Bloody Heart

Midnight was long past, and it might be dawn in a few hours.Ivan was walking on the deserted street, and he couldn't help thinking that the last time he was running around at such a late hour seemed to be when Joseph died.Ivan came to Paul's residence and knocked on the door for a long time before he finally heard anything.The owner of the house leaned against the door frame and said with an unfriendly expression: "I hope you can tell me that you came to my house in the middle of the night not just because you were bored."

Ivan relaxed slightly, showing an innocent expression: "This is not a night suitable for drinking tea and chatting until dawn."

Paul looked at him for a long time but couldn't see why from his face. Since it was too cold outside, he was let in anyway.However, this incompetent host still had a lukewarm attitude: "You know my family very well, so you can do whatever you want. I'm going to sleep, so I won't accompany you." After speaking, he really went upstairs on his own .

Ivan put away his coat and hat calmly, waited for a while, and followed him to the second floor.He was indeed very familiar with this house, so he found the owner's bedroom without any difficulty, and then pushed the door open without authorization and broke in.Su Wei, who kept saying that he was going to rest, didn't look like he was going to rest. He didn't even change his clothes, and directly threw himself on the bed spread out in big characters.Seeing the uninvited guest enter the door, he only tilted his head as a reaction.Ivan smiled silently, and wandered to the window to enjoy the "scenery".

It seems that neither of them realizes that what happened so far is very strange-the visitor who came to the door in the middle of the night sneaked into the master's bedroom silently, and the two people who knew each other's existence did not speak, and the visitor was in a daze , the master pretended to be dead.Fortunately, this weird situation didn't last long.

"I can't seem to fall asleep." Ivan looked towards the source of the sound, and in the dim light he could vaguely see that Paul was still pretending to be dead, but he was staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open, without any sleepiness.Before Ivan could answer, he sat up suddenly, looking straight at Ivan with his eyes in the darkness, "I don't understand why he would do this at all!"

"It was to consolidate power. I was negligent." Ivan stood by the window with his back to the weak light, so that Paul couldn't see his expression.

Paul was silent for a while, and then said: "I don't understand why he did this, and I don't know what's going to happen next. I feel as if... suddenly I don't know anything."

Ivan watched him slowly lower his head in the dark without making a sound.

"...I suddenly didn't even know myself. I didn't listen to the second half of the report at all, because I fell into a sudden and huge doubt: what was the original intention of my birth? I tried hard to recall, vaguely remembered A bunch of Decembrists, I'm their imaginary republic, and that's the beginning. But it's so old it seems prehistoric. I think back to just a few short decades ago, and I can't find a clue about that Too many memories of a time, maybe because I didn't know anything at the time. I just remember Ilyich and his revolutionaries, they brought a piece of red, they called it faith, and that's what I was for. I Happily took over the name 'Soviet' and became yet another believer in that ideal.

"But I can't help but doubt myself now. Do I really understand what the beliefs they say? Can those difficult writings and complex thoughts be explained in a few words? In a self-proclaimed believer At that time, how much do I know about this 'lofty ideal' I believe in? No one has really realized it, and no one knows how to achieve it, so is everything I do right or wrong?"

He looked up at Ivan, and Ivan read deep confusion on his face. "I can't see you, Lucia," he whispered.

"I'm right here." Ivan's voice sounded in the thick darkness opposite.

So Paul continued: "I doubt myself because I was very firm. I once firmly believed that Joseph's path was correct, I actively implemented his instructions, and I was a supporter of almost every decision he made. But one night later, it was all overturned. To be overturned, it means that it is not completely true-and based on people's reactions, everything before it may even be wrong! It is what I held until yesterday What I believed in before the night! Could it be that I—everything else I did and planned to do—was actually wrong too, just not discovered? When will it be discovered? ? Can it be corrected at that time? Because of this uncertainty, I suddenly lost the direction of the next step."

His voice trailed off: "But is Nikita right? Is he a defender of truth, or an eager tyrant? I don't know whether to believe him. He and everything he denies seem to be Either is right, but neither can be chosen. But if I delay making a decision, how will everything in this country continue? After all, I am the ideal of the country here."

Already started.Ivan stood in the shadows, watching Pavel silently.Nikita's secret report confused Paul's mind, which is obviously what many people who left the meeting at this moment are muttering.It won't take long, until tomorrow morning, as people spread word of mouth, this confusion will spread wider and wider, and no one in the whole country will be unaffected.Furthermore, the progress of the entire country will be hindered from within—that is the last thing Ivan wants to see.

"...justice is in the heart," Ivan said, "believe in your people, they will make a decision." But he knew that the other party's heart was in a mess, and it was useless to say so.

Taking advantage of Paul's silence, he immediately said, "Aren't you sleepy? It will be morning soon, and you have work to do tomorrow."

"...Ah, indeed, rest is really important." Su Wei fell back on the bed uninterestedly, and adjusted into a comfortable posture, "You should also rest early... Although I still don't know what you are doing here." After he finished speaking, he stopped speaking.

After a while, Ivan opened a corner of the curtain, and carefully identified the time on the watch for a while with the faint light outside.After seeing what time it was, he gently pulled the chair out from under the desk (thanks to the carpet on the floor), sat down on the back of the chair, and closed his eyes.

This kind of doze lasted for a short time, and when Ivan woke up again, it was not yet 6 in the morning, and it was still dark outside.He got up and walked to the door of the bedroom, and opened the door to go out. He did it carefully and quietly during the whole process, and the person sleeping on the bed didn't notice it at all from the beginning to the end.Ivan came downstairs, turned on the light, put on his coat and hat, took the door key, and quickly turned off the light and left.

It is true that the early bird catches the worm.Although he didn't sleep well, Ivan's mind was very clear at the moment, and he knew that he was competing with Nikita for time.He was sure the gentleman couldn't wait to spread the secret report outside the party, and he had to stop it.This is not easy to do. When the opponent is the head of state, the will of the state is no different from that of ordinary people.He does have unique influence, but when it comes to execution, he is rarely listened to.

It was already dawn after the preliminary arrangements were made.What Ivan can guarantee now is that all foreigners will not know what Nikita said last night.It seems that he can only do so much - of course he is not willing to do so.But that's all for now, he still has other things to explain.

"Who came to visit you so early..."

Facing the sleepy representative who rubbed his eyes and opened the door for him, Ivan tried his best to make his expression gentle and friendly: "Hello comrade, I am Russia/Russia. Please call me my sister, please?" The representative looked at him as if he woke up all of a sudden.

A quarter of an hour later, the neatly dressed Natalia walked towards Ivan, and said coolly as she walked, "This seems to be the first time in my life—you stand at the door and beg me. Why, Are you finally going to marry me?"

...I knew the conversation would turn into this vibe.Ivan thought weakly in his heart.

"Natasha, I need your help with something." Ivan took out the key from his coat pocket and asked, "Can you delay returning to Ming/S/K for two days?"

Natalia turned her head and yelled "I'm not going back today" into the room, before turning back and asking, "What do you need my help for?"

Ivan handed her the key: "This is the key to the Soviet house. I'll write you the address later. He's not doing well today. I should have stayed there, but I have a lot of things to deal with during the day. I can’t go back, so I want to ask you to take care of it.”

Natalia lowered her eyes and looked at the key for a while, then said indifferently, "I don't know him very well."

"...In your eyes, except for Irina and I, everyone else is 'unfamiliar'." Ivan said.

Natalia shrugged and took the key. "Okay, I'll be there in a while, since it's your request. However," she changed the topic and blocked Ivan's "thank you" just now, "Vanya, I am also a national will, Ming/S /K also has a lot of things waiting for me to deal with."

Ivan vaguely had a bad premonition: "Okay, then how should I thank you?"

"Marry me."

"..."

■

After finishing the two things in the plan, Ivan got an extra task.Before leaving the Belarus/Russia/Russia/Russia delegation, Natalia told him that Wang Yao had been here last night. "He was looking for you, but he couldn't find you, so he came to ask me where to find you." That's what she said.

So Ivan took the address that Wang Yao left to Natalia last night and was handed over to him by Natalia just now to look for Wang Yao.Theoretically speaking, Wang Yao should have followed the delegation back to Georgia/Rugya/Kyrgyzstan/Yia, or returned to China directly after the closing of the official meeting of the [-]th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, but he stayed until last night, still persistently looking for himself; Wan had to guess that something important had happened.

The delegation had already left, leaving only Wang Yao alone in the huge delegation residence, which seemed empty.The door opened immediately after he knocked, and Wang Yao invited him in. After closing the door, he couldn't help asking a question he had been holding back for a long time: "What is your boss planning to do, Comrade Ivan?"

"...What?" Ivan stared at him intently. To him, this question was no less than a blow to the head.

Wang Yao was speechless, grabbed a handwritten document from the table, and handed it to him to read.

On the day when the secret report was published, the delegation was supposed to leave Moscow early, but before leaving for the train station, someone specially came to inform Wang Yao to let him stay.Waking up late that night by a phone call, he reluctantly got out of bed and was told a few minutes later that a shorthand note of a speech had just been delivered by Nikita.

Wang Yao sent the visitor away, cheered up and started to read.The more he read, the more something went wrong, and the more he read, the more he became sober. In the end, he was speechless.After closing the document, he was a little thankful that everyone in the delegation had already left, otherwise the entire delegation would not be able to sleep overnight.He read through the manuscript repeatedly, completely unable to understand why Nikita was so anxious to take off Joseph's halo, and why he took such a "hard landing" method!

From the standpoint of an outsider, he can see that this move is a big move to shake the foundation of the country. If the crisis of faith brought about by such an urgent method happens to the big brother in the socialist camp... the idea of ​​protecting the country appears in his mind. Paul's figure, and suddenly, he suddenly remembered a sentence Paul once said - "I almost don't remember what ideals are in this country."

Immediately he felt he couldn't sit still.After weighing it, Paul must not be able to find him, and his current level of confusion may not be much worse than his own; so he decided to find Ivan.He wanted to ask, what did Nikita want to do?What does this country want to achieve?Although he felt deep down in his heart, Ivan might not have the answer.

After reading the shorthand manuscript and listening to his description, Ivan resisted the urge to tear it up, and replied ambiguously: "I have no right to interfere with Comrade He/Lu/Xiao/fu's inner activities, but he does everything The starting point is absolutely beneficial to the Soviet/Union Party/and/country/country..." His words sounded high-sounding, but he was already mad in his heart.Nikita actually thought about what to do later, and made up his mind to spread the content before the speech!He had obviously expected to be opposed - he underestimated him too much!

"Don't lie to yourself," Wang Yao interrupted, grabbed the shorthand and threw it aside, "If you don't take measures to stop him, there will be riots in Georgia/Rug/Jia!"

Ivan couldn't hold back anymore, and grabbed Wang Yao's arm: "Say it again?!"

Wang Yao waved his hand and said quickly: "Outside our residence in Georgia/Rug/Jia/Ya, the local people have been carrying out protests for several days. I don't know how the news of the 'secret report' spread. In their ears, they thought that your new boss treated the old boss unfairly, and they insisted on asking our comrades to judge. I don’t know what’s going on in other places other than our station, one is because I didn’t go back, and the other is because Since our comrades went back, they have never been able to take a step forward." Seeing Ivan's stunned and angry expression, he sneered, "I really admire your new boss, who secretly passed the news to so many people overnight. Far away!"

Ivan felt that the string called "sense" in his brain was about to be blown at this moment. "What news?" He rubbed his forehead, trying to maintain restraint.

Wang Yao said: "As far as I know, there are no more. Oh, how about the Soviets?"

Ivan said with a cold face: "After hearing your description, I don't think he is in a normal state now!"

Wang Yao was speechless for a while, and finally he had to repeat: "Take some measures quickly."

"Yes, what you said is correct. We do need to take measures. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is wrong." Ivan has gradually suppressed his anger, and his almost cold reason has gradually gained the upper hand, "But I What can I answer you? Promise? I alone cannot influence the will of the presidium and promise nothing. Repression? I used to do it a lot, but it just pushes the hostility to a climax.”

He was not reconciled, but Nikita made such a big commotion that the only thing he could do was to wait and see what happened.He knew that Joseph's era would eventually pass, even if people were no longer used to change, or were no longer willing to give up the glory of the past; he also knew that it was wrong for Nikita to be so reckless, but the mistake had already been made.In his heart he mourned this complete subversion, yet the other half of his soul—his experience as the will of the nation—reminds him grimly that change takes time, whether it’s dispelling Joseph’s shadow or correcting Nikita’s mistakes. .He had tried his best to stop the news from spreading, but had failed completely.

"Then what do you do? Do nothing?"

"I suppose so."

Wang Yao looked at him for a while, then shook his head: "Now not only your boss, but you also make me unable to understand."

It is also difficult for me to understand myself, thought Ivan.Obviously feel unparalleled disappointment and unwillingness, obviously feel sad and heartbroken about the foreseeable result, but still calmly persuade myself to just take a bystander attitude.He thought of Pavel—and after knowing these things, thinking of him made Ivan's heart tighten—he knew now that the young man was about to face the greatest crisis of his life.This crisis was worse than any war, because no one could save him but himself.

But can he really save himself?Ivan remembered the way Soviet talked to himself in the darkness last night, it was so fragile.He is also a victim, the biggest victim, Ivan shook his head in his heart.

He wants to help him, he really wants to, since last night he has had crazy thoughts more than once—he thinks I am Ivan Braginsky, an empire that has lived for hundreds of thousands of years, has What can't I do?Nikita is just a normal guy.This ordinary person, he wants to overthrow everything Paul believes, deny what he has done, and disrupt his future direction—how can I allow this to happen!

Because he always remembers the hand stretched out to him in Ye/Ka/Te/Linburg Prison in 1921, the eyes of the stars reflected in the Mo/S/Costa Theater in 1928, and being scraped by the cold wind on Red Square in 1941 The cold call, the firm eyes when he mentioned "Wang Yao is my comrade" in 1950.He remembered that young man had bright eyes and warm hands, a resolute voice and a fiery heart; he remembered the first time he talked about his ideals in front of himself, and Ivan felt that his face was shining .All of this reminded Ivan of himself in his youth, the enthusiasm that died young; however, he was different from himself, he was stronger than himself, so he was also greater than himself; the blood flowing in his veins seemed to be able to last forever.

All this made Ivan want to do everything he could to protect and cherish him.

However, the country's strong will and cold rationality made him say: "It doesn't matter whether you understand or not, it may be more meaningful to adapt to the current situation to influence the outcome—we all have to live in the 'now'."

For the first time, he felt that the reason he had always been proud of was such a cruel thing.

■

Because no one stopped Nikita, Ivan was fortunate enough to witness the most serious ideological confusion in the past 30 years since the founding of the country.Many people resonated strongly with Nikita, thinking that Joseph was a heinous sinner with the blood of the people on his hands; more people continued the ideological inertia left over from decades, thinking that the past 30 years It is not fair to place all the sins on Joseph.

This inertia of thinking has produced different effects on different people. Some people are filled with righteous indignation and are as radical as the critics, and they fight tit-for-tat; Just like that collapsed, a huge sense of despair welled up in my heart, and I heard news of suicide one after another.

The things left over from the Joseph era have become subtle and embarrassing. Those women who were named "S/Da/Linna" by their parents at this time even their names have become a kind of trouble to themselves.Riots broke out in Georgia/Rug/Jia/Yaguo as Wang Yao expected, which was the result of the previous parade going up to a higher level.Felix, who came to the meeting with his boss but had to go back alone unexpectedly, couldn't care less about his sadness. He found Ivan angrily and asked him where Paul was going.

"I don't know," Ivan said, "You have also seen that the current confusion is very serious, and his physical condition must not be strong enough to support him to see you."

"You know it too!" Felix said loudly, "Then why did you do that kind of thing in the first place! Cancel the top secret mark... Wouldn't it be good to keep this kind of thing in the party? Why do you want to do this, you don't know my boss Do you have a heart attack! It’s fine now, what are you guys going to do?!”

"It's not what I want to do." Taking advantage of his height, Ivan easily took Felix's hand away from his collar. "I, like you, am enduring the bitter fruit of an immature political move."

The expression on Felix's face changed several times, and finally he calmed down, curling his lips like a broken pot: "Then can you tell me, who should we trust in the future?"

"What do you mean?" Ivan's eyebrows showed displeasure.

"I can't trust Soviet anymore," Felix raised his hand and pinned his hair behind his ears, his eyes were still bloodshot, "That's what it means!" After saying that, he turned and left without looking back. fist, he seemed to completely ignore Ivan's darkened face.

Felix was just a representative. The ideological confusion of the people directly caused the ideological confusion of the will of the country. Even if he was as strong as Ivan, he had to admit that he had received a much stronger impact than he imagined.Occasionally there would be a restless mood in his heart to get rid of the alliance or to oppose Paul, which was a concentrated and extreme manifestation of the uneasiness of the people; Killed in swaddling infancy.

But what about everyone else?Nikita's move has caused such a large area of ​​ideological confusion, which will undoubtedly shake Paul's leadership in the socialist camp.Would people like Felix and Gilbert, who were already reluctant to follow him, take the opportunity to try to get rid of him?And Wang Yao who is getting stronger by the side...

Ivan suddenly realized that at this moment when Nikita was messing around and Paul was not doing anything, he had so many things to worry about.

The author has something to say:

In order to show the sincerity of the author, I rushed to update on Saturday. 0u0