dead souls, imperial envoy

Chapter 34 Dead Souls (34)
Of course, young people have a future and grow rapidly.As graduation approached, his heart beat with excitement.He said to himself, "This isn't real life; it's just a preparation for life; the real life is in future service positions. That's where you can make your mark." After graduating, he didn't bother to admit any visitor there. They all took a look at the beautiful homeland in amazement, and did not go to the grave to say goodbye to their parents. They went to Petersburg like those motivated young people.It is well known that our country's aspiring young people come from all over to Petersburg, to work there, to rise to the top, to rise to the top, or to pick up a little bit of life skills from a pale, indifferent, hypocritical society.However, Tentetnikov's ambitions were initially thwarted by his uncle, Onufri Ivanovich, a senior officer.His uncle told him that the most important thing is to write well, and nothing else is useful; without this ability, one cannot be a minister or a high-ranking official.But Tentetnikov, as the saying goes: "It was written by the claws of magpies, not by human hands."

It took a lot of effort to find a place to work. After practicing calligraphy for two months, relying on his uncle's face, he finally got a job transcribing official documents in a certain bureau.He walked into the bright office hall, where people were drafting papers with their heads tilted at the shiny desks.When he was placed at a desk and asked to transcribe a manuscript immediately, he had a very strange feeling in his heart.In an instant, he felt as if he had returned to primary school to learn the alphabet from the beginning, as if he had made a mistake and returned from a senior grade to a lower grade.He felt that the gentlemen around him who were writing manuscripts were also like some elementary school students!Some gentlemen put a novel between the large official documents they handed over, and read it secretly as if they were working, and when the boss showed up, he would tremble with fright.The student days that suddenly appeared in his mind, it was really a golden age that never came back.Learning in school suddenly became sublime for such trivial copying.Now he feels that the process of learning to do things is greater than doing things.His incomparable, irreplaceable, miraculous teacher Aleksandr Petrovich came vividly before his eyes—and tears soon flowed down his cheeks.The office began to rotate, and the desk shook, and the officials became a mess in his eyes, and his eyes darkened and he almost fainted.Fortunately, he woke up and made up his mind: "I can't do this anymore, no matter how humble this job looks at first, I have to do it!" He secretly gritted his teeth and made up his mind to continue.But where would there be no fun?Petersburg has fun too, even with its grim, gloomy exterior.The weather on the street was minus [-] degrees; the north wind roared, and the snow fell in the sky. The pedestrians turned up the collars of their coats, and the beards and the faces of the horses seemed to be sprinkled with salt grains.But there is a place, though on the fourth floor, where a friendly light shines from a window: in that cozy room, where the candles flicker, the samovar murmurs, and warming words flow from the lips of the people, chanting A young heart beats with a sublime passion, not even in the charming South, through the beautiful lines of an inspired poet God has given to Russia.

Tentetnikov soon got used to the errands, but the errands did not become his primary career and goal, as he had initially decided, but remained in a secondary position.Going to work has become the boundary of his time, and now he cherishes the time after get off work even more.His fourth-rank official uncle already thought that his nephew would be promising now, but his nephew made a big mistake at this time.Here it must be said that among the friends of Tentetnikov were two cynics.They are always nosy: not only about what is really unfair, but also about what seems unfair to them.Although their original intentions are good, they lack consideration in their words and actions, and they are unwilling to forgive others in the slightest.Their biased remarks and cynical gestures of righteousness deeply affected Tentetnikov.They sparked his resentment, made him think of little things he hadn't noticed before.Lenitsyn, the head of the section he was in, was a very lovable person on the outside, and Tentetnikov suddenly felt that he was disgusting.In him Tentetnikov found innumerable faults.He felt that the smile on Lenitsyn's face when he was talking to his boss was as sweet as honey, but it immediately turned into a disgusting sour vinegar in front of his subordinates.Tentetnikov said: "I could have tolerated him, if the expression on his face hadn't changed so quickly; but in front of me it was both sweet and vinegary at the same time, I couldn't bear it!" , he began to pay attention to him in everything.He felt that Lenitzyn's arrogance was a bit big, and he also had all kinds of problems that small bureaucrats usually have, for example: hating those who did not come to his house to congratulate them on festivals, and even taking revenge on those who did not come to his concierge The people whose names appear on the list; and of course some of the sins that are inevitable for both good and bad.For all this Tentetnikov hated him terribly.It was like being pushed by a demon to make Lenitsyn unhappy.He looked for such an opportunity with a special pleasure, and at last he took it.Once, he had a violent quarrel with Lenitsyn, and as a result, his boss announced to him-either ask for forgiveness in person, or submit his resignation.He submitted his resignation.

His uncle, the fourth-rank official, was shocked and ran to persuade him. "For God's sake! Forget it, Andrei, what are you doing? Just giving up a good job at the beginning because the boss is not ideal... How can this work? If you care about this, then there is no one who does things Be smart, be smart. There is still time! Don't be stubborn, go and explain to him!"

"That's not the problem, uncle," said the nephew. "It's not hard for me to beg his mercy, and it's really my fault. He's the boss, and I shouldn't talk to him like that anyway. But the question is: how do you Forget that I have other things to do? I have three hundred serfs and a huge family business, but the general manager is a fool. The country has no great loss if another person in the office transcribes for me; but if three hundred people If I don’t pay taxes, the country will lose a lot. I am a landlord, and the title of landlord is not insignificant. If I take good care of and protect my slaves, let them have a good working environment, and let the country get three hundred regulations. A well-behaved, non-drinking, capable subject—how can I do worse than the section chief Lenitsyn?"

His uncle was stunned.He didn't expect his nephew to say such a high-level argument eloquently.He thought for a while and said, "But...but...how can you let yourself be in the basil? How can you talk about making friends with the country people? Here, you will always be on the road. I met a duke, a general. If you want, you can also walk in front of those beautiful public buildings, you can go to the Neva River to have a look, but in the countryside, what you see is either peasants or stupid people. Mother-in-law, how can I let myself become ignorant all my life?"

Uncle, that is to say, the fourth-rank official, although he said so, he has never had time to patronize other streets except for the street where there are no beautiful public buildings on his way to work; Whether it was a general or a duke; he had never experienced the whimsical amusements that fascinate the pleasure-loving capital, and he had never even been in the theatre.He just said this to motivate his nephew to move forward and have a vision for the future.But his words had no effect: Tentetnikov remained firm.He was already tired of the government office and the capital city.The country at this time has become in his mind an unrestrained paradise, a good place for deep research, a good place for useful activities.Two weeks later, he was back near where his childhood had been.When he felt that he was approaching the village where his ancestors lived for generations, the past events came up clearly one by one, and his heart beat excitedly!
He had already forgotten many places, and he greedily looked at the beautiful scenery around him like a first-time visitor.When the road passed through the narrow valley and plunged into a large dense forest, there were 300-year-old oak trees that could be hugged by three people on the left and right in front of his eyes. There were firs, elms and black poplars taller than poplars among the oak trees. When he asked: "Whose family is this wood?" They said to him: "It belongs to the Tentetnikovs." When he came out of the woods, he crossed the pasture, passed poplar groves, willow groves, wicker groves, When two bridges in different places crossed the same river, leaving the river on the right for a while, and leaving the river on the left for a while, he asked: "Whose pasture is this?" River beach?" He was answered: "It belongs to the Tentetnikovs." When the carriage climbed up the hill, it drove on the open hilltop, with unharvested wheat, rye, and barley on one side and The place I just walked through suddenly reappeared as a beautiful and picturesque distance. When the light is getting darker, the green shade is covered above the head, the roadside is full of green grass, and the number of villages is gradually increasing. When the bright log farmhouse and the red roof of the master's mansion began to be revealed, the excited heart no longer knew where it was without asking. He shouted: "Hey, was I stupid before? Fate made me the master and prince of this paradise on earth, why should I force myself to be a scribe in the office to enslave myself! I have finished my education and mastered the necessary To do good things for the people under my charge, to improve the condition of a place, to fulfill the various duties of a landowner as judge, magistrate, and security guard, I have put it on a befuddled steward. , What is my own choice? Copying and writing can be impeccable even for an uneducated Qiu Ba!"

Tentetnikov also called himself a "bastard".But the bastard was unexpectedly warmly welcomed.When the villagers heard that the master had come back, they immediately crowded the gate of the host's house.Shawls, scarves, headscarves, tweed jackets, mustaches, beards, goatees, fiery red beards, silver white beards, and hazel beards of various colors crowded the open space at the gate.The farmers shouted: "The benefactor who nurtured us, you are finally back!" The women were so excited that they wept and shouted: "Master, our master!" The people in the distance even raised their hands to squeeze in. Come.An old woman, as shriveled as a dried pear, emerged from the crowd, walked up to him, clapped her hands together, and shouted in a shrill voice: "You little slug, how thin are you?" Lah! You're worn out by that damned German woman!" At once the mustaches, whiskers, and goatees shouted to her: "Go away, old man! Where have you been, ugly woman!" At this moment Someone added that Russian peasants would not laugh when they heard this sentence.The master couldn't help laughing, he was indeed deeply moved in his heart.He thought: "What a deep affection! For what? Because I have never seen them, never cared about them! I swear, I will share your tiredness and hardships from now on! I will do my best to let you Live the life you should live, repay your kind nature, never let down your true feelings, and be a real person who nurtures you!"

After that, Tentetnikov began to manage the family business carefully.Through the on-site investigation, he saw that the bastard manager was too wordy and had all the characteristics of the bastard manager, that is to say, he could clearly remember the hens and eggs, yarn and linen handed over by the peasant woman, but he could clearly remember the harvesting and sowing. He didn't know anything about the situation, and he always suspected that the farmers would entrap him.He drove out the stupid manager and replaced him with a smart and capable new manager.He put aside the trivial matters, and put his mind on the big things, reducing labor, reducing the days when the serfs worked for their masters, and increasing the time they worked for themselves, thinking that the situation in the future would definitely get better without saying a word.He was in everything himself; in the field, in the threshing floor, in the drying room, in the mill, on the docks, in loading and launching ships, he was everywhere. "Look, he's a hard-working man!" said the peasants, even scratching the backs of their heads, for they had grown lazy under the old overseer's long and lady-like management.But this situation did not last long.Russian farmers are cunning, and they quickly saw through: Although the master seems to be clever, and he is also interested in catching things, but he still doesn't understand anything about how to catch things. Do not curse.But I don't know why the master and the farmer—it can't be said that they didn't understand each other—they couldn't sing together, and couldn't sing a tune in harmony with each other.Tentetnikov began to see that the crops on his own fields did not grow as well as those on the serfs' fields.It was planted early, but Ya'er was not very willing to smoke it.As for the work, it seems to be doing well-he once visited the scene in person, and in order to express his condolences to the farmers for their hard work, he also asked each of them to give a glass of vodka.In the farmer's field, the rye has already headed, the oats have already matured, and the millet has already tillered, but the crops in his field have not yet headed, and the ears have not yet been filled.In a word, the master felt that although the peasants had benefited, they were deceiving him.Just as he was about to scold them, a voice came: "Master, how can we not work hard for our master! You have seen with your own eyes how much effort we put in when we plowed, and you have rewarded us every day." A glass of vodka." What could be said of such a reply?
If the master had to ask: "Then why the crops in my field are not growing well?" "Who knows? There must be bugs biting the roots down there. And this year, it hasn't rained at all." But the master sees It's rare that insects bite the crops in the serf's field, and it's strange that the rain will pick places, and it only falls on the serf's field, and not a drop falls on the master's field.He felt that peasant women were more difficult to manage.They often say that the labor is too heavy and they need to do less work.strangeness!
He waived all the weaving, fruit, mushrooms, and hazelnuts that were supposed to be handed over, and he halved the others, so that they could have time to do housework, sew for themselves at home, and spend more time in the vegetable garden. Plant some vegetables to make your home better.But what about the consequences, things backfired!Laziness, fighting, provocative gossip, and quarrels gradually became prevalent among these women, so that the husbands had to come to the master and say: "Master, take care of these crazy women! They are demons! People can't help it." Got to work!"

On several occasions, he would have been cruel to them and disciplined them severely.But how to discipline them?Look at the way the mother-in-law looked when she came to see him: humming, sick, wearing some unbearable rags that I didn't know where to find.Poor Tentetnikov could only say: "Get away, get away from me!"

But soon he will be lucky enough to see that sick woman start fighting with her neighbor for a handful of turnips as soon as she goes out, almost breaking the ribs of the neighbor, even a strong man may not be able to Hurt people like that.Better not to have thought of a school for the peasants, and ended up ashamed and dejected!All this has greatly reduced his enthusiasm for managing the family business, mediating disputes, and indeed all activities.When the serfs were working, although he was there to supervise, his heart was not there: his heart had flown far away, leaving his eyes to look around.As he mowed, he did not see sixty scythes swinging rapidly together, and the tall pasture fell to the ground with a brisk, rhythmic rustle with the swing of the scythes; By the river, there was a red-nosed, red-legged tern holding a caught fish across the bank. While it seemed to be thinking whether to swallow it or not, while looking into the distance along the river, there was also a tern. The gull, the tern hadn't caught the fish yet, was watching the tern motionless with the fish in its mouth.When harvesting, he didn't care whether the crops were stacked in round stacks, cross stacks, or casually piled up in pointed piles.He didn't care whether the serfs were lazy or working hard to stack the crops.He narrowed his eyes, raised his head high, used his nose to smell the freshness of the field, and let his ears listen to the singing of the birds.The singing of the birds from the sky, from the ground, and from all directions harmonize to form a melodious chorus.The long-legged crake dragged its long voice in the grass and quacked, a group of red-breasted red-crowned sparrows flew overhead, and the larks chirped along the invisible steps in the sky.White cranes lined up high in the sky and let out long chirps as clear as horns.When working nearby, he hides in the distance; when working at a distance, his eyes look around for a landing point.Like a sneaky student, while reading a book, he is still watching the contemptuous gestures made by his classmates.

(End of this chapter)