Halfway through the wine, Leonid took the initiative to propose: "Comrades, let's dance." After that, without waiting for everyone to express their opinions, he pulled Vera, who was sitting beside him, and turned around in the open space in the living room. Victor first got up and changed the record of the phonograph, and then hugged another young girl and started dancing.
Sokov didn't dance for many years, so when he saw Leonid and the others dancing, he didn't want to participate. But when Yakov also got up and hugged a girl and started dancing, the remaining girl named Garka got up and walked to Sokov, stretched out his hand and said actively: "Comrade Major, can I ask you to dance?"
Seeing the girl taking the initiative to invite him, Sokov replied in a panic: "Of course, of course, I am very happy." As he said that, he stood up and reached out and grabbed Garka's hand, and danced with her.
As soon as they stepped together, Sokov, who had already become unfamiliar with the dance steps, accidentally stepped on Garka. Sokov quickly apologized to Garka and tried to let go of the other party. Unexpectedly, Garka grabbed Sokov tightly and said with a smile: "Comrade Major, it seems that you haven't danced for a long time?"
"Yes, yes," Sokov, who was hugging Garka, explained with an awkward expression: "It's almost ten years since I skipped it, so the dance steps are a little unfamiliar, so I'll forgive me."
Hearing Sokov say this, Garka couldn't help but laugh, and then said, "Major, I think you are in your early twenties, how could you have not danced for more than ten years? Could it be that you have not danced since you learned to walk?" After she said this, she saw an embarrassing expression on Sokov's face, and hurriedly added, "If you don't mind, you can call me "you". Don't always be "you", it sounds particularly awkward."
This is a familiar girl. After Sokov made a conclusion for her in his heart, he then asked: "Garka, where do you work?"
"I'm in the cinema." Garka said enthusiastically: "Gay Major, do you like watching movies? Recently, the theater has released several movies played by Varentina Sherova. If you are not in a hurry to leave Nizhny Novgorod, we can go and have a look."
Varentina Sherova?!When I got to this familiar name, Sokov couldn't help but be shocked. He thought that this person was the movie star who had a rumor with Rokosovsky. Now Rokosovsky has been in the hospital for a long time, but I just don't know if they have known each other. When he returns to Moscow this time, he can go and find out what happened.
"Major Sokov," Garka saw Sokov in a daze and quickly patted him on the shoulder twice, allowing him to recover from his absent-minded state: "Are you okay?"
"It's okay, it's okay." Sokov shook his head and said apologetically to Garka, "I just thought of something else, so I'm a little distracted. I heard that Serova is a very famous actor, and I believe the movie she starred in is also very exciting. When I have time another day, I will go to the cinema. I hope you can enjoy your face and watch a movie together."
Garka said with joy: "Comrade Major, this is really great. There will be two movies tomorrow afternoon. If you have time, it will be tomorrow afternoon."
"Comrades," Leonid, who was shaking his way, danced a few times, let go of his partner, pulled out his pistol from his waist, and said to Yakov, Sokov and others: "The dance has been finished. Next, we should practice shooting."
When he heard Leonid suggesting to shoot a target, Yakov and Victor reacted very normally, but Sokov was scared into a cold sweat. He remembered that Leonid was killed by his colleague during the Stalingrad defense war, and was sent to the military court because he accidentally killed his colleague while shooting a target. Today he also drank a lot. If something unexpected happened while shooting a target, he and Yakov would have eaten and left.
Thinking of this, he quickly let go of Garka and said to Leonid: "Leonid, you are drunk, you should take a break early." After saying these two sentences, he turned his head and looked at Yakov and said, "Yakov, look, what is Leonid like to be drunk? What if something unexpected happens during the shooting target?"
"Misha, what's wrong with you?" Leonid walked over and hugged Sokov's shoulder, swaying his pistol in front of him, saying, "Don't you believe in my shooting skills?"
Seeing Leonid's muzzle swaying in front of him, Sokov's hair stood up all over his body. He was afraid that the other party would accidentally get out of fire, so his life was explained here. He hurriedly pushed Leonid's hand away and said seriously: "Leonid, I think you are not using weapons for the first day. You should understand the reason why the muzzle cannot be directed to people..."
Hearing Sokov say this, Leonid let go of his arm that was on his shoulder, took a step back, and said with a smile: "Misha, you are too timid. Let me tell you, there are no bullets in this gun. If you are unlucky, I will try to show you." After that, he pushed the gun to his temple and looked like he was ready to pull the trigger at any time.
"No!" Just as he pulled the trigger, Sokov suddenly lifted Leonid's wrist upwards. With a "bang", a bullet flew out of the barrel of the gun, making a small hole in the tapestry hanging on the wall.
The gunshot shocked everyone. There was nothing in the room except the music from the phonograph. Leonid's alcohol was also awakened by the guns. After staring at his pistol for a while, he asked Victor with some angrily: "Victor, what's going on? Why does my gun load?"
"I, I don't know." The bullet almost wiped Victor's ear and hit the wall. So after hearing Leonid's doubts, Victor replied in a panic: "Maybe your gun is loaded."
Seeing Victor standing in place in a daze, Yakov quickly walked to the phonograph and moved the needle away from the record. After the room returned to peace, he said to Leonid: "Leonid, think carefully, do you think about whether your gun is loaded?"
Leonid put the pistol on the table and said with a wry smile: "Yakov, I just drank a little too much. As for whether it was loaded, I don't remember it at all."
When Yakov and Leonid were discussing whether the pistol was loaded, Sokov was sweating coldly on the side. He thought to himself: It's so lingering. Fortunately, Leonid did not pull the trigger when he pointed the gun at him, otherwise he would have gone to see Marx at this moment.
Yakov picked up the pistol placed on the table and handed it to Leonid, saying to him, "Please put the gun away, be careful not to get out of fire." After that, he raised his wrist and looked at the watch, and said with a serious expression, "It's getting late, Misha and I are leaving."
If it were normal, Leonid might have tried his best to save it, but just now he almost knocked off his head with a gun, and he couldn't say anything about it. He stretched out his hand to Sokov and said in a grateful tone: "Misha, thank you for saving my life. I will always remember your kindness."
Sokov heard Leonid say this, and then reached out and shook it with him, saying, "You're welcome, it's just a small task."
After Yakov and Sokov came out of the building, they walked silently towards the place they had discussed with the driver. After walking for a while, Yakov suddenly spoke, "Misha, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, Leonid would probably have lost his life."
"It's okay, it's just a slap in hand. Everyone is friends, so there's no need to say such polite words." Sokov thought that the house he just went to was quite large, so he asked curiously: "Yakov, is the place where we drink, Leonid's own house?"
"No, his house is in Gubishev." Yakov shook his head and said, "The house just now should be from Lieutenant Victor, the wingman pilot. The two of them had just arrived here from Gubishev to do business, so it is not surprising that they invited friends to dinner there."
The two arrived at the agreed place. Since the agreed time had not yet arrived, they did not see the driver's trace. While there was no one nearby, Yakov took out a cigarette box, pulled out a cigarette from it and held it in his mouth. He gestured to Sokov again. Seeing that the other party waved his hand to refuse, he stuffed the cigarette box back into his pocket.
Yakov lit a cigarette, took a sip, and said, "Misha, if something really happened to Leonid today, I am worried that it would cause a huge blow to Uncle Khrushchev..."
Sokov was very convinced of Yakov's statement. In the posts he read later, he repeatedly mentioned that Leonid, who defected to the German army, was captured by a secret team sent by the Soviet army, in order to save his son from death, Khrushchev personally went to Stalin himself to plead with him, but he still could not save his son's life. Later, as soon as he came to power, everyone who participated in the trial of his son was in trouble.
Yakov threw the cigarette butt on the ground, crushed it with his toes, and looked at Sokov and said, "Misha, when this matter is right, I will tell Uncle Khrushchev in person, and I believe he will look at you differently."
After Yakov finished speaking, he spoke, "Yakov, although I saved Leonid's life today, no one can guarantee that similar situations will not happen again in the future. I can save him once, but I can't save him a second time."
Hearing Sokov say this, Yakov hesitated and said, "Misha, you are over-thinking. I think after what happened today, I can definitely teach Leonid a lesson. I believe that he will not be so reckless in his work in the future."
Sokov wanted to say something in his heart: It is easy to change the country and nature is hard to change. But he said it to his mouth and swallowed it back again. He could only echo Yakov and said, "I hope so."
"Misha, what are your plans for the next step?" Yakov didn't want to keep talking about Leonid, so he took the initiative to distract the topic and asked, "Are you planning to stay in Moscow or go back to the front line?"
"I think the front line is more suitable for me," Sokov said. "After this mission is completed, I will apply to return to the front line immediately." Thinking of a nurse named Anne waiting for him at home in Moscow, he added, "When will we go back to Moscow?"
"This requires waiting for the notification from the superiors." Yakov said to Sokov: "The superiors sent us to Nizhny Novgorod this time, first to improve the propulsion system of the new rocket; second to develop a new rifle suitable for the installation of the troops. Although the new rifle has been formed and it will take not long to be installed in the troops, we still have many tests to carry out before this to improve the shortcomings."
As the two were talking, no one noticed that the jeep from the engine factory had appeared at the intersection and was coming towards the two standing positions. The driver was idle, so he drove out an hour in advance. Unexpectedly, when he was a few hundred meters away from the agreed location, he saw two officers standing there chatting. He looked closely and saw that the two officers were the ones he wanted to pick up, so he accelerated the train and rushed over.
After the driver stopped the car, he got out of the car and went to the right side of the car, opened the rear door, and said respectfully to the two of them: "Two commanders, please get in the car."
After both of them got into the car, the driver turned around and asked politely: "Two commanders, where will we go next?"
According to Yakov's original vision, he wanted to take Sokov around the city and let him see the beautiful night view of Nizhny Novgorod. But after leaving Leonid's incident, he immediately lost interest. When he heard the driver's question, he said angrily: "There is no place to go, so you should take us back to the guesthouse."
When he returned to the guesthouse and passed by the duty room, Sokov suddenly stopped and bent down to ask the waiter sitting inside: "Comrade Waiter, can the phone number here be connected to Moscow?"
"No, Major." The waiter shook his head and said, "The phone number here can only be called to the city. If you want to call a long distance, you can only go to the Post and Telecommunications Bureau."
As soon as he heard the waiter talk about the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, Sokov couldn't help but shake his head secretly, because he knew very well that the phone signal in the Post and Telecommunications Bureau was too bad, and sometimes the same words had to be repeated several times before the other party could barely hear them. For Sokov, who was used to using mobile phones in later generations, he would rather not make this call than suffer the foreign crime.
The waiter saw Sokov shaking his head slightly, but asked politely: "Comrade Major, is there anything else you need my help?"
Chapter completed!