Red Moscow

Chapter 2471

By eleven o'clock in the evening, Kopalova finally read the entire manuscript.

She looked at Sokov with red eyes and asked: "Misha, I really didn't expect that all five female soldiers who followed Vaskov on the mission died. I thought that no matter how bad the situation was, there would always be one or two female soldiers. Soldiers can survive.”

Sokov went to the bathroom and twisted a hot towel, brought it to Kopalova to wipe her face, and then asked: "Who do you think is most likely to survive?"

Kopalova replied without thinking: "It must be Lida. She has a mother who is seriously ill, and a son who wants to see her but is afraid of her. It seems that among all the female soldiers, she should live."

"Well, Warrant Officer Vaskov in the book thought so too." Sokov nodded and said: "He hid Leda among the rocks and covered her with branches to prevent her from being discovered by the searching Germans. Even so, He was still worried and gave his only weapon, a pistol with only two bullets left, to Lida for self-defense. But in order not to drag him down, Lida resolutely chose to commit suicide so that Vaskov could let go Use your hands and feet to deal with the Germans.”

“Misha, I was just thinking, if Lida had not died and Vaskov had not found Sonia’s body, what do you think he would have done next?”

Kopalova’s question really stun Sokov. He had never thought of this possibility. Now that the other party had asked, he couldn't help but start to think about it. If the situation mentioned by Kopalova really happened, how should Vaskov behave next?

Perhaps because of Lida's drag, Vaskov did not dare to break into the monastery easily and fight the Germans in a life-and-death struggle. At best, he only dared to monitor nearby. After discovering that the Germans were coming out of the monastery, he was afraid that he would make some noise to attract the enemy's attention, preventing the enemy from continuing to penetrate deeper into the Soviet defenses as planned.

“Misha, how long have you been back in Moscow?”

"it's been a while."

 “Have you visited the children?”

When Sokov heard what Kopalova said, his heart couldn't help but wonder. What child was he talking about? Could it be his and Kopalova's child? Thinking of this, he couldn't help but blushed with embarrassment, and asked without confidence: "What child?"

"Have you forgotten that when I went to Stalingrad for an interview, you asked me to bring out the four children?" Kopalova may have been worried that noble Sokov would forget things, so she took the initiative to say: "At that time, you took the The four children Jim, Anton, Daniel, and Lilia were handed over to me. After I returned to Moscow, I sent the four children to the orphanage. Every month, I would take time to visit them."

When he found out that what Kopalova was talking about was the orphan he had taken in during the Battle of Stalingrad, Sokov couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been better if it wasn't his own child, otherwise he wouldn't know how to explain it to Asya. .

"No. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten about these four children." Sokov shook his head and said, "After I handed them over to you, I thought they had been adopted by a kind family. Unexpectedly, They were all sent to an orphanage."

"Misha, I have no choice." Kopalova may be worried about Sokov being angry, so she specifically explained to him: "During the war, Moscow, like other cities, implemented a rationing system. They had no identity. It proved that the rationing system was unavailable, and it was impossible to feed them with just my own strength. So sending them to a welfare home was my only option at the time."

"Kopalova, you did the right thing." Sokov walked up behind Kopalova, put his hands on her shoulders, and said softly: "I thought about it later. If I really let If others come to take them in, I'm afraid it will bring a huge burden to the families who take them in, so sending them to an orphanage may be a good choice. Now after the war is over, some families who have lost their loved ones may go to the orphanage to adopt children. They get a chance to have a new family of their own.”

The two were talking when suddenly there was another knock on the door.

“Misha, it’s so late, who could it be?” Kopalova said nervously.

“I don’t know.” Sokov shook his head and said, “Maybe it’s the waiter on the second floor.”

Kopalova looked around the room and found that although the room here was large, she could see everything as long as she stood at the door. The only place she could hide was the bathroom. She quickly stood up and said to Sokov: "Misha, I'm going to hide in the bathroom first, and then I'll come out after the waiter leaves."

Seeing Sokov nod in agreement with her proposal, Kopalova stood up and walked quickly into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

After Kopalova hid, Sokov walked to the door, reached out and opened the door.

To his shock, the person standing at the door was not the waitress, but Karina, who had disappeared for a day.

“Karina,” Sokov asked in a panic when he saw that the person coming was Karina, “It’s so late, what are you doing here?”

Carina raised a cloth bag in her hand and said with a smile: "This is the midnight snack I prepared for you. If you are hungry at night, you can add a snack."

 Sokov took the cloth bag from Karina's hand and could feel the temperature of the lunch box inside through the cloth: "Karina, thank you so much, I made you make a special trip so late at night."

"It's okay," Karina said carelessly, "I can just come over and see how your book is going." After saying that, she walked into the room.

Seeing that Karina not only did not leave, but instead walked into the room, Sokov broke into a cold sweat. There was a Kopalova hidden in the bathroom. If the two met, he would not know how to explain it.

Karina came to the table, looked at the thick stack of manuscripts on the table, picked it up and asked Sokov: "Misha, how long will it take to finish your book?"

“The manuscript has been completed.” Sokov replied: “Comrade Werner, the screenwriter, will return to Moscow at noon tomorrow. He will take the manuscript to see the editor-in-chief of the publishing house to see if it can be arranged for publication.”

"Misha, I have confidence in you. Your book will be published and will receive rave reviews."

"I hope so." When Sokov said this, he couldn't help but cast his eyes towards the bathroom door, secretly praying that Karina could leave quickly, otherwise it wouldn't be a problem for Kopalova to stay in the bathroom all the time. .

Karina picked up the manuscript, flipped to the place where she had read it, and continued to read the content. She did not notice that Sokov was as restless as an ant on a hot pot. After reading more than a dozen pages, Karina suddenly noticed the towel on the table and put down the manuscript. At the same time, she reminded Sokov: "Misha, how could you put a wet towel and the manuscript together? What if the water It would be troublesome if the manuscript gets wet and the writing on it becomes blurred.”

“This is my negligence, I will put the towel back in the bathroom.” Sokov said, ready to reach out to pick up the towel.

Unexpectedly, Karina easily dodged Sokov's extended hand and said with a smile: "You sit down while I put the towel back in the bathroom."

When he saw Karina walking towards the bathroom, Sokov couldn't help but cover his eyes with his hands. He felt that the next moment was going to be a scene of Mars hitting the Earth, and he didn't know what to do?

Unexpectedly, after he heard the door open, there was silence, and the imagined sound did not appear at all.

Sokov put down the hand that was blocking his eyes and looked towards the door of the bathroom, only to see a shocking scene: Kopalova stood in the bathroom, Karina stood outside the bathroom, the two of them were you looking at me, and I looking at you. , just looked at each other, but no one spoke.

"Let me introduce you to you." Seeing this, Sokov quickly walked over and introduced the two of them: "This is Kopalova, a photojournalist for "Izvestia" and also my photographer. Old friend. This is Karina, the city secretary’s clerk.”

"Hello, Karina." After listening to Sokov's introduction, Kopalova first extended her hand to Karina and said with a smile: "If I tell you, I just came to Misha to read a book, Do you believe it?"

Karina turned her head and glanced at Sokov, then nodded and said in a positive tone: "I believe it!"

Hearing what Karina said, Sokov noticed that Kopalova seemed to be secretly relieved. Then, Kopalova walked out of the bathroom and said to Sokov: "Misha, it's getting late. I have an interview assignment tomorrow, so I'll go back first. If we have a chance, let's go see the children together."

Sokov saw Kopalova to the door, and when he was about to see her off again, Kopalova stopped: "Misha, don't see her off, there are still guests in your room." After that, Taking advantage of Sokov's body blocking Karina's view, he quickly stuffed a note into Sokov's hand.

 After Kopalova left, Sokov closed the door. Just listen to Karina asking: "Misha, I didn't disturb your good deeds, did I?"

"No, no, what did you say?" Regarding Karina's question, Sokov was naturally unwilling to admit it to death: "She really just read a book. She just finished reading, went to the toilet, and then caught up. You came."

Karina is also a smart person and saw that Sokov's words were somewhat untrue. However, she did not expose it. Instead, she entered the bathroom with a towel and closed the door behind her.

Sokov took this opportunity and quickly opened the note in his hand. He saw that there was only a four-digit number on it, which should be Kopalova's room number. After reading it, he quickly crumpled the note into a ball, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed it in three times. At the same time, I was thinking that as long as Karina was sent away, I could go to Kopalova and explain the matter to her to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

After Karina came out of the house, she said to Sokov: "Misha, you must be hungry. Hurry up and eat the midnight snack I prepared for you."

"Okay, okay." A somewhat guilty Sokov quickly took out the lunch box from the cloth bag, opened it, took the tableware handed over by Karina, and began to eat slowly.

Carina did not stare at Sokov as he ate his midnight snack, nor did she ask if the food was delicious. She just held the manuscript and read the content behind it.

Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help but groan inwardly. It seemed that Karina would not leave until he finished his midnight snack, so he hurriedly speeded up his meal. In less than five minutes, the late-night snack sent by Karina was completely wiped out.

Sokov picked up the lunch box and tableware and was about to go to the bathroom to clean it, but Karina stopped him: "Misha, it's better for me to do this kind of thing." After that, he took the lunch box from Sokov's hand. and tableware, and walked into the bathroom.

 A few minutes later, Karina came out of the bathroom, looked at Sokov who was circling around the room, and asked curiously: "Misha, what are you doing?"

“Karina, it’s getting late. Why don’t I take you home?”

“No,” Karina shook her head and said, “It’s just too late and it’s cold outside. I don’t want to leave.”

"Huh?!" When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart. Is Karina going to stay again? If Kopalova did not appear, he would not object to Karina staying, but there was a Kopalova not far away who was waiting for him to give a reasonable explanation. If Karina did not leave, he would have no choice. Go to Kopalova: "You're not leaving?!"

"Yes! Isn't it possible?" Karina said with a smile: "I didn't stay last night."

Sokov suddenly had nothing to say. If he really drove the other party away, it would be too unethical. He could only bite the bullet and said: "Yes, of course. As long as you are willing to stay, of course I support it with both hands." .”

Karina tilted her head and looked at Sokov, who was a little uncomfortable, and asked, "Are you still thinking about that Kopalova?"

"No, no." Sokov immediately denied, "Didn't I tell you that she was just a former friend of mine who came to my place to read a book tonight?"

"Then before she left, she said that you would go see the child together when you are free, so what happened?" Karina continued to ask, "Isn't the child she mentioned not the child you two share? "

"No, of course not." Sokov knew very well that if Karina didn't tell Karina the whole thing clearly, she might be pestering him about this issue all night, so he explained: "The child Kopalova is talking about, They were the four orphans I rescued during the Battle of Stalingrad. At that time, Kopalova happened to be following a reporter from Izvestia to Stalingrad for an interview. When they left, I asked her to take all four children away. That dangerous city.”

“Where did she place the children after she took them away from Stalingrad?”

"In the orphanage. When she returned to Moscow, she placed her four children in the orphanage." Sokov was worried about Karina's misunderstanding, so he further explained: "Although Moscow is the capital, it is still the same as other cities. , the rationing system was implemented. Those four children had nothing, and it was impossible to obtain rationing. With her own ability, she could not raise four children, so sending the four of them to an orphanage was the best choice. "

 (End of this chapter)