In the pouring rain, Slava drove a half-track motorcycle, silently hurried back to the backup camp with Wei Ran and Alissa sitting behind him, as well as the sledges with guerrillas sitting on them.
Before the car stopped, Dr. Sasha trotted over, grabbed Wei Ran by the collar, and asked anxiously, "Where are Ivan and Sergey? Where have they gone? Where did you take them?"
!”
"Sasha, let go of Victor, Sasha!"
Father Slava stopped the anxious Dr. Sasha and said, "Ivan and Sergey are fine. They went to Ofdey's camp. The two of them were not injured."
Hearing this, Dr. Sasha breathed a sigh of relief, threw off Wei Ran's collar, and then nervously ran towards the sledge convoy behind him.
Not long after, she ran back and asked nervously, "Where's Slava... Jaina... Jaina? She also went to Ofdey's camp, right? She must have gone to take care of the wounded, right?"
?"
Looking up at the children gathered around, Slava forced a smile and said, "Yes, Gianna and Shula have gone, and the wounded need someone to take care of them. Sasha, you...find a quiet tent,
Victor, come too, I have something you need to do. Alyssa, take care of those children and take them to arrange a place for everyone to live."
Dr. Sasha's body shook involuntarily, and he suppressed his panic and said, "Come with me!"
Slava and Wei Ran looked at each other. The former helped the latter, who had difficulty with his legs and feet, and followed Dr. Sasha into a gray tent at the edge of the camp.
Before the two of them could sit down, Sasha asked anxiously, "Gianna..."
Slava hesitated for a long time, but finally nodded, sighed and replied, "She...sacrificed."
Hearing this, Sasha staggered and sat on the box at the door, with a look of regret in his tearful eyes, "It's my turn to go, it's my turn to go. She also asked me to tell Shula
..."
"Shura also died..."
Slava took off the leather tank cap on his head and rubbed his messy hair irritably, "Boris and his son died too, and many people died."
"Ivan and Sergey..."
"They are still alive"
Wei Ran quickly added, "They weren't injured at all. They really went to Ofdey's camp."
Sasha showed a bleak smile that was uglier than crying, "Slava, why is this loss..."
Slava shook his head, "There were four German colonels and two lieutenant colonels in the train that Ofdey stopped. I guess it was to save those people. When we went to the village opposite the railway, they were in charge of the defense there.
There are less than 20 people.”
In the tent that was being pattered by raindrops, Slava continued in a calm tone, "Probably to save those people, the Germans not only sent more people to support than we expected. They also dispatched several vehicles.
tank."
"Where is the hospital?" Sasha changed the subject with a trace of evasion.
"It was the chain dogs stationed in Lyuban. They asked Arseni for the location of the hospital."
Slava suppressed his anger and explained, "They entered the forest this morning. They probably planned to take down the hospital while we were attacking the freight station and the train. Those bastards were sure that we would have some enemies in the previous battle.
The wounded, they want to wait for us to deliver them to their doorstep."
"There are many casualties in the hospital?" Sasha asked almost desperately, and then saw Slava nodded.
"Fortunately, Alisa's brother flew a plane to blow up the lumberjack bridge, otherwise the battle there might have been more brutal than the railway line."
Slava raised his head and glanced at Sasha, "When we rushed over... there were not many left alive."
Dr. Sasha sighed with difficulty, forced himself to calm down and asked, "What should we do next?"
"When the rain stops, we will go to the camp in Ofdey and rebuild a hospital there."
Slava put on his tank cap again and said, "Although our losses were great, our gains were not small. Not only did we blow up the freight station and the train, an armored train and several tanks, but we also got enough
We have enough supplies to last our three guerrillas through the winter, and enough medicine to rebuild a hospital."
"Where's the doctor?" Sasha asked desperately, "Only me?"
"Doctors are indeed a problem"
Slava turned to look at the rain outside the window, "But we still have those children, and the men and women who were rescued. Sasha, teach them. As long as you give them some time, they can help."
Having said this, Slava turned back and said seriously, "Sasha, Gianna and Shula's affairs should be kept secret from those children for the time being."
Sasha was stunned, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and nodded solemnly, "What should we say?"
Slava was visibly relieved, and then looked at Wei Ran, "Comrade reporter, let's talk to those children... How about Jaina and Shula, as combat heroes, return to Moscow with you for an interview?"
Wei Ran, who had been listening, opened his mouth, but finally nodded, "Let's just say that, and they have already taken a plane and left first."
"That's it," Slava sighed, and there was only the white noise of raindrops hitting the canvas in the not-so-big tent.
"This is what Gianna left behind"
Sasha took out a plastic leather book with a hammer and sickle and a red cross from his bag and handed it to Wei Ran.
Taking the notebook with obvious signs of use, Wei Ran opened it gently. When he could see the contents clearly with the help of the kerosene lamp hanging above his head, he felt that his heart was being clenched by an invisible hand.
Already.
This book records the time when each child came to the guerrilla camp, which village they came from, their birthdays, their areas of study expertise and their character strengths, as well as their dreams and expectations for the future.
Imagine.
It can be seen from the different colors but extremely neat pen handwriting that these contents were definitely not written in one day, but came from daily records bit by bit.
"Ivan's dream is to be a hero of the Soviet Union, a hero of the Soviet Union who is qualified to have Comrade Stalin award him a medal.
I was hesitating whether to tell Ivan what price one had to pay and what suffering one had to endure to become a hero of the Soviet Union.
This child always dreams of taking up weapons and fighting the invaders. I don’t even know whether this is his advantage or the harm caused to him by the war.
A child who is keen on fighting and killing may be the greatest misfortune born of this endless war."
"Sergey's dream is to be a mathematician. As his teacher, I can testify that this child is very talented in mathematics and he is very sensitive to numbers.
I think that after the war is over, when they start to build Soviet society together, if Sergey can become a mathematician, he will play a greater value than the hero of the Soviet Union.
War needs heroes, but peace needs builders with knowledge and dreams. But I look forward to how colorful their future will be if a Soviet hero has a mathematician friend, or if a mathematician has a Soviet hero friend."
“Vasili’s dream was to raise a thousand sheep and a thousand cows. He wanted everyone to be fed and drink milk as water.
As his teacher, Vasily’s dream is the one that makes me most proud, and it is also the one that I think is the simplest but the most sincere.
One of his arms was broken by a German gun. When Dr. Sasha and I rescued him from the dead, he didn't feel any sadness. He was always so optimistic and always thinking about paying for other people. .
Vasily’s noble character is as dazzling as the morning star before dawn. I hope that in the future, I will have the opportunity to eat the sheep he raised and drink the milk produced by the cows he raised.”
As Wei Ran flipped through the pages, he also read out the contents recorded in this worn-out notebook.
But these beautiful wishes were like a sharp knife sprinkled with salt, cutting wounds from the softest parts of their hearts.
Until the last page of this book, the content finally changed.
"Gianna, an ordinary Bolshevik member, her dream is to drive away the invaders, realize the dreams of the children in front of her, and build a dream world with them."
He gently closed the book, but the tent became more and more silent. After a long time, Slava stood up, bent down and got out of the tent, stood in the rain curtain with his back to the two of them and said, "Take advantage of this rain to have a good rest. After the rain stops, we will go to Offjei’s camp and realize Jaina’s dream together.”
"You can rest here." Before Sasha finished speaking, he had already stood up and was about to walk out.
"Doctor Sasha, this notebook." Wei Ran handed over the notebook in his hand.
"You can keep it"
Sasha also turned her back to him and said, "Maybe one day we will be attacked by the Germans again. I ask you to find a safe place to keep those precious dreams after you leave here.
When the war is over, if you are still alive, if we or those children are still alive, if you have time, you can come back here and see who among those children has realized their dreams."
Watching Dr. Sasha disappear into the rain, Wei Ran silently put the notebook into his bag, then lay down on the ammunition box that served as a bed, looking at the dim kerosene lamp above his head in a daze. Secretly looking forward to it, and
Secretly hoping that those children can realize their dreams.
Amid the swirling thoughts, the autumn rain outside the tent became heavier and heavier. The campground, where some people were still crying because of the loss of their family members, finally became quiet.
In the chilly rain, Wei Ran, who was tossing and turning, did not know when he entered the future dreamland constructed by children with their imagination.
In another tent not far from him, Slava was sitting on a wooden box, staring blankly at the heavy rain outside the window, without moving for a long time.
