Chapter 58

Perhaps it was because Zhukov himself said hello that the new uniform was soon delivered. The man who came to deliver the uniform was actually Lieutenant Colonel Kudrin, the Minister of the logistics department.

He came in with a set of tawny men's winter uniform in his hand, stood at attention in front of Zhukov, and then respectfully reported, "senior general, I've got your uniform."

"Give it to lieutenant commander o'shanina. The uniform is for her." Zhukov said without raising his head.

"Yes." Kudrin looked at me in surprise, but he gave me the new army uniform, saluted Zhukov and left.

Kudrin had been gone for a while, but I still stood there with my uniform in my arms. I didn't know where to change my clothes; Wait here to see if Zhukov has any orders for me. Maybe he felt that there was no sound in the room. Zhukov raised his head and looked around. He found that I was still standing like a stake. He couldn't help laughing and said to me, "silly girl, what are you doing standing there? Hurry to find a place to put on your new uniform. You look really awkward now. "

"Yes." I quickly promised, and then holding the clothes out of the door.

Outside the room, I asked the second lieutenant on duty at the door, "is there any place to change clothes?"

He stood up, pushed open the door of the next room and said to me, "Comrade commander, this is our lounge. You can change your clothes in it. Please come in I nodded gratefully at him, pushed open the door and went in.

The furnishings in the rest room were very simple. There was only a small wooden bed for the officer on duty to sleep, and there were no tables and chairs. Close the door, take off the old uniform, put on the new uniform. Although it's men's, it's a perfect fit. From the bottom of my heart, in the uniform of World War II, my favorite is the German uniform, especially the SS uniform, which is so beautiful.

Wearing a brand new uniform without rank, I stood in front of Zhukov again. He looked me up and down carefully for a long time, and finally shook his head and said, "it's not nice to wear skirts. It seems that women soldiers should wear skirts."

Instead of answering his question directly, I asked him, "senior general, I am the special commissioner you sent to the 16th group army. Now I am discharged from the hospital, should I go back there to report?"

"No hurry, no hurry." Zhukov raised his hand, looked at his watch and said, "it's five past one in the afternoon. I'll give you a half day's holiday and have a good rest. I'll report to the 16th army early tomorrow morning."

"Yes." I agreed very simply, then stopped for a while and asked, "where do I live today? Also, is there a military service nearby? I need to buy some personal necessities. "

"Of course, I'll stay in the same place. I'll keep your room for you all the time. As for the military service agency, there should be. I'll find someone to take you. " Then he picked up the phone, dialed a number, first reported his name, and then said to each other: "do you have any rest there today? OK, let her go shopping with commander o'shanina. Also, prepare 20 roubles in cash, all in one rouble denomination. "

Putting down the phone, he said to me, "I've arranged it. Go back to your room and put your things away. Then go to the gate of the headquarters. There will be a woman soldier named Nina waiting for you

"I see, Comrade General." I saluted him gratefully and walked out of the room with my changed uniform.

I put my things away and came to the gate of the headquarters. I saw a truck with tarpaulin outside. I looked around to see where the woman soldier waiting for me was. Suddenly I heard a timid voice behind me asking, "excuse me, are you lieutenant commander o'shanina?"

I looked back and saw a young woman soldier with black hair standing behind her. She was wearing several sizes of men's military uniform and was looking at me awkwardly. I quickly replied, "yes, I am o'shanina. Are you Nina? "

"Hello, comrade commander." She stood at attention and respectfully replied, "I'm Nina. I've been ordered to go shopping with you." Then he took out a stack of banknotes from his coat pocket and handed them to him. "Here is the cash for you. Please click it."

I took the money and put it directly into my pocket. Then I took her hand and asked, "do you know where there is a military service near here?"

"Yes, comrade commander." She had answered with restraint.

"Don't be so nervous," I comforted her. "Don't call me lieutenant commander all the time. Call me Rita."

"Yes."

"Well, next, it's time to take me there to buy daily necessities."

"Rita," Nina suggested, "there's nothing for sale in the service club. If you want to buy something, you'd better go to the city."

"To the city?" Listening to what she said, I can't help hesitating. It's so far from the city and there is no bus. How can I get there. And now it is during the war, even if there were bus lines leading here, it is estimated that they will be out of service now.

Hearing my worries, she comforted me and said, "you don't have to worry about transportation. We can take a ride to the city." Then he took my hand and walked out to the truck outside the door.

Seeing us approaching, the driver's cab door opened and a tall, baby faced Sergeant jumped out. He said to us impatiently, "Hello, ladies, can you hurry up? It will be dark in the city later."

"I see, talkative guy." Nina answered, pulling me into the cab.

When the car started, the driver looked at me and asked Nina, "who is this girl? I haven't seen you before. Is that your new female colleague? "

"Yes, my name is Rita. I'm Nina's new colleague." I saw that Nina was trying to introduce me to him. She answered in a hurry, grabbed her hand and shook it gently, indicating not to tell the driver my true identity.

"Well, yes, she's only here today." Nina was very cooperative in helping me out.

"The operator, too?" The driver then asked. After hearing what he said, I realized that Nina was the operator in the headquarters. I've only heard of female operators in the headquarters of the front army before, but I haven't met them because they have been working in the underground communication room and I haven't had the chance to enter such an important place.

"It's a military secret. I won't tell you." Nina's tone is coquettish, which makes people guess that they are lovers.

The driver held the steering wheel with one hand and reached out to me with the other hand. He took the initiative to introduce himself to me: "my name is a geifu. I'm from Moscow. Nice to meet you." I held out my hand politely, gave him a little shake and let go.

The next journey, the two have been flirting. My light bulb is very witty. I looked at the two people who looked like no one else and laughed. Then I tilted my head to one side and began to close my eyes. Unexpectedly, I fell asleep unconsciously after a while.

I don't know how long later, the car stopped, Nina woke me up and said something. I asked vaguely, "where is this place?"

"This is Yuga zapatnaya."

"Yuga zapatnaya?" When I heard this familiar place name, I was stunned. I didn't mean to go shopping in the city. Even if I didn't go to albard street, I could make do near Pushkin square. How could I get to the terminal of the red line subway? You know, even in later generations, it can only be regarded as the edge of the city, not to mention it is still in the early 1940s.

Reluctantly, I pushed the door open and got out first. When Nina got out of the car, ah geifu said to her in a loud voice, "I'll go to the warehouse to get supplies first. I'll wait for you here in two hours."

"I know, I know. When have you become so wordy? Go and get supplies Nina waved to him, then came and took my hand and said, "come on, I'll go shopping with you."

The snow on the ground is very thick. Several cleaners are shoveling the snow under the roadside trees. The high snowdrift separates the motorway from the sidewalk. We walked slowly along the sidewalk, chatting as we walked.

"Nina, where are you from?"

"I'm from Kiev."

"Kiev?" I was surprised and said, "so you are Ukrainian! Kiev has been occupied by the German devils. Is your family still there? "

"Yes, my parents and a younger brother have all stayed in that city. I don't know when we can call back." Speaking of this, Nina couldn't help looking sad.

Seeing that Nina's tears are coming down, I regret that I shouldn't ask her about her family. I patted her on the shoulder and comforted her: "Nina, don't worry, your family will be safe. I promise you, two years at the most, we will drive the German devils out of our country. "

"Well, Rita, you're the commander, and I believe what you say." Nina wiped away her tears, sniffed loudly, and suddenly asked, "what daily necessities are you going to buy?"

I was stunned at first, and immediately came back to myself and said, "I want to buy toothpaste, toothbrush, towel, soap, needles and so on."

"There is a shortage of material goods in Moscow today. Some of the goods in short supply can't be bought even with money. But now that we are here, we have to take a chance. "

We walked along the newly shoveled sidewalk, paying attention to the shops by the side of the road. Along the way, most of the shops are closed doors, windows are stacked with sandbags, some full, some also exposed half. It was not easy to see a shop with its door open. Nina pushed the door and went in. I followed her closely.

The store is quite large, with more than 100 square meters. Half of the daily necessities and half of the food counters are sold. There were a lot of people shopping inside, with long lines on both sides.

Nina looked at the wall clock and said to me, "Rita, it's getting late. The store is closing. Let's both line up, or we won't be able to buy anything. "

"Well, all right." I thought about it for a while and said, "I'll line up in the food section. You can line up in the general merchandise."

"I see," she promised, and ran to the back of the line in the department store area. I'm also honest. I'm standing on the side of the food section, behind a short old lady.

After waiting in line for a while, I suddenly heard Nina calling me in a low voice behind me and quickly turned to look at her. "What brand of toothpaste do you want?" she asked me in a low voice

"Just buy it." I answered her without thinking.

"What?" She raised her voice involuntarily, and immediately met with the white eyes of several old ladies around her. Then she lowered her voice and asked me, "what did you say just now? I didn't catch you. Please repeat

My cold sweat almost came down. Although I can buy it in all the stores or convenience stores in Moscow, it has not come out yet. So I quickly covered up and said, "any brand will do. Otherwise, I'll buy the toothpaste of" muscovite. "

The food purchasing line was moving forward slowly. After two people, it was my turn. Seeing the goal in sight, I felt relieved. The shop assistant began to receive the old lady in front of me. She asked mechanically and expressionless, "what do you need?"

The old lady really didn't treat the salesman as an outsider, but she muttered a lot of things, such as 100 grams of bread, 50 grams of sausage and 20 grams of butter. The shop assistant was very patient. She took the things she wanted out of the counter, cut off some of them, weighed out the same amount of food with a balance, put them in a paper bag and handed them to the old lady.

Seeing off the old lady, it was finally my turn to stand at the counter and go shopping. When the salesman asked me with the same expression, I immediately rushed to reply, "I want a bag of dried bread, 200 grams of sausage, two eggs, and four tomatoes."

The shop assistant neatly put the things I wanted to buy into a paper bag, then put them on the counter and offered me a dry price: "a total of 35 gobies." I handed her a note that I had already held in my hand. She was about to receive the note, but the electric bell in the shop rang.

As soon as the electric bell rang, the salesman made a completely unexpected move. She picked up the paper bag on the counter and put it under the counter. Then she said to me in a cold voice, "Comrade soldier, I'm sorry, we're off work." With that, she turned back to the back of the small room to change clothes.

I held up a rouble note and was stunned there, scolding in my heart: it's not too late for you to get off work after you accept my money. However, watching the people in the queue behind me disperse without complaint, I didn't argue with the salesperson, because I knew that Lao maozi was too rigid in his work, and everything he did was so rigid. Moreover, it was not the first time that I encountered this kind of situation, and I had some experience.

But fortunately, Nina has bought all the daily necessities I need. It's also a great misfortune.

We came out of the shop and walked back the way we came. Under the corner of the street, two young people were hugging and kissing. When they passed by, I couldn't help looking back. I remember when I first arrived in Moscow in 2002, young lovers kissing can be seen everywhere in public places. This is also a scene on the street. Unexpectedly, in 2003, Russia issued a law declaring that kissing in public places was illegal. Overnight, such scenes disappeared from the streets, stations, shopping malls and other public places.

Maybe I look back too many times, which makes Nina curious. She also looks back and asks me, "Rita, what do you always look back at? Do you look at the posters on the wall?"

The poster on the wall?! When I look at it carefully, there is a huge poster on the wall behind the young couple, on which is a female militiamen with a rifle, and it is written in Black: "you can win only by fighting between two sides! Go to the enemy's rear and drive them out of the country! "

Isn't that what I said when I first spoke to the guerrillas? How could it appear in the posters? Nina looked at the poster and said with great feeling: "these two sentences are very good. They are really high-level. It makes people feel excited when they listen to them."

"Nina!" There was a cry in the distance. We looked at it and found that a geifu's truck stopped on the opposite side of the road. He opened the cab door and leaned out to greet us.

Nina and I stepped on the snowbank and came from the sidewalk to the motorway. Just as we were about to cross the road, a black car came in the distance. I pulled Nina to a stop, ready to wait for the car to pass before crossing the road. Unexpectedly, the car stopped five or six steps away from us. The driver in military uniform gestured to us to go first.

I gratefully waved to the driver and took Nina to the opposite side of the road. Nina opened the cab door and climbed up. While I was waiting for her, I looked at the black car again. As the car passed by our truck, I found a big beard in a gray coat sitting in the back seat. Although I only saw one side, I had a very familiar feeling. I couldn't remember who it was in a hurry.

The car started and headed for the headquarters of the front army outside the city. I frowned and thought bitterly, recalling who I saw just now and why I was so familiar with them? At this time, I suddenly heard Nina and ah gei Fu laughing. They were shouting: "for the motherland! For Stalin! Go ahead! "

Stalin! Hearing the name, I suddenly remembered who I saw just now. Yes, that's Stalin!