Chapter 8 Broad day

A manual bookbinder named Ilya Ivanovich Spiridov won a lottery for five thousand rubles. At first, Ilya Ivanovitch was going crazy, and with his hands spread out, shaking his head, he kept saying: "Tut...tsk...good fellow...that's all right, old man! . . . ..." It took a while before Ilya felt at ease.He began to plan: how many things can be bought with this money, and what to buy.After counting, it was enough to buy a lot of things. It was so impressive that Ilya shook his hands and didn't want to count again. Relying on our old friendship, Ilya will come to my house twice someday.As soon as he came, he always had to tell how he knew he had won the lottery, and how good he felt on the day he had good luck.

"So, what are your plans now?" I asked him, "What do you want to buy?" "Should I buy it? I have to buy some." Ilya said, "It goes without saying that you have to buy firewood, and of course you should get a new one for the cooking pot... You need to buy a pair of trousers too..." Ilya Ivanovich received a thick stack of brand new ten-dollar bills from the bank, but he didn't see me afterwards, and he didn't come to my place for more than two months anyway. But once I met him on the street. He was wearing a new beige suit, which looked like a big bag, fat and big.The pink bow tie brushed her chin and turned up to her face.Ilya Ivanovitch kept pulling down his tie and spat in anger.It seemed that this suit, with the waistcoat that wrapped him around him, and the big and useless cravat, were in the way enough to make him miserable.

And look at Ilya Ivanovich himself, much thinner than before, with a longer, sallow, sickly face, with dense creases under the eyelids. "Hi, how are you doing?" I asked. "It's nothing," said Ilya Ivanovich despondently. "It's all right. It goes without saying that chopping wood is a purchase... To be honest, it's not very interesting." "What's the matter?" Ilya Ivanovitch waved his hand and invited me to the beer hall. When I got there, Ilya Ivanovich said while tugging at his tie: "Now everyone keeps talking about how the capitalists are doing, how the capitalists are... how are the capitalists doing? I myself have been a bourgeois, a capitalist for a few days... what good is there?"

"Isn't it good?" "Isn't it?" said Ilya Ivanovitch, "just think about it, I have quarreled with all relatives, from my own family and from my wife's family, and I have quarreled with them. The first case. Go to the People's Court. Have I settled it? Yes. It's the case of the maid Bekova. I'm still waiting for the trial. This is the second case... My wife is my wife , Marya Ignatievna, sat on the box all day and wept... This is the third... Did the door of my house be pried by robbers? Pry it! Although it wasn't Yes, but do you think I can stop worrying? Worry! Let me tell you, I don’t even dare to go out now. But it’s impossible to squat in the house. I’m afraid that the firewood in the yard will be stolen. I bought a cubic Someone has to watch the chopping of rice.”

Ilya Ivanovitch waved his hand resignedly. "So what are you going to do now?" I asked. "I don't know," said Ilya Ivanovich, "I really want to hang myself... After I got the money, the first day was bad, and all the bad things happened... It was all right. It's all right, now people are all rushing to the door. "As soon as I entered the house with the money, I felt something was wrong. Needless to say, the relatives huddled together inside and out. Usually no one came to the door, but now the room is full of people. When they saw me, they would say What 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'.

"Needless to say, I gave each of them two rubles, and told them to have a good time. But Mishka, my brother-in-law, was making a fuss. He said: 'Come on, with this money, every day Only two yuan per person, you are more or less a capitalist.' "That's it, he said something, I said something, slapped the table and stared, and a fight broke out. It was impossible to tell who hit anyone, and Mishka grabbed my overcoat from the hanger and ran away. "That's it, all my relatives and I have fallen apart. Now I don't recognize my relatives. "Needless to say, I bought all the messy things. I bought the pot for cooking, and I bought enough millet for two years. After I finished, I wondered where to spend the money. I saw my wife was busy with housework, endlessly. No, I won't be idle for a while.

"This is not a way, I think, even though it is a woman, there should be equality. I don't think this can be done, let's find a girl to cook. "Well, I hired someone. This girl cooks, and the wife sits on a box and cries when she has nothing to do all day. She used to have to work, and she talked and laughed, and now she just sits and cries. Guess what As soon as she asked, all the sufferings she had suffered in the past came up: how did her father die, how did she marry me... In a word, when I was idle, my mind was full of messy thoughts... "Needless to say, I gave my wife some money. I said, 'You go to a club, a theater or something. I'd like to go with you too, but you see, I've got to keep chopping wood.'

"She went to the club after crying for a while. From that time on, she played rotto. During the day she was too busy to cry, and at night she played cards and rotto. And I, Always watch over the firewood chopping. The girls are in charge of cooking. “Later, the director of the housing management committee came to me and said, ‘You bastard, why are you exploiting child labor? Why did you hire Bekova without registering? I’ll sue you in the People’s Court. What’s so great about you winning an award.’” Ilya Ivanovitch waved his hands again, tugged at his tie, and fell silent. "It's not good." I said.

"Do you think it will be all right?" Ilya Ivanovich continued. "I feel bad sitting here drinking beer. Perhaps someone has stolen the wood now, and perhaps someone has broken the door." ... I still have a newly bought samovar at home. Seriously, sit here, I can't sit still, I don't want to go, I don't want to go. How is the house, my wife is probably wiping tears again—I'm afraid Go to court. My brother-in-law Mishka is probably going around our house, trying to get in... Well, I wish I hadn't won the lottery." Ilya Ivanovich paid for the beer and shook my hand sadly.I thought I should comfort him when I was parting, but he suddenly asked me: "Hey, that... Is the next lottery drawing coming soon? I just want to win again, and I can make up a thousand rubles." It's..."

Ilya Ivanovich tugged at his pink tie, nodded to me, and hurried home. (1923)① Translated by Gu Yaling and Bai Chunren