dead souls, imperial envoy

Chapter 20 Dead Souls (20)
It cannot be said that all the ladies have this penchant for self-effacement, but in many drawing-rooms there is talk that Chichikov is certainly not a handsome man, but that is what a man should be, if he is stronger. Or a little fatter, it will be a fly in the ointment.Having said that, he slightly belittled the skinny men, saying that they were like toothpicks and had no personal appearance.The ladies' makeup has also been updated with new tricks.The business district was crowded and bustling; all kinds of fragrant horses came, and it was as lively as a garden party.The merchants were very surprised: the few pieces of clothing they brought from the market had been unable to sell because of the high price, but now they suddenly became popular and were sold out.Once during a prayer, a lady hooped such a large pannier under her skirt that it filled about half the church, so that the sheriff present had to make people stand a little farther away, that is to say, stand aside. place, so as not to inadvertently wrinkle the lady's skirt.Even Chichikov himself could not fail to notice some extraordinary attention.One day, when he returned to the hotel, he saw a letter on the table: who wrote it, who sent it, and could not find out anything.The waiter in the shop just said that someone sent it, but the visitor refused to say who sent it.The tone at the beginning of the letter is very persistent, and the words are written like this: "No, I must write to you!" Then there is a mysterious resonance between two hearts; immediately after this truth What's more is a series of small dots, almost occupying half a line, to strengthen the mysterious feeling.Here are a few more points of view that are particularly correct, and we think it is necessary to record them: "What is human life?——a valley inhabited by sorrow. What is the world?——It is the insensitive mortal beings." Then the writer said She is now crying like rain, soaking these two mottos left by her loving mother who passed away 25 years ago.In the letter, Chichikov was invited to leave the city forever and live in seclusion in the desert, saying that people in the city lived in seclusion within the high walls and could hardly breathe air.The letter ends somewhat pessimistically with the following quatrain:
Qi Qi two turtle doves,
lead you to the grave,
He complained to the king:
Yi died of worry.

The last line is off-beat, but that's okay—the letter was written in the style of the time.No inscription was left: neither a signature nor a surname, not even a date.The letter ended only with a "postscript," saying that he should be able to guess the writer, who would appear at the Prefect's ball tomorrow.This letter aroused Chichikov's great interest.The anonymous letter had many attractions and aroused curiosity, so he read the letter over and over again, so that he read it three times in a row, and finally said: "It would be interesting to find out who wrote the letter!"

In a word, the matter seemed a little serious. He thought about it for more than an hour, and finally spread his hands, lowered his head and said, "The letter is really delicious!" Finally, we should know that the letter was rolled up and put away. In the little mahogany box, next to the poster and a wedding invitation—the invitation had been there in one pose for seven years.Not long after, someone sent an invitation to the prefect to hold a ball.In the provincial capital, it is very common for the governor to hold a ball: wherever the governor goes, he must hold a dance there, otherwise he will not get the love and respect due to the nobles.Immediately Chichikov put aside all irrelevant matters, put them into the back of his mind, and devoted all his energy to the preparations for the ball; for indeed there were many tantalizing factors that led him to do so.As a result, perhaps no one in history has spent so much time grooming.Just looking at my face in the mirror is a whole hour.He tried to make different expressions on his face: for a while he was reserved and solemn, for a while he was humble with a slight smile, and for a while he was humble but without a smile; He also grunted and made some French-like sounds. Chichikov didn't speak French at all.He also made many happy grimaces for himself in the mirror: he raised his eyebrows, pouted his lips, and even smacked his tongue; in a word, he felt pretty handsome when he was alone in a room, and he confirmed that No one would peep through the door, and there was nothing he couldn't do.At last, he flicked his chin a little, said "Oh, your little face!" and began to dress at last.Throughout the process of getting dressed, he was in high spirits and was very happy; he tied his suspenders and tie; he tapped the heels of his shoes very neatly and bowed, and although he couldn't dance, he jumped up , made a dance move of two feet kicking each other in the air.This action had a small, innocuous consequence: the chest of drawers shuddered, and a brush was knocked from the table to the floor.As soon as he appeared at the ball, he caused an unusual sensation.All the people present rushed towards him, some with cards in their hands, some in the middle of a conversation, and just said: "The answer of the lower court to this point is..." The answer was thrown out of the sky, and I rushed over to say hello to our protagonist. "Pavel Ivanovich!" "Oh, my God, it's Pavel Ivanovich!" "Dearest Pavel Ivanovich!" "Dearest Pavel Ivanovich!" Ivanovich!" "My dear, Pavel Ivanovich!" "You are here, Pavel Ivanovich!" "It was our Pavel Ivanovich!" Vitch!" "Let me hug you, Pavel Ivanovich!" "Give him to me, and I will kiss my dear Pavel Ivanovich!" Chichikov thought Several people hugged him at the same time.Before he was completely free from the arms of the Minister of Civil Affairs, he was in the arms of the Chief of Police; the Chief of Police handed him over to the Medical Inspector; the Inspector passed him on to the Taxpayer; I asked the urban planner... The governor was standing next to the ladies at this time, holding a candy lottery ticket in one hand and a cute poodle in the other. When he saw Chichikov, the candy The lottery ticket and the poodle fell to the ground together—the poodle whimpered pitifully; in a word, Chichikov's arrival brought great joy to everyone.The faces of all the people were cheerful, or at least reflected the general cheerfulness.It was like the usual expression on the faces of subordinate officials when a senior official inspected the government office under his control: After the initial shock, the officials saw that many things were approved by the senior officials, so that the senior officials even opened their mouths and made a joke. That is to say, when he said something with a smile on his face, the confidant officials who surrounded him laughed twice as much; the officials who stood a lot away from the chief and could not hear his jokes clearly Laughed from the bottom of his heart; finally, even the policeman standing at the far door, who was born without a smile, and raised his fist to the common people just now, obeyed the eternal law of reflex, and put a smile on his face , although this smile is more like sneezing after sniffing strong snuff.It is said that our protagonist greets everyone frequently, with a free and easy manner. From time to time, he tilts his head slightly according to his own habits, bows left and right to salute, but he is so natural and decent that everyone is fascinated by it.Immediately the ladies surrounded him, bringing with them clouds of fragrant scents: some smelled of roses, some of spring and violets, and some of osmanthus.Chichikov just stretched his nose and sniffed.Ladies also dress in a variety of styles: velvet, satin, and silk are all fashionable and elegant tones, and the elegant color classification is simply unrecognizable (the aesthetic sophistication has reached such a level).Knots and bouquets fluttered in a variety of ways on the clothes, which seemed to be a mess, but were actually masterpieces of delicate minds.The hat was held lightly by the ears, as if to say: "Hey, I'm going to fly, I'm afraid I can't take the beauty with me!" , the wives in N City are all a bit fat, but their waists are so well girdled, and their manners are so elegant, so it is absolutely not obvious that they are fat).All the clothes on their bodies are well thought out and carefully designed; the neck and shoulders only reveal the parts that need to be exposed, but never less; each of them exposes their territory so confidently that it can be ecstasy; The rest is subtly concealed: a soft streamer or a veil softer than a pastry called "Sweet Kiss" floats vaguely around the neck, or peeps out from under the shoulders of the shirt. A ring of fine linen yarn as thin as a cicada's wings is called "Xianya" tooth-shaped lace.These "elegants" can not only cover up the places that cannot make people ecstasy, but the result of the cover-up can just make people think about it, and feel that the places that make people ecstasy are there.The long gloves are not pulled all the way to the short cuffs, but the provocative part of the arm above the elbow is deliberately exposed; many wives have this part of the jade arm, which is delicate and plump, which is fascinating; The lambskin gloves even unraveled because they wanted to pull them up a little more—in a word, everything here seemed to say: No, this is not the provincial capital, this is the capital, this is Paris!It's just that sometimes a rare hair-pressing hat that covers the head tightly appears suddenly, and even a feather that looks like a peacock's feather sticks out. This kind of dress is not fashionable, it is completely original .However, this is always unavoidable, and the characteristics of provincial capitals are like this: there will always be flaws somewhere.Chichikov pondered in front of the ladies: "Who is the letter writer?" Just as he stretched his nose forward, a row of elbows, turned-up sleeves, cuffs, streamer corners, fragrant blouses and skirts just past his nose.Among those galloping at full gallop were the postmaster's wife, the county sheriff, the lady with the blue plume, the lady with the white plume, the Georgian prince Kipkhilidev, a Petersburg Officials, an official from Moscow, the Frenchman Kuku, Perkhonovsky, Berebendovsky—all joined in the dance...

"Oh, the whole provincial capital is in motion!" said Chichikov, avoiding the crowd.When the ladies were seated, he observed carefully again, to see if he could recognize the writer by the expression and the eyes; but neither the expression nor the eyes could tell who was the writer.Everything you see is indistinct, subtle and intangible, oh, how subtle! ... "No," Chichikov said in his heart, "women are such a thing..." He even shook his hand at this point, "I didn't say anything! If you don't believe me, try to describe it or describe it. Just look at the ever-changing delicacy of their faces, and you'll be speechless. Their eyes alone are a land of mystery, into which one sinks and disappears! Whether with a hook Still can’t drag him out with anything else. Let’s not talk about anything else, you might as well describe their glances: watery, velvety, honey-like. There are all kinds of eyes There are tender ones, cold ones, limp ones, or, as some people say, affectionate ones and unemotional ones; but the unemotional ones are worse than the passionate ones: once Let it take hold of the heart, and it will play over your whole soul like a violin bow. No, there's no word for them at all: there's no other word but bitch."

sin!An unrefined word seems to come out of our hero's mouth.But what can I do?Such is the situation of the writer here!But it's not the author's fault that unrefined foul language gets into the book, it's the fault of the readers, first of all the upper-class readers: you won't hear a single decent Russian from them, they Use French, German, and British, too many to bear, and even learn all kinds of foreign flavors: when speaking French, you bite your tongue with a nasal sound; They sing like birds, and they have to look like birds, and they even laugh at those who don't look like birds; A small house with a Russian taste.So are the readers of the upper class and those who think they are upper class!But their requirements are so harsh!They firmly demand that everything be expressed in the most rigorous, purest, and most elegant language. In this way, they hope that the perfectly processed Russian language will fall from the clouds by itself and fall on the tip of their tongues. Just open your mouth and spit it out.The female half of humanity is, of course, queer; but, it must be admitted, the venerable reader is sometimes even stranger.Chichikov was at a loss as to which wife the letter was written by.He tried to cast a more attentive look, and seeing an expression on the other side of the ladies conveying hope and sweet torment to his poor mortal heart, he was obliged to say: "No The method, how can I not guess it!"

However, this does not hinder his happy mood at this moment.Now he chatted cheerfully with the ladies with ease and ease, now he took small steps, or, as people usually say, he walked up to this lady or that lady--those who were very agile. These are the little steps that are usually taken by the fashionable little old men in high-heeled shoes who circle the ladies.Chichikov was taking small steps, circling left and right smartly, each time he had to tap his heels first to stop—the movement of his little feet was like a short rope dragging on the ground. Little tail, or like hitting a comma.The ladies were very pleased, not only to find a great deal of loveliness in him, but even to find in his face a majestic, even heroic look, which women, as we all know, are very fond of.The ladies were almost on the verge of a quarrel about him: some of the ladies, seeing that he liked to stand near the door, rushed to grab the chair near the door, and one lady got there first, and at last nearly caused a commotion. There was an uproar, and in the eyes of many ladies staring at this position, her rude behavior was a bit too indecent.Chichikov was preoccupied with being courteous to the ladies, or more precisely, the wives were making him dizzy with their witticisms and enthusiasm for him (these words were full of deep metaphors, which had to be worked out Beads of sweat dripped from his brow again at every word), so that he forgot that he should pay his respects to the hostess according to etiquette.He didn't think of what he should have done until he heard the voice of the governor's wife, but the governor's wife had been standing beside him for several minutes.The governor's wife shook her head gracefully, and said in a soft and shrewd voice: "Oh, Pavel Ivanovich, so you are here! . . . " I cannot express exactly what the governor's wife said, but She said it very sweetly, in the tone of those upper-class writers who love to describe the elegant social activities in the drawing room and love to show off their knowledge in this regard. My heart has been completely captured by others, and there is no small place left - just the smallest corner - to accommodate the people you have ruthlessly forgotten."

Our hero turned immediately, and was about to answer—perhaps as well as the Zvonskys, Linskis, Ligins, Gremins, and all sorts of clever soldiers in fashionable novels, But inadvertently raised his eyes, he suddenly stopped inexplicably, as if he had been hit by a club.It turned out that the governor’s wife was not alone in front of him: she also pulled a young girl in her late twenties, with delicate blond hair, delicate eyebrows, a slightly pointed chin, and a fascinating duck-egg face,— This kind of appearance will be used by painters as models for the painting of the Madonna. This kind of appearance is rare in Russia. There are mountains, forests, grasslands, faces, and lips. , feet, everything grows bigger.This girl was the one he met when Uncle Mijay and Uncle Minay helped solve the problem when two carts collided miraculously because of the confusion of the driver or the horse when he was leaving Nozdryov's house. Goldilocks.Chichikov was so surprised that he couldn't say a good word for a while, God knows what he muttered, and whether it was Gremin, Zowonsky or Likin, they would definitely disdain him for comparison. . "You haven't seen my daughter yet, have you?" said the governor's wife, "a recent graduate from the girls' boarding school."

(End of this chapter)