red moscow

Chapter 2709: A Low-Level Scam
If Anna's foot hadn't been sprained, Sokov would have wanted to take her along, after all, she had adventure experience before. And in order to find Khabarov's whereabouts, she would probably be willing to take the risk with him.

But now Anna's foot is injured, and it is difficult for her to walk, not to mention the complex terrain underground. If she really follows me, she will not only be of no help, but also become a burden to me. The only person I can count on now is Victoria in front of me.

"Vika, can you help me?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Victoria sneered: "How can I help you? Do you want me to bring a special police squadron with you to go deep underground to search for the three missing young people?"

Although he knew that Victoria was just speaking in anger, Sokov was still looking forward to it. A Russian special police squadron has more than 50 people. If so many people go deep into the ground to search for Khabarov and his men, the effect will definitely be much better than the few people in the search and rescue team.

He deliberately said jokingly: "If that's the case, it couldn't be better."

"Don't say that it's not my jurisdiction. Even if it is, do you think a mere major like me can mobilize the SWAT team without the director's permission?"

Sokov scratched the back of his head and pretended to be pitiful: "Vika, are you willing to let me take the risk of going underground alone? What if something goes wrong..."

"Even if something happens to you, it has nothing to do with me." Victoria said impatiently, "I am neither your girlfriend nor your wife. What does your life or death have to do with me?"

Hearing Victoria's sour tone, Sokov chuckled, glanced in the direction of the bedroom, and then said, "Vika, Lida has fallen asleep, and I should go back too. If you have anything, remember to call me."

Victoria didn't say anything, just stared at the TV program in front of her which only had images but no sound.

Sokov walked to the door and just opened it when he heard Victoria's voice from behind: "Hello!"

He quickly stopped and turned to look at Victoria.

"Wait for my news tomorrow." Victoria said hesitantly, "Even if I don't have the power to mobilize the special police force at will, it shouldn't be a problem to find one or two trusted subordinates to help."

Hearing Victoria say this, Sokov was overjoyed and quickly said to her: "Vika, thank you so much."

Victoria waved at Sokov: "Remember to close the door when you go out."

As soon as Sokov returned home, he received a call from Dayuan: "Xiao Lin, a Russian friend told me that his neighbor is an old general who participated in the Great Patriotic War. There are many valuable things in his house. Are you free tomorrow? If you are free, please accompany me there."

Knowing that Da Yuan was going to the home of an old general who had participated in the Great Patriotic War tomorrow, Sokov couldn't help but get excited. He even wanted to know who the other party was, what battles he had participated in, and whether he had ever fought alongside him.

It was for this reason that Sokov readily agreed to Da Yuan's request: "No problem, tell me what time you leave and I'll pick you up then."

Early the next morning, Sokov called Lena and asked her to open the door as usual, while he drove to pick up Dayuan and prepared to accompany him to the old general's house.

When they arrived at the place, Sokov called Dayuan, trying to urge him to come down quickly.

Unexpectedly, after making four or five calls in a row, Dayuan finally answered the phone.

His lazy voice came from the headset: "Xiao Lin, what's the matter?"

"Didn't you ask me to take you to the old general's house to buy something today?" Sokov guessed from the other person's voice that he might not have gotten up yet, so he asked tentatively: "You are not still sleeping, are you?"

"Oh, I forgot about this." Da Yuan exclaimed, "Xiao Lin, wait for me. Five minutes, at most, and I'll go downstairs. Otherwise, why don't you come up and sit for a while?"

"Don't worry, take your time, I'll wait for you in the car."

Sokov agreed to accompany Dayuan to the old general's house today for another purpose, which was to find out whether the other party was his old friend and whether he could find something related to him in his house. Because he didn't know when Dayuan would be able to come downstairs, Sokov took out his mobile phone, opened the novel website, and started reading the novel.

Unexpectedly, when I was halfway through reading, the phone suddenly rang.

I thought it was Victoria calling, but when I looked at the number, I found it was Lao Wu calling: "Lao Wu, what's the matter?"

"Xiao Lin, are you in the store?"

"No, I have something to do today, so I haven't been to the store yet." Sokov knew that Lao Wu would not call him casually if he had nothing to do, so he asked, "Is there anything you need my help with?"

"The transport company called me and said a package of goods has arrived." Lao Wu said, "I may not be able to go to the market until after noon, and I wanted you to pick up the goods for me. Since you are not at the market, forget it."

Just as Sokov was about to hang up the phone, Lao Wu suddenly asked, "By the way, Xiaolin, I have one more thing to ask you."

"whats the matter?"

"Do you know how Salo did it?"

Salo is a kind of salted fat meat, and it is also a famous dish in Ukraine. Sokov naturally knows the production process of this meat. Anyway, he has nothing to do at the moment, so he starts to popularize science to Lao Wu: "Salo is made from the fat of the back or waist of Ukrainian large white pigs, and the fat thickness is more than 3 cm.

The method is very simple: cut the fat into cubes of about 20 cm, soak them in salt water for two days, take out the meat cubes, and evenly apply salt on the surface of the meat cubes.

Prepare a small wooden box, paste it with dark clean paper from the inside, lay kraft paper on the bottom, and sprinkle 1 cm thick salt on it. Place the meat pieces tightly and neatly in the box with the skin facing down, with a layer of meat and a layer of salt, and also sprinkle salt around the meat pieces.

After filling, cover it with clean paper or cloth, put on a wooden lid, put a heavy object on the lid, and then place the small box in a cool dark place. Usually after three to five days, it can be eaten. It can be stored for about a year at room temperature away from light. "

"After it's done, how can we eat it to make it more delicious?"

"It depends on how you like to eat it." Sokov said, "The simplest way is to cut the salsa into thin slices, sprinkle some mayonnaise on it, put two canned sardines on it, and eat it between bread.

If you are more particular, you can sprinkle it with barbecue sauce and grill it, which is simply a delicacy.

If you think Salo is too salty, you can boil it in water and then slice it and eat it. It is definitely more delicious than the bacon in China.”

"Xiao Lin, you know more." Lao Wu said on the phone: "I just called several people, and they have never heard of what Salo is, let alone how to make it. I remember what you said, and I will try to make Salo myself someday."

"Old Wu, if you make Salo, don't forget to give me two pieces."

"No problem, no problem." Lao Wu said with a smile: "As long as I make Salo, I will definitely give you two pieces to taste." After ending the call with Lao Wu, Sokov continued reading the novel.

Not long after he looked around, he heard someone knocking on the window. He looked up and saw a policeman carrying a submachine gun. He quickly rolled down the window and asked politely, "What's the matter?"

The policeman extended a hand to him and said expressionlessly: "Your ID!"

Sokov quickly took out his ID and handed it to the other party.

After looking through it, the police officer asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for a friend."

"A friend, who is he?" the policeman said, and he stepped back and gestured for Sokov to get out of the car.

Sokov saw the policeman put his passport in his pocket, apparently wanting to take him to a corner for a body search.

He pushed open the car door and got out, opened the photo album on his phone, pointed to the photo of himself and Victoria, and said to the police: "Look, this is my friend. I promised to send her to the police station today." In order to increase credibility, Sokov swiped his hand on the screen a few times, allowing the other party to see more photos of Victoria and himself.

Seeing the photo of Sokov and Victoria, the policeman seemed very hesitant. After thinking for a while with a complicated expression, he took out the passport from his pocket, handed it back to Sokov, and then turned and walked towards his police car parked not far away.

After the police drove away, Da Yuan walked out of the building carefully, looked at the direction where the police car went away, and said with lingering fear: "Xiao Lin, the police just checked your passport and didn't let you go with him?"

Sokov didn't want too many people to know about his relationship with Victoria, so he shook his head and said, "No. He just checked my passport, asked a few questions casually, and left. It's getting late, let's go quickly."

Under Dayuan's guidance, Sokov drove for half an hour and stopped next to an old building.

After getting off the car, Da Yuan took out his cell phone and made a call. Then he said to Sokov, "Xiao Lin, I've already called. The Russian guy will come out to pick us up later."

A few minutes later, a young man with a flat head ran out from a nearby building, stood at the door, looked around, and then ran towards where Sokov and Dayuan were.

The man came up to Sokov and asked, "Hello, friend! Are you Boris who called me?"

"No." Sokov knew that Da Yuan's Russian name was Boris, and he quickly pointed at Da Yuan and said, "He is."

"I'm Boris." Da Yuan looked at the other person and asked, "Are you Mesat?"

"Yes, it's me." The man called Mesat nodded and said, "Let's go over now. My friends are waiting anxiously."

As Sokov and Dayuan followed Mesat to the nearby corridor, Sokov asked in a low voice: "This man's accent and appearance sound like an Azerbaijani. Are you sure you can buy what you want at the place he takes you to?"

"I think there should be no problem." Da Yuan said confidently: "He was recommended to me by a friend, I believe my friend would not lie to me."

The three of them came to a room on the fourth floor. After Messat knocked on the door a few times, the door was opened.

The man standing at the door had the same flat head and black hair as Mesat.

Sokov knew at a glance that this person was probably from Azerbaijan like Mesat. The things they said they were going to sell to Dayuan were probably fake.

"This is Gai." Meisat introduced him to Dayuan, "What you want to buy is what his grandfather left behind."

After Sokov and Dayuan entered the room, the first thing they saw was a 12-inch black-and-white photo hanging on the opposite wall. It showed a young soldier wearing the old-fashioned collar badge. Sokov, who was familiar with Soviet military ranks, saw at a glance that the three triangles on the collar badge of the soldier meant that he was a sergeant.

Mesat saw Sokov staring at the photo and quickly explained: "My friend, this is Gai's grandfather. You see, he is a general!"

Sokov curled his lips and pretended to be surprised and asked, "Is that the general's uniform he's wearing?"

"Of course, that's the uniform during the Great Patriotic War." Mesat nodded and said, "Did you see the three triangles on his collar? That means he's a general."

Da Yuan was not familiar with the military ranks of the Soviet army, so he did not realize that what Mesat said was all lies. Instead, he seemed particularly excited. He could not wait to ask Mesat: "Where is the thing left by this old general?"

Mesat pretended to say to Gai, "Gai, don't just stand there, hurry up and take out all the things your grandfather left behind and show them to this friend." Then, he suddenly started communicating with Sokov in Azerbaijani, which he could not understand.

Gai turned and walked into the bedroom. After a while, he came out with a small wooden box and handed it to Mesat.

Mesat took the box, put it on the table, opened the lid, and said to Dayuan: "Boris, look, these two Red Banner Medals were won by Gai's grandfather."

Looking at the medal in the box, Da Yuan's eyes lit up and he reached out to take it, but was stopped by Sokov: "Da Yuan, wait a minute."

Da Yuan didn't know what was going on, but he stopped and looked at Sokov with a puzzled look.

"Da Yuan, these things are fake." After saying this to Da Yuan in Chinese, Sokov looked at Mesat and asked, "Friend, why are there only medals and the old general's certificate of honor?"

Mesat was embarrassed when he heard Sokov talking about the medal certificates. He stuttered and said, "My friend, you know that these medals were obtained decades ago, and I don't know where the medal certificates were lost."

From the moment Mesat described a sergeant as a general, Sokov knew that this was a scam. Only a fool like Da Yuan would be fooled. He spoke up in time to stop the other party, just to prevent him from being fooled.

But what he didn't expect was that Da Yuan actually believed Mesat's statement and really thought that the certificate of honor was lost. Instead, he asked eagerly: "I wonder how to sell these two medals?"

After Mesat and Gai communicated in Azerbaijani for a while, he said to Dayuan: "Boris, these things are the relics of Gai's grandfather. If he hadn't been in financial difficulty recently, he would not be willing to sell them. I just told him that you are my friend, so let him give me the cheapest price."

"how much is it?"

"Four thousand dollars a piece," Mesat said. "If you want both, I can make it my own and give you seven thousand five hundred dollars."

(End of this chapter)