Red Moscow

Thinking of Serova, who had rumors with Rokossovsky, Sokov couldn't help but ask: "I remember that his wife Serova is an actress. I wonder if she is in our movie?" Here, do you play a role?"

"No." Werner answered very simply: "What we filmed is just a war film. There are basically no emotional scenes in it. Even if there is, it is just a supporting role. Let a famous meritorious actor like Serova play such a It’s just disrespectful to her for being a little person.”

"That's true."

Sokov asked casually, but he felt a little disappointed when he learned that Serova would not come to participate in the filming of the movie. Unexpectedly, Werner saw Sokov's expression and suddenly remembered something, so he asked tentatively: "General Sokov, have you ever been a subordinate of Marshal Rokossovsky?"

"Yes." To Werner's question, Sokov gave him an affirmative answer: "During the big counterattack under Moscow, I was with his 16th Army. I have been with him in the past two years. The Belarusian Front Army can be regarded as his old subordinates."

"Since you are an old subordinate of Marshal Rokossovsky, you must have heard the rumors between him and Serova, right?"

Seeing that Werner was so concerned about Rokossovsky's emotional life, Sokov wanted to chime in and share what he knew with him. But when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. He thought that he and Werner had just met each other not long ago, and they didn't know much about him at all. They were just gossiping about senior commanders here. If it spread, I'm afraid it would It affected the relationship between himself and Rokossovsky.

After thinking about this, he said seriously: "Comrade screenwriter, Marshal Rokossovsky and Serova met on the front line. At that time, Serova came to the front line as a member of the condolence group to express condolences and fought with Comrade Marshal After a period of time, they met. It was a normal relationship at first, but it was rumored to have changed. It was said that the two of them were in love, something happened in private, and so on. But rumors are just rumors and should not be taken as true. We cannot because These untrue rumors have affected the reputation of a senior commander."

Seeing that Sokov's answer was impeccable, Werner suddenly felt bored and looked down at the manuscript again.

When meeting a close friend, a thousand glasses of wine are too little, and a word without speculation is too much. Sokov felt like this at this moment. He frequently raised his wrist to look at his watch, and muttered in his heart why Agni and the others haven't come yet?

Time passed minute by minute in agony. When the door was finally knocked, Sokov breathed a sigh of relief and then stood up to open the door.

As expected, it was the four Agni people who came.

"I'm sorry, Comrade General." Agni explained to Sokov with some embarrassment: "We had some delays today. We came a little late and kept you waiting."

"It's not too late, it's not too late." Sokov made an invitation gesture towards the inside: "Come in quickly."

When Agni and others entered the room, they immediately saw Werner sitting at the table reading the manuscript, and they all greeted in unison: "Hello, comrade screenwriter!"

Werner looked up at a few people, nodded slightly as a greeting, and then looked down at his manuscript.

"Comrades, if you are ready, let's begin."

After hearing Sokov say that he was going to start writing a book, Werner looked at the manuscript in his hand. There were still more than 30,000 words in the manuscript that he had not read. If he listened to Sokov read the rest of the book at this moment, I am afraid there would be a disconnect in the plot. So he suggested to Sokov: "Comrade General, it seems that you haven't had breakfast yet. How about having breakfast first and then continuing to write the rest of the plot?"

Sokov was embarrassed to leave Werner alone to have breakfast because Werner had been staying in his room reading the manuscript. Hearing what he said now, I immediately guessed his intention and asked casually: "Won't you come with me to have something to eat?"

"Thank you, I had already eaten when I came here." Werner waved his hand and said, "You go and eat."

After Sokov left, Agni asked Werner curiously: "Comrade screenwriter, you asked Comrade General to have breakfast because you want to seize the time to read all the plots that have been written, right?"

"Yes, it is indeed like this." Werner did not deny Agni's question: "As the first readers, don't you think this book is very wonderful? If I don't read the whole plot, I will If I listen directly to the content at the end, the missing part in the middle will affect my mood."

"You are right. It is such a good book. If you miss some plots and just listen to the rest of the content, it will be really uncomfortable." Agni said: "Do you think there is a chance to adapt this book into a movie after it is written?" Script?”

"Needless to say, it can definitely be adapted into a movie script." Werner replied without hesitation: "Don't forget, I am the movie screenwriter, and my superiors arranged for me to adapt this novel. Originally, I thought my superiors gave me The assigned tasks made me embarrassed, but now I realize that I came to the right place."

After hearing what Werner said, Gruster deliberately asked: "Comrade screenwriter, how can the task of your superiors embarrass you?"

Werner laughed dryly, and then said: "When I came here, I have been thinking that this general may be a good person in commanding operations. But it is like a mountain, and if he wants to write a novel well, he will probably be better than him. It’s still difficult. If my superiors insist on asking me to adapt his novel into a movie script, it would be equivalent to asking me to write a new book. The workload would be too much. I estimate that I won’t be able to complete it in less than a year. Task."

"But after you saw the manuscript, you changed your mind, right, comrade screenwriter?" Agni asked.

"Yes, Comrade Agni, you are right." Werner shook the manuscript in his hand and continued: "When I first read the manuscript, I had a disapproving attitude, thinking that no matter how well you write, Well, when I wanted to adapt it into a screenplay, I had to write it again. After I saw the manuscript, my attitude changed. Although it was only half written, I firmly believed that this was an excellent novel. , once published, will cause a sensation. I think it will not only be adapted into movies in the future, but also adapted into plays and operas, which will be performed all over the country."

Everyone present knew Werner and knew that he was a screenwriter who was proud of his talents and had a high vision. At this moment, he actually admired Sokov's novel so much. As one of the participants in the creation of the novel, they couldn't help but feel a little bit happy. .

Besides, when Sokov came to the restaurant downstairs to eat, he found that it was empty and there was no one. He knew that he had already passed the hotel, so he could only go to the window and ask a chef who was busy inside: "Comrade, do you still have breakfast here?"

The chef had his back to Sokov and didn't see who was asking the question at all, so he said impatiently: "Don't you look at what time it is now? If you come here at this time, you still want to eat. It’s a dream.”

Facing the chef's unfriendliness, Sokov couldn't get angry. After all, he did something wrong. Who made him come down so late? Others can't just open a small stove just for themselves, right?

"Forget it, I'll go outside to find something to eat." Although Sokov felt disappointed in his heart, he still did not forget the courtesy. He said to the chef's back: "Thank you, comrade chef!"

Just as Sokov turned to leave, the chef also turned around. When he saw clearly that the person who asked him was actually a general, he suddenly broke into a cold sweat and said hurriedly: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I didn't know it was you. If there was anything impolite in what I just said, please tell me Please forgive me!"

"It doesn't matter." Sokov has always been reasonable, and naturally he would not embarrass a guest house chef for such a trivial matter. Instead, he continued to ask politely: "Is there somewhere that sells food nearby?"

"Go east after leaving the guest house." The chef said respectfully: "Walk about two hundred meters and you will see a cafe that is open all day. You should find something to eat there."

After thanking the chef, Sokov left the guest house and followed the other party's instructions to find the cafe.

When he opened the door and walked in, a waitress immediately came over and asked politely: "Comrade Commander, what can I do for you?"

"I want to eat something." Sokov asked tentatively: "Are you open for business here?"

"Of course, Comrade Commander." The waitress replied: "We are open 24 hours here, you can get something to eat at any time."

Under the guidance of the waitress, Sokov came to a table and sat down, picked up the order, looked at it, and then said: "Bring me a cup of coffee..."

"What kind of coffee do you want?" Before Sokov could finish speaking, the waitress asked first, "Is it black coffee without sugar?"

After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help laughing and asked: "Girl, do all the soldiers who eat here like to drink black coffee with sugar?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The waitress said in a positive tone: "When they come, they always order a cup of black coffee without sugar, and then a few pieces of chopped chocolate."

Sokov often went to coffee shops in later generations. He knew that after ordering a full plate of chocolate in a coffee shop in Russia, they liked to ask the waiter to chop it up and put it on a small plate, and eat it while drinking coffee or tea. Grow chopped chocolate. But Sokov doesn't like to eat like this. He prefers to eat the whole chocolate.

"Bring me a cup of milky coffee and a pack of biscuits." Sokov stared at the list in his hand and ordered what he wanted to eat: "And a piece of jam cake."

After the waitress recorded what Sokov ordered, she asked again: "Does the jam cake need to be cut?"

The jam bread sold in Russian cafes is basically long and inconvenient to eat directly. You need to cut it into small pieces and eat it with a fork. In response to the waitress's question, Sokov nodded: "Let's cut it open."

A few minutes after the waitress left, she came over with Sokov's order on a tray.

She placed the contents of the tray on the table in front of Sokov one by one, said, "Bonour appetit!" and then left with the tray.

While Sokov was eating, he was thinking about how much content he should write today.

At this moment, he suddenly heard someone calling his name: "Misha?!"

Hearing someone calling his name, Sokov instinctively raised his head and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a man wearing a gray windbreaker and a white woolen hat standing not far away, with a satchel on his shoulder. young girl.

This girl looks familiar, right? Sokov's first impression when he saw this girl was: I seemed to have seen her somewhere, but I couldn't remember where.

Seeing Sokov staring at her infatuatedly, the girl couldn't help but smile, then walked up to Sokov, and said with a smile: "Misha, it is you, I thought I had mistakenly admitted the person just now. After all, The last time we met, you were just a colonel. I didn’t expect that after three years of not seeing each other, you’d become a general!”

Hearing that the other party said that the last time he saw him, he was still a colonel, and that they had met three years ago. Sokov immediately connected it with the Battle of Stalingrad, and this girl's name also came to his mind: " Kopalova, you are Kopalova." At the end, she added, "I think you are a photojournalist for Izvestia."

When the girl heard Sokov call her name, a smile appeared on her face. When she heard Sokov mention his work unit and occupation, she stopped smiling and said with some displeasure, "Is that all?"

Sokov smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to answer.

Kopalova sat down next to Sokov, looked at him and said: "Misha, have you really forgotten all about our past?"

Hearing the other party's question, Sokov broke into a cold sweat. He vaguely remembered that when they met in Stalingrad, the other party came close to his ear and said: "I hate you!" At that time, he guessed that this beautiful woman There must have been some story between the reporter and the real Sokov. But the terrible thing is that he did become Sokov, but he did not inherit his memory, so he naturally did not know his past with this female reporter.

Sokov remained silent, and Kopalova continued: "Misha, can you tell me what happened to you? Have you really forgotten me?"

"Kopalova," Sokov replied awkwardly, scratching the back of his head: "A few days before the start of the major counterattack under Moscow, the town of Khimki that I was ordered to guard was bombed by enemy planes. And I also I was knocked unconscious during the bombing, and when I woke up, I found that I couldn’t remember many past events and people because of the memory loss caused by the shock to my brain.”

Although Sokov's explanation was a bit far-fetched, Kopalova's ears gave her new ideas: "No wonder Misha hasn't contacted me since he joined the army. I thought he completely destroyed me." I forgot, it turned out that he lost his memory due to a head injury. No wonder when I went to Stalingrad for interviews, he looked at me like a stranger."

"Kopalova," Sokov quickly asked with concern, not wanting to dwell on such embarrassing things, "Have you eaten yet?"

Kopalova smiled faintly, and then said: "Misha, if I have had breakfast, will I come to this cafe?"

"Since you haven't eaten before, let's have some together." After Sokov said, he raised his hand towards the counter and called to the waitress who was standing there chatting: "Comrade waiter, please come here, we are ordering something. "