Red Moscow

Sokov suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, as if Karina deliberately wanted to get him drunk tonight. Although he repeatedly refused the other party's toast, every time the other party saw that he was unwilling to pick up the wine glass, he became unhappy and muttered: "Misha, I am congratulating you in advance, but you are not willing to accept this offer from me." Do you mean well?"

Although he knew that he was not good at drinking, but after hearing what Karina said, he could only drink the wine in the glass. Every time he put down his glass, Karina would pick up the bottle and fill it up for him. Seeing this, Sokov smiled bitterly and asked: "Karina, you must be involved in reception work at work, right?"

Karina looked at Sokov and asked in surprise: "Misha, why did you say that?"

"I saw that you not only have a good drinking capacity, but you are also very good at persuading people to drink." Sokov said in a dumbfounded voice: "Except for those who are often responsible for reception, I can't think of anyone who does other jobs better than you."

"Yes, Misha, you are right." Karina agreed with Sokov's guess: "My main job is reception, you read that right. But today I ask you Drinking is for two things.”

"Two things?" Sokov, who was already a little drunk, asked in confusion: "What two things?"

"The first thing is that you helped Lena get the pension for her two sons." Karina picked up the wine glass again and said to Sokov: "You know, I have accompanied her to the Civil Affairs Bureau many times. But in the end it was all in vain. But as soon as you took action today, the problem was solved. For this reason, I want to toast you."

Sokov had no choice but to pick up the wine glass and said to Karina: "Actually, the director is also a reasonable person. The reason why he has not handled the pension matter for Lena is because he has many concerns." Without waiting for Karina, When Na asked, he took the initiative and said, "Although everyone knew in their hearts that Lena's two sons were sacrificed in the battle to defend Stalingrad, and they might even have been blown to pieces by German artillery fire, so even the corpses must be found." No. But no one has witnessed their sacrifices with their own eyes. If their pensions are released rashly, one day it is discovered that the two people did not die on the battlefield, but became prisoners of the German army. Anyone involved will probably be punished."

"You are right." Karina agreed with Sokov's statement: "In the past few months, I have received many families of martyrs, and they all told me that their relatives died in On the battlefield, but because they were declared as 'missing persons', they did not receive any compensation. They also went to the civil affairs department many times, hoping to have an explanation, but they all suffered the same fate as Lena. I am very curious, What on earth did you tell the director that he would actually agree to make an exception and grant a pension to Lina?"

"I didn't say anything." Sokov tried hard to recall what he and the director had said: "I told him that although we couldn't find evidence that these people died on the battlefield, we also didn't. The evidence shows that they became prisoners of the Germans, so they can be considered to have died, and it is natural to grant pensions to their families. The director may think that what I said is reasonable, and agree to grant pensions to Lena."

"Misha, I want to ask. If one of Lena's sons suddenly appears one day, how should we deal with it?"

"If one of Lena's sons suddenly comes back to life, his title of martyr will certainly not be retained, but the pension paid will not be recovered."

Karina nodded slowly after hearing this, and then said: "You may have heard others say that my father holds a district-level leadership position in Moscow. The District Civil Affairs Bureau under his jurisdiction has encountered similar situations before. ."

When Sokov heard this, he immediately became interested: "Come on and tell me."

"It's like this. The son of a certain resident in the district joined the army and left Moscow one week after the war broke out." Karina said: "In July 1942, his mother sent a letter from the district Civil Affairs Bureau. The fallen comrade said that his son died heroically in the battle to liberate Kharkov. Not only was his family a pension, but he was even issued a martyr's certificate."

Sokov knew that Karina would not talk about this matter for no reason, and there would definitely be a huge reversal later on, so he quickly asked: "What happened later? Did they find out that the family's son was still alive, and a big scene was caused? Oolong?"

"Yes, he is indeed alive."

"Since he's still alive, it's not a big deal." Sokov said disapprovingly: "Just return the martyr certificate."

"Misha, things are not as simple as you think." Karina shook her head and said: "In 1944, an Eastern battalion was annihilated by our army, and among the prisoners captured, there was the son of this family. ."

"What?" Sokov was so surprised that his eyes almost fell down when he heard this: "He actually went to the Dongfang Camp to become a puppet soldier?"

"Yes." Karina nodded and continued: "You said that if he was serving in other units of our army, even if his superiors found out that he had made a mistake, at best the martyr certificate would be withdrawn and the pension would not be guaranteed. Let his family return it. Unexpectedly, he went to join the Germans and even became a puppet soldier."

"Then how was it dealt with?"

"What else can we do to the traitor? Naturally, he will be shot." Karina said angrily: "His family was also exiled to Siberia, and the staff who handled the martyr certificate and issued the pension for him at that time also He was punished accordingly.”

"Then has your father been affected?" Sokov asked tentatively.

Karina nodded slightly, and then said with a wry smile: "Originally, he could have been transferred to work in the city, but because of this incident, the promotion was not mentioned, and he was even demoted one level and continued to stay in the district. Work here.”

Sokov didn't expect that he would actually mention something that made Karina unhappy, so he quickly apologized to her and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Please forgive me for being reckless."

"It doesn't matter, it's all in the past." Karina picked up the wine glass and poured wine for Sokov, and continued: "Misha, I have read the book you wrote carefully. It is really great. Take a copy of Stalin's literature There should be no problem with the award. But I'm afraid you won't be able to stay in Vladimir for long. After you leave, I'm afraid I won't be able to see you again, let alone congratulate you, so I would like to express my congratulations to you in advance. , We will not return until we are drunk today.”

Seeing that Karina was unable to refuse her kindness, Sokov could only risk his life to accompany the gentleman and continue to drink with her. Fortunately, the red wine tasted pretty good, so Sokov drank five or six more glasses in a row, and soon became drunk and hazy. When Karina poured the wine again, Sokov, who was too drunk, had already fallen asleep on the table.

In his daze, Sokov vaguely heard Karina calling him a few times, and then he fell into a daze and didn't know anything else.

Next, he felt that he had a very beautiful dream. He didn't know how long it took, but he finally opened his eyes again and found that he was already lying on the bed.

He looked at the ceiling and thought to himself, it seemed that he really drank too much last night and didn't even know how to get back to bed. He was worried that he drank too much last night and would be in trouble if he vomited all over the floor. He wanted to clean up the room before Agni and the others came.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat up, he touched a smooth arm beside him, which startled him immediately. Looking down, he saw a person lying next to him, with one side of his face hidden by long hair exposed, allowing him to see clearly that it was Karina.

Sokov broke into a cold sweat. What was going on? How did he end up with Karina?

He quickly got out of bed, put on his boots and ran into the bathroom next to him, ready to wash up.

Just after Sokov got into the bathroom, Karina also opened her eyes, looked in the direction of the bathroom and smiled lightly, then got out of bed and started to clean up the wine bottles that were thrown away last night.

When the embarrassed Sokov came out of the bathroom, he found that Karina had disappeared, and the wine bottle originally thrown on the table was also missing. Sokov thought he had just had an illusion, so he slapped himself hard and felt severe pain. It turned out that what he saw was not an illusion, but what really happened.

Sokov paced the room, wondering what to do about the situation. He didn't know what happened last night, whether Karina was angry with him, and whether he should apologize to her.

Just when he was at a loss for words, there was a sudden knock on the door. He thought it was Karina who was back, so he quickly walked over and opened the door.

But after opening the door, he unexpectedly found that the person standing outside was the screenwriter Werner: "Comrade screenwriter, what can I do for you?"

"Hello, Comrade General." Werner greeted Sokov and said, "I had promised to come to your place last night to read the manuscript, but I had something to do and couldn't leave. I would like to take a look at your book first while I have some time in the morning. Book manuscript, I wonder if that’s okay?”

"Of course, Comrade Screenwriter." When Sokov said this, he glanced at the corridor with a guilty conscience, fearing that Karina would appear from somewhere at this moment and he would not know how to deal with it. After Werner entered the room, he hurriedly closed the door, led him to the table, pointed to the manuscript on the table and said: "It's all here, comrade screenwriter, you can take your time and read it."

Werner nodded, sat down at the table, picked up the manuscript on the table, and started browsing.

Sokov did not sit down, but kept looking at the door, fearing that Karina would knock on the door the next moment and come in to argue with him.

"Comrade General," Werner glanced at the manuscript for a few times and found that Sokov was still standing nearby, looking uneasy. He couldn't help but asked curiously: "Is there something wrong with you? If there is something wrong with you If so, I can come back at another time!"

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm okay." Sokov replied hurriedly: "I'm just waiting for the stenographer and scribe to arrive. You can continue reading."

Werner knew that Eisenstein sent four stenographers and scribes to assist, so he was convinced of Sokov's statement. He nodded and continued to look down at the manuscript in his hand.

He read the manuscript very quickly. In just ten minutes, he read one third of the manuscript. Seeing this, he raised his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade General, I thought that your so-called writing of novels was just a whim. With your level, what you wrote must be unreadable. But After reading your manuscript just now, I found that I was wrong, and very wrong. Not only can you write novels, but you also write them wonderfully."

In order to resolve the embarrassing situation at hand, Sokov casually asked: "Comrade screenwriter, do you think this book is good enough for publication?"

"Not only has it reached the level of publication, but it has also reached the level of a best-seller." Werner said to Sokov: "The Great Patriotic War has just ended, and everyone still has a deep memory of this war. You wrote this at this time It contains war-related themes and should be very popular. More importantly, the characters in your book are a group of ordinary female anti-aircraft machine gunners, and the entry point is quite well chosen. According to my experience, this book Soon after it is published, it will be adapted into a play and then performed everywhere..."

Sokov knew very well that "The Dawns Here Are Quiet", a landmark work of Soviet war-themed literature, was soon adapted into a play and opera after it was published in "Youth" magazine in 1969. In 1972, director Rostotsky put it on the screen again, and it was co-written by him and the original author of the novel Boris Vasilyev. In 1975, Boris Vasilyev won the first prize for children's literature in the Soviet Union and the Soviet State Prize for this book.

Hearing what Werner said at this moment, Sokov deliberately pretended to be surprised: "Really? Comrade screenwriter, is everything you said true? Do you really think that this book can not only be adapted into Can a play even be put on the screen?”

"That's right." Werner responded affirmatively to Sokov's question: "To be honest, Comrade Eisenstein asked me to read your book and, if appropriate, adapt it into a movie. When I wrote the script, I was very conflicted. I didn’t think that a general who commanded thousands of troops to fight the enemy could write any popular works. I even thought that after reading your book, I would symbolically I gave him a few compliments, then went back to find Comrade Eisenstein and turned down this damn job."

Faced with Werner's praise, Sokov naturally couldn't be too proud. On the contrary, he said modestly: "Comrade screenwriter, you are really grateful. This is also my first time to write a book, and I wrote it all blindly. If there is any If there is anything that is not well written, please give me some advice.”

"Comrade Simonov wrote a novel about the "Battle of Stalingrad" last year called "Days and Nights"." Werner said: "If you have time, you can read this book. Simonov As a military reporter, the husband personally participated in many battles and had a very good understanding of the lives and combat experiences of soldiers in the war. Therefore, in this book, he portrayed the bravery of many Red Army officers and soldiers such as Shavlov, Maslinnikov and Konyukov. The vivid images of the battle show readers the great feats of the Soviet people and army in their anti-fascist struggle, and vividly reflect this magnificent battle."

Hearing Werner mention Simonov, Sokov couldn't help but think of his wife Valentina Serova. It is said that she had an unusual experience with Marshal Rokossovsky. However, he had only heard other commanders mention this in their chats, and it was unknown whether it was true or not.