Past events in Beicheng

Six-year-old Nastasia sat on a pile of wooden boards in frustration, looking at the machine tool in front of her in a daze. She should have been in a warm room, looking at the picture book her mother bought for her, and maybe there was a piece of honey cake waiting looking at her.Dad is always busy, but might come back in the evening with a little gift, doll?Brownies?Or a soda with a lottery ticket.Where is grandpa?I was reading the newspaper on the sofa, laughing occasionally.Grandma was busy with dinner in the kitchen, and the smell of dinner wafted out one after another.

Now in front of her is only the rumble of the machine tool, which is pressing the steel plates into the same shape.

"Nastasia, have you come out of the office?" Wang Yao hurried over to see her after finishing his work, but found that she was not in the office.

"Uncle Wang Yao, I didn't mean to come out." Nastasia slid down from the plank: "I'm a little scared by myself."

Wang Yao touched her head: "Don't worry, grandpa promised us that he will pick you up the day after tomorrow, and uncle will come to accompany you as soon as he is free, okay?"

"Does Uncle like brownies?" Nastasya took a wrapping paper from her purse.

"I also like to eat this brand of chocolate cake." Wang Yao picked her up and walked back to the office.

"Yes, this is the most delicious chocolate cake! Only when I get a reward, so you see, I have collected a total of twelve, and I will collect all the pictures with one more, isn't it beautiful ? Not only delicious, but also more beautiful chocolate cake!"

On the wrapping paper is a drawing of a little girl with blonde curly hair, wearing different clothes and holding different ornaments in her hands.Wang Yao occasionally noticed it in the mall, but he didn't know how popular and important it was in the eyes of little girls.

"But I can't get it all together anymore." Nastasya looked at her treasure, holding back tears.

"Nastasia..."

"It's okay," Nastasya wiped away her tears, "it's impossible, it's impossible."

Wang Yao felt a pang in his heart.

Nastasia wiped away her tears, leaned over and kissed Wang Yao: "I'm sorry, Uncle Wang Yao, I will never make you sad again."

Wang Yao hugged her and leaned his face against her blond hair, he didn't know what to say.

"It will be ready," Nastasia said suddenly in his ear, "I remember the picture, Uncle Wang Yao, please draw it for me! You draw it for me, I will color it, and I will bring it to you." Here comes the crayons! Look!"

Wang Yao took out white paper and pencils from the drawer. This was the first time he drew something other than design drawings.

"Is the expression the same as this one? What about the clothes? What does the clothes look like?" Wang Yao felt that he was more serious than drawing any design drawings: "What is she holding in her hand?"

"Sunflowers! Golden sunflowers!" Nastasia closed her eyes and recalled happily: "My favorite flower! Our national flower, the flower that yearns for the light, does Uncle Wang Yao like it?"

Sunflowers—faith, brilliance, pride, loyalty—and, unspoken love.

"Nastasia, give me your hand."

"?"

"do you like it?"

"Ah! Toffee!" The little girl exclaimed in surprise.

"Engineer? Engineer?" came a shout from the workshop.

"Eat." Wang Yao stood up and kissed her face again: "When I come back later, can you paint it?"

Nastasya nodded contentedly.

"...Well, I'll be back in a while." Wang Yao opened the door and looked back.

The light from the stove combined with the electric lights created a warm illusion. The little blond girl sitting on the chair looked like a character in a foreign pictorial. She shook her head and hummed a song, as if heartbreakingly happy.

"engineer!?"

"Okay, here we come."

Wang Yao closed the door, and the roar of the lathe covered everything in his ears again.

Frozen Leningrad is starting to get quiet, and you might stumble over the dead neighbor's body on your doorstep when you go out in the morning.There were air raids at any time of the day, but far more people died from cold and hunger than from air raids.

In the almost desperate mood of everyone, the surface of Lake Ladoga finally began to freeze. At first, the government mobilized horse-drawn carriages to open up passages on the lake, but the ice surface in many places was too thin, and even with a small load, they would fall into the water.The German artillery line was not far away, which undoubtedly made the situation more complicated.For this reason, the Soviet army also built a defense line next to the German positions to protect this fragile "road of life".

Lake Ladoga, which has never been frozen, finally saw a glimmer of hope—although the lake has never been frozen, the water along the lake freezes every year. The lifeline is finally open!

When the thickness of the ice layer exceeded sixteen centimeters, trucks began to drive on the ice, and medical stations, anti-aircraft artillery, and canteens were established on the transportation line.All materials and manpower in the city fully support the operation of "Lifeway".

The workshop where Wang Yao was located was temporarily suspended, and everyone was transferred to a temporary transportation team.

The "Road of Life" is not a smooth avenue. There are often snowdrifts more than five meters high on the ice surface, and there is rolling water under the ice surface more than ten centimeters.A truck with a load of two tons, even if it is only loaded with half its weight, often falls into the ice hole. This [-]-kilometer road is the road of life for citizens, but it may also be the road of death.

The makeshift station was crowded with people, all hoping to evacuate Leningrad smoothly.Soldiers with guns stood guard at the iron gate, arranging people to board the vehicle strictly according to the registration list.

Wang Yao is a mechanic, and there are not too many young male mechanics at this time.He was arranged to follow the car, going back and forth three times a day and resting for four hours.In many cases, even if the density of German bombers in the sky is high, they dare not turn off the lights, because there are more ice holes and snow piles than bombs.

How many trucks are lost each day?Wang Yao did not dare to count, but the women, children and wounded were gradually evacuated, and the bread supply of urban residents was gradually restored to [-] grams per day.

"It will get better." The strange driver partner patted Wang Yao's shoulder: "Come out and bask in the sun, although it's only bright for two hours every day."

Wang Yao took off his overalls and wrapped himself in a long cotton coat. At this moment, he also longed for the sun, even if it was just the sun hovering on the horizon, he would give people hope after all.

There were not many people in the courtyard, but outside the courtyard was crowded with worried citizens. Wang Yao's heart tightened suddenly, and it was the first time he felt that so many lives were in his hands.

"Wang Yao! Wang Yao!"

Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted.

"professor!"

Wang Yao saw Belyayev blushing and trying to get closer to the iron fence.

"Great! It's great to meet you!" Belyayev finally squeezed over: "This is for you!"

"what?"

"Nastasya's approval document for evacuation." Belyayev panted heavily: "Take her away. When you get to the other side, hand her over to the orphanage."

"why?"

Belyayev tried his best to reach out and handed the document to Wang Yao: "Because we don't meet the evacuation requirements...my dear...she handed it to you."

"Come here." Wang Yao shook his hand through the fence.

Belyayev picked up his little granddaughter with difficulty and squeezed to the door.

Wang Yao handed over the documents to the guard at the gate, and the soldier checked the list: "Go in, you, citizen, please return to the cordon."

Nastasya held tightly to her grandfather's hand and would not let go.

Belyayev patted her head kindly: "Dear baby, promise me, survive!"

"Grandpa, you have to survive! I'm not an orphan, I don't want to be an orphan!" Nastasya burst into tears.

The soldier with the gun freed his hand and stroked Nastasya's curly hair: "Let's go, little girl, hurry up."

"Let's go!" Belyayev let go of his hand: "I will survive, I promise you, baby, wait for me, I will come to you, I will definitely come to you!"

The soldier pushed Nastasya and pushed her to Wang Yao's side, and then the surging crowd immediately drowned Beryayev's figure, and even the white hair on top of his head could not be seen.

"Grandpa! Remember to come to me! Remember to come to me!"

The soldier glanced at Wang Yao, motioned him to take the child away quickly, then he picked up the gun again, stood in front of the crowd, and returned to his indifferent look.

The strange driver partner didn't ask any more questions, but just took the child from Wang Yao's hand: "Let's go, the rest is over, let her sit in the cab in a while, and you hold her."

The truck's radio was singing, and the melodious female voice echoed in the air through the wind and snow.Wang Yao hugged Nastasya: "Honey, you will become a pianist."

Nastasia hugged Wang Yao tightly and buried her face in his arms.

"Come, sing to us, dear Nastasya. We will try, everyone will survive, sing, sing with the radio."

Nastasya wiped her tears and began to sing.

Wang Yao has always felt that he is a person who does not understand music, but at this moment, he finally understands why the world needs not only mechanics, but also artists.Ivan has no memory of the tunes that Ivan once played to himself. He only remembers a cello and a violin with vibrating strings, just for the time that cannot be regretted.

The scale of fighting on the front lines is shrinking, but casualties remain.

Death or immortality has long been an inescapable topic, and Wang Yao had to spend four precious hours a day guessing, falling asleep and waking up amid guessing.

It was early in the morning when I got up this day, and the registration staff in the office said to Wang Yao, "You have a new partner."

Fortunately, the lights were dim, so we couldn't see each other's ugly faces.

Wang Yao nodded: "Okay, then I will wait first."

The other end of the station was packed, but this side was a little deserted.Wang Yao first went to check the snow chains on the tires, and then added some antifreeze to the water tank.The strong wind was blowing from the direction of the lake, almost making people unable to stand still. Wang Yao actually liked this kind of weather, at least the Germans seldom insisted on bombing in this environment.

Wang Yao stood in the snow, folded his hands, stomped his feet, looked in the direction of the office, and the trucks beside him started off one by one. He didn't know what kind of driver he was waiting for, and he was going to arrive so late .

Finally, a tall man came out of the office, and the office staff next to him waved to Wang Yao.

"This is Comrade Braginsky," the office staff winked at Wang Yao: "Regimental Commander."

Then he turned towards the tall man enthusiastically: "Comrade leader, this is Comrade Wang Yao, the mechanic who is following the car. How about you go to the car first? I will talk to the mechanic again."

"No, I'll just wait here."

The office staff had to smile awkwardly, and then pulled Wang Yao over: "Comrade Wang Yao! You have the best temper among all of them! This regiment leader has a bad temper, so you have to take care of him, okay?"

Wang Yao nodded: "I will."

The office staff patted Wang Yao's shoulder gratefully, and saluted the tall man before returning to the office.

"We met again." Ivan walked over quickly: "The mechanic, Comrade Wang Yao."

Wang Yao smiled, but did not answer his words.

"In such a big city, with so many people, we met again." Ivan took his hand: "Don't you think so?"

"We'll always meet."

"It's good that you're still alive." Ivan increased his grip.

"Soldiers on the front line, this sentence is right for me."

Ivan was amused by this sentence: "Before the lake thaws, everyone will come to support the transportation line, you have to stay with me all the time."

"Okay," Wang Yao tried to calm his tone, trying to make this sentence seem more ordinary.

"We are together."