Chapter 85: Even Mikhail Has to Live in a Small Villa

As for what impact publishing anthologies and running a magazine had on his life, Mikhail felt one thing was indeed quite obvious: for him, money, when first calculated, was truly inflating terribly.

At the very beginning, having twenty rubles made him feel blissful; now, he dares to talk about big deals worth hundreds or even thousands of rubles with his mouth open and shut.

However, the reason for this is naturally that the publishing industry in these days is actually considered an upper-class industry, and the products it produces are provided to nobles who do not lack money much.

And if twenty rubles are enough for a commoner family to eat black bread for a full month, for a noble, it might not even buy a decent piece of clothing.

Ultimately, an excessive gap between rich and poor causes money to sometimes give people a very strong sense of disconnection; something a common person struggles hard for all their life might, in some people's eyes, be worth less than a toilet.

It is like this in these days, and in later generations it will probably be even more exaggerated, except some people simply never see it in their daily lives.

But currently, Mikhail can indeed see the ruling class of these days, and is trying to sell products to them, which leads to him constantly dealing with eight thousand rubles, two or three thousand rubles these days; one can only say the cost might truly have to be this price.

And since he has recently been busy with this undertaking, Mikhail has not yet had time to use the money from publishing anthologies to improve his life, such as changing himself into a small villa or something.

Therefore, whatever Nekrasov wants to talk to Mikhail about, he can only come to this small room of his, and then confirm some details and preparations to be made with Mikhail again; today is still the same.

So at this very moment, two grown men are sitting on Mikhail's large sofa that serves as both a bed and a living room, speaking very seriously to each other, while the old female servant Nastasya in the apartment, as usual, comes to serve two cups of tea.

With her personality, of course she would pay attention to the two men's conversation, so words like "seven hundred rubles" and "another thousand rubles" flowed into her ears.

Nastasya: "?"

In broad daylight, I haven't smelled any alcohol!

So after putting down the tea, old female servant Nastasya stared blankly for quite a while, then couldn't help but observe the clothes on Mikhail's body that were obviously patched up, and then looked at Nekrasov whose clothes were slightly better than his; finally, she revealed a relieved smile...

Just bragging, it turns out; but recently I did seem to hear Mikhail got rich, but looking at the current situation, he doesn't look like it...

And if it were true, would he never come here again?

Thinking these questions, old female servant Nastasya, who was originally smiling, suddenly felt a nameless sadness.

When Nastasya quietly walked out, the conversation between Mikhail and Nekrasov was still continuing:

"Calculating this way, the money from our last anthology publication is indeed not enough; luckily Panayev has joined, and the printing fees and paper fees can be paid half in advance each month, with the rest part able to be moved to the second year for payment; I have already negotiated these matters with them."

"Then perhaps it won't take too long before the first issue of our magazine comes out. How is the response to the advertisements we published?"

"Although some gentlemen in the literary circle keep singing doom and gloom, but," Nekrasov spread his hands and said, "maybe because after promoting the anthology previously, the results did not disappoint them, or maybe because of Vissarion and your reputation, anyway, now many people have started contacting us."

"By the time we start collecting advance payments, we won't be as tense as we are now."

Speaking to this point, Nekrasov also couldn't help but glance at Mikhail's small room, then continued: "You will soon find a spacious and bright place for yourself; I will too; of course, dear Vissarion will too."

"Yes."

Mikhail also raised his head to look at his room; thanks to his mother and sister, the room basically hasn't been messy for these days, and the house has always been very clean.

But ultimately, due to the location and size, no matter how much it is tidied up, it won't be comfortable.

For health reasons, changing is definitely necessary, but suddenly saying this, it seems one is actually a bit reluctant to part with it...

Another thing worth mentioning is that regarding the matter of changing houses, Mikhail has already mentioned it to the landlady Pavlovna; and Pavlovna, seeing that despite her efforts for so long before and repeatedly pretending to be indifferent while showing off her substantial family wealth, Mikhail could still bear the pain to refuse her, finally temporarily gave up her extra thoughts.

But she still said a sentence: "Mikhail, although you refused me so many times, because it is you, if in the future you encounter something and have nowhere to turn, come find me. If by that time my daughter is still unmarried, perhaps I will consider giving you another chance."

Mikhail: "......"

Honestly, Mikhail even started to feel a bit guilty...

But such things indeed cannot be forced.

As for the rent owed to the landlady Pavlovna, Mikhail of course has already settled it, and even prepared to pay some money to ask her to find a sufficiently spacious and bright house for him in this neighborhood.

To this, Pavlovna was stunned for a moment before asking with some confusion: "I heard from Turgenev that you even have surplus money to repay his full five hundred rubles; having earned so much money, do you still want to live in this neighborhood? Why not go to a better neighborhood?"

Because the better the neighborhood, the closer it is to the Third Department and the Tsar...

Ahem, just a joke.

Mikhail's answer to this was: "That kind of place is not suitable for me, and staying there for too long might make me forget certain things, so currently, this neighborhood seems more suitable for me. When I have free time, I will still come back to sit for a while; I hope you won't be stingy with your tea then."

"... Of course!"

After staying for quite a while before reacting, Pavlovna immediately said excitedly: "Then dear Mikhail, I heard people say you now have a huge reputation in the literary world, right?"

"Huge is not quite the word."

Mikhail humbly waved his hand, but his waist straightened up involuntarily by a few degrees, then replied: "But it should be considered having a slight reputation."

"That is even better."

Hearing these words, Pavlovna immediately revealed a shrewd expression: "Then after you leave, I estimate I will have to multiply the rent for the room you lived in by several times; you know, every year in St. Petersburg there are some poets, writers who want to make a name for themselves, and also some college students who are not very wealthy."

"If they know you once lived in this place, I imagine they would be willing to pay a higher price for it!"

Mikhail: "???"

Poets, writers, and college students are already miserable; dear Pavlovna, please treat them well, okay...

(End of this chapter)