East Berlin's June Boat Song

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After three months, I returned to East Berlin. In my clean but empty apartment, I stood there wondering how to face the rest of my life.The apartment has been refurbished with off-white patterned wallpaper, a varnished wooden floor and a pale green velvet sofa.

Back here, I feel overwhelmed, familiar yet unfamiliar, this city, this apartment, the place where I was born and raised, has become like poisoned bread and butter in the past few years, making me want to escape , but cannot do without.

I was sitting on the sofa smoking a cigarette in a daze when I heard a knock on the door. When I opened the door, I found it was Alyosha.

He smiled at me and asked a little shyly, "Can I go in?"

"Well, please feel free."

Alyosha walked in, looked around, and said, "Your house has been renovated, and there should be wiretapping equipment set up by the KGB in advance."

I nodded, smiled and said, "I guess."

Alyosha bent his eyes: "You are much more cautious now. To be honest, I don't know whether I should be happy for you. You used to be cute when you were silly."

"If you continue to be stupid, you will lose your life." I shrugged.

Alyosha put his hand on my shoulder, his eyes showed gentle firmness: "Don't worry, no, the general will protect you well, and no one can touch you."

He wandered around the apartment before returning to the door: "I just took a look as I was told. If everything is all right, I'll go back first."

He nodded to me, turned around and walked out the door. I leaned against the door and watched him go down the stairs. Suddenly I thought of something, closed the door and called him.

"Alyosha!"

"Ok?"

"Are you the GRU?" My voice was extremely low, and the word "GRU" was even close to lip-smacking.

Alyosha slowly raised the corners of his mouth, and his smile was dangerous, but not fatal: "Yes, I have always been. But Rhine, this is a secret, and this secret will not affect our relationship. "

I raised my eyebrows: "Understood."

Alyosha is the GRU. On the surface, he is the captain of Julian's security team, but in fact he is a member of the Intelligence Department of the Soviet Military General Staff. If my guess is correct, he belongs to the No. The second office, or it belongs to the special operations bureau that conducts external subversion, sabotage, assassination, kidnapping, psychological warfare and other activities.

He has followed Julian all year round, which shows how powerful Julian is in the Soviet army.The GRU was established by him in the early 50s as Marshal Zhukov's second-in-command, and the fighting technique he used against me a few times was called Systema - a traditional Cossack martial art that has been Become a compulsory military high-level martial art for the GRU.

Feeling the huge gap between me and him again, this gap makes me shudder every time.I can't imagine what he has experienced all the way to his current position. You must know that he was born in the Gulag.And what he said before leaving Sasha may be his departure from Cheka.

I should have guessed that his heart is different from ordinary people's darkness and ruthlessness, but I am always confused by his beautiful face and gentle eyes.

Turn around and look out the window at the Brandenburg Gate. When the Soviet army came here, the buildings that symbolized the victory and glory of Germany were filled with bright red flags of the Soviet Union.I feel very uncomfortable in my heart, and the feeling of being tightly controlled and seemingly inescapable has returned.Even though I love him, I can't trust him, and I can't escape him. This extremely unequal opposition makes me feel suffocated.

Taking a deep breath, my hands unconsciously touched the cross of Jesus on my chest, and I thought of Alan, my friend again.

Looking back at this apartment, although it has changed, it seems that his shadow remains everywhere.His vigorous vitality seemed to still be spreading in the sunlight coming in through the white window screen. I walked to his bedroom in a daze, pushed open the door, and lay down on the bed where he had slept.

Closing my eyes, I thought, I need to sort out the complex emotions of returning to reality.

"Boss, boss!" I felt someone pushing me, and I opened my eyes and a head of blond hair came into view.

"Dune, why are you here?" I looked out the window, it was still daytime?No, it was sunset when I slept, hell, did I sleep for so long?

I sat up slowly, my head began to dizzy, and Du En hugged me excitedly.

"You look much better!" He said with bright eyes, "I heard that you are back and I can't wait to come to you! Oh, please forgive me, I am responsible for the decoration of this house, of course there are... I think you understand that this is all arranged by the minister, and he can't help it. The Soviets are always worried, so I opened the door and came in without authorization. Oh boss, I miss you so much! No, I can't call you now It's time to be the boss, you are now the deputy director of our anti-interference department!"

He babbled non-stop, his small mouth longing to grow in my ears, I caught the last sentence keenly, and my eyes widened in surprise: "Deputy director?!"

"Yeah!" Du En nodded: "The notice issued by the minister himself. Why are you so surprised? You are qualified. After all, you have made such a great contribution and successfully exposed the tunnel plan of Britain and the United States... "

While talking, he realized something was wrong, and lowered his head embarrassingly.

"Sorry, boss." He blushed and looked like a wounded puppy.

"It's okay, Duane." I got up from the bed and he held me up.

"I'm much better now, Duane, thank you."

I got dressed, washed up briefly in the bathroom, and followed Dunn to the long-lost Stasi headquarters at 103 Ruthchester Avenue, which was still cold.

But to be honest, I really saw a lot, and even the Stasi headquarters became cute, and I even felt like going home. Maybe it’s because I don’t have so much hostility towards Milk?But more should be compared to the Soviet side, here is simply too gentle.And I am almost relieved now.

I met Milk in the minister's office in Building [-], of course, he still looked so nervous.First, he was caught and scolded by Julian for telling me the plan of the Soviets directly. He said that I could guess that he didn’t tell me that Julian scolded him just to vent his anger, and then began to complain that he didn’t do it voluntarily. If the Soviet military hadn't threatened to bombard the gate of his house with tanks for my promotion, he would not be willing to continue to take over my hot potato.

I sat quietly in front of him and waited for him to finish speaking with a smile. Facing him who was so emotional, I said quietly: "To be honest, when I look at you now, I think you are quite cute."

Milk was taken aback for a moment, his eyes shot out a gloomy light, he looked at me sullenly, and said threateningly: "What did you say?"

"Okay, my dear minister." I shrugged. "We don't have to be so tense. We've never been enemies. On the contrary, we should be friends, good friends, even family members, shouldn't we?"

He narrowed his eyes, sat down and propped his chin with his hands: "What do you want to say?"

I raised my eyebrows: "Come on Milk, I'm really too lazy to expose you. Do you like Misha? You just like him, so you have always hated me and regarded me as an imaginary enemy. My dear minister, you are like a child in this regard Same."

I expected Milk to jump up and beat me up, but I didn't expect that he just kept his movements silent. It seems that my guess was correct.This neurotic Minister of State Security, a high-ranking member of the Central Committee of the Social Unity Party, fell in love with my good friend from the underworld, Misha.

After a long time, he put down his hands, his cheeks were as red as boiled tomatoes, tsk, I sighed and shook my head.What kind of world is this!

"You're right." He suddenly became sincere, and his expression became very serious, and he had never seen him like this when dealing with work.

"I have known Misha for a long time. After all, he dared to do some shady things in the early days of the establishment of the Ministry of National Security. You may not believe it, but I started to attack General Azrael before you stupidly attacked General Azrael. Noticed him."

I raised the corners of my mouth meaningfully, and he coughed a few times in embarrassment.

"When General Azrael brought him to the Stasi, I thought that this was probably the Lord's will. That's right, that's what I, a Marxist, thought at that time. I can't thank Marx enough! Ugh , but the Soviets sent it, perhaps thanks to Lenin..."

He suddenly jumped to another place like a child, and I couldn't help laughing.

"Okay, Minister Milk, the reason why Misha and I are not allowed to meet is because he is afraid that he will get involved in this matter."

Milk came to his senses from his whimsical thoughts about Jehovah, Marx, and Lenin, and with a sinister smile, he said, "Of course, I even changed his name. It stands to reason that your identity will be eliminated sooner or later. I don't want him to be unlucky with you again. But then again..."

He smiled meaningfully: "They actually arranged for you to kill Alan Crowder and pick you up completely. It seems that some people are really emotional in their acting."

I turned cold and said, "I don't want to talk about Alan."

He raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue twice: "But the Soviet military explicitly prohibited homosexuality, even a general would go to jail."

"If he goes to jail, won't I be free?" I laughed.

"Oh? Do you really have anything? The general said that you are just his informant, which can be regarded as an intimate one."

I shrugged: "Yes, it's an informant. I have nothing to do with him, it's just my wishful thinking. When it comes to homosexuality, isn't the Stasi the same? Does the minister want to take the lead in breaking the law?"

Milk smiled and lay back: "Dear Rhine, just like you, I am also wishful thinking."

After we finished speaking, we both laughed, but the meaning of the laughter was not quite the same.This is the first time that he and I have chatted peacefully. In the past, we would just taunt and quarrel with each other and then fight. Thinking about how much older he is than me, he is really naive.

God knows how this kind of person got to such a high level.After chatting casually about my current job, I plan to make a request to him.

"Request?" He was a little curious.

"Three or four years have passed, and some things should be let go. I know you don't hate Minister Zeisel. You just have different ideas and different paths, but the purpose is the same. If possible, Philip should be released from prison. out."

He twitched the corner of his mouth: "I'm not that kind of kind person, you know, I got him off the stage with my own hands."

"Then, you must have suffered in your heart during those days."

I looked at him with a smile, and his expression became unnatural. After a long silence, he sneered a few times.

"So what about pain? This is politics. Politics is war without gunpowder, and war is doomed to bloodshed."

"Then when the war is over, what should be let go will be let go."

He glanced at me and smiled: "I didn't expect to hear such words from you one day. It seems that our Stasi's education for you is quite successful, at least you don't look like an illiterate."

I shrugged and accepted his teasing with a smile.

"Okay, our Deputy Director Mueller, even if I can sell you, it's not that simple. You still have to report to the general secretary. Just wait, I will give you the news." He continued She blinked slyly: "Don't forget, I'm talking about favors, and what are favors used for, you understand."

"Of course, favors are paid back." I stood up and said with a smile, "I have been the dog of the Soviets for so long, and I don't mind being your dog again. , Rhein Müller is at your disposal."

He clicked his tongue twice, I nodded to him, and left the minister's office.

If you can't escape, at least use the existing conditions and do what you can.Those who have been really nice to me, do my best to protect them.

Phillip, Andy, Doon...

Maybe in the near future, I can meet Misha again.

At least there is hope, isn't it?

The best gift to the future is to live every moment well now.

I raised my head, and the sun suddenly brightened, as if a ray of breeze passed through my heart, and all the confusion and confusion receded suddenly.