After coming out of the hospital, the two walked along the street for more than two hundred meters, and a coffee shop appeared on the roadside. Sokov slowed down, turned his face and said to Tonya: "Donia, that's it, let's go in." After saying that, he pushed open the two closed glass doors, and walked in tandem with Tonya. Went in.
The cafe is medium in size, with more than twenty square tables inside. Perhaps because it is lunch time, most of the tables are occupied. Sokov looked around, pointed to the corner, and said to Tonya: "Donia, there is an empty seat there, just go and sit down, and I will go there after I buy the things."
Unexpectedly, Dongnia stood there without moving, but said to him nervously: "Misha, let's go to another place to eat?"
Tonya's reaction surprised Sokov. After he saw the customers sitting in the cafe, he immediately understood what Tonya was afraid of. Just from the black leather jackets and blue hats those customers wore, Sokov knew they were from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If he hadn't suddenly seen so many Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel here, Sokov almost forgot that this place was not far from Lubyanka, the headquarters of the KGB, and they should have come here to eat.
When the Ministry of Internal Affairs staff who were eating heard someone coming in from outside, they habitually raised their heads towards the door, and happened to see Sokov and Tonya walking in. Tonya's nervousness was noticed by one of the internal affairs officers. He put down the tableware in his hand, stood up and walked to the door, saying to Sokov and Tonya: "Please show your IDs!"
"Identification?!" Dongnia heard what the internal affairs officer said. She took out her ID from her pocket in a panic, held it in both hands and handed it over: "This is my ID."
The officer took the certificate and did not look through it immediately. Instead, he continued to stare at Dongnia. When the other party started to tremble a little, he lowered his head to look at the certificate in his hand. After reading it, he handed it back to Tonya, looked at Sokov and asked: "Comrade Major, where is your ID?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Sokov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said, "I just came back from the front line and I don't have any documents with me?"
"You have no documents." The officer couldn't help but snorted when he heard what Sokov said, and then said coldly: "Since you have no documents, can you please come with me?"
"Wait a minute, Lieutenant Sasko." Just as the officer grabbed Sokov's arm and tried to take him away from the cafe, the officer sitting at another table stopped him. Sokov looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was an elderly captain. He stood up and came to the officer's side and said to him: "You won't regard him as a deserter, will you?"
Second Lieutenant Sasko nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, since he can't produce his ID, I have reason to suspect that he is a deserter, and I need to take him back for review immediately."
The captain sneered at Second Lieutenant Sasko, and then said disdainfully: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, please open your eyes and see. Which deserter has the Order of Lenin hanging on his chest?"
When Lieutenant Sasko asked Sokov for his ID, he did not notice that there were two medals on the jumper under his open military coat, one of which was the extremely high-level Order of Lenin. When he saw the medal on Sokov's chest clearly, he quickly let go of his hand, took a step back, and said to his superior with some embarrassment: "Comrade Captain, I didn't pay attention to the medal on his chest."
The captain ignored Sasko, but took two steps forward, came to Sokov, and said apologetically to Sokov: "Comrade Major, I apologize to you on behalf of my colleague. Please forgive him for his recklessness."
"It's okay, Comrade Captain." Sokov waved his hand to the other party and said magnanimously: "It's just a misunderstanding." He also specifically explained to the captain, "I am Major Sokov, the commander of the Istria Battalion. , I was ordered to return to Moscow a few days ago. Due to various reasons, I don’t have any documents on me. Please forgive me for this."
"I understand, Comrade Major." After confirming Sokov's identity, the captain said with a smile: "As far as I know, many officers on the front line have not had time to issue new military ID cards due to changes in their positions. I think this is also the case for you."
Seeing that the other party had given him a step up, Sokov nodded and said affirmatively: "Comrade Captain, you are right. I have just obtained the rank of major not long ago, and the new military ID has not been issued yet. "
After the captain left with the reckless second lieutenant, Sokov turned to the shocked Tonya and asked: "Donia, what do you want to eat?"
"A cup of black coffee without sugar." Tonya calmed down and said, "And a vegetable salad and two pieces of bread."
Sokov used the tray on the counter, carrying the coffee and food he ordered, and took Tonya to the empty table in the corner to sit down. He took out everything from the tray and said to Tonya with a smile: "Please, Tonya! You must be very hungry."
Before picking up the tableware, Dongya secretly glanced at the officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sitting around her, and said with lingering fear: "Misha, you are so brave. You dare to walk around without documents. If you are People from the Ministry of Internal Affairs will arrest you as a deserter, and you may be shot."
"Don't worry, Tonya, I'm fine." Sokov's mood was obviously not affected by what just happened, but he changed the topic in time: "Donia, where are you from?"
Tonya, who had just picked up her coffee, quickly put her coffee down when she heard Sokov's question, and answered truthfully: "I am from Leningrad, and I studied at the Medical University in Moscow. Just after I graduated last year, the war broke out , and then I was assigned to my current hospital as a surgical intern."
When he learned that Tonya was actually from Leningrad, Sokov couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He thought of the city that was besieged by the German army. In the past few months, tens of thousands of residents had suffered from lack of food. And being starved to death, he quickly asked with concern: "Do you still have family members in Leningrad?"
"My mother and two brothers are still in Leningrad!" Tonya replied sadly: "I have lost contact with them, and I don't know how they are doing now?"
"Didn't you get in touch with them?" As soon as Sokov said this, he felt that his question was a bit ridiculous. Now that Leningrad is under siege by the German army, it is so difficult to get in touch with relatives in the city. one thing.
Tonya smiled bitterly and replied: "In order to ensure the smooth flow of military lines, Leningrad has cut off all civilian telephone lines since late August and will wait until after the war to restore them. In a word, I have lost touch with them. We've been in contact for a long time." At this point, her eyes couldn't help but turn red, and tears flowed down her face.
Sokov quickly picked up the napkin in front of him, handed it to Tonya to wipe her tears, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Tonya, I didn't mean to do it."
Tonya took the napkin, wiped it casually twice, forced a smile on her face and said: "It doesn't matter, this is war. Maybe we will have to wait until the day the war ends before we can reunite with our relatives. By the way, Misha, where are all your family members?"
"My mother was evacuated to the rear in October last year." Sokov said vaguely: "Now I am the only one left in Moscow."
Tonya stared at the medal on Sokov's chest for a while and asked curiously: "Misha, I want to ask you, why did you return to Moscow at this time?"
Sokov was stunned by Tonya's question. He hesitated for a long time and then said cautiously: "Donia, I don't understand what you mean."
"As far as I know, fighting is still going on outside Moscow." Tonya stared into Sokov's eyes and said, "Shouldn't a commander like you be commanding troops to fight the Germans?"
After understanding what Tonya was asking, Sokov quickly said: "I was ordered to send an injured senior commander back to the military hospital in Moscow for treatment."
"Misha, where is the senior commander you mentioned now?" Tonya asked briefly.
Hearing Tonya's question, Sokov thought for a moment and felt that as long as he didn't say Rokossovsky's name, it wouldn't be considered a leak, so he said openly: "In Dimitri Yazev Agricultural College.”
"Dimiryazev Agricultural College?!" When Tonya heard the name of this place, a look of surprise appeared on her face: "What a coincidence. There are many wounded people living in our hospital. They were transferred from the Yazev Agricultural College. I went there this morning to pick up a group of injured people who were transferred to the hospital."
"Really?!" After seeing Tonya nodding in affirmation, Sokov suddenly thought of something. He had wanted to visit Rokossovsky two days ago and ask him about his actions. The first step of the arrangement was unexpectedly stopped by the soldiers standing guard in the corridor. No matter what I explained, the other party refused to let me go to see the commander. Now that Tonya can enter the Dimiryazev Agricultural College, if she is willing to help herself, she might be able to meet Rokossovsky smoothly.
Thinking of this, he said to Dongnia: "Donia, I wonder when will the next time you pick up the wounded?"
"Our hospital usually places the wounded who have improved but still need to recuperate." Dongnia frowned and said: "As for when we will pick up the new wounded, it's hard to say. Maybe tomorrow, maybe we have to wait. Four or five days.”
When Sokov heard this, he knew something was going on! He quickly asked: "I wonder if you can take me to Dimiryazev Agricultural College next time when you go to pick up the wounded?" Seeing a puzzled expression on Tonya's face, he quickly explained to her, " Well, I was originally ordered to send this commander to the Dimiryazev Agricultural College. But what should I do next, whether to return to the front line or stay in Moscow, there was no clear answer from my superiors. Therefore, I asked Go to the hospital to meet my superior and see how he arranges it."
"So that's it." After Dongnia figured out what was going on, she nodded and said, "You can find me in Room 107 of the hospital's outpatient building at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. If there is no one at the door, just open the door. Come in; if there are many patients lining up outside the door, you will have to wait a little longer."
Sokov has been in Moscow for a long time, and naturally knows that Russian hospitals do not have registration. If you want to see a doctor, you can queue directly outside the doctor's clinic. Whether a doctor is busy at work can be determined by seeing whether there are many patients queuing up outside the clinic.
Since there were too many officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the cafe, it was impossible for the two of them to stay here for too long. After finishing their lunch in a hurry, they left the restaurant.
Since Sokov had nothing to do at the moment, he offered to take Tonya back to the hospital. Dongnia blushed and agreed to his kindness, and took the initiative to hold his arm and walked towards the hospital.
On the way, Sokov saw the house where he lived, so he pointed to the window of his room and said to Tonya: "Donia, have you seen that three-story house? "
"I saw it." Dongnia looked in the direction of his finger. After seeing the three-story building clearly, she nodded and said: "There are people with status living on this street. Ordinary people think Live, I can’t live anymore.”
Hearing what Tonya said, Sokov said a little embarrassedly: "Actually, I just want to tell you that the window on the right side of the third floor is my room."
"What, you live here?" Tonya stopped and asked in surprise: "You're not kidding me, are you?"
"How can I joke with you about this kind of thing?" Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was almost an hour before Tonya went to work, so he took the initiative to invite her: "I want to invite you now I wonder if you would like to be a guest at my house?"
Even though Tonya had been holding Sokov's arm on the road, her heartbeat suddenly accelerated when she heard Sokov invited her to his home. She hesitated for a long time and then murmured: "Misha, this is too fast. We just met today and you are going to invite me to your home..."
"That's it, Tonya." Sokov was afraid that Tonya would reject his request, so he spoke very quickly: "This house was awarded to me by my superiors. Maybe it won't be long before I get it." If you go to the front line, this house will be vacant. It is not good for the house to be unoccupied for too long, and it is only across the road from where you work, which is perfect for you. So I would like to take the liberty to plead You, how about you help me look at the house while I’m not in Moscow?”
After listening to Sokov's heartfelt words, Tonya finally nodded and said: "Okay, I'll go to your house first. If it's appropriate, I will help you take care of the house when you are not in Moscow." of."
