City of Burning Snow

"Nikolai Gogol."

Dostoevsky sat down peacefully, looking at the left eye that Gogol could see.

"I think you should explain it well."

His smile is so light and unreal.It's as if he was born with all his emotions inside and what's on his face is something else entirely.Gogol, who lost his right eye, is like the happy prince in the fairy tale, but Gogol was not like this.Dostoevsky could hear the beating of the other person's heart.

Gogol should be more honest with him, he is always as lively as a rabbit, but also a crybaby a few years older than him...

Nikolai Gogol stood before him, and now that he had been discovered, he no longer escaped Dostoevsky's pursuit.

He continued to wipe the table, then folded up the dirty calico on the table and threw it into the sink.Dostoevsky was originally an advanced guide. On top of ordinary synaesthesia, reading minds was extremely simple for him.Gogol didn't speak, he just smiled, waiting for the other party to sneak into his own thinking to explore the connection between before and after.

Dostoevsky watched, and indeed he read people as thoroughly as Gorey had tacitly allowed.Later, the senior guide understood one thing, that is, even if one person reads the other thoroughly, it still cannot relieve the pain in his heart.

"why……"

After a long time, he asked softly. "Why didn't you choose to bear it with me in the first place, but chose to deceive me?"

"What are you talking about, I am not deceiving you."

Gogol responded with a smile.

He was frying an egg for Dostoevsky, and the exhaust fan muffled his voice in unreal, distant echoes, but Dostoevsky could hear him clearly.

They share the same spiritual world, and in this world, Gogol is no longer that big boy sitting alone on the ice field.He looked into the distance that Dostoevsky could not see, the place was white.

"I just wanted to kiss you, so I did . . . I was so happy to see you come to life. The synaesthesia did get stronger, but you see, it's not as strong as you think, is it? If you don't If you are willing to have sympathy with me, you can take it back. This is the privilege of being a guide, and the sentinel cannot do this-"

"Nikolai," who do you think I am? Dostoevsky suppressed his anger. The angrier he was, the calmer his face became. "I can hear your inner voice right now. Your inner voice is saying 'don't worry him anymore, it's all my responsibility'. When are you going to be so arrogant? I don't have to listen to guess, you've been Think of me as a symbol, a figment of your imagination, and I don't think it deserves a reproach, Nikolai Gogol, if you have..."

Dostoevsky paused, surprised at his own anger.

He rarely gets angry with someone like this.

He was almost never really angry.

—Why is he angry?

As he himself said, Nikolai Gogol is such a character. He is full of fantasy and unrealistic. his own responsibility.Gogol's character is always like this, but because the other party is now loyal to his character, is he going to get angry with the other party?On what grounds does he Dostoevsky accuse another of his actions.Hasn't he always been used to controlling, leading, redeeming or destroying others?

With his back turned to him, the Ukrainian raised a finger and ran through his hair, which was a little tight by the headband.He couldn't hear Dostoevsky's thinking in the spiritual world, and synaesthesia on the side of the sentinel used abstract emotions as a medium of communication.He could feel the guide sitting silently, staring at his back without saying a word. As soon as there was a spark in his emotions, he was covered by a heavy ocean of cold reason.He put his head down and smiled.

Remove the eggs from the skillet and dust them onto the engraved disk aside.

"Hey...Fei Jia, am I the first person to make you so angry?"

He pursed his lips, bent over and handed the plate to the guide.In his smile, he could not see the entanglement, hesitation, weakness or infatuation of a few days ago at all.

He seemed to have put on a mask—under Dostoyevsky’s constant gaze, Gogol did indeed pull out a half-face blindfold from his apron pocket—and smiled, looking at him flatteringly , but there is no rabbit in my heart.

His composure left Dostoevsky at this moment irreproachable.

"AMCM?"

Three days ago, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko glanced thoughtfully at the things at hand. Gogol was very keen, and he immediately caught the eyes of the other party.

He waited with bated breath, and saw Shibusawa put his fingers on the clothes.This white robe is exactly the one that Gogol wore in the cafe that day.

Shibusawa felt blocked by touch, but when he raised his head and faced Gogol's question again, he shrugged. "Maybe you know, or maybe you don't know," he asked Gogol cunningly, "Why do you ask this person?"

——So, it really is a person.

Not an acronym for an institution.

Gogol hesitated.

The robe was highlighted by the owner of the mysterious note, who told him maliciously that it would eventually be taken away.From what is read between the lines, the man intends to drive a wedge between Dostoevsky's chosen sentinel—now, he—and Dostoevsky himself.

Considering the motivation, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's purpose is the opposite. He deliberately said something to urge Dostoyevsky to steal blood samples from New Russia for him, so that Gogol would take the initiative to return to the Dostoyevsky's side.From this point of view, telling the other party the source of the name does not seem to be a bad thing...

Just as Gogol was about to tell the truth, Dostoevsky vaguely shook his head at him when he first stepped into the office door that day in his office.

He paused, and for the first time in his life began to try to think a little more about the overall situation before acting impulsively.Reflecting on the root of the tragedy, he thought of the box of inhibitors that Dostoevsky had left for him.

If he had followed Dostoevsky's advice completely from the very beginning, and hadn't stopped taking the medicine, and later, hadn't interrupted the conversation between Dostoyevsky and Belinsky...

If he, Gogol, did not interfere with the other party's actions, but completely obeyed the other party's arrangements.

The two may indeed have kept a safe distance so far, as Dostoevsky suggested.Dostoevsky would not be in a comatose bed, and he would not be subject to this white-haired sentinel full of languor and greed.

Should he tell the truth to others?

——If his frankness makes Dostoevsky fall into a passive position again, will the other party be as lucky as this time and survive by chance next time?

Different from the childishness of the past, Nikolai Gogol maintained an invisible and unreasonable smile on his face.

"Where did you see it—it seems to be on a bulletin board, or in a newspaper? Mr. Shibusawa, please tell me the truth."

Shibusawa was originally a sentinel, and his psychoanalytic ability beyond that of a sentinel is just a little speculation plus a grasp of human nature.Right now, the sentinel in front of him showed an expression that he couldn't understand.

The name is not unfamiliar to the ears of the older generation in Western Europe. He happened to live there in his early years. It was only recently that he found a new house in Siberia to safely store his excessive collection.

He is also estimating.

Even if he didn't tell Gogol at this moment, the sentry would find out about it from his guide or the conversations of some passers-by in the future.However, before speaking, if he is not sure about the clues in Gogol's hands, he will lose a chance to negotiate——

The loss outweighs the gain.Again, the loss outweighs the gain.

"Since you're not going to be honest, why should I tell you?"

Shibusawa stepped forward, and he hinted, "You don't want to say the source of it, at least you can talk about the motivation of the inquiry. For example, why do you want to ask this person, do you want to find him, or does he want to come to you?"

"Find him, kill him. Return the price to where it came from, and attribute everything."

Shibusawa showed a hint of surprise for a moment, he saw the horrifying cold murderous look in the sentinel's eyes.

This is completely different from the kind of small fights before.There seems to be a darkness in Nikolai Gogol's heart.Shibusawa thought he was wrong, because this person's smile was too sunny.Gogol laughed out loud——

"I tricked you!"

The hearty laughter of the young man lingered under the high ceiling of the bedroom.He raised his palm, and the tassels on both sides of the bedpost trembled and jumped happily. Dostoevsky's even breathing was not disturbed by this, and the drip of medicine was poured drop by drop into the pale arm along the medical equipment.

"I'm just curious, curious! Just ask!" Gogol stood aside, and then sat down on the chair opposite Shibusawa, lying on the back of the chair with a gentle smile, "It's fine if you don't know, Got it, just let me know by the way. In case I remember where I saw it—in case I saw it in a joke? Wouldn’t we have a common topic, and idleness is idleness.”

Shibusawa's blood-red eyes stared at the other party, he thought for a moment, then suddenly said.

"If you want to kill that person, I won't stop you."

"Oh? You said it was a joke, you are really easy to be deceived."

"However, Nikolai Gogol, if you really know who the other party is, I'm afraid you won't have such arrogance."

— "Are you going to tell me who he is? What's his full name? Where does he live? What does he do?"

The electrocardiogram around Dostoyevsky was operating quietly.

It has been muted, so it won't make noise like ordinary medical equipment. However, with the sudden jump of the characters, the two sentinels instantly shifted their gazes.

Gogol walked over, took a pen to record the three values ​​on the device on the notebook, and then roughly drew the image of the electrocardiogram.It was completely unnecessary, but the expression on his face when recording was as solemn as if he was praying some kind of prayer.With his hands in his pockets, Shibusawa took advantage of the gap and left the two of them.

Gogo ideally wants to keep him, and while drawing the last short fluctuation range with beautiful zigzag thin lines, he said in his mouth: "Don't go! At least tell me his nationality?"

The footsteps of the white-haired young man stopped, and he glanced slightly behind him. "Let's go to Western Europe to find it."

Western Europe?

Not bad.

Since you want to find him...

Gogol put down his pen and pursed his lips together in secret.His keen sense of hearing has already captured all the information, and Shibusawa's voice showed a little interest: "I guess before you find it, he will find a way to silence you, Mr. Nikolai."

If not, then you'd be a surprise to me...

The footsteps sounded again, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko gradually moved away from their room.He walked to the high place of the mansion, leaving his words in the empty and slightly lonely corridor without any pain.

This is really, kind of exciting.

tbc.