Sokov was having a fierce ideological struggle in his heart. Should he tell the two girls in front of him the news of his marriage? Sizhuo repeatedly, and finally decided to hide the news for the time being.
After the three of them finished their dinner, Anne took the initiative to wash the dishes, while Tonia and Sokov continued to sit at the table and chat. Tonia asked, "Misha, are there any medical staff in your teacher?"
"It's all right," Sokov replied instinctively: "In such a cruel battle, the casualties of medical staff were also very high. As far as I know, some divisions' field hospitals can be said to have been destroyed, and even a single medical staff could not survive."
Sokov's words surprised Dongniya and Anne, who was washing dishes, "What, the casualties are so heavy?"
Seeing the two of them's surprised expressions, Sokov asked back: "I don't know if you have heard a word?"
"What's the matter?"
Sokov smiled miserably and said lightly: "In Stalingrad City, ordinary soldiers can only survive for 24 hours, while the survival time of officers is only 72 hours."
Except for staying in the Western Front for a while, Tonia and Anne spent most of their time in Moscow, and they didn't know enough about the cruelty of the battlefield. Sokov said frightened them. After a while, Anne murmured: "But, Misha, you survived successfully."
"Yes, I survived, but I have been injured many times." Sokov took off his pullover, pointed to several scars on his body, and said to the two of them: "Look, I, a teacher, have been injured several times. If I hadn't been lucky, I would have been lying on the cold ground."
After Sokov put on his clothes again, he said to the two girls: "On the battlefield, there is no distinction between men and women, only soldiers and civilians. If you want to go to the battlefield, you must be prepared for sacrifice. Are you ready?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Tonya and Anne looked at each other, and then replied in a faint voice: "We are ready. As long as the front line needs us, we will go to the front line without hesitation."
"Good, girls." Sokov nodded to the two and said in praise: "You are all good."
Time passed without realizing it. I don’t know how long it took, Annie accidentally looked up and saw the wall clock hanging on the wall. She exclaimed: “Oh my God, it’s almost twelve o’clock. Are you not sleepy at all?”
"It's getting late, you two should rest early." Sokov said to the two: "You sleep in the room, I sleep in the kitchen."
After the two left the kitchen, Sokov put together several chairs and prepared to lie on them to sleep. At this time, Anne walked in with a quilt in her arms and asked, "Misha, how long can you stay in Moscow this time?"
"I don't know." Sokov shook his head: "Now the troops are fighting against the German army. As the division commander, I cannot leave for too long and may return to Stalingrad at any time."
"Misa, if you have time during the day, would you like to accompany me outside?" Anne said with a red face: "It's my turn to rest tomorrow."
Sokov thought for a while and then said, "Anne, if the superiors don't send someone to me, I can accompany you for a walk."
"This is so good." Anne couldn't help but smile when she heard Sokov's answer: "Then let's say that, see you tomorrow. Good night!" She waved her hand at Sokov, and walked out of the kitchen lightly.
Sokov turned off the lights and the door, lay on the chair, thinking in his heart that if Yakov hadn't sent someone to find him, Anne might have become her wife long ago. When shopping with her tomorrow, would she need to tell her about her marriage?
Maybe it was because he hadn't been resting in such a quiet environment for a long time. Sokov slept very soundly. If Anne hadn't woken up him, he might have slept until noon.
Sokov sat up, rubbed his eyes, and asked Annie weakly: "Annie, why are you the only one? Where is Tonya?"
"Tonia has already gone to work." Anne smiled and said to Sokov: "Misha, I've made you breakfast, get up and eat quickly."
The breakfast was very simple, with two slices of chopped pickled cucumbers and a thin slice of kneaded ham sausage in the bread slices, and a bowl of red cabbage soup left over from last night, adding two small pieces of cooked beef.
After breakfast, Sokov asked Annie: "Annie, can you take me to your hospital to make a phone call? I want to ask if my superiors have any arrangements today. If not, I can go shopping with you."
Anne was overjoyed to confirm that Sokov was willing to go shopping with her. She took Sokov to the hospital communication room across the street and said to the guard: "Can you ask this commander to call?"
The guard glanced at Sokov, quickly got up and saluted him, and said loudly: "Hello, comrade commander, you can use the phone here at will."
After thanking him, Sokov picked up the phone and dialed Yakov's office. After hearing Yakov's voice, he spoke, "Yasa, I am Sokov. I want to ask, do you have any arrangements today? If not, I want to stroll around the city."
"There are no arrangements today, you can move freely." Yakov opened the schedule in front of him and looked at it, but he still reminded Sokov: "When you are wandering around the city, you may encounter patrol inspections. Remember to bring the military certificate with you."
After putting down the phone, Sokov thanked the guard and left the guard room with Annie. Not long after the two left, a hospital handyman walked into the guard room, looked at Sokov and Annie who were away, and asked the guard curiously: "Who is that commander?"
"I don't know." The guard shook his head and replied, "But he has a very close relationship with Anne. Could it be that her boyfriend has returned from the front line?"
Sokov and Anne naturally couldn't hear the chat between the doorman and the handyman, and he asked Anne: "Anne, where are you going today?"
"The classics in the city are now under martial law. If you want to go, you may be constantly checked for documents." As for where you go, Anne thought for a long time, and finally said to Sokov: "Or, let's go to the Lenin Library."
The Lenin Library is the largest library in the Soviet Union, which collects native and foreign documents from 367 languages ​​in the world. It has special collections of maps, music, recordings, rare books, papers, newspapers and other types of publications.
Sokov passed there several times in his later generations, but for various reasons, he never went in. Since I heard Anne say she wanted to go today, I happened to go and have a better experience.
The two of them took the subway to the Lenin Library Station. When they left the station, they could see the Lenin Library covered by a disguised net. Even the statue at the door was covered with a disguised net. Anne familiarized herself with Sokov and walked into the museum. While walking, she said, "It seems that there are not many people today, and the speed of borrowing books can be roughly faster."
Unexpectedly, as soon as the two of them reached the door, they were blocked by a security guard. Sokov thought that today was closed and would not be open to the public. Unexpectedly, they heard the security guard say, "Please show your library certificate!"
Annie quickly took out the library certificate from her pocket and handed it to the security guard. The security guard opened it and checked it, handed it back to Annie, and then reached out to Sokov: "Your library certificate, Comrade Commander."
"I don't." Sokov spread his hands and said helplessly: "It's the first time I've been here."
"Sorry, comrade commander." The security guard said in an official manner: "According to regulations: if you do not have a documentary certificate, you cannot enter."
"Comrade," Sokov said politely: "I just came back from the front line and I haven't had time to apply for a library certificate. Can you see if you can make it easier and let me go in and take a look."
"Yes, he just came back from the front line and wanted to visit the Lenin Library." Anne also said, "You just let him in."
"I'm sorry, no one can enter without a documentary certificate. This is the regulation." The security guard said unyieldingly: "If you want to enter, you must apply for a documentary certificate."
When Sokov met such stubborn security guards, he felt speechless. He could only ask with a bitter face: "Where should I apply for a library certificate?"
"There are there." The security guard pointed his hand at a small window not far away and said to Sokov: "As long as you show your valid ID and provide a photo, you can apply for a free library certificate."
Sokov came to the small window pointed by the security guard, looked down at it, and saw a thin old lady sitting inside and said politely: "Lucky, I want to get a library certificate."
The old lady looked up at Sokov and said blankly: "Please show your valid ID and provide a photo."
Sokov quickly took out his military certificate, handed it in through the window, and said, "There is a photo in the certificate, so you can use that photo."
The old lady opened the military certificate, looked at the ID, looked up at Sokov, then took a small pale yellow card from the side, filled in some basic information, pasted the photo in a blank position, picked up a seal, dipped it in the ink paste, and covered it on the photo with a snap.
The old lady put the library certificate close to her mouth and blew a few breaths at the ink that had not yet dried to speed up the drying speed. Taking advantage of this time, Sokov asked with a smile: "Are there many people reading books in the library now?"
"It's all right, Comrade Commander." The old lady replied amiably: "People come in to read books all year round. Except for the fewer readers when the Germans approached the city last year, the number of readers in the rest of the time was about the same as before the war."
After the ink was dry, the old lady handed Sokov the newly-appointed library certificate and told him: "Comrade Commander, please keep your library certificate. Remember not to lose it, otherwise you will come to me to get another one."
With the library certificate, Sokov and Anne successfully entered the library. Anne is a regular visitor here. As soon as she entered the door, she took Sokov to the cloak storage room and said to him: "Misha, take off your military coat and store it here, and come and go when we leave." The two of them had stored their clothes, took the certificate of sending clothes, and continued to walk inside.
Sokov thought that borrowing books here was like in China. He just needed to go over and explain to the librarian the book he wanted to borrow, and the other party would help you find the book. Who knew that after entering here, he found that this was not the case. What kind of book to borrow must be filled in a card in front of the counter. After filling it out, he handed the card to the librarian, and the other party gave you a number list.
After Anne handed over the filled-in card to the librarian, she said to Sokov: "Misha, there is a row of chairs over there, let's sit there and wait."
Sokov followed Anne to the row of chairs in a daze. After sitting down, he asked curiously: "Anne, aren't you going to borrow books? Why are you sitting here?"
"I'm waiting for the librarian to pick me up the book," Anne explained to Sokov. "I'll find a place to read it when the book is brought over."
"How to get the book?" Sokov saw the female librarian who collected the cards and sat there without moving, and seemed to not want to find the book at all: "I saw that the librarian was sitting there without moving at all."
Hearing Sokov's question, Anne couldn't help but laugh: "Misha, is this your first time entering the Lenin Library?"
"Yes, my first time here." Sokov nodded and said in a affirmative tone: "Didn't you just saw me and I went to apply for a temporary library certificate?"
"There are too many books here, and it will take a long time to find a book, so the division of labor within the Lenin Library is very detailed." Anne explained to Sokov: "Don't look at the female librarian sitting and not moving, but her responsibility is to collect the cards filled in by the readers. Every fifteen minutes, a staff member will appear, and he will take away all the cards in the librarian's hand and go back to arrange for someone to find the book we want to read."
"So that's how it is." After Annie's explanation, Sokov suddenly felt that he had gained his knowledge. He felt that this division of labor was very scientific, and some were responsible for collecting borrowed cards, and some were responsible for finding books at the back based on the cards. Everyone performed their duties to make the entire Lenin Library look orderly.
Not long after, Sokov saw a male staff member appearing next to the female librarian. After taking a stack of cards from her, he turned around and walked into the back of the bookshelf, probably helping readers find books.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, Sokov heard the sound of the wheels of the cart rolling on the marble floor. He looked at the sound and saw the male staff who had left before pushing a cart full of books towards the location of the female librarian.
Seeing that the book was delivered, the female librarian started reading the number. The person who was reading it took the initiative to come forward and collect the books she wanted to borrow from her. Anne's book was also among them. As soon as she got the book, she dragged Sokov to the nearby reading area and found a position to sit down.
She looked around and whispered to Sokov: "Misha, if you want to read a book, you can fill out a card. It won't take long to get the book you want."
Chapter completed!