Because I slept for three hours after dark, the night of riding a carriage on the grassland was not particularly uncomfortable.
When it was slightly bright in the east, Eva seemed to be unable to hold on any longer. She leaned on my shoulder and took a nap.
The sun rose above the horizon, its rays lighting up a wide strip of land stretching across the land in front of us.
I nudged Eva with my elbow.
Eva murmured "Woo" and rubbed her eyes with her hands, looking like a child under ten years old. She raised her hands and stretched greatly, then raised her head, her eyes blurred. He looked at me as if he had fallen asleep.
"Eye shit." I pointed at the corner of her eye.
"Ah, oh."
She raised her right hand and rubbed at the corner of her eyes.
After a moment, she blinked her red eyes and asked me seriously: "Is there anything else?"
I shook my head and then turned my face to the Don River, which was already in front of me.
"Now that we have water, what are you going to do with that poor girl in the trunk?"
Who knew that Eva would give me a clue: "You will know it when you get to the river."
I shrugged. At this time, my mood was not good enough to argue with Eva. I relaxed the reins and let the Don hippo pulling the carriage jog casually on the dirt road extending to the river, while I myself Looking at the sparkling Don River in the distance, my thoughts flew back to the small town we left.
That young man, Oleg, has probably died.
If Nina had not died at this time and Oleg had not returned to that town, the air around us would have been much lighter.
With such a cheerful young man, it must be a very good thing to become friends with him. And his lover Nina must also be a lovable girl. They knew each other and fell in love on this grassland. They were originally They should have more things, and their future should be filled with the glory of happiness.
I couldn't help but think of my Natalia, the feeling of soaring in the sky with Natalia, the road we walked in the dusk with her, and the starry sky we saw together.
Yes, I know it was probably me who killed Natalia, but if this war had not happened, Natalia would still be by my side now, smiling happily.
I looked at the Don River getting closer and closer, and suddenly I had an impulse - I wanted to ask loudly about this river, which is regarded as the mother river by the people living in this land:
Now, Don River, how many more beautiful things will this war take away from this land and from this sky?
"Our land is plowed with horses' hooves, the glorious soil is planted with Cossack heads, the vast steppes are dotted with young widows, our father, the quiet banks of the Don River are full of orphans. The quiet Don River is full of orphans. The rolling waves of the river are the tears of my parents."
I heard that this was an ancient Cossack song that the Don River Military Region Song and Dance Ensemble had sung when they toured our area, but this time Eva didn't sing it, she just chanted it softly.
"Why don't you sing?"
"My voice is too high-pitched, and I can't sing that kind of deep pathos. This kind of song only needs a bass to be sung to have artistic conception."
To be honest, I think just reciting it can already express that kind of pathos. I looked at the Don River across the grassland in front of us, and its silence seemed to have another meaning at the moment. I closed my eyes slightly. Eyes, recall the contents of the military history course of the military academy, recall the wars that took place on this grassland, on both sides of the quietly flowing Donets River - this is really a troubled land. So it must be so fertile because it has been moistened by countless blood...
Just when I was lost in my own thoughts, Eva suddenly said to me: "I thought you would be a colder person, Grisha."
"Do you want me to be more ruthless?" I asked. In fact, what I wonder is, am I not ruthless enough? Take the night that just passed, for example, I almost shot a deserter who threw away his gun.
When my compatriot decided to go to his death, he pushed him. I don't think being cold is a good thing, but I also don't think there is anything wrong with it. This is the cold blood that the cold winter of the westerly tundra gave me.
"No, I think this is fine."
Eva's words fell, and silence temporarily fell around us.
After a while, it was me who spoke up: "Eva, you are the same, I thought you were a quiet and steady guy, but that's not the case at all!"
"I've always been a very cheerful person, but..." At this point, a trace of gloom passed over Eva's face, and then the same sadness that I had seen when I first met her appeared on her face.
With a gentle smile, she narrowed her eyes and stared at the approaching Don River. Her light voice was mixed with some vicissitudes that were completely inconsistent with her temperament, "In short, a lot of things have happened."
At this time we finally reached the bank of the Don River. I pulled the reins and stopped the horse, but before the car stopped, Eva jumped out of her seat and landed on the ground with a light movement.
When she landed, her long silver-gray hair spread out in the air, reflecting the brilliance of the morning glow, and looked like a pair of broad and powerful wings.
"'You can be sad, you can complain, but you can't escape.'" She faced the waves of the Don River and repeated the words I said to Oleg yesterday.
Her expression looked like that of a devout Christian.
Then the two of us moved the girl lying in the trunk of the carriage out and placed it on the shoal on the bank of the Don River. The clear Don River water flowed around the girl, and the quiet Don River gently caressed her daughter.
I didn't know what Eva was going to do next, so I could only stand quietly on the shoal, letting the clear Don River water slap against my waterproof military boots. I waited for Eva's next move.
Eva turned around and walked back to the river bank, taking off her military boots and socks and placing them out of reach of the river water. Her ankles were horribly thin, her fair skin had a glass-like clarity, and there was a row of small ones on the front of her feet.
The toes were inlaid with pink nails, which formed a sharp contrast with the soft skin.
She returned to the shallows with her bare feet, letting the clear river water cover her ankles.
Is it my imagination? I always felt that after the river flowed through her ankles, it seemed a little different from before, but I couldn't tell how it was different.
Eva bent down and picked up a handful of river water with both hands. She stared at the water droplets leaking out from her fingers, and her red lips lightly opened and sang a string of words with unknown meaning.
Then she straightened up abruptly and threw the water in her hand upwards.
She kept repeating this action and singing the deep and melodious melody repeatedly.
The strange thing is that not all the water she threw up fell down, but a considerable part stayed in the air and broke into a hazy mist. The mist faced the sun, followed the flow of the Don River, and passed over the people lying on the shoal.
Nina's body floated downstream, leaving behind a gorgeous rainbow - it looked like a colorful road leading to heaven.
Suddenly, I felt dazzled - I seemed to see a thin golden light spot rising from Nina's body, like a group of dandelions flying in the wind, scattering into the mist.
These light spots grew higher and higher, eventually disappearing into the morning light.
I opened my mouth wide and looked at this magnificent scene that was both real and imaginary, and I didn’t realize that Eva had stopped singing...
"It's over, Grisha."
Eva patted me on the shoulder, waking me up from my stupor.
"She has successfully gone to a wonderful, happy place."
Eva's words sounded sad and tender.
I silently removed the bayonet from the rifle in my hand, held it in my hand and walked up to the river bank, squatted down and started digging a hole in the soft black soil.
Since we didn't have a shovel, it took us a long time to bury Nina's body.
Eva picked up a pile of fist-sized pebbles from the river beach and piled a small grave for Nina.
Not only that, she also used smaller pebbles to line up a line of words in front of the tomb:
Here lies a good daughter of the Don River. She never surrendered to the enemy until her death. If you have time, please put a flower in her honor - Air Force Second Lieutenant Eva, Major Gregory
This line reminds me of the military song Eva sang when she bid farewell to Oleg last night.
——Every time people pass by here, they say how beautiful the flowers are.
I couldn't help but whistle the tragic melody. I knew it was against the rules to whistle and salute at the same time, but I couldn't help but do it. Only in this way can I express my mood appropriately.
Then, Eva and I hit the road again.
"I found out," Eva suddenly said after walking for a while, "Grisha, you are quite good at music, although your singing is indeed not very good..."
"kindness."
"Do you know how to play an instrument?"
"kindness."
"Um, did I ask a question I shouldn't have asked?"
I turned my face sideways, glanced at Eva next to me, and found that she was looking at me worriedly.
I found that I couldn't stand Eva's gentle and clear eyes, which were like the key to my heart, making me unable to help but vomit out things in my heart that I had never told anyone else.
I obviously planned to bury everything in my heart, but I said it so easily - maybe I have been looking forward to telling someone.
"I buried my accordion on the mountain behind the base together with Natalia's clothes, accessories, and other small items."
I kept the simple accordion that my father gave me and the melodies that my grandfather taught me in that small tomb.
"That's it..."
Our conversation was interrupted here. Eva sat quietly next to me, staring into the distance with her wandering eyes. As the carriage bumped, her thin shoulders would touch mine from time to time.
I suddenly felt that it was unfair. She had read my resume and had just stolen a piece of my important memories from me, but she didn't say anything. However, I still suppressed the urge to ask her about the past. My mother-in-law was so worried.
It is not in line with the behavior of us tundra people, and it is not the behavior of a warrior to pry into other people's privacy - not to mention that the other person is still a girl.
I no longer looked at Eva, but focused on staring ahead, urging the reins in my hands.
At this time, Eva's whisper floated into my ears: "You are really cold."
I don't know what the vague blame in her words is aimed at, but as a man, it's better to apologize.
I was about to put this idea into action when a strange smell irritated my nasal cavity.
It's the taste of blood.
A good hunter must not only have a keen eye like an eagle, but also a sensitive nose - on the tundra, relying solely on hounds is absolutely impossible.
I tightened the reins and searched for the source of the smell.
Finally, I found dozens of slumped corpses in the middle of a wheat field, all of them wearing Confederate Army uniforms.
I found that I actually recognized one of them.
It was the deserter I almost shot last night. His fearful face at that time was deeply imprinted in my memory, so I recognized him without much effort. He picked one up because of Eva.
Xiao Ming, at this moment, could only open his hands and lie down among a piece of blood-stained wheat...
Eva also recognized the deserter. She stood next to his body for a long time with her eyebrows lowered and a sad look on her face.
I left Eva where she was, checking the wounds on the corpses one by one, and confiscated a handful of Bobosha. I walked around the makeshift execution ground, and found that in the wheat field, in addition to the uniform leather of our army worn on the feet of the dead, I
In addition to the footprints of the boots, there are also many footprints belonging to the Axis soldiers - only the soles of their military boots will have the Axis military emblem printed on them. I also found many brass bullet casings in the wheat fields. These bullet casings and
The specifications of our military's standard ammunition are very different.
I put the muzzle of the Bobosha gun I picked up to my nose and smelled it, but I didn't smell even a hint of gunpowder.
These deserters would probably surrender immediately as soon as they encountered the Nazis, only to be mercilessly swept to death by the enemy in this wheat field.
"It's your own fault." I threw away the Axis-made cartridge case in my hand and muttered.
I walked a little deeper into the wheat field, and an astonishing discovery made me stop.
I found two ruts, half-track ruts.
The Confederate Army was not equipped with half-track tanks at all!
What's going on? Have the Axis powers already installed armored vehicles that can be airborne into their troops?
At this time, my eyes caught the smoke rising on the horizon behind us.
The sky-high dust reminds me of a galloping cavalry.
I immediately lay down in the wheat field. When I lay down, the sharp edge of the wheat leaves scratched my cheek. I put my ear against the ground that had become hard because it had not been watered for too long, and then I heard the muffled thunder from the distance. I
The blood coagulated in an instant.
What was galloping in the direction of the rising smoke was not a cavalry team, but armored cavalry.
"Grisha, where are you?"
Eva's anxious shout made me jump up from the ground. I waved to her and ran towards her.
"What's going on, Grisha, what's going on with that dust?"
I didn't answer Eva's question immediately, but pulled her straight to the carriage.
I spread out the aviation map I carried on the cargo platform in the back of the carriage. On it was drawn the enemy and enemy situation that had been updated just before the departure of the Thunderbolt.
"That smoke..."
"That's the enemy's armored force that moved in from the Minsk front."
"Enemy's? How did you..."
"Look," I pointed with my finger at Meshelovka near Kiev on the map, "this is the enemy's breakthrough point yesterday. If we break through from here, we can only outflank our troops stationed around Kiev, because this breakthrough point is so far away
The main force of the Kiev Front is too close, and if the outflanking arc is too long, our army will counterattack and cut off the outflanking troops and follow-up troops.
However, if the enemy allows Army Group Center, which was originally attacking Minsk, to advance westward, as long as they continue to advance after capturing Rostock, they can further cut off the connection between the entire Kiev Front Army and other units, and destroy all the Kiev Front Army.
Troops and even part of the Bryansk Front were surrounded..."
"I don't understand military affairs, please make it simpler!"
"That is to say, the current situation is very bad. This group of deserters probably encountered the enemy's armored group army's outpost, and now the enemy's main force is passing behind us. If we don't move quickly, we may encounter the flanking covering troops. That way
If so, our fate will probably be the same as this group of deserters!"
I asked Eva with my eyes if she understood. She nodded vigorously and climbed into the carriage without saying a word.
"Then let's go quickly."
In the next hour, I kept swinging the riding whip, forcing the bay-red horses to run fast, pulling us to run wildly, until the bay-red horses were sweating all over their bodies, and their fur was soaked with sweat and they were huffing and puffing.
Steaming...
When I finally got the horse to slow down, Eva reached over and took the reins and whip away from me.
"Grisha, go to the trunk and take a nap. Your eyes are so red that they are almost catching up with mine."
Eva's words immediately brought my fatigue to the surface. Indeed, I haven't slept since last night and have done so many strenuous exercises. Now I am quite tired.
But is it right that Eva’s situation is similar to mine?
As if she had guessed what I was thinking, Eva showed me a gentle smile: "It's okay with me. I was napping on your shoulder while you were driving. If your right shoulder is hurting now, it must be
I was the one who suppressed it. Now we have changed shifts, it’s as simple as that."
"But... can you drive a carriage?"
My words made Eva's face wrinkle.
"What you say is outrageous. We fairies are a race better at communicating with animals than you humans!"
After saying this, as if to prove this point, she put down the whip and reins and whispered a few words to the bay horse in a language I couldn't understand. I was surprised to see the bay horse raise its head and neigh. It felt like a reception.
Soldiers on mission.
Then, the horse let go of its legs and started trotting on the grassland.
Eva spread her hands and smiled proudly at me.
I shrugged and climbed into the back of the carriage.
But when I lay down in the trunk, I found two light blue ribbons caught in the gaps of the wooden boards that formed the carriage bed.
I remembered that Nina was lying in the carriage last night with her hair in braids. At that time, the braids were only half untied. But when we buried her just now, her hair was all spread over her shoulders.
This was probably because the ribbon tying her hair got caught, and the braids came apart when we moved her.
I pulled the two ribbons out from the cracks in the board. They were two very beautiful silk ribbons. The blue satin was patterned with silver lace on both sides.
Just at this time, Eva's silver-gray hair flying in the wind swept across my cheek, and the sour and squishy touch gave me a good idea.
Eva's hair is so long that it almost reaches her knees. With such long hair, it is very troublesome to sit in the cockpit of an airplane.
I'll tie her hair into a braid.
In the westerly tundra, both men and women are accustomed to growing their hair long and tying it into braids, so I am pretty good at tying braids.
The moment my hand touched Eva's silky hair, she shrank her shoulders suddenly, as if she was startled.
She turned around and saw me, and her tense shoulders immediately dropped.
"what?"
"Don't move, I'll tie your hair into a braid."
I ignored Eva's protest and continued to play with her hair. I divided the gathered hair into two bundles, and divided each bundle into three strands. I began to tie her up according to the unique braiding method on the westerly tundra.
Braids.
Eva's hair is long, but it is as slender as her body. The two braids are much thinner than I thought, but these long and thin braids are very consistent with her overall impression.
consistent.
After I finished, Eva put both hands behind her back and kept touching the back of her head. While touching, she asked me worriedly: "You didn't do any weird tricks in the back? Didn't you do it?"
I yawned, and then said to the crying Eva: "I'm going to sleep. If you really don't like this braid, just take it off."
"Excessive. You are bullying me for not carrying a mirror with me. How can I know if I look good without a mirror? Also, where did you get such a beautiful silk headband?"
"That's Nina's relic."
After saying this, I lay down in the trunk again and closed my horribly heavy eyelids...
After hearing this, Eva also fell into silence and did not speak for a long time.
This silence made me a little concerned, so I raised my hand and gently patted her back.
"I fell asleep, and if I find the enemy, remember to wake me up immediately."
"kindness."
Then I fell into sleep.
We rested alternately like this and headed non-stop towards our intended destination - the industrial city of Lar near Minsk.
Because we didn’t know the latest situation between ourselves and the enemy, we avoided all inhabited settlements along the way. The food and water we had along the way were taken locally from the grasslands. It was not a big deal for me to prepare food for two people.
It’s difficult, after all, I am a hunter who can survive on the westerly tundra where the environment is much worse than the Don River grassland with just a hunting knife.
There were no enemies to trouble us during our trip, and even the enemy planes that passed over our heads from time to time were too lazy to pay attention to us.
Before arriving at our military defense area, the person who gave me the biggest headache was Eva. When I first met her, I thought she might not be as good as Aksinia in daily life, but she should be more or less better than sewing clothes.
Natalia, who can stab her hand more than a dozen times, is stronger, and her subsequent performance on the battlefield made me even more convinced of this judgment.
Unfortunately, now I find that I was wrong.
Eva is on the same level as Natalia. For example, she would accidentally dig through a mole's hole while digging potatoes, pull out a nest of mole babies, and then be chased all over the floor by a big mole.
Run; another example is that she can burn anything, but is stubborn and refuses to
Eat my portion - don't eat if you don't want to eat, and she always likes to stare at a pair of tearful eyes when tearing her burnt food with her teeth. As a result, I have to take an extra portion of her food every time and help her bake it.
Okay, then tell her this is for those who are hungry on the way...
All in all, my first impression of Eva completely collapsed at the moment, and I regard this as the best example of "time passes, and time changes people's hearts."
On the morning of the eleventh day after being separated from the Thunderbolt, we arrived at our army's defense line outside Minsk.
The Cheka identification certificates that Pugashov got for me and Eva were of great help. After showing this certificate to the frontline officers, we were immediately taken to the division-level command structure. The Cheka personnel stationed there told us
We, the order to search for the two of us on the front line was issued to all division headquarters on the front line a week ago.
This news shows that both Pugaqiaofu and Honglei are safe.
The division that received us sent a squad of soldiers to escort us all the way to Lal.
When we met Pugaqiaofu that night, the bald military lieutenant general did not hide his surprise at all.
"To be honest, when I asked the Cheka to search for your whereabouts on the entire front, I didn't hold out any hope at all." Pugashov said as he scratched his bare head in annoyance, "
Damn it, why didn’t they report you two to me as soon as they found you? Just this morning, the second wave of birds took off, but there is still no news at all.”
"Because we only arrived at our defense line this morning."
After hearing my answer, Pugachov looked in disbelief. He opened his eyes and stared at us: "You mean, the two of you crossed the Don River Plain full of Nazis?"
Xida and I have a good rapport.
"Oh my god, you might as well go and command the Cheka's Einsatzgruppe behind enemy lines..."
Pugaqiaofu and I laughed at the same time, but the laughter did not last long.
I lowered my face and confirmed to Pugaqiao Fu: "So, just today, another thirty-two groups of outstanding rune machine crews died in this damn mission?"
"That's the thing. In the eyes of the big shots in the headquarters, excellent pilots are no different from frontline soldiers." Pugabhoff sighed longly, his expression looking a little solemn, "But the second batch
The failure of Bird and the miraculous survival of you two make me think that this is the so-called 'God's will'. You two are destined to pilot Valkyrie One, believe me."...
I shrugged and said nothing.
Afterwards we had a cup of coffee at Pugachov's place and then set off for the air force base near Lal, where we would receive adaptive training.
When we left the factory, we met an unexpected person.
Pugachov's new factory is next to Lal Railway Station. The factory gate and the station platform are separated by a road and a low wall. Eva and I were waiting in front of the factory for the jeep sent by the air force base to pick us up.
, I accidentally discovered a familiar figure sitting next to the open door of a tank truck transporting wounded soldiers parked on the opposite platform.
I pulled Eva across the road, climbed over the low wall, and jumped onto the platform.
At this time, the figure also spotted us.
"Grisha? Eva? Are you okay? Great, it's great to see you again!" Tonya shook her dazzling blond hair and waved to us desperately.
Before I could reply, Eva rushed out from me. She ran to Tonya as fast as she could, grabbed hold of Tonya's legs hanging outside the carriage, raised her neck and stared at her with moist eyes.
Looking at Tonya's face.
At this moment, Eva's face is filled with fierce, heartfelt joy. Now she is not so much a soldier crying with joy when seeing her comrades safe and sound, but more like a soldier who finally got the gift of God.
Christians who weep for forgiveness.
Why did she have such an expression? I had no idea at the time.
Eva's expression made Tonya's face turn red. She frowned slightly and turned her face to one side: "No, don't be like this, Eva, isn't it a matter of course that I live? I am so happy for the things that are a matter of course.
It’s not worth shedding tears! Isn’t there a human saying that women should not shed tears easily?”
"It's a boy." I corrected the petite fairy with a smile, but at this moment, I suddenly discovered that the left sleeve of Tonya's military uniform was empty.
It turns out that's why she sat on the injured train.
Then I discovered that there was a simple accordion placed on the small bag behind Tonya that seemed to be her luggage.
But no matter how much I turned my neck and opened my proud eyes, I couldn't find the owner of the accordion.
"He's gone." Dongnia's face with a bright smile just now suddenly turned cold as frost. Then she raised her remaining right hand and wiped her eyes vigorously.
The smile on my face made me feel sad for a while, "I hate it, now is obviously the time to be happy..."
The change in Tonya's expression also caused the joy on Eva's face to gradually fade away, and the sad and gentle smile that I had seen many times appeared again. With such a smile, she calmly
He said to Tonya in a tone of voice: "Excuse me, Tonya, how did he die? Can you tell me?"
Dongnia opened her mouth wide, and the look of surprise suddenly replaced the sadness. It took her a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "What? So Eva, you can talk? I thought..."
"Please tell me, please." Eva stared at Tonya with firm eyes and repeated her request again.
Tonya's face turned gloomy again. She took a deep breath and was silent for a while before slowly speaking: "At that time, the Nazi's rune cannon missed the target for some reason and failed to hit T45 directly.
The main body killed us all at once. However, they still hit the joint of the leg on my side, so the walking armor moved towards
I fell on my side. But just before the collision, he pushed me out of the cockpit, but he could not get out of the armor. After I got up from the ground, I wanted to go back to save him, but the flamethrower was
The gas leaking from the fuel tank caused a big explosion, and the rising fireball completely engulfed the walking armor that fell to the ground.”….
Listening to Tonya's story, I reached out my hand from behind Eva and held her shoulder. I hoped that this action would convince her that it was her shot that caused the Nazi rune cannon to lose its accuracy. I didn't know that I
Did the idea reach her, because until Tonya finished speaking, her expression did not change at all, and no words came out of her mouth.
Tonya stared at my hand on Eva's shoulder, with a hint of envy mixed in with the sadness on her face.
"I probably know something about you." Tonya smiled sadly at us, "It's already so painful for me to lose a partner... so I think you are too strong."
At this time, a short whistle came from the direction of the front of the car, which meant that the train was about to leave.
I also put my other hand on Eva's shoulder, trying to pull her away from the track, but she took advantage of my inattention and broke away from my hand. She jumped up slightly and grabbed Tonya.
The empty sleeve demanded a little forcefully: "I want that accordion."
"Eva!" I couldn't help but raise my voice, "There must be a limit to your willfulness!"
But Tonya shook her head gently and signaled me to stop talking.
"If you want it, I'll give it to you. Anyway, I can't pull it if I keep the one-armed one, and my next partner might be a tone-deaf person, so you better take it." As she said that, Dongnia used her right hand to lift the hand that was placed behind her.
The simple accordion on the small bag was handed to Eva.
I was a little worried and couldn't help but confirm again: "Isn't this something very important?"
"Yeah, if you're not around, it's true... it's a bit lonely, but it's no problem, everything about him is fine in this place."
The petite fairy girl pressed her chest with her right hand, her face looked sad and strong.
Eva took the piano and took two steps back while holding her hands in front of her chest.
The train started slowly, and Tonya kept sitting next to the open door, waving to us.
Soon the train completely left the platform and gradually disappeared at the end of the track.
We looked for a long time in the direction where the train disappeared.
Eva turned her eyes away first. She turned to face me and held out the accordion to me.
"Can you please accompany me next time I sing?"
I looked at Eva's serious, expectant face, and her gentle and clear eyes. The braid I tied for her was flying in the breeze left by the train, and the ribbons at the end of the braid were like two
Blue butterflies playing with each other.
I was silent, not hesitating, I just felt strange. I had clearly vowed never to play a musical instrument again, and I had clearly decided to bury this part of my life on that hill together with Natalia's remaining belongings, but yet
Why do I always feel that taking over Eva's accordion is a natural thing now?
Finally, I nodded.
"If you don't mind it."
A loud horn sounded from behind, followed by a strange, impatient voice.
"Comrade Major, can you please hurry up?"
The car sent by the airport to pick us up arrived.