red moscow

Chapter 2699 Clues

The two continued to wander around the flea market. Sokov didn't find anything to sell, but Xiao Ma saw two stainless steel wine jugs that looked like cannonballs at a stall.

Seeing that he wanted to buy this kind of wine bottle, Sokov quickly reminded him: "If you buy it and only use it in Moscow, it doesn't matter. But if you bring it back to your country, it will be confiscated at customs. You have to think about it carefully."

"It's okay, it's okay." Xiao Ma felt very uncomfortable at this moment. He had finally come to the flea market, but he was stopped from buying anything. He couldn't come empty-handed, so he waved his hand and said carelessly, "If they want to confiscate it when we go through customs, just give it to them. It's no big deal."

Seeing Xiao Ma's self-righteous look, Sokov didn't know what to say. He thought that it was his money that was spent on the purchase, and it was none of his business, so he shut up and let the other party pay for the two stainless steel wine bottles in the shape of cannonballs.

On the way back to the market, Xiao Ma suddenly asked, "Brother, what do you think about me opening my own store?"

Sokov was stunned after hearing this, and then asked, "Opening your own store? Is it your own idea or your uncle's idea?"

"Of course it's my own idea." Xiao Ma said, "I left my hometown and came to a foreign country. I don't want to work for others all my life. If I have the opportunity, I still want to be my own boss. It's better than working for others."

"It's good to have dreams, but it also depends on the conditions for realization." Sokov said tactfully: "Opening a store in Moscow is not an easy thing. For example, renting a store and preparing goods require a huge expenditure. In addition, you have to spend money on food, clothing, housing and transportation here. When you open your eyes every day, you find that you have to earn hundreds of dollars to break even. Do you think you have the conditions to do so?"

"Since others can gain a foothold in Moscow, I think I can too." Xiao Ma said confidently: "Brother, can you help me when the time comes?"

Sokov thought, I'm not your father, why should I help you? Although he felt a little unhappy, he pretended to be calm and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Lend me some money first, and I can rent a shop." Xiao Ma said, "Then introduce your cargo owners to me, so that I can get the goods I want from them. Of course, it would be best if they were consignment sales, where I can pay for the goods after they are sold. In this way, my shop will be built."

After hearing Xiao Ma's bizarre remarks, Sokov was shocked. He never dreamed that the other party actually regarded him as a rich man, and wanted him to act as his cash machine, and also wanted him to introduce the owner of the goods to him. This kind of idea can't be thought of without more than ten years of cerebral thrombosis.

"Does your uncle know that you want to do business alone?" Sokov did not immediately quarrel with Xiao Ma for Lao Wu's sake. Instead, he suppressed his anger and tried his best to speak in a calm tone: "Since Lao Wu is your uncle, you should have said what you just said to him."

"I told my uncle about it, but he didn't say anything." Xiao Ma leaned sideways and said, "Now in Moscow, besides my uncle, you are the only person I know. If you don't help me, who can help me?"

Listening to the other party's self-evident remarks, Sokov felt that he could not give him face, otherwise, even if you gave him some color, he would still want to open a dyeing factory.

"Let me make it clear that we are just neighbors and not close friends." Sokov said with a straight face, "Although I usually chat and laugh with your uncle, we are competitors. By supporting your business, I not only offend him, but also cultivate a competitor for myself. Do you think my IQ is too low and I will definitely agree to your request?"

Seeing that Sokov was angry, Xiao Ma did not dare to say anything. He did not say a word during the rest of the journey.

When they arrived at the parking lot of the market, Sokov said to Xiao Ma, "We are here. Go back first and don't let your uncle wait anxiously."

"how about you?"

"I still have things to do. I'll go back after I'm done."

After Xiao Ma walked away, Sokov found an empty space to park his car, and then went to the store where Anna worked to find her.

Just as Anna finished her work, she saw Sokov coming in from outside and asked curiously, "Misha, did you just come back from outside?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and replied, "Just came back from the flea market."

“What are you doing at the flea market?”

"The neighbor across the street asked me to bring his nephew there to broaden his horizons."

"Did you buy anything?" Anna continued, "The things sold at the flea market have become less and less interesting in recent years, so I don't go there anymore."

Sokov sat with Anna for a while, and after he calmed down, he slowly returned to his shop.

As soon as he sat down, Lao Wu ran over and said to Sokov, "Xiao Lin, I asked you to take my nephew to the flea market, why did he buy useless things?"

"You mean those two wine jugs that look like cannonballs?"

"Yes, that's right, it's the two wine jugs." Lao Wu said unhappily, "You are also Lao Mo, you should know that if you buy this kind of thing, you can't take it back. It will be confiscated when you go through customs."

"Yes, I know." Sokov nodded and said bluntly: "When he wanted to buy it, I also advised him, but he wouldn't listen. What can I do?"

"But he told me that you asked him to buy it."

"Old Wu, you and I have known each other for more than a year or two. You should know what kind of person I am." Sokov didn't want to let the pony take the blame, so he told Old Wu what happened at that time: "I didn't even look at this strange-looking wine jug, so how could I persuade your nephew to buy it?"

When Lao Wu heard this, he thought that what Sokov said made sense. He didn't need to lie to him about such a small matter, so he said awkwardly, "Then I'll go back and ask him."

When Lao Wu returned to his shop, Lena came over and asked curiously, "Misha, what are you talking about? I think the boss across the street seems unhappy."

Seeing that Lena was curious about this matter, Sokov repeated the conversation to her and finally said, "I should have known not to take him to the flea market. Otherwise, this wouldn't have happened. It's really unlucky."

"Misha, I think you have bad luck recently." Lena said, "Just think about it, it's only been a short time since Victory Day, and so many things have happened. Why don't you go to the church with me tonight, light a candle and pray, then bring back some holy water and sprinkle it in the store, maybe it can get rid of the bad luck."

Sokov thought about Lena's suggestion and shook his head to refuse: "Forget it, I don't believe in these things. If you think holy water can get rid of bad luck, then please go to the church and ask for some holy water." "Okay, I'll go to the church after get off work."

After returning home in the evening, Anna saw the photo album that Sokov brought back and asked in surprise: "Misha, why did you buy an old photo album?"

Sokov naturally would not tell Anna that he saw himself in the photo in the album, but perfunctorily said: "I saw that this is a photo album of a military family, and I couldn't help but buy it and take a look."

"I wonder how much it cost?"

"2500 rubles."

"It's a bit too expensive." Anna said, "Old photo albums like this are sold in the second-hand markets in small cities in the suburbs. They usually cost three hundred to five hundred rubles each. If you want one, I'll take you to buy it."

"No need." Sokov bought the photo album because he saw himself in it. When he heard Anna's words, he quickly shook his head and said, "I just bought one on a whim. I occasionally buy one to take a look. There's no need to buy more."

"I'll go cook." Anna said, "I'll call you when it's done."

"Okay." Sokov agreed and went into the study with the old photo album.

He sat at the desk, opened the photo album, and turned to the photo of himself.

In this group photo of five people, except for himself and Lunev, he didn't recognize the other three people at all. He tried hard to recall which unit he had inspected when he took this photo?

However, after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't think of any valuable clues. The only thing he could be sure of was that this photo should have been taken when he was the commander of the 27th Army Group.

Sokov closed the photo album, leaned back, and leaned his head on the back of the chair. He began to think, "At first I thought that the time travel was just a dream, but now more and more information shows that I did participate in the Patriotic War, and because of my outstanding military achievements, I became a general."

He was thinking about it when he suddenly heard someone calling his name: "Misha, Misha!"

Turning his head to look in the direction of the sound, he unexpectedly discovered that two figures had appeared in the dressing mirror that had been silent for a long time. One was his wife, Asiya, and the other was Lunev, whom he had just seen in the photo.

Sokov stood up and rushed to the dressing mirror, wanting to confirm whether the people in the mirror were Asiya and Lunev, but the image in the mirror suddenly disappeared. If he hadn't just heard the sound and seen the image, he would have thought he was hallucinating.

So far, the image in the mirror has appeared several times, but this is the first time that Lunev has appeared. Sokov began to wonder: How could Lunev appear? Did he also go to Vienna?

Just when he was puzzled, the cell phone on the table rang.

He stood up and walked over, picked up the phone and saw that it was Victoria calling. He quickly answered the call: "Vika, is there something wrong with Lida?"

"No." Victoria said a little flustered: "I called you just to ask if the police station over there called you to tell you the whereabouts of your friend?"

"No, I haven't received any calls so far." Sokov sighed and said, "It seems that the police still have no clues about them."

"Don't worry," Victoria comforted Sokov, "If the police have any clues, they will inform you in time."

"Vika, you have been a policeman for so many years. Have you ever encountered similar cases?" Sokov asked.

After hearing Sokov's question, Victoria was silent for a long time, then said, "This case of 12 people disappearing at once has never happened in Moscow. But it has happened in St. Petersburg."

Sokov immediately became interested and asked, "Has the case been solved?"

"Yes, the case was finally solved." Victoria said, "Eight people were missing, three women and five men. The police searched the area where they disappeared for a long time, but still had no clues. Later, a vagrant ran to the police station to report that he lived in an abandoned factory building, and every midnight, he would hear strange noises coming from the ground. At first, the police did not pay enough attention to his report. On the contrary, they thought he had a mental problem and even planned to send him to a mental hospital."

From Victoria's story, Sokov immediately realized that the problem must be in the abandoned factory building, and asked quickly: "Did the police search the abandoned factory building later?"

Victoria nodded and continued, "Later, several men and women who were camping moved into the abandoned factory. They also heard the sound coming from underground. There were men and women who seemed to be screaming. They didn't dare to stay here any longer, so they left quickly and reported to the nearby police station.

After receiving another call from the security guard, the police realized that something was wrong in the abandoned factory building, so they mobilized personnel to search, and also brought two police dogs with them. After searching for several hours, they finally found an iron plate covered by debris in a corner of the factory building. After lifting it, they found a staircase leading down. The police went down to search and soon found a large iron door locked with an iron chain. After prying open the door lock, they found that there were eight people in the room, who were the missing persons they were looking for. "

"So, the missing people were imprisoned in the basement of the abandoned factory building?" Sokov asked tentatively, "If they hadn't been discovered by homeless people and campers, they might have died in the basement."

"Yes, that's true." Victoria said in a positive tone: "When these people were rescued, they were already very weak due to being without water and food for a long time. They were sent to the hospital for treatment for nearly half a month before they barely recovered."

Sokov thought that the disappearance of Baharov and his companions might be related to the case Victoria mentioned, so he quickly asked, "Did these people tell the police how they got into this basement? You know, this place is dozens of kilometers away from where they disappeared."

"They said that they felt sleepy while camping and fell asleep without realizing it. When they woke up, they found themselves locked in a dark basement. The big iron door was locked from the outside and they had no tools to pry it open. So they could only shout desperately, hoping that people outside could hear them. Fortunately, they were lucky that their shouting was finally discovered by homeless people and campers, otherwise they would all have died in that basement."

"Vika, I have an idea now." Sokov said cautiously: "Do you think that after Baharov and his men entered the Hovlin Hospital building, they were also knocked unconscious and then taken to some hidden place and imprisoned?"

"Well, I can't rule out this possibility." Victoria said, "But this case is not handled by our bureau, and I can't interfere with other people's cases."

(End of this chapter)