Past events in Beicheng

Chapter 27

Ivan Ivanovich Braginsky is back. He lives alone in his Moscow apartment, but he is still very handsome.The female staff member who provided his laundry service said that this elegant old officer is always neatly dressed, he does not smoke or drink alcohol, he will make a cup of tea in the afternoon, read a book, and go to the theater in the evening. an opera.When they met occasionally, he would choose a flower from the vase and give it to her.

"An old gentleman," she admired her companion.

"Time is still flowing, there is no still, isn't it?" Ivan put the photo in the photo frame, and he said to the photo: "Did you see the headlines? At the funeral of General Secretary Brezhnev, the Chinese finally coming."

From 1960 to 22, the relationship between China and the Soviet Union was frozen for 22 years. [-] years is a person's entire youth, but this is not too long for the country.

My heart is still beating, Ivan said to himself, pressing his chest, he knows that his luggage is in the locker, because he is waiting to go every moment.And now, the time has finally come, China, the place that haunts his dreams, he must go again, and he can't leave any regrets.

In [-], Ivan finally completed all the formalities. This time he was no longer the secretary of the Cultural Association. He was more like an ordinary tourist, planning to visit China.As the trip progressed, Ivan felt that his life seemed to be young again. He closed the never-fading notebook and stacked it with the letters from China.

"Comrade Braginsky, your complexion looks very bad." The female staff who provided the laundry service looked at him with concern: "Are you okay?"

"Thank you, it's nothing, I'll just take a pill." Ivan took a pill from his medicine box and swallowed it.

The female staff nodded. After all, he was 70 years old, and he looked much healthier than most old people.

The female staff member helped him fold his clothes, closed the door and walked out. When she was about to go downstairs, she seemed to hear a bang, but she was not sure.Is it old Braginsky?She leaned over the door and listened, but there was no more movement. She was about to leave, but her sense of responsibility and sympathy made her reopen the door!

"My God! What's the matter with you?" She saw the old man sitting on the ground with a livid face.

"Shrapnel!" Ivan pointed to his abdomen: "I think it's that piece of shrapnel."

"I'm going to call an ambulance!" The female staff ran away in panic.

An ambulance, a hospital, and then he meets his long-lost family.

"This is the shrapnel left by the explosion. The field hospital has limited surgical capabilities, and there are still a few pieces left in his body." The doctor showed him the X-ray film: "You have been too tired recently, where is the shrapnel?" There's movement, that triggers inflammation."

Anya's son is here, he is already married and has a family: "Uncle! You can't go to China, how can you go to China like this?"

"Do you still want to go to China?" The doctor put the film aside: "Unless you have an operation, you can't go anywhere."

"Okay, I'll accept the operation." Ivan said calmly.

"You are 70 years old! Old man! The best treatment for you is rest!" The doctor thought he heard it wrong: "With all due respect, many old people died directly on the operating table."

"Don't tell your mother, she will be worried," Ivan said to his nephew, "Take care of her, I have to undergo surgery, I would rather die on the operating table."

"Well, doctor, I agree with his choice as a family member, but uncle, I think you have been going your own way, never considering the feelings of the family, and never considering the feelings of my mother."

"My dear, thank you." Ivan lowered his head, he couldn't bear to see his tears.

The operation took a total of six hours. When he woke up from the coma, his surgeon came over and greeted him: "You are really a miracle! Your heart has been beating vigorously, just like a young man!"

"Yes, my heart never grows old."

Ivan looked out of the window of the hospital, the green plants were glowing with vitality, this is how I am alive!Wang Yao!I can't wait any longer!We are all too old, if we wait any longer, I may really not see you!

Nanjing!I'm back!Nanjing!

He didn't know if he was the first Soviet person to set foot in Nanjing. Nanjing has changed a lot, even the Nanjing Archives.

"I made an appointment with this comrade." He took out a note with Researcher Qu's name on it.

The person who received him did not understand Russian, but he obviously understood him and made a gesture to wait.About 10 minutes later, a Chinese woman came out from behind, and she said to him in Russian: "Hi, Secretary Braginsky, long time no see."

"you are?"

"Qu Yizhou."

It was already difficult for Ivan to find the shadow of the little girl back then on the middle-aged woman's face.Qu Yizhou even changed her voice. She was very thin and wore a batik blouse. She couldn't tell which era it was: "Please come in."

After arranging Ivan to sit down, Qu Yizhou moved into the room and brought out a large bag: "This is the information my father researched in the past ten years, here is the letter you wrote, here is his note, and this is the letter that could not be sent We searched almost all the materials in the country, Secretary Braginsky, and finally we had to check all the people named Wang Yao who were born around [-]. Sorry, we didn’t find him. We also want to However, will he have a pseudonym, because Chinese people have characters or names, and it is also common to change names during revolutions. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find them. We have tried our best to visit all the old houses in the suburbs of Nanjing. It's a pity that this troubled city failed to give us a satisfactory answer, sorry, Secretary Braginsky, sorry."

Ivan stared blankly at Researcher Qu's notes. He saw that he never gave up: "Why did it stop in [-]?"

"My father is dead, that's □□." Qu Yizhou calmed down with difficulty: "He wrote me a letter at the last time, and it was in my hands two years later. He handed everything over to me, This is my notebook. Wang Yao," Qu Yizhou shook his head: "This name seems to be engraved in my life, sometimes I complain, I hate, I really hate."

Ivan raised his hand and wiped the tears from her face.

"Sorry, it's not your fault," the middle-aged Qu Yizhou raised his head and looked into those purple eyes: "May I ask a question? Why do you want to find him so much?"

"..."

Ivan was speechless.

In the evening, he walked out of the archives in frustration. He recalled what Qu Yizhou said to him: Go to Germany and find out if he has an alias. If he has his father's name, then it is possible to find him.

He stood at the gate of the archives and did not leave for a long time. He looked at the people passing by in front of him. He recognized those old people, and suddenly felt a bit of sadness—now, even if they really met, they might not be able to recognize each other. each other?

Passers-by were a little surprised to see an old foreigner standing on the side of the street crying helplessly, but they still maintained a silent posture after being suppressed for many years.Until Qu Yizhou came over and put his arms around his shoulders, they hugged each other like this, weeping silently.

Back in Moscow, he was still in correspondence with Qu Yizhou, as if it had become a part of life, a part of life, and this communication lasted for exactly five years.

In the latest letter, Qu Yizhou expounded her new point of view. She believes that they must put an end to this kind of life. Since Germany has been merged in 1990 and has become a normal country, then they should go together. Germany.If the thread is still broken, then it's over.

Ivan understood what she meant: it was already 1990, and he was already 75 years old. Wang Yao, who was two years older than him, might be gone even if he found him.

Ivan took a lot of trouble to find the friend Andre introduced to him many years ago. This friend is also very old. He almost forgot about Ivan, and almost forgot such a long-term promise.Already in a high position, he may not have to repay the kindness of a friend named "Andre", but he was moved by Ivan: "I will send you to Germany and your Chinese friends."

When he and Qu Yizhou set foot on the land of Stuttgart, it was already late autumn. This was his second visit to Germany, and the first time he and his armored forces invaded Berlin.

They found Wang Yao's file. The Germans are so careful and rigorous. The filer stuffed a file bag into their hands and left.

In the file bag were his library card, student ID card, test report card, and one of his papers, which was signed by the professor: Erwin Adler.

Qu Yizhou sighed: "Seeing all this, I feel that my persistence for so many years is not in vain. He is a real person. You know, many times I thought he was a phantom."

Ivan was still sitting there in a daze, and Qu Yizhou came over and patted him on the shoulder: "It's over, it's over, secretary, it's all over, let's go back and let him finish it."

If you have insisted on one thing for many years, suddenly at a moment, someone tells you: everything is over.

can you finish

Ivan returned to the Soviet Union, and he fled Moscow as if he had escaped.He returned to the villa in Green City with all his luggage, and locked himself up like a monster.

"This is the only address he knows, and I'm going to wait for him here," he said to himself.

The neighbors around the Green City villa had changed so many times. In their eyes, this old man was simply a weird person with a bad temper, and no one wanted to get in touch with him.

He didn't have a letter, and he didn't have any relatives to visit him. He just stayed there alone, and occasionally had disputes with volunteers sent by the government. He always shouted loudly and waved his fists like a devil.

"This old man is very strong!" said the postman in this area to the others, because he was the only person who had to deal with him besides the hapless volunteers: "Although no one wrote to him, he always I like to write letters."

One day, when Ivan handed him the envelope, the postman pointed to the address and said to him: "Mr. Braginsky, Leningrad has been renamed St. Petersburg."

St. Petersburg?

"And the volunteers won't come again," the postman mischievously got on his bike and started to run away: "The Soviet Union has disintegrated, old man, you don't know it, the Soviet Union has disintegrated long ago!"

China is still there, but the Soviet Union disintegrated. Ivan sat paralyzed on the stone at the door. don't plant.

He who is far away in the countryside will not know that his motherland has been disintegrated as early as 79, and he who is eating carrots does not know that the economy has already collapsed. Inflation has made this rich country extremely poor. The "October Square Rally" broke out in Moscow.Now he is [-] years old. As a Soviet veteran, he is on the cusp of "de-Sovietization" and should be beaten to the ground by the people, but his fierce reputation has spread far and wide to his neighbors, and everyone still walks around him , I can only hope that the postman can help everyone vent their anger.

It's a pity that postmen will soon lose their jobs. Russia doesn't need so many postmen, just like it doesn't need so many "Soviet veterans".

Ivan sticks to his castle, he curls up in his bedroom every day, he still prohibits any visitors from coming, and he no longer talks to his photo, he knows he is not crazy, he is sober, he orders himself not to To think about his problems, just live in such a simple way.

But he can't help doing that simple addition. Whenever he is one year older, he will add two in front of his age, and then he can't help thinking about whether an Asian should live that long.

The flow of life is too slow, he doesn't even want to raise a cat, he just flips through the calendar and stays here.

Finally, he was getting too old, and relatives began to think about his life.

His nephew called him: "Uncle," he sighed, because he was helpless and because he was old: "Happy birthday, 94, you are [-] years old."

"I don't want to live that long either!" Ivan roared violently.

"It's winter, uncle, dear, so the government sent a volunteer to take care of you, a medical student, be kind to him, okay?"

Ivan didn't understand why the Russian government began to care about Soviet veterans again. When he thought of someone coming, he lost his patience. Before the other party had time to say "I love you", he hung up the phone heavily.

He wanted to hurry back to the bedroom and lock himself up.

There is no thunder in winter, but it thundered tonight. When he was about to go upstairs, a loud thunder exploded above his head, and the strong wind suddenly blew up, blowing open the window.The study room that hadn't been cleaned for many years was suddenly filled with dust, Ivan threw down his cane angrily, and wanted to close the window in the past.

The electric lamp swayed in the wind, making creaking noises, the wind became stronger, and the books on the desk that had not been moved for many years were blown all over the floor.

"Oh my god! Damn it! God damn it!" Ivan didn't have time to close the window, he pressed the pieces of paper in panic, trying to keep them in their original positions.

He waved his big wrinkled hand, and suddenly, a corner of a piece of paper came into his eyes.

"Wang Yao."

This page is filled with Wang Yao and his name, ah!Ivan hugged his head!that person!The smiling face of that person rushed into his mind again!That day, he held his hand and described this character, and he can still recognize which character it is now!His hand is holding his own!

At that time, he didn't understand how precious all of this was, so he just casually clipped this page in the book.

"Wang Yao! Wang Yao!" He couldn't help crying.

The strong wind was still raging, and thunder and blizzard poured into the room through the window.

Ivan suddenly seemed to go crazy. He picked up his cane and slammed it into the drawer of the desk. The lock, the lock that had been dusty for 70 years, the lock that he dared not look at or touch. , he finally had the courage to smash him open.

The time that had been static for 70 years seemed to flow suddenly. He took out the diary from the drawer and held it in his hand.

The wind stopped, the snow stopped, the lights stopped shaking.

He knelt down on the ground and opened the diary. There were scraps of paper that he tore up in front of the first page. He stroked his handwriting, and his mood gradually became calm.

He saw himself slapping a sentence, and he slapped it hard, as if he was afraid of being seen by others.

"Ah... what I wrote was that his, dark eyes, were exceptionally beautiful."

He flipped through the pages, as if screening his own memory. On the last page, there was only the date. Looking at the blank space, he remembered it. He wanted to write down: We are best friends.However, he failed to write.

He got up from the ground and found a pen that could still write.

"I love you."

He wrote, and then he felt a sudden burst of relief.

"August [-]th, I love you."