red moscow

Chapter 2582

Perhaps because she had traveled all night, Ajelina looked particularly tired. She took out the manuscript of her novel from her bag and handed it to Sokov: "Misha, this is your manuscript. Remember to keep it well and don't throw it around."

Sokov took the manuscript and asked with concern: "Have you had dinner?"

"I ate a few slices of bread on the way." Ajelina said weakly, "I'm a little sleepy, I'll lie down for a while."

"Well, you should take a rest first."

Unexpectedly, Adelina grabbed Sokov and said, "Misha, come here and be my pillow."

Sokov smiled bitterly and shook his head, then lay down on the bed obediently, letting Ajelina rest her face on his chest.

"Misha," Ajelina asked in a weak voice, "What happened that made you rush back to Berlin in such a hurry?"

Sokov thought about it secretly. Although Zhukov might be dismissed, the matter needed to be kept secret before the official personnel notice was issued. Therefore, he could only say tactfully: "Marshal Zhukov plans to return to Moscow in the near future and wants me to go back with him. So when he recalled General Sokolovsky, he also called me back to Berlin."

"When will you return to Moscow?" Adelina's voice was barely audible, but Sokov, who was standing nearby, still heard it.

"I don't know. I'll have to wait for notification." Sokov said cautiously, "When I return home, you may have to stay in Berlin and continue working for a while. Do you have any objections?"

  But Ajelina did not answer, and Sokov raised his head slightly and found that she had fallen asleep. Because he was afraid of waking her up, he could only maintain this uncomfortable posture and continue to lie on the bed, thinking to himself: If Ajelina knew that she would be separated from him for a long time, I wonder how she would react?

The next morning, the ringing of the phone woke the two people who were sleeping soundly.

Sokov wanted to get up to answer the phone, but found that Ajelina's head was still on her chest, and he couldn't get up at all. He could only push Ajelina with his hand: "Ajelina, wake up, wake up quickly."

Adelina opened her eyes sleepily, looked at Sokov and asked, "Misha, what's the matter?"

"Phone, there's a phone call." Sokov said anxiously, "I'm going to answer it, don't put pressure on me."

Sokov was worried that the phone would stop ringing at any time. After getting up, he rushed to the phone barefoot without even having time to put on his boots, grabbed the receiver, put it to his ear, and shouted, "I'm Sokov!"

"General Sokov, hello!" A strange voice came from the receiver: "Excuse me, is Comrade Adelina here?"

Hearing that the other party was looking for Ajelina, Sokov couldn't help but ask vigilantly: "Who are you? What do you want to see her for?"

"Comrade General, I am the leader of the translation team." The other party replied, "I am looking for Comrade Ajelina for work matters."

When Sokov heard what the other party said, he lost his temper immediately. He covered the microphone with his hand, turned around and said to Ajelina who was still sleeping in the bed: "Ajelina, it's a call for you. It's from the translation team."

Knowing that it was a call from the translation team, Ajelina did not dare to neglect it and hurried over to take the microphone from Sokov: "Hello, this is Ajelina..."

The call ended quickly, and Ajelina said with a frustrated look on her face: "Misha, the translation team asked me to report over immediately. They said there are a batch of important documents that need to be translated as soon as possible."

"Since it's work, get busy." Sokov said to Ajelina, "Anyway, I will stay in the hotel for the time being, you can come back anytime."

……

More than a week had passed since Ajelina left, and she still hadn't appeared in front of Sokov again.

Sokov was not in a hurry and stayed in the room to continue writing his novel.

During the writing process, he couldn't help but miss the computers of later generations. If he had a computer, it would only take him a month to copy a book of 200,000 words. Now, it took him nearly two months to write the book "Ordinary Soldier", but he has only completed three-fifths of it. It will take more than a month to finish it at the fastest.

When the phone rang, Sokov put down his pen and wondered if the call was from Ajelina.

But when he picked up the phone, he realized he was wrong. The person who called him was Zhukov's adjutant: "General Sokov, Comrade Marshal wants to see you, can you come as soon as possible?"

When Sokov learned that Zhukov wanted to see him, he immediately thought that the other party might be leaving Berlin, and quickly replied: "Comrade Adjutant, I will be there right away."

After hanging up the phone, Sokov called Vaserigov's room and told him directly: "Comrade Major, prepare the car immediately. I want to see Marshal Zhukov."

"Yes, Comrade General," Vaseligov replied, "the car will be waiting for you at the gate in a quarter of an hour."

When Sokov packed up and walked out of the hotel, he found that the motorcade had stopped at the door, and Vaserigov was talking to an officer. Seeing Sokov leaving, he hurried over, raised his hand and saluted, and said: "Comrade General, the motorcade is ready and can set off at any time."

Sokov waved his hand and said, "Get in the car."

On the way, Vaseligov, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, turned around and asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade General, I wonder what the marshal wants to see you about?"

"I don't know." Sokov asked back, "Major, why are you asking this?"

"Comrade General." Hearing Sokov's question, Vaseligov replied somewhat awkwardly: "Marshal Zhukov arranged for me to protect your safety, but you basically don't go out now, so we are a bit too idle. If it goes on for a long time, I'm worried that someone will gossip."

"I don't have any specific position in Berlin, so why do I run around here every day?" Sokov said dissatisfiedly: "Since I stay in the hotel every day, you should naturally stay here as well, and don't care about what others say." After the convoy arrived at the destination, Vasherigov got out of the car first and went to the back door to help Sokov open the door.

After getting out of the car, Sokov walked into the building, followed closely by Vaseligov.

"Major," Sokov took two steps, stopped, turned around and said to Vasherigov, "You wait for me outside. I will go to see the marshal alone."

Although Vaseligov was a little reluctant to accept Sokov's order, he had no choice but to obey: "Yes, Comrade General!"

When he arrived at Zhukov's office, Sokov saw a middle-aged round-faced man wearing a Lenin suit. When he saluted Zhukov, he glanced at the other person out of the corner of his eye, wondering who this person was. Zhukov seemed to be quite polite when speaking to him.

After Sokov saluted, Zhukov stood up and walked out from behind his desk, walked up to Sokov and shook his hand. Then he pointed at the man and said to Sokov: "Misha, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Malenkov. He is the head of the Berlin Demolition Equipment Committee, responsible for the demolition of various industrial equipment in Germany."

To Sokov, the name Malenkov was well-known. He quickly raised his hand and saluted the other party: "Hello, Comrade Malenkov!"

"Hello, General Sokov." Malenkov stood up and shook Sokov's hand, smiling and said, "I have heard of your name for a long time, but this is the first time I have seen you in person. I heard from Marshal Zhukov that you have been in Berlin for about a month. How are you? Are you used to the life here?"

"Not bad." Sokov replied, "Comrade Marshal arranged for me to stay at the Adlon Hotel. The staff in the hotel are all drawn from the army. There is not much difference in diet and living habits from back home."

"I heard that you have been staying in the hotel recently and not going anywhere." Malenkov continued to ask: "I wonder what you are doing in the room?"

"I have nothing to do, so I stay at home and learn to write novels."

Coincidentally, Malenkov had read Sokov's novel. After hearing his answer, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "General Sokov, I wonder what your new book is about?"

"The book is called 'An Ordinary Soldier,'" Sokov replied. "It tells the story of the bravery and tenacity shown by the soldier Matrosov on the battlefield. In order to ensure victory in the battle, he blocked the bullets fired by the enemy from the bunker with his chest and finally sacrificed his life heroically."

"Well, this is a good topic." Malenkov said with a smile: "I believe that this book will be very popular with readers after it is published."

"I hope so."

"By the way, I heard you wrote a book," Malenkov asked unexpectedly, "but you only wrote a few chapters, and Comrade Stalin stopped it because it involved some important people."

"Yes, Comrade Malenkov, that's true." Sokov nodded and replied, "Comrade Stalin said that most of the important people mentioned in my book are still alive. If the image I created in the book does not satisfy them, it may cause unnecessary trouble."

"That's right, General Sokov, you are right." Malenkov agreed with Sokov's statement: "It's a coincidence that when I was in Moscow, I had the opportunity to see the manuscripts you wrote. To be fair, they are quite well written. If I didn't know your true identity, I would have thought you were a senior writer. The person mentioned in the book is a narrow-minded person. Working with him will cause many conflicts."

Sokov didn't know who Malenkov was talking about, so he could only grin and agree with him.

"Georgy Maximilianovich," Zhukov asked, calling Malenkov by his given name and his father's name, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Comrade Marshal, the situation is like this." Malinin introduced to Zhukov: "General Sokov wrote a novel reflecting the Great Patriotic War a few months ago. The title of the book is "The Dawns Here Are Quiet". As soon as the book was published, it became extremely popular and has even been adapted into a drama and an opera. I also heard that the Moscow Film Studio plans to shoot this movie in the near future."

Zhukov's eyes widened in surprise after hearing this: "What? Misha's book is going to be made into a movie. This is incredible."

"I heard from Comrade Poskrebyshev that after the publication of The Dawns Here Are Quiet, General Sokov immediately started writing a novel called The Siege," Malenkov said, looking at Zhukov. "Since the background of the book is Leningrad, it is inevitable to mention those people. The Supreme Commander himself was worried that the publication of the book would bring unnecessary trouble to General Sokov, so he asked him to stop writing the book."

After explaining to Zhukov, Malenkov turned to Sokov and asked, "General Sokov, when do you plan to continue writing this book?"

"I don't know." Sokov answered truthfully: "Maybe I have to wait a few years, or even more than ten years, before I can continue writing."

"That's such a pity." Malenkov said with a puzzled look on his face: "I have read your manuscript, it is quite well written. I am eager to know how these characters in the novel end up. Did they sacrifice themselves or live to see the day of victory?"

"Comrade Malenkov, although everyone hopes to live to see the day of victory, it is actually unrealistic." Sokov said with a serious expression: "There will always be people who sacrifice their precious lives in this war to defend the motherland and shed their last drop of blood for the country and the people. The number of people who can live to see the day of victory is less than we think."

Zhukov waited until Sokov and Malenkov finished their conversation before he spoke slowly, "Misha, when we return to Moscow in a few days, Comrade Malenkov will go with us."

Upon learning that Malenkov was going to return to Moscow with him, Sokov was a little surprised: "Comrade Marshal, didn't you say that Comrade Malenkov was responsible for the demolition of German industrial equipment and facilities? Has this work been completed?"

"It will take at least two to three years to complete the dismantling of important industrial equipment in Germany," Malenkov said. "But now I have handed the matter over to my deputy, and he will be fully responsible for this work during my absence from Berlin."

  Sokov couldn't help feeling puzzled. He thought that Zhukov returned to Moscow because someone had reported him, and why did Malenkov also want to return to Moscow? Did something unexpected happen?

Zhukov obviously saw Sokov's confusion, so he explained to him: "Misha, it's like this, Comrade Malenkov and Voznesensky, the head of the State Planning Commission, have some differences of opinion at work. He returned to Moscow this time to solve this problem."

After hearing what Zhukov said, Sokov immediately understood that Zhukov and Malenkov were in the same situation. Their superiors asked them to hand over their positions to their deputies and then return to Moscow to report on their work.

After figuring out what was going on, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, when will we return to Moscow?"

"The Supreme Command has not given us accurate orders yet." Zhukov said helplessly, "So we need to wait for a while."

Sokov was eager to stay in Berlin for a few more days so that he could spend more time with Adelina. But just when he was happy, Zhukov suddenly said, "Misha, I have something else to tell you. According to reliable intelligence, General Patton had a car accident yesterday and the situation is not good."

(End of this chapter)