red moscow

Chapter 3160 Watching a Movie (Part 1)
Sokov stood up, holding onto the edge of the table, and said politely, "Yasa, even if you want to change places, there's no need to rush. I think we should talk about it after we finish eating."

“Yes, Yasha, Misha is right,” Asiya quickly chimed in. “Let’s wait until after we finish eating before we go to find a new place to stay.”

Faced with Sokov and Asya's attempts to persuade him to stay, Yakov hesitated for a moment but decided to stay and continue having dinner.

The group sat down again to continue their meal. Yakov remained silent, focusing solely on his food. The speed at which he ate revealed his desire to finish quickly and return to his new lodgings.

After quickly finishing his dinner, Yakov pushed aside his cutlery, stood up, and said to Sokov, "Misha, I'm done eating." He then turned to Lukin and asked, "Comrade Lukin, may we proceed with the change of accommodations now?"

Although Lukin hadn't finished eating, Yakov was in a hurry to leave, so he quickly put down his cutlery, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said to Yakov, "Yakov, I'm done eating too, let's go."

Sokov and Asya escorted Lukin and his companion to the villa entrance, and only after seeing them get into the car did they turn around and go back inside.

"Misha!" As the two were sitting at the table having dessert, Asya suddenly asked, "There's going to be a movie in the small auditorium in the compound tonight. Would you like to go see it?"

What movie?

Asia shook her head: "I only know it's an American film, but I don't know the specific name."

Sokov realized that since waking up, he had been holed up in the villa and hadn't gone anywhere. Since there was a movie in the small auditorium tonight, going to see it wouldn't hurt; he might even run into a few familiar faces.

Thinking of this, he slowly nodded: "Alright, let's go see it together later."

Half an hour later, Sokov, Asya, and Gulia arrived at the entrance of the small auditorium in the courtyard.

Just as he was about to enter, Sokov, who was dressed in civilian clothes, was stopped by the sentry standing guard at the door: "Excuse me, comrade! The small auditorium is only open to officers, you cannot enter."

Gulia, who was following behind, quickly stepped forward and said to the sentry, "Comrade sentry, this is General Sokov, the deputy commander of the military district!"

Upon seeing that the person verifying Sokov's identity was actually an NKVD officer, the sentry shuddered and quickly apologized to Sokov: "I'm sorry, Comrade Deputy Commander, I've never seen you before. Please forgive me if I was rude."

“It’s alright.” Sokov waved his hand and said generously, “This is also my first time in the small auditorium. You’ve never seen me before, so it’s normal that you don’t recognize me.”

After saying that, Sokov turned to Asya and Gulia and said, "Come on, let's go inside."

The auditorium wasn't large, but it had more than twenty rows of seats, with 12 seats in each row, and could accommodate two to three hundred people at a time.

The front seats were almost all occupied, all by officers. Sokov's gaze swept over the officers' collar insignia and found that they were mostly field officers, with the highest-ranking being a lieutenant colonel.

“Comrade General,” Asya leaned closer to Sokov and asked in a low voice, “Where would you like to sit? I’ll arrange it for you.”

Sokov glanced at the first few rows again and found them filled with officers. If he said he wanted to sit in one of the front rows, Gulia would definitely find a way to make room for him.

Seeing that Sokov was standing still, Asya also came over and asked in a low voice, "Misha, where should we sit?" Sokov looked around and saw that there were still many empty seats in the seventh and eighth rows, so he pointed there and said, "Let's sit there."

And so, the three of them found three adjacent seats in the seventh row. Sokov sat in the middle, Asya sat to his right, and Gulia sat to his left.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed, and images began to appear on the screen.

“Comrade General!” Asya leaned close to Sokov’s ear and whispered, “There is usually a five-minute news segment before the main program begins.”

Sokov nodded slowly after hearing this. The practice of playing a few minutes of news before the main program began was still prevalent not only in the 1940s but also in the late 1980s.

The news report was simple, reporting on workers, clerks, and residents in the city who used their spare time to do voluntary labor, cleaning up the city's ruins.

Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and soon the movie began. Based on the Russian letters following the English title, Sokov finally realized that the film he was watching tonight was called "A Lady for a Day."

As Sokov watched the old woman on the screen, wearing a black woolen hat and carrying a basket of apples, selling them on the streets of New York, he suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

Soon, Sokov saw a New York mob boss who bought apples from an old lady every day, saying that the apples would bring him good luck. Sokov couldn't help but smile knowingly.

No wonder the plot seemed familiar; the movie "Miracles" starring Jackie Chan and Anita Mui must be a remake of this film. The old lady who sold apples becomes the Rose Lady who sells roses.

Asya turned around unintentionally and saw the ambiguous smile on Sokov's face. She asked in surprise, "Misha, what are you laughing at?"

Sokov turned to Asya and said, "Asya, do you believe I can guess what happens next in this movie?"

“I don’t believe it,” Asia replied bluntly. “This movie is being shown for the first time; how could you possibly guess what happens next?”

Gulia, who was on the other side, also heard the conversation between the two and whispered in agreement, "I don't believe you either, Comrade General! I don't think you can guess what will happen next."

Sokov explained in a voice loud enough for all three to hear: "I suspect this old lady selling apples must have a daughter studying abroad. To reassure her daughter, she'll probably fake a wealthy woman's identity and say she's staying in a fancy hotel..."

At the most crucial point, Sokov deliberately paused, making Asya extremely anxious. She urged, "Misha, why did you stop? Continue! Why would the old lady selling apples pretend to be a noblewoman? What if her daughter returns home one day and the whole thing is exposed?"

“Don’t rush, Asya.” Sokov smiled faintly and continued, “Please read on patiently. If the content is the same as what I’m telling you, I will continue.”

At this moment, a captain sitting in the front row turned his head, saw Sokov sitting between the two women, gave a soft hum, and then turned back to watch the movie.

Soon, the following plot perfectly matched Sokov's account: the old lady's daughter was studying at a church school in Spain, and in order to prevent her daughter from feeling inferior because of her true identity, the old lady disguised herself as a wealthy woman who lived in a luxury hotel.

Asya turned to Sokov with an incredulous look, giving him a thumbs-up: "Misha, you're amazing! The plot is exactly as you predicted. Can you analyze what happens next?"

Sokov smiled faintly, then said in a pretentious tone, "If I'm not mistaken, the old lady's daughter met her sweetheart abroad and brought him back to New York to visit her mother."