Chapter 289

Hearing this sound, my heart began to thump and thump wildly, my breath became short, and my hands and feet were shaking uncontrollably. Although it's cold winter, I feel hot all over and sweating on my head. Suddenly, I feel as if I have just finished running several thousand meters. I put my hand on the threshold to prevent myself from falling because I was too excited.

The door opened, and a fat old lady with a turban and a woollen shawl appeared in front of me.

The moment I saw the old lady, I had a short absence.

Is this Rita's mother?

I opened my mouth and wanted to call my mother. But his lips moved a few times, but he couldn't make any sound. You know, although I'm Rita's body now, I can't call a strange woman mom.

The old lady looked at me in surprise and did not speak.

When the scene was in an awkward and unusual atmosphere, a clear child voice suddenly came from the room: "grandma, who's here?"

I looked into the room. A little boy in a black tweed coat was standing in the living room, looking up at me with his innocent face.

Is this Rita's son? I can't help looking at him carefully. He's really beautiful. White face, curved eyebrows under a pair of water Lingling eyes. When he and I looked at each other, the big eyes with aura flickered, and the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned when he was smiling. Coupled with the golden braid at the back of my head, huotuotuo is a beauty.

I was looking at the child when I suddenly felt something was wrong.

Twist braids

Twist braids

Lida gave birth to a son. How could she have a braid on her head? That's what a girl looks like.

"Comrade soldier, are you here to inform us to evacuate?"

The old lady's voice rang out in my ear, which brought my thinking back to reality. In a few seconds, I found out one thing: I recognized the wrong person. Fortunately, I didn't speak rashly just now, otherwise I would have lost my face.

I stabilized the situation for a moment and replied, "madam, I'm not here to inform you to evacuate. I'm here to see my mother and son. They live in this building

"Is that right?"?! What's your mother's name? "

I'm sweating again. This question really gets me. After becoming Rita, although I inherited many of her memories, I still didn't know her mother's name. Just as in the countryside of that time in China, the vast majority of people lived with their mothers all their lives, but they could not name their mothers.

However, I have a clear idea of how to answer the old lady's question. "My mother and son came to Leningrad only after the war broke out," I said. My son's name is Alex

"So you are Alec's mother!" It was the little girl in the living room who relieved me. She excitedly said to her grandmother, "grandma, I heard brother Alek say before that her mother is a soldier and her name is Rita."

"Yes, little girl, you are so clever. I'm Rita

With a smile on her face, the old lady put her body aside and said enthusiastically, "so you're aliksina's daughter. Come on in."

I guess what she said should be Rita's mother's name, so I secretly remember the name. When I go to other places to find Rita's mother and son, it will be useful. As for the old lady in front of me, her name has been known through the woman downstairs.

The living room had very little furniture, nothing but a round table and two armchairs. After old lady Liuxia asked me to sit down in one armchair, she also sat down in another armchair, looked at me and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Rita, there's nothing to eat at home. I'll give you a cup of black tea, if you don't mind? "

I nodded and said, "thank you, Liu Xia. I've been walking outside for such a long time, and I'm freezing. I just want to have a cup of hot tea to warm my body. "

When Liu Xia went to pour tea, I put my cloth bag on the table and put my gun on the chair. Then I asked the little girl to come, picked her up, sat on my leg, stroked her hair, patted her shoulder and asked, "little girl, what's your name?"

"Ekaterina. You can call me Kajia. "

"Kajia, are you familiar with my son alik?"

"Yes, aunt Rita." It seems that Kajia is a very lively child. She called my name cheerfully and said, "Alec and grandma aleksina used to live in the next unit. I often play outside with him. Later, after grandma didn't let me go out, I haven't seen him for a long time. "

"Why didn't grandma let you go out?" I think it's quite easy to communicate with children.

"Grandma said, there is a war outside. If a cannon bomb falls down, it will not only kill people, but also collapse the house. Many of the children we used to play with were bombed out by shells. " When Kajia said this, her tone was flat, as if she were telling me a fairy tale in a book.

Without waiting for me to express my emotion, Liu Xia came into the living room with two cups of tea. She stepped carefully for fear that the tea might spill out. She put one cup of tea on the edge of the table and asked Kaja to get off my leg. Then she handed me another cup and said, "Rita, please have tea!"

The tea in the cup was steaming. I took the cup to my mouth, blew it, and then took a sip. There is no sugar in the tea. It tastes a little bitter. For me, who is used to the black tea with sugar, the tea is really bad. I can't help frowning slightly.

Maybe Liuxia found my frowning expression and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Rita. There's nothing left at home. There's no sugar in black tea. "

I put down my tea cup, looked around the living room and said, "it seems that there is not much furniture in the living room."

Liu Xia blushed and said, "I can't help it. It's too cold. I've cut off all the extra furniture and used it as firewood." Then he said, "not only is there no heating at home, but also the electricity and water have stopped. Because the food ration standards have been lowered several times, people have not enough to eat, and thousands of people starve to death every day. I'm old, I eat less, and I can barely survive. But even so, I spent the rest of my time in bed to save energy, except to get my ration. The tea you are drinking is made from the crushed ice I picked up on my way home... "

"Do you know the whereabouts of my mother and my son?" When I was on the ice transportation line, I occasionally heard a few words from the residents passing by. At that time, I was just filled with emotion. Now I chat with the residents who are still trapped in the city to find out what the hunger situation is. However, there is no way. After all, during the war, the government has done its best. Every day, countless trucks and sledges are continuously transporting food to the city, and at the same time, they are constantly evacuating the surplus population outside the city, so as to reduce the consumption of food. When she stopped talking, I couldn't help interrupting.

"You're late, Rita. Your mother, alekshena, and son, Alek, used to live in the unit next door and were evacuated before the new year because the house was destroyed in the shelling. "

"Do you know where they evacuated to?"

Liu Xia shook her head and said, "I don't know. The evacuation work now is different from that at the beginning of the war. At that time, the staff of the Soviet area would send train tickets to the evacuees door to door, and they would inform everyone when to evacuate and where to evacuate. Now, those government officials just come to inform us that they will arrange for you to evacuate tomorrow, gather at some place, and then someone will lead the residents to leave the city from the ice transportation line. "

I am relieved to hear that Rita's mother and son have evacuated from the city. As long as they can leave Leningrad, their chances of survival will be improved. I will go to them when I have a chance in the future.

I took another sip of the cup, then put it down, stood up and said to Liu Xia, "Liu Xia, thank you for telling me where my mother and son are." Then I picked up the cloth bag on the table, opened the bag, took out condensed milk, sallow, sugar and two bags of dried bread, and put them on the table one by one“ This is a little of my heart. Please accept it. "

When Liu Xia saw the food on the table, she was stunned. Then she waved her hand desperately and said, "I can't use it. These things are too precious. I can't take them!"

I looked at Kajia standing next to me, reached for her head and said, "for Kajia, you must take these things." With that, he took out two enemas from the bag and put them into Kajia's small hand.

Liu Xia came over and hugged me, choked and said incoherently, "thank you, dear. Rita, you're a good person, and I'll always be grateful to you. The Virgin Mary will bless you and help you find your loved ones. "

I hugged Liu Xia for a while, then gently released, lifted the cloth bag on the table and the rifle beside the chair, and said: "goodbye, Liu Xia." Then he looked down at Kajia holding the enema in his hand, "and you, lovely Kajia. Good luck to you

After I left the building, I felt relieved and finally had something on my mind. Although I didn't find Rita's mother and son, I at least fulfilled my promise to her.

Because it's near the river, it's very cold when it's windy. I put up the collar of my coat, pulled my hat down, and walked slowly back along the way.

See roadside building walls, in addition to a lot of posters, but also posted some handwritten inspiration. I curiously looked at a few, without exception, are willing to treasure things at home, in exchange for a small amount of bread. One of them said that he was willing to use a house with full furniture to live in, and also in exchange for two pigeons

Seeing all these revelations, I shook my head with a bitter smile and went on.

Just as I was about to pass through the passageway just now, I heard a feeble voice coming from the passageway: "Comrade soldier, please wait a moment."

I stopped and looked at the passage I had just crossed. A tottering old lady came up the steps step by step. I just wanted to ask the old lady what's the matter with me. When I saw the cotton padded trousers in her arms, I immediately remembered that she was the old man who used the cotton padded trousers for bread.

I asked her with a smile, "Mom, what can I do for you?" She slowly came up to me, handed me the cotton padded trousers, panted and said: "Comrade soldier, these are your cotton padded trousers. Please put them away." I have been giving the old lady bread for at least an hour since I returned. But the old lady has been waiting for me here in the cold just to give me the cotton padded trousers. I couldn't help feeling a little moved. I pushed her cotton padded trousers and said, "Mom, you'd better take them back. I can't use them." The old lady didn't speak. She handed over the cotton padded trousers again, and I pushed them back. The old lady lowered her head, crossed her chest with her right hand and said in a low voice, "may the Virgin Mary bless you!"“ Mom, you should be careful of frostbite when you come out to sell cotton padded trousers on such a cold day. " Hearing what I said, the old lady suddenly began to cry and said, "when my wife went to get the food the day before yesterday, the ration card on her body was stolen by the thief, the ration card of the whole family! It's all stolen. A few days before the end of the month, there is nothing to eat at home. If we don't find a way, the whole family will starve to death. "“ Damn thief. " I swore in my heart. I remember in the battle of Huaihai, in order not to starve to death, the retreating residents exchanged a gold plate for a big cake. In Leningrad at this time, it was not so difficult to exchange a bag of bread for the same weight of gold. There was a sound of walking behind me. I was afraid to get in the way of others, so I gave way slightly to the side of the road. I continued to listen to the old lady about her own tragic experience. At this time, I suddenly felt that the cloth bag I was carrying was pulled by a strong force, and then I left. I watched a man with a headscarf rush past me, grabbing my cloth bag and running forward. I pointed to the direction of the man's escape, in addition to the mouth kept issuing a series of "ah ~ ~ ~ ah ~ ~" sound, nothing else to shout out, let alone catch up“ What happened? " At this time, three soldiers in military coats, military caps and rifles came up from the passage and asked in a loud voice. At this time, I finally recovered, pointed to the man who ran away and said to the soldiers, "robbery! It's a robbery. That man robbed me. " I was stunned by what happened next. A soldier pulls the bolt, raises the gun to his head, takes a slight aim, and without hesitation pulls the trigger. The other two soldiers chased forward a few steps, half squatted and shot again. The robber must have been starving and exhausted. He had been running for quite a while before he could run forty or fifty meters. The soldiers failed in the first round and hit the target in the second. I saw the man leaning back, then he fell to the ground, and the bag in his hand was thrown far away. However, the gun that hit him should not be fatal. After he fell to the ground, he crawled a few times in the direction of the cloth bag. Seeing that they had hit the target, the soldiers slung their rifles over their shoulders and rushed over. They all have red sleeves on their arms. They should be patrols on duty nearby. By chance, they just caught up with the robbery. I heard the old lady shouting excitedly: "good fight, boys, kill all these damned villains." The voice doesn't sound as powerless as before, but full of confidence. I said goodbye to the old lady and ran after the soldiers with my rifle. Only two soldiers put up the injured man and pulled him to the wall. The remaining soldier raised his gun and fired at the robber without hesitation. Then as soon as the two soldiers let go, the man's body fell into the snow. The shooter put his gun on his back, picked up the cloth bag from the ground, walked up to me, stood at attention and saluted me, then reported, "Comrade commander, this is your stuff. Please put it away." When I took the cloth bag, I felt my collar and found that it was tightly buttoned and the rank was blocked. Maybe it was my briefcase and other pistols on my waist that made him confirm the identity of my commander. I asked, "why did you shoot him?"“ Report to the commander, there are orders. " The soldier replied nervously, "the patrol has the right to shoot the captured thieves and robbers on the spot."“ You are right, comrade soldier. " Knowing what happened to the old lady just now, I very much agree with the way the patrol handled it. In the besieged Leningrad, these thieves and robbers pushed their compatriots to death in order to survive. They are like the same birds of a feather as the Germans who killed by bombardment and starvation. I took out three bags of dried bread from the lost bag and handed them to three soldiers. For my gift, they were surprised. At first, they declined in confusion, but at my insistence, they hurriedly took the dried bread and put it into their coat pocket. Because they know that in today's environment, one more piece of bread can give them more hope of survival.