dead souls, imperial envoy

Chapter 38 Dead Souls (38)
Is this the instinct of animals?Still oppressed by humble desires, the soul that was precariously sent out a weak cry for help to this insensitive body through dirty behavior: "Brother, come and save me!" feel pain. "I don't know," Ulinka said, slowly removing her hand from her face, "I just feel irritated."

"But you mustn't be angry with us," said the general, "we've done nothing wrong. Now give me a kiss and go back to your room. I'm going to change my clothes and go to lunch." You," said the general, turning suddenly to Chichikov, "will you stay for lunch?"

"Just my lord..."

"You're welcome. There's vegetable soup for you!"

Chichikov gracefully lowered his head slightly to express his thanks, and when he raised his head again, Ulinka had already gone out.Where she had stood now stood a tall, bearded servant, who held a silver basin in one hand and a wash-jug in the other. "You don't mind if I change in front of you?" said the general, and he took off his civilian clothes, and at the same time rolled up the sleeves of his shirt on his strong arms.

"My lord, you can not only change clothes in front of me, but also do whatever you want."

So the general began to wash his face, snorting and spraying water like a water duck.Mercury with soap foam splashed around the silver basin. "How do you say that?" He asked while wiping his thick neck from different directions, "You want us to look white and clean?..."

"It's to like our black and white appearance, my lord."

"You should like us when we are dark and not autumnal. Everyone loves us when we are white and clean. Good, very good!"

Chichikov was very happy.He suddenly became spiritually blessed. "Your Excellency!" Chichikov cried.

"what happened?"

"I have another story here."

"What kind of story?"

"It's also a ridiculous story, but I don't know why I can't laugh. Even, if my lord..."

"what happened?"

"It's like this, my lord!..." As he said, Chichikov glanced around, and after seeing the serving servant walking out with a washbasin, he continued: "My lord, I have an old man. He has about three hundred slaves, and he has no other heirs but me. He is too old to manage his estate himself, and yet he refuses to entrust it to me. He has For very strange reasons, he said: 'I don't know about my nephew, he may be a black sheep. Let him show me that he is a reliable man, let him get three hundred slaves himself first, and I will Give him my own three hundred slaves.'"

"What a confused person!"

"Your Excellency, what you said is quite correct. But now consider my situation..." Chichikov lowered his voice, as if about to tell a secret: "My Excellency, there is a housekeeper in the old man's house now, that housekeeper He has his own children. Maybe all the old man’s property will be given to them.”

"That fellow must be a fool," said the general, "but I don't know how I can help you now."

"I came up with such a method. Before the new registration of serfs is carried out, some big manor owners will have many dead slaves besides living slaves... For example, if you are willing to put your manor Give me all the dead slaves in the city as living slaves, and I can sign contracts, and I can show the documents to the old man. At that time, no matter how he circles around, he will have to hand over his inheritance to me in the end.”

Hearing this, the general burst out laughing like no one had ever laughed like this: laughing, he collapsed on the armchair with his head thrown back, almost out of breath.The whole family was startled.The servants came.The daughter also ran in and asked in a panic, "Dad, what's going on?"

"Oh, nothing, my friend. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Go back to your own room, and we'll have lunch in a minute. Ha, ha, ha!"

The general couldn't breathe from his laughter, and the laughter was interrupted a few times, but each time it burst out again with new strength, spreading from the corridor to the last room in the manor, resounding throughout the tall general's mansion .Chichikov sat on pins and needles waiting for the end of this unnatural laughter. "Hey, boy, I beg your pardon: it's a shame you've figured out such a little trick, ha, ha, ha! The old man's going to be entertained, and give him his dead slave; ha, ha, ha! Ha! Uncle! Uncle! What a trick the old fellow is getting! Ha, ha!"

Chichikov felt very embarrassed: the servants stood there dumbfounded. "My lord, your tears are forced by laughter," he said.

"Forgive me, boy! Oh, I'm laughing. I promised you half a million dead slaves, and see how you handed over the deeds to that old man. Hey, how's he, is he old?" How old is he this year?"

"80 years old, my lord. But this matter must not be publicized, I hope...so..." Chichikov thoughtfully looked at the general's face, and then at the servant next to him. . "Go out first. Come back later." The general said to the servant.The bearded servant went out. "My lord... this matter... my lord, I hope you can keep it a secret..."

"You don't need to say more about this, I can understand. This old guy! He still has such a foolish idea at the age of 80! How does he look? Is he very energetic? Can he still walk around?"

"It's possible to move around, but it takes a lot of effort."

"What a fool! Do you have any teeth?"

"There are two more, my lord."

"What an ass! Don't be angry, my boy... What an ass he is!"

"A jackass, my lord. And though he is my kin, and it pains me to realize it, he is a jackass."

But the reader will understand for himself that Chichikov does not suffer from this realization, especially since he never had any uncles in his life. "Then, my lord, if you are really willing to be so kind..."

"Give you dead slaves? I think for this good idea you came up with, I will give you them and where they live now! Take all those cemeteries too! Ha, ha, ha, ha !Old man, old man! Ha, ha, ha! What a trick to you! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

The general's unnatural laughter rang out again from all the rooms of his house.

beautiful sunset in three villages
"No, I will never plan my life like this," Chichikov murmured to himself as he drove to the suburbs again, "No, I will never plan my life like this. As long as God blesses me, I can succeed." If I become a real rich and rich man, I will immediately have a completely different lifestyle from the past: chef, mansion, servants, everything will be available, and the management of the manor will also be in order. Not only can I Guarantee the family's food and clothing, and save a sum of money every year to leave to future generations, of course, if God blesses my wife to have children..." He suddenly shouted: "Hey, you bastard!" Xie Lifan and Petrushka looked back from the driver's seat, and heard him ask: "Where are you thinking?"

"On your orders, of course, to Colonel Koshkarev's house, Pavel Ivanovitch," replied Serivan.

"Do you know the way to get there?"

"Pavel Ivanovich, you must have seen that I was busy with the carriage all the time, so ... I only saw the general's groom ... Petrushka asked the coachman."

"Bastard! I told you not to rely on Petrushka; Petrushka is a fool."

"There's nothing wrong with that!" Petrushka said, looking sideways at his master, "Now there's really no other way to go but go straight down the mountain."

"Aside from shochu, I shouldn't have eaten anything else? Maybe I haven't woken up yet?"

Petrushka just twisted his nose when he saw where the conversation was going.He originally wanted to say that he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, but he didn't know why he felt embarrassed. "It's very comfortable to travel in this carriage." Xie Lifan turned his head and said.

"What did you say?"

"Pavel Ivanovich, I'm just saying that you'll be traveling very comfortably in this four-wheeled buggy, which is better than the buggy we had before—not too jerky."

"Then drive away! No one wants to ask you this."

Selivan lashed the horse's round belly with a whip, and said to Petrushka: "Hey, I heard that Master Koshkarev made his peasants look like Germans; It's hard to tell from a distance, - walk like a German. The women don't wrap their heads with turbans as usual, or the shield-shaped hats that northern women wear, they wear the hoods that German women wear , you know, it’s a hood, that kind of hat is called a hood. A German hood. Hehe.”

"It would be nice if you came dressed as a German and put on a hood!" Petrushka said sarcastically to Serivan, and he laughed.But how ugly is that smiling face!It doesn't look like a smile at all, but looks like a patient with a cold who wants to sneeze but can't, but is about to sneeze.Chichikov wanted to see the expression on his face clearly, so he raised his head to look at his face and said to himself: "It should be very good-looking! I really think I am a handsome man!" Here must Let me say this: Chichikov still believed that Petrushka admired his appearance, while Petrushka often forgot whether he had a face or not. "Pavel Ivanovich, if Andrei Ivanovich will replace this piebald horse with a handsome horse," Selifan said, turning from the driver's seat, "He has some kind of friendship with you, so he shouldn't refuse you. This piebald horse is really not good, it's too in the way."

"Hurry up, don't talk too much!" said Chichikov, thinking to himself: "Really, I never thought of it."

Now, the brisk carriage is galloping along the road.Now it climbs up easily, though sometimes the road under its feet is rough; now it goes downhill easily, although the descent of the country lane is not smooth.The three of them, master and servant, drove down the mountain, along the pasture, across the creek, and past the mill.At this time, a sandy beach appeared in the distance, and aspen forests as beautiful as pictures rushed towards us one by one.Willow bushes, alder and silver poplars flew past them, their branches lashing Selifan and Petrushka as they sat on the coachmen's seats.The hat on Petrushka's head was constantly knocked off by the branches, so that he would often jump off the driver's seat, curse the stupid tree and those who planted trees, but would not tie the hat strap or pull it with his hands. Hold on to the hat, always lucky to think that probably won't be knocked off again.The trees became denser and denser: birches began to appear among the aspens and alders, and soon the surrounding area became a large dense forest.The sunlight suddenly disappeared from overhead.Canopies of pine and spruce shaded the sky.There is a darkness in the endless woods, and it is getting darker and darker, it is very likely to turn this time into night.But now and then the sun came in from behind the trees, making the branches, leaves and stumps glisten like pieces of shining silver or mirrors.At this time, the woods began to light up again, and the trees became thinner and thinner. Some shouts could be heard faintly not far away, and suddenly a lake appeared in front of them—a lake of about sixteen square versts. .Around the lake are trees of various colors, and behind the trees are farmhouses.There are more than 20 people in the lake, some of which do not reach their waists, some do not reach their shoulders, some do not reach their necks, and they are all pulling their fishing nets to the opposite bank.Among them was a man who swam swiftly in the lake, shouting, and commanding all the others, a man of equal height and size, round in stature, like a watermelon.Also because he is relatively fat, he will not sink. Even if he wants to plunge down, no matter how he plunges down, he will be lifted up by the water; even if there are two more people sitting on his back, he will not sink. It was also like an unsinkable air bag, carrying them floating on the water, at best he would gasp a few times underwater, or exhale a few bubbles through his nose and mouth. "Pavel Ivanovich, that man must be Colonel Koshkarev." Selifan said, turning his head from the driver's seat.

"why?"

"You see, his complexion is fairer than the others, and he is rich enough to look like a gentleman."

This time the shouting was even louder.Master Watermelon shouted loudly like a cannonball: "Dennis, give the rope to Kozima, hurry up! Kozima catches the rope that Dennis handed over! Big Fuma, push hard towards the little Fuma! From the right Go over, go right! Stop, stop, you two piggies! Got me tangled up! Get my navel, damn it, listen, get my navel !" The person who was pulling the net on the right saw that an accident had happened, and the master was wrapped in the net, and stopped immediately. "You see," said Serivan to Petrushka, "they're taking the master for a fish."

The master struggled, trying to break free from the net, turned over and turned his back to the sky, but was still wrapped in the net.In order not to tear the net, he could only swim forward with the caught fish, and at the same time ordered others to hold him horizontally with only one rope.After tying him with a rope, he threw the end of the rope to the shore, and the other twenty or so people on the shore picked up the end of the rope and dragged him carefully.When he reached the shallower place by the lake, he stood up from the water.The master, covered in the net, looked like the delicate hands of the ladies in the netted gloves in summer.Then he looked up to the shore and saw a guest in a carriage heading straight for the dam.As soon as he saw the guest, he nodded.Chichikov took off his hat, stood on the carriage and bowed. "Have you had your lunch yet?" asked the gentleman as he walked toward the bank with the fish caught in the net, covering his eyes with one hand and protecting his lower body with the other. , that pose is very much like the statue of Venus emerging from the bath in Medici's collection.

"Not yet," Chichikov said.

"Then thank God!"

"Oh, why?" Chichikov asked in amazement, lifting his hat over his head.

"Of course it is for that!" said the master.The master followed the carp and crucian carp in the net to the bank, and the fish jumped happily at his feet, jumping up to a height of more than an argentina. "These are nothing, don't look at them, look, the big guy is there! Dafuma, take a sturgeon and have a look." Two strong farmers picked out a big monster from a small wooden barrel . "What does the duke look like? From the lake!"

"What a handsome prince!" said Chichikov.

"That's right. You go ahead, and I'll follow right away. Brother coachman, you have to go under the cart and pass through the vegetable garden. Foolish little Fuma, go and remove that railing! I'll be right there , I’ll be there in the blink of an eye.”

"The colonel is a little queer," thought Chichikov.The carriage finally passed the seemingly endless river dam and approached the farmhouse.Most of the farmhouses are scattered on the slope, like a flock of ducks, and some farmhouses are like a flock of egrets on the piles below the hillside.Fishing nets and sticks hang all around the farmhouses.Little Fuma ran to remove the railing, and the carriage passed through the vegetable garden and soon came to the square near the old wooden church.In the distance behind the church, the pointed roof of the owner's house can be seen. "Look, I'm following!" A voice suddenly sounded from the side.Chichikov looked back.I saw that the old man had already put on his clothes and was walking beside him in a light carriage.He was wearing a grass-green coarse cloth jacket on his upper body, yellow trousers on his lower body, and no tie on his thick neck, like Cupid, the god of love in Roman mythology!He sat sideways on the carriage, his fat body filled the seat to the full.Chichikov was just about to talk to him, but the fat man's carriage had already gone far away.The buggy reappeared on the other side of his carriage, and he called out, "Send the pike and the seven crucian carp to the foolish cook, and bring the sturgeon here, and I'll put it in my Take him away in your car." Then he heard his cry: "Big Foma and little Foma, Kozima and Dennis!" To Chichikov's surprise, when his car arrived at the gate of the master's house, When it was time, the fat master was already waiting at the door to hug him.How he could be so fast is beyond imagination.They hugged each other and kissed each other on the cheek twice. "I bring you my lord's sincere greetings," Chichikov said.

"Which adult is it?"

"Your relative, General Alexander Dmitrievich."

"Who is Alexander Dmitrievich?"

"General Bedrischev," Chichikov replied somewhat surprised.

"Oh, I don't know."

Chichikov was even more astonished. "What is it all about? I suppose I had the honor of talking to Colonel Koshkarev?"

"My name is Pyotr Petrovich Petuch, Petuch, Pyotr Petrovich!" said the fat master.

Chichikov was dumbfounded. "Oops! What's the matter, you two fools?" Chichikov turned to Serivan and Petrushka.I saw that the two of them were equally dumbfounded, one was sitting in the driver's seat, and the other was standing blankly by the door. "What's the matter, you bastards? I told you to go to Colonel Koshkarev... But this is Pyotr Petrovich Petuch..."

"Well done you guys!" said Bituch. "Come on, I'll give each of you a glass of wine and a large scone. Unload the carriage and go back to your house!"

"I'm ashamed," said Chichikov, bowing, "that I should have made such an unexpected mistake..."

(End of this chapter)