Talia fell into the memories and she recounted to me an unknown time......

The story itself doesn't have much to do with the novel. But for Talia, this story is necessary, and it is the most important experience in her life.

Here I will write it down at a little length, and I will try to write it as flat as possible, because it is impossible to write it all down carefully. That's too heavy, and it's better to leave this kind of stuff to a writer of documentary or report.

Long before the end of World War II, the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union in 1943 was in full swing. Talia lives in a small town on the border between China and the Soviet Union. The town was not large, and even in its most glorious years it had a population of less than 10,000.

At that time, Northeast China belonged to the Japanese-occupied area, and it was natural that the border between the Soviet Union and the Guan. East. There is constant friction between the military. In order to escape the war, the population of the town plummeted to the lowest in history, less than a thousand, not counting the elderly.

Taria's father belonged to the Soviet Red Army and was stationed at the border and passes. East. The army confronted each other, and Talia's family stayed in the town and did not move away. Although they didn't see each other, Talia and her mother were relieved to think that their father was protecting the land dozens of miles away.

Unlike the scorching meat grinder on the Western Front, the Talia family didn't worry too much about their father at the front. At first, the Germans were still very arrogant in the vast land of the Soviet Union on the Western Front, when the autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves. East. The army will also organize some decent offensives.

But with the arrival of Zhukov, off. East. The army's offensive was completely crushed, and Zhukov's series of extremely painful defensive counterattacks were successfully defeated. East. The army was discouraged, not an inch of decent land was laid, and finally retreated in disgrace.

That's true in the big picture, but not in Talya's town. The war on the Western Front became more and more intense, Moscow almost fell, Leningrad ran out of ammunition and food, Stalingrad came and went, and Zhukov was transferred back to the Western Front.

Close. East. The army organized one of the most violent attacks since the beginning of the war. East. The army's attack ended in failure, but the outcome of the town where Talia lived is not recorded......

The town was completely destroyed. Close. East. Although the army advanced only a dozen miles before being driven back to the northeast, this was not even a drop in the bucket for the Soviet Union, which had a very vast territory. But for Talya, it was the deadliest dozen miles, and her father on the front line was never seen, forever out of Taria's sight.

Talia knew that her father must have died in battle. There is no time to be sad for the father because of the off. East. The army also hit the town, as it did in China. East. There are quite a few of them in the town where Talia lives. In just half a day, this peaceful border town has forever become unremembered history.

Like me, in this war Talia lost all her beloved ones, her brother was shot dead in the street, and her uncle was hit by a grenade. Her mother fled helplessly with Talia, and the streets she knew every day had long since become unrecognizable, with ruins, gunshots, cries and shouts mixed together, and they all got into Talia's young mind. There was so thick black smoke all around that it was impossible to tell the direction, and the mother just fled in despair with Talia towards the place where the gunfire was slightly sparse.

A cannonball exploded near the mother and daughter, scattering but not hurting Talya, and the mother continued to pull her to run. Bright red blood rolled down her mother's hands, some of which remained on Talia's body, and some of which fell directly to the ground. Mother didn't stop, kept running, kept running. Talia was really scared, but she couldn't just fall down with her legs weak, she knew that she was sorry for her mother, so she could only run away without her life.

"Please save my daughter, protect her, and let her live!" The mother, who had lost too much blood, held up the last of her strength and said to a group of Red Army troops who had withdrawn from the front.

"Live well, mom loves you......" was the last thing Talia heard her mother say. Talia cried and shouted, beat and kicked, but she couldn't break free from the Red Army soldiers who were carrying her away. The mother, who had fallen from the ruins, watched Talia away with a smile on her face, her eyes gradually darkening and eventually losing their luster.

A cannonball struck the ruins and a relatively intact house next to the ruins, turning them into a pile of rubble that was even more ruin......

Carrying Talia away, the Red Army soldier was Ivan.

A few days later, the Red Army regained all the lost ground, all the way to Hiroshima, where two brilliant mushroom clouds rose from Nagasaki. East. The army did not fight the Red Army again......

Talia was taken in by Ivan. raised, was sent to the wife of Ivan Moscow. Two years later, World War II ended, and Ivan was fortunate enough to return home to Moscow alive. In the years after the war, Ivan did his best to fulfill the promise he had made to the woman who was buried in the rubble.

Ivan regarded Talia as his own, and from elementary school to university, Talia received a good education and gradually came out of the shadow of the war.

At a university in Moscow, Talia met Chen Zaihai, and Chen Zaihai's cheerful personality made the two friends. The two often went fishing and outings with Alec, Ivan's son, on the outskirts of Moscow.

Probably influenced by Ivan, and unlike Talya, Alec joined the army early. He gave up the opportunity to go to college with Talia and became a soldier.

Because Alec had a big quarrel with Ivan and ran away from home, Talia has been secretly helping Alec. Having lived together since childhood, Talia knows the personalities of Alec and Ivan. Both father and son were so stubborn that Alec didn't go home once for four years of college.

And what Alec doesn't know is that every time Talia gives him money, it was Ivan who gave it. After all, it was his own son, and Ivan still couldn't bear to let him fend for himself, but Ivan deliberately didn't let Talia tell Alec the truth, and this stubbornness made Talia helpless.

It was one of the best times for Talya. Whenever Alec was on vacation, the three of them would go on a trip together. Chen Zaihai and Li Yake have become good friends who talk about everything. The two always go fishing and hunting together, hand over the spoils to Talia in a mess, and enjoy a hearty meal together in the evening.

Talia didn't know if Chen Zaihai knew about going to Alec's house, and she never took the initiative to ask. Chen Zaihai seems to be a brother to Alec just because your friend is my friend.

She always hoped that Ivan and Alec would reconcile, and on several occasions he had told Ivan and Alec that the two would "chance" meet, but the end result was a bad breakup.

It's not that Talia doesn't want to discuss with Chen Zaihai, but every time she wants to talk to him about Alec's family alone, Chen Zaihai will be sloppy and deliberately stagger the topic.

After graduating from university, Chen Zaihai returned to China, and the three lost contact. Within a few years, Ivan and Talia were assigned to China, and they haven't seen Aggreko since, and Ivan doesn't need to say that Talia still writes to Alec from time to time.

A few months ago, Ivan received an order from Moscow, an order for this mission...... First join the Chinese personnel, and then pick up the task force sent directly from the Soviet Union to find the location of the strange magnetic field.

Ivan's hand holding the list of task force personnel was visibly trembling, and Talia took the list suspiciously, and Alec's name was prominently listed......

At this point Talia paused, closed her eyes, and exhaled deeply. I've already guessed the reason why Ivan is here.

Alec was on the task force as a military escort, and Ivan didn't react at the time. But I know how conflicted he is. When he found out that the task force was missing, he was mad with anxiety, but he was the leader. He must be calm and composed, and not let the people below notice his uneasiness. So he endured it and said nothing, no matter how worried he was for his son's safety......" Talia choked up.

"Then the person Chen Zaihai and they found today is ......" Looking at Talia with tears streaming down her face, I couldn't bear to ask.

"It's Alec...... The necklace around his neck was a relic of his mother, and he never left him. Talia said weakly.

The cold evening breeze blew through Talia's hair, it was cold, it was cold. The miserable white moonlight shone on Ivan's figure, very white, very white. I looked wordlessly at the grieving Talia and Ivan in the distance, and that infinite grief soaked into my body and infected my heart......

Inexplicably, I thought of Lin Yiru's words...... "This will not be the beginning of the end, at most it will be the end of the beginning." ”

It's going to rain tonight...... Rain without thunder...... Only the rain of tears...... I said to myself.

That's where Talia's grief comes from, and now I know she's so similar to me. No, she should be a little better than me, at least he has Ivan as an adoptive father.

But from another point of view, she once again lost the most important thing in her life. I really don't know if it's lucky or unlucky. If we had known that what we had gained would have been lost, would we still dream of gaining something?

This book was first published from 17k, the first time to see the genuine content!