Red Moscow

  Chapter 317 The Marriage of the Lieutenant (Part 1)

   Not long after Seryosha left with Oshanin, Sokov heard someone outside the tent calling for a report. He turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see Lieutenant Grisa, the commander of the fourth company, standing at the door like a telegraph pole.

Somehow, the first time Sokov saw Griza, he found that the other party was a little abnormal today. According to Grisa's personality, he usually shouted the report, and before Sokov could respond, he would be careless. I walked in, but today I still stay at the entrance of the tent and stand in a military posture, like a student who has made a mistake and is waiting to be punished by the teacher.

"I said Lieutenant Griza," Sokov looked at Griza standing at the door, and said in a teasing tone, "Why didn't you come in? Did you make a mistake? You were afraid of being scolded by me, so you didn't dare to come in." Come in."

  Grisa heard Sokov say this, and hurriedly stepped into the tent, raised his hand to salute Sokov and Belkin, and then stood still without saying a word. Seeing his reaction like this, Sokov couldn't help but thump in his heart, wondering if he had accidentally guessed it, did Griza really make a mistake?

   "Why don't you speak, Comrade Lieutenant?" Belkin also noticed Griza's uncharacteristic silence, and said curiously: "This is not like your usual character."

   "Brigade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, I may have made a mistake." Griza said with some hesitation: "I came here specifically to accept punishment."

  "Mistake, what mistake did you make?" Belkin asked in amazement: "Tell me and listen, let me see if the nature of your mistake is serious?"

   After a long silence, Griza said with difficulty: "Brigade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, I got married today! But I didn't ask you for instructions beforehand. I don't know if this is a mistake."

"It's a good thing to be married." Hearing Grisa's so-called mistake, that he got married without asking for instructions, Sokov was taken aback for a moment, and then with a smile on his face, he took the initiative to reach out his hand to Grisa: "Lieutenant, please accept my blessing to you."

After waiting for Sokov to shake hands with Grisa, Belgin also stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "Our hero is finally married. This is something worth celebrating." When he shook hands, Suddenly thought of a question, and quickly added, "By the way, who is the woman? Is it from the health team?"

  If Belkin didn't ask this question, Sokov really wouldn't have thought of asking who Griza's bride is. At this moment, Belkin's words aroused his curiosity. After he went through the existing female health workers in the health team one by one in his mind, he did not expect who would become Griza's bride.

"This is my marriage certificate." Griza took out a piece of cardboard folded squarely from his coat pocket, handed it to Belgin, and said, "It has the signatures of me and the bride .”

  Belkin took the paper, unfolded it for a look, and couldn't help frowning. He looked up at Grisa and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, who is this Ekaterina? There doesn't seem to be a female health worker with that name in the health team of our brigade."

"That's right, Katya is indeed not from the brigade health team." When Grisa mentioned the bride's name, she called her by her nickname: "She is still a tenth grade student, and we met by accident on the street today. . . . "

  In the Soviet Union, there is no distinction between elementary school, junior high school, and high school. Before going to university, there are only grades one to ten. Compared with the school types in China, grades one to five are elementary schools, grades six to eight are junior high schools, and grades ninety are high schools. Thinking that the other party was only a sophomore in high school, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help twitching violently a few times. He looked at Griza and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, according to our country's laws, a woman must be eighteen years old before she can get married. .Your bride...Katya, is she eighteen years old?"

   "Yes," Griza nodded vigorously, and said with affirmative tone: "She just celebrated her eighteenth birthday the day before yesterday, so we successfully obtained the marriage certificate today."

"Comrade Brigadier," Belkin handed back the marriage certificate to Griza, looked at Sokov and said, "Lieutenant Grisa's marriage is a great event. Let's see if we can celebrate it for him." A lively wedding?" He might be worried about Sokov's objection, and he specifically emphasized, "The number of participants does not need to be too many, and the entire brigade and platoon commanders are enough."

   "I think it will work." Sokov simply agreed to Belkin's proposal. Then he turned his head and asked Griza who was sitting beside him: "What do you think, Lieutenant Griza?"

  Unexpectedly, Griza shook his head after hearing this, and said: "Brigade commander, political commissar, thank you for your kindness. But the wedding is still forgotten, and Katya may have left the city by now."

   "What, Katya left the city?" Hearing what Griza said, Sokov showed a surprised expression on his face, and he asked in amazement: "Comrade Lieutenant, what is going on?"

"Lieutenant Griza, sit down and talk." Belkin moved a bench from the side, put it beside Griza, and politely invited him to sit down: "Tell us the ins and outs of the matter. "

  ...

  The time went back to five hours ago, Griza went to the city to buy some daily necessities, and Sergeant Elizaveta was with him.

  Don’t look at Stalingrad officially declared that it has entered a state of war two days ago, but you can still see young girls with braids, floral dresses, and low-heeled sandals on the street from time to time. The beautiful scenery on the street not only dazzled Sergeant Elizaveta, but even Griza felt a little dizzy. If it weren't for the barricades that can be seen everywhere and the anti-tank obstacles on the streets, he even had an illusion that he had returned to a certain city before the war.

Both of them are soldiers, so they definitely can't go to ordinary stores if they want to buy things. There are long queues in those places, but they need local supply certificates. Except for a small amount of cash, they don't have such necessities in daily life at all. ticket. So they have to find specialized military stores to buy what they need.

At this moment, a beautiful girl with a medium build, an oval face, and a white dress passed by the two of them, "Girl, please wait a moment." Griza stopped the other party, and asked a little embarrassedly: "Can you send me a message?" Do you want to inquire about something?"

  The girl stopped, looked at the two soldiers standing in front of her, and asked politely: "Comrade soldiers, is there anything I can do for you?"

  Elizaveta took a step forward and asked, "Girl, do you know where the military store is?"

  The girl smiled and blinked a few times, nodded and said, "I happen to know that there is a military store nearby."

   "This is really great." Hearing what the girl said, Elizaveta showed joy on his face, and before Griza could speak, he couldn't wait to ask: "Can you take us there?"

"Sergeant Elizaveta," Griza said sternly to the sergeant before the girl could answer, "maybe this girl has other things, we can't just trouble her." Then he turned to the sergeant. Looking at the girl, "You just need to point us in the direction."

   "It's okay, Comrade Lieutenant." The girl smiled and said, "I happen to have nothing to do right now. If you agree, I can take you to the military store."

On the way the three of them walked along the street to the military store, Griza turned to the girl and said, "Let me introduce myself, I am Griza, the company commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and he is my subordinate Yeli Sergeant Zavetar. What should I call you?"

"My name is Ekaterina, you can call me by my nickname Katya." The girl replied generously: "Also, please don't use 'you' to call me, you can just use 'you' .”

   Arriving at the military store, Sergeant Elizaveta, who was walking in the front, hastily pushed open the closed glass door. He held the door with his hand, and waited for Griza and Katya to enter after following him.

  Although Katya has passed by this military store many times, she has never entered it because of her status. When she walked in, the items in the store took her by surprise. First of all, there was no line here, only a few soldiers standing in front of the counter, whispering with the salesperson behind the counter. Second, the glass counters and shelves are filled with all kinds of goods, and the air in the store smells of smoked ham and fish, as well as chocolate and coffee.

  Grisa stopped and said to Katya: "Katya, if you want to buy something, just ask, just take it as a thank you for leading us."

  After a quarter of an hour, the three of them walked out of the military store with paper bags containing bread, canned vegetables, white sugar, and a few dried sausages in their hands.

"Katya, it's time to break up." Although he and Katya have not been together for a long time, Griza feels that he has known each other for centuries. He said reluctantly: "I don't know. When will we meet again next time?"

Katya also had some affection for Griza. When she heard what Grisa said, she first smiled lightly, and then said: "Grisa, do you know? Before you stop me, I was going to a nearby Cafe, to meet a young commander waiting there, he is the marriage partner arranged by my parents for me. After we meet, we will immediately go to the nearby marriage registration office to register for marriage.”

  Katya's words were like a basin of cold water pouring on Griza's body, which made his heart go cold. He was silent for a long time before he said embarrassingly: "I'm sorry, Katya, I really didn't know you were on a blind date. I'm sorry for delaying your affairs..."

Before Griza finished speaking, Katya stopped him by raising his hand: "Grisa, you don't need to say any more, you are not to blame for this matter. Actually, I don't know that officer, it's just because he is very I'm going to the front line soon, so my parents arranged for me to marry him."

   Regarding what Katya said, it is not a rare thing for Griza. This kind of flash marriage, which was unbelievable before the war, has become very common during the war. After Katya finished speaking, he asked cautiously, "Then what are you going to do?"

   "Griza, if you don't object, I want to register for marriage with you." Katya looked at Griza and said bravely, "Is it okay to let me be your wife?"

Grisa never dreamed that Katya would say this, and his mind suddenly became chaotic. He kept thinking: "Is it true that Katya is going to marry me? You know, I and She hadn't known her for an hour before she offered to marry me. God, that's unbelievable."

  Katya saw that Griza had been silent for a long time, thinking that the other party did not agree with her proposal, and felt a little disappointed. She tried to force a smile on her face, and said with a forced smile: "Grisa, if you don't want to, I won't force you. Thank you for buying me these things. Goodbye! Good luck!"

Griza woke up from his contemplation. He grabbed Katya's arm and said loudly: "Katya, it is my honor to marry you as my wife. How could I not want to. Yes, of course I would." , 10,000 people are willing. If you have no objection, we will go to register the marriage now. By the way, where is the marriage registration office?"

  The smile returned to Katya's face again, she looked at Griza and smiled sweetly, and said, "Little fool, the marriage registration office is not on this street, it's on the street where we just met."

Grisa took the paper bag from Katya, and together with the paper bag in his own hand, gave it to Sergeant Elizaveta, then took Katya's hand, and said, "Let's go, Katya, we Go to the Marriage Registry to register your marriage now."

  Under the guidance of Katya, they came to a marriage registration office. At the door, they happened to run into a couple of newlyweds who had just registered and walked out surrounded by relatives and friends. The festive atmosphere infected Griza, who immediately took it as a good omen. He let go of Katya's hand and straightened his military uniform. Then he held Katya's hand in his palm again and said, "Let's go, let's go in now."

   The two held hands and walked into the marriage registration office. Sergeant Elizaveta, who was holding three heavy paper bags, also followed in with a smile on his face.

  The staff sitting behind the desk saw Grisa and Katya walking in hand in hand, stood up quickly, and asked politely, "Excuse me, are you here to register your marriage?"

  Grisa and Katya looked at each other, nodded at the same time, and replied: "Yes!"

   "Very good." The staff member sat down again, opened a hard-sided registration book in front of him, picked up a pen, looked at the two of them and said, "Please show your IDs!"

Hearing what the staff said, Griza quickly took out his military ID, and after Katya took out his student ID, they pushed towards the staff together and said, "Comrade, this is the two of us. Please check your credentials!"

  (end of this chapter)