The two of them left the machinery factory and returned to the guest house of the engine factory. Just when they were about to go to the restaurant to have something to eat, they were stopped by a waiter on duty. She came to Yakov and handed over a sheet of paper.
He handed the square piece of paper to the other party and said at the same time: "Comrade Captain, two hours ago, an air force captain came here to look for you. Seeing that you were not there, he left this piece of paper.
strip."
After Yakov thanked the waiter, he unfolded the note. After reading it for a moment, a knowing smile appeared on his face: "This guy actually came to Nizhny Novgorod."
He stuffed the note into his pocket, turned to Sokov, who was about to walk towards the restaurant, and said, "Misha, we won't be eating in the restaurant today. I'll take you to meet someone." After he said this,
Finally, seeing that there was no change in the expression on Sokov's face, he added, "He is an old friend of both of us."
"Our common old friend?" Sokov couldn't help but be surprised when he heard what Yakov said. He secretly thought that the person who left the note to Yakov must be the child of another leader, otherwise it would definitely not be him.
A mutual friend with Yakov. Thinking of this, he asked one after another: "Who is it?"
But Yakov did not answer, just smiled, and then said: "You will know when you meet the person."
The two came out of the guest house and saw the driver standing on the side of the road, chatting with a woman wearing a headscarf. When he saw the two coming out, he speeded up his speech and said a few words to the woman, then trotted over with a respectful attitude.
He asked: "Comrade commanders, do you still want to go out?"
"Yes, we need to go out immediately." Yakov asked tentatively: "Do you know how to get to the Dobrolyubov Memorial Hall?"
"Of course I know." The driver nodded and gave an affirmative answer. He looked at Yakov and asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, do you plan to visit the memorial hall?"
"No," Yakov shook his head and said, "We are going to visit a friend who happens to live near the Dobrolyubov Memorial Hall."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." The driver turned sideways and made a gesture of invitation to Yakov and Sokov: "Please get in the car, and I will take you there right away."
The jeep soon arrived near the Dobrolyubov Memorial Hall. The driver parked the car on the side of the road, then turned to Yakov and asked for instructions: "Comrade commander, where should we drive next?"
"We'll get off here." When Yakov opened the door and prepared to get out of the car, he raised his hand to look at his watch and said to the driver: "Comrade driver, we have to visit a friend nearby, and it may take a long time.
You can just pick us up here at eight o'clock in the evening."
"I understand, Comrade Captain." The driver nodded vigorously and replied, "I will arrive on time!"
After the two got off the car, Yakov looked around, then chose a direction, pointed forward with his hand, and said to Sokov: "Misha, the place we want to go is right in front. Let's go
Bar!"
The two walked forward for a while. Sokov saw a life-size bronze statue on the side of the road. He secretly guessed that this was probably the most famous Russian literary critic in the 19th century, Dobrolyubov. The bronze statue
Behind them are two closed wooden doors, with a somewhat discolored notice posted on the door. Unfortunately, the distance is too far and it is impossible to see what is written on it.
Yakov noticed that Sokov was constantly looking at the two closed wooden doors, so he said to him: "Misha, don't look, the Dobrolyubov Memorial Hall was closed shortly after the war broke out. Please
If we want to open it again, we probably have to wait until the war is over."
The two passed the memorial hall, walked forward for a while, and finally came to a residential area. Yakov took out the note just now from his pocket, carefully checked the content behind it, and looked up at Soko
The husband said: "Misha, the place we are going to visit is in Building 17. Look carefully to see where it is."
Hearing what Yakov said, Sokov quickly carefully checked the numbers of nearby buildings. After looking at them for a while, he said to Yakov: "The buildings here are all even-numbered and should be in the opposite direction."
So the two of them turned around and walked back. When they passed the Dobrolyubov Memorial Hall again, Yakov said with a wry smile: "It seems that I made a mistake. I thought that the building with the odd number should be in the direction just now, but who knows?"
In the opposite direction."
When passing an officer's store, Sokov suddenly remembered that if he was going to be a guest at someone else's house, he couldn't go empty-handed, so he stopped and said to Yakov: "Yakov, it's not appropriate for us to come to the door empty-handed like this."
Well." He pointed to the nearby store with his hand, "Why don't we buy something here."
Yakov immediately agreed to Sokov's proposal. He came to the door first, opened the glass door and walked in. The salesperson who was chatting in the store saw two young and handsome officers walking in from the outside.
, quickly took the initiative to say hello: "Two comrades, commanders, do you need anything?"
"Is there any vodka?" Yakov asked briefly.
Unexpectedly, after the salesman heard Yakov's question, he was silent for a moment and then asked: "Comrade Captain, do you have a letter of introduction issued by your superior?"
"A letter of introduction, what kind of letter of introduction?" Yakov looked at Sokov with a strange look, and then asked the salesperson in confusion, "I just want to buy a few bottles of vodka, do I need a letter of introduction?"
"Yes, Comrade Captain." The salesperson said in a positive tone: "Since alcohol is included in the special supplies, except for general-level officers who can purchase it directly, officers of other levels need to provide a letter of introduction."
"Damn it, this is hell." It was probably the first time that Yakov encountered a situation where a letter of introduction was needed to buy something. He asked, somewhat dumbfounded: "So what products do you have here that don't require a letter of introduction?"
The thick-set salesman turned his body to one side, pointed to the shelves at the back with his thick palm, and said: "Comrade Captain, the canned vegetables on this shelf don't require a letter of introduction."
Hearing that canned food is free, Yakov pointed at canned cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc., and said: "Give me two of these canned fruits. In addition, give me two of each of butter and cheese."
Hundred grams..."
After buying things, Yakov and Sokov carried things in both hands and walked towards a residential building not far away. While going upstairs, Sokov remembered a joke from later generations: "Someone invited friends to
When I was a guest at home, I once told my friends: When you come, just kick the door with your feet. My friend asked in confusion: Why do you kick the door with your feet? Someone replied: Because you are carrying things with both hands.
I can’t spare my hand to knock on the door.”
The two came to the door of the person they were visiting, turning the joke on the Internet into reality. When a young air force captain heard the knock on the door, he opened the door and looked at Yaco carrying large and small bags outside.
Yakov and Sokov asked curiously: "Yakov, why did you kick the door with your feet?"
"Nonsense, didn't you see that I was holding something in both hands?" After Yakov finished speaking angrily, he stuffed the things in his hand into the other person's hand and said: "Hurry in, I
I’m almost fainting from hunger.”
The air force captain looked at Sokov standing aside and asked curiously: "Yakov, who is this major...?"
Yakov walked towards the house without looking back and said: "He is Misha, a good friend of yours and mine."
"Are you Misha?!" There was an expression of surprise on the air force captain's face. He originally wanted to reach out and shake hands with Sokov, but when he saw the pile of things in his hands, he smiled sheepishly and then said politely.
Said: "Please come in quickly!"
When Sokov walked into the living room, he saw a long wooden table in the middle of the room. The wooden table was filled with all kinds of food and drinks. Sitting around the table were an air force lieutenant and four young and beautiful girls. Maybe
Seeing that Sokov was carrying a lot of things, the lieutenant took the initiative to take the things and put them in the right place.
Yakov went to the toilet as soon as he entered the door. Sokov felt a little nervous when he saw that there were all strangers present. When the air force captain came over and shook hands with Sokov, he said: "Misha, do you remember me?"
After taking a good look at the captain, Sokov shook his head and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, comrade captain, I really can't remember who you are."
Hearing Sokov say he didn't know him, the air force captain showed a disappointed expression on his face. Yakov happened to come out of the toilet and said to the captain: "Leonid, you can't blame Misha, he
He suffered a head injury a few months ago, which caused amnesia. He couldn't even recognize me, let alone you."
Yakov walked to Sokov, pointed to the air force captain named Leonid, and introduced to Sokov: "This is Leonid, and his father is Khrushchev."
"Khrushchev's son?!" Although Sokov had already guessed that Leonid might be the son of a certain leader, he didn't expect that it was actually Khrushchev's son. He suddenly jumped from his seat.
He jumped up and asked in surprise: "Are you Khrushchev's son?"
"Yes, my father is Khrushchev." Although Leonid felt that Sokov's reaction was a bit exaggerated, he still answered truthfully: "You, I and Yakov were very good friends when we were young.
We were friends, but we separated due to various reasons. I didn’t expect that your amnesia was so severe that you couldn’t even recognize me.”
Next, Leonid introduced five other guests to Yakov and Sokov: the air force lieutenant, his wingman pilot Lieutenant Victor; the other four girls were Shula, Alla, and Jia.
Erka and Vera, they are both neighbors in the building.
Looking at Leonid sitting opposite, Sokov began to murmur in his heart. He clearly remembered that after the Battle of Stalingrad began, Leonid accidentally shot himself because he was drunk.
A colleague, he was sent to a military court. Perhaps for his father's sake, he was not sentenced to death, but was stripped of his military rank and demoted to a private soldier.
After the Battle of Stalingrad, he disappeared during an airborne operation. There are two completely different accounts of his disappearance. One is that he defected to the Germans in a plane and was later captured by Stalin's men.
He was shot; another theory is that he died heroically in an air battle.
Sokov used to firmly believe in the theory of defection, but after coming to this era, his idea changed. He clearly remembered that before shooting and accidentally killing his colleagues, Leonid had participated in the Hal
During the Battle of Cove, his plane was shot down and he himself was injured. When he was sent to the field hospital, the doctor saw that his leg was seriously injured and planned to amputate him. After discovering the doctor's attempt, he
, put a gun to the opponent's head, ordered him to send himself back to Moscow for treatment, and successfully saved the leg.
If the defection occurred before the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, there is still a certain possibility. On the day the Leonid fighter plane disappeared, that meat grinder battle ended for a month. Manstein near the Dnieper River
, was beaten to tears by the Soviet army, and defected when the Soviet army had the upper hand. Unless Leonid's brain was filled with water, he would never do such a stupid thing.
After everyone took a drink from the wine glass in front of them, Yakov asked curiously: "Leonid, how did you know that I live in the guest house of the engine manufacturing plant?"
"What a coincidence." Leonid said after filling the wine glass in front of Yakov: "Victor and I went to the engine to perform a mission, and accidentally met several officers from Moscow. I and
One of them knew each other, and while chatting, I overheard him mention that among the people who came to Nizhniy Novgorod with them, there was actually you. Thinking that I have never seen you since the outbreak of the war, I
I went to the guest house to look for you. Seeing that you were not there, I left you a note with the address here and asked you to come as a guest."
The two drank a few more drinks, and Leonid suddenly asked a question that made Yakov extremely embarrassed: "Yakov, I once heard the German propaganda that you were captured by them. What on earth is this?"
What's going on? Is it a rumor?"
"Yes, this is a rumor." Seeing the embarrassed expression on Yakov's face, Sokov quickly spoke to help him: "Yakov was injured in the battle and hid in a local collective farm to recuperate.
The German army may have seen Yakov's name on the captured roster and spread the rumor that Yakov was captured in order to undermine the morale of our army."
Seeing Sokov rescuing him, Yakov showed a grateful look on his face. He followed Sokov's words and continued: "I have been recovering from my injury at the farm for almost half a year. After the injury improved, I just happened to catch up with me."
The army started a major counterattack. Seeing our army's successive victories, I couldn't wait any longer, so I immediately set off to return to the army. Coincidentally, the place where I crossed the battle line happened to be Sokov's defense zone, so he sent someone