Chapter 9: The First Meeting with Stalin

  A grey Volga sedan pulled up slowly in front of the high steps of the Kremlin, a guard ran forward and opened the rear door, before anyone inside had emerged, saying: "Comrade Beria, good morning."

  But he was stunned, because the person who came out of the car today was not Comrade Belyaev, but a young foreign boy with yellow skin and black eyes, an Asian.

  "Good morning to you too," the guard who had opened the door for himself smiled slightly, and Chu Si Nan patted him on the shoulder again before saying, "But Comrade Bellia is over there, you've mistaken him for someone else, comrade."

  "Oh," the guard was taken aback at first, then quickly ran to the other side of the car, opened the door and repeated what he had just said.

  Ba Li Ya slowly emerged from inside, only after the guard opened the car door for him. He smiled at the guard first, then quickly walked towards Chu Si Nan's side.

  "Come on, Comrade Chusinan. Let's go in." Beliya patted Chusinan's back affectionately and said, "Do you still remember the things I told you earlier? You must remember them clearly, or it will be troublesome for both of us."

  Chu Si Nan nodded silently, just before leaving the headquarters of the secret police, Beria had briefed him on some of Comrade Stalin's likes and dislikes, and told Chu Si Nan to remember them well, in order to avoid provoking Stalin unnecessarily. Chu Si Nan deeply agreed with Beria's suggestion, these high-ranking officials were always unpredictable and had many taboos, if he accidentally provoked Stalin, there would be no good outcome.

  Following Belyaev, Chusenan stepped into the Kremlin Palace for the first time in his life. In his impression, it should be a magnificent place, but now it looks ordinary, with almost no luxurious decorations or furnishings. Recalling the Soviet history he had come into contact with, Chusenan deeply admired Comrade Lenin, who strictly forbade extravagance and corruption, even within the Kremlin Palace, where large-scale renovations were not allowed. It is said that this great revolutionary leader did not allow anyone to live in the palace before his death, except for Stalin, who was irritable and liked quietness.

  He passed through several wide and long corridors, as well as several gardens in the courtyards, and finally stopped at a place similar to an attic. He looked up at a balcony above the attic, then walked towards the door. Following his gaze, Chu Si Nan also took a look at the balcony and found that someone's back was standing quietly. The back looked very tall and had an aura of dignity, although it couldn't be seen clearly, but the kind of high-handedness and power could already be felt clearly. At this time, Chu Si Nan almost confirmed that the person on the balcony was Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who later participated in the revolution and gave himself a Russian name meaning "steel".

  "Does Comrade Stalin have time?" The voice of Beria came from not far ahead, he was obviously talking to someone.

  "He's waiting for you on the balcony, Comrade Belyaev," a slightly hoarse woman's voice said. "He said if you came, to let you go up and see him directly. But his temper is not good now, he just received the battle report from the front, it seems that the situation is very bad, he has just lost his temper and smashed things, saying that he wants to send Ironwood Singh and Kulik two marshals to the military court, want to shoot them dead. You'd better be careful when you go up."

  Baili nodded and beckoned to Chusinan, then walked into the house. Chusinan followed closely behind, and when passing by the old woman with a kind and gentle face, he didn't forget to ask how she was doing. He couldn't guess what this old woman did, but he could be sure that she wasn't Stalin's wife.

  Stalin's residence was not luxurious, very simple and with few decorations, the style was old. Following Ribbentrop, Chu Ci Nan went upstairs to the second floor, through a large hall, to the door leading to the balcony. Here, Chu Ci Nan saw Stalin for the first time, this great dictator who had created countless glories but also made many mistakes. At that moment, he was standing facing the door, with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his beloved pipe in his mouth.

  "Comrade Stalin, am I disturbing you?" Beria stopped at the door and asked in a low voice, with an expression that made Chusnan easily think of a domesticated wolf-like animal.

  "Hmm, is this the Comrade Chu Si-nan you were talking about?" Stalin did not answer, but instead looked at Chu Si-nan and asked back.

  "Yes, Comrade Stalin." Beria replied simply, without saying another useless word.

  "All right, you may go. I have some words to say to this young comrade alone." Stalin said with a wave of his hand holding the pipe, his face expressionless.

  "Alright, I'll go first." Bellia nodded and turned to walk out. As he passed by Chu Si Nan's side, he also gave him a subtle wink, reminding him not to forget the things they had agreed on earlier.

  After Belya's figure disappeared into the living room, Stalin put his pipe back in his mouth and walked to a soft chair on the balcony, saying: "You come over and sit down too. Hmm, bring a chair from inside, I have many things I want to ask you."

  Chu Si Nan didn't stand on ceremony, he moved a chair to the balcony and sat down next to Stalin. If it were in the past, he might have felt constrained, and would have been extremely respectful of this "great man" in front of him. But now it was different, more than a month of prison life had allowed him to learn many secrets about Stalin that were unknown to others from those old generals who used to be his superiors. These secrets made him understand that the person in front of him was also an ordinary person, except for being more ruthless and having a worse temper, there was nothing special about him. If only talking about seniority, there were several people in that prison who had higher seniority than Stalin. In front of those old generals, Chu Si Nan didn't feel any constraint at all, let alone now?

  "I heard from Beria that you have some special skills," Stalin said, taking a heavy drag on his pipe.

  "This isn't any special skill, it's just that I see people, things and the future a bit more clearly." Chu Si Nan said calmly. His words were filled with an unshakeable self-confidence.

  "That's good," Stalin knocked his pipe, asked in a stiff tone, "I just received the latest battle report from the front line, it's about Smolensk, do you know what's inside?"

  "Great Comrade Stalin, I can certainly tell you," Chu Si Nan said with a slight smile and without any reserve, "because of your and the Supreme Command's wrong decisions, Smolensk has been thoroughly captured by the German army at dawn today. Three armies, nearly 450,000 people, have become prisoners of the Germans. This will probably be bad news for everyone, except for the Germans and Hitler. Am I right?"