dead souls, imperial envoy

Chapter 5 Dead Souls (5)
Manilov stood on the steps and watched the carriage leave.When the carriage was out of sight, he still stood there, smoking his pipe.When he entered the room, sat down in his chair and fell into his habitual meditation again, he was very happy to have satisfied his guests.Then, slowly, his thoughts turned to other problems, and finally to imagination again.He thought of the happiness of meeting friends, and how satisfied he would be if he could live with his friends by the river. Then he thought of building a bridge over the river, building a new house by the river, and building a house on the top where he could see In the towers of Moscow, drink tea on them in the evening, and talk about some pleasant topics.Later, he also thought of taking a beautiful carriage with Chichikov to visit the gatherings of high-class people. Their speech, manners and elegance were admired by everyone. In the end, even the emperor knew the noble friendship between them, and bestowed on them General, later on, he thought of it even more colorfully and blooming like a brocade—except for God, he himself didn't know where he thought of it.At this moment, as if Huang Liang woke up from a dream, Chichikov's request interrupted his reverie.Thinking of this, his mind seemed to be particularly inadequate: he thought about it, but still couldn't figure it out, so he sat there smoking until supper.

Harvest after three nights of rain

Chichikov sat contentedly on the carriage speeding down the boulevard. From the previous chapter, we already knew what he was most concerned about, and now his heart was completely occupied by this matter.From time to time, various expressions such as dreams, plans, and longings appear on his face. We can get a glimpse of his heart from the non-stop smile at the corner of his mouth: these thoughts make him very happy.Indulging in fantastic fantasies, he completely didn't notice that the coachman Selifan, who was elated by the warm hospitality of the Manilov family, was accusing the piebald horse on the right of being lazy.This piebald horse is always slippery, and looks like it is trying to pull the cart, but it doesn't work at all. Here, this horse is called the tax collector), they are all working hard to pull the cart, and their eyes even reveal the joy of labor.Selifan stood up, whipped the lazy horse, and said, "You cunning! I'll let you be cunning! You must work hard, you German trousers! Look at that beautiful bay horse on the shaft, it I'd do my best, and I'd be glad to give him an extra bucket of oats, because he's a good horse, and the tax collector is a good horse... Hey, hey! What are you doing with your ears? You bastard, I'm talking to you, you Listen carefully! I won't teach you to do bad things! You sneaky bastard! Look, where are you dawdling!" Then he whipped him hard again and cursed: "Ah, You untamed fellow! You damned Napoleon!" Then he called out to the three horses: "Hey, my dear gentlemen!" To show that they have satisfied him.With a sense of gentlemanly self-satisfaction, he lectured his piebald horse again: "Do you think people can't understand your behavior? If you want people to respect you, you have to be serious. You see Well, the whole family of the landowner we just visited are good people. As long as they are good people, we are always willing to make friends with them, we are willing to talk to them; , we are all willing to accompany you. Everyone respects good people. Look at our master, everyone respects him; because of him, he has fulfilled his duties to the country. Listen, he has been a sixth-rank official..."

Selifan went further and further away, making it almost incomprehensible, but if Chichikov listened carefully, he could hear his coachman's opinions and attitudes towards him that he did not usually hear.It's just that he was only thinking about his own plan, until a thunderclap woke him up, and he looked around: the sky was covered with dark clouds, and the heavy rain on the post road made dust flying.A bigger thunderbolt sounded nearby, and finally it rained cats and dogs.At first the rain fell obliquely, beating on one side of the hood, then on the other side, and finally fell directly on top of the hood; the drops also splashed on Chichikov's face.Chichikov had to draw down the leather curtain (in which there was a round window for viewing the scenery) and tell Selivan to hurry up.The coachman who was spitting was interrupted, and realized that something was wrong. He immediately pulled out the old gray woolen coat from under the seat, put it on, grabbed the reins, and faced the three horses. He yelled loudly—the three horses almost felt comfortable because of his scolding, and stopped walking.

While the horse was galloping, Xie Lifan couldn't remember whether he had passed through two or three crossroads.After contemplating for a quarter of an hour, he finally remembered that the carriage must have gone through countless crossroads.Probably because the Russians can find their way without thinking at critical moments, so at the next intersection, he turned right and shouted: "Drive, my lovely and respectable horse friend!" No matter where the road will lead, he runs away.The rain doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon.The dust on the road soon turned to mud, and the horses felt the carriage getting heavier and heavier.Having not seen Sobakevich's village for so long, Chichikov began to feel uneasy, because according to his calculations he should have seen him by then.Looking out from the car, it was already dark outside the car, and he didn't see anything.

"Xie Lifan!" He finally couldn't help sticking his head out and shouted.

Xie Lifan asked, "Master, what's the matter?"

"Do you see any villages near here?"

"No, sir, there's no village to be seen anywhere!" Selifan shook his whip and sang a little song that seemed like a song but couldn't stop singing.The libretto was mixed with the shouts of coachmen from east to west to their horses, as well as various strange adjectives that were yelled out casually.The coachman kept singing like this, and later called all three horses the clerk.

At this moment, Chichikov noticed that the carriage was jolting back and forth, left and right, and he accidentally knocked a few times. He felt that their carriage had probably left the post road and entered the field plowed by the farmers.The coachman Xie Lifan seemed to know already, but he had already shut up.

"Hey, where have you been? You idiot!" cried Chichikov.

"Sir, what can we do? It's so dark that even the whip can't be seen clearly in such a scene!" As soon as he finished speaking, the carriage suddenly turned sideways, and Chichikov quickly grabbed himself with both hands.Only then did he realize that Xie Lifan was already drunk.He shouted to Xie Lifan: "Be careful, be careful, the car is about to overturn!"

"No, sir, how could the car overturn," Xie Lifan said in a hurry, "it would be bad if the car overturned, but I know it. How could I overturn the car?" As he spoke, he began to slowly Moved the car, moved it around, and finally turned the car over smoothly.Chichikov fell whole into the mud.Only then did Selifan rein in the horses—in fact, even if he hadn't pulled the horses, the horses would have stopped, because they were already tired and weak.Seeing that he had overturned the car, Xie Lifan was terrified. He got off the driver's seat and stood there with his hands on his hips. He never thought that the master was still struggling to get out in the mud.He was dull for a while, and finally spit out the words: "Look, the car really overturned!"

"You're drunk!" said Chichikov.

"Sir, how can I get drunk! I know it's not a good thing to be drunk. I just chatted with good friends for a while, which is a good thing with good people; and then we ate something together .It's not a bad thing, we can have something to eat with good people."

Chichikov said: "You probably forgot the last time you were drunk. How did I tell you that?"

"No, sir, how could I forget. I know what a coachman is. I know it's not good to be drunk. I just chatted with good people for a while, and that's because..."

"Looks like I'm going to give you a hard time and make you talk about chatting with nice people!"

"You are welcome," Xie Lifan replied resignedly, "I have no objection at all if you want to hit me. If I make a mistake, why shouldn't you hit me? I let the master do it, it's right, no A countryman who appreciates flattery should have some rules. If you break the rules, you should be beaten. You should be beaten."

This excuse made the master unable to find the words to answer, and at this time, fate seemed to have decided to show mercy to him.There were several dogs barking in the distance.Chichikov seemed to have heard God's call, and asked Selifan to drive to see it immediately.Russian coachmen are born with a keen sense of smell instead of eyes. Even if their eyes are closed and their bodies are still swaying leisurely, they can always drive the car somewhere.Despite the darkness all around, Selifan drove the carriage into the village, put the shaft of the carriage against the fence, and stopped when the carriage could no longer move.Chichikov saw something that looked like a roof in the thick rain, so he asked Selifan to go down to find the gate. If the Russian vicious dog hadn't taken the place of the gatekeeper, they would have had to grope for a long time in the night rain.The vicious dog announced Chichikov's arrival to its owner with an extremely loud voice, so loud that Chichikov had to plug his ears.A glimmer of light from a small window shone through the mist on the fence, allowing our passers-by at last to see the nearby gate.Xie Lifan knocked hard on the door, and after a while, a figure in a dungaree jacket opened the side door, leaned out and asked, "Who is knocking? What are you here for?" A woman's hoarse voice spoke to the current master and servant. The two are like sounds of nature.

Chichikov hurriedly said: "We are passers-by, old mother. Let us stay overnight."

"Your legs are too diligent," said the old woman. "Come here for the night! This is not an inn, but a landlady's home."

"Old mother, I can't help it. We are lost. How can we spend the night in the wild in this weather?"

"Yes, it's dark, and it's still raining." Shelifan interjected about getting lost, but was immediately interrupted by Chichikov who cursed.

"Who are you?" asked the lady.

"I am a nobleman, old mother."

Perhaps it was the word "nobility" that made the old lady feel a little relieved. "Please wait a moment, I'm going to report to my wife." She turned around and went in after speaking, and came back with a lantern in three or two minutes and opened the door.Another window was also lit.The coachman drove the carriage into the yard, and stopped in front of a small house, which was difficult to see in the dark.The bright light from the window only illuminates half of the house, and the puddle in front of the house can be seen.The rain is still heavy, patting the wooden roof, rushing together, and falling into a wooden barrel under the eaves.At this time, the barking of dogs filled the whole rainy night: one dog held its head up, barking vigorously as if it had been drawn out to enjoy high treatment; Followed the lead singers; interspersed among their voices was a loud, high-pitched child's voice like stage-coach bells, probably a puppy; joined at last by a bass, which might have been an old dog, It may also be a maverick dog with a low voice, like a bass at a concert: when the concert reaches its climax, the tenors stand on tiptoes and raise their heads, as if pushing their whole bodies upwards He rushed forward and tried his best to sing the highest note, but the bass tried his best to press his hairy chin on the tie, squatted his legs almost to the ground, and made a majestic sound that shook the glass humming alone.From the dog's chorus, we can hear that this small village is very nice; only our Mr. Chichikov is shivering in his soaked clothes, and all he wants is to get under the covers as soon as possible. Where can I experience these things.Before the coachman could stop the carriage, he staggered and jumped onto the steps, nearly falling down there again.At this moment another woman who was quite similar to the one just now came out of the room, only younger, and led Chichikov into the room.Chichikov looked around the room: there were pictures of birds on the walls of the old striped wallpaper; There are things stuffed behind each mirror, either letters, cards, or even smelly socks; there is also a wall clock with flowers painted on the dial in the house...

Chichikov, who glanced roughly at him, really didn't have the energy to look carefully. He felt that someone had smeared honey on his eyelids, and he couldn't open his eyes.A minute later, the elderly hostess arrives with a hastily put on nightcap and a netted scarf around her neck.Probably the kind of female landowners who don’t have a lot of land. These female landowners always have the habit of tilting their heads slightly when they see people, telling people that the harvest is not good and they have lost money, but they secretly save money in some coarse cloth sewing bags—money bags. They are all hidden in the drawers of the chest of drawers.In one purse were silver coins of one ruble denomination; in another purse silver coins of half ruble denomination;At first glance, it doesn't look like there's anything in the chest of drawers, just shirts, pajamas, assorted needles and thread, and a big folded overcoat—save for frying fritters or making pies at festivals. When holes are burnt or worn out, it can be used as new clothes.But the old clothes hadn't been burned or worn out.The old woman got used to thrift and kept the coat there for a long time, waiting for her distant niece to find it in her dying will and inherit it along with other odds and ends.Chichikov expressed his uneasiness at the late-night visit.The hostess quickly expressed that it was nothing, and said: "How could God allow you to come here at this time! You must be hungry after walking in such a heavy wind and rain. It's just that the night is so dark that I can't treat you well."

When the hostess spoke, there was a hissing sound like a snake, which frightened our guest, as if we were in a snake house.When he looked up, he took his heart back into his stomach: it turned out that the wall clock on the wall was about to strike.After the hiss, there was a hoarseness, and finally there were two beeps with all the strength of the whole body, as if someone had hit a broken jar twice with a stick.After two beeps, the pendulum continued to tick left and right.Chichikov declined the hostess's hospitality, saying that he needed nothing but a quilt to sleep in.He also wanted to know where it was and how far it was from Sobakevich, the landowner, of whom the mistress said she had never heard of such a landowner. "And do you know Manilov?" Chichikov continued.

"Who is Manilov?"

"A landowner, madam."

"I've never heard of the landowner."

"Then do you know who the landowners are here?"

"Bobrov, Swain, Kanapatiev, Khalpatin, Trepakin, Pleshakov."

"Are they rich?"

"No, sir, there are no very rich landowners here. Some of them have twenty serfs, some have thirty, and there are no landowners with hundreds of serfs at all."

Chichikov found that he came to a poor and backward remote town. "How far is it from the city?"

"It's more than sixty versts. I'm sorry I don't have anything for you; how about a cup of tea, sir?"

"Thank you, old mother. I think of nothing but bedding."

"After a day's driving in such bad weather, you really need a rest. You rest here. Come, Fetinya, bring the eiderdown, pillows, and sheets. Oh, God is so angry : It made me light candles all night in front of the idol. Oh sir, your back is full of mud, like a pig rolling in mud! What's the matter?"

"God bless, it's just a muddy fall; no bones are broken, it's a gift from God."

"God, it's horrible! Wipe something?"

"Thank you, thank you, no need, please ask your maid to help me dry and brush my clothes."

"Fetinya, do you hear?" said the hostess to the woman who had just opened the door with a candle.The woman was carrying the eiderdown quilt. She patted the eiderdown quilt from both sides, trying to loosen it, but the eiderdown was flying all over the room. "Take your husband's clothes to dry, wipe them carefully, and then pat them well, just like you did to the master back then."

"Yes, ma'am!" replied Ferdinya, spreading the sheets and pillows. "Look, the quilt is made," said the hostess, "good night, sir. Do you need anything else? Or you have the habit of asking Feginia to rub your heels before going to bed? My husband was alive." She must rub her heels before going to bed."

(End of this chapter)