Sokov walked out of the General Staff, stood on the unfamiliar street and looked around, and then walked along the direction he came. When he came, a special car sent him here; if he wanted to go home, he could only think of a way.
When Sokov was later, he never worried about getting lost. Even if he went to a strange place, he just needed to take a taxi on the side of the road. The drivers took him to the designated location. He came to a street next to him and saw that there were vehicles passing by from time to time, including military vehicles and sedans. He followed the way in later generations, with his arms and body at a 45-degree angle, spread his five fingers, and his palms facing down, and stood on the side of the road to take a taxi.
In later generations, taking a taxi in Russia, because there are few regular taxis, all vehicles, including police cars and ambulances, can become temporary taxis. When the driver saw someone taking a taxi on the side of the road, he stopped and asked a few questions. If the road was followed, he would go with you. It was similar to the ride-sharing in China. If the price was not negotiated, just send the car away and wait for the next one. There was no rejection, and there was no saying that the car was black.
But Sokov miscalculated. He forgot that it was the Soviet Union in the 1940s, not Moscow in the 21st century. It was rare to own vehicles in private. Vehicles driving on the streets had their own tasks. How could it be possible to stop and take a military officer standing by the roadside?
Seeing that there were many vehicles shuttled back and forth, but none of them stopped, Sokov couldn't help but mutter in his heart: What's going on? Why didn't the car stop?
Just when he was puzzled, a crisp voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Comrade Commander, what are you doing here?"
Sokov turned his head and saw that it was a young girl wearing a black tweed coat and a white velvet hat. She was looking at herself up and down with curious eyes. Seeing the person asking her, a young and beautiful girl, Sokov quickly replied with a smile on his face, "I'm taking a taxi!"
"Take a taxi?!" The girl tilted her head and looked behind Sokov, then said, "But, Comrade Commander, there is no taxi on this road, how do you take a taxi?"
Sokov pointed at the car that was traveling through the street and said, "Those cars can also be used as taxis."
Hearing Sokov say this, the girl couldn't help but laugh, suppressing her smile and said, "Comrade Commander, what did you just say? Can these cars on the street be used as taxis?"
After the girl reminded her, Sokov immediately realized that he was in Moscow in 1942, not Moscow in 2017, and there was no vehicle that could serve as a taxi. He smiled awkwardly at the girl, and then asked, "Girl, I want to go back to Lenin Street, do you know how to get there?"
Instead of answering Sokov's question directly, the girl spits out a name: "Anne."
Sokov was stunned and asked, "What did you say?"
"My name is Anne." The girl said openly: "I wonder what I should call you?"
"My name is Mikhail, and my surname is Sokov." Sokov replied with a smile: "You can call me Mikhail or Sokov, and you can also call my nickname like a friend: Misha!"
"Then I'd better call you Misha." Anne said to Sokov. "Since the outbreak of the war, there has been no taxi in the city. If you want to go back to Lenin Street, my advice is to take the bus or the subway."
"Anne," Sokov called the other party's name and asked politely: "Do you know where nearby, there are bus stations or subway stations?"
"The subway station is about two streets away from here," Anne said with a sweet smile on her face. "As for the bus station, turn right at the intersection in front, you can see that the tram there can pass through Lenin Street." She paused for a moment, and then continued, "If you don't object, just follow me, I'm going to that direction too."
Since someone was willing to act as a guide for him, Sokov naturally wanted it, so he followed Anne to the bus stop. There were many people waiting for the bus here, and a long queue was sent far away, and the two stood at the end of the team.
"Misha, where is your troops stationed?" As soon as Annie said, she saw the expression on Sokov's face become serious. She immediately realized that her question had caused Sokov to misunderstand, and quickly added: "If there is a secret, you don't need to tell me."
When Sokov just heard Anne ask where the troops were, the first thought came to his mind: Could it be that this woman was a German spy and was chatting with me to spy on military information? But after hearing Anne's later words, he felt that the other party might just want to chat with him, so he replied vaguely: "The troops are in the suburbs, and I came to the city for a vacation."
A tram stopped in the middle of the road, and only a few people left the queue and walked towards the tram. Anne pulled Sokov with her hand and said to him, "Misha, the car is coming, let's get in."
After the two got in the car, a middle-aged woman with a bloated body said to them: "Please buy a ticket!"
Sokov touched his pocket. Fortunately, Yakov left a lot of money for himself some time ago, otherwise it would be too embarrassing to not even pay for the ticket today. He took out two five-gobby coins and handed them to the ticket seller. The ticket seller took the coins, put them in the canvas bag he was carrying, and then tore off two of the tickets rolled into a ball and stuffed them to Sokov.
Sokov and Anne came to the rear of the car and happened to see two empty seats, so they sat down without hesitation. Sokov asked Anne: "Anne, where are you working?"
"I work in a hospital," Anne replied, "The hospital is on Lenin Street."
When she heard that Anne worked in a hospital on Lenin Street, Sokov thought to himself: It’s not that coincidental, she and Tonia are colleagues? Thinking of this, he asked tentatively: “Anne, is there a surgeon named Tonia in your hospital?”
"Yes, right, there is a surgeon named Tonia." Anni nodded vigorously, then asked curiously: "Do you know Tonia?"
Sokov thought that someone in the hospital had seen him and Tonya go out. Even if he denied it, Anne would know the truth. It would be better to tell the truth: "I have dealt with each other and have had dinner together."
"Will you get married?" As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Anne asked suddenly.
"Marriage?!" Sokov was startled by Annie's words. He replied in a panic: "I had a deal with Tonya and I and had a meal. Is it too early to say what to get married now?"
"Misha, have you forgotten that it is during the war?" Annie's expression suddenly became solemn. "I just accompanied a girlfriend to the marriage registration office to go through the procedures. Do you know how long she has known that lieutenant officer?" Before Sokov could answer, she asked and answered, "It only took five hours from getting to know each other to register for marriage."
"Five hours?" Sokov was also shocked by such a lightning marriage. He did not expect that in the 1940s, a flash marriage family appeared.
"The officer is going to the battlefield. When he was drinking coffee in the coffee shop, he met my girlfriend. She was the waiter there. The two chatted for a while and felt that it was a good time, so they decided to go to the marriage registration office to register. My girlfriend felt that such a grand thing should be someone close to her, so she called me." Annie looked out the window and said to herself: "After completing the registration procedures, the officer handed over his allowance card to my girlfriend, saying that he could receive his allowance every month; even if he sacrificed, my girlfriend could receive a pension..." Speaking of this, she took advantage of Sokov's attention and raised her hand to wipe away the tears from her cheeks.
The car stopped, and a group of people got out of the car, and another group of people came up. A man in his thirties wearing a baseball cap and a work clothes in a certain machinery factory, squeezed to Sokov with two children, a man and a woman. Seeing that the boy was only three or four years old, Sokov felt embarrassed to continue sitting still, so he stood up and gave up his seat to the man.
After the man in work clothes thanked Sokov, he did not let his son sit down, but let the daughter, who was seven or eight years old, sit down. The little boy saw his sister sitting down, but he wanted to continue standing with his father. He curled his mouth and started crying. The man looked down and began to teach him a lesson: "You are a man, your sister is a little girl. It is natural for a man to take care of the little girl. Why are you crying?"
The little boy, who was scolded by his father, stopped crying, raised his hand to wipe away the tears from his face, and raised his head to his father: "I remember, I am a man, my sister is a little girl, and men should take care of the little girl." After the boy said this, it immediately caused a kind laugh from the passengers around him.
Anne quickly stood up from her seat and asked the father, who was a worker, to hold her son. She squeezed to Sokov and whispered: "It's so interesting. This is the first time I have seen a child like this."
After the tram stopped at five or six more stops one after another, Anne said to Sokov: "We get off at the next stop and we can walk one street to Lenin Street."
After the two got off the bus at the station, Sokov looked at the surrounding environment. He had never been here. If it weren't for Anne's guide, he would have lost his way. After walking along the street for a while, Anne looked at the long queues on the side of the road, sighed and said, "Hey, there are so many people queuing up, and I don't know if I can buy anything when I get off work."
Sokov looked in the queue and saw that it was a food store, and he could smell the scent of bread coming from it from a distance. However, if you want to buy bread, you have to queue for at least one or two hours.
He was disappointed when he suddenly saw a shop that appeared in front of him, looking in through the closed glass door. There were a wide range of goods inside, but no one was in line. He quickly pointed at the shop and asked Annie: "Annie, look, there is a shop there, why isn't anyone queuing up?"
Anne turned her head and looked at Sokov with a resentful expression on her face: "Misha, are you kidding me?"
"Why did I tease you?" Sokov asked in confusion.
Anne pointed at the shop with her hand and said, "That's an officer's shopping store. Apart from the officers, even ordinary soldiers are not qualified to buy things, let alone ordinary people like me."
When Sokov heard that there was a shop that could only be purchased by officers, he couldn't help but feel amused. Although he had lived on Lenin Street for several days, he didn't know that there was such a place that he had to queue up for a long time every time he bought things. No one told him that there was a special officer shopping store.
"Let's go, let's go there to buy something." Sokov held Anne's hand and quickly walked through the streets where no one was, came to the officer's shopping store, pushed open the two closed glass doors and walked in.
There were no customers in the store except for the salesperson. When they heard someone coming in from outside, the several salespersons chatting standing behind the counter, they all turned their eyes. When they saw clearly that it was a young major and a young girl, they stopped talking and walked back to the counter where they were responsible.
Sokov held Anne's hand and came to a counter selling smoked ham. He smiled and asked the salesperson standing behind the counter: "Comrade Salesperson, are there any restrictions on shopping here?"
After sweeping through Sokov's collar with his eyes, the salesperson replied: "Comrade Commander, according to your level, the upper limit of each product is four kilograms, and the upper limit of canned food is five."
"I understand, thank you!" Sokov expressed his gratitude to the salesperson, pointed at the smoked ham at the counter and said, "Give me four kilograms of this first!"
Then, Sokov bought four kilograms of flour, four kilograms of barley, two kilograms of sugar, five pickled tomatoes, five pickled cucumbers, and five pickled mushrooms. If it weren't for not being able to take it, he would definitely buy more things. In order to make Annie happy, he even bought two pieces of chocolate that were almost invisible in the world and stuffed them into Annie's hand.
When paying the bill, Sokov thought that so many things must be cheap. Unexpectedly, after calculating the bill, it was less than two rubles. After hearing this price, he looked at the accountant in the store and asked, "Comrade Accountant, is this price not wrong?"
The accountant thought Sokov felt that the things were too expensive, so he quickly calculated them again. After confirming that, he kindly reminded Sokov: "Comrade Commander, now it is during the war, and many commodities have increased their prices. Please rest assured, I have calculated them, and there is no problem with the price."
Chapter completed!