Early the next morning, Sokov and Assia changed into casual clothes and left the house.

  Because they entered the compound directly by car yesterday, the sentries guarding the gate did not see the two of them. Today, when the two of them went out, they were wearing casual clothes. The sentinels at the door saw two people in casual clothes coming from the courtyard, so they naturally had to be more vigilant.

  When the two of Sokov were about ten steps away from the gate, a sentry stepped forward and stopped them: "Stop, what are you doing?"

  Asiya once lived in this compound for a while, and she was familiar with the sentinel at the gate, but the sentry in front of her was a stranger, who should have just been transferred, and said quickly, "We live here."

   "Live here?" The sentinel sized up Sokov and Assia, frowned and said, "Why have I never seen you?"

   "Comrade Warrior," Sokov glanced at the opponent's epaulets, and said with a smile, "You must have just been transferred here, right?"

"I was transferred here in January this year." The sentinel did not deny Sukov's statement, but continued: "I know everyone in the compound, but I have never met the two of you. To be honest , who are you guys?"

Sokov saw that the sentry belonged to the kind of Yumu who didn't understand, so he didn't want to talk nonsense with him, but turned his head and asked Assia: "Assia, I see there are still people in the duty room, go and see if you recognize them ?”

  Axia quickly agreed, and walked quickly to the window of the duty room, and saw a sergeant sitting inside and dozing off. She took a closer look and found that the other person happened to be someone she knew, so she raised her hand and tapped on the glass. When the sergeant raised his head, Assia greeted him with a smile: "Comrade sergeant, do you still know me?"

  The sergeant first looked at Asiya blankly, wondering who the woman who greeted him was. The next moment, he remembered the other party's identity, stood up quickly from his seat, and said with a smile, "So it's the military doctor Asia, when did you come back?"

   "Yesterday evening," Assia said to the sergeant, "my husband and I were about to go out, but were stopped by your sentries."

   "Your husband?" The sergeant had a surprised expression on his face when he heard Assia say this: "General Sokov is also back?"

   "Yes, he came back with me this time." Assia nodded and said, "Now he is stopped by your sentry outside the duty room."

  Hearing that Sokov was stopped at the door by his subordinates, the sergeant hurried out of the duty room and saw Sokov standing face to face with the sentry at a glance. The sergeant trotted up to Sokov, raised his hand in salute and said, "Hello, Comrade General! Long time no see."

  The sentinel was surprised when he heard the sergeant address Sokov as a general, "Comrade sergeant, don't you see that he is wearing casual clothes? And he is so young, how could he be a general?"

"Shut up!" The sergeant said to the sentinel, "This is General Sokov, whom I often mentioned to you. I didn't expect him to be stopped at the door just because he wasn't wearing a military uniform." After reprimanding his subordinates, the sergeant Then he turned to apologize to Sokov, "Comrade General, I'm really sorry. Since the sentry at the gate has changed a group of people, none of them have seen you. If they have caused you any inconvenience, I apologize to you on behalf of them."

   "It's okay, it's just a small misunderstanding." Sokov said to the sergeant reasonably, "I'm not wearing a military uniform today, so you don't need to salute me."

   "Comrade General," Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to hold the sentry accountable, he felt more at ease. He tentatively asked, "Where are you going?"

   "I'm going to Khimki."

   "To Khimki?!" The sergeant looked out of the gate, and then said with some surprise: "Comrade General, there is no direct bus to Khimki."

   "It doesn't matter, we can take the subway first and then transfer to the bus." Asiya came over and took Sokov's hand: "Anyway, we are not in a hurry, so we can take a look at the recent changes in Moscow by the way."

After Sokov and Asiya left arm in arm, the sergeant scolded the sentinel and said, "Why didn't you come and call me when you saw someone you didn't know? Fortunately, General Sokov didn't care about you, and replaced him with a grumpy one." General, being stopped by you like this, it would be light to scold you, and maybe even give you two slaps in the face, these commanders who came down from the front line are very grumpy."

  After Sokov and Asiya walked a certain distance, Sokov asked, "Where should we take the subway?"

"Turn right at the intersection in front, and there is a subway station entrance." Fortunately, Asiya is familiar with the terrain: "We take the red line subway to the terminal station, and after getting out of the subway, take a bus for four or five stops. We will be in the town of Khimki."

  Sokov didn't expect that there would be so many people in the subway, so he hurriedly asked Asiya to stand near the door, and then blocked her with his body to prevent someone from accidentally bumping into her stomach. After the subway started, Sokov said apologetically, "Asiya, I'm really sorry. If I knew there were so many people in the subway, I would definitely have contacted a car in advance."

"It's okay, Misha." Assia said generously, "I haven't taken the subway for a long time, so I just came here to experience it. Although there are many people, the train is heading out of the city. Not crowded anymore."

  Asiya's words soon became a reality. After two stops, the originally crowded carriage became empty, and even the seats were vacant.

   After Sokov let Asiya sit down in an empty seat, he stood beside her. It's not that he doesn't sit if he has a seat, but that he has developed a habit of taking a bus. As long as there are women, children and old people standing, even if there are seats beside him, he can't sit casually, otherwise it will be considered a kind of impoliteness. the behavior of.

  Asiya saw Sokov standing beside her, she moved to the side, patted the empty space with her hand, and said, "Misha, what are you doing standing, sit down quickly."

  Looking around, Sokov found that there seemed to be quite a number of women, children and old people standing in the carriage, so he replied in embarrassment, "Isn't that good?"

   "It's nothing bad, just sit down."

   Sokov took a deep breath, and then sat down next to Asiya nervously.

   "Misha, since there is a seat available, why don't you sit?" Assia asked curiously.

Sokov murmured: "Didn't it mean that when there are old people, children and women standing on the bus or subway, men can't just grab their empty seats? I once took a bus and there were many people on the bus. After a young girl got on the bus, she sat directly near the door, and an old lady who followed her up, without saying a word, stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the shoulders, lifted her from the seat, and then sat down carelessly. I got down. I was worried that if I just sat down, an old lady would come over and pull me up from the seat. If this happened, it would be too embarrassing."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Asiya couldn't help but couldn't help but laugh, "Misha, you're right, when there are old people, children and women who don't sit down in the car, men usually don't compete with them for seats. This is a kind of respect for them. But it also depends on the specific situation. You see, there are only thirty or forty people in this carriage, and there are still so many empty seats. Even if you sit in one seat, it will not affect others. "    The two of them got out of the subway, and Assia took Sokov to the nearby bus station familiarly, and said, "Take a bus from here, and you can reach Khimki in four stops."

  The two got out of the subway, and Assia took Sokov to the nearby bus station familiarly, and said, "Take a bus from here, and you can reach Khimki in four stops."

Seeing that Assia was so familiar with the route, Sokov couldn't help thinking that when he was not in Moscow, Assia might go back to the city to visit his parents when he was not working. , naturally familiar with the route.

   After waiting for more than ten minutes, a bus pulled into the platform. Maybe because this is a suburb, and it happened to be a working day, there were not many people on the bus. When Sokov and his wife got on the bus, only half of the seats were vacant. Sokov stopped being pretentious, and directly found two seats, and sat down with Asiya.

   "Comrade!" The female conductor holding the ticket box walked up to Sokov and asked, "Where are you going?"

   "Khimki Town." Before Sokov could answer, Assia rushed to answer.

   "Two kopecks to Khimki, four kopecks for the two of you."

  Assia quickly handed over the change she had prepared a long time ago: "Here is four kopecks, please keep it."

   When Sokov took the ticket from the conductor, he couldn’t help feeling secretly that the fare was really cheap. The subway ticket was seven kopecks per person, and the bus ticket was two kopecks per person. In later generations, the subway ticket is 30 rubles, and the bus ticket is 25 rubles, which is more than a thousand times more expensive.

  Si Station Road will arrive soon.

  After getting off the car, Sokov found that there was a big change from the last time he came. At least the camouflage nets on some important buildings were gone, and there were no barricades on the street.

   "Misha," Assia said to Sokov with a smile, "revisiting the old place, how do you feel?"

After being reminded by Assia, Sokov immediately remembered that the first place he came to in this era was the town of Khimki. He won the appreciation of his superiors and thus got the opportunity to rise to the top. I just don't know if the house from when I crossed over is still there? If it is still there, go and see for yourself to see if you can return to your own afterlife from there.

  Asiya noticed that Sokov suddenly stood there in a daze, and quickly took his arm and shook it, asking, "Misha, what are you thinking?"

  Sukov woke up from his contemplation, laughed dryly and said, "I was thinking just now, if that blocking battle hadn't happened, I'm afraid I wouldn't have had the chance to know you at all, and naturally I wouldn't have had the chance to marry you."

  Hearing what Sokov said, Assia felt sweet in her heart. She went on to say: "But it is precisely because of this blocking battle that you will be appreciated by your superiors and have the opportunity to be promoted. Otherwise, you can only stay in Khimki Town and serve as the garrison squad leader. If you are lucky, At the end of the war, you can become a second lieutenant and officially become an officer. If you are unlucky, you may have been transferred by now to work as an ordinary worker in a factory."

"The situation you mentioned is entirely possible." As the two walked towards the defense line of the instrument factory arm in arm, Sokov said with emotion: "The closest position to the Red Square for the Germans is the town of Khimki. If they Without being able to bypass our army's defense line and rush into the town of Khimki, I don't think there is any blocking battle at all. And if I, the little garrison squad leader, were not transferred to the front line to fight, I'm afraid I would never have any chance of promotion .”

As he was walking, Sukov suddenly saw a flower booth in front of him, pointed at it, and said, "I remember that when we came last time, we bought flowers at that flower booth, but it was a pity that it was a world of ice and snow. Yes, there are no flowers at all, we can only buy a bouquet of plastic flowers. I remember the old lady who sells flowers, I think her name is Damana."

   "Your memory is really good." Asiya gave Sokov a thumbs up: "The flower seller is indeed Aunt Damana. Every time I come back to visit my parents, I have to say hello to her."

  The two of them were talking, and they came to the flower kiosk unconsciously. Assia rushed inside and called, "Aunt Damana, are you there?"

"Yes, yes." Hearing someone calling herself, Damana, who was wearing an apron and holding a pair of scissors, came out of the room. After seeing Asiya standing at the door clearly, she was taken aback for a moment. Then she shouted excitedly: "Asiya, are you back to see your parents again?"

   "Yes, Aunt Damana." Assia opened her arms and hugged Damana: "I came back to visit my parents and passed by here, so I came here to say hello to you."

  Seeing the two embrace tightly, Sokov felt a little uneasy. He was worried that Damana's movements would cause Assia to move her fetus.

   Fortunately, the two separated soon, and what Sokov worried about did not happen. And Damana looked at Sokov, and asked Assia thoughtfully: "Assia, this is your husband, General Sokov?"

   "Yes, Aunt Damana, he is Misha."

   "Hi, Aunt Damana." Sokov hurriedly stepped forward to greet the old lady.

   "Comrade General, why aren't you wearing a military uniform?" Seeing that Sokov was not wearing a military uniform, Damana said with some surprise, "Could it be that you changed jobs just after the war ended?"

   "No." Sokov waved his hands hurriedly and said, "We just came back today to visit Asiya's parents. Wearing a military uniform is a bit too ostentatious, so I didn't wear it."

"Oh, so that's the case. I thought you changed jobs." Damana was very happy to see Asiya and Sokov, and she naturally talked a lot: "Asiya, Nina is off today. , not working in the bakery, you can see her when you come home."

   "Assia," Sokov thought that he was going to see his father-in-law and obviously couldn't go empty-handed, so he said to Assia, "let's buy a bouquet of flowers from Aunt Damana first."

   "Okay, Misha." Assia nodded and asked, "What kind of flowers do you think you should buy?"

  Sokov probed in and took a look. There were quite a lot of flowers in the pavilion. Roses are not suitable, so of course they cannot be bought; carnations are usually gifts for mothers in China, but they are often used to visit graves in Russia, so they must not be bought. After looking around, his eyes stopped on the sunflower in the corner of the pavilion, which is the national flower of Russia. He pointed at the sunflower with his hand and said, "Asiya, let's just buy sunflowers."

   Naturally Assia would not object to Sokov's proposal, so she said to Damana, "Aunt Damana, please bring me a bunch of sunflowers, I want to take them home."

"Okay, okay, I'll get it for you." Damana said, entered the pavilion, went directly to the place where the sunflowers were placed, picked out a few sunflowers that looked the most beautiful, and handed them to Assia: "Here, Assia, take it back and give it to your mother."

Seeing that Asiya was about to pay, she waved her hands repeatedly and said, "Since you and your wife came back to visit your parents, they will definitely invite me and the old man to dinner, so consider it a gift from me, no money is required of."