At dusk, the cabins on the edge of Golonid Island also fell into darkness.

For the blind girl Sasha, lighting fixtures are obviously the most insignificant things in her life.

This girl, who had long been accustomed to darkness and had never seen light, after a not-so-pleasant dinner, held on to the handrail of the stairs leading to the attic with one hand and hugged little Neva who was already sleeping on her shoulder with the other.

She groped her way up to her room in the attic, and by the way, she locked the wooden door leading to the attic.

At the entrance of the stairs, the dog also named Neva stretched his body and blocked the way to the upper floor. His dark eyes also looked at the two pilots standing side by side at the door of the room with vigilance.

It was as if they were all looking up at the sky that was reddened by dusk and blackened by gunpowder smoke, and the fireballs that exploded after collisions between anti-aircraft guns and aircraft.

"That's Juncker 88"

Felix said hoarsely, "That is a very beautiful bomber. It is very easy to drive and very flexible to control. It is far more comfortable than the training aircraft we have flown. Especially its brakes are very impressive."

, it is simply a pleasure to land in it.”

"Have you ever driven?" Ninel asked in a low voice, almost like a whisper.

"Drove"

Felic responded in a low voice, and then explained in a panic, "It's in Poland. I just recently went with the Eighth Battalion of the Romanian Servant Army..."

"It doesn't matter"

Ninel shook his head, squinted his eyes and looked at the fading sunset, the seemingly endless planes in the sky, and the smoke clouds exploded by the dense anti-aircraft guns, and comforted him in a murmur, "It's okay, I don't blame you.

the meaning of."

Siluke

"Nineel... I'm sorry."

Felix said with a trembling tone, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have participated in this war. I was worried when I flew the plane into Poland. I..."

"This is a situation we have anticipated, isn't it?"

Ninel forced a smile to interrupt what Felix was about to say, "The best situation we expected was for everyone to drive an A35 postal plane and be a postman. But from the day the war started,

I'm ready to meet you in the air."

"Let the friendship from the sky continue on the ground" Felix murmured to himself.

"Let the hatred from the ground be dealt with in the sky," Niner, holding a German cigarette in his hand, also muttered, but the expression on his face was particularly complicated at this time.

"It's not as easy as we thought at the time," Felix sighed. "The war is far more cruel than we thought."

"You are just a soldier, your only choice is to obey orders." Niniel's tone became more and more erratic.

"What about you?" Felix, who was also looking at the aerial battlefield, asked.

"I?"

Niner smiled miserably, "I, noble gentleman, I am just a Stalingrader, an ordinary person who must defend his hometown."

"My wife was taken away," Felix said abruptly.

"Why?" Ninel reacted immediately after asking, "Because she is a Jew?"

Felix nodded with difficulty, "She and our children were all taken away by those damn chain dogs more than a year ago. I have never seen them since then."

"them..."

"I have no idea"

Felix shook his head helplessly and confused, and the expression on his face became more and more ferocious as he spoke, "I don't know, I don't know where they were sent, I don't know if they are still alive, let alone where they should go.

Where can I find them? Even...I...I don't dare to publicly express my longing for them or hide a photo of them. I...I am a coward who drives a fighter jet to invade a friend's house.

coward!"

"It would be better if there was no such war"

Ninel sighed, but didn't say anything. He just stared silently at the planes in the sky, watching them being shot down, watching them explode in the sky, or pull up the thick clouds dyed red by the sunset.

Smoke and moths flew towards the cities on the surface like moths flying into the flames.

Inside the room, after clearing the dining table, Wei Ran silently took out the Rolleiflex camera from the metal book. Using the door frame as the photo frame and the air battle under the sunset as the background, he quietly took a picture of the two melancholy and contradictory friendships against the light.

Silhouette.

Outside the room, the battle between the enemy and ourselves under the setting sun continued for a long time. The sound of cannons from far or near almost never stopped, and the explosions from the other side were also particularly clear and dense.

Inside the attic window facing the direction of the Volga River, Sasha was gently rocking the birch hammock where the baby Neva was lying, while worriedly singing the song Katyusha, which brought infinite courage and fighting spirit to the Soviets.

At the same time, her big, dull eyes were always looking at the distant Volgograd on the other side, trying to find even a shred of news about her sister Lana amidst the rumbling sounds of artillery and explosions.

Under the window, I don’t know when, Ninel also sat down against the log wall and sang the Katyusha with a hoarse voice that seemed to have soothing magic power.

After a long time, little Neva lay in a small hammock and fell asleep. The Katyusha also stopped one after another, leaving only the competition in the night sky, which continued under the command of the searchlight.

The explosions, flames, and smoke on the other side still did not stop. Only Felix was left, standing at the door and looking helplessly at the fleeting firelights in the night sky.

That night, Wei Ran was the only one sleeping on the only big bed on the first floor of the wooden house, while Felix and Niniel sat on the doorstep from beginning to end, chatting in low voices, or not talking at all.

.

Time flies and the next morning arrives, four people, including Wei Ran, sit around the dining table again. This breakfast is no different from last night’s dinner, except that there is less fish and more for everyone.

Just a boiled potato.

"Sasha, I'll give this to you."

After breakfast, Felix took the only gold ring from his hand and put it on the hand of the blind girl Sasha, "Sell it, maybe you can live a better life in exchange for some money."

"Is this a ring?" Sasha touched the metal ring in his hand, "I can't have it, this must belong to you and your wife..."

"I don't think I have any use for it anymore."

Felix took a deep breath before Sasha finished speaking, picked up the TT33 pistol placed on the window sill and pushed it to Nineel, who was sitting opposite. He said in a calm tone, "Nineel, let's find a place to talk alone.

Let’s talk.”

Hearing this, Ninel took a deep breath, stretched out his trembling hand and pressed it on the patinated pistol, nodded feebly, and responded with a difficult "Okay".

"How about waiting a moment?"

Wei Ran stood up as he spoke, walked to the head of the bed, opened up the straw-filled pillow, and took out a Rolleiflex double-lens reflex camera under the cover of his body, "Before that, let me take a picture for you.

How about a photo, to... commemorate your friendship?"

Niner and Felix looked at each other, with a look of relief on their faces. They didn't ask about the origin of the camera at all, and just nodded in unison.

"Sasha, can we borrow your brother-in-law's clothes?" As Ninel spoke, he also took off his wedding ring and silently placed it on the table in front of Sasha.

“Yes, of course”

Sasha immediately said, "His clothes are in the wooden box under the bed. My sister has never been willing to throw them away, but you can only borrow them for taking pictures. Those clothes are the only ones my brother-in-law left for my sister.

It’s a relic.”

"We're just taking a photo"

While Ninel was speaking, he had already walked to the bedside, bent down and pulled out a wooden box from under the bed, which contained several sets of clean and neatly folded coarse cloth clothes.

"Originally there was a set of my brother-in-law's Red Army uniform in there," Sasha said proudly, "but it was worn by my sister to fight in the city."

"I believe that she will definitely come back wearing that uniform and bringing news of victory." Ninel said while holding on to a smile.

"She will definitely come back!" Sasha clenched her fists with great confidence, and her big, dull eyes seemed to have a strange brilliance.

Niniel, Felix and Wei Ran looked at each other, finally sighed silently, and put on the coarse cloth clothes that were a little too big for him.

"I'll forget it"

Felix looked at the suit of clothes on the bed, and symbolically tightened the parachute cloth wrapped around it, "That's it, I'll just leave it like this, that's fine."

"so be it"

At this time, Nineel didn't seem to want that clean coarse cloth to be worn on his good friend.

Under the command of Wei Ran, the pilot Nineel, who put on civilian clothes, and the German pilot Felix, who was only wrapped in a white parachute, supported each other, walked to the door with difficulty, and sat down facing the rising sun.

, leaning his back against the log wall.

"Smoke a cigarette"

Niner opened the silver cigarette case that he had collected from Felix yesterday, took out the remaining three cigarettes, distributed them to Wei Ran and Felix, and then took out a lighter.

Help the two of them do it one by one.

"Nineel, I'm going back soon. I want to know, what kind of plane do you want to fly in the future?" Felix leaned his back covered with burns against the rough log wall, smoking a cigarette and looking comfortable.

asked Shuang relaxedly.

"Postal machine, the fastest postal machine!"

Niner also leaned his back against the log wall, took a puff of his cigarette, and said loudly in a more determined tone, "But if there is a war in my country, I will fly a fighter jet, even if it flies at the slowest speed.

The fighter with the worst firepower!”

After a short pause, a cheerful smile appeared on Nineel's face, and he asked loudly, "What about you? My noble friend Felix? What kind of plane do you want to fly after you return to China?"

"Postal machine! The fastest postal machine! I want to be the fastest postman! A faster postman than you!"
To be continued...