– "It's a pity I can't accommodate you in my house, it's too small, but I'll settle you next door, there's a widow with a daughter living there, plenty of room, very cozy," he sadly sang, and the gray in his beard and temples shimmered with pure silver, while tenderness and affection stood in his eyes. – "I'll visit you there, have tea, talk, you must have a lot of news, I've never left the district, they still shoot in the mountains, those overthrown seek revenge, kill from around the corner, one infiltrated the police, bringing much evil. When those who are supposed to protect fail, they also rob and kill, it's scary. robbers are now lawmakers. Then lies will become truth, truth lies, black white, and white will be canceled by decree: 'what looks white is only gray in reality'…"
– "Individual cases, sardar, we won't allow former enemies to take our place. Even executioners have their own…"
– "There should be no executioners in our society, we fought for a long time to eliminate them…"
– "Executioners have always been, are, and will be, executioners are more necessary than science, science can be forbidden, various astrology can be canceled, but executioners, like bread, are necessary. You can't live without bread, sardar!.."
Sardar Kareem escorted Aman-Jalil and the chauffeur into the widow's house. Aman-Jalil surreptitiously scrutinized the widow's face, trying to read the true nature of Sardar Ali's relationship with her, but her eyes were empty, her face covered in the ashes of sorrow. Later in conversation, Aman-Jalil would learn that the widow's husband had been recently killed by the bandits who had infiltrated the police. They brutally burned him alive in a barn with two friends.
– "No, you won't find compromising material in their relationship. As the saying goes, 'a friend of a deceased husband and nothing more'… Aman-Jalil was starting to despair. He remembered Ahmed's words well: 'you're stuck with compromising material for life'… And the tone in which these words were spoken left no doubt that this would indeed be the case."
The widow's daughter, Gulshan, entered the room, and Aman-Jalil was taken aback, struck by a decision that came to him instantly, at first glance at her… The girl's beauty could captivate any man: a young doe couldn't match her elegance and grace, a panther her flexibility and resilience. Eyes like Gulshan's had been praised by poets and lovers for thousands of years… Aman-Jalil was conquered by her appearance, but he had no intention of canceling his plans. He liked what he had planned very much, and it would be doubly foolish to cancel it. Pity briefly touched his heart and flew away, frightened by the cold.
Softly and somewhat timidly, Aman-Jalil asked Sardar Ali to acquaint him with the necessary documents for which he had come on inspection from such a distance.
– "You understand, respected one, that besides your vilayat, I have two more, and I would like to return to the city as soon as possible… Duty to fulfill."
– "Of course, my dear, such zeal in work is rare these days. You deserve recognition…"
Surprised by such zeal, Sardar Kareem invited Aman-Jalil to follow him. As he left, Aman-Jalil turned at the door and cast such a submissive look at Gulshan, this delicate gazelle, that even a large, fat green fly didn't make him want to snatch a rubber band from his pocket and deal with it…
