I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 142 Mikhail's Clever Trick to Deceive Pletnyov

Russian winters are always exceptionally cold and long. Unlike the long white nights of summer, St. Petersburg has only a few hours of daylight in winter, with the rest of the time shrouded in darkness. In this very oppressive atmosphere, people's need for social interaction becomes even stronger.

For the nobility, winter in St. Petersburg was the peak season for socializing. Nobles would often return from their country estates to their mansions in the city, and then ride in gilded sleighs to grand banquets and balls. On these occasions, the nobles, dressed in Parisian fashion, would discuss politics and high society gossip, and enjoy operas or dances.

For ordinary people, the arduous work remains an important part of their lives. In their spare time, children will skate and have snowball fights in the streets, while adults often gather in pubs to socialize and keep warm, downing glass after glass of vodka in a noisy atmosphere.

If they accidentally get too drunk and their families can't come to pick them up, then it really comes down to a test of physical fitness.

Sometimes, a tavern in winter is actually more lively than one in summer.

As for university students in St. Petersburg, since many universities continue to hold classes as usual during the winter, they often have to listen to lectures in classrooms wrapped in thick coats until transportation is basically paralyzed by heavy snow, at which point they can finally enjoy their holidays.

For them, underground reading groups were often more active on cold winter nights, with students gathering at the homes of wealthy classmates to read aloud things that were not allowed to be read at school and to discuss political topics that could not be discussed at school.

These three things may seem unrelated, but they are indeed part of Mikhail's daily life.

First, let's talk about the university part. After attending classes for several days in the cold winds of St. Petersburg, Mikhail was increasingly reluctant to get out of bed as the weather grew colder. Then, one day, he happened to run into the rector of St. Petersburg University, who was also the former boss of "The Modern Man" magazine, Pletnyov. Mikhail couldn't help but blurt out, "Rector Pletnyov, in my opinion, shouldn't we be on holiday in this kind of weather?"

It's worth mentioning that Principal Pletnyov, who appears quite respectable, is actually a shrewd businessman in some ways.

Just like before Mikhail and his colleagues took over "The Contemporary," the magazine was practically on the verge of ceasing publication, and the entire publishing house was surviving by selling the posthumous manuscripts of Alexander Pushkin.

After Mikhail and his team decided to take over, Pletnyov not only asked for 3,000 rubles, but also agreed with Panayev that if the number of subscribers exceeded 1,200 in the first year, Panayev would have to pay him additional compensation.

If "The Modern Man" has two thousand subscribers this year, Pletnyov expects to earn another two thousand rubles. And thanks to Mikhail and his team's efforts, if nothing unexpected happens, "The Modern Man" has already reached nearly three thousand subscribers.
According to Panayev, when he had to give his former boss a share of the profits again, Pletnyov appeared very serious, but in reality, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Therefore, normally speaking, in this era where the authority of teachers is beyond question, ordinary students would not dare to act recklessly in front of the principal, let alone question or make demands on ordinary teachers.

As for Pletnyov, if an ordinary student came to him asking about holidays, he would have already asked their age and name. But the person who came up to him was Mikhail. As soon as he saw him, Pletnyov couldn't help but think of the share he received from "The Modern Man". He couldn't help but smile again.

Unfortunately, although he is the rector of St. Petersburg University, his annual salary is only three thousand rubles, not counting other additional income.

In this situation, can the money from "Modern Man" be considered small? And there might even be additional revenue sharing later!

Mikhail is something else. In just six months, he's turned "The Modern Man," which had only a few hundred subscribers, into this mess. It seems both he and I have a bright future ahead of us.
In conclusion, Pletnyov smiled and nodded politely to Mikhail in response to his words: "Mr. Mikhail, the school will give your opinion a good consideration. The school is also communicating with some units, and we expect to have news in a couple of days."

And so, perhaps because the weather did indeed turn bad again, the news of the school holiday was quickly spread.

Because several teachers and students nearby looked utterly bewildered when Mikhail spoke to Pletnyov, a story titled "The Clever Trick of Mikhail to Get to Pletnyov" spread along with the holiday notice.
Upon hearing this rumor, Mikhail naturally denied it three times: "I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense."

When Pletnyov heard the rumor, his face darkened immediately, but he really didn't want to do anything to Mikhail.

But his attempt to appease the situation actually enhanced the story's credibility.

As a result, Mikhail, who already enjoyed a high reputation at the university, suddenly gained even more enthusiastic support from the students:
"Well done, esteemed Mikhail! I knew it, even the principal couldn't do anything to you!"

"Our school's holidays start several days earlier than other schools! Even so, why do you still say it has nothing to do with you? No wonder everyone says you are the most humble person they have ever met."

"Dear Mikhail, we wholeheartedly support you!"

Mikhail: “?”

The school supervisor, Alexei, who was not far away, thought: "???"

Is this still a normal college student?!
However, he genuinely and virtually never attended any private or dangerous gatherings, rarely criticized the government, and his attitude towards His Majesty the Tsar seemed impeccable, except perhaps for being somewhat indifferent.
He's neither an aristocrat nor a commoner, and he's not even a normal student. How should we define this guy?

Surveillance! Surveillance must continue!
It must also be said that, precisely because of this surveillance, Mikhail did not participate much in other students' private gatherings. As for the aforementioned underground reading group on winter nights, although it was relatively safe, Mikhail felt it was better to refuse them all for the sake of safety.

The other students naturally understood Mikhail's refusal, since few students were like him, with most professors paying more or less attention to him, and those responsible for supervising the students unwilling to let him off easily.
Of course, Mikhail couldn't go, but as some students told him:
“We all understand your situation, but please rest assured! In fact, before you came to the school, our reading group often read your works, and it has been even more so since you came. Whenever we have such a gathering, the first thing we read is your new work! After reading it, we start discussing all sorts of issues that we can't discuss at school.”

Mikhail: "???" Do I have to recite a couple of lines before engaging in political commentary, to emphasize something authentic?
You guys
Regardless, the school was indeed on holiday, so Mikhail naturally had free time to do other things. As mentioned above, besides university life, Mikhail also attended quite a few banquets and balls of the nobility during this winter.

The publication of his novel in French in a French literary journal, and the praise he received from a great French writer, seemed to have an even greater impact on the nobles of St. Petersburg than Mikhail had imagined.

It was perhaps because it happened to be a time when nobles had many banquets and balls, and Turgenev loved to frequent such occasions. He might have brought up this matter while he was boasting, which naturally aroused the curiosity of these nobles who were bored out of their minds in the winter and who almost regarded French as their second mother tongue. They even told other nobles about this rare event in the literary world.

When told to other nobles, it often elicited surprised looks from them.

There's no way around it. Even though Russia is now a well-known "Gendarme of Europe," when it comes to culture, it's no exaggeration to say that it still kneels before France. Some Russian nobles can indeed speak French much more fluently than Russian.

In this situation, how could one not be surprised by this strange event in the literary world?

But as mentioned before, this matter was questioned by some people in the literary world. However, since some nobles seemed to have just returned from abroad and happened to hear about it, they brought back firsthand information:

"Yes, that's true. I've seen it in Parisian newspapers several times. Apparently, its publication sparked a lot of discussion in the French literary world, with many marveling at the novel's technique and the ideas it conveyed. As for the author's name, I remember it was Mikhail Romanovich Raskolnikov."

If it matches, then everything matches!

So, for a while, these idle nobles began to inquire about who the writer was, what kind of genius he possessed, and whether they could meet him.

Upon learning of this from other nobles, General Danilevsky immediately slapped his thigh, his face flushed, and exclaimed:

"I dare say that no nobleman in all of St. Petersburg knows him better than I do! This young writer is an absolute genius, and many of the rumors you've heard about him have actually happened in my home! And even such a genius is astonished by my literary talent!"
But what in this world is more joyful than serving His Majesty the Tsar?

While boasting to others, the general also warmly invited Mikhail to visit his home once again.

Since it was the general's invitation, Mikhail would definitely go if he could. However, every time he went and saw how warmly the general treated him, Mikhail felt a little guilty.

The general treated me so warmly, yet I...
Oh well, there's nothing we can do about it.

Besides the general, some ladies from high society who held salons also took the initiative to invite the young writer Mikhail, which was unprecedented.

Regarding the salon culture in Russia, since it was a direct copy of the French salons, there were naturally many literary salons hosted by women.

Among these, Sharon, the widow of historian Karamzin and his daughter, is indeed a figure that many Russian writers cannot ignore.

For a long time, it could be said that if a writer wanted to gain literary prestige in high society, he had to enter their salons, which was tantamount to "awarding certificates" to literary geniuses.

At the same time, such salons would undoubtedly involve a rigorous selection process, making it impossible for ordinary writers to even get a chance to enter.

For a long time, people had been trying to persuade Mikhail to make an appearance in the salons of these ladies, but Mikhail was not really interested in such things. He was not as keen on entering high society as Turgenev.

However, now that Mikhail hadn't gone on his own initiative, but these ladies had come to invite him, even if Mikhail had no interest, in order not to offend anyone and to create a more favorable environment for "The Modern Man," Mikhail finally sighed and chose to go and socialize.

To be honest, at this point, Mikhail could honestly say that his boss wasn't entirely incompetent.
Also, whether it was Mikhail's imagination or not, he felt that some people's eyes seemed a little strange.
Aside from this, Mikhail also attended a few banquets with Prince Odoevsky. The reason was, as Prince Odoevsky said, "Dear Mikhail, you know that every winter, the situation of some people in St. Petersburg becomes particularly bad, and I often do some charitable work at this time, and also call on more nobles to do some charitable work."

Among these people, some are quite interested in literary matters. They've recently heard about your achievements and are very interested in you, so I think your help might make things a little easier.

Mikhail: “?”

Although he didn't think he had that much influence, Mikhail thought about it and agreed since it might lead to something good.

These days, writers often rely on this kind of influence to play a significant role in society.

After socializing in high society for a while, Mikhail finally returned to the ordinary daily life of a typical St. Petersburg citizen.

All I can say is that this is Mikhail's comfort zone.

For ordinary citizens of St. Petersburg, a day naturally begins at their own doorstep.
(End of this chapter)