Chapter 54: Recommendation (Begging for Monthly Passes!)

Normally, at banquets in the so-called upper class, it is an indispensable part for noble men to court a certain noble Young Lady; and if that noble Young Lady's family holds considerable power and wealth, then even more people will come to court her.

There is no way; even in this era, there are simply far too many people who do not wish to strive.

Ahem, ahem.

Mikhail does not wish to strive either, but a person's worth lies in self-knowledge; with his current status, the difficulty of marrying a noble Young Lady is not merely great. In this era, unless some fallen nobles are truly short of money, they would not marry commoners with large dowries; otherwise, normally, it is basically an impossible thing.

And generally, nobles who marry commoners are mostly looked down upon in their circles, and their weddings are usually held quietly.

Only when the era advances further, as fallen nobles become more numerous and merchants grow richer, will this phenomenon gradually become common.

But for now, among the nobles, internal consumption is still the trend; under such circumstances, Mikhail is too lazy to join this excitement, and causing himself a mess of trouble would be even worse.

Of course, there is another relatively important reason: Mikhail does not have much emotional experience, commonly known as a virgin; let him court someone and he wouldn't know how; buzzing around someone like a fly seems rather foolish.

Finally, the identity of this daughter of the General's family also makes Mikhail somewhat concerned; serving as a female official in the palace, to some extent, already places her near the nerve center of Russian power.

Although in autocratic traditional Russia, the influence of female officials is not as strong as in France or Britain, as the saying goes, "Three-rank officials stand before the Prime Minister's gate," after all, she can speak with the Russian court.

What if she actually establishes a connection and recommends my novel to people in the palace?

Therefore, when Mikhail turned back and saw that pretty face filled with curiosity, Mikhail's heartbeat suddenly accelerated; of course, this was not because Mikhail had fallen for her or anything.

However, turning and running away would not be good; that would be too rude, so Mikhail could only stand at attention, then look at this Miss who was about the same age as his younger sister and smile slightly.

Since they had greeted each other upon entering, the two did not engage in further small talk; after exchanging greetings once more, under the gaze of some people, this Miss named Nadja looked at Mikhail and spoke proactively:

"Mr. Mikhail Romanovich, the poem you just recited was truly a very good one; may I ask for whom you wrote it? She would surely be deeply moved upon hearing this poem."

"There is no specific target."

Mikhail's mind raced quickly, but for a moment, besides his own mother and younger sister and Panayev's wife, Mikhail could not think of a single woman's name to bluff this matter away, so he could only reply: "I simply suddenly had such an idea and felt some other emotions, so I recorded them."

"Is that so?"

This Miss's eyes seemed to brighten slightly, and immediately she began talking to Mikhail about other things.

Although she looked rather quiet, once she really started speaking, Mikhail felt this Miss was simply like a chirping little bird, saying whatever came to mind; compared to Mikhail's somewhat monotonous daily life, this Miss's daily life was far richer.

For instance, learning various languages as well as music and dance, learning etiquette, and reading classic European literature, then discussing afternoon tea, salons, and various things that happened and were encountered in the theater.

It is worth mentioning that her French was even more fluent than her Russian; fortunately, Mikhail's proficiency in this area was also passable, so communication was not impossible.

Although Mikhail currently had no thoughts of dating a young girl, listening to these things he basically never encountered in his daily life was quite interesting, and it also helped Mikhail further engage with this era, laying some accumulation for completing certain things in the future.

Thus, a man and a woman chattered away for a long time about trivial matters, and this Miss, who probably rarely had the chance to talk about such things with others, became happier the more she spoke, until suddenly realizing, she could not help but ask:

"Why don't you talk about yourself? I believe many things must have happened to you."

Poets and literary figures are often a group with excessive self-awareness, and those noble young gentlemen who come to court young ladies, while seemingly courting her, actually, inside and out of their words, always revolve around themselves; this was the first time she had encountered someone so unwilling to talk about themselves.

"Rather than talking about others, I prefer to listen to what others are saying." Hearing this Miss's question, Mikhail replied with a smile:

"Things about myself are known only to myself; many things I consider very precious, once spoken out, especially to the wrong person, will instead devalue that precious emotion, so why not keep one's own matters to oneself?

Moreover, if everyone is talking about themselves, then who will listen to others?"

"What you say makes sense." This Miss could not help but reply: "May I ask you another question?"

"Go ahead and ask." Feeling he had already gotten into the flow, Mikhail nodded.

"You seemed to be looking in this direction just now; is there something special here? It must be so attractive to your attention that you are unwilling to speak more with those respected Mr. s and Mrs. s; look, many people are gathering around them; is it because you are timid? But I seem not to see such a thing in you."

Mikhail: "..."

The observation is quite detailed, yet you still cannot guess that I was looking at these tea snacks?

It seems your understanding of the poor is still insufficient, ahem.

For the sake of his dignity, Mikhail naturally chose to skip this question and directly answered the Miss's subsequent words.

"Those Mr. s and Mrs. s are worthy of respect from many, but what does that have to do with me? How can borrowed glory be called glory?"

Mikhail shook his head and said: "However, I am indeed not very good at socializing with people; perhaps when there is an opportunity next time, I will speak more with those Mr. s."

No, it seems you still won't be able to. After observing Mikhail's expression for a while, before this Miss could say anything further, the voice calling them over to dine came, so this Miss could only say:

"Hey, look, we have talked so much, yet I have uniquely forgotten to chat with you about your novel; I saw it by chance; although my family has always tried to prevent me from contacting Russian literary magazines, I still heard your name from many people.

I have read all your novels, and I was deeply moved by them; I hope that when there is an opportunity, I can chat with you about them again. I have recently been thinking of recommending them to people I know; I think they will surely be deeply moved as well."

"No, please do not do that." Mikhail twitched the corners of his mouth: "I still have many shortcomings..."

In short, begging for all sorts of things, hoping to go further (fly rubbing hands).

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(End of this chapter)