shadow of britain

Chapter 624 Arkadia Literary Society
Although the weather in Petersburg is cold, life in Petersburg still has many advantages compared to London.

For example, the bathhouse that Arthur had always dreamed of.

Bathing has a long history in Russia. Perhaps it is because Russia regards itself as the Third Rome, so it is natural to inherit this essential social activity in Roman culture. Or perhaps, as Russian archaeologists have verified, the weather in the north is too cold, so bathhouse culture has become an important part of early Slavic culture and Finno-Ugric culture in the first few centuries BC.

Of course, with a rigorous academic attitude, Sir Arthur Hastings, a graduate of the History Department of the University of London who considers himself a Russian cultural researcher, prefers the latter.

After all, the ancient bathing method of sauna originated in Scandinavia and Russia, and spread to all parts of Europe through Germany.

In order to meet the needs of sauna bathing, most Russian bathhouses were built of wood, heated by charcoal or stoves, and steam entered the bathroom through a special wooden channel. During the reign of Peter the Great, Russia's traditional bathhouses also became part of the Westernization reform. The wooden structure was gradually replaced by a brick and stone structure. Bathhouses in major cities such as St. Petersburg and Moscow were also divided from the early extensive management into several main functional areas: lobby, bathroom, lounge and dressing room.

In order to highlight Russia's status as the successor to Rome, Peter the Great also encouraged Russian nobles and upper-class people to use baths regularly.

To this end, Peter the Great, as the Tsar, naturally had to lead by example and play a leading role.

Whenever he has a little free time, he would go to the bathhouse to take a bath and then have a barbecue.

Sometimes, Peter the Great would invite relatives, friends and important figures in the court to take a bath together, chat and relax with his ministers in the bathhouse, and even listen to state affairs reports in the bathhouse.

Therefore, bathing in the same pool of water with the Tsar naturally became a very prestigious honor.

It was from Peter the Great that the bathhouse culture, which was once considered unpresentable, gradually became a fashion among court nobles.

As the nationwide urbanization reform initiated by Catherine the Great progressed, the number of cities in Russia increased dramatically, and bathhouse culture became more popular with the establishment of new cities and penetrated into all levels of Russian society.

After entering the 19th century, whether in cities or villages, whether farmers, workers or urban residents, the old and the young in every household would go to the bathhouse regularly. Community members would often bathe together and discuss daily matters. The bathhouse has become an important part of Russian family life.

As the old saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Although Russia is not Rome, it regards itself as the Third Rome after all. Arthur naturally adapts to the local customs. In St. Petersburg, he intends to do like a St. Petersburger.

The bathhouse was filled with the scent of hot steam and charcoal, while the flickering of the fire and the sound of dripping water intertwined into an ancient melody.

Steam slowly rises from the stove, and a mist-like fog covers the entire bathroom. The air is filled with the fragrance of moisture and grass, and the smell of wood and moisture mix into a unique fishy and sweet feeling.

In the bathroom, on the long bench facing the door sat two guests whose faces were flushed from being steamed. Their faces were moisturized by the steam, their skin was rosy, and the sweat on their foreheads quickly dissolved under the nourishment of the steam, turning into drops of water that slowly slid down, and their slightly panting chests kept rising and falling in the warm air.

A young man in a gray linen bathrobe pushed open the wooden door of the bathroom, holding a bundle of freshly soaked birch branches in his hand. He was the bath attendant here.

The young man looked at the gradually thinning steam in the bathroom, and without saying much, he just squatted down, dipped the bath stick made of birch branches into the hot water beside the stove, and shook it gently.

All you can hear is the bath stick making a slight "hissing" sound in the water and emitting a faint woody scent.

Then, he tapped the water surface with his hand, splashing the hot water into the corner of the bathroom. In an instant, the thin steam suddenly became several times thicker.

"Come on, come on, relax."

Arthur sat on the bench. He looked like a steamed lobster. "What's this for?"

Gogol, who was sitting next to him, muttered, "Don't English baths have bathing sticks?"

“We don’t even have a bathhouse there.”

Gogol suddenly realized, then waved to the bath attendant and said, "Let's start with me. My friend has never enjoyed a bath stick massage, so he may not be able to accept it."

Under Arthur's gaze, the bath attendant walked around behind Gogol and gently patted his back with a softened bath stick.

Arthur finally understood and said, "So that's it. We have this thing in London too, but the material we use for bath sticks there is different from that in Petersburg."

Gogol squinted his eyes and asked while enjoying it: "You mean the nine-tailed whip?"

"How did you know?"

"Humph..." Gogol said proudly, opening his eyes. "I'm not an ordinary little Russian. I told you long ago that I've read a lot of British literature, mainly Shakespeare. He's my favorite playwright. But besides Shakespeare, I've read a lot of others. For example, the cat-nine-tails whip is something I saw in The Mysteries of Hastings. You Brits are really a bunch of weirdos. You actually pay to be whipped by a lady wearing nothing but black stockings."

The culprit who accidentally exported the wrong British culture had to be honest when he heard this: "I remember I clearly pointed out in the book: that is only a small number of people, not all. Besides, you think of Britain like this because you have never been to Paris. Don't you know that there are many semi-nude theaters in Paris that provide performances for the audience and charge a reasonable fee? In my opinion, the whip culture was probably brought to London by the French."

"Ha, then it seems that you and the French cultural counselor have something to argue about." Gogol laughed so hard that he fell backwards. Then he paused, turned his head and stared at Arthur and asked, "Wait, you said that you wrote The Hastings Mysteries?"

"Why? Do you have to wait for me to take you to London for a beating before you believe me? What do you think my last name is? Where did my title of cultural counselor come from?" "Arthur Hastings? The Hastings Mysteries?" Gogol said in surprise: "Oh my God! Are you really that Arthur Sigmar?"

At this point, Gogol could not help but feel a little jealous: "I really envy you. Your inspiration is like a fountain. You have published one Hastings Mysteries after another. Don't you ever get stuck on ideas?"

"Sometimes," Arthur answered honestly, "but that book is not the work of me alone. I also have a chatty assistant. He is the kind of extremely boring guy who always has endless stories to tell you. Many of my ideas were provided by him. For example, the latest book in the Detective Collection, The Resurrection of King Solomon, is his masterpiece of inspiration."

"Ah...it seems that you have really become famous. Not only have you lived a rich life with your royalties and can afford assistants, but you have also used your talent to get the position of cultural counselor. As for me, although I have made a little money, it is very difficult for me to get a position as an associate professor."

Arthur smiled and replied, "Don't you know Zhukovsky and Pushkin? Didn't you ask them for help? One of them is the teacher of the crown prince, and the other is a national poet praised by all of Russia. If they are willing to open their mouths, everything will surely fall into place."

Gogol complained: "It would be great if that were the case. Zhukovsky and Pushkin are both very famous, and they both love me very much. I asked them to write recommendation letters for me, and Dashkov and Bludov also pleaded for me. But the Kiev Inspector Bradkai refused to listen. He said that he could not give me the chair of world history now because he had not seen me produce a convincing monograph so far. I sent him the first and second volumes of the History of Little Russian Cossacks that I was writing, but this work, which was praised even by Education Minister Uvarov and Pushkin, seemed insignificant in his eyes."

Upon hearing this, Arthur pinched his chin and helped him analyze: "In my opinion, this situation does not seem optimistic..."

Gogol quickly asked: "What do you think?"

Arthur said, "Normally, the Minister of Education thinks you are qualified for the position, and there are so many celebrities in the cultural world speaking well of you. The Kiev Inspector gave you the position of associate professor, and so many people would remember his favor. However, he didn't want this benefit that was delivered to his door. So, there is only one possibility left."

"What's the possibility?"

Arthur explained based on his experience: "The position you want may have been reserved by someone else. But because Zhukovsky and Pushkin wrote a letter to the Kiev Inspector, he didn't want to offend them directly, so he could only keep you hanging for now. When everyone forgets about it, you will naturally be out. You only think that you are qualified for this position and try your best to show your ability to the Inspector. This is a wrong path from the very beginning."

Read more latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

At this point, Arthur did not forget to teach Gogol a lesson: "You said before that you had worked in the Russian Land Office, but you really don't know the ins and outs of this office at all."

"what……"

Gogol was enlightened by Arthur and suddenly came back to his senses: "This... Well, although I did work in the Land and Resources Office, how can I say about me... There are very few things I have persisted in my life. I just lived one day at a time in the office. In my spare time, I studied writing and painting with my classmates... However, this does not mean that I am useless. I just don't have much interest in being an official. You know, you can't make much money in the office. If you want to become rich and powerful by working in the office, you will inevitably do some unscrupulous things. I really can't do those things."

Arthur just joked: "If you can't continue working, you can be transferred to a women's college to teach? If that's the case, then the Russian government is more humane than the British government."

Gogol rolled his eyes. "It's not that easy. You're only thinking about good things. You don't know, just to get out of the government office, I came up with an idea. I claimed that I had hemorrhoids and believed that it was a very dangerous disease that only God knew. But later I found out that there was no one in St. Petersburg who didn't have hemorrhoids. But not long after, perhaps because God wanted to punish me for lying, I really got hemorrhoids.

Doctors advised me not to sit still all the time. Although my hemorrhoids made me uncomfortable, I was happy to have this opportunity to get rid of this insignificant public office. However, as you said, this insignificance is only for me, because others don't see it that way. God knows whether they will regard it as a great fortune to occupy the position left by me in the Land and Resources Office?

But I wanted to take another path, a more upright path, and I had more strength in my heart to take firm steps on this path. I submitted an application for transfer to my superiors, and also attached a diagnosis from my doctor, proving that I was no longer suitable for the post in the Land and Resources Office. It happened that the principal of the Women's College, Pletnyov, admired me very much, so he applied to the Queen, hoping to transfer me to his command to teach at the Noble Women's College.

However, please do not think that this matter is of great significance. All the benefits are that I am now a little famous, and my lectures will gradually make people talk about me. Another thing is that I have more free time. I no longer have to sit in the government office in pain all morning, and no longer have to work 42 hours a week. I only work six hours a week at the Women's College, but my salary has increased a little.

I no longer work in a stupid, useless job, whose menial trivialities always disgusted me, but now I work a job that makes my soul happy and wonderful. Although the Ekaterina Institute and two other schools were later merged into the Women's College, my working hours became 20 hours a week, but my salary also increased by more than four times. "

When Arthur heard this, he envied Gogol this time: "Oh my God! Did you only work six hours a week before? No wonder you want to get a job at Kiev University. You have tasted the sweetness of teaching. Although the position and power are not as prominent as those in the Ministry of Land and Resources, for someone like you who wants to have time to enjoy life, being a professor is obviously much more comfortable than being in the officialdom."

"Isn't it?" Gogol was obviously very satisfied with his teaching job. "Besides, this job at the Women's College can bring me greater fame. I have met many local ladies and celebrities in Petersburg here. I thought it was not easy to deal with them at first, but later I found that making friends with them is much easier than dealing with those cunning villains in the Land and Resources Office."

At this point, Gogol could not help but worry about his bleak future. The work at the Women's College was indeed good. If the school was not in Petersburg, he would even be willing to work here for the rest of his life. But the problem was that his hemorrhoids could no longer allow him to stay in this cold place. He longed to go to Kiev, to return to his hometown of Little Russia, to recuperate in that land of spring flowers and abundant products.

He muttered, "But what should I do? If you say so, even if I ask my friends in the Arkadia Literary Society for help, I'm afraid it won't be of much use."

"The Arkadia Literary Society? What is that?"

Arthur quickly grasped the key points of the words. Writers have always been sensitive to changes in words and phrases, while a secret policeman is always interested in various associations and can't wait to get in.

Gogol was still struggling with his future, and the little Russian replied distractedly: "Nothing, just a literary group founded by Zhukovsky and Pushkin. Shevilev, Chaldayev, Dmitriev, Lvovich, Aksakov, etc., all of them are members of Arkady."

"Hmm..." Arthur pondered these names in his mind: "They are all famous! If you don't mind, can you introduce me to someone? You know, I'm the cultural counselor of the United Kingdom, and I've always been interested in the Russian cultural circle. Of course, I won't let you work in vain. If you help me, I'll help you. Although I can't say anything about the Kiev Inspector, if you can directly put pressure on him through the Minister of Education Uvarov, you may still have a chance to become an associate professor."

Gogol thought Arthur was joking: "If I could get Uvarov to put pressure on the inspector, I wouldn't have to be here to amuse you."

Arthur assured Gogol confidently, "Don't worry. I didn't say I have no solution. At the end of next month, I will participate in a cultural exchange event. Your country's Minister of Education Uvarov will also attend the event. If you can finish writing the book "History of Little Russian Cossacks" before then, I will give you a chance to show your face in front of the Minister of Education."

"What chance? Are you going to take my book and recommend it to the Minister of Education?"

"It's more than just a recommendation." Arthur coughed. "I also plan to tell him that your book is amazing and will be published in the UK soon."

(End of this chapter)