red moscow

Early the next morning, Sokov and Asya changed into casual clothes and left home.

Since they entered the compound directly by car yesterday, the sentry guarding the gate did not see them.Today, when the two of them went out, they were wearing casual clothes. The sentry at the door saw two people in casual clothes walking through the courtyard, so he naturally became vigilant.

When the two Sokovs were still about ten steps away from the gate, a sentry stepped forward and stopped them: "Stop, what do you do?"

Asiya had lived in this compound for a while and was familiar with the sentry at the door. However, the sentry in front of him had an unfamiliar face. He must have been transferred there not long ago. He quickly said: "We live here."

"You live here?" The sentry looked at Sokov and Asya, frowned and said, "How come I've never seen you before?"

"Comrade soldier," Sokov glanced at the opponent's epaulettes and said with a smile, "You must have been transferred here not long ago, right?"

"I was transferred here in January this year." The sentry did not deny Sokov's statement, but continued: "I know all the people living in the compound, but I have never seen you two. To be honest. , who are you?"

Seeing that this sentry was a dull-minded one, Sokov didn't want to talk nonsense with him. Instead, he turned to Asiya and asked Asiya: "Asiya, I see there is someone else in the duty room. Go and see if you recognize him." ?”

Asiya quickly agreed and walked quickly to the window of the duty room, where she saw a sergeant sitting inside and dozing off.She looked carefully and saw that the other person happened to be someone she knew, so she raised her hand and knocked on the glass.When the sergeant raised his head, Asiya greeted him with a smile: "Comrade sergeant, do you still recognize me?"

The sergeant first looked at Asiya with a blank expression, wondering who the woman who greeted him was.The next moment, he remembered the identity of the other party, quickly stood up from his seat, and said with a smile: "It turns out to be military doctor Asiya. When did you come back?"

"Yesterday evening," Assia said to the sergeant, "my husband and I were going out, but we were stopped by your sentries."

"Your husband?" The sergeant looked surprised when he heard what Asya said: "General Sokov is back too?"

"Yes, he came back with me this time." Asiya nodded and said, "Now he is stopped outside the duty room by your sentry."

Hearing that Sokov was stopped at the door by his subordinates, the sergeant hurriedly walked out of the duty room and saw Sokov standing face to face with the sentry.The sergeant trotted up to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted, saying: "Hello, comrade general! Long time no see."

The sentry heard the sergeant calling Sokov a general, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade sergeant, didn't you see that he was wearing civilian clothes? And he is so young, how can he be a general?"

"Shut up!" the sergeant said to the sentry: "This is the General Sokov I often mentioned to you. Unexpectedly, he was just not wearing a military uniform, so you stopped him at the door." After reprimanding his subordinates, the sergeant Then he turned to apologize to Sokov, "Comrade General, I'm really sorry. Since the sentries at the door have changed, they have never seen you. If they have caused you any inconvenience, I apologize to you on their behalf."

"It doesn't matter, this is just a small misunderstanding." Sokov said to the sergeant reasonably: "I am not wearing a military uniform today, so you don't need to salute me."

"Comrade General," seeing that Sokov was unwilling to hold the sentry responsible, he felt much more at ease. He asked tentatively, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to Khimki."

"Going to Khimki?!" The sergeant looked outside the gate, and then said with some surprise: "Comrade General, there is no direct bus from here to Khimki."

"It doesn't matter, we can take the subway first and then transfer to the bus." Asiya came over and held Sokov's hand: "Anyway, we are not in a hurry, so we can take a look at the recent changes in Moscow."

After Sokov and Asiya left arm in arm, the sergeant scolded the sentry: "Why didn't you come and call me when you saw someone you didn't recognize? Fortunately, General Sokov didn't care about you. You can change to someone with a bad temper." General, if you stop me like this, I will scold you lightly, and I might even slap you twice. These commanders who have come down from the front line have very bad tempers."

After Sokov and Asiya walked some distance away, Sokov asked: "Where should we take the subway?"

"Turn right at the intersection in front, and there is an entrance to the subway station." Fortunately, Asiya is familiar with the terrain: "We took the red line subway to the terminal, then after getting out of the subway, we took the bus and took four or five stops. You can reach the town of Khimki.”

Sokov didn't expect that there would be so many people in the subway. He quickly asked Asiya to stand near the door, and then blocked her with his body to prevent someone from accidentally hitting her stomach.After the subway started, Sokov said apologetically: "Asia, I'm so sorry. If I knew there were so many people in the subway, I would definitely contact a car in advance."

"It's okay, Misha." Asiya said magnanimously: "I haven't taken the subway for a long time, so I'm just here to experience it. Although there are many people now, this train is heading out of the city, and it can't go past two stops. It’s not crowded anymore.”

Asiya's words soon became reality. After two stops, the originally crowded carriage became empty, and even the seats were vacant.

After Sokov asked Asiya to sit down at an empty seat, he stood next to it.It's not that he refuses to sit if there is a seat, but he has developed a habit of riding in the car. As long as there are women, children and the elderly standing, even if there is a seat next to him, he cannot sit casually, otherwise it will be considered impolite. the behavior of.

Asiya saw Sokov standing next to her, so she moved to the side, patted the empty space with her hand, and said, "Misha, what are you doing standing there? Sit down quickly."

Sokov looked around and found that there seemed to be a lot of women, children and elderly people standing in the carriage. He couldn't help but replied with some embarrassment: "Isn't this not good?"

"It's nothing bad. Come on and sit down."

Sokov took a deep breath, and then sat down next to Asya anxiously.

"Misha, since there is a seat available, why don't you sit?" Assia asked curiously.

Sokov murmured: "Didn't it mean that when there are old people, children and women standing on the bus or subway, men can't just grab their empty seats? I once took a bus and there were many people on the bus. After a young girl got on the bus, she sat directly near the door, and an old lady who followed her up, without saying a word, stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the shoulders, lifted her from the seat, and then sat down carelessly. I got down. I was worried that if I just sat down, an old lady would come over and pull me up from the seat. If this happened, it would be too embarrassing."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Asiya couldn't help but laugh, "Misha, you are right, when there are old people, children, and women who are not seated in the car, men usually don't compete with them for seats. This is a kind of respect for them. But it also depends on the specific situation. You see, there are only three or 40 people in this carriage, and there are so many empty seats. Even if you take a seat, it will not affect other people."

The two got out of the subway, and Asiya took Sokov to the nearby bus station familiarly, and said, "Take a bus from here, and you can reach Khimki in four stops." See Asiya Ya was so familiar with the route, Sokov could not help but think that when he was not in Moscow, Asya might go back to the city to visit his parents when he was not working. The route is familiar.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, a bus pulled into the platform.Perhaps because this was a suburb and it happened to be a working day, there were not many people taking the bus. When the two Sokovs got on the bus, only less than half of the seats were empty.Sokov stopped being pretentious and directly found two seats and sat down with Asya.

"Comrade!" The female conductor holding the ticket box walked up to Sokov and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Khimki town." Asya rushed to answer before Sokov could answer.

"It's two kopecks per person in Khimki town, and four kopecks in total for the two of you."

Asiya quickly handed over the change she had prepared: "Here are four kopecks, please keep them."

When Sokov took the ticket from the conductor, he couldn't help but secretly sigh that the fare was really cheap. The subway ticket was seven kopecks per person and the bus ticket was two kopecks per person.In future generations, a subway ticket would be 30 rubles and a bus ticket would be 25 rubles, which is thousands of times more expensive.

The fourth stop arrived soon.

After getting off the bus, Sokov found that there were big changes from the last time he came. At least the camouflage nets on some important buildings were gone, and there were no barricades visible on the streets.

"Misha," Asiya said to Sokov with a smile: "How do you feel about visiting the old place again?"

After Asiya's reminder, Sokov immediately remembered that the first place he came to in this era was the town of Khimki, and he led a few soldiers to fight a blocking battle with the Germans, and was awarded He was appreciated by his superiors and got the opportunity to rise to the top.I just don’t know if the house I had when I traveled back in time is still there?If you are still here, go and have a look and see if you can return to your own future life from there.

Asiya noticed that Sokov was suddenly standing there in a daze, and quickly took his arm, shook it, and asked: "Misha, what are you thinking about?"

Sokov woke up from his thoughts, laughed dryly and said, "I was just thinking that if that blocking battle had not happened, I would have never had the chance to know you, and certainly not have the chance to marry you."

Hearing what Sokov said, Assia felt sweet in her heart.She continued: "But it is precisely because of this blocking battle that you will be appreciated by your superiors and have the opportunity to be promoted. Otherwise, you can only stay in Khimki Town and serve as the garrison squad leader. If you are lucky, At the end of the war, you can become a second lieutenant and officially become an officer. If you are unlucky, you might have been transferred to a factory and become an ordinary worker."

"The situation you mentioned is entirely possible." As the two walked hand in hand towards the defense line of the instrument factory, Sokov said with emotion: "The closest location for the Germans to Red Square is the town of Khimki. If they If we could not bypass our army's defense line and rush into the town of Khimki, I think there would be no resistance at all. And if I, a small garrison squad leader, were not transferred to the front line to fight, I would never have any chance of promotion. .”

As he was walking, Sukov suddenly saw a flower booth in front of him, pointed at it, and said, "I remember that when we came last time, we bought flowers at that flower booth, but it was a pity that it was a world of ice and snow. Yes, there were no flowers at all, we could only buy a bouquet of plastic flowers. I remember the old lady selling flowers, her name seemed to be Damana."

"You have a really good memory." Asiya gave Sokov a thumbs up: "The flower seller is indeed Aunt Damana. Every time I come back to visit my parents, I have to say hello to her."

The two of them were talking and unknowingly came to the flower stall. Asiya shouted inside: "Aunt Damana, are you there?"

"Yes, yes." When she heard someone calling her, Damana, wearing an apron and holding a pair of scissors in her hand, walked out of the house. After seeing Asiya clearly standing at the door, she was stunned for a moment. Then she shouted excitedly: "Asia, are you back to see your parents again?"

"Yes, Aunt Damana." Asiya opened her arms and gave Damana a hug: "I came back to see my parents and passed by here, so I came here to say hello to you."

Seeing the two hugging each other tightly, Sokov felt a little uneasy. He was worried that Damana's movements would be too big, which would cause Asiya to inflate her fetus.

Fortunately, the two separated quickly, and what Sokov was worried about did not happen.Damana looked at Sokov and asked Asiya thoughtfully: "Asiya, is this your husband, General Sokov?"

"Yes, Aunt Damana, he is Misha."

"Hello, Aunt Damana." Sokov quickly stepped forward to greet the old lady.

"Comrade General, why are you not wearing a military uniform?" Seeing that Sokov was not wearing a military uniform, Damana said with some surprise: "Did you change your job just after the war?"

"No, no." Sokov hurriedly waved his hands and said, "We just came back today to visit Asiya's parents. Wearing a military uniform is a bit too ostentatious, so I didn't wear it."

"Oh, that's it. I thought you had changed careers." Damana looked particularly happy to see Asiya and Sokov, and she naturally talked a lot more: "Asiya, Nina has a day off today. , not working in the bakery, you can see her when you go home."

"Asiya," Sokov thought that he was going to meet his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and obviously couldn't go empty-handed, so he said to Asiya: "Let's buy a bouquet of flowers from Aunt Damana first."

"Okay, Misha." Asiya nodded and asked, "What flowers do you want to buy?"

Sokov poked his head in and took a look. There were quite a lot of flowers in the pavilion.Roses are inappropriate, so of course you cannot buy them; carnations are usually given as gifts to mothers in China, but in Russia they are often used to visit graves, so you certainly cannot buy them.After looking around, his eyes rested on the sunflower in the corner of the pavilion, which is the national flower of Russia.He pointed at the sunflower with his hand and said, "Asiya, let's just buy sunflowers."

Naturally, Asiya would not object to Sokov's proposal, so she said to Damana, "Aunt Damana, please bring me a bouquet of sunflowers. I want to take it home."

"Okay, okay, I'll get it for you right now." Damanna said, entered the pavilion, went directly to the place where the sunflowers were placed, picked out a few of the most beautiful sunflowers, bandaged them and handed them to Asked Asiya: "Here, Asiya, take it back and give it to your mother."

Seeing that Asiya was about to pay, she waved her hands and said, "Since you and your wife are back to visit your parents, they will definitely invite me and the old man to dinner, so just treat it as a gift from me, no money required." of."