red moscow

Chapter 2951

“I have no objection.” Alina looked at her female companion and asked, “And you, Sveta! Would you like to take a picture with Misha and the other woman?”

Sveta didn't immediately respond, but instead looked around and asked, "A group photo? Who brought a camera?"

“Yes, Misha.” After looking Sokov and Misha up and down, Alina questioned, “Neither of you seem to have brought a camera.”

“Who says you can’t take pictures if you don’t have a camera? Don’t you know we can ask a photographer at a photo studio to take pictures for us?” Sokov said, waving to Kononova who was walking over, and calling out in a loud voice, “Comrade Kononova, we’re here!”

When Kononova heard someone call her name, she instinctively looked around. When she met Sokov's eyes, a sweet smile immediately appeared on her face. She quickly walked over with her camera on her back and politely asked Sokov, "Comrade Commander, has your friend arrived?"

“Yes, my friend has arrived. Look, it’s him.” Sokov first pointed to Yakov beside him, then to Alina and Sveta: “Besides him, two other new friends have arrived.”

Kononova noticed Alina's blue hat, and her expression froze. No one wanted to deal with people from the Internal Affairs Department. She quickly realized her lapse and forced a smile: "Comrade Commander, where are you taking pictures now?"

Sokov didn't make the decision on his own, but instead gave the choice to Alina: "Alina, tell me, where should we take the picture?"

“We can take pictures there.” Alina pointed to the Pushkin statue not far away. “Since we’re in Pushkin Square, we can naturally take pictures in front of his statue.”

The group returned to the Pushkin statue, where Sokov saw Khabarov chatting with a stylishly dressed young woman and called out to him, "Anton!"

Upon hearing Sokov's shout, Khabarov immediately stopped talking to the girl. Seeing five people in their group, a look of astonishment crossed his face. He led the girl to Sokov and the others, asking with some surprise, "Misha, why are there so many people?"

“Anton, let me introduce you.” Sokov pointed to Alina and introduced her to Khabarov: “This is Lieutenant Alina from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and next to her is her companion, Sveta.” He then introduced Alina, “This is my good friend Anton Khabarov, who now works in the Ministry of Armaments.”

When Alina heard Sokov say that, she raised her eyebrows slightly, glanced at Yakov, and whispered, "Does he work in the same unit as Lieutenant Yakov?"

Yes, they are colleagues.

After chatting for a while, Kononova invited everyone to choose a spot to take photos.

Before taking the photos, Sokov specifically asked Kononova, "Comrade Kononova, do you have enough film?"

“Of course, that’s more than enough.” Kononova patted her shoulder bag with pride and said, “I brought ten rolls of film, enough for you to take pictures.”

Sokov looked at the camera in Kononova's hand; it was an old-fashioned 120 camera, with each roll of film capable of taking 18 photos. The ten rolls of film she carried, plus the ones already in the camera, could take a total of 198 photos.

"Comrade Commander," Kononova asked tentatively, "how do you plan to film it?"

Sokov pointed to his group and replied, "First, take a group photo of all six of us, then three men and three women, each taking a group photo. Next, you can take photos according to everyone's requests; you can take individual photos or group photos."

“Okay, I understand.” Kononova nodded. “Then let’s take a group photo now.”

After the group photo of the six people was taken, it was time for a photo of Sokov, Yakov, and Khabarov; then, Alina, Sveta, and the girl Khabarov had just met also took a photo together.

After taking three group photos, Kononova, at Khabarov and Alina's request, took separate photos of Khabarov and a girl he knew, Alina and Sveta.

“Misha,” Yakov said to Sokov after Kononova finished taking pictures of Alina, “how about we take one too?”

“No problem.” Sokov called to Kononova, “Comrade Kononova, take a picture of me and Lieutenant Yakov.”

Soon, Sokov and Yakov finished taking their photo together. Just as Sokov was about to ask Kononova to take a solo photo of Yakov, Alina walked up to Sokov and asked in a consultative tone, "Misha, would you like to take a photo with me?"

Sokov naturally wouldn't refuse Alina's request. He nodded and went along with it, saying, "I was just about to invite you to take a picture together, but you brought it up first. Come on, let's find a good spot to take a picture."

Kononova finished shooting a roll of film in one go. When she changed to a new roll, she asked Sokov, "Comrade Commander, are you going to continue shooting?"

Sokov turned to the others for their opinions: "Do you still want to film?"

Alina shook her head: "We've already shot one roll of film, so we don't need to shoot any more."

Sokov said to Kononova, "Let's just shoot this much."

Kononova took out her notebook and, while writing the receipt, asked Sokov, "Comrade Commander, are all these photos for pickup today?"

“Of course, of course, I’ll pick it up today.” As Sokov said this, he noticed Alina staring at him strangely, and quickly explained, “I’m going to the front lines tomorrow, and if I can’t pick it up today, I don’t know when I’ll get the photos.”

"Oh, I see." Alina nodded after hearing this, and said with a puzzled look, "I was planning to ask you to come out for coffee when you're free, but it's such a shame that you're leaving tomorrow."

"Yes, it's a real shame," Sokov said with a wry smile. "Next time I go back to Moscow, I'll definitely ask you out for coffee as soon as possible."

After Kononova finished writing the receipt, she looked up and asked Sokov, "Comrade Commander, who will pay the bill?"

Sokov quickly grabbed Khabarov's arm and pushed him in front of Kononova: "Anton, you pay the bill!"

After the six left Pushkin Square, Sokov, who was walking at the front, turned around and asked the others, "Tell me, where are we going next?"

"Of course, we'll go to Victory Square," Khabarov said without hesitation. "There should be a performance there tonight..."

To everyone's surprise, Alina frowned upon hearing this. She looked at Sokov with a puzzled expression and asked, "Where is Victory Square? I've never heard of it before."

Sokov hadn't expected Khabarov to let slip that Victory Square, which had only been built in 1995, was mentioned earlier. He quickly tried to smooth things over, "Alina, he's mistaken. It should be Wedenham Park. There are always cultural performances there on October Festival evenings." "But I heard him clearly. He definitely said Victory Square," Alina said sternly. "My hearing is excellent. I wouldn't mistake two completely different words."

Sokov took a deep breath and began to make up a story: "Alina, you don't know this. When I was chatting with Anton before, we talked about how when we win the war, we must build a square on the open space outside Wedenham Park and name it Victory Square to commemorate our victory over the Germans, just like when Tsarist Russia defeated Napoleon and built a triumphal arch in Leningrad."

After hearing Sokov's far-fetched explanation, Alina's face showed a look of sudden realization: "Oh, I see. I was wondering why I had never heard of Victory Square."

After deciding where to go next, Sokov and his group headed to a nearby subway station.

When no one was looking, Sokov glared at Khabarov, signaling him to watch his words so he wouldn't give himself away. Khabarov blushed at Sokov's reproachful look, scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and gave Sokov an apologetic smile.

The full name of Wittenham Park is the All-Union Exhibition Center for the Achievements of National Economy. It contains dozens of exhibition halls showcasing the achievements of various sectors in national development.

Emerging from the metro station, Sokov saw statues of workers and female collective farm workers atop the tall gateposts, covered by a massive camouflage net. To the left and right of the gate were fortifications built of sandbags, housing not only machine guns but also several anti-aircraft guns. A long queue had formed at the gate, and everyone entering the park underwent a thorough inspection.

Seeing this, Sokov frowned. He turned to Alina and said, "Alina, look, the security at the entrance is so tight. Under these circumstances, it's probably not very realistic to put on any kind of cultural performance."

Alina replied in a relaxed tone, "Misha, although our department is not responsible for this area, since the security checks in the park are so strict and there is still a constant stream of people entering, there must be a cultural performance here tonight."

Sokov and the others arrived at the entrance and randomly chose a shorter queue to join.

Before long, an NKVD soldier ran up from the entrance. He approached Alina, saluted, and politely asked, "Lieutenant, are you going to enter Wedenham Park?"

“Yes, we’re getting ready to enter the park.” Alina nodded and replied, “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be queuing here.”

The NKVD soldiers glanced at Sokov and Yakov standing next to Alina and continued, "How many of you are there?"

"Six!" Alina pointed out to the soldiers one by one her companions: "We came from Pushkin Square, specifically to see tonight's cultural performance in the park."

"A cultural performance?" The soldier was somewhat surprised to hear Alina say that. "What cultural performance? I've never heard of it."

"What?" This time it was Alina's turn to be surprised: "There are no cultural performances in the park?"

"Yes, Lieutenant." The soldier nodded and answered truthfully, "I patrol the park every day and haven't seen any stage set up for performances. There must be no cultural performances."

Hearing the soldier say that, Alina couldn't help but feel disappointed. She turned to Sokov and asked, "Misha, shall we still go in?"

Sokov thought that since there were no performances in the park, there was no need for his group to wait in line for so long. So he said to Alina, "Alina, since there are no performances, let's not go in and choose another place."

As the six men turned to leave the queue, Sokov couldn't help but glance one last time into the park. From his vantage point, he could see the main exhibition hall directly opposite the entrance. The Lenin statue in front of the hall was now covered with dense sandbags, clearly to prevent damage from enemy bombing.

After leaving Wittenham Park, Sveta offered to act as a guide and led everyone to a nearby café that looked luxuriously decorated.

The coffee shop was crowded, but luckily the six of them were able to find seats just as a table of customers left.

After everyone was seated, Sveta spoke up, "Today is October Day, and I imagine there will be a lot of people at all the tourist attractions. If we go, we'll not only have to wait in line for a long time, but we'll also have to go through strict checks. Rather than freezing in line, let's find a warm coffee shop and have some coffee."

“Sveta is right,” Alina agreed. “Instead of freezing in line outside, we might as well sit here and have some coffee.” She raised her hand to call the waiter over to take their orders. But the waiter was too busy to notice Alina.

"Anton!" Sokov nudged Khabarov beside him. "It looks like the waiters are overwhelmed. Go to the counter and order coffee for everyone, and also order some food. We've been running around for so long, we're all starving."

“Misha,” Alina, sitting next to Sokov, asked curiously, “Why do you always let your friend spend money?”

Sokov chuckled twice, then said, "He recently made a small fortune, and I'm doing this to let him share his happiness with everyone."

The people at the table were amused by Sokov's bizarre remarks.

Amidst laughter, Khabarov stood up and asked everyone what kind of coffee they wanted and what kind of pastries they would like.

……

After dark, the party ended, and everyone went home.

Sokov and Khabarov took the metro back to Pushkin Square to pick up their photos at the photo studio.

As I pushed open the door of the photo studio and stepped inside, a middle-aged man sitting behind the counter quickly stood up and said politely, "Sir, I'm sorry, our photo studio is about to close. If you want to have your picture taken, please come back tomorrow!"

Khabarov pulled out the receipt written by Kononova, slammed it on the counter, and said to the man, "Comrade, we're here to pick up the photos."

The man picked up the receipt and glanced at it, then immediately smiled politely. "Oh, it's those two urgent photos. Please wait a moment, I'll go get them for you." With that, he turned and went into a small room next door.

Not long after, the man came out of the small room, holding a stack of photos in his hand.

He placed the photos on the table and said politely, "Comrades, please check if the number of photos is correct."

Sokov checked the photos and, finding no errors in the number, nodded and said, "Yes, the number of photos is exactly correct."

Next, Sokov picked out the photos with his own picture on them and stuffed the rest into Khabarov's hands: "Anton, I've taken my own photo. You can distribute the rest to everyone when you have time."

(End of this chapter)