferry or cross the floating bridge."

After thanking the commander, Sokov turned to Kopalova and said with a wry smile: "Kopalova, you heard it all, the Chain Bridge has been blown up by the damn Germans. We can't see it even if we want to."

"Even if the bridge is blown up, I want to see the lions at the bridgehead." Kopalova said a little stubbornly: "I don't believe that the Germans even blew up the stone lions."

"Okay, let's go and see the ruins of the Chain Bridge."

However, before setting off, Seryosha remembered something and quickly reminded the two: "Do you understand Hungarian?"

Sokof and Kopalova looked at each other, and then shook their heads in unison: "I don't understand!"

"If you don't understand, how can you ask for directions?" Seryosha asked.

Sokof thought for a moment and said to Seryosha: "Seryosha, I am indeed worried about not knowing Hungarian, but now I find that our patrols are everywhere on the street. If we want to go somewhere, just ask those patrols. I believe they are no less familiar with the terrain than the locals."

Sokof's words made Kopalova's eyes light up: "Misha, you are right. Although we don't know Hungarian, there are our patrols everywhere on the street. If we want to go somewhere, we just need to ask them. Do we still worry about not finding the place we want to go?"

In this way, the three of them kept asking the patrols along the way for the route. With the help of many patrols, they finally came to the vicinity of the destroyed Chain Bridge.

Although the bridge was blown up, the two huge stone lions at the bridgehead were still there.

"Misha, look." Kopalova pointed at the stone lions and said to Sokov: "The huge stone lions on both sides of the bridge are like guardian gods guarding the bridge day and night. The lions look up and look majestic, symbolizing the unyielding historical courage of the Hungarian people." Sokov suppressed his smile and thought to himself: "It's a pity that the bridge has been blown up by the Germans. Will the stone lions at the bridge continue to guard this broken bridge?" "Misha, there is another story about these two stone lions." Kopalova continued: "After the pair of lion sculptures were placed at both ends of the chain bridge, some people said that there was no tongue in the lion's mouth. The sculptor was ridiculed by everyone. He was so ashamed that he jumped into the Danube and committed suicide.

Sokof looked up at the stone lion in front of him and asked curiously: "Does the lion have a tongue in its mouth?"

"Of course." Kopalova nodded angrily: "The lion has a tongue in its mouth, but it is not easy to see if the angle is wrong."

Sokof squinted his eyes and changed several angles to observe. Sure enough, he saw the tongue in the lion's mouth: "Yes, I saw it, there is indeed a tongue in the lion's mouth." Thinking of the designer who died unjustly, he couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, "The designer's psychological quality is too poor. He was criticized by others. He threw himself into the river. If it were me, I would definitely bring those gossipers here and let them see with their own eyes whether there is a tongue in the lion's mouth. "

"We have seen the Chain Bridge, let's go to the restaurant to taste Hungarian food."

"Okay, okay, it's great." Sokov thought of the Hungarian food that Kopalova had mentioned, and he couldn't help drooling, urging: "Let's go now, my stomach is growling with hunger."

"On the way here, I saw a few restaurants." Seryosha said beside him: "Why don't we go there."

Sokof adjusted "Seryosha, you don't know Hungarian, how do you know that's the restaurant?"

"Although I don't know Hungarian, there are knives and forks on those signs, which is obviously the symbol of the restaurant." Seryosha pointed to his nose and said proudly: "More importantly, when I passed by there, I smelled the fragrance coming from inside. Believe me, my nose has always been very sensitive."

"Kopalova, since Seryosha said he can find the restaurant, let's follow him." Sokov said to Kopalova with a smile: "I want to see if there is any real Hungarian food there."