Early the next morning, Sokov and Asya changed into casual clothes and left home.
Because they entered the compound directly by car yesterday, the sentry guarding the gate did not see the two of them. When the two went out today, they were wearing casual clothes. The sentry at the door saw two people in casual clothes walking through the compound.
, naturally we need to be more vigilant.
When the two Sokovs were still about ten steps away from the gate, a sentry stepped forward and stopped them: "Stop, what are you doing?"
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, and 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 met you two. To be honest, I have never met the two of you.
, 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. She saw a sergeant sitting inside and taking a nap. She took a closer look and saw that the man happened to be someone she knew, so she raised her hand and touched the glass.
Knocked up. 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 person, quickly stood up from his seat, and said with a smile: "It turns out to be Asiya.
Military Doctor Thea, 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 to Sokov and raised his
He saluted with his hands and said: "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 a group of people, they have never seen you. If they have caused you any inconvenience, I apologize to you on their behalf."
"It doesn't matter, it's just a small misunderstanding." Sokov said to the sergeant reasonably: "I'm not wearing a military uniform today, so you don't have 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 argue with you. You'd better have someone with a bad temper."
General, if you stop me like this, I will scold you lightly, and I might even give you two slaps in the face. 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 will be 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 did not 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
The husband said apologetically: "Asia, I'm so sorry. If I had known there were so many people in the subway, I would have definitely contacted a bus in advance."
"It's okay, Misha." Asiya said generously: "I haven't taken the subway for a long time, so I just came 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 in an empty seat, he stood next to him. It was not that he refused to sit if there was a seat, but that he had developed a habit of riding in the car. As long as there were women, children and the elderly standing, even if
If there is a seat next to you, don't sit down casually, otherwise it will be considered impolite.
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?"
"There's nothing wrong with it. Come and sit down."
Sokov took a deep breath, and then sat down next to Asya anxiously.
"Misha, since there is a free seat, why don't you sit down?" Asiya asked curiously.
Sokov murmured: "Don't you 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. An old lady came up next to her. Without saying a word, she stepped forward and grabbed the girl's shoulders, lifted her up from the seat, and then sat down calmly.
I was worried that if I just sat down, an old lady would come over and pull me up from my seat. If such a situation really 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 thirty or forty people in this carriage, and there are so many empty seats. Even if you take a seat, it will not affect other people.
"
After the two got out of the subway, Asya took Sokov to the nearby bus station with familiarity and said, "You can get to Khimki by bus from here in four stops."
Seeing that Asya was so familiar with the route, Sokov couldn't help but think that during the days when he was not in Moscow, when Asya was not working, she might go to the city and go home to see her parents, making the round trip more frequent.
, naturally you are familiar with the route.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, a bus pulled into the platform. Perhaps because this is a suburb and it happened to be a working day, there were not many people on the bus. When Sokov and his wife got on the bus, there were only half the seats left.
It was 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, so the total for the two of you is four kopecks."
Asiya quickly handed over the change she had prepared long ago: "Here are four kopecks, please keep them."
When Sokov took the ticket handed over by the conductor, he couldn't help but secretly lamented 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, the subway ticket was 30 rubles, and the bus ticket was 30 rubles.
The ticket is 25 rubles, which is more than a thousand times more expensive.
The fourth stop will arrive 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 the honor.
I was appreciated by my superiors, and thus got the opportunity to rise to the top. I just don’t know if the house I traveled to when I first traveled is still there? If it is still there, I can go and have a look and see if I can return to my 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, Asiya 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
Continue to stay in Khimki Town and serve as a 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 may have been transferred by now and work as an officer in a factory.
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 the Red Square is the town of Khimki. If they
If we couldn't bypass our army's defense line and rush into the town of Khimki, I don't think there would be any 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 walked, Sokov suddenly saw the flower stall in front of him, pointed with his hand and said: "I remember that when we came here last time, we went to the flower stall to buy flowers. Unfortunately, it was freezing and snowy at that time.
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 soon, and what Sokov was worried about did not happen. Damana looked at Sokov and asked Asiya thoughtfully: "Asiya, this is 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.
, if you don’t work 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 were not suitable, so he couldn't buy them. Carnations are usually given as gifts to mothers in China, but in Russia they are often used to visit graves, so they must be too.
He couldn't buy it. After looking around, his eyes stopped on the sunflower in the corner of the pavilion, which is the national flower of Russia. He pointed towards the sunflower with his hand and said, "Asia, let's 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."