Chapter 50: Belinsky the Card-Loving Classmate

Regarding the matter of dissolving the engagement, the progress was much smoother than Mikhail imagined; it was probably because that Mr.'s troublesome antics were simply too numerous, reaching a point where he himself felt too embarrassed to continue pestering.

And after resolving this matter, although Mikhail's sister remained silent throughout, basically no longer participating in the affair, and appeared quite calm and steady, once everything truly settled, this Miss, who had suffered quite a bit of grievance recently, looked much more relaxed, with even more smiles on her face, revealing the fresh hue of youth once again.

If the situation before hadn't been truly terrible, who would be willing to make such a hasty decision?

With the matter concluded here, although the speed wasn't fast, just as Mikhail had thought when he first sat down at the tattered desk, he used his pen to rewrite his sister's fate.

After this matter ended, Mikhail's mother and sister didn't rush to return; although Saint Petersburg, full of horse manure and drunkards these days, had little worth visiting, since they had only met after such a long time, they naturally wanted to stay with Mikhail for a while longer.

To this, Mikhail felt it was good; indeed, the quality of life had improved considerably thanks to the care of his mother and sister.

Meanwhile, besides chatting with his mother and sister and writing manuscripts, going to the Panayevs' house to eat and drink for free was naturally indispensable.

Ahem, ahem.

But soon, Mikhail was about to open a new battlefield; with the release of his new novel, he further consolidated his reputation in Saint Petersburg's Cultural Circle. More and more people seemed to have heard his name, and some nobles enthusiastic about Russian cultural affairs or wishing to pretend to be cultured were actually quite willing to associate a little with men of letters like them.

Sometimes, reputation and prestige alone can bring a person many things.

Belinsky is a relatively good example.

Although his background was poor and he was seen as a boor by many, thanks to his huge influence in the field of criticism, many nobles or even generals wanted to invite him to their homes.

However, in this regard, Belinsky behaved quite like a shut-in; compared to attending various banquets, literary evenings, and reading sessions, Belinsky preferred blowing his own horn and playing cards within his own circle, occasionally discussing politics and art quite seriously.

It is worth mentioning that although Belinsky and his circle sometimes sounded a bit rough, as if his group consisted entirely of paupers, in fact, it seemed to be exactly that—pfft!

But Belinsky actually had quite high requirements for the members of his group; he hoped that young people, besides talent, could also be upright good men beyond reproach, respected by the public.

Just as he once said to Mikhail and the others:

"Gentlemen, human weaknesses are common to all, and this is forgivable, but we are subjected to ruthless and severe scrutiny because of these weaknesses, and people have the right to treat us thus, because in the newspapers we expose the vulgarity, corruption, and selfishness in social life, which is equivalent to declaring that we have nothing to do with these flaws.

Therefore, our actions must be cautious; otherwise, what use is there in what we write? We would destroy the credibility of our words!"

And speaking only of character, Belinsky was indeed in the top tier of the Russian literary world.

Like Turgenev nowadays, who has quite a few bad habits, for which he has received no little criticism from Belinsky.

Besides work, Belinsky had almost no other bad habits, only two not particularly special hobbies: one was a great love for flowers, and the other was a great love for playing cards, which is exactly what Mikhail and the others are doing now.

This card game named Priefrans is also one of the evidences of Russia copying French culture; when Mikhail first started, he was naturally very unskilled, even losing several kopeks because of it, which made Mikhail ache for a long time.

But now...

"I won." Mikhail played all his cards, then smiled at everyone: "Pay up."

"God!" Belinsky, who didn't actually believe in God, couldn't help but shout out after touching his pocket: "One Nikolai was enough for us to bear, and now another Mikhail has come! Playing cards with you is truly dangerous; you will cause us to lose even our boots!

Are you really just learning recently? How did you improve so fast? I have been playing this card game for nearly ten years!"

If you're bad, just practice more!

Although he really wanted to say that, looking at the group of poor brothers struggling to pay up, Mikhail finally gave up on such hate-drawing words.

It is also worth mentioning that before Mikhail learned, Nekrasov, who had been rolling around in society long ago, was the one who won the most, but at this very moment, Nekrasov, who was always quite confident in his card skills, could only frown and pay up.

As for Belinsky, although it hurt quite a bit, he still settled the money he lost; at the same time, he said as follows:

"Mikhail, having lost so much money to you, for the first time I feel I perhaps should quit this habit of mine; however, never playing with you again might also be a good idea."

"Dear Belinsky, I was just lucky." Hearing such words, Mikhail hurriedly said:

"Let's play a few more hands; perhaps you will win it back very soon!"

"Come on, Mikhail! You just said that too!"

To be honest, Mikhail felt his touch in this regard seemed quite good; if so, perhaps later he could play more with Old Dostoevsky, trying to help him quit his gambling addiction.

I don't want to win his money!

Due to Mikhail's moves, today's card game instantly fell apart; seeing this situation, Turgenev, who had also lost quite a bit but appeared indifferent, suddenly thought of something, so he spoke up to remind:

"Mikhail, don't forget our gathering tonight; remember what I told you before? This time we are going to a Lieutenant General's home! All those attending his home are ladies of high society; he also has a daughter who seems to be serving as a lady-in-waiting in the court, young and quite beautiful!

His reputation and various personal connections are unimaginable."

It could be heard that Turgenev seemed to attach great importance to tonight's banquet, but Mikhail just nodded casually, calculating in his mind how much money he had won today.

As for how to deal with those gentlemen and ladies of high society, flattering and currying favor with them was probably the fastest way, but Mikhail thought seriously and found he still couldn't really do such things.

In that case, it was better to slowly accumulate one's own reputation; once it reached a certain level, probably without Mikhail saying much, the other party would become quite enthusiastic.

While Turgenev was speaking, he also mentioned another important matter:

"Tonight's banquet seems to have some other writers and critics attending; perhaps we will also have to read our own works, but time is short, probably only a few lines of short poems can be read; for this, I have prepared two somewhat melancholic love poems.

So, Mikhail, what about you? How about you read some excerpts from your novel; I believe those gentlemen and ladies will like it."

No, I actually think they probably won't like it.

But it doesn't matter.

Mikhail raised his head and smiled slightly, then said amidst the slightly surprised gazes of everyone:

"Rest assured, dear Ivan; I do know a little about poetry."

Thanks to the big shots "BookFriend20231226031539610" and "Shanhai Feiyu" for their donations; very grateful (heart gesture).

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(End of this chapter)