Chapter 2372

Sokov originally wanted to ask Lukin to go with him, but before setting off, Lukin said that he felt a little uncomfortable and didn't want to go. Sokov knew very well that the other party was not feeling unwell, but felt that it was somewhat inappropriate for a disabled person like himself to appear at the dance. Since Lu Jin was unwilling to go, Sokov did not force himself. After saying a few words, he turned around and left his room.

Coming out of Lukin's room, Sokov knocked on Yakov's door again, intending to go to the ball with him. Unexpectedly, after knocking on the door for a long time, there was no movement at all. Sokov was wondering. The dance was about to start, but there was no movement at all. He couldn't be still sleeping, right?

At this time, a service staff came over and saw Sokov knocking on the door, so he said to him: "This gentleman, the gentleman in the room has left."

“Left?” Sokov asked in surprise, “When did you leave?”

 “Almost half an hour.”

 “Do you know where he went?”

"I don't know." The waiter shook his head and said, "We can't just inquire about the privacy of our guests."

Seeing that the waiter could not find out Yakov's whereabouts, Sokov was not in a hurry. Anyway, the other party was going to the dance tonight, and he would definitely meet him after he went there.

The dance was held in a school auditorium where the 18th Guards Army headquarters was located. In order to prevent little devils from sneaking in and causing damage, Afuning specially arranged a sentry at the door, and everyone who entered the auditorium had to be checked.

Sokov came to the school by car. Seeing that the entrance to the auditorium was heavily guarded, he couldn't help but nodded slightly. He felt that Afuning did a good job. The people attending the dance tonight were all heavyweights. If they were really fooled by the little Japanese spies, Go in, let alone any explosions, even if you fire a few random shots, it will cause a lot of damage.

When Sokov came to the door with guard Kasan, who was also in civilian clothes, he was stopped by a duty officer who raised his hand: "Comrade, please show your invitation card."

"Invitation card?" Sokov couldn't help but be startled after hearing this, thinking that Afunin only asked him to come to the dance and didn't say anything about the invitation card. He smiled at the other party and said with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, comrade officer. I don't have an invitation card."

"I'm sorry," the officer saw that the young Sokov couldn't get the invitation card, so he was naturally not polite to him. He said in a businesslike tone: "You can't enter without an invitation card. Please stand aside and don't block it." Other guests come in."

“Comrade officer.” Seeing Sokov being stopped by the officer on duty at the door, Kasan stepped forward to complain. He asked angrily: “Where is your commander? Tell him to come out!”

The officer glanced at Kasang and said coldly: "You are not qualified to see our military commander." After saying that, he stopped talking to Kasang and turned to receive other guests.

“Comrade Commander,” Kasan said angrily after being pulled aside by Sokov, “What right does he have to deny you entry?”

"Kasan, you can't say that." Sokov smiled bitterly and said to Kasan: "This is his duty. If he were replaced by you, he might also stop me, a guy in casual clothes and without an invitation card, from outside. .”

 “Then what do we do next?”

"There are two ways." Sokov said with two fingers: "One is to stay here and wait until a familiar commander appears and ask him to take us in; the other is to call General Afnin and ask him Come out and pick us up.”

After hearing the two methods Sokov said, Kasan thought for a while and then said: "Comrade Commander, I just took a look and the people coming in and out are basically lieutenant-level officers. There must not be many of them who know you." . And based on my experience, those school-level officers usually don’t show up until just before the dance starts, so we have to wait at the door for a long time.”

Sokov was actually considering the second option, but he was worried that even if he found the phone, the operator might not transfer him to Afunin's office. In the end, he might still have to wait at the door. . But listening to what Kasan said now, he realized that if he waited at the door, a lot of time would be wasted. The day lilies might be cold by the time Yakov showed up.

Wanting to understand this, he took Kasan and found a phone nearby. When he heard a voice coming from the receiver, he immediately said: "Please help me find General Afnin!"

Unexpectedly, the other party said coldly: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander is not in the office." After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Sokov held the microphone from which the blind tone came, and said to Kasan with a wry smile: "The other party said that General Afnin was not here, and then hung up the phone. It seems that we can only wait at the door to see if he is familiar with it." The commander appears."

When Sokov returned to the door with Kasan, the officer on duty saw the two men coming back again, with an unhappy expression on his face. He quickly came to the two of them and said with a serious expression: "Didn't I tell you that you can't enter without an invitation card? Why are you still here? I order you to leave immediately, otherwise I will call someone to arrest you." Drive away.”

When Kassan heard this, he immediately became anxious: "What, you want to drive us away? Do you know who we are?"

“Who are you?” the officer on duty asked with a sneer.

"This is..." But before Kassan could finish speaking, Sokov raised his hand to stop Kassan, took over his words and continued: "Comrade officer, we are here to attend the dance, but General Afnin invited The invitation card was not mentioned to me when I was there, so I didn’t even know there was an invitation card.”

After hearing this, the officer on duty snorted coldly. Although he did not let the two people in, he no longer drove them away. Instead, he returned to his post to greet the arriving guests.

After another seven or eight minutes, Kasan suddenly pointed to Sokov not far away and said: "Comrade Commander, look, it's the Chief of Staff."

Sokov looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough he saw Yakov, wearing a brand-new military uniform, walking towards the door with elegant steps, and next to him was a man wearing a light yellow floral cloth. Raj's young girl was holding his arm. Sokov recognized at a glance that the girl walking side by side with Yakov was none other than Sonia, the head nurse of the medical team.

"This guy turned out to be picking up Sonia. No wonder he had to stay in his room." After Sokov said this, he thought unhappily: "They said they didn't wear military uniforms at the dance tonight, but you kid I also found a new military uniform to wear.”

When Yakov walked into the gate, the officer on duty trotted forward quickly, raised his hand and saluted: "Hello, Comrade General."

Seeing this, Sokov slapped Kasan on the shoulder, and then said: "Let's go, Kasan, let's go over and say hello to the chief of staff."

“Yasha, I really didn’t expect that you left the room so early and it turned out that you went to the hospital to pick up a beautiful woman.”

Yakov, who was talking to the officer on duty, was a little surprised when he saw Sokov suddenly appeared: "Misha, are you already here?"

"Yes, I have been here for a while." Sokov said: "But the star duty officer in front of you refused to let me in, saying that I did not have an invitation card."

"Comrade officer." Knowing that the officer on duty had stopped Sokov outside, Yakov pointed at Sokov and asked the officer: "Do you know who he is?" "Comrade general, it turns out you know each other?" "The officer on duty asked with some surprise: "I'm sorry, I don't know his identity. Judging from his clothes, he should be a lawyer or other high-status person in the city."

Yakov laughed heartily after hearing this, and then said to the officer on duty: "This is General Sokov, the commander of the army group. He is not wearing a military uniform. Can't you recognize him?"

The officer on duty had never seen Sokov before, so he naturally didn't recognize him. At this moment, after hearing Yakov reveal Sokov's true identity, he was suddenly frightened and broke into a cold sweat. He quickly stood up at attention and raised his hand to salute Sokov: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I didn't know. You. If there was any offense just now, please forgive me."

"Forget it, you are also responsible, no wonder you." After Sokov said this, he looked at Sonia who was standing next to Yakov and found that she had let go of Yakov at some point. Cov arm hand. He nodded and smiled at her and said, "Sonia, I really didn't expect that Yasha went to the hospital to pick you up."

"Yes, Misha." Sonia smiled awkwardly, and then replied: "I just finished my day's work, and Yasha came to the hospital and said there was a dance here and he hoped I could be his dance partner. I followed him." After saying this, Sonia looked behind Sokov and asked cautiously: "Did you come alone?"

"No, I didn't come alone." Sokov shook his head, turned his body slightly to the side, and let Kasang stand behind him: "I came with Kasang."

Hearing what Sokov said, Sonia couldn't help covering her mouth and smiled silently, "Misha, you are really humorous."

"Okay, let's stop standing at the door." Yakov urged from the side: "If the road is blocked, how can the people behind get in."

“Yasha is right.” Sokov also felt that standing at the door all the time talking was not a problem. It not only blocked the way of others, but also made the officer on duty feel uncomfortable. He simply followed the flow and said, "Don't block it here. If you have anything to say, go in and find a place to talk slowly."

As soon as he entered the auditorium, Sokov saw Afnin standing not far away, talking to his chief of staff and political commissar.

 Seeing Sokov and Yakov arriving, the three people immediately stopped talking and rushed over to greet Sokov and Yakov: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, you are here!"

“Well, here we are!” Sokov responded casually and then asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” Afunin said, “We are just asking when Commander Konev will arrive.”

Sokov knew that General Konev, commander of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division, was directing his troops to attack the enemy from the front. Even if he rushed over immediately after receiving the notice, he would probably be the last one to arrive: "The situation there How about it, can you get away?"

"No problem." Afuning said: "They are progressing smoothly and there is no decent resistance. As long as he hands over the work in hand to the chief of staff, he can rush here immediately." After saying this, he , he paused for a moment, and then asked, "Comrade Commander, why are you here so late?"

"I'm not too late." Sokov thought of what happened when he was stopped outside by the officer on duty. He felt a little unhappy: "I was here long ago, but the officer on duty at the door said that I didn't have an invitation card and wouldn't let me in. . I can only wait at the door until Yasha arrives."

"Then why don't you call me?" Afuning said: "If I knew you were coming, I would definitely go out to greet you."

 “I called you too.”

A surprised expression appeared on Afuning's face: "But I didn't receive any calls?"

Sokov said with a wry smile: "I called your headquarters, and the person who answered the phone said you were not here, and then hung up the phone."

"Really?" Afuning said unexpectedly: "Maybe your call came in just after I left, and I missed it."

The Army Chief of Staff was worried that the next scene would be embarrassing, so he quickly came out to smooth things over: "Comrade Commander, you must be feeling tired. Why don't you go to the lounge next to you to rest and come out after the dance starts. How about that?"

Sokov felt that the Army Chief of Staff’s proposal was good, so he nodded in agreement: “Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, please take us to the lounge.”

Yakov originally planned to follow Sokov to the lounge, but after walking a few steps, an officer came over and greeted Yakov: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff."

When Yakov saw this person, he immediately stopped and said to Sokov: "Misha, I met an acquaintance. You go to the lounge first, and I will chat with him for a few words before going back."

“What about me?” Sonia, who was following him, asked pitifully: “Will I stay with you?”

“No, no, no.” Yakov waved his hand and said, “You and Misha go to the lounge first, and I’ll come find you later.”

Sokov did not recognize the officer who greeted Yakov, but seeing that the two seemed to have something to talk about, he did not stay in their way and followed the military chief of staff to the lounge.

After entering the lounge, the chief of staff brought Sokov to a couch, asked him to sit down, and asked politely: "Comrade Commander, what would you like to drink, champagne? Coffee or tea?"

Sokov originally wanted to drink coffee, but Sonia said first: "It's night now, whether drinking coffee or tea is not conducive to sleep. I think it's better to drink champagne."

The Army Chief of Staff saw that Sonia had followed Yakov in. At this moment, he heard that he had decided to help Sokov make up his mind. He did not dare to agree casually, so he respectfully asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, I wonder what you want to do?" What to drink?"

“Didn’t Sonia just say, drink champagne?” Sokov said: “Comrade Chief of Staff, please bring us two glasses of champagne.”

"Okay, Comrade Commander." The Army Chief of Staff nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, the champagne will be delivered soon."

After the chief of staff left, Sonia sat down next to Sokov and asked, "Misha, I want to ask you a question."

 (End of this chapter)