I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 58 New Novel
The fantasy is beautiful, but when the three of them arrived at the editorial office of "Fatherland Chronicle" where Krajewski was currently working, Belinsky suddenly felt as if he was kicked back to the real world, and sighed.

But at the same time, he had to cheer himself up and try to appear normal when he was about to meet Krajewski.

After Belinsky calmed down, Mikhail went with him into Kraevsky's office, and Mikhail finally met the publisher formally.

He was already quite old, with his slightly gray hair neatly combed, and his face had an expression of solemnity and seriousness that was a little artificial.

However, upon seeing who had come, the publisher quickly revealed a cordial smile, then stood up and greeted the two men, saying, "Long time no see, dear Vissarion. Who is this handsome young man? I don't think I need to guess. Who else could it be but Mr. Mikhail Romanovich, who has recently become quite famous in St. Petersburg?"

In fact, judging only from the surface, Kraevsky often tried his best to be attentive and friendly towards Belinsky and the writers and poets related to him. After all, for those sincere and inexperienced young people, what could be an easier way to touch their hearts and make them devote their talents for free?

But many times, if you want to know a person clearly, you can't just look at what he says, but also what he does.

When "Fatherland Chronicle" was just starting out, Kraevsky was in a lot of debt. In this situation, Belinsky and some other people were quite enthusiastic about contributing to the magazine, and often even for free. However, after the magazine really started to do well, Belinsky and others' remuneration hardly increased.

Even after Belinsky got married, his expenses increased greatly, but Kraevsky only made a slight increase in his salary, still using the excuse that he was financially tight and heavily in debt. However, Belinsky and others knew very well that all of Kraevsky's debts had been paid off at that time.

It was for this reason that Belinsky became increasingly dissatisfied with this gentleman.

However, given Belinsky's personality, he has never been good at dealing with people, let alone dealing with someone who is at least superficially very attentive and friendly to him. Therefore, even though he knew the other party's hypocrisy at the time, Belinsky had to be polite to him for a while and exchange pleasantries.

Now, rather than chatting with Belinsky who knew his background, Krajewski would rather talk to this young man who was just starting out but very talented.

If he could win the heart of this young man and get him to continue contributing to the "Fatherland Chronicle", would he still need to worry about the subscription volume?

No need at all!
But for some reason, in the face of the attentive and kind words of such an authority in the cultural world, the young man did not seem to be flattered. He just greeted him politely and exchanged some pleasantries.

Although somewhat surprised by the young man's attitude, Kraevsky did not show it. He simply asked Belinsky and Mikhail to sit down, exchanged a few pleasantries, and told a few jokes that he thought were quite clever.

As for other things Belinsky said, he smiled and nodded, agreeing with everything Belinsky said in a very gentle voice. Sometimes he also expressed his own views on literary issues. At first glance, one can indeed feel that he has quite profound knowledge in these areas.

However, when Belinsky talked about the issue of royalties, a shrewd look suddenly appeared on this gentleman's face, and the attentiveness and kindness on his face suddenly turned into a kind of false solemnity.

"Yes, Vissarion, it's time for me to pay you the royalties you deserve. I wanted to deliver them to you personally, but since you've taken the initiative to ask me for it, even if it's a little sudden, I'm willing to do my best to give you all the royalties."

Mikhail: “?”

What else? Why not give it all?
But you're right, there are many people who not only want to make money, but also want you to be grateful to them when they pay you.
"Ah."

Belinsky, looking a little unhappy, didn't say anything extra, just nodded, and then he received a fee that even Mikhail was a little surprised to hear.

If you insist, the royalties were decent, at least much higher than Mikhail's. But considering Belinsky's central position in The Fatherland Chronicle and his great reputation in the commentary circle, such royalties were far from being much.

And if Belinsky had a family to support, he would have to be even more careful with this little money.

After paying Belinsky's manuscript fee, Kraevsky, who had deliberately given the money in front of Mikhail, looked at Mikhail and said gently:

"Dear Mikhail, Vissarion should have told you about this, right? We are willing to publish your poem in the magazine and pay you a fee. If you have a new novel, we welcome it too. I am willing to increase your fee a little bit, how about it?" To be honest, if Mikhail's poem had not been very popular in the upper class of St. Petersburg in recent days, Kraevsky was really prepared to pay according to the last price, but for the sake of those noble gentlemen, he decided to increase it a little bit.
So now, if his royalties are raised one after another and he is also almost aware of Vissarion's royalties, coupled with his friendly and natural attitude, how could he not accept it?
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kraevsky, I'm visiting you specifically to discuss this matter," Mikhail said apologetically. "Another magazine has approached me, offering this poem and a new novel for 100 rubles. I was just about to agree, but I'm really short of money lately."

Krajewski: “?”

After hearing what Mikhail said, Kraevsky immediately did a quick calculation in his mind. Although the royalties were indeed a bit too much, considering the popularity of the poem in the upper class and his very popular novels, Kraevsky quickly concluded that this deal was not a loss.

But! It was way too far from the price he was prepared to pay.
"You know Mikhail,"

After a quick thought, Kraevsky regained his composure. "There are few magazines in St. Petersburg more open and inclusive than our Fatherland Chronicle. Young people should consider their future development more. We are the Fatherland Chronicle."

After Kraevsky said a lot, Mikhail's expression did not change at all. He just sighed and said, "I know everything you said, but I can hardly afford to eat. Sigh."

Krajewski: “?”

But why do I feel that your cheeks are plump and rosy?
After pondering for a long time, and seeing that Mikhail's attitude hadn't changed at all, and thinking about the recent surge in subscriptions for the magazine, Kraevsky's face twitched, but he finally spoke in a friendly tone:
"I understand, Mikhail. How about this? Our magazine is willing to pay the same price, but can we first ensure the quality? If the quality is similar to before, we're even willing to pay a higher fee!"

It is impossible to go higher, and it can probably be suppressed.

How could novels like those before be written casually?
But I still have to say this for sure.

Seeing that Kraevsky had said this, Mikhail seemed to hesitate for a long time before nodding and agreeing to it.

After confirming this matter, Kraevsky was not in the mood to talk much, and Belinsky and Mikhail also chose a time to leave Kraevsky's office.

After walking for a while, Belinsky couldn't help but ask, "Mikhail, is it true that a magazine has approached you and offered you such a high price? Although your poems and novels are indeed worth this price, the publishers of major magazines in St. Petersburg all say that they are extremely stingy."

"Someone approached me, but they didn't offer such a high price."

Mikhail spread his hands and said, "But it's really not far off. I just said a little more."

".Maybe I should really learn from you."

"It's a simple method, Vissarion. One must always try to get back the money that is due to them."

"Yes, but I didn't expect you to have such an attitude when you first met Mr. Krajewski. When you were talking about him behind his back, I thought you were just complaining."

After sighing for a moment, Belinsky suddenly looked at Mikhail with excitement, thinking of something else. "And you mentioned your new novel. Is there another novel coming out? I've been a loyal reader of yours for a long time! What are you writing this time?"

"You will know soon, dear Vissarion." Mikhail said with a smile: "This is a very interesting novel."

The two chapters together have more than 5,000 words, which should be considered a slight update (dog head)

I would also like to thank “kiniko”, “东空”, “svchost.exe” and “jamesxu-SBZ” for their rewards, thank you very much!
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(End of this chapter)