I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 3 A new Gogol is born!

"Three months ago, Vanka Zhukov, a boy of nine, was sent to the shop of the shoemaker Alyakin as an apprentice. On Christmas Eve, he did not go to bed. He waited until the shopkeeper and his wife and the other craftsmen had gone out for morning prayers. Then, he took a small bottle of ink and a pen with a rusty nib from the shopkeeper's cupboard, spread a crumpled piece of white paper in front of him, and began to write."

Did you write the characters and locations directly?

In addition, although serfdom still exists today, according to Dmitriy's understanding of the current social situation, in some areas, serfs seem to have gained limited freedom, and sometimes nobles will not watch a serf's child eat for free for no reason. If there is enough work in their own territory, it is common to send them to others as labor.

These things flashed through Demitri's mind, and soon he continued reading.

"Before he wrote the first word, he glanced tremblingly back at the door and the window, cast a sidelong glance at the dark icon and the shelves lined with shoe lasts, and sighed intermittently. The paper was spread out on a bench, and he knelt before it.

"Dear Grandfather, Konstantin Makaritch!" he wrote. "I am writing to you. I wish you a happy Christmas and may God bless you with all the best. I have no father or mother, and you are the only relative I have left."

Poor kid, he was so nervous even when writing a letter, he must have suffered a lot...

The following narration undoubtedly confirmed Demetrius's conjecture:

"Yesterday I was beaten. The boss grabbed my hair, dragged me out to the yard, and beat me with the leather straps that the masters used to work with. He blamed me for rocking the baby in the cradle and causing it to fall asleep.

Last week the landlady asked me to clean a herring. I started from the tail and she took the herring and shoved the head right in my face.

"They made me sleep in the hallway, and as soon as their baby cried I couldn't sleep at all, and I rocked the cradle with all my might.

Dear Grandpa, please show some mercy like God and take me away from here, back home, back to the village. I can’t bear it anymore… I kowtow to you, I will always pray to God for you, take me away from here, otherwise I will die…”

Everything the child described may seem unusual, but anyone who has some understanding of today's society will find that it is very common.

This novel is not just a simple record of society, but an orphan named Vanka tells everything with deep emotions:
"Come, dear grandfather," Vanka continued, "I beg you, for the sake of Christ and God, to take me away from here. Have pity on me, a poor orphan, for everyone here beats me, I am starving, I am so depressed that I can't even speak, and I cry all the time.

A few days ago, my boss hit me with a shoe last and knocked me unconscious. I barely managed to come back to life. My life is miserable, worse than a dog's... Give my regards to Alena, one-eyed Yegorka, and the coachman. Don't give my accordion to outsiders. From Ivan Zhukov. Dear Grandfather, come here.

This poor orphan seems to have placed all his hopes on his grandfather, but is his grandfather really a good person?
The previous article has already written about it!

"During the day he slept in the servants' kitchen or joked with the cooks. At night he put on a baggy sheepskin coat and walked around the manor, banging his clappers."

"His grandfather must be standing at the gate right now, squinting his eyes at the red windows of the village church, tapping his feet in high felt boots and joking with the servants. His clapper hangs from his belt. He's so cold that he keeps clapping his hands, hunching his neck, pinching the maid, pinching the cook, and laughing like an old man."

If an old bastard like this really cared about his grandson, he wouldn't have sent him here to be an apprentice!

And even with such a slim hope as his, would there really be a chance for him to see it?
"Vanka folded the written paper into four and placed it in the envelope he had bought the previous evening for a kopeck. . . . He thought for a moment, dipped his pen in ink, and wrote the address: To my grandfather in the country.

Then he scratched his head, thought again, and added a few words: Konstantin Makaritch.

Could a letter like this, without even an address, be sent to his grandfather?
Wanka didn't know, he just:
"He settled down with beautiful hopes, and an hour later he fell into a deep sleep. . . In his dream he saw a stove. His grandfather sat on the stove, his bare feet dangling, reading a letter to the cooks. . . A loach walked back and forth beside the stove, wagging its tail. . . . "

Mikhail considered the suitability of the novel "Vanka" when he was writing it. After some research, he found that although Vanka was a novel that appeared decades later, it is still appropriate today. It just needs some minor adaptation.

Even compared to reality, this novel seems too mild!
I don't know what Demi's reaction will be after reading this...

Mikhail was thinking this while he was eating voraciously, when suddenly he felt a sound next to his ear, and the sound was getting louder and louder, so loud that it attracted the attention of other people in the tavern.

When Mikhail looked up, the giant bear-like man in front of him was already in tears, crying like a child, and was about to burst into tears.

As if he had noticed Mikhail's gaze, the bear-like man seemed a little embarrassed. He hurriedly took out a few rubles from his pocket and placed them in front of Mikhail, while choking with sobs, he hurriedly said:

"I've already paid for the meal. I'll lend these rubles to you, my friend! Don't refuse me! I'll talk to you about the novel later! You live on the top floor of an apartment near Shenaya Square now, right? I guess I'll come see you again soon!"

After saying that, Dmitriy left in a hurry, leaving Mikhail, with meat still stuffed in his mouth, sitting there in a daze for a long time.

Finally, Mikhail swallowed the meat in his mouth and picked up a few rubles on the table.

This amount of money is enough for Mikhail to survive for a while until the royalties arrive.

Demi, the savior!

And judging by his reaction, this novel must be interesting?
After dinner, Mikhail swept away the gloom of the previous few days and returned to his home excitedly, ready to strike while the iron was hot and write a few more novels.

Of course, when returning to the room, I still have to sneak around and avoid the landlord first.

Mikhail wrote like this until the evening, enjoying his baby-like sleep in the coffin-like room.

But while he was sleeping, Mikhail was awakened by a violent knock on the door.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that it was pitch black all around, and there was no light at all in the sky outside.

This meant it was definitely early morning.

Who the hell is disturbing people at this hour?

Landlords will not choose to come at this time just for rent!

The angry Mikhail lit the candle with a distressed look on his face, then angrily opened the door, and saw Dmitriy, who looked like a giant bear, walking in with a thin young man with extremely bright eyes.

As soon as they came in, Dmitriy and the young man grabbed Mikhail, one arm each, and raised it together. At this early hour, they shouted together:
"A new Gogol is born!"

Mikhail: “???”

(End of this chapter)