Red Moscow

Chapter 2485

 But Sokov then thought about it, it was because others liked his book that they made so many copies, even handwritten copies. Faced with such readers, what else can you say? Forget it, just turn a blind eye to this matter and not pursue it.

Soon there was a knock on the door, Liuba opened the door, and an older man walked in from the outside. He handed the thing he was holding to Liuba: "Liuba, this is the book you want. I brought them the pen and pen for you."

Liuba thanked the other party first, and then asked him to put the things on the table in front of Sokov.

After the other party left, Liuba said politely to Sokov: "Comrade General, this is the notebook and pen you asked for. Can you count them to see if the number is correct?"

"No need to read it." Sokov waved his hand and said, "I believe you."

Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to count the amount, Liuba did not force it. She put the notebook and pen into a cloth bag and handed it to Sokov.

Before Sokov could reach out, Kulak, who was next to him, had already taken the bag and said to Sokov in a flattering tone: "Comrade General, let me take you out."

Now that the things have been bought, Sokov naturally wanted to go back and continue writing the book as soon as possible, so he stood up and said, "Okay, let's go."

Kulak was not the only one who sent Sokov away, but Liuba also followed him out. She curiously asked Sokov: "Comrade General, after your book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" is published, will you write new ones? Book?"

"Of course," Sokov nodded and replied in a positive tone: "To be honest, I have been writing two new books during this period. If this were not the case, I am afraid I would not go to the department store specifically. Buy a notebook and pen.”

Upon learning that Sokov was writing a new book, Liuba's eyes suddenly lit up: "Is it still the same theme as "The Dawns Here Are Quiet"?"

"It's still a book written against the background of the Great Patriotic War." Because Sokov didn't know whether the book "The Siege" could still be written, he didn't plan to tell others for the time being. He just mentioned another book: "The protagonist of this book is Matlosov. Have you heard of his name?"

“Of course, of course I’ve heard of it.” Liuba nodded and said, “In order to open up a way for his comrades to attack, he used his chest to block the machine gun holes of the enemy bunker. He acted very bravely and sacrificed himself heroically.”

"Well, yes, you are right. He performed very bravely on the battlefield and died heroically." Sokov said, "I just want to write his deeds into the book so that more people can People understand him…”

Just as he said this, Sokov suddenly saw a group of salesmen standing in front of the stationery counter. He couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Liuba, are you having a party? Why are there so many people gathered here?" ?”

Liuba was a little surprised when she saw so many salespeople gathered here. She walked over quickly, stood in front of the crowd and asked loudly: "What happened? What are you doing here?"

"Comrade Manager," as soon as she finished speaking, someone asked: "I heard that the author of "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" has come to our place. Can you let us meet him?"

“Yes, yes, Comrade Manager, let us meet him.” The people around him also echoed.

Lyuba heard what others said and immediately understood that the news of Sokov's arrival must have been leaked by Aksyonova. Her eyes quickly found Aksyonova in the crowd, and she glared at her fiercely. She secretly thought that after sending Sokov away later, she would call her to the office and give her a hard look. Give him a lesson.

Sokov, who was staying not far away, heard what everyone said and realized that they were coming for him. He didn't want to be too high-profile and wanted to escape, so he asked Kulak in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is there any other way out nearby?"

"No." Unexpectedly, Kulak shook his head and said: "The front is our only passage. It seems that you must say hello to them before you can leave here."

Sokov realized that no matter how reluctant he was, he could only step forward and say hello to these book fans. So, he took a few steps forward and said to the group of saleswomen: "Hello, comrades! I wrote the book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet"."

According to his idea, he could leave here smoothly as long as he had a few words with these saleswomen. But what happened next was far beyond his expectation. The saleswomen cheered and rushed over in unison, surrounding him and pulling Liuba who was originally standing next to Sokov Pushed aside.

“Comrade General,” a tall, thin, gray-haired saleswoman handed a manuscript and a pen to Sokov: “Please sign it for me.”

Seeing the manuscript handed to him, Sokov smiled bitterly, took it, signed his name quickly, and handed it back to the saleswoman.

Seeing that their companions were asking for Sokov's signature, the other saleswomen also took out their manuscripts and pens, handed them to Sokov, and asked him to sign them.

Just before Sokov came over, he had roughly counted the number of these saleswomen. There were about thirty or forty people. Now it can be seen that each of them has a manuscript in their hands, and the number far exceeds the twenty or so that Liuba said.

Since he has already signed one of the saleswomen’s signatures, he can’t refuse to accept the manuscripts and pens handed over by other saleswomen, right? In desperation, he could only take the manuscript and pen handed to him and mechanically signed his name on the first page.

I thought that after signing so many people's names in one go, I would be able to leave smoothly. Unexpectedly, the saleswoman who got the autograph ran to tell her friends about it, and it was spread like this. In a short time, the entire second floor was packed.

Sokov was going crazy. He saw the saleswomen rushing toward him, almost all of them holding a manuscript, and they didn't know where they came from.

Upon seeing this, Liuba shouted loudly from the side. But her voice was covered by the saleswoman's voice. Except for a few people nearby, no more people heard what she said. In desperation, she could only retreat to Kurak and asked him: "Kulak, what do you think we should do now?"

“Get a loudspeaker!” Kulak suggested to her: “Only by shouting with a loudspeaker can everyone hear you.”

Lyuba agreed to Kulak's proposal, returned to her office, found a loudspeaker, and came outside the crowd and shouted loudly: "Quiet, girls! Quiet, girls, listen to me, quiet, Keep quiet!" After shouting a dozen times in a row, the surroundings finally quieted down, and everyone's eyes were focused on Liuba, listening to what she would say next.

"Girls, it's working time now. If you don't stay at your counter, why are you running to the second floor?" Liuba said, pointing at the saleswomen around her, and said dissatisfied: " You, you, you, your counters are all on the first floor, what are you doing here on the second floor? Why don’t you go back quickly!"

“Comrade Manager,” a saleswoman whose name was called said aggrievedly, “we heard that the author of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” is signing autographs here, and we also wanted to ask for his autograph, so we came up.”

"Nonsense, it's just nonsense." After scolding the other party for a few words, Liuba raised her loudspeaker and said to the other saleswomen: "Everyone, listen, return to your work immediately, otherwise I will deal with it like a miner. "

 Hearing Liuba say these words in such a stern tone, the saleswomen crowded here gradually dispersed. The salesmen who got Sokov's signature were naturally happy; those who didn't get the signature were dejected, secretly complaining that they were late.

"Aksyonova!" The salesgirls who were waiting for her arrival had almost left. Liuba walked up to Aksyonova and said with a straight face: "If I guessed correctly, these people are all you." Did you call me?"

“No,” Aksyonova said aggrievedly, “I just told two close friends. Who knew so many people would come.”

“Lyuba,” Sokov said to Lyuba, not wanting to make matters worse, “that’s the end of it for today, and it won’t happen next time.”

“Akshonova, if Comrade General hadn’t been generous and unwilling to care, I would have definitely punished you. You go back and write an inspection and give it to me when you go to work tomorrow.”

"Akshonova!" Sokov remembered a key question and asked Aksyonova curiously: "I heard Manager Liuba say that there are only more than 20 manuscripts in your mall, but I just I found that there were more than twenty, not to mention fifty. Can you tell me where these manuscripts came from?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Aksyonova did not answer immediately, but glanced at Liuba guiltily.

Liuba glared at her and said angrily: "Comrade General asked you a question, what do you think I did? Tell Comrade General quickly what is going on."

"Comrade General, this book you wrote is really great." Aksyonova finished: "There are so many of us, and a few books are definitely not enough to read. Not only are people who haven't read it waiting in line to read it, even if It was people who had read it and wanted to read it again. Seeing that everyone was waiting impatiently, someone came up with the idea and asked someone to copy a few copies."

“There are more than a few extra books.” Liuba said seriously: “Hurry up and tell the truth, what is going on?”

"Comrade manager, what I told is the truth." Aksyonova explained to Lyuba and Sokov: "They found a professional scribe, customized a dozen copies, and took three days to pick up the goods. When other salesmen saw this situation, they imitated him, some went to scribes, and some went to students. As a result, the number of handwritten manuscripts circulating in the mall naturally increased."

“How many do you think there are?” Liuba waited for Aksyonova to finish speaking, then asked tentatively: “Forty, fifty or more?”

Aksyonova hesitated for a moment, then said: "Comrade Manager, according to my estimate, there are at least more than a hundred copies. This number is only in our department stores. As for how many manuscripts are circulating in other factories and schools? , I’m not sure.”

After hearing this, Sokov raised his forehead and said to himself, "Oh my God, I thought that seventy or eighty books would reach the sky." But now it seems that the situation is worse than I imagined. There are hundreds of manuscripts in department stores alone, and there may be many versions circulating in agencies, factories and schools outside. I really didn’t expect that pirated copies of the book would be everywhere before it was officially published. I needed to talk to Editor-in-Chief Xie Keluo immediately to see if it could be published as soon as possible. Otherwise, if this trend continued, there might be someone in Moscow who would have a copy of the book. .

When Lyuba and his wife sent Sokov off from the department store, they kept apologizing to him: "Comrade General, I'm so sorry. I didn't expect that countless manuscripts of your novel would appear before it was released. This is all My fault."

Things have reached this point. Even if Sokov beats Kulak, it will not change any reality. He can only sigh secretly in his heart and pretend to be generous and say: "It's okay, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is a small matter." , you don’t have to worry. In any case, no matter how good the manuscript is, it can’t be as good as the officially published book. Maybe these people who have read my book will still go to the bookstore to buy a copy when the novel is officially published."

Sokov hurried to the publishing house, only to find that the door to the editor-in-chief's office was locked. He stopped a passing editor and asked curiously: "Excuse me, do you know where editor-in-chief Xie Keluo went?" ?"

Although the editor clearly saw the stars on Sokov's epaulette, he still replied in an indifferent tone: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, the editor-in-chief has gone to Kuibyshev. If you have anything to ask him, come back in a few days." ?”

"Comrade Editor," Sokov said to the editor: "I came here some time ago and showed a manuscript to Editor-in-Chief Xie Keluo, and he promised me to arrange for publication as soon as possible. I came here today just to ask, my When will the book be published?”

When the editor heard what Sokov said, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. After looking Sokov up and down, he casually asked: "Comrade General, I don't know the name of the book you are talking about. I can take you to take charge of it." Check with the publishing office.”

　　""The Dawns Here Are Quiet", please help me look it up."

Unexpectedly, after the editor heard Sokov say the title of the book, he immediately exclaimed: "Are you General Sokov, the author of "The Dawns Here Are Quiet"?"

 “Yes, I am Sokov who wrote “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.”

“Hello, Comrade General!” The editor held Sokov’s hand and said excitedly: “It’s a great honor to meet the author of the novel here.”

　　What Sokov is most concerned about at the moment is when his novel will be published. Seeing that the editor became enthusiastic about him, he asked tentatively: "Do you know when my book will be published?"

"Of course, Comrade General." The editor nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "The editor-in-chief specifically stated that your novel is our key publishing work at the end of the year, and we must not be sloppy in any way. Three days later, it will be next Monday. , your novel "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" will be officially published."

 After learning the official publication date of his novel from the editor, Sokov felt much more at ease. In just three days, my book will be officially put up for sale in the bookstore. Even if someone continues to copy the manuscript in these days, I am afraid that the number will be very limited. Once bookstores start selling them, handwritten copies will lose their living space, and the impact on genuine copies will be basically negligible.

 (End of this chapter)