Red Moscow

If Anna's foot hadn't been sprained, Sokov would have wanted to take her with him, after all, she had adventure experience. And in order to find Khabarov's whereabouts, she must have been willing to go on an adventure with him.

But now Anna's foot was injured, and it was difficult for her to walk, not to mention the complex terrain underground. If she really followed him, she would not only be unable to help, but would also become a burden to him. The only person he could count on now was Victoria in front of him.

"Vika, can you help me?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Victoria sneered: "How can I help you? Do you want me to take a special police squadron with you to go deep underground to search for the three missing young people?"

Although he knew that Victoria was talking in anger, Sokov was still looking forward to it. A special police squadron in Russia has more than 50 people. So many people going deep underground to search for Khabarov and others will definitely be much more effective than those few people in the search and rescue team.

He deliberately said jokingly: "If that's the case, it couldn't be better."

"Don't say that it's not my jurisdiction. Even if it is, do you think that I, a small major, can mobilize the special police team without the director's permission?"

Sokof scratched the back of his head and pretended to be pitiful: "Vika, you have the heart to let me go underground alone. What if something happens..."

"Even if you have something, what does it have to do with me." Victoria said impatiently: "I am neither your girlfriend nor your wife. What does your life or death have to do with me?"

Hearing Victoria's sour tone, Sokov laughed, looked in the direction of the bedroom, and then said: "Vika, Lida has fallen asleep, and I should go back. If there is anything, remember to call me."

Victor didn't say anything, just staring at the TV program in front of him with only images but no sound.

Sokof walked to the door and just opened the door when he heard Victoria's voice from behind: "Hey!"

He hurriedly stopped and turned his head to look at Victoria.

"Wait for my news tomorrow." Victoria said hesitantly, "Even if I don't have the right to mobilize the special police force at will, it should be no problem to find one or two trusted subordinates to help."

Hearing what Victoria said, Sokov was overjoyed and hurriedly said to her, "Vika, thank you so much."

Victoria waved to Sokov, "Remember to close the door when you go out."

As soon as Sokov returned home, he received a call from Dayuan, "Xiaolin, a Russian friend told me that his neighbor is an old general who participated in the Great Patriotic War. There are many valuable things in his home. Are you free tomorrow? If you are free, please accompany me there."

Knowing that Dayuan was going to the home of an old general who participated in the Great Patriotic War tomorrow, Sokov was excited. He even wanted to know who the other party was, what battles he had participated in, and whether he had ever fought side by side with him.

It was for this reason that Sokov readily agreed to Dayuan's request: "No problem, tell me what time you leave, and I'll pick you up then."

Early the next morning, Sokov called Lena and told her to open the door as usual, while he drove to pick up Dayuan and prepared to accompany him to the old general's house.

When they arrived, Sokov called Dayuan to urge him to come down quickly.

Who knew that after making four or five calls in a row, Dayuan finally answered the phone.

His lazy voice came from the headset: "Xiao Lin, what's the matter?"

"Didn't you ask me to take you to the old general's house to buy something today?" Sokov guessed from the other party's voice that he might not have gotten up at the moment, so he asked tentatively: "You are not still sleeping?"

"Oh, I forgot about this." Da Yuan exclaimed: "Xiao Lin, wait for me. Five minutes, at most five minutes, I will go downstairs. Otherwise, you come up and sit for a while?"

"Don't worry, take your time, I'll wait for you in the car."

Sokof agreed to accompany Da Yuan to the old general's house today, and there was another purpose, which was to find out whether the other party was his old friend and whether he could find something related to himself from his house. Because he didn't know when Da Yuan would be able to go downstairs, Sokov took out his mobile phone, opened the novel website, and started reading the novel.

Who knew that halfway through, the phone rang suddenly.

I thought it was Victoria calling, but when I looked at the number, I found that it was Lao Wu who called: "Lao Wu, what's going on?"

"Xiao Lin, are you in the store?"

"No, I have something to do today and haven't been to the store yet." Sokov knew that Lao Wu didn't have anything to do and would not call him casually, so he continued to ask: "Do you need my help with anything?"

"The transportation company called me and said that a package of goods has arrived." Lao Wu said: "I may not be able to go to the market until after noon. I originally wanted you to help me pick up the goods. Since you are not in the market, forget it."

Just when Sokov was about to hang up the phone, Lao Wu suddenly asked: "By the way, Xiao Lin, I have another thing to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Do you know how Salo did it?"

Salo is a kind of salted fat meat, and it is also a famous dish in Ukraine. Sokov naturally knows the production process of this meat. Since I had nothing to do at the moment, I started to popularize science to Lao Wu: "Salo is made from the fat on the back or waist of Ukrainian large white pigs, and the fat thickness is more than 3 cm.

Its method is very simple: cut the fat into cubes of about 20 cm, soak them in salt water for two days, take out the meat, and evenly apply salt on the surface of the meat.

Prepare a small wooden box, paste it with dark clean paper from the inside, lay kraft paper on the bottom, and then sprinkle 1 cm thick salt on it. With the skin facing down, stack the meat tightly and neatly in the box, stack a layer of meat, sprinkle a layer of salt, and sprinkle around the meat.

After filling, cover it with clean paper or cloth, cover it with a wooden lid, and press a heavy object on the wooden lid, and then place the small box in a cool dark place. Usually after three to five days, it can be eaten, and it can be stored for about a year at room temperature away from light."

"After it is done, how will it taste better?"

"It depends on how you like it Eat it." Sokov said: "The simplest way is to cut the salo into thin slices, sprinkle some mayonnaise on it, put two canned sardines on it, and eat it in bread.

If you are more particular, you can sprinkle barbecue sauce on it and grill it, which is simply a delicacy on earth.

If you think salo is too salty, you can boil it in water, then take it out and slice it. It is definitely better than domestic bacon. "

"Xiao Lin, you know more." Lao Wu said on the phone: "I just called several people, let alone how to make it, they have never even heard of what salo is. I remember what you said, and I will try to make salo myself another day."

"Lao Wu, if you make salo, don't forget to send me two pieces."

"No problem, no problem." Lao Wu said with a smile: "As long as I make salo, I will definitely send you two pieces to taste it."

After ending the call with Lao Wu, Sokov continued to read the novel.

Not long after he looked at it, he heard someone knocking on the window. He looked up and saw that it was a policeman with a submachine gun. He quickly rolled down the window and asked politely, "What can I do for you?"

The policeman stretched out a hand to him and said expressionlessly, "Your ID!"

Sokov quickly took out his ID and handed it to the other party.

After the policeman looked through it, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for a friend."

"A friend, who is he?" The policeman said, and stepped back, gesturing for Sokov to get out of the car.

Sokov saw the policeman put his passport in his pocket, and it seemed that he wanted to take him to a corner for a body search.

He pushed open the car door and got out of the car. He opened the photo album on his mobile phone, pointed to the photo of himself and Victoria, and said to the policeman, "Look, this is this friend. I promised to take her to the police station today." In order to increase credibility, Sokov also swiped his hand on the screen a few times, allowing the other party to see more photos of Victoria and himself.

Seeing the photo of Sokov and Victoria, the policeman seemed very hesitant. After thinking for a while with a complicated expression, he took out his passport from his pocket, handed it back to Sokov, and then turned to walk towards the police car parked not far away.

After the police drove away, Dayuan walked out of the building carefully, looked at the direction where the police car went away, and said with lingering fear: "Xiaolin, the police just checked your passport, didn't he ask you to go with him?"

Sokof didn't want too many people to know about his relationship with Victoria, so he shook his head and said: "No. He just checked my passport, asked a few questions casually, and left. It's getting late, let's go quickly."

Under Dayuan's guidance, Sokov drove for half an hour and stopped next to an old building.

After getting off the car, Dayuan took out his mobile phone and made a call. Then he said to Sokov: "Xiaolin, I have called, and the Maozi will come out to pick us up later."

A few minutes later, a young man with a flat head ran out of a building not far away, stood at the door and looked, and then ran towards the location of Sokov and Dayuan.

The man came to Sokov and asked, "Hello, friend! Are you Boris who called me?"

"No." Sokov knew that Dayuan's Russian name was Boris, and quickly pointed at Dayuan: "He is."

"I am Boris." Dayuan looked at the other party and asked, "Are you Mesat?"

"Yes, it's me." The man called Mesat nodded and said, "Let's go now, my friends are waiting anxiously."

When Sokov and Dayuan followed Mesat to the entrance of the corridor not far away, Sokov asked in a low voice: "This man's accent and appearance are both like Azerbaijanis. Are you sure that the place he takes you to can buy what you want to buy?"

"I think there should be no problem." Dayuan said confidently: "He was recommended to me by a friend, and I believe my friend will not lie to me."

The three came to a room on the fourth floor. After Mesat knocked on the door a few times, the door was opened.

The man standing at the door still had a flat head and black hair like Mesat.

As soon as Sokov saw it, he knew that this person was probably from Azerbaijan like Mesat. The things they said they were going to sell to Dayuan were probably fake.

"This is Gai." Mesat introduced to Dayuan, "What you want to buy is what his grandfather left behind."

After Sokov and Dayuan entered the room, the first thing they saw was a 12-inch black-and-white photo hanging on the opposite wall. It showed a young soldier wearing an old-fashioned collar badge. Sokov, who was familiar with Soviet military ranks, saw at a glance that the three triangles on the soldier's collar badge represented that he was a sergeant.

Mesat saw Sokov staring at the photo and explained: "Friend, this is Gai's grandfather. See, he is a general!"

Sokof curled his lips and pretended to be surprised and asked: "Is he wearing a general's uniform?"

"Of course, the military uniforms during the Great Patriotic War were like this." Mesat nodded and said: "Did you see the three triangles on his collar badge? This means he is a general."

Dayuan was not clear about the Soviet military ranks, so he didn't realize that Mesat was lying at all, but seemed particularly excited. He couldn't wait to ask Mesat: "Where are the things left by the old general?"

Mesat pretended to say to Gai: "Gai, don't stand there, hurry up and take out all the things left by your grandfather for this friend to see." Then, he suddenly communicated with Sokov in Azerbaijani, which he couldn't understand.

Gai turned and walked into the bedroom. After a while, he came out with a small wooden box and handed it to Mesat.

Mesat took the box, put it on the table, opened the lid, and said to Dayuan: "Boris, look, these two Red Flag medals were won by Gai's grandfather."

Looking at the medals in the box, Dayuan's eyes lit up and he reached out to take them, but was stopped by Sokov: "Dayuan, wait a minute."

Dayuan didn't know what happened, but he still stopped and looked up at Sokov with puzzled eyes.

"Da Yuan, these things are fake." After Sokov said this to Da Yuan in Chinese, he looked at Mesat and asked, "Friend, why are there only medals, but where is the certificate of honor that the old general received?"

Mesat seemed very embarrassed when he heard Sokov talking about the certificate of honor. He stuttered and said, "Friend, you know, these medals were obtained decades ago, and I don't know where those certificates of honor were thrown away."

Sokof knew that this was a scam they set up from the moment Mesat said a sergeant was a general. Only a big fool like Da Yuan would be deceived. He spoke in time to stop the other party, just to prevent him from being deceived.

But what he didn't expect was that Da Yuan actually believed Mesat's statement and really thought that the certificate of honor was lost, so he asked eagerly: "I wonder how much these two medals are sold for?"

After Mesat and Gai communicated in Azerbaijani for a while, he said to Da Yuan: "Boris, these things are the relics of Gai's grandfather. If he hadn't been in financial difficulties recently, he would not be willing to sell them. I just told him that you are my friend, so let him give me the cheapest price."

"How much?"

"US$4,000 for one," Mesat said, "If you want both, I can make my own decision and give you US$7,500."