Red Moscow

Chapter 2477

In this way, Sokov accepted Shekoro's kindness and returned to his residence in the vehicle he sent.

When the car arrived at the gate of the compound, the driver planned to drive directly inside, but was stopped by the sentry at the gate: "Stop, no outside vehicles are allowed to enter here!"

Hearing what the sentry said, the driver turned to look at Sokov, who was sitting in the back row, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, the sentry at the door didn't allow me to drive in, so I have no choice but to get off the car here."

Sokov thought that where he lived was not far from the gate, and he could walk in by himself, so he could just exercise. He thanked the driver, opened the door and got out of the car, and walked towards the courtyard.

The sentry standing guard at the door recognized Sokov and quickly raised his hand to his forehead to salute him. At the same time, he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I didn't know you were here, otherwise I would never have stopped the car." of."

"It doesn't matter," Sokov said magnanimously: "No outside vehicles are allowed to enter the compound casually. This is the regulation of the relevant parties. You are just performing your duties. There is no need to say anything sorry to me." After that, He also shook hands with the sentry before walking towards his home.

When Sokov knocked on the door, Asya who opened the door immediately threw herself into his arms: "Misha, I finally want you back!"

Sokov was worried about touching her belly, so he patted her back gently with his hand and said with concern: "Asia, be careful about your belly."

“It’s okay, this little guy is strong and he was kicking me just now.”

Sokov held Asiya's hand and walked into the house. He put his ear to his stomach and listened, but he couldn't hear anything except "gurgling". He didn't know what it was. Asiya was hungry, and her stomach was growling; it was the sound of a child tossing in her mother's womb.

“Misha,” Asya asked Sokov curiously, “will you come back to Vladimir?”

"I'm not going back." Sokov shook his head and said, "The crew is very busy, and I have nothing to do. Staying there will only cause trouble for them. I might as well go home to be with you."

Asya couldn’t help but smile when she learned that Sokov no longer had to go to Vladimir. She then asked: "Your novel was sent to the publishing house. What did the editor-in-chief say? Can it be published?"

"The editor-in-chief has finished reading my novel." Sokov replied: "He told me clearly that he would arrange for the novel to be published in the near future. In addition, he also specifically asked me whether I wanted to receive the royalties in one lump sum or not. Divided according to royalties.”

 “Then how did you answer?”

"Of course I mean sharing according to royalties." After Sokov said this, seeing a worried expression on Asiya's face, he quickly added: "I made such a decision after repeated consideration. I feel that if we want to maximize revenue, the only option is to share it based on royalties.”

"Misha, although I am a layman in the publishing industry, I also know that if your book sales are not good, the share you get will be very low." Seeing Sokov being so open and honest, Asiya also said He expressed his worries: "This is your first time writing a book. Whether the book you write will be welcomed by everyone is still unknown. To be on the safe side, you should still choose a one-time royalties."

"Asiya, your idea is not wrong." Sokov first agreed with Asiya's statement, and then began to elaborate on his own point of view: "It is indeed not easy to get good results when writing a book for the first time. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with choosing to receive a one-time royalties. However, I don’t think my book is worse than those famous writers, so I chose to share the royalties instead of giving up the one-time royalties.”

Asiya suddenly felt that Sokov was a little too arrogant. It was the first time he wrote a book, and he actually felt that his level was not as good as those famous writers. But if others don’t know about his level, don’t you know it yourself? Let alone Gorky, even it cannot be compared with "Days and Nights" created by Simonov. However, considering that the other party just came home today, she didn't want to argue with him over such a trivial matter, so she changed the topic: "Misha, the food is ready, let's start eating now."

Sokov noticed Asiya's unhappiness, and he knew very well that the other person must think that he was talking big words. No matter how capable a person is, he cannot make it popular when he writes his first book, not to mention that he is still a Someone who has never written a book.

While eating, Sokov asked Asiya tentatively: "Asiya, have you called me recently?"

“I didn’t receive any calls when I was at home,” Asiya replied, “but it’s not clear whether there were any calls when I wasn’t at home.”

　　When he learned that there was no call coming to him, Sokov said "oh" casually.

Asiya asked curiously: "Misha, are you waiting for someone's call?"

"That's right, I'm waiting for a call from my superior." Sokov said somewhat gloomily: "I've been back for so long, but my job still hasn't been settled, so I must be anxious."

Finding out that Sokov was waiting for a call from his superior, Asiya quickly comforted him and said, "Misha, I'm afraid your superiors still have differences regarding your work arrangements."

“There are differences?” Sokov asked in confusion: “Asia, why did you say that?”

"You want to go to Siberia to manage the prisoners of war of the Kwantung Army." Asia smiled slightly, and then said: "But Comrade Ustinov wants you to go to the General Ordnance Department. There may be other people in charge who want you to go to them. Department. As a result, there will inevitably be disagreements about how to arrange your work. After all, you are only one person, so you can't be cut into several pieces and put one in each place."

Sokov laughed dryly, and then said: "Before returning to Moscow, I did want to manage prisoners of war in Siberia. But after thinking about it for a while, my idea changed. In fact, it would be good to stay and work in Moscow. Always available to take care of you and the kids.”

"Misha, is this true?" Asiya heard Sokov say this and couldn't help being surprised and happy: "Do you really want to stay in Moscow to stay with me and the children?"    "That's right." Sokov He gave Asiya a positive answer and then continued: "It doesn't matter to me even if my superiors don't arrange work for me for the time being. I can use this time to write."

“Writing?” Asya was very surprised to hear what Sokov said. She asked in surprise: “Are you still planning to write a book?”

"Yes, I plan to continue writing books." Sokov nodded and gave her a positive answer: "In addition to the book that has been completed, I also have three movie scripts about snipers to write. In addition, I I also plan to write another novel in the near future.”

"Movie script?" Asiya asked nervously after hearing this: "Misha, you have never written any script before, can you write it?"

"I will definitely not be able to write the script well." Sokov knew how much he weighed. If he really asked himself to write the script, he would definitely not be able to write it well. The only way was to write the novel first, and then write a novel similar to Screenwriters like Werner came to adapt it into a movie script. He said to Asiya: "I can write the novel first, and then hand it over to a dedicated screenwriter, who will adapt the novel into a movie script."

Asiya hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Do you know any screenwriters?"

“Yes, I think Werner is a good screenwriter.”

When Werner appeared, Asia had already returned to Moscow. Naturally, she did not recognize this person, so she asked with some confusion: "Who is Werner?"

"He is the screenwriter of the movie "The Battle of Stalingrad."" Sokov explained to Asiya: "The movie being shot in Vladimir was adapted by him."

 “Will he help you?”

"That's for sure. When I came back from Vladimir, I sat in the same box as him." In order to let Asiya know that he and Werner had a good relationship, he also took out his bus privilege pass and put In front of Asiya, he said quite proudly: "This is the gift given to me by screenwriter Werner. With this preferential card, I can take the train without buying a ticket in the future."

Knowing that Sokov had a good relationship with a famous screenwriter, Asya no longer worried that no one would adapt Sokov's novel into a movie. She continued to ask: "Misha, what theme do you plan to write about in your new book?"

"As a soldier, what else can I write about, of course, it is related to war." Sokov said confidently: "This new book will be set in Leningrad, telling the story of the sufferings suffered by the soldiers and civilians in the city. The story of how to bravely fight the Germans after the siege.”

"Leningrad?" Asya couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise after hearing this. She looked at Sokov and asked: "Misha, if I remember correctly, you seem to have never been to Leningrad. . How can you write a popular book if you don’t know anything about that city? I think you should write about the places and battles you are familiar with, and maybe you can attract more readers."

 “Write about other places?” Sokov asked: “Write about where?”

"For us, there is no place more impressive than Stalingrad." Asia said with a smile: "We registered our marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau of Stalingrad, and we were still in the city. You fought with the enemy for several months, and you were even wounded twice. If you can write about all these experiences, it may be a good book that will be popular among readers. If you have no inspiration, you can read Simonov He wrote "Days and Nights", have you read this book?"

"I have, of course I have." Sokov nodded and replied: "This is a novel written by the coward Comrade Semyon from 1943 to 1944. The novel vividly reflects the Battle of Stalingrad. A magnificent battle. In the book, he shows readers the great feats of the Soviet people and army in their anti-fascist struggle by creating vivid images of Shavlov, Maslinnikov, Konyukov and many other Red Army officers and soldiers fighting bravely. After the novel was published, readers reacted strongly. Not only did it receive funding from Stalin, it was also republished many times and translated into multiple languages."

Asiya was a little surprised after hearing this and said: "Misha, have you actually read this book?"

"Yes, Asya, I have read this book." Sokov commented: "This is indeed a good book. It was only after I read this book that I came up with the idea of ​​​​creating it. Fortunately, the crew With help, I wrote a novel of more than 200,000 words in just a few days. The next book I will write is about one million words. If everything goes well, it will take about half a year or even a month. It will take years to finish.”

“Simonov is actually a poet, and writing novels may be his hobby.” Asiya said euphemistically: “I think he will definitely continue his poetry creation next.”

Sokov disagreed with Asya's analysis. He clearly remembered that although Simonov was a poet, the popularity of the book "Days and Nights" made him interested in novels. There was a strong interest in creation. He has devoted himself to writing war-themed novels since the 1950s, and wrote the war trilogy "The Living and the Dead", the first part of the trilogy "The Living and the Dead", the second part "Soldiers Are Not Born", the third part "The Last Summer".

 In later evaluations of Simonov, he is considered to be the undisputed first person in military literature in the Soviet Union. His poems "Waiting for Me", "Alyosha, do you remember the roads around Smolensk", the play "Russians", the novels "Days and Nights", "Lopatin's Notes" and "Life" Works such as the trilogy of novels "The Soldiers and the Dead" have been permanently recorded in the annals of history and have become "literary monuments" of the Great Patriotic War.

Thinking of Simonov's later novels, Sokov couldn't help but sigh. It's a pity that there are no Chinese translations of Simonov's books, so that future generations will never have the chance to see this famous war trilogy. Otherwise, not only would he If you want to copy Chakovsky's "The Siege", you must also make this trilogy your own.

The two of them finished their meal quickly. After helping Asiya put away the tableware, Sokov asked casually: "Asiya, have you sent the crystal jewelry we brought back from Crystal City to your parents? "

"Not yet." Asiya shook her head and said, "They are quite busy with work recently. Even if I go there, I'm afraid I won't be able to find anyone. Fortunately, it will be the weekend in two days. Then you can accompany me to pick up the things." Send it to them, okay?"

"No problem." To Asiya's request, Sokov replied without hesitation: "Even if I have something to do on the weekend, I will refuse it. There is nothing more important than having you go back to see your parents."

Hearing Sokov's heartwarming words, Asiya couldn't help but have a sweet smile on her face: "Misha, I guessed that you would definitely agree."

Just when Sokov was about to say a few more words, the phone in the living room suddenly rang. Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time. It was already eight o'clock in the evening. When he got up and walked outside, he was still muttering: "Damn it, it's so late. Who would call?"

 (End of this chapter)