dead souls, imperial envoy

Chapter 7 Dead Souls (7)
"Oh, the wretched old fellow is wearying me to death!" he said, resting with a breath, and opened his little mahogany chest.The author knows that some readers will be interested in this small mahogany box, and even want to know what is inside.Well, how could the author not satisfy the psychology of the readers!The inside of the small box is like this: there is a soap box in the middle, and there are six or seven narrow grids for shaving blades. There are two square grids on the head of the soap box, one for ink absorbers and one for ink bottles, next to two squares. The grid is a groove for a quill, some sealing wax and other longer things, and beside the groove are various small grids for shorter things—business cards, stamps, theater tickets, etc. Something to keep as a souvenir.Remove the upper layer with the grid, the lower part is a stack of papers, and under the papers is a money box that can be pulled apart from the side.Every time the owner opened it, he always closed it in a hurry, so it was difficult to tell how much money was in it.When Chichikov finished sharpening his quill and began to write letters for the old woman, the mistress came in and sat down beside him. "Your case is very nice, sir," she said, looking at the little mahogany case. Surely you bought it in Moscow?"

"It was bought in Moscow," said Chichikov, busily writing the letter. "I knew I had to buy them from Moscow, and that's the only place where you can do any good work. My sister bought some cotton boots for the children there the year before last: they're so strong that they've been worn to this day. Ouch, You have so much printed paper here!" she said, looking again into Chichikov's little box.There is indeed a lot of printed paper in it. "I'm short of everything here. Even if you give me one! Sometimes I have to submit some papers to the court, and I don't even have paper to write."

Chichikov told her that this kind of stamped paper was specially used for concluding sales contracts and could not be used for submissions.But in order to please her, she was given a piece of paper with a one-rouble stamp on it.Chichikov finished the letter and asked her to sign and list the dead serfs.Although the hostess did not record or make a list, she remembered the names of the dead serfs very clearly.He asked her to name them one by one, and he recorded them.Some of the names of the dead, and especially their epithets, so surprised him that he hesitated for a moment before he could begin to write. Feeling very strange, he couldn't help muttering: "Ah, this name is so long!" There is also a name with "bull dung brick" in front of it, and another name at the end is actually Ivan the wheel.After writing the list, he took a breath and smelled the tempting aroma of food. "Please feel free to use something," said the hostess.Chichikov looked up and saw that the table was covered with mushrooms, pancakes, custard cakes, crepes, green onion cakes, poppy seed cakes, and smelt fish cakes. "Let's try the vegetarian egg pie!" said the hostess.Chichikov stood forward, ate most of the egg and vegetarian pie in one bite, and praised the food with his mouth in his mouth.The vegetarian egg pie is originally a delicacy of this family, and it becomes even more delicious after dealing with the old woman. "Want some more crepes?" asked the hostess.Chichikov answered the hostess by rolling three pancakes at once, dipping them in the cream before putting them into his mouth, and wiping his lips and hands with his napkin.He repeated this three times, and then asked the hostess to send someone to order the harness.The hostess sent Ferdinya to order, along with baking a few more pancakes. "Old mother, your vegetarian pancakes are delicious." Chichikov said while eating the freshly baked pancakes. "My family is very good at pancakes," said the hostess, "it's just that this year's harvest is not good, and the flour is not very good... Sir, are you too anxious?" Seeing Chichikov pick up his hat, she hurriedly said : "Your car hasn't been put on yet."

"My coachman set up the car very quickly. It will be ready in a minute, old mother."

"Okay then, please don't forget about the acquisition."

"Never forget, never forget." Chichikov promised as he walked towards the door. "Do you still buy lard?" the hostess asked after him. "Why don't you buy it? Of course you want to buy it, but let's wait until the future."

"At Christmas, I'll have lard ready."

"Okay, buy, buy everything, and of course lard."

"Perhaps feathers will be needed. I'll have feathers for sale before the Christmas fast begins."

"Yes, yes." Chichikov agreed casually. "Look, sir, your carriage isn't ready yet," said the hostess, standing on the doorstep. "Soon, at once. Please tell me how to get to the road."

"Well, how can I tell this?" said the hostess. "It's hard for me to explain clearly. The roads in the country are winding; I'll find a little girl to see you off. She can squeeze in beside your coachman." Want a place?"

"Of course."

"Then I'll find a little girl, she knows the way; you must not abduct her! One of my girls was abducted by a businessman."

Chichikov promised that he would never kidnap a little girl, and Korobochka was relieved and began to take care of her yard; she watched the housekeeper bring a bucket of honey out of the warehouse, and watched A farmer at the gate slowly became absorbed in housework.However, why spend all this pen and ink on her?

Whether it's Korobochka or Mrs. Manilov, whether it's a domestic matter or not—just skip it!The best things in the world are not here.Joy quickly turns to sadness, and God only knows what weird thoughts come into your head if it takes too long.One might think: to hell with you, is Korobochka really so low on the infinite scale of human virtue?Although her sister lives in a noble mansion with a sea-like door, full of fragrant gardens, clean stairs, shining utensils, mahogany furniture on thick carpets, holding a book that she can never finish reading. The book is drowsy, expecting a visit from a well-mannered gentleman, only then can she show her beauty and recite some deep-rooted insights-these theories will probably be circulated all over the city according to the laws of the fashionable world. After blowing for a week, these views are of course not about the messy situation in her mansion and estate due to no one, but what kind of coup d'état is waiting in France, and what new changes will the new Catholicism have; Compared with such a younger sister, is the difference between Korobochka and his younger sister really a world of difference?
But why talk about this?These can only be taken in one stroke.

However, why is there a strange stream rushing up in my heart in moments of joy without worry and carelessness: the smile has not yet left the face, and the same person is still around, but it has changed into another person , another look appeared on his face...

"The carriage is here, the carriage is here!" Chichikov finally waited for his own carriage and shouted loudly, "You idiot, why have you been waiting for so long? It seems that you haven't let go of your drinking yesterday!"

Xie Lifan remained silent as usual and did not reply.

"Good-bye, old mother! Where's the little girl you're talking about?"

"Hello, Pelagia," the landlady called to a little girl who was standing by the steps.The little girl was about eleven or twelve years old. She was wearing a burlap dress, and her bare feet were covered in mud. From a distance, she thought she was wearing a pair of boots. "Go and lead the way for the master."

Xie Lifan asked the little girl to climb to the driver's seat.The little girl was somewhat handsome, she stepped on the pedals used by the master to get on the car, leaving a pile of mud on it, and then climbed up, and sat down next to the coachman.Chichikov himself stepped on the pedals, causing the car to tilt to the right (he was a little too heavy), and finally sat down and said: "Ah! At last! Good-bye, old mother! "

The carriage is on its way.Xie Lifan behaved very solemnly and did his duty very seriously. He always behaved like this every time he made a mistake or got drunk.Several horses were groomed exceptionally clean.A horse's bridle, which had been broken long ago and the lining was exposed, had now been repaired.Along the way, he didn't say a word, just waved his whip occasionally, and didn't talk to his horse, although the piebald horse wanted to hear him chatter, because most of the time, the coachman always chatted with them. Chatting, the reins in his hands are loose, and the whip is just pointing on his back in a superficial way.But at this moment, the coachman who was still not relieved could only yell: "Drive, drive, slob! Still dozed off! Still dozed off!" There was no more favorite words.Even the bay horse and the tax collector lost their interest because they hadn't heard the words "dear" or "honorable" once.The piebald got a few more uncomfortable whippings on its fat place.It shook its ears slightly, probably thinking: "Look, how swollen it is! I really know where it hurts! If it doesn't hit the back, it hurts wherever it hurts: either the ears or the stomach."

"Turn to the right?" Xie Lifan asked the little girl beside him calmly, pointing at the avenue blackened in the middle of the green land after the rain with a whip. "No, I'll show you when I get there."

"Are you going there?" Xie Lifan asked again when the carriage got closer. "Just go there." The little girl said, stretching out her fingers. "Oh, you!" Xie Lifan said, "That is to the right. Why can't you tell the left from the left!"

Although the weather was fine, the road was very muddy, and the wheels seemed to be covered with a layer of felt for a while, which greatly increased the weight of the carriage; and the mud here was very sticky.This prevented them from walking out of the country road before noon.If there was no little girl, they would have to go to the evening, and the country roads spread out like lines drawn by shrimps poured out of their pockets as they crawled around.Even if Xie Lifan didn't make a mistake, he still had to make various detours.After a while, the little girl pointed to a dark house in the distance and said, "The avenue is over there!"

"What's that house for?" Shelifan asked. "It's a tavern." The little girl said. "Okay, we can go by ourselves now," Xie Lifan said, "you can go back."

He stopped the horse, let the little girl get out of the car by herself, and muttered, "Oh, you little girl with mud legs!"

Chichikov rewarded her with a copper coin, and the little girl wandered back by herself.She was content to sit in the driver's seat.

The Surprise of the Four Encounters
When the carriage arrived at the tavern, Chichikov ordered the carriage to stop for two reasons: one was to give the horse a rest, and the other was to refresh himself by having something to eat.The author needs to admit that I greatly admire the appetite and stomach of such gentlemen.Those gentlemen who lived in Petersburg and Moscow were nothing to him: they spent their days thinking about what to eat tomorrow and what to arrange for the day after tomorrow, and they had to eat a grain of salt before eating their meals. Appetizing pills; they ate oysters, sea crabs, and other delicacies before vacationing in Carlsbad or the Caucasus.The author has never envied these grown-ups.But for a middle-class gentleman who asks for a ham at the first post, a suckling pig at the second, a sturgeon or sausage roasted with green onions at the third, he can go back at any time as if nothing had happened. Sitting at the dining table, drinking the smoked fish soup stewed with cod and fish oil, eating catfish pancakes or fish buns, and the appearance of feasting makes the onlookers salivate. This is the gentleman favored by God!Many of those superior gentlemen would be willing to give up at once half serfs and half mortgaged or unmortgaged estates, with foreign or Russian improvements, for such a strong stomach of a middle gentleman, though regrettably how much it costs , Take a manor with or without improved facilities, and you still can't get the strong stomach unique to middle-level gentlemen.

The jet-black wooden tavern led Chichikov to a narrow awning in front of which welcomed customers, under which were two planed wooden columns, like old-fashioned church candlesticks.The tavern was like a Russian log cabin, only bigger than that.The new-style cornices carved with new wood by the windows and under the eaves form a strong contrast with the black walls; some water jugs with flowers are painted on the shutters.Chichikov walked up the narrow wooden stairs, leading to a fairly spacious corridor upstairs. Chichikov heard the door creak, and a fat old woman in a calico skirt greeted him and invited him into the room. The room was full of old acquaintances—the ones that are often seen in the wooden taverns that are not uncommon on the high road: a samovar covered with frost, planed pine walls, and a triangular chest standing in the corner. A gold-plated chicken hung in front of the holy image on a blue and red ribbon, a cat that just gave birth to a litter, and a large mirror that can turn two eyes into four eyes and its face into a big pancake, inserted in the A few bunches of dry herbs and carnations on the holy image—these herbs and carnations are so dry that anyone who goes up to smell them will surely earn a sneeze, and the fragrance has long since faded away with time.

Chichikov asked the old woman standing nearby: "Is there a suckling pig?"

"Have."

"Spicy, with sour cream?"

"Yes, with chilli and sour cream."

"Come here!"

The old woman went out to look for it, and brought a plate, a napkin as starched as hard as bark, then a table knife with a yellow-bone handle and a blade as thin as a penknife, and a All that was left was a two-pronged fork and a salt shaker that did not sit properly on the table.

Our gentleman began his conversation with her as usual, asking her whether the tavern was her own or if she had an owner, what was the income of such a tavern, whether her sons lived with them, whether the eldest was married, What kind of daughter-in-law is he, how much is the dowry, is his in-laws satisfied, is he angry because of the low dowry—in a word, he didn’t miss anything that other people are willing to talk about.Of course, he would not miss out what kind of landowners were around, and the answer he got was that there were all kinds of landowners here: Blokhin, Bachtayev, Melinoy, Chiplako Colonel V, Sobakevich ⑤. "Ah! You know Sobakevich?" he repeated, and the old woman said that she knew not only Sobakevich, but also Manilov, because Manilov was much more handsome than Sobakevich: Mani Love often came and asked for a stewed chicken, veal, lamb liver if there was one, everything, just to taste; Sobakevich always wanted one dish. , I asked for more food after eating up, but I didn't give more money.

While listening to the local customs, he was eating the suckling pig, and when there was only the last piece left, he suddenly heard the sound of the wheels of the carriage.He glanced out of the window, and saw a carriage with three horses harnessed in front of the door, followed by an empty four-wheeled carriage. The car is covered with a thick rope.Two men got on and off the previous carriage.A tall guy with blond hair and a shorter guy with black hair.The one with the yellow hair was wearing a blue cavalry uniform and quickly stepped up the steps. The one with the black hair was only wearing a patterned gown, and was groping for something in the car while talking to the servant, He also waved to the broken carriage behind him.Chichikov was familiar with the man's voice.While Chichikov was looking at the black hair, the yellow hair had already come up, found the door, and entered the room.It was a tall fellow, with a flaming mustache, and a thin, or haggard, as they called it.From his dark face, we can know that he is quite familiar with smoke. If it is not the gunpowder smoke on the battlefield, then he is probably very familiar with the cigarettes wafting from the pipe.He bowed very politely to Chichikov, who returned the salute.In about a few more minutes, they will chat speculatively and become confidants, because the prelude has already begun, and the two of them praised yesterday's rain almost at the same time, saying that yesterday's heavy rain washed away the dust on the road, and today's walk is refreshing and refreshing. And cozy.And at this moment their dark-haired friend came in, threw his hat on the table, and combed his hair roughly with his hands, messing up the thick black hair.The young man was of medium height, well-proportioned, with a ruddy complexion, white teeth, and black sideburns.His face was bright and rosy, and he looked energetic.

"Hey, eh, eh!" he cried, seeing Chichikov, spreading his arms. "What wind brought you here?"

Chichikov recognized him as Mr. Nozd, and when we were having dinner at the Prosecutor's house, although Chichikov didn't show any affection for him, within a few minutes he became intimate with him. Called "you and me".

(End of this chapter)