red moscow

Chapter 2642

"Thank you for your kindness, Major." Sokov shook his head and rejected Vaseligov's kindness: "I am not interested in flowers and plants. After spring, I plan to plant something else in the yard."

"Grow something else?" Vaserigov asked curiously, "Comrade General, what are you going to grow?"

Sokov thought for a moment and answered, "Potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and the like."

After hearing this, Vaseligov felt as if a flock of crows were flying over his head. He asked Sokov, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Comrade General, isn't it a bit of a waste to use such a nice yard to grow vegetables?"

"Misha, Misha!" At this time, Asia's cheerful voice came from the house: "You are back!"

Sokov opened his arms, hugged Asiya who rushed over, and said with a smile: "Yes, I'm back."

"I thought you were going to be gone for at least a month." Asia asked curiously, "Why are you back so soon?"

"I had no choice. It was too cold there. I couldn't stand the cold, so I came back."

Asiya raised her hand and punched Sokov on the shoulder, then laughed and scolded: "Nonsense, with your physique, you are afraid of the cold."

Sokov let go of Asiya and said to her: "Asiya, I brought you a friend."

"Friends, what friends?" Asiya said, and looked carefully in the crowd, trying to see who Sokov was talking about. Soon, her eyes were fixed on Seryosha, and an expression of disbelief suddenly appeared on her face: "Seryosha, you are Seryosha? You are still alive?!"

"Yes, Asia!" Seeing Asia recognized him, Seryosha was also very excited. He took two steps forward and said in a choked voice: "I never thought that I would see you again in my lifetime."

After Asiya came forward and gave Seryosha a hug, she turned to Sokov standing next to her and said, "Misha, what's going on? Didn't they say Seryosha died in the battle? Where did he come from now?"

"It's too cold outside, let's go back inside and talk."

After Sokov's reminder, Asiya realized that it was not appropriate to chat in the yard, and hurriedly called Seryosha: "Seryosha, it's cold outside, you'd better go inside and sit down. Drink a cup of hot tea, and your body will soon warm up."

When everyone came to the room, Asiya asked Seryosha to sit down, and immediately brought him a cup of hot tea, saying warmly: "Are you hungry? How about giving you something to eat?"

"We haven't eaten yet." Before Seryosha could reply, Sokov said, "Asia, ask the chef to make us something delicious. We are starving."

Asiya agreed and went to the kitchen to prepare the meal.

Seryosha asked Sokov in surprise: "Misha, do you have a cook at home now?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and explained to him, "Now there are many people in the family. If Asia cooks alone, she will definitely not be able to handle it. So I asked Major Vaserigov to help me find a good chef."

Seryosha nodded and asked casually, "Misha, you and Asiya have been married for quite a while. When do you plan to have children?"

Sokov's smile froze on his face. He didn't know how to answer this sad question. Fortunately, Vaserigov said in time: "Seryosha, in fact, Asia was pregnant once, but because of a car accident, although the adult was saved, the child was lost."

After hearing what Vaseligov said, Seryosha realized his recklessness and quickly apologized to Sokov: "I'm sorry, Misha, I didn't know about this, please forgive me."

"It's okay, it's okay." Sokov waved his hand and reminded Seryosha: "Don't mention the child in front of Asiya, otherwise it will bring up her sad past."

"Don't worry, Misha." Seryosha nodded and assured Sokov, "I will control my mouth and never say anything I shouldn't say again."

Half an hour later, the chef and Asiya came into the living room with trays and placed the food on the table one by one.

The chef put away the tray and said to everyone, "The food is here. Please enjoy it. Bon appetite!" After that, he bowed slightly and turned back to the kitchen.

"Seryosha," Asia asked Seryosha curiously, "Everyone thought you died on the battlefield. How did you survive?"

"Asiya, you have also been to the battlefield, so you should know that after many commanders and fighters fell on the battlefield, the medical staff who were responsible for battlefield rescue went up to check and found that they were no longer breathing. They would give up rescuing them and turn to new wounded soldiers." Seryosha explained to Asiya: "In this situation, mistakes are inevitable. They gave up rescuing some wounded soldiers, causing them to die on the battlefield or become prisoners of the enemy. The medical staff must have thought that I had died, so they gave up rescuing me, and as a result, I became a prisoner of the German army."

After finding out the reason why Seryosha was captured, Asiya continued to ask: "Seryosha, since you are still alive, why don't you contact us?" When she said this, she also deliberately glanced at Sokov next to her, "You know, Misha and I were sad for a long time when we learned about your death."

"It's not that I don't contact him, but that I can't contact him." Seryosha quickly added, "After I was rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp by our army, I wrote many letters to Misha, but I didn't get any response. Then I was sent to a labor camp in Siberia. After being detained for half a year, I was finally released and arranged to work in a local food processing factory. Coincidentally, I went out to do business one day, and on the way back, I was seen by Misha. He immediately mobilized his connections and started looking for me everywhere. Later, with the help of Lieutenant General Lukin, he finally found me."

"What are your plans next?" asked Asia.

Seryosha thought for a moment and replied, "I plan to go to my old place tomorrow to have a look. If my house is still vacant, I will go back there to do it. But if the house is occupied by someone else, I will have to stay with you."

"That's great." Asiya looked at Sokov again while speaking: "You and Misha are good friends, so it's okay for you to live here permanently." Just as she said this, a guard suddenly ran in hurriedly from outside, looking extremely panicked.

Seeing this, Vaseligov immediately went up to him and asked, "What happened?"

"Comrade Major," the guard said in a panic, "Comrade Khrushchev is here!"

Vaseligov's pupils contracted violently: "Who did you say is here?"

“Comrade Khrushchev!”

As the guard spoke loudly, Sokov also heard it. He stood up and said in an incredulous tone: "Is it really Comrade Khrushchev who has come?"

"Yes, Comrade General." The guard nodded and said in a positive tone: "I have seen him before, of course I can recognize him."

Since Khrushchev came in person, Sokov and others naturally could not stay in the house, so they rushed out of the house and went outside to greet Khrushchev.

At this moment, Khrushchev was standing at the door with his hands behind his back, looking at the yard curiously. When he saw Sokov and a group of people coming towards him, a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Hello, Comrade Khrushchev!" Sokov came to Khrushchev, raised his hand to salute him, and said, "Welcome to our home!"

"Misha, I heard you moved to a new house, so I came to take a look." Khrushchev said with a smile: "Now it seems that this house is really nice, I want to move in."

"It's my honor that you can move to my neighborhood," Sokov said. "I can always ask you for advice if I need anything in the future."

After everyone returned to the room, they all knew that Khrushchev would not come to the temple without a reason. This time, he must have something important to discuss with Sokov. Therefore, after Asia poured a cup of hot tea for the two of them, everyone disappeared from the living room, leaving only Sokov and Khrushchev.

"Comrade Khrushchev," Sokov asked directly, not beating around the bush, seeing that he and Khrushchev were the only ones left in the large living room: "What important matter has brought you here today?"

"Misha, you are very observant." Khrushchev nodded and said, "I have indeed encountered some difficulties recently. I just happened to hear Zhukov say that you have returned from Siberia, so I came here to see you. I am here for something very important."

Sokov stared at Khrushchev, waiting for him to tell him the real purpose of his visit today.

"In the Great Patriotic War that ended last year, our country sacrificed nearly 3000 million people and destroyed 1710 cities in exchange for the new master of the world pattern. Moscow, the capital of the world's proletariat, has gone through four years of war and has not been wiped off the face of the earth by the art academy's failed students. It still stands tall. The tall factories, wide streets, tree-lined streets, and soldiers with medals in the city are all signs telling the world: Our country will become the master of the world!"

Sokov ignored Khrushchev's boasting and didn't take it to heart at all. He knew that what the other party was going to say next was the key point.

"At a meeting some time ago, Comrade Stalin felt that in Moscow, the capital of the world's proletariat, there were very few 'red' buildings! Famous landmarks such as St. Basil's Cathedral and Red Square were built during the reign of Ivan the Terrible; the Kremlin and GUM Department Store were also buildings from the Tsarist era.

He said: "After we win the Great Patriotic War, countless foreigners will come to visit Moscow. If we don't even have skyscrapers, it will be just a listless capital, far inferior to Manhattan."

  When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but feel moved, and wondered if Stalin wanted to build Seven Sisters?

The Seven Sisters are buildings that combine the features of Baroque castle towers, medieval European Gothic and American 1930s skyscrapers. They include Moscow University, Leningrad Hotel, Model Workers' Apartments, Ministry of Heavy Industry Building, Ukraine Hotel, Cultural Apartments and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building.

Because of their similar appearance, they are called "Seven Sisters". They have perfectly symmetrical structures, stepped and staggered podiums, exterior walls inlaid with high-grade stone, and towering red stars on the top of the towers, which remind people of the Gothic churches in medieval Western Europe and the magnificent Baroque palaces of 19th-century Tsarist Russia. There are also shadows of the ancestors of modern skyscrapers such as the Woolworth Building and the Empire State Building in New York. Stalinist architecture integrates all of the above and forms a unique new style.

Thinking of the famous Seven Sisters building complex, he couldn't help but ask: "Comrade Khrushchev, does Comrade Stalin want to build a building similar to the American skyscrapers?"

"That's right. Comrade Stalin believes that what Moscow lacks is skyscrapers." Khrushchev said with some embarrassment: "After he proposed this plan, we discussed and studied it and generally believed that Moscow is not suitable for building skyscrapers. In addition to urban planning factors, skyscrapers are a symbol of imperialism. After all, the United States is the only country that has skyscrapers."

"Then what do you think?" Sokov asked. "Although your considerations are reasonable, if we don't build skyscrapers, wouldn't that be a violation of Comrade Stalin's orders? You should know better than me what the consequences of disobeying his orders will be."

"Yes, that's right." Khrushchev nodded and said, "That's why I came to you to see if you have any good ideas."

Hearing what Khrushchev said, Sokov couldn't help but laugh and cry: "Comrade Khrushchev, thank you for your trust in me. But I am just a soldier, not an architect, and I know nothing about architecture."

"Misha, I came to you because you are not an architect and your design thinking is not affected by those rules and regulations." Khrushchev said sincerely: "Can you tell me what kind of high-rise building you have in mind?"

Sokov had seen the Seven Sisters in his later life and even lived in one of them. He thought he could draw a picture of the exterior of one of the Seven Sisters and let Khrushchev go back and discuss it with those professional designers. He picked up the paper and pen on the table and began to think in his mind. Although the appearance of the Seven Sisters was similar, which building should he draw for Khrushchev to see first?

After some thought, he decided to draw the exterior of the Ukrainian Hotel. This building is located at the corner of Moscow, and a famous building named "White House" will be built on the open space opposite in a dozen years.

He spent almost an hour drawing the exterior of the Ukraine Hotel. He then handed it to Khrushchev with both hands: "Comrade Khrushchev, according to my idea, our skyscrapers should look like this. You can take it back to show it to the designers and listen to their opinions."

Khrushchev took Sokov's drawing, studied it carefully for a long time, asked for some details, nodded slowly, and gave Sokov a thumbs up: "Misha, your design is good, at least I think so. If the designers also think this drawing is good, I will arrange for them to come and talk to you, and then discuss how to build this new type of skyscraper to complete the task assigned to me by Comrade Stalin."