Red Moscow

 Chapter 2484 Piracy and Manuscripts

The sound of footsteps still appeared in time to relieve Sokov.

Looking along the sound, I saw the young saleswoman and another middle-aged woman in Lenin uniform walking quickly, followed by an officer behind them.

 “Akshonova has brought the manager!” said the old saleswoman.

Sokov took two steps in the direction where the people came from. Just as he was about to say hello, he heard a familiar voice: "It turns out to be you, General Sokov. I never expected that I could meet him here." you."

Listening to the familiar voice, Sokov narrowed his eyes and looked at the oncoming officer. Soon, he recognized the man as Army Lieutenant Colonel Kulak, whom he had met in Vladimir, and hurriedly opened his arms to greet him. : "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I really didn't expect that we would meet here."

After the two exchanged a warm hug, Kulak asked curiously: "Comrade General, are you the commander Aksyonova just mentioned who wants to buy stationery?"

Sokov glanced at the young saleswoman next to him and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if this saleswoman is named Akshonova, then the person she is talking about is me."

"So that's it." Kulak nodded, then pulled the middle-aged woman in Lenin's uniform over, introduced to Sokov: "Comrade General, let me introduce to you, this is my wife Antonina, you You can call her by her nickname Lyuba. She is the manager of a department store. If you need any stationery, just ask her."

After listening to Kulak's introduction, Sokov realized that the surname of the lieutenant colonel in front of him was Anthony, and the female manager in front of him used his surname. "Hello, Liuba!" Sokov stretched out his hand to the other party and said in a friendly tone: "Nice to meet you!"

But Liuba's attitude toward Sokov was polite but distant: "Comrade General, I am also happy to meet you. I don't know what kind of stationery you need. If you need too much, I'm afraid I can't do anything. "

Seeing Lyuba's indifferent attitude towards Sokov, Kulak next to him became anxious. He called his wife by her nickname: "Liuba, how can you treat comrade general with this attitude? You know, you just said I’m praising him.”

Hearing what her husband said, Liuba had a blank expression on her face: "What, I was praising him just now, when?"

"When else could it be, of course in your office." Kulak said to his wife: "Before Aksyonova came to see you, you were not reading the handwritten novel I brought you. Keep saying how well written this is.”

"Yes, I mean the book is well written, but what does it have to do with the general?" As soon as Lyuba finished saying this, she suddenly shook her whole body, glanced at Sokov in disbelief, and then continued She turned her attention to her husband: "Kulak, you won't tell me that that book was written by Comrade General, right?"

When Sokov heard the handwritten novel, he immediately thought of the "The Dawns Here Are Quiet". When he left Vladimir, Agni and others were still transcribing this novel. If it spread, it would be copied by those who were there at that time. The Kulak got it and it seemed normal. It was out of this conjecture that he said tentatively: "Liuba, if the handwritten novel you just read is called "The Dawns Here Are Quiet", then it is the book written by me."

Hearing Sokov say the name of the book casually, Liuba's face was full of surprise: "Comrade General, I really didn't expect that that book was actually written by you." Find out what Sokov wrote After reading a novel that she liked, Liuba's attitude toward him suddenly changed 180 degrees. She said enthusiastically, "This is not the place to talk. You'd better go to my office."

When Lyuba walked towards the office with Sokov and Kulak, Aksyonova who was standing next to her quietly followed. She never dreamed that the tear-jerking novel "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" she saw in the manager's office yesterday was actually written by the general who came to her counter to buy stationery. After she wanted to say a few more words to the other party, she naturally followed him.

But Lyuba soon found Aksyonova following her, so she stopped and said to her with a straight face: "Aksyonova, you are still at work, you are not staying behind the counter, and you are messing around. Why are you climbing?" After saying that, he showed a smile to Sokov and said, "Comrade General, please!"

Although Aksyonova was reluctant, since it was the manager who had spoken in person, she could only stay and pouted, looking at the backs of Lyuba, Sokov and others reluctantly. I was thinking about what I should say to Sokov if I saw him again?

“Aksyonova,” the old saleswoman came over and asked in a low voice, “I see you are staring at Comrade General, tell me honestly, are you attracted to him?”

"What are you talking about, Dania." Akshonova's face turned red with embarrassment after being exposed. She turned and walked to her counter, and said insincerely: "I don't like him. His type, how could I like him?"

 Besides, after Liuba brought Sokov to her office, the couple immediately began to entertain her warmly.

Liuba poured a cup of hot tea, placed it in front of Sokov along with the plate of sugar cubes, and said politely: "Comrade General, if you want a few sugar cubes, you can do it yourself."

Kulak opened the drawer of his desk, took out the two packages of biscuits inside, opened the outer kraft paper, pushed them in front of Sokov, and said with a smile: "Comrade General, if there are no pastries, you can just make do with it." Order cookies."

Facing the enthusiasm of the couple, Sokov seemed a little uneasy: "Okay, don't work anymore. I came here today just to buy some pen and paper."

Before learning Sokov’s identity, Liuba may also ask many questions, such as: How many notebooks, how many pens do you want, and what are you going to do with so many pens and paper, etc. But now there is no need to ask these boring questions. She knows very well that they must be used for writing.

"Comrade General," Liuba said to Sokov, "I wonder what kind of pen you use for writing? If it is a pencil, I can give you six dozen; if you want to use a fountain pen, I happen to have two of the latest ones in my hand. A nice Parker pen with enough ink.”

Sokov thought for a while and realized that the cold winter had begun. If he used a pen, the ink might freeze if he wrote in a cold environment. He encountered such a situation many times in later generations. On the contrary, using pencils not only allows normal writing in severe cold conditions, but also does not affect the writing effect even on a space station: "Then please prepare six dozen pencils for me. When they are used up, I will come back to you. purchase."

"Look at what you said, Comrade General, how can I let you come so far to buy it?" Liuba waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and then said with a smile: "I will leave you an office phone number. If your pen When you run out of Japanese paper, just give me a call and I will deliver it to your door personally." "That's fine." Sokov thought that the weather was getting cold now, and his home was not close to here, so he had to keep himself in the cold It was a pain to walk such a long way to buy pen and paper in such a bad weather, so she readily agreed to Liuba's suggestion: "I will call you when I run out of paper and pen."

The problem of the pen is solved, and here is the writing paper. I heard Liuba say: "Comrade General, we don't have writing paper here at the moment. There are only some booklets for students to practice calligraphy. Are you interested in getting them?" "

“A pamphlet for calligraphy practice?” Sokov looked at Liuba and asked, “What kind of booklet do you have? Can you let me see it?”

"Of course, Comrade General." Liuba walked to the cabinet on the wall, opened the door, took out a stack of notebooks, and placed them in front of Sokov: "This is the small notebook used by students to practice calligraphy. book."

 Seeing the pamphlet in front of him, Sokov couldn't help but frowned. This kind of booklet is not only 64 in size, but also looks very thin. He picked up a book, opened it and counted the pages. There were only 20 pages, and one book could only contain four to five thousand words.

Sokov put down the book in his hand, looked up at Lyuba, and asked: "Liuba, isn't there something larger and thicker?"

"No, Comrade General." Liuba shook her head and continued: "To be honest, the stationery counter usually only has business before the end of students' winter and summer vacations. In other words, it is only in January, February, July and August every year. , to have a sufficient supply of notebooks and other stationery.”

Sokov didn't say anything after hearing this. He knew very well that the Soviet Union was a country with developed heavy industry and seriously backward light industry. It had been in a shortage of daily necessities for a long time. Not to mention now, even in the early 21st century, domestic light industrial products and daily necessities are all from China. I once bought a few notebooks with obvious Russian style in the mall. When I opened them, I saw the Russian words "Made in China" on the back. Writing method.

Although these booklets for students to practice calligraphy in front of them meet Sokov's requirements, they are better than nothing. He could only say helplessly: "Then get me a hundred copies first. When you use them up, it won't be too late to buy them again."

“Okay, Comrade General,” Lyuba nodded and said, “I’ll call the warehouse right away and ask them to send you the paper and pen you need.”

While Liuba was on the phone, Sokov finally remembered to understand the reason why the manuscript was leaked. He stared at the manuscript on the table and asked Kulak: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how did you get this manuscript?" of?"

"Comrade General," after hearing Sokov's question, Kulak scratched the back of his head and said with embarrassment: "After you left Vladimir, a manuscript suddenly became popular among the crew. It is said to be a very good novel. , I was curious, so I came to take a look. Unexpectedly, what they said was true. This novel is really wonderful. Comrade General, I am not flattering you. What I said is the truth. The book is really well written.”

After hearing this, Sokov thought with laughter and tears: "My book has not yet been officially published, and pirated copies have appeared. What's even more outrageous is that this pirated copy is actually a handwritten copy. People in this era really work hard to read a book. .”

Although he did not want to hold anyone accountable, he still wanted to find out how his book came out: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you know where the book first came out?"

"It is said that someone picked up a shorthand manuscript and after checking it, he found that it was actually a novel." Kulak explained: "The person transcribed the book and lent it to his good friend. That's it. Passed from one to another, your novel quickly became popular among the crew. When I came back from Vladimir, I thought that Lyuba likes to read, and she must like such a good book..."

"That's right, Comrade General, I like the book you wrote very much." Lyuba said to Sokov after making the phone call: "I read the book that Kulak brought back all night long. I read it at that time When all five female soldiers died, I couldn't help crying. I woke up Kulak who was sleeping next to me. He was startled and thought something had happened to me. I learned that I was captured in the book. I was moved by the character and introduced your situation to me."

After figuring out how the manuscript was leaked, Sokov felt it didn't matter. If these readers really like this book, even if they have read the manuscript, they will definitely buy it again when the physical book is published. Therefore, after they read it, not only will it not lead to a decrease in book sales, but it will also drive more people to buy the book. When he remembered it, Aksyonova's expression seemed to be that she had read this book, so he tentatively asked Lyuba: "Liuba, I want to ask, how many people have you read this book to?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Lyuba showed an embarrassed expression on her face. She snarled for a long time, but didn't say anything.

"It's okay, Lyuba." Kulak next to her said to her: "Comrade General is not a stingy person. If you tell him the truth, he won't be angry."

Lyuba, who was encouraged by Kulak, finally told Sokov the truth: "Comrade General, to tell you the truth, 90% of the people in the mall have read this book."

“Ninety percent of the people in the mall have read this book?” Sokov was stunned after hearing Liuba’s reply: “How many people are there in your mall?”

“Sales clerks, warehouse managers, and various other personnel, totaling more than three hundred people.”

After learning that there were more than 300 people in the shopping mall, the muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently. He asked with a wry smile: "Liuba, it's just a manuscript, how can so many people read it?"

"Comrade General." Liuba explained to Sokov: "After I read this book, I thought it was a good book and planned to recommend it to the employees, so I found more than 20 people and asked them to spend four or five days on it. In my time, I copied more than twenty copies and distributed them to everyone."

After hearing this, Sokov raised his head and thought to himself: You are really cruel. You can’t tell yourself, but you also found someone to copy more than 20 copies and distributed them to employees to read. What a cruel person!

 (End of this chapter)