I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 50: Classmate Belinsky, who loves playing cards
Regarding the cancellation of the engagement, things went much more smoothly than Mikhail had imagined. Perhaps it was because the man had done so many outrageous things that he was too embarrassed to continue to argue.
After the matter was resolved, although Mikhail's sister remained silent throughout and basically did not participate in the matter anymore, and she looked quite calm and composed, but when everything was really settled, the girl who had suffered a lot of grievances in recent times looked a lot more relaxed, and even smiled more often, revealing her youthful nature again.

If the previous situation wasn't so bad, who would be willing to make such a hasty decision?

After this, although the speed was not fast, just as Mikhail thought at the beginning when he sat down at the tattered desk, he changed his sister's fate with his pen.

After this incident, Mikhail's mother and sister were not in a hurry to go back. Although there was nothing worth visiting in St. Petersburg, which was full of horse manure and drunkards these days, since they had not seen each other for such a long time, they naturally wanted to stay with Mikhail for a while.

Mikhail feels good about this, and even says that his quality of life has improved a lot because of the care of his mother and sister.

At the same time, in addition to chatting with his mother and sister and writing articles, Mikhail also had to go to Panaev's house to eat and drink.

Cough
However, Mikhail will soon open a new battlefield. With the release of his new novel, he has further consolidated his reputation in the cultural circle of St. Petersburg. More and more people seem to have heard his name, and some nobles who are keen on Russian cultural undertakings or want to show off their culture are actually willing to interact with literati like them.

Sometimes, fame and prestige can bring a person a lot.

Belinsky is a good example.

Although he came from a poor family and was considered a boor in the eyes of many, thanks to his great influence in the commentary world, many nobles and generals wanted to invite him to their homes.

However, in this regard, Belinsky really behaved like a homebody. Instead of attending various banquets, literary evenings and readings, Belinsky preferred to brag and play cards in his own group, and occasionally discuss politics and art quite seriously.

It is worth mentioning that although Belinsky and his group sometimes sound a bit shabby, as if they are all a bunch of poor guys, in fact it seems to be true!
But Belinsky actually had very high requirements for the members of his group. He hoped that in addition to their talents, the young people would also be respected by the public as good people with irreproachable integrity.

As he once said to Mikhail and others:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are all subject to human weaknesses, which are excusable, but we are subjected to such harsh and unbiased criticism for these weaknesses, and we have every right to be so, because in the press we expose the vulgarity, corruption, and selfishness of public life, and thereby declare that we have nothing to do with these shortcomings.

So we must act with caution, or what good will our writings do? We will destroy the very credibility of our words!"

If we only talk about his character, Belinsky is indeed one of the top writers in the Russian literary world.

For example, Brother Tu has many bad habits and has been criticized by Belinsky many times for this.

Apart from work, Belinsky has almost no other bad habits. He only has two hobbies that are not particularly special. One is that he likes flowers very much, and the other is that he likes playing cards very much. This is exactly what Mikhail and others are doing now.

This card game called Preferrand is also one of the evidences that Russia copied French culture. Of course, Mikhail was very unskilled at the beginning and even lost several kopecks because of it, which made Mikhail feel sad for a long time.

But now
"I win." Mikhail finished playing all the cards, then looked at everyone with a smile: "Pay your money."

"Oh my God!" Belinsky, who actually did not believe in God, felt his pocket and cried out, "One Nicholas was enough for us, and now here comes Mikhail! It's really dangerous to play cards with you. You will make us lose our boots!

Did you really just learn this? How did you improve so quickly? I've been playing this kind of card game for almost a decade! "If you're new, just practice more!"
Although he really wanted to say this, but looking at the group of poor guys who were struggling to pay, Mikhail finally gave up on saying such hateful words.

It is also worth mentioning that before Mikhail learned how to play, Nekrasov, who had been working hard in society early on, was the one who won the most. But at this moment, Nekrasov, who has always been confident in his card skills, could only pay with a bitter face.

As for Belinsky, although it was quite painful, he still paid off his lost money, and at the same time he said:
"Mikhail, after winning so much money from you, I feel for the first time that I should probably give up this habit of mine. But it might also be a good idea not to play with you anymore."

"Dear Belinsky, I'm just lucky." Hearing this, Mikhail also hurriedly said:
"Let's play a few more rounds, maybe you'll win back soon!"

"Come on, Mikhail! You just said that!"

Mikhail felt that he was pretty good at this. Maybe he could play with Lao Tuo more and help him quit his gambling addiction.
I'm not trying to win his money!
Thanks to Mikhail's manipulation, today's card game fell apart in an instant. Seeing this, Turgenev, who looked nonchalant despite having lost a lot, suddenly thought of something and spoke up to remind him:

"Mikhail, don't forget our party tonight. Remember what I told you before? This time we are going to the home of a lieutenant general! His home is full of ladies from the upper class. He also has a daughter who seems to be working as a lady-in-waiting in the palace. She is very young and quite beautiful!"

His fame and connections are unimaginable."

It could be heard that Turgenev seemed to attach great importance to tonight's banquet, but Mikhail just nodded casually, calculating in his mind how much money he had won today.

As for how to deal with those gentlemen and ladies in the upper class, flattering them and currying favor with them is probably the fastest way, but Mikhail thought about it seriously and found that he was still not very capable of doing such a thing.

In this case, it is better to slowly build up your reputation. Once it reaches a certain level, the other party will become quite enthusiastic without Mikhail saying much.

As Turgenev was speaking, he also mentioned another important thing:

"It seems that there will be some other writers and critics attending tonight's party. Perhaps we will also read some of our own works, but time is short, so I can probably only read a few short poems. I have prepared two somewhat sad love poems for this occasion.

How about you, Mikhail? Why don't you read some passages from your novels? I'm sure those gentlemen and ladies will like it."

No, I think they probably won't like it.

but it does not matter.

Mikhail raised his head and smiled slightly, then said in front of everyone's slightly surprised gazes:
"Don't worry, my dear Ivan. I know a little about poetry."

Thanks to "Book Friend 20231226031539610" and "Shanhai Feiyu" for the reward, thank you very much (heart)

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(End of this chapter)