Past events in Beicheng

The two climbed into the truck and started the engine. Wang Yao handed a thermos bottle to Ivan: "They said you were assigned to be my partner because you have the worst temper. Why, Commissar Andrei didn't come?"

"He, he didn't come, no, he didn't die, he couldn't die." Ivan shrugged mockingly: "Almost all the armored divisions of the German army have been transferred to other battlefields now, and we don't have enough fuel. It’s a place where I can display my talents, and I don’t like the transportation job, so I applied to organize street fighting, although I don’t think it’s possible to fight street fighting at all.”

Wang Yao couldn't understand these military terms, but he felt that it was not a bad thing for Andre to be alive at least.

"Where are we going now?"

"Ahead, did you see it?"

The black crowd was seething with anxiety.Before the truck stopped, someone quickly opened the compartment, and the soldiers below began to carry the women and children onto the truck one by one.

"Be careful to keep warm! Don't worry!" the person maintaining order shouted.

But because of crowding and fear, cries continued to come from the crowd.

"Is there enough food in the city?" Ivan asked through this stall.

Wang Yao shook his head: "But I'm fine, the transportation team can eat enough."

Ivan couldn't help but sighed again: "I still feel..."

"...What's wrong?" Wang Yao interrupted him: "Drive seriously, you are my fifth partner, I don't want to change another person."

There was still a certain distance from the icy road on the lake, Wang Yao turned on the radio on the truck, this time it was not music, but the battle report from the front line, Wang Yao hesitated for a moment, and changed the station.

"Young man," an old lady poked her head from the rear compartment, "Can you switch back to the previous station? We all want to hear the battle report."

Wang Yao turned around apologetically: "Maybe not, I'm sorry, too detailed broadcast content may affect the driver's driving, the road ahead is very dangerous."

"How can it be so scary?"

"Open the car door."

"Ok?"

"Lake Ladoga is ahead," Wang Yao opened the car door on his side: "Once you fall into an ice hole, don't worry about anyone, just jump out of the car first."

Ivan glanced at him upon hearing this.

"Don't look at me like that," Wang Yao didn't look at him, but carefully identified the light of the car lights in the distance: "Remember, leave me alone, jump out of the car first."

The moment the wheels hit the ice, the car body began to bump, the frozen lake was as rugged as a mountain road, and the steel car body began to shake from side to side, twisting like it was about to fall apart.Wang Yao stepped on the pedal and looked at the passengers behind: "Everyone, keep warm! This road is very long, adults hold the children well! Remind each other, don't fall asleep! If you hear me say jump off the bus, Everyone just jump! Never mind the artwork on the car!"

"Mechanic, you are very proficient." Ivan said with a smile to Wang Yao who sat back.

"How are you proficient?"

"The vibrato gets better and better, like a Soviet guy."

Wang Yao pretended not to smile: "I don't know if your Chinese writing has improved...don't look at me...just look at the road ahead! Hey! Be careful."

Ivan was also frightened into cold sweat: "Asshole! This snowdrift is too big!"

"..."

"..."

"Hey," Ivan steadied the steering wheel again: "Do you regret it?"

"regret?"

"I regret coming to the Soviet Union."

"Why should I regret it?" Wang Yao looked into the distance: "I'm just a little confused all of a sudden."

"confused?"

"Nanjing, my hometown, because there was no resistance, so many innocent people died. Now, because of our resistance, more people died. What is the right thing?"

"As long as there is war, there is nothing right."

"Then why do you want to become a soldier?" Wang Yao couldn't help turning his head to look at him this time.

But Ivan didn't look at him, he looked at the flickering road in front of him: "So that I don't regret it."

"?"

"I finally understand that this is a fate that I cannot escape as a Soviet person, but if I were an ordinary person, maybe I have no position to protect you," Ivan added: "I will regret it."

"But," Wang Yao sighed, "They say you have a bad temper, but I never think you have a bad temper. Ivan, when I see you and Andre, I feel complicated. Sometimes I see I myself feel complicated. I, I feel that if I hadn’t experienced the war, I would have been a different person when I met you in Leningrad.”

"Someone else……"

"...One," Wang Yao didn't know what to say, he thought for a moment: "Maybe it will be a better person."

Ivan understood what he meant, maybe he didn't understand it before he experienced the war, but now, he finally understood it.Although he was a soldier, his textbooks always used war as a topic, but at that time he never thought about what it would be like to lose peace.He chewed and read the battle cases, but what he was thinking about was a question that a normal person should think about.

love, and life.

"I was born in the flames of war," Wang Yao continued. "I have never tasted peace. Even though my family is rich, even though I have been to many peaceful and peaceful places, I have never really escaped from the flames of war and aggression. Alas, it’s not good to talk about this topic as soon as we meet.”

When Ivan heard this, he wanted to take his hand off the gear and hold his hand.However, he didn't have time, he had to adjust a gear, in order to run over the snow ditch ahead as slowly as possible.

"Let's think about peace." Ivan tried to laugh again: "A peaceful Soviet Union, a peaceful China, maybe a peaceful Germany and Japan. What will you do?"

"I," at this moment, the name Germany is as painful as Japan, Wang Yao shook his head: "I don't know."

"You can take me to Nanjing and let me see your life when you were a child." Ivan knew that he couldn't imagine Nanjing, but he couldn't imagine another completely different place, what kind of buildings and people there were, and what kind of big river ran through it. in between.

Wang Yao still shook his head: "I'm sorry, I may have worked hard in this life, but I may not be able to get out. I am a prisoner, a prisoner outside of peace."

"We haven't talked so much together in a long time."

"Yes." In fact, it was only a few months, but it felt like a long time ago.

"When I think of that person, I feel calmer." Ivan felt that he said this without any emotion, as if he was saying the most ordinary thing: "When I was in the trenches , When I was in the command post, when I stood in a row with other commanders and watched the commander swallow himself with a gun, I thought of that person, and I often thought of that person, so I would feel better."

"..."

"The thing that torments me is the doubt. I wonder if that person is dead. After all, this place is already hell. There are many ways to die for everyone to choose. So, I hope he can promise me, no matter what. Me, at least take me to his hometown, it is impossible for me to imagine a place I have never seen."

"Ivan," Wang Yao felt a little bitter: "It will take many years, many years, maybe a lifetime to rebuild Nanjing to its original appearance."

"Will it take longer than rebuilding Leningrad?"

"..."

"Wang Yao, I long for a hope."

"What hope."

"Hope after peace."

"I have burdened too much!" Wang Yao stared blankly at the snowstorm outside the car. Tonight's snowstorm made the night sky extraordinarily quiet. There is no night sky of Skatu, only the night sky of blizzard. Wang Yao stared blankly. Thinking, thinking about the promise I had solemnly made: "I can't break my promise."

"What promise, young man, why can't I understand what you're saying." The old lady who was clamoring to listen to the radio suddenly spoke again. She looked at the cab from the rear compartment: "Do you have hot water?"

Wang Yao seemed to wake up suddenly, put on a kind smile, and handed her the kettle.

"Oh, my God, this hot water is as hot as it was when it was just boiled!" The old lady praised, and then said to Wang Yao, "Are you a girl?"

"I'm not a girl!" Wang Yao took the kettle and replied awkwardly.

"Your personality is too shy, just like a little girl," the old lady shook her head contemptuously: "Are you both chasing the same girl? I advise you to give it up to the driver, women don't like men like you. "

"Contrary to what you know, there are many girls who like me," Wang Yao pushed the kettle back to the side of the seat: "As for him, no one likes him."

Ivan suddenly burst out laughing.

The old lady took out a snuff bottle, sniffed it, and sneezed loudly: "Are those girls blind?"

The other people in the car also laughed.

"Peace, the peaceful Soviet Union," a woman in the carriage took up the topic: "I must buy that floral dress that I like, and I fell in love with it before the war!"

Then a child's voice: "I want to eat chocolate, I haven't had chocolate in a long time."

"Orange soda, I want a soda, I want it as soon as the war is over!"

"What's so good about orange soda? It smells like bath water."

"Marry, I want to marry! Marry Ivan!"

Another one named Ivan, Wang Yao was finally amused.

The carriage behind was gradually immersed in heated discussions, and Ivan glanced at Wang Yao: "What about you? Choose one of those fantastic fantasies?"

Wang Yao also glanced at him: "I hope Ivan survives."

"Survived, and then what."

"Okay, I survived, go to Nanjing, and eat some cakes and dumplings."

"Small cakes?"

"Well, the workmanship is exquisite and elegant."

"Skillful workmanship and elegance..." is this incomprehensible vocabulary again: "Sweet or salty?"

"Sweet!" Wang Yao felt that the old lady was about to speak again, so he quickly increased his tone: "It's very sweet!"

Ivan glanced at him meaningfully, Wang Yao stopped talking again, and started to be in a daze.The journey was very long, the carriage was noisy for a while and then returned to tranquility, Wang Yao looked at his watch, and would step on the pedal every half hour to talk to the people in the carriage.The truck occasionally passed some foxholes on the lake, and the anti-aircraft guns were covered with snow. The soldiers buried in the snow held wine and watched the people in the car, unable to see their expressions clearly.

"We are not used to the absence of enemy planes." Wang Yao finally spoke under Ivan's back and forth gaze.

"Oh," Ivan finally withdrew his gaze and looked at the road ahead: "You."

"What's wrong with me?"

"me."

"..."

"It's nothing."

"Drink some water." Wang Yao unscrewed the thermos bottle and handed it to Ivan's mouth.

"You..." Ivan didn't mean to drink water: "You also give water to other drivers? Like this?"

Wang Yao took back the water bottle and took a sip by himself: "It's fine if you're not thirsty."

"I drink." Ivan really felt very thirsty: "Hey! I drink!"

"Busy." Wang Yao ignored him, just sat with his hands folded.

"What are you up to!?" Ivan panicked.

"The snow stopped, and the stars came out." Wang Yao stepped on the pedal, leaned out, knocked off the snow on the windshield with iron pliers, and the bright sky appeared impressively.

The snow stopped, and the high winter sky spread out with a deep blue, and the broken stars of the Milky Way filled the sky, and the barrier between man and the universe disappeared.The sky is so far, but so transparent, the wind seems to stop in an instant, in the tranquility, the sound of breathing is close to the ear.

Ivan looked into Wang Yao's eyes, there was a bright light inside, then he turned his head, with eyes full of stars, and brought the water bottle to his mouth.

"hot!"

"Sorry!" Wang Yao took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth for him: "I'm really not good at taking care of people."

"why are you laughing."

"I'm not smiling."

"I still want to drink."

"...here...to the other side!"

There was a gleam of light on the distant horizon, the outline of the land began to stand out, and a kind of bustle unique to the station began to faintly enter the ears.

"It's almost there, everyone! Don't sleep, everyone, hold on! It's almost there!" Wang Yao knocked on the carriage with a wrench.

Only a few faint responses floated out of the silent carriage.

"Does anyone still want hot water? It's here, it's almost here, everyone insist, don't fall asleep!" Wang Yao's tone was full of joy, he turned his head and said to Ivan: "Hurry up, honk the horn!"

The sound of the horn finally woke up the people in the carriage, and everyone began to clean each other's snow.

"Look! The stars!"

"God, we, we got out."

It was the last car to arrive, but many people at the station were relieved to see it arrive safely.

"Comrade Wang Yao?"

"We're here, come help!"

The carriage was pulled open, and the frozen people were helped out of the car, and hot broth was delivered to them.

"Come on, help carry the wounded down." Wang Yao gave Iwan a hand.

Ivan jumped out of the car, and was pushed in front of the car before he could take a look at the sky he wanted to see.

"Thank you." A wounded man reached out and shook his hand.

The stretcher was covered with snow, and the other party's frozen limbs could be felt through the gloves.

"I hope you catch up with the girl you like." A young girl whispered in his ear when he got out of the car.

"Do you think the mechanic won't succeed?" Ivan replied with a smile.

"I don't know, but I think you have a better chance of winning."

"I heard, girl." Wang Yao poked his head from the side.

"Ah..." The young girl took the hot soup from Wang Yao, a little embarrassed: "Well, that, thank you, so you are a foreigner."

"I wish you a successful marriage to Ivan." Wang Yao whispered in her ear, and then pushed her out of the crowd: "Everyone, don't worry! Help me hug the child! Carry the stretcher!"

A hand stretched out to prop up the stretcher, Wang Yao deliberately didn't look up at him.

The last wounded was carried down, and the carriage finally returned to tranquility.Ivan took the time to look at the sky, and he was about to say to him: Look, how beautiful it is there.

But he climbed into the car again on his own.

"what happened?"

Ivan also climbed into the carriage and followed him.

At the front end of the carriage, near the driver's cab, there was a person curled up without moving.Wang Yao stretched out his hand, wiped off the snow on her face, and then tried to straighten her frozen arms.

"She's dead," Wang Yao said with a sullen head, "the old lady who asked us for hot water, there is another one at your feet."

It was the face of a child.

"Hurry up, the snow has stopped, there may be bombing at any time, hurry up."

"Hurry up!" The people under the car yelled: "How soon can we move the supplies? Hurry up! Some people come to help!"

The living were housed in tents, and the corpses were piled on sledges.

"The meal is here!" When Ivan walked into the tent, someone stuffed him with a bowl of meat.

He looked back at Wang Yao, he also had a bowl in his hand.

"So, I can eat enough." Wang Yao approached the fire and sat down: "Are you okay? You."

"of course."

"Take a break, the supplies will be moved in an hour, you'd better sleep, there is a bed behind."

Ivan put down the bowl and looked at him who was still eating: "Can you..."

"...Oh, my God, it's too cold." Another group of drivers rushed into the tent: "We'd better start before dawn. The weather tomorrow is so good, it's terrible."

"Let's go." Wang Yao put down the bowl and stood up: "I'll go in with you."

Then he took his hand and walked through the fire and the crowd.

Behind the curtain, several beds were arranged in disarray, Wang Yao dragged one, put it together with another, and then lay down on one of them.Ivan also fell asleep, and they were back to back, wrapped in their respective blankets.

"It's like we were in the dormitory back then." Ivan said.

"Ah."

"Remember aspirin?"

"Ah."

"Is your stomach okay?"

"Go to sleep."

The drivers who had eaten came in one after another.

"Go to sleep." Wang Yao turned over and put his hands on his back: "You have to drive in a while, so go to sleep."

"Ah."

Maybe after a while, Ivan was shaken awake, and Wang Yao was gone.

"Where is this person?!"

"I'm here..." Wang Yao poked his head from the outside: "...Come and wash your face."

"Oh."

"Are you ready? Can you get in the car?" The person in charge of loading ran in to urge.

"Okay, it'll be ready right away." Wang Yao put down the towel: "I'm going to check the condition of the car, I'll take a step first."

When Ivan walked out, Wang Yao had already boarded the cab, and a soldier was clasping the window to explain something to him.

"what happened?"

"Let's bring a few extra snow chains, yesterday's heavy snow made the ice too messy, and the vehicles dealing with the roadblocks haven't had time to clear the small snowdrifts."

"what time is it now?"

"Nine o'clock in the morning, turn on the lights and go." Wang Yao habitually turned on the radio again.

Ivan glanced back at the carriage: "Great, there are no passengers this time."

Wang Yao moved out unconsciously, which made Ivan a little embarrassed. He unnaturally added an explanation: "...I don't like to drive too loudly."

"...But your armored vehicles are very noisy." Wang Yao also noticed his embarrassment, and quickly smoothed things over: "How are the comrades in the armored company?"

"Not too sure, Peter is still alive, right? But he's in Moscow."

"Ah."

The truck started up and headed off the brief landmass and back onto the ice.It was still dark, but neither of them spoke to each other.The gloomy atmosphere and the lofty sky don't seem to match.Wang Yao didn't doze off, not even Ivan.They just glanced back as they passed a truck that was stuck in a hole in the ice.

The truck driver and the mechanic seemed to have escaped. A large group of people were helping to retrieve the cargo. The tip of the truck's tail was still outside, and the torrent of Lake Ladoga roared under the ice like thunder.

The singing sound from the radio floated out, and the people on the ice started to sing along, the sound of wah wah wah was louder than the sound of running water.

Wang Yao couldn't help laughing: "Soviet people really love to sing, they can sing whatever they want."

Ivan reached out and turned off the radio.

"Don't sing!" Wang Yao couldn't help but hit him.

Ivan smiled: "How did you know I was going to sing?"

"It's not like I just met yesterday, reduce the speed and drive seriously."

"Wang Yao."

"Ok?"

"Ah."

He hopes this journey never ends.

After driving for more than an hour, the sky began to turn white, and everything around gradually became clear, and even the rear of vehicles in the distance could be seen clearly.Ivan breathed a sigh of relief, the feeling of being able to see the road made him feel a lot easier.

"I said..." Ivan was about to speak when he suddenly heard a familiar voice: "Oops, bombing! Did you hear that?"

"I heard it!" Wang Yao grabbed the radio: "Pay attention, pay attention, is there a bombing?"

There was no sound on the radio.

"Damn! No signal!" Wang Yao dropped the microphone.

"Tighten the armrest and close the door first!" Ivan shouted.

Wang Yao just closed the car door, and a shell exploded not far ahead. The huge shock wave rolled up a snow fog, and the truck that was shot began to burn violently, and then collapsed.

Ivan made a sharp turn and bypassed the fire point ahead. The bumpy ice made the truck difficult to control.

"We have to get out of the car!" Ivan began to try to brake: "The truck's target is too big to escape the bombing!"

"Don't step on the brakes!" Wang Yao yelled at Ivan.

The car didn't know how far it went. A shell exploded on the passenger side. Wang Yao felt his head hit the glass, and then his eyes went dark and he lost consciousness.

He seemed to be unconscious, but he could clearly see Ivan holding his arm and helping him, and then he saw him open the car door on his side.Maybe the forehead was bleeding, because the blood seemed to flow into the eyes, and Wang Yao felt a blood-red blur in front of his eyes.

"You run by yourself..." Wang Yao blurted out a sentence, but another bomb exploded again, getting closer, and all the glass of the truck suddenly became shards.

"Wang Yao! Wang Yao!" Ivan stopped the car with difficulty, and then got out from the cockpit whose door was blown off. He felt that the plane was still hovering above his head. He didn't know when the next bomb would bring Xiaoxue with him. drop down.

Time seemed to slow down, and he felt that his staggering steps had never been so at a loss. It was not until he went around to the passenger side and opened the door that his movements seemed to regain flexibility.

"Wang Yao!"

He grabbed his arm and dragged him down.

"..." The blood on his forehead flowed down to his collar.

"Hold me!" Ivan shouted, but Wang Yao didn't move.

"Damn it!" Ivan looked up at the densely packed bombers in the sky, and began to run away from the truck with difficulty.

I don't know how long it took, Wang Yao felt that he was thrown heavily on the ice, and then he touched Ivan's head on his chest.

I'm alive?Wang Yao wiped his eyes and felt that his vision became clearer. His forehead was still bleeding, but he didn't seem to have suffered any other injuries.Enduring the pain, Wang Yao got up: "Ivan, Ivan, Ivan?"

"Um……"

Wang Yao pulled his hand from his waist - the bright red one hurt his eyes!

"My God! Ivan! Ivan! Wake up! What's wrong with you? Wake up!"

Ivan didn't feel any pain, at least the moment he was hit by the shrapnel, he didn't feel anything, he just knew he was shot, and the metal fragments tore his muscles all the way to the inside of his body.He felt that the blood was indeed gushing out, but it didn't seem to affect his actions until he ran all the way holding Wang Yao, until his instinct told him: enough, it's safe.He felt that all his strength was pulled away instantly, and then he fell to the ground like a piece of wood.

"Ivan! Ivan! Please!"

He heard someone calling him, and hot tears hit his face.

He opened his eyes and wanted to touch his face. It was the first time he saw his sad expression, and it was the first time he saw him cry so sadly, and all of this, he had never dared to look forward to. , never dreamed of getting it.

"Don't cry."

Ivan looked at him, he didn't feel sad, the light snow all over the sky made him think all this was beautiful, and him, his tears, and his hair messed up by the wind.He felt that his heart was like a small house in the snowy wasteland, the half-closed door seemed to be about to open, but it seemed to have to be closed again.He doesn't feel sad, it's just death, and he doesn't feel sad about it.

The bomber fleet finally went away, and the smell of explosives and burning came from afar. Ivan felt that he was clutching his wound tightly, and then heard him say viciously in his ear: "Don't die! Don't die! Me! Don't die!"

die?It turns out that this is death.Ivan gradually felt his limbs start to become stiff, Wang Yao's hand on his face no longer felt warm, and his vision gradually blurred. He asked himself, how many more minutes can he stay in this world?

How many minutes left?

"You... why did you stay in the Soviet Union..."

"I……"

"Wang Yao..." Ivan looked at his black eyes full of tears, and smiled with relief: "...I...I always thought that you are a complicated person, and I am also a complicated person... But thank you War... in this moment, makes us so simple."

"..."

Ivan saw him bow his head in pain and buried his face in his arms.

"You can't hold me, let's go, the bombing is coming again, let's go..." Ivan closed his eyes, he was glad that it was winter, and the cold took away too much pain, both physically and mentally .

Is your bond with the Soviet Union finally broken?

leave.