Eighty kilometers south of Minsk, in the village of Marina.

At the end of the day's fighting, the artillerymen of the 2nd Battalion and 1st Company of the Artillery Regiment of the 14th Panzer Division under the German 2nd Panzer Army rushed into the village and searched the houses in the village from house to house.

Faced with the houses that knocked on the door and did not respond, or the houses with locks on the doors, and all the houses abandoned by their owners in the village, the artillerymen of the first company immediately displayed their violent aesthetics, breaking into the houses with rifle butts, sapper shovels, or crowbars from the shell boxes, and taking the right to use the houses.

If they came across the owner's house, the artillerymen would knock on the door with gentlemanly manners and ask the owner of the house if he could spend the night here.

Four German GIs broke into the house of Kaspersky's father in the south of the village of Marina.

The four German GIs, speaking half-baked Russian and all kinds of body language, finally made it clear to the Kaspersky Daddy and his wife that they were here to spend the night, not to rob.

A sergeant who later joined the camp to remove the language barrier between the two sides, a sergeant named Eugene. Sergeant Gustmann was from East Prussia, of Russian descent, and fluent in Russian.

Under the translation of Sergeant Gustman, the Kaspersky couple happily set aside the living room and the room of their son and daughter-in-law for the five uninvited guests.

Sergeant Gustman took out a bag of fruit candy for Kaspersky's father's kindness, and each of the four soldiers took out a can and gave it to Daddy and his wife as a thank you gift.

It was dinner time, and Mrs. Kaspersky cooked a super sumptuous dinner for the five guests.

When Papa Kaspersky had dinner with five German GIs, it was inevitable to talk about the ongoing war. The father was very heartbroken and mentioned that his son, daughter-in-law and grandson had fled, leaving only the couple with weak legs and feet at home.

Sergeant Gustman heard the dissatisfaction hidden in Daddy Kaspersky's words, and immediately comforted him with a very subtle feeling: "The war will end soon." It won't be long before you can see them coming home again for reunion. ”

Gustman then asked the Kasperskys if they had seen Soviet troops.

"Yes, they have artillery, tanks, and countless infantry, but they just spent the night in the village like you and left," said Daddy Kaspersky. That was three or four days ago. ”

Mrs. Kaspersky continued: "Shortly after they left, planes flew near the village and dropped bombs on their heads. We were so frightened that we had to hide in the cellar. Fortunately, the planes did not drop the bombs on our house, and Medvedev's house, which was across the yard from ours, was blown up by the bombs, but fortunately the whole family fled and no one was killed. ”

Sergeant Gustmann and the four soldiers looked at each other. He smiled sheepishly. Three bites and two bites ate the bread in their hands with the mushroom soup in the bowl.

Sergeant Gustmann took out a handkerchief to wipe the grease from the corner of his mouth, covered his stomach and said, "Thank you, ma'am, I haven't eaten hot food for two days, and after this dinner you have made, I feel like a king." ”

Hearing Sergeant Gustman's compliment, Mrs. Kaspersky's eyes narrowed into crescents with a smile, and the wrinkles on her face were squeezed together.

"It can make you guests who come from afar happy. It's our pleasure. Mrs. Kaspersky said with a smile.

As Mrs. Kaspersky said this, Sergeant Gustman noticed a few twitches of the muscles in Daddy Kaspersky's face. When he looked at the four soldiers who were gobbling up, his eyes were also full of painful emotions.

Sergeant Gustman was full of suspicion, and according to common sense, the old couple should be indifferent, if not hateful, of their presence and that of their men, and that they should not be treated with such a kind attitude, and that Kaspersky's father's house should not be treated to such a feast rich enough for a Christmas dinner.

In short, everything the couple did was unusual, and the more Sergeant Gustmann thought about it, the more he felt that his inference was correct.

Could it be that there is some secret in his home? Sergeant Gustman's mind was full of speculation, his eyes wandering around the room, his mind recalling every detail of his entry into Papa Kaspersky's house, trying to find something suspicious.

After three or four minutes, dinner came to an end.

A herald suddenly broke into Kaspersky's father's house, and the herald called Sergeant Gustmann outside the house and handed him the note.

"This is an order given by the company commander, and the whole company must pay attention to this name Yakov in battle. The Soviet captain of Dzhugashvili, who was the son of Stalin, had to report to the company headquarters immediately if there was any news of him. ”

Sergeant Gustmann was puzzled as to why Stalin's son was not surnamed Stalin, but Zhugashvili.

The herald sensed Gustman's doubts and kindly reminded him.

"I heard that Stalin was his later surname, and Dzhugashvili was his original surname."

"I see, thank you for the reminder." Sergeant Gustmann said.

When Sergeant Gustman returned to the table, he saw that the Kaspersky couple and the four soldiers had stopped eating.

Seeing him come in, Daddy Kaspersky asked, "Mr. Gustman, do you want anything more?" ”

"I'm full, thank you for your hospitality." Sergeant Gustmann said.

Mrs. Kaspersky stood up and cleaned up the table, and Sergeant Gustmann said: "I have just received an order from the company headquarters to search the quarters of every soldier in the company, lest there be a Soviet rout hiding here. So, I'm sorry, I'm going to search your home with my men, it's just a matter of routine, I hope you don't mind. ”

After Sergeant Gustmann finished speaking, he was keenly aware that Mrs. Kaspersky's hand holding the plate trembled, and the plate almost fell off the table.

The smile on the corner of Kaspersky's father instantly froze, and under Sergeant Gustman's forced gaze, he stumbled and said, "Since it is an order from my superiors, my home is for you to inspect." ”

"Your lady just said that there is a cellar in your house, and I want to see there first." Sergeant Gustmann said.

"Oh, the cellar is outside. The place where the iron plate is pressed on it is, I will take you there. There were only potatoes in the cellar, nothing of value. ”

Daddy Kaspersky babbled with Sergeant Gustmann into the courtyard. He pointed to a square iron plate on the ground about half a meter long and said, "Here it is, alas, there are really only some potatoes in it." ”

Sergeant Gustmann pressed the pistol on his waist with his right hand and motioned for a soldier to lift the iron plate.

The cellar was not large, only five or six square meters in size, and the beam of the flashlight turned around in it, and Sergeant Gustmann could only see potatoes all over the floor.

Daddy Kaspersky stood in the courtyard. Watching as Sergeant Gustmann and his men had placed the iron lid of the cellar, they circled the courtyard again, carefully searching the barns and stables.

Looking at Sergeant Gustmann who returned in vain. Daddy Kaspersky asked expressionlessly, "Are you satisfied now, Mr. Gustman?" ”

"Sorry to bother you, we're just routine. Next, let's go search for the last place. Your room. Sergeant Gustmann said.

"My room is okay. Come with me. Father Kaspersky, sensing Sergeant Gustman's resolute attitude, did not stop him at the moment, and led Gustman to his bedroom.

There is only a double bed, a tall brown wardrobe and a bedside table in the bedroom.

"Please, Mr. Gustman." Kaspersky Daddy said.

After a careful search under the bed, Sergeant Gustmann's gaze turned to the closet.

"There's only some clothes for me and my wife, and there's no one to hide." Daddy Kaspersky babbled over to the closet and opened the door.

The wardrobe is large and full of all kinds of clothes. There are both men's and women's models, but there is no one.

Sergeant Gustmann withdrew his gaze in disappointment. Apologize to Daddy Kaspersky.

"Excuse me, sir, we are just doing our business, and we hope you will understand what we are doing."

"Yes, I understand." Daddy Kaspersky said as he walked out of the bedroom.

Following behind Kaspersky's father, Sergeant Gustmann secretly blamed himself, he was really naïve, and he wanted to find someone on the battlefield of Nuoda who was negligible, not to mention that he didn't know what the "son of Stalin" looked like, how tall he was, and other details.

After such a search, the old couple's attitude towards themselves and their subordinates was obviously cold, and it was inevitable that they would be a little awkward to get along for the rest of the night.

Walking into the living room, Kaspersky's father pointed to the living room and said, "You have seen this and the kitchen, as well as my son and daughter-in-law's bedroom, which is where you are going to stay tonight, do you also want to check it." ”

Sergeant Gustmann heard the anger in Daddy Kaspersky's voice, and hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No need, we are just routine, we don't need to check so carefully, oh, I want to go to the toilet, where is the toilet?" ”

"The toilet is in the southeast corner of the yard, I'll take you there." Daddy Kaspersky said as he walked out the door.

The toilet in Kaspersky's father's house was an old-fashioned open-air toilet, and when it was three or four meters away, Sergeant Gustmann smelled a very "touching" smell.

Holding his breath, Sergeant Gustmann stood in front of the toilet and happily put the water down.

When he was done, the moment he turned around, the corner of Sergeant Gustman's eyes skimmed to a white in the toilet.

His heart moved, he turned on the flashlight to illuminate the white object, and after seeing the object's appearance, Gustmann snapped off the flashlight and quietly turned back to the living room.

"According to the company's order, we need someone to keep watch, Martin, House, you two are on duty in the first half of the night, Michelle and I are on duty in the second half of the night, Otto has a leg injury, there is no need to keep watch."

Hearing Sergeant Gustmann's order, the three soldiers who were called by name to be sent to the sentry immediately smiled bitterly, and the joy brought by the sumptuous dinner they had just eaten instantly dissipated.

"Where are we going to stand guard? East of the village or west of the village? The soldier named Martin asked.

"West, come with me, and I'll tell you the where." Sergeant Gustmann said.

Five minutes later, Sergeant Gustmann returned to the house alone.

Father Kaspersky looked behind him and asked, seemingly casually, "What did they do?" Don't you live in my house tonight? ”

Susterman told Daddy Kaspersky the truth in Russian, explaining: "At twelve o'clock in the evening, I and another soldier, Michelle will go to the changing of the guard, Martin and Haushoufer will come back here, and there may be some noise, hopefully it won't disturb your rest, and we'll try to take it easy." ”

Daddy Kaspersky smiled kindly, and then said: "It's okay, I've always slept deeply, don't worry about waking me up, and the most important thing is to carry out your tasks well." ”

Several people chatted for a while, said goodnight to each other, and went back to their rooms to sleep.

Back in the room, after blowing out the candles, Mrs. Kaspersky pulled the latch on the door, then peeked out of the room through the crack in the door, and after a few seconds, she turned around and said, "They blew out the candles." ”

Daddy Kaspersky didn't take off his clothes and went to bed at all, his face was full of anger.

"As soon as the village was electrified, these Germans came, and we went back to a nightlife with no lights and no light, bastards."

"Be quiet, don't be heard by them." Mrs. Kaspersky reminded in a whisper.

The couple didn't take off their coats, and lay on the bed in their kimonos, chatting quietly under the quilt while eavesdropping on the movement outside the door.

Time flew by in the dark, and when the old couple was drowsy, they suddenly heard a slight noise outside the door.

Daddy Kaspersky sat up straight, leaned against the window, and saw in the moonlight that the hands of his watch were pointing to twelve-five.

The movement outside must have been made during the changing of the guard by the Germans, Kaspersky guessed.

In the dark, Daddy Kaspersky waited another half hour before he carefully got out of bed barefoot, carefully walked to the end of the bed, and carefully clasped the edge of the floor, lifting three floors in a row.

When the floor was lifted, Daddy Kaspersky was filled with pride.

He deliberately revealed to the Germans that he had a cellar in his house, but he did not say that there were two cellars in his house, and no matter how cunning the young German was, he would never have thought that there was another cellar in his bedroom.

Lifting the floor, two figures appeared in the cellar under the floor.

Daddy Kaspersky cocked his index finger at his lips.

"Shhhh I heard from the Germans that they were going to stay in the village for at least three days. In three days' time, I don't know if there will be other Germans coming, but I think it would be better for you to leave as soon as possible, otherwise Sergei's leg injury will not be treated and will probably be scrapped. ”

"The village is full of Germans, where do we go from?" Said the officer of the two in the cellar.

"Here, this window in the bedroom, open the window, and about thirty meters behind it is a cornfield, and you can avoid the Germans as soon as you enter the cornfield, and then go south to the forest. There is a lumberjack's hut in the forest, with some stockpiled medicine and food, and you can go there. ”

"Thank you, Daddy."

"Good luck, Comrade Captain." Kaspersky said.

Carefully helping the two of them out of the cellar, tiptoeing to the back window of the bedroom, Kaspersky helped the two of them slowly climb out of the window.

However, before Daddy Kaspersky could close the window, two people suddenly rushed out of the darkness.

"Don't move, raise your hands, or I'm going to shoot." The head of the group shouted loudly in Russian.

When Kaspersky heard this, he was so frightened that he almost had an angina attack on the spot.

For he could tell that it was Sergeant Gustmann who was shouting. (To be continued.) )