Red Moscow

Chapter 2438

"Yes, you guessed it right." Sokov said approvingly: "That's indeed what it means."

“Comrade General,” Wo Wen, who was driving, turned to Sokov and said, “Are you still worried about the traffic police stopping your car?”

"If I were wearing casual clothes, I would definitely worry about being stopped by the traffic police and questioned for a long time." Sokov said to Wowen with a smile: "But the military uniform I am wearing at the moment is the best pass."

"Well, you are right." Wo Wen continued: "The traffic police in the city are better. They will take the initiative to let people go when they see the pass on the windshield. But some of the traffic police on duty in the suburbs will deliberately make things difficult for people. . To tell you the truth, I came back from Vladimir once last year. When I passed a traffic police checkpoint, I was stopped and questioned for a long time. I took out my ID and special pass, but it still didn't work."

The car drove forward for some distance, and Sokov saw a traffic policeman standing in the middle of the road ahead. When the traffic police saw a car approaching, he pointed to the roadside with his baton and signaled to pull over. Wo Wen cursed in a low voice, but still followed the traffic police's instructions and parked the car on the side of the road.

Seeing the traffic policeman approaching, Sokov quickly rolled down the rear window, stuck his head out and asked the other party: "Comrade traffic policeman, are you asking us to stop?"

Although the traffic policeman had just seen the special pass stuck on the windshield, he thought it was a driver of a certain chief minister who took the opportunity to take the car out for a drive on the weekend, so he stopped him specifically to conduct an inspection. But what he didn't expect was that there was a general sitting in the back row. The traffic policeman was startled and quickly raised his hands and saluted: "Hello, comrade general. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in the car. I shouldn't have stopped you." Your car.”

After the traffic policeman finished speaking these words incoherently, he gestured to Wowen to indicate that he could drive away.

The car continued to drive along the highway, and Wo Wen said with emotion: "Comrade General, since you are not here today, the traffic police will definitely check my documents carefully and repeatedly question me about the purpose of driving to the suburbs. It is even possible that Call me to verify, and then let me go after confirming everything is correct. Fortunately, you were sitting in my car, so he didn't dare to make things too difficult for me."

The rest of the way was difficult, and there were not many cars seen along the way. Sokov began to mutter to himself: "If the car breaks down halfway, and Wo Wen doesn't have the ability to repair the car, then I don't know what to do next." How long to wait here for a passing car.”

“Misha,” Asia whispered suddenly, “This stretch of road is so desolate. What if something goes wrong with our car?”

Although Asiya's voice was relatively soft, Wo Wen still heard what she said and quickly comforted her and said: "Don't worry, even if it breaks down, we can still go to the nearby vehicle repair center for help and let them help us. Repair vehicles.”

"Vehicle maintenance point?" Sokov said with some confusion: "I have carefully observed along the way, and I didn't find any maintenance point?"

"That's it, Comrade General." Woven explained to Sokov: "Starting from leaving the city, there is a vehicle repair station every fifty kilometers to serve those vehicles that have broken down. Think about it, this The road is so desolate. If there are no vehicle repair stations along the way, what will happen if there is a problem with the vehicle? Now that the war is over, vehicle breakdown will only delay some time and will not bring any adverse consequences. But what if it is during the war? , something goes wrong with the vehicle while driving, and if it is not repaired in time, it may cause trouble, and no one can bear this responsibility."

"It's really far enough to set up a vehicle repair station at an interval of fifty kilometers." Sokov said: "If the vehicle really breaks down, you need to walk at least several kilometers or even more than ten kilometers to ask for help. This delay will be considerable. long."

"There's no way." Wo Wen said helplessly: "Vehicle breakdowns don't happen every day. If there are too many vehicle repair stations along the way, it will be a waste. I think it's good to set up one every fifty kilometers. . And walking a little further, there are train tracks passing through the forest. We can go to the station for help, and they can also provide manpower to help us repair the vehicle. "

“Oh, is there a train passing through the forest in front?” Sokov couldn’t help but curiously asked after hearing Wo Wen’s words: “I wonder where the train is going?”

“Vladimir.” Woven replied: “The train can go to Vladimir. If you want to go to Vladimir, you can take the train.”

Asiya saw that Sokov seemed to be very interested in this point, and said from the side: "Misha, in fact, many people take the train to Vladimir just to visit Suzdal."

"Suzdali?" Sokov repeated the ground and asked puzzledly: "What is that place?"

"Misha, you're a Muscovite, but you don't even know about Suzdal." After teasing Sokov, Asiya introduced him: "Suzdal is about 30 kilometers away from Vladimir. , the entire city was built on the Poklonnaya hills, and the city was founded more than 100 years earlier than Moscow. In the first half of the seventh century, Suzdal became the most prosperous city in the Rostov-Suzdal principality.

It was once the capital of the Grand Duchy of Suzdal until the twelfth century, when the capital was moved to Vladimir, another city on the Golden Ring. In the 13th century the city was severely damaged by the Tatar invasion. After Kiev fell to the Lithuanians in the 16th century, it once again became the capital of the Russian Orthodox Church.

 This city has a high religious status, with more than 50 churches and 5 monasteries in the city. Local farmers, monks, and craftsmen built white houses on the fields based on descriptions in Russian fairy tales. These houses are like pearls, forming a fairy tale world. During the "Russian Winter" festival at the end of December and early January every year, Suzdal attracts visitors from all over. People wear bright national costumes, ride sleighs, sing and dance, so the city also enjoys the reputation of "Fairy Tale City". "

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but interrupt and asked: "I wonder if there are any famous attractions in the city?"

"The most worth seeing is definitely the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, built in 1222-1225. It is the oldest church among dozens of churches in the city. The blue dome has become the symbol of Suzdal." Assi Ya continued: "There is also a Kremlin in Suzdal, but compared with Moscow, the standard here is much smaller and older. The entire Kremlin is located on a towering hill, with a stone river meandering beside it. , the terrain is quite prominent.”

Sokov laughed heartily: "Asiya, I heard that Suzdali you described is so good, I can't help but want to take a look."

"Comrade General." Before Asiya could reply to Sokov, Wowen interrupted: "If you want to go, when we come back from Crystal City, I can take a longer detour and go directly to Suzdal."

Regarding Wowen's proposal, Sokov thought for a moment, but shook his head and refused: "Forget it, we are going to Crystal City to buy crystals today. If we want to visit Suzdal, we can find another time."

Asiya originally wanted to agree with Wowen and make a special trip to Suzdal on the way back from Crystal City, but now that Sokov said this, she could not insist on anything anymore. Anyway, as long as Sokov stayed in Moscow If I have to work, I will have more time to go out and play in the future. If possible, bring your children with you.

 After more than three hours of turbulence, the car finally drove into Crystal City.

Before entering the city, Wowen saw a traffic police checkpoint on the roadside, so he drove over and stopped at the entrance of the checkpoint.

After the car stopped, Wo Wen rolled down the window and asked a traffic policeman standing outside the door: "Hey, comrade policeman, where can I buy crystals?" "You want to buy crystals. "When the traffic police learned that Wo Wen wanted to buy crystals, he pointed to the road enthusiastically and said: "Drive along this road, turn right when you see the first fork in the road, and drive a little further, you will see a fence. The walled market is where crystals are sold. But the market closes at 12 o'clock, so if you want to buy crystals, you have to move quickly."

Following the instructions of the traffic police, Wo Wen drove to the outside of the Crystal Market. He parked the car in the open space outside the market and asked Sokov to get out of the car: "Comrade General, we are here. If you want to buy any crystal products, go in Take a look."

When Sokov helped Asiya get out of the car, Wowen specifically reminded him: "Comrade General, I will wait for you in the car. If you buy a lot of things, you can ask the store clerk to provide a trolley to put the things Send it directly to me so I can put it in the trunk in advance."

"Okay, okay." Sokov was originally worried about how he would get them back if he bought too many crystal products. But after listening to Wo Wen's words, he realized that the store also provided delivery services, so he nodded and said: "If I buy enough stuff to fill a cart, I'll ask my guy to deliver it here."

"Comrade General, my trunk space is limited." Wo Wen said euphemistically: "If there are too many things, I may not be able to fit them."

 “Don’t worry, I know what’s going on.”

 After Sokov and Asiya entered the market, Asiya asked: "Misha, what crystal products are you going to buy?"

"You must buy wine sets as a gift for your father." Sokov said thoughtfully: "In addition, we must buy a few crystal products such as fruit plates and vases. We can use them in our own homes. superior."

"Okay, it's all up to you. Whatever you say to buy, we will buy it."

Sokov visited Crystal City once in later life and bought a bunch of crystal wine sets to give away. But due to cost considerations, he only bought very ordinary white crystals. He never bought any products made of red crystal, green crystal and citrine.

“Misha.” The two of them had just walked two stalls when Asiya stopped, pointed to a row of small glass slippers on the counter and said, “Look, these glass slippers are so beautiful.”

Sokov looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough he saw a row of colorful glass slippers. These glass slippers are just decorations. They are only about an inch long and cannot be worn by people. They are just for display at home.

From the expression on Asiya's face, Sokov knew that she liked these glass slippers very much, so he asked directly: "Asiya, which glass slipper do you like?"

“There are only five kinds of white, purple, red, yellow and green here,” Asia picked up a glass slipper in one hand and looked at it carefully, “I want to buy them all.”

“Girl,” Sokov asked the female clerk in the store, “How do you sell these glass slippers?”

“White glass shoes cost 5 kopecks each.” The female clerk replied: “The other four colors of glass shoes cost 15 kopecks each.”

After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but asked in confusion: "Girl, why is the price of white glass shoes only one-third of other colors?"

The female clerk grinned, and then explained to Sokov: "The price of colored crystal is inherently more expensive than white crystal. The reason why the price difference is so big is because white crystal shoes are made of glass."

“Oh, that’s it.” After figuring out what was going on, Sokov turned and asked Asiya: “Asiya, the white glass slippers are made of glass, do you want them again?”

"Yes, of course." Asiya nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "Although it is made of glass, it still looks very beautiful. Let's buy all five colors of glass slippers."

Of course, Sokov would not refuse Asiya's request. He said to the female clerk: "We all need these five colors of glass shoes. Please help us pack them."

The female clerk took out a paper box and a newspaper and placed them on the counter. After tearing the newspaper open, she wrapped the glass slippers one by one and carefully put them into the box. After putting all the glass slippers on, he said to Sokov: "Comrade General, the total is 65 kopecks. Please pay."

 After Sokov paid readily, he picked up the box, took Asya's hand and walked towards the next stall.

The next stall sold basically vases and fruit plates of various sizes. The two of them looked at them for a long time, but didn't see anything interesting, so they continued walking forward and came to a stall selling wine sets.

  The wine utensils are composed of a wine bottle and six small wine glasses, and the colors are mainly white, yellow and green. Asiya stopped and said to Sokov: "Misha, I think the wine sets here are good, how about picking two sets?"

"Okay." Suofan nodded and said, "We will buy whichever suit you think is suitable."

Seeing Sokov's special status, the stall owner took the opportunity to introduce Asiya to the side while she was selecting the drinking utensils: "Comrade General, there are two origins of the drinking utensils in my stall, one is Vladimir and the other is It’s Leningrad.”

Hearing that some of these wine sets came from Leningrad, Sokov couldn't help but asked curiously: "I wonder which place of origin has better wine sets?"

"Of course it's Leningrad." The stall owner replied without hesitation: "Leningrad's crystal products have hundreds of years of history, and the manufacturers are also well-established. Most of the manufacturers in Vladimir were born in the 1930s. Established, both in terms of craftsmanship and production level, they are obviously inferior to large manufacturers like Leningrad.”

After listening to the stall owner's introduction, Sokov made up his mind. He said to Asiya: "Asiya, did you hear what the stall owner said? If we want to buy, we will buy the ones produced in Leningrad." Even if the wine set is more expensive, it’s still worth it, you get what you pay for.”

 (End of this chapter)