I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 76: Cowardice and Poetry
As the last few days passed, although the young man Andrei still did not receive any definite news from the editorial office of "The Fatherland Chronicle", fortunately, the date of publication of "The Petersburg Anthology" did come as scheduled.

So early in the morning on the day of publication, Andrei, who was actually in a good financial situation, went out early and chose to brave the cold morning wind of St. Petersburg to go to the bookstore he had been longing for for a long time.

Although he had anticipated the long queues on the day of publication, he was still surprised by the huge crowd when he arrived at the bookstore.

It can be seen that some people seemed to have not even slept. It was probably late at night after attending a dance or banquet, so they simply stayed up a little longer and then rushed over with a little smell of alcohol.

Such a grand occasion may not be seen even when the latest issue of "Chronicles of the Motherland" is released. To some extent, the young people who came to buy books this time all had their own goals. After all, there are indeed many well-known writers and poets appearing in this collection.

But Andre was sure that most of them would keep their eyes on someone's work.

In addition to these people, some patrolmen who are responsible for maintaining order or have other purposes have also started wandering around the area, yawning.

Recently, some patrolmen have been in bad luck. They are often called "Ochumelov" by some young people. If ordinary people say this, these patrolmen will definitely let the person who says this feel the strength of Russian police law enforcement these days.

But most of the young people who say this are those whose families have some background, and it is really uncomfortable for them to be in this situation.

This behavior certainly has its rational side, for example, some patrolmen do that, but at the same time, Andre believes that the work "Chameleon" is directed at all people with such vulgar tendencies, not just these patrolmen.

With this thought in mind, the sky grew brighter and the atmosphere became more heated. When everything started, Andre, who was more or less accustomed to such scenes, finally got a thick collection of essays in his hands after some struggle.

The price is not cheap, three rubles per copy. It is said that there is an even more expensive collector's edition, but this has nothing to do with Andre. He is already very satisfied to be able to get it at the current price.

Although it is not cheap, considering that this anthology is so thick, the writers in the anthology are a star-studded group, and all of them are novels and works of other themes that I have never read before, it doesn't seem that expensive when you think about it this way.

After getting this thick collection of essays, Andre couldn't wait to find a suitable place, and then quickly flipped through the table of contents. When he finally saw the familiar name, Andre looked at the name of the novel with joy, and then he was stunned: "Cowardly".

He was lost in thought for a moment, and although he felt a little offended by the title of the novel, he continued reading:
"The other day I called my children's governess, Yulia Vasilyevna, into my study to settle some accounts.

"Please sit down, Yulia Vasilyevna!" I said to her. "Let's settle the accounts. You undoubtedly need money, but you're so formal that you won't ask for it yourself. Well, mademoiselle, I agreed with you on a salary of thirty rubles a month..."

"forty……"

"No, thirty... I remember that... I always pay my governess thirty rubles... Well, miss, you've been here two months..."

"Two months and five days..."

"No, two whole months... I've got that in mind. So I owe you sixty rubles... deduct nine Sundays... You don't teach Kolya on Sundays, you just rest... plus three holidays..."

Seeing this, Andre basically reacted. It seemed that an employer was exploiting a girl, and facing the employer's dishonest behavior, the girl just:
“She blushed and started pulling at the ruffles on her clothes, but…she said nothing.

"Add three holidays... so twelve rubles must be deducted... Kolya was ill for four days and missed classes... You only had lessons with Valya... You had a toothache for three days, and my wife allowed you to skip afternoon classes... Twelve plus seven is nineteen. After the deductions, there's... hmm, forty-one rubles. Is that right?"

Even so, the other party's exploitation does not seem to be over yet:

"On New Year's Eve you broke a teacup and saucer. Two rubles off. . . . The teacup was very valuable, an heirloom, but . . . . Forget it, God bless you! How could we escape without any loss?
Later, madam, because you neglected Kolya, he climbed a tree and tore his coat... Ten rubles should be deducted... And a maid, because you neglected her, stole a pair of Varya's shoes. You have to take care of everything. You are paid, so, in this case, five rubles should be deducted... On January 10th, you received ten rubles from me..."

"I didn't take it!" whispered Yulia Vasilyevna.

"But I remember it here!"

"Oh, then... okay."

"Forty-one minus twenty-six equals fourteen..."

"I only took it once," she said in a trembling voice. "I took three roubles from your wife... I never took it again..."

"Really? Look, I didn't write that down! Fourteen minus three makes eleven... Well, here's your money, my dear! Here, then: three rubles, three rubles, three rubles, one ruble, one ruble. Please take it, mademoiselle!"

Faced with such harsh deductions, even Andre couldn't help but clench his fists. What was the reaction of this lovely girl?
She just:
"She took the money and, with trembling fingers, put it into her pocket.

"Merci (French for thank you)," she whispered.

Why should I say thank you to him after all this?!
Before Andre, who was furious, could say anything, the novel unexpectedly took another huge turn, because the exploitative employer was now as angry as Andre:

"I jumped up and started pacing around the room. I was furious.

"Why do you want 'Merci?'" I asked.

"You gave me the money..."

"But you know, it was I who defrauded you, damn it, I robbed you! You know, it was I who embezzled your money! Why do you still want 'Merci'?"

Andre was stunned again and again when he saw this conversation. How come this employer said all the words I wanted to say?!

When faced with the employer's questioning, the girl simply said:
"In other places, people don't pay me at all..."

"You won't pay? That's not surprising! Well, I was just joking with you, teaching you a cruel lesson... I'll pay you back the eighty rubles! It's all in the envelope! But can a person be so weak? Why didn't you protest? Why didn't you say a word? In this world, shouldn't people give an eye for an eye? Can people be so cowardly?" She smiled bitterly, but I could see that the expression on her face clearly said, "Is it possible?"

I begged her to forgive this cruel lesson and gave her all eighty rubles, which greatly surprised her. She timidly said "Merci" and walked out... I looked at her back and couldn't help thinking: In this world, it's so easy to be a strong person!

Seeing such a shocking ending, Andre, who was originally furious, was now silent as if he was hit by a sledgehammer. After the dizziness passed, his face involuntarily became hot again.

Even if he didn't have to face the same predicament as the girl in the article, did he really never encounter such things? Wasn't he a coward with Krajewski and those gentlemen, not daring to say a word, but just listening?
When Andrei thought of this, he really wanted to grab the author of this novel, grab his hand, and hold it tightly, just to ask him: "What can I do?"

But perhaps there was no need to ask, because he seemed to have written down everything he wanted to say and how he should respond.
Just as the young man Andrei was alternately excited and depressed because of the novel, in another place in St. Petersburg, a young girl who had deliberately gotten up early was looking at the dim scenery outside the window with sleepy eyes. While suppressing her sleepiness, she was also waiting for her servant to bring back the book she wanted to read.

On this still-bright morning, her thoughts were swaying, and she soon thought of her recent correspondence with the writer and poet.

Originally, things might not have developed like this, but perhaps it was because the scene that night was too stunning, or the moon that night was too special, or the other party left an extremely deep impression on me. In short, we did exchange letters.

At the beginning, she actually thought that the conversation would not last too long, but for some reason, everything the other party said always had an inexplicable attraction to this young girl, especially the cheerful attitude towards life hidden in the other party's humorous and leisurely narration, and the irresistible concern for others, which really gave her a very different feeling.

It is precisely because of this indescribable affection that she would take the initiative to inquire about some things from others, and after finding out, she is willing to do something for the other party who is in a difficult time.

It's a bit regrettable that the girl's father is in his prime, and it will probably take several years for her to inherit a large inheritance, so she can't actually come up with too much money for the time being.

However, if the other party had asked her, she would definitely have been able to offer more. However, not only did he not continue to speak to her, he even declined. Fortunately, he finally chose to accept.
From others, the girl had basically understood Mikhail's current situation. His food and accommodation were very ordinary, and in order to improve his life, he not only worked hard to write, but also made a big gamble. It seemed that he was ready to bet his entire fortune and take the huge risk of going into debt to publish a collection of essays.

Although the young girl had never experienced the feeling of being in debt, it did not prevent her from understanding Mikhail's situation and the risks he might face. It was precisely because of a little inexplicable worry about Mikhail's situation that the girl suddenly did something that seemed a little inexplicable.

But for some reason, when Nadia asked many people in the cultural circle for the news, most of them felt that the investment behavior of this promising new star was really weird, almost like he was crazy. Otherwise, how could he be so reckless?
However, from the correspondence with Mikhail, Nadya did not feel that there was anything wrong with Mikhail at all. She was even unconsciously infected by the positive emotions expressed in his letters.

So is he good or bad? How does he feel about his own actions?

These questions still linger in the girl's mind, but before asking, she still really wants to see what the new poem the other party promised to write for her will look like.

Although the other party's poems were very good, Mr. Mikhail seemed to seldom write. Apart from that poem, there was no other poem of his, which was simply unimaginable among the poets in St. Petersburg.

But now, I can finally see it again.

The girl was immersed in her own thoughts for a long time. When she came to her senses, it was already bright outside, and her servant had finally bought her a thick collection of essays.

It was obvious that her servant had put in a lot of effort to buy this collection of essays. He looked quite disheveled, as if he had just experienced a very troublesome battle.

Is it so difficult to buy? The girl began to think: Does this mean that his investment was successful?
Paying off the debt is no longer a problem for him?

Thinking of this, the girl's mood suddenly brightened up, so much so that she took the thick collection of essays and walked to a bright place outside the house, ready to find the best position to read.

Once she was ready, she went straight to her goal without hesitation, even resisting the urge to read the novel first and turning directly to the poetry.

Then Mikhail's new poem appeared before her eyes:
"I came into this world to see the sun,

And the blue fields.

I came into this world to see the sun,
And rolling hills.

I came to this world to see the sea,
and a valley full of flowers."

Just these few short sentences immediately pulled the girl into a feeling of grandeur and splendor, and within this feeling, she could vaguely sense the shadow of someone:

"I have conquered the cold and silent glaciers,
I created my own ideal.

I am filled with revelation every moment,
I sing all the time.

My ideal comes from suffering,

Therefore, he is loved by people.

Who can match my singing voice?
No one, no one can compare.

I came into this world to see the sun,
And once the light goes out,
I will still sing... I will sing the praises of the sun

Until the last moment of life!"

Here are ten thousand words for you. Please give me monthly votes. At the beginning of the month, there will be double monthly votes. Thank you all.

Also, I would like to thank "Fengyumen", "Mao Tan", "Western Bayi", "Montpellier", "Iakos", and "Seventeen's Knife-Cut Noodles" for their rewards. Thank you very much!
I am sleepy, and I will continue to fight after waking up (paralysis)

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(End of this chapter)