Chapter 74: Grudges, Favors, Love, and Revenge (Request for First Subscription!)

Regarding how Dostoevsky's first appearance at Panayev's house actually went, Mikhail felt that, on the whole, it was quite good.

Although at the very beginning, Old Dostoevsky's not-so-large gray eyes kept shifting uneasily from one person to another, and his pale lips twitched nervously, upon seeing Mikhail, especially seeing his smile full of encouragement and approval, Old Dostoevsky finally calmed down and began to read aloud a passage from That piece of mine before the crowd.

Because the quality of Dostoevsky's works was indeed up to par, everyone present naturally gave him face; besides offering their enthusiastic applause, they also looked out for him, trying to dispel his shyness and showing him that he was a member of this circle.

Thus, in the end, it could truly be said that both host and guests were delighted.

However, it is worth mentioning that in the original history, probably because his debut work caused a sensation in St. Petersburg immediately, combined with his personality, this made the originally somewhat shy Old Dostoevsky become even more arrogant.

In short, he got cocky; he started arguing with everyone and displayed his writerly self-esteem and his arrogant attitude toward his own writing talent far too obviously.

Thus, he became the classmate Dostoevsky who loved to show off.

But one must know that becoming famous means gaining the goodwill and praise of many people, but it will also inevitably arouse the displeasure and hostility of some; even if they may have no vested interests involved, this does not stop them from being hostile toward a suddenly famous new writer.

And it was in this situation that, besides loving to show off, Old Dostoevsky's emotions were also unstable; once provoked, he would get heated, which led to him sometimes actually saying some absurd things while in that heated state.

This made it very likely that some opportunists would remember these things and then spread them as gossip.

In this regard, Turgenev was a typical troublemaker; although his first meeting with Old Dostoevsky was quite pleasant, later on, it was unknown whether Old Dostoevsky showed off too much, or whether Turgenev's incurable disease of bragging and his troublemaker constitution kicked in.

In any case, Turgenev often deliberately provoked Old Dostoevsky into arguing with him, making Old Dostoevsky extremely agitated, after which he would fervently defend the views he had blurted out in his impatience; some of these views were too absurd, so Turgenev would seize upon these absurd views to mock him.

After mocking him, he would go out and brag to everyone: "Hey, hey, hey, do you know that very popular Dostoevsky? If you ask me, he's just a earth chicken and a clay dog! Let me tell you what absurd things he said..."

To be honest, Old Turgenev was indeed a bit of a troublemaker with a stubborn mouth; when encountering Old Dostoevsky it was fine, but later when encountering Old Tolstoy, a tough guy whose temper could sometimes be very explosive, he was truly on the verge of being challenged to a duel by Old Tolstoy and then shot dead...

After all, Old Tolstoy had really been a soldier, fought in wars, seen dead people, and even personally created quite a few dead people; dealing with Old Turgenev would probably be a piece of cake.

But speaking of the present, Old Dostoevsky had not yet started showing off; in fact, he behaved quite humbly and kept glancing at Mikhail from time to time.

Old Turgenev's various bad habits had not yet started to flare up either; treating Dostoevsky, the young man who had just joined, he displayed his own good artistic cultivation and fine character, and even praised him beside Mikhail, saying:

"Listen, Mikhail, he writes really well! At the beginning, when I heard them say that a second Mikhail had appeared, I thought they were joking; now it seems that is indeed the case! Perhaps he might even be better than you; look, I still haven't seen your long novel..."

Mikhail: "..."

You'd better maintain this attitude, and don't have a sudden relapse, okay!

To be fair, although these great literary masters are indeed famous throughout literary history, they are indeed vivid individuals; they are just a bit too vivid; it would be better if they bragged a little less and showed off a little less...

Regarding this, Mikhail didn't have any particularly good solution; after all, Old Turgenev and Old Dostoevsky were already of that age, their basic personalities were definitely set, and it would be difficult for anyone to change them easily.

Mikhail could only say that he would try to mediate when the time came; if I speak up, they should give me some face, right?

But do I really have that much clout?

At the party, Mikhail thought of this question, and then, under Dostoevsky's vague observation, he stroked his chin.

It should be so.

Mikhail thought this way.

If all else fails, I'll just suppress Old Dostoevsky's sharp edge first; after all, no matter how much of a genius Old Dostoevsky is, he probably can't catch up with Mikhail's current publication quality and publication speed.

Putting those distant matters aside for now, this gathering ultimately concluded in a harmonious atmosphere.

After witnessing Old Dostoevsky's first appearance at the party, Mikhail began to deal with the rubles suddenly sponsored by Nadya, the general's daughter.

If one really has to say it, it seems acceptable; after all, during this period, wealthy female nobles sponsoring writers, artists, and the like was a common occurrence.

The root cause lies in the fact that noblewomen of this era possessed inheritance rights; those among them with substantial family backgrounds could often inherit a very large fortune from their fathers; Turgenev's mother was just like this, inheriting a large number of serfs and land from her uncle.

As for how large this inheritance was, let's put it this way: even though Turgenev split it with his brother, his entire second half of life was still free from worry about food and clothing.

Mikhail swore that if he was still not very rich by that time, he would definitely have to go to Brother Turgenev's place to mooch off him every day.

And these noblewomen who inherited large fortunes truly had nowhere else to spend their money besides daily life; thus, some wealthy ladies began to realize their personal ideals or enhance their own cultural influence by sponsoring artists.

People like Voltaire, Rousseau, Joyce, and Gibran all ate the soft rice of wealthy ladies.

Mikhail hasn't eaten much of it now; first, because in present-day Russia, this trend is not particularly strong, and second, because after standing for a long time, his waist just doesn't want to bend.

But then again, since the general's daughter Nadya insisted in another reply letter that she wanted to give it, then Mikhail could only say that this soft rice actually seems quite good; it smells fragrant, fragrant, and I love to eat it.

Of course, Mikhail ultimately did not freeload off this young lady; instead, in the letter, he promised the other party that he would write another poem to be included in this collection.

As for exactly what kind of poem Mikhail is preparing to write, let's discuss that later.

(End of this chapter)