Red Moscow.

Chapter 2689

When he arrived at the market early the next morning, Sokov opened his shop door as usual and took out some items from the shop and placed them at the door.

I was about to clean when a strange young man suddenly walked in from outside and asked politely: "Brother, can you lend me the vacuum cleaner in your store?"

Sokov looked at the other party and said to himself that he knew all the Chinese colleagues on this street, but the person in front of him was a stranger. When he was about to refuse, the other party continued: "My store is opposite, and I I’ll return it to you when you’re done.”

Opposite door? Sokov looked at the opposite door and thought to himself, isn't that Lao Wu's shop? When did a young man come out? "The store opposite," he said carefully, "isn't it Lao Wu's store? I don't remember that he has a relative like you in his family."

"I just came here two days ago." The young man said respectfully, "My surname is Ma, you can call me Xiaoma. The old Wu you mentioned is my uncle."

"Oh oh oh, it turns out he is Lao Wu's nephew." After figuring out the other party's identity, Sokov readily lent the other party the vacuum cleaner in the store: "Just take this vacuum cleaner and use it."

When Xiao Ma took the vacuum cleaner back to his store to use it, Lena walked into the store. After she put down her bag, she was about to start cleaning, but she found a vacuum cleaner in a familiar location, so she came over and asked Sokov: "Misha, where is the vacuum cleaner in the store?"

Sokov pointed to the store opposite and said, "The neighbor opposite borrowed it."

Lina looked into the store opposite and asked with some surprise: "Who is that person? Why have I never seen him before?"

"He is Lao Wu's nephew." After finishing speaking, Sokov suddenly remembered that there are many vocabulary deficiencies in Russian. The same word is used for nephew and nephew, and quickly added: "He is the son of Lao Wu's sister or sister. ”

After a while, Xiao Ma came over to return the vacuum cleaner.

Lena asked politely: "Have you used it?" The implication is that if you don't use it, then I will start cleaning the store.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Ma blushed, turned around and asked Sokov awkwardly: "Brother, what is she talking about?"

Upon hearing this, Sokov knew that the other party had no basic knowledge of Russian, so he explained to him: "She asked you if you still use the vacuum cleaner. If you don't, she will clean the store."

"No, no need." Xiao Ma waved his hand and said to Lena, regardless of whether the other party could understand it, and finally said in stiff and unfamiliar Russian: "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." When Lena replied with a smile, she glanced at Sokov with a meaningful look, because when she first met Sokov, he could only say "thank you" and "hello", and the rest He doesn't speak a single word, and even when selling goods, he has to rely on a calculator to communicate with customers.

"Lena, what do you think I'm doing?" Sokov felt a little embarrassed when Lena looked at him, and said awkwardly: "Hurry up and clean up!"

Lena's hands and feet were very nimble and she finished cleaning the store in a short time.

After putting away the vacuum cleaner, Lena asked Sokov curiously: "Misha, I have known you for four or five years, right?"

"Well, almost." Sokov asked in confusion: "Why are you asking this?" As he asked this, he thought to himself, does she want him to give her a salary increase?

"When I met you, you were just like the young man opposite, you could say 'thank you' and 'hello', no, you could also say 'toilet'." Lena said and laughed: "You I deliberately learned the word "toilet" because I was worried about not knowing where to go to the toilet in case of emergency."

Hearing Lena expose his shortcomings, Sokov's face turned red. When I first learned this word, I was worried about encountering this embarrassing situation.

Just listen to Lena continue: "Your Russian level has improved very quickly in the past few years, but the pronunciation of many words is still inaccurate, and there are countless grammatical errors. But what makes me strange is that you have been following a few friends since Victory Day. After exploring the underground fortifications, my Russian language skills suddenly improved by leaps and bounds. If I didn’t see you when you spoke Russian, I might have thought it was an authentic Russian speaking.”

Sokov remembered that Victoria had also said this, but she had only known him for a few days and was not sure what her previous level of Russian was. She must have thought that she had always spoken Russian so well. But Lena has known her for four or five years, and she knows very well what her Russian proficiency is. He hesitated for a moment and came up with a rather far-fetched reason: "Actually, the reason is very simple. I practice Russian hard every day. The accumulation of quantity has led to a qualitative leap. The vocabulary and grammar I have mastered have exceeded a certain level." After the key points, you will naturally make rapid progress, and your Russian level will naturally improve dramatically.”

After hearing Sokov's far-fetched reason, Lena showed a puzzled expression on her face. When she was about to continue asking, a customer walked into the store.

After the customer entered the door, he grabbed the sleeve of a piece of clothing and looked at it, then asked Lina: "Girl, how do you sell this dress?"

Seeing the customer asking about the price, Lina naturally stopped asking questions and went over to receive the customer.

After Lina told the customer the price, the customer put the bag aside and started trying on clothes in the store.

Seeing Lina helping customers try on clothes, Xiao Ma, who was sitting in a daze at the door of the store opposite, suddenly became interested and stood directly at the door staring at the customers.

Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help but frowned. He walked quickly to Xiaoma and whispered to him: "Xiaoma, when a customer is trying on clothes in the store, you can't stare at her. This It's very impolite behavior, you know? It doesn't matter to me here. If you were staring at customers like this in Lao Maozi's store, the owner might just kick you away. "

When Xiao Ma heard what Sokov said, he immediately blushed, said sorry quickly, and then turned around and returned to his store.

After Xiao Ma left, Sokov returned to his store, looked at the customer who was trying on clothes, and politely asked him if he was satisfied with the size and style of the clothes. If he felt it was not suitable, he would help her find a suitable one. .

The customer tried on more than a dozen clothes in the store. Although he liked two clothes, when he asked about the price, he found that it was beyond his budget. He quickly shook his head and said politely: "I'll look around again. If nothing suits me, Yes, I'll come back and buy it." Before leaving, he also took away a business card from the store.

After the customer left, Lena said dissatisfiedly while sorting out the clothes with Sokov: "I didn't even understand what fur was, so I came here to try on clothes. Can the price of this thing be the same as that of shirts and skirts?" ? I think she will definitely not come back. "It's okay if she doesn't come back." Sokov said with a smile, "If she really wants to buy a shirt or skirt, buy it." An expensive mink skin, do you want to sell it or not?”

As soon as she finished arranging her clothes, Lena saw a lot of people gathered at the other end of the street. It seemed like something was happening, so she said something to Sokov and ran over to watch the fun.

After a while, Sokov heard someone shouting "Ula, Ula!" over there. He wanted to go over and watch the excitement, but he was the only one in the store, so he definitely couldn't leave. He could only stand on tiptoes and look towards the store. He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

The pony on the opposite side came over again and asked curiously: "Brother, what does the 'Ula' they call mean?"

"Ula is a modal particle, which is probably equivalent to us shouting long live." Sokov said casually: "If you have watched Soviet war movies, you can see that when the commanders and soldiers in them charge, they are saying "Long live". Keep shouting 'Ula'."

“Did the Russians shout hurrah?”

Hearing Xiao Ma's question, Sokov thought for a moment and then replied: "Although 'Ula' is a Russian word, I don't seem to have heard any Russians shout it. Most of the people shouting it are Ukrainians."

After another ten minutes, Lena, who was watching the excitement, came back. Sokov immediately asked: "Lena, what happened over there?"

"It's a model taking wedding photos." Lena said excitedly: "You also know, on our street, only Zhenya's family sells wedding dresses. His wedding dresses are customized from Ukraine, and the people who usually buy them are Quite a bit. The person in charge of a modeling company came today and said that he would take some wedding photos for the models in his store. It was said that the price was quite high. Zheniya saw that he would not only get a lot of money. Advertising fees, and at the same time, some people are advertising themselves for free, so they are shouting.”

Xiaoma felt anxious when he saw that Sokov and Lena kept talking, but he couldn't understand a word. After finally waiting until the two of them stopped talking, he quickly asked Sokov: "Brother, what are you talking about?"

Sokov simply translated to him what Lena said.

After hearing this, Xiao Ma turned to look in the direction of the wedding dress shop and asked tentatively: "Brother, are the wedding dresses here for rent or for sale?"

"Of course it's for sale." Sokov once chatted with Zhenya and knew that the price of a wedding dress was no less than that of fur. Not every woman will buy fur, but a wedding dress is a must-buy for every woman who is getting married: "People here don't have the habit of renting wedding dresses when they get married, so they buy them themselves."

"Ah, you buy your own wedding dress when you get married?" Xiao Ma said in surprise: "A wedding dress is different from other commodities. It is worn once when you get married, and then it is put on the shelf and never has the chance to wear it again. I guess this thing is not expensive, right?" "

Sokov knew that Xiao Ma had just come from China and did not have a perceptual understanding of the prices in Russia, so he pointed to the shop opposite and said: "What do you think of the price of the furs sold by your uncle's family?"

"It's too expensive." Xiao Ma looked back at his store, shook his head and said, "If I were asked to pay for it, I definitely wouldn't be able to afford it."

"Many wedding dresses are more expensive than fur." ​​Sokov continued: "But according to Russian customs, women have to buy a wedding dress when they get married, so during the peak wedding season, the store's business is very good Incredible."

"Really?" Xiao Ma looked at the bridal shop in the distance and said in an envious tone, "I also want to open a bridal shop."

"The wedding dress shops in the market are either Ukrainian or Azerbaijani." Sokov explained: "So far, no Chinese have opened a wedding dress shop because they can't find a place to purchase the goods. If you buy it from someone else's The products I have in my hands are, firstly, of single style and outdated, and secondly, they are expensive and cannot be sold at all.”

After hearing this, Xiao Ma showed a surprised expression on his face: "I really didn't expect that there are so many things to pay attention to in doing business."

Sokov originally wanted to tell him more about business matters, but then he thought about it. He just met him today and didn't even know what kind of person he was, so it would be a bit inappropriate to tell him so much rashly. . So after chatting for a few more words, he changed the subject and asked roundabout ways about the other party's details.

But Xiao Ma seems to be the kind of person who has a pig-like face but a bright heart. Even though he is talking and laughing with Sokov, when it comes to key issues, he will evade the important and change the topic. From the chat, Sokov saw that Xiao Ma was a scheming person, so when his cell phone rang, he took the opportunity to end the awkward chat.

After returning to the store and making the phone call, Sokov suddenly thought of what Lida had said. She said that she had met Kopalova in Moscow in the 1950s, and since he had nothing to do, he might as well call and ask about " "Izvestia", people there seemed to know Kopalova.

Thinking of this, he used his mobile phone to search for the phone number of "Izvestia" on the Internet, and then dialed it directly.

The person who answered the phone was a woman. Judging from her voice, she should be a young girl: "Hello, this is the "Izvestia" newspaper office. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, girl!" Sokov asked politely: "I want to ask you about someone from your newspaper."

"Sir!" the girl who answered the phone said politely: "Please tell me his name and I will see if I recognize him."

"Kopalova!" After Sokov said this name that he remembered well, he was worried that the other party did not know Kopalova, so he quickly provided more detailed information: "She is a photojournalist, probably in the last century. She started working in newspapers in the 1940s. I wonder if you can provide me with some information about her.”

"I'm sorry, sir, I'm sorry, I can't help you." The girl who answered the phone rejected Sokov's request without hesitation: "I don't manage personnel files, so I can't help you look up an old photojournalist from seventy or eighty years ago. ." After that, Sokov hung up the phone without giving him a chance to continue talking.

Listening to the "beep beep" sound coming from the mobile phone, Sokov couldn't help but shook his head with a wry smile. When he made this call, he still had a sense of luck in his heart. If Kopalova was a very special person in "Izvestia" For a famous person, even if it's been decades, there are still people who can remember her. But after the phone call just now, he felt that he had thought of the problem too simply. The employees of the newspaper might not even be able to remember the previous president and editor-in-chief of the newspaper, let alone an ordinary photojournalist.

"Misha," Lena walked into the back room and asked curiously: "Who are you calling? I seem to hear you saying that that person is an old employee from seventy or eighty years ago."

Sokov nodded and said: "I heard a centenarian mention a person who was her old friend decades ago and worked in a newspaper. I originally wanted to call and ask about the other person's situation, but who knew that the newspaper The person who answered the phone didn't know this person at all. It's no wonder. After all, she was someone who worked decades ago. Who would remember her today?"

(End of chapter)