I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 71 I, Mikhail, am really not a gambler

As for why Lao Tuo is a gambler, the reasons are actually quite complicated if you look at them in detail, but if we only talk about the early reasons, we can summarize them briefly.

It is roughly during Lao Tuo's childhood. Although his family is a small aristocratic family, their financial situation is not actually rich. In addition, the mother that Lao Tuo loved and admired died early, and his father was a classic alcoholic. In this classic Russian beginning, that is, in a depressing family environment, Lao Tuo was not only withdrawn but also a bit jaded.

Once a person grows up in a repressive environment for a long time and suddenly gains a lot of freedom, he or she may start to let go to some extent.

Lao Tuo was almost the same. Although his family was ordinary, he began to pay attention to food and clothing after going to college, and he had a great interest in life. He was very good at social dances like Mazurka, so much so that he kept writing letters to ask for money from his family.

After his father died, Lao Tuo's bad habit not only did not improve, but seemed to have become worse.

This may also be due to the so-called circle problem. In the upper-class literary and art circles of St. Petersburg where Lao Tuo mingled, many people were either rich or noble, and they regarded money as dirt and lived for the moment.

Although Lao Tuo's family is a small noble family, it is still not as authentic as these people. It would be strange if he was not poor if he followed this group of people.

At the same time, Dostoevsky was also influenced by Romanticism. The heroes in Romantic works are usually bohemian and fond of adventure, duels, and of course gambling. Therefore, in his youth, Dostoevsky had already shown a passion for cards and roulette.

This resulted in the fact that although he inherited a considerable amount of inheritance from his father, in the end, he almost advanced all of the more than a thousand rubles he inherited from his father's inheritance, and then lost it all at the gambling table.

And when Mikhail heard something like "All-in is a kind of wisdom" in front of this gambler, he was really anxious and wanted to turn back time and take back what he had just said.

I'm screwed! What if Lao Tuo writes his memoirs and puts the blame of his gambling problems on me?

Thinking of this, looking at the old man who seemed to be deep in thought, Mikhail also hurriedly issued a disclaimer: "Of course, I am talking about extremely rare circumstances. In most cases, this kind of thing is absolutely not allowed."

"Mikhail, why did you suddenly change your tone?" It seemed that everyone present was accustomed to Mikhail's calm and confident tone, and now that Mikhail was a little panicked, they were really a little uncomfortable.

To be honest, these people were really pessimistic about this business at the beginning. Although the cost of Nekrasov and his collection of works had been reduced to a very low level because of Belinsky, in today's Russia, due to well-known reasons, cultural undertakings certainly cannot be called prosperous.

With the market still unclear, few people dare to place a big bet on it.

Especially since Mikhail did not use spare money, but the money he collected bit by bit, which seemed even more crazy in the eyes of many people.

Even for those who hate this young man's creations, they just want to see this lowly young man get crushed by debt and never be able to get out of it.

They felt that only by that time could the Russian literary world truly stop this evil trend and get back on track.

While the people in Belinsky's circle didn't harbor such malicious thoughts, they were nonetheless genuinely pessimistic. However, as time went on, for some reason, seeing Mikhail as steady as an old dog, always speaking of the matter with a nonchalant air, as if the debts were nothing to him, they couldn't help but be drawn to his calm demeanor.

At this point, their pessimism seems to have begun to crumble. After they actually witness the outcome of this matter, their understanding of Mikhail may undergo a new change.

But at this moment, Mikhail was actually panicking!
And he was panicking while dominating the poker table!
Is this right?
Someone immediately asked, "Why are you suddenly losing your confidence? As for the very rare case you mentioned, I don't think what you're doing is particularly unique. I even think you're taking a big gamble."

When Dostoevsky heard the word "gamble", his eyes, which were originally a little confused, suddenly lit up, and he decided to go to Nekrasov to ask about the general situation.

Mikhail saw Dostoyevsky's reaction: "."

Come on, let’s talk about it later.

Sighing, Mikhail, who was feeling a bit of a headache, could only put the matter aside for the time being and instead turned his attention back to the card table in front of him:

"Okay, I win."

Seeing Mikhail suddenly say this, everyone who was curiously waiting for Mikhail's answer suddenly started wailing:
"Oh my god, when did you win? I didn't feel anything at all!"

"Don't let me sit here any longer. Let the devil come! The devil will definitely defeat Mikhail!"

"I can't even begin to count how much money you've taken from me recently. Look at Mikhail. As long as you're here, Vissarion would rather deal with Mr. Krajewski than sit in front of you!"

Mikhail was already accustomed to these wailings, so he said nothing, but just shook his head to signal these people to pay quickly.

Frankly speaking, winning too much is not good, you will really lose all your friends. But sometimes, it is not possible for Mikhail to not win if he wants to.
While Mikhail continued playing cards, the young Dostoevsky had already joined Belinsky, Nekrasov and others.

Normally, when Dostoevsky arrived, Belinsky should have introduced him to everyone.

But unfortunately, Mikhail had just arrived shortly before Dostoevsky arrived, which caused many people present to focus their attention on Mikhail first. At this time, it would be a bit inappropriate to ask them to put down what they were doing and look at Dostoevsky.

So let's wait a little while, until the atmosphere, which has become a little lively due to Mikhail's arrival, calms down, and then introduce Dostoevsky to everyone.

For now, it would be better to let this young man who seems very nervous and shy adapt to the atmosphere of the party.

Belinsky and Nekrasov had similar thoughts, but Dostoevsky seemed to have only stayed there for a moment before he came back to them.
(End of this chapter)