red moscow

Chapter 2635

When Zhukov was reporting on his work, he casually mentioned Sokov's housing problem to Stalin.

But Stalin did not even raise his eyelids after hearing what Zhukov said. Seeing that Stalin did not respond, Zhukov could not bring up the matter again and could only continue to report on the exercise.

After Zhukov and Antonov left, Stalin picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, and said, "Help me find Yakov!"

At this moment, Yakov had just returned to his office in the General Armament Department. When he heard the phone on his desk ringing, he quickly grabbed the receiver and put it to his ear: "I'm Yakov!"

"Yasha, it's me!"

Yakov recognized his father's voice and immediately stood up from his seat and said respectfully, "Hello, what can I do for you?"

"What's going on with Misha's housing?"

When Yakov appeared at the military meeting, he heard what Zhukov said. When he heard his father asking about it on the phone, he guessed that Zhukov had fulfilled his promise. When he was about to report on his work, he mentioned Sokov's housing: "It's like this. His house was allocated shortly after the Battle of Stalingrad. At that time, he was only a major general, so the area of ​​the house was not very large. After he was promoted to general in the later period of the war, he still lived in the original house. You also know that according to his rank, even if he is not in the army, he should have security personnel around him. But because the house at home is too small, it is impossible to arrange for security personnel to move in, so he goes alone wherever he goes."

After Stalin listened patiently to his son's story, he said calmly, "I understand." After that, he hung up the phone without waiting for Yakov to speak again.

Half an hour later, Malenkov came to the office and reported to Stalin about this year's work arrangements.

After Malenkov finished his report, Stalin lit his pipe and asked casually, "Comrade Malenkov, are you familiar with Misha?"

"Little Misha?!" Malenkov was stunned when he heard the name Stalin said, and then he guessed who the other party was talking about, but he still asked tentatively: "Comrade Stalin, are you talking about General Sokov?"

"Yes, that's him." Stalin walked a few steps in the room with his pipe in his mouth, and said to Malenkov: "I heard that his house is so small that the guards Zhukov wanted to arrange for him have no place to live."

Malenkov did not expect Stalin to bring up this matter suddenly. He did not know what the other party was thinking, so he did not dare to express his opinion casually. Instead, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Stalin, what instructions do you have?"

"There are many vacant villas near where he lives," Stalin said. "I think you can arrange one for him, so that the guards assigned to him will have a place to stay."

"I understand, Comrade Stalin. I will arrange it for him as soon as possible."

Since Stalin personally took charge of the matter, Malenkov naturally did not dare to neglect it. He came out of Stalin's office and immediately contacted relevant personnel to arrange new accommodation for Sokov.

That night, Sokov received a strange phone call: "Hello, is this General Sokov?"

"Yes, I'm Sokov." Sokov felt that the caller's voice was unfamiliar, so he asked cautiously, "Who are you and what do you want from me?"

"Hello, Comrade General, I'm from the Municipal Housing Authority..."

Unexpectedly, when Sokov heard the other party say that he was from the housing management department, he immediately got angry: "You bastard, you want to cheat me again, get as far away from me as possible. I warn you, don't harass me again, otherwise you will be responsible for all the consequences." After that, he hung up the phone.

Unexpectedly, the next moment, the phone rang again. Sokov put the microphone to his ear and heard the voice just now, timidly saying: "General Sokov, you may have some misunderstanding. I am indeed a staff member of the Municipal Housing Management Department." Perhaps worried that Sokov would hang up the phone again, he spoke faster and said, "We have received instructions from Comrade Malenkov to arrange a villa for you as soon as possible."

When the other party mentioned Malenkov's name, Sokov realized that he might have misunderstood the other party and mistook Li Kui for Li Gui, so he slowed down his tone and said, "Where is the house? How long will it take to move?"

"Comrade General, if it's convenient for you, we will send someone to pick you up at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning and take you and your wife to see the house prepared for you." The staff member said respectfully, "Is that okay with you?"

"Okay then." Sokov thought about how he had been cheated once before, so it didn't matter if he was cheated again this time. But if it was true, he could move to a new home as soon as possible. "I'll wait for you guys tomorrow morning."

After hanging up the phone, Sokov said to Asiya, who was sitting next to him playing with a cat, "Asiya, the staff of the municipal housing management department called me and said that they would arrange for us to go to the nearby villa area to look at houses tomorrow morning."

"Is this another lie?" Asia said in the same skeptical tone.

"I don't think so." Sokov said, "Since the other party can say Malenkov's name, he must be telling a lie."

"Misha, I know you know Comrade Malenkov." Asiya said vigilantly, "But the relationship between you doesn't seem to be close. Why would he personally ask about our house? I think there may be something wrong."

"Asiya, although the relationship between Comrade Malenkov and I is not too close, it is definitely not distant." Seeing that Asiya expressed doubts about Malenkov, Sokov told her an important thing: "When you had a car accident, the people guarding outside the operating room included Marshal Zhukov, Marshal Rokossovsky, and Comrade Malenkov. You know, the doctors in the hospital were helpless with your injuries and even made me prepare for the worst. However, after Comrade Malenkov came, he summoned some highly skilled doctors from other hospitals to come to the rescue and snatched you from the hands of death."

After hearing what Sokov said, Asiya's eyes widened in surprise: "Misha, is what you said true? Did Malenkov really find a highly skilled doctor from another hospital to save me from the brink of death?"

Sokov said nothing, but nodded slowly.

Seeing this, Asiya couldn't help but get anxious: "Misha, why didn't you tell me such an important thing? If I knew that Comrade Malenkov saved my life, I would have accompanied you to his home and thanked him in person. Otherwise, you can make arrangements in the next two days and we will visit Comrade Malenkov's home as soon as possible."

"Don't worry. I'll take you to see Comrade Malenkov next time we have a chance."

"Okay then." Asia said reluctantly, "Then you should hurry up."

Seeing how happy Asiya was, Sokov really didn't want to pour cold water on him. He knew that in a few months, by June, a large group of people would be in trouble. In addition to Zhukov, Malenkov, Antonov and others would be demoted and transferred out of Moscow. If he had too close a relationship with these people at this moment, he would inevitably be implicated, so it was better to keep some distance.

The next morning, a black car really arrived downstairs of Sokov's house.

Soon, a middle-aged man in military uniform came to the door of Sokov's house and knocked a few times. Sokov opened the door and saw the strange man standing at the door. He asked curiously, "Who are you looking for?"

"Excuse me, are you General Sokov?"

"Yes, I'm Sokov." Sokov recognized the other party's voice as the one he had called last night, so he asked tentatively: "Did you call me last night?"

"That's right, Comrade General." The middle-aged man said respectfully, "My name is Yosifov, and I'm a staff member of the city's housing management department. I made an appointment with you last night to go house hunting together today. Are you and your wife ready to go?"

"Oh, it's Comrade Iosifov." Sokov stretched out his hand and shook hands with the other party, then said, "My wife is washing up, so you may have to wait for a while. It's cold outside, please come inside and wait."

"No, Comrade General." Iosifov said with a smile, "It's snowing outside. My shoes are covered with snow and will make your house dirty. I'd better wait at the door."

Seeing that Yosifov was unwilling to enter, Sokov stopped forcing him. He did not close the door, but went straight to the bathroom, urging Asia to speed up: "Asia, the comrades who are here to pick us up to see the house are here, hurry up, we are leaving."

Hearing Sokov say this, Asiya poked her head out of the open door and said in surprise: "Misha, are we really going to go and see the house?"

"Of course." Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: "Hurry up and don't keep the comrades from the Housing Management Department waiting for too long."

A few minutes later, under the guidance of Yosifov, Sokov and Asiya got into the black car parked outside the building.

When the car started, Asiya leaned close to Sokov's ear and said excitedly, "Misha, am I dreaming? Are we really going to see a house?"

"We are all sitting in the car, how can this be false?"

Iosifov, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, heard Asiya's voice, half turned around, and said with a smile: "Comrade General's wife, you will see your new house soon. I believe you will be satisfied with it."

Ten minutes later, the car drove into a yard, which was the so-called villa area.

There are not many villas, only about twenty or so, all of which are two-story independent buildings.

After entering the villa area, the driver slowed down the car, and Yosifov turned around again and asked politely: "Comrade General, there are four villas left in the middle of the villa area. It depends on which one you like."

Sokov had no idea what the villas here looked like, so he naturally couldn't choose. He could only say to Yosifov: "Comrade Yosifov, please take us to see those villas so that we can make the final choice."

Yosifov nodded and told the driver: "Go to villa 16 first, then go to villas 19, 20 and 22."

Soon, the car stopped in front of a villa.

"Comrade General, this is Villa No. 16." Yosifov turned to Sokov and said, "If you don't object, we can go in and take a look."

After obtaining Sokov's consent, Yosifov got out of the car first, then came to the back seat, opened the door, and asked Sokov and his wife to get out.

In front of the villa, there is a yard surrounded by iron fences, with many flowers and plants planted in it. Perhaps because no one has taken care of it for a long time and it is winter, these flowers and plants have withered.

Yosifov opened the gate, invited Sokov and the other man in, and said to them, "This yard is more than 200 square meters. After you move in, you can hire a gardener to help you take care of the flowers and plants in the yard."

Sokov was not interested in planting flowers and plants in the yard. He just wanted to know how many rooms there were in this two-story villa and how many people it could accommodate: "Yosifov, how many rooms are there in the villa? How many people can it accommodate?"

"The villa is divided into a basement and two floors." Yosifov introduced to Sokov: "There is a kitchen and three bedrooms on the first floor, and four bedrooms on the second floor. If people want to live here, it can accommodate at least a dozen people."

Hearing that more than a dozen people could live here, Sokov felt more at ease. He even thought that if there were really seven bedrooms, he could not only bring Asia's parents to live here permanently, but also hire a cook and a gardener in addition to the guards Zhukov sent him. If Asia didn't object, he could even hire a few more waiters.

When you enter the villa, the first thing you see is the spacious living room, which is more than 70 or 80 square meters. Even if you want to invite people to dance, such a large space is enough.

Walking into the bedroom, Sokov suddenly felt that his original residence was not so nice. One bedroom was more than 40 square meters, and two bedrooms were larger than his original residence.

After visiting his villa, Sokov asked Asiya for her opinion: "Asiya, what do you think of this villa?"

"I feel very good about it. How about you?"

"I think it's good too." Sokov asked tentatively, "There are three other villas. Do we need to go and see them?"

"No need," but Asia shook her head and said, "I think the other three villas are similar to this one, the only difference is the location. I think this place is pretty good, so let's choose this one, and there's no need to look at the other three."

"Comrade Yosifov." Although Sokov knew that the structures of the Russian houses of the same type were similar, he still asked Yosifov out of caution: "Are the other three villas the same as this one?"

"You are right, Comrade General," Iosifov replied, "This villa complex was built in the early 30s. The structure of each villa is the same. The only difference is the location."

Seeing that Yosifov's statement was similar to Asiya's guess, Sokov made up his mind and said to Yosifov: "Comrade Yosifov, let's choose this one, and there is no need to look at the other three."

"Okay, Comrade General." Seeing that Sokov didn't want to look at the other three villas, Yosifov naturally wanted to see them. He asked carefully, "Comrade General, when do you plan to move? Can I arrange for someone to help you move?"

(End of this chapter)