Chapter 163 Bad News
Hearing Yuri introducing himself so proactively, Angelica's smile became even brighter, especially when she felt the surprised looks from her colleagues around her, the joy in her heart could no longer be expressed with a smile.
"Oh, this is Angelica?" Khrushchev's serious face suddenly showed a smile. He took a step forward, stretched out his hand and said, "Very good, she is indeed a good match for Paulenka."
"Thank you, Comrade Commissioner Nikita Sergeyevich," Angela did not dare to call Khrushchev by his last name, after all, she was not that familiar with Khrushchev.
"You two should get along well and try to get married as soon as possible," Khrushchev shook hands with Anteliya and said, "You should know that Comrade Stalin is very concerned about Baolianka's marriage. Secretary Comrade Sherbakov probably understands this very well."
When mentioning Sherbakov, Khrushchev laughed heartily again. The relationship between him and Sherbakov was far from harmonious.
This time Angelica didn't say anything. After all, she also had to remain reserved.
With Angelica's presence, reporting work became much simpler. The middle-aged man who led the team directly stepped back to the second seat and handed the task of introducing the situation to Angelica.
As for Angelica, she was obviously well prepared, and she also enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention. Therefore, she completed the entire rehearsal work smoothly.
Yuri followed Khrushchev all the time, but his attention was not on Anjelia's introduction, but on the stage in the center of the venue, where the girls from Leningrad State Pedagogical University were performing group gymnastics. Their slender bodies and straight thighs were all worth seeing.
Just as Angeliya was introducing the preparations for the militia formation, several people suddenly rushed in from the entrance of the conference hall. The leader was a Soviet lieutenant, and the guy following closely behind the lieutenant was recognized by Yuri. It was Khrushchev's personal driver, Zibin.
Guarding the entrance to the venue were several staff members of the municipal party committee. They would not allow anyone to enter the venue, so Qi Bin and the soldiers who came with him were stopped outside the door. Qi Bin seemed very excited. After being stopped, he directly quarreled with the staff, but the noise was not very loud.
Yuri saw it in time. He took a step closer to Khrushchev and reminded him in the quietest way possible that Tsybin had arrived and might have something urgent.
Khrushchev was stunned for a moment, and looked in the direction Yuri was looking, just in time to see Qibin walking in accompanied by two staff members.
"Okay, that's all for now," Yuri stopped Angelia and said with a smile, "Comrade Commissioner has some urgent matters to deal with."
Angelica obviously noticed something unusual. She stopped introducing them and when she saw Qibin come in, she stepped aside a few steps to facilitate Khrushchev's subsequent conversation.
Yuri did not follow the others and move aside, because he realized that Qi Bin did not intend to avoid him when talking.
"Comrade Minister," Tsybin's way of addressing Khrushchev was rather special. Yuri judged that this indicated that Tsybin should have followed Khrushchev when he was the Minister of Organization of the Central Committee of Ukraine.
"Something happened, something happened to Leonid," Qibin looked flustered, and perhaps because he was in too much of a hurry, he was obviously panting while speaking.
"Leonid? What happened to him?" Khrushchev asked, frowning.
"Someone from the army informed us that the plane he was flying was shot down by the Germans over Kaluga and crashed." Qibin said hurriedly in a crying tone.
"Where are the people? Did they parachute?" The muscles on Khrushchev's face trembled, and it was obvious that he was a little excited. However, he was a senior politician after all, and he concealed his expression very well.
"This... is not very clear yet. The Military Commission..." Qi Bin was a little overwhelmed. He probably had not yet confirmed whether the information was accurate.
"Go to the Military Committee immediately," Khrushchev said decisively without asking him for details.
"I'm going to the General Staff," Yuri put his military cap back on and said directly.
"No, Baolianka, don't go to the General Staff yet," Khrushchev nodded first, then thought of something and shook his head.
Probably because he saw so many people around him, Khrushchev didn't say much, but walked out.
Yuri understood what he meant, winked at Angeliya who was not far away, and followed Khrushchev to the door.
Even though the work here had not been reported yet, when Khrushchev wanted to leave, no one dared to come up and ask the reason, including Angelica. All the staff could only send them out in confusion.
After walking out of the Children's Palace, Khrushchev got into the jeep without stopping for a moment. Yuri hesitated for a moment and then got in the car.
"You need to go to the Kremlin immediately, Baolenka, to Comrade Stalin," Khrushchev said seriously, holding Yuri's arm with one hand after the car started moving. "You need to find an excuse, a reasonable excuse, whether it is to report to him or to ask for instructions. You must delay for a while. I will rush over as soon as possible."
Yuri understood Khrushchev's intention. Now, Leonid, as Khrushchev's eldest son, had an accident on the front line, which would not be a trivial matter in itself and would inevitably attract attention from all parties. If it could be confirmed that Leonid had died in the plane crash, then for Khrushchev, he would only have to endure the pain of losing his son. On the contrary, if Leonid did not die but fell into the German-occupied area, then whether he was captured by the German army or not, this incident would become a handle for political enemies to attack Khrushchev, which would make him very passive.
In his previous life, Yuri once saw a statement that Khrushchev had pleaded for his son Leonid and even knelt down to Stalin for it. At that time, he believed it without a doubt, but now, he can only say that it is pure nonsense.
What a ridiculous plot it is for a politician like Khrushchev to kneel down and beg Stalin to save his son who had become a traitor? Who was Stalin? He was a strong man who could ignore even his own son's life for the sake of the dignity of the Soviet Union. How much water did Khrushchev have in his brain to make such a low-level mistake? And it was a low-level political mistake. The most outrageous thing is that he made such a big low-level mistake. In the subsequent series of political struggles, his political enemies, including the ruthless Beria, Malenkov, and even Brezhnev, did not bring this matter up to settle accounts with him... How much water did Beria and others have in their brains? Therefore, in general, this is a mentally retarded rumor that regards the politicians of the three generations of Soviet leaders as fools.
Judging from common sense, did Khrushchev have only one son, Leonid? Of course not. He had many descendants, including many children. Among them, Leonid, the eldest son, was born to his first wife. As a politician like Khrushchev, how strong must his family ties be to sacrifice his political future and even the lives of his entire family for a son born to his ex-wife?
Rumors are full of loopholes after all, and it is not difficult to see through them as long as you analyze them rationally. But the problem is that at certain specific moments, even rumors full of loopholes can have huge destructive power.
Khrushchev wanted Yuri to go to Stalin because he was worried that someone would go to Stalin and talk nonsense before the facts were clarified. Although the effect of such nonsense might not last long and the facts would be clarified soon, as long as Stalin had a bad impression of Khrushchev for a few seconds, the consequences would be very serious.
There is an allusion in China that three people make a tiger, which comes from "Strategies of the Warring States". In politics, the situation of three people making a tiger is much more complicated. It has many variations and can produce many different effects. Let's take a simple example: someone says there is a tiger on this street, but the listener may not believe it; then someone else says there is a wolf on the same street, but the listener may still not believe it; the third time someone says there is a python on this street. The listener may still not believe it, or through personal investigation, the listener may be convinced that it is all a rumor, but if the listener hears too many such unsettling rumors, he may try to avoid going to that street.
It seems boring to spread rumors about a street, but if you replace this street with a person, for example, Khrushchev today, then the situation will be completely different.
Not daring to take Khrushchev's car directly to the Kremlin, Yuri first returned to his apartment and prepared to change cars to go directly to Red Square.
Standing on the roadside outside the apartment, watching Khrushchev's jeep go away quickly in the night, Yuri sighed inwardly. From Khrushchev at this moment, he could feel the hardship of being a politician - bearing the pain of losing a son, but not being able to first consider comforting his family and licking his wounds, and having to first consider the political impact this incident may have on himself. Isn't such a life tiring? Wouldn't it be even more tiring to live like this for a lifetime?
However, Yuri also knew that in many cases, one can only make one choice in life. Now that he has embarked on this path, there is no chance to turn back. Rush forward or plunge down, reach the top of a mountain or fall off a cliff to death, kill the opponent or be killed by the opponent. Along the way, he can only make choices in front of such choices.
Well, those things were a bit far-fetched. Yuri felt that the first thing he should consider now was how to complete the task assigned by Khrushchev.
