Chapter 5 chapter Five

K. was surprised that he met the village chief without much difficulty.He explained the matter to himself as follows: from his experience so far, formal interviews with official authorities had always been easy for him.This was evidently due, on the one hand, to the fact that word had been handed down from the officials that in dealing with a man like him, he might as well be shown to be tolerated, and on the other hand, to their admirable autonomy in the conduct of business. Institutions, precisely where they are invisible, determine how effectively a man performs his tasks.The mere recollection of such things often gave K. the dangerous idea of ​​the hopefulness of his situation; and yet, after such a succession of confidences had been so easily secured to him, he hastened to warn himself that precisely this was the danger of his situation. .

Therefore, it is not particularly difficult to talk directly to the authorities, because all they have to do in such a well-organized organization is to protect the distant and invisible interests of those distant and invisible gentlemen, while K. himself, for what was at hand, and, at least at first, he had to pre-empt it, because he was the attacker; besides, he was not only fighting for himself, but apparently also for other forces unknown to him. , but they allowed him to believe that these forces existed, because it did not violate the regulations of the authorities.But just as they immediately and fully gratified his wishes in all insignificant matters--and so far only trifles had been proposed--now they took away from him the possibility of an easy victory, and the following It also robbed him of the satisfaction that came with victories, and his solid confidence in the great further struggles which these victories must give rise to.On the contrary, they let K. go wherever he liked--only within the confines of the village, of course--and thus pampered him, drained his energies, ruled out all possibility of conflict, and plunged him into a terrible situation. Official, totally unrecognized, embarrassing, alien situation.In this life, if he was not constantly on the alert, it could easily happen, in spite of all the amiability of the authorities, and with all the prudence with which he performed all his supposedly easy and common tasks. : he may have been fooled by the superficial favor they showed him, into a reckless manner, and stumbled; while the authorities, still so gentle and friendly, came as if out of desperation, only by some public decree of which he was ignorant. , and had to drive him away.If this is not the case, what will the other career given to him be like? K. had never seen a place where career and life were so intertwined, so intertwined that one sometimes thought that the two had switched places.For example, what was the power that Klamm exercised over K.'s work, so far only a formality, compared with the real power that Klamm had in K.'s bedroom?So it happened that when a person came into direct contact with officials, he had only to play it lightly and pretend to be indifferent, but in other respects he had to maintain the highest vigilance. , He had to look in all directions before taking a step.

When K. went to meet the village headman, he soon found that the facts confirmed his opinion of the authorities.The mayor was a good-looking, stout, clean-shaven man who was suffering from severe gout; he received K. in bed. "So you're our land surveyor," he said, trying to sit up in bed, but when he tried, he fell back on the cushions and pointed apologetically to one of his legs.The windows of the room were small, and the curtains were drawn again. In the dim light, a silent, almost shadowy woman pushed a chair for K. and placed it near the bed. . "Sit down, land surveyor, please sit down," said the mayor, "tell me what you want." K. read Klamm's letter to him, adding a few words of his own.Again he felt the uncommon relief of talking to official authorities.They all seemed to be exactly alike, capable of carrying any burden, that one could put everything on their shoulders, and be free to do nothing.The village head seemed to behave in the same way, he moved uncomfortably on the bed.At last he said: "I know all about it, and it is exactly as you say. The reason why I did not ask was firstly that I was ill, and secondly that you came so late; lastly I thought you had given up the work here." Well, but now that you have come to see me on your behalf, I should really tell you the truth of the matter. As you say, you are a land surveyor by profession, but unfortunately we do not A land surveyor is needed. There is no need for a land surveyor here. The boundaries of our small country are already marked and officially recorded. So why do we need a land surveyor?" It hadn't occurred to him beforehand, but he now believed in the bottom of his heart that he had expected such an answer.That was why he was able to reply at once: "I am astonished at what you have said. It has put an end to all my plans. I only hope that there may be some misunderstanding." "No, I'm sorry," said the mayor, "the facts are just as I said." "But how is this possible?" cried K. "I came here all the way, of course, just to be sent back again?" "That's another question," replied the village head, "it's beyond my decision, but, say As to how this misunderstanding came about, I can indeed explain to you why. In such a large government agency as your lordship, it may occasionally happen that one department makes this thing, and another department makes that. ignorant of each other's circumstances, and although the supreme authority is so absolutely effective, it is by its very nature to deal with matters too late, so that small mistakes often occur. Of course, this is only As for the trivial things, as in your case, for instance. I've never heard of anything going awry in the big things, but even the little things are often enough to be a pain in the ass. Now let's talk about your situation, I would like to tell you all the reasons for this matter frankly, without keeping any official secrets--I am not an official person, I am a farmer, and I will always be a farmer .A long time ago—when I was mayor only a few months—there was an order from above, I can’t remember which department, in which the gentlemen above followed the usual relentless vaguely informed us to hire a land surveyor, and directed the municipality to prepare the necessary plans and measures for his work. Obviously, this order can never be referring to you, because it was many years ago , if I hadn't been sick right now and spent so much time lying in bed thinking about these stupid things, I wouldn't have remembered...Missy," he said, stopping suddenly, and asked the one who was still there. The woman floating around the room for no reason said, "Please look in the filing cabinet, maybe you will find the order." He explained to K.: "You see, it is I who am here There was a file cabinet in the first few months of being the village head, and I still organized everything in there.” The woman immediately opened the file cabinet. K and the village chief watched.The cupboard was full of papers.As soon as the cupboard door was opened, two large bundles of documents rolled out. The documents were all bundled into round bundles, just like people usually bundle firewood; the woman jumped back in fright. "It must have been placed underneath, at the bottom of the cupboard," the village head commanded from the bed.The woman obediently took the documents out of the cabinet with both hands, and threw them on the floor in order to check the bottom of the cabinet.Papers now fill half the room. "How many things have been done through me," said the village chief, nodding his head, "but this is only a small part. I have put the most important part of the documents in the warehouse, but most of them have been It's gone. Who can keep all these papers? But there are still piles of papers in the warehouse." He turned to his wife and said, "Can you find that order? You have to find a Zhang has papers crossed under the surveyor on the ground with a blue pencil." "It's too dark in the room," said the woman, "I have to get a candle," and stepped on the pile File walked to the door. "This troublesome business," said the mayor, "my wife is a great helper to me, but in spite of this we cannot cope. Yes, I have another helper, the primary school teacher, who helps me Copy some things that have to be done; but still can't handle things in an orderly manner, there are always a lot of things to put aside, and they are all put in that cabinet," he said, pointing to another filing cabinet. "I'm lying in bed now, and the papers are weighing me down," he said, and lay back with a tired but triumphant air. "Can I," asked K., seeing that the woman had returned with the candle and was kneeling in front of the cupboard looking for the document, "can I help your wife look for the document together?" The village head shook his head with a smile and said: "Although I told you that I don't want to show off the official secrets in front of you, it would be too much for you to read these documents yourself... No, no, I would go too far . " Now, the room is quiet, only the sound of flipping through the documents can be heard; it has only been a few minutes, and the village chief seems to be dozing off.There was a light knock on the door, and K. turned back.This is naturally the two assistants.But they had already shown the effect of their training. They didn't rush into the room at once, the door was slightly ajar, and at first they just whispered through the crack of the door: "It's cold outside." "Who is it?" the village chief asked. asked, he woke up with a start. "It's nothing but my two assistants. I don't know where to tell them to wait for me. It's cold outside, but they're in the way when I get inside." "They won't hinder me," the village head said tolerantly . "Tell them to come in. Besides, I know them, acquaintances." "But they want to get in my way," said K. bluntly, looking from the two assistants to the village chief and then from the village chief. Turning to the two assistants, he found that all three of them had the same smile on their faces. "Since you are here," he said tentatively, "then stay here and help the wife of the village chief to find an official document with a blue pencil crossed under the words 'land surveyor'." The village chief No objection was expressed.What K. was not allowed to do, the two assistants were allowed to do; they immediately threw themselves on the pile of papers and began to rummage, but the way they rummaged through the pile of papers did not seem to be looking for something. Holding a document and reading it, the other will immediately snatch the document from his hand.At this time, the woman knelt in front of the empty cupboard, and seemed to have completely given up the idea of ​​looking for it. In short, the candle was placed far away from her.

"These two assistants," said the mayor, smiling complacently, as if to indicate that he was in a leading position, although no one thought of it, "so they are in your way? But they are Your own assistant." "No," said K. coldly, "they just came to me by themselves." "Come to you," he said, "of course you mean Say, they were sent to you." "That's right, they were sent to me," said K., "but they also fell from the sky, so to speak, so that I don't have to worry about choosing them." "We Nothing is done here without thinking," said the village chief, almost forgetting the pain in his foot, and sitting up. "There is nothing like that!" said K. "Then what is it to say that I was brought here to you?" "Even the fact that you were brought was carefully considered," said the mayor, "only because of some other incidents. It is only because of the situation that the matter is disturbed, and I can prove it with official documents." "The documents will not be found," said K. "Can't find it?" said the village chief. "Missy, please hurry up! Even without the papers, I can still tell you what happened. At that time we gratefully replied to the order I just mentioned, saying that we don't need land surveys , but this reply does not seem to have been sent to the Department which originally issued the order--I may call it Department A--but has been mistakenly sent to another Department, Department B. Thus, Department A received no reply, and unfortunately Our complete reply was not sent to Department B either; whether we did not attach the text of that order, or whether it was lost in the middle, no one knows--but certainly not in my department, which I I can assure you--in any case, all that Department B received was a letter of explanation stating that the enclosed order to recruit a land surveyor was, unfortunately, an order that could not be carried out. At this time , Ministry A is waiting for our reply, of course they have left a memorandum on the matter, but even in the hands of the most efficient institutions, it is inevitable that this often happens, That is, our correspondent was so sure that we would answer him, that when he received the reply, he would send for the land surveyor, or, if necessary, write to us about the matter. It never occurred to him to go to Flipping through the memorandum, the whole incident was completely forgotten. However, in Department B, this explanatory letter was sent to a correspondent known for his seriousness, an Italian named Sortini. People; although I am also a person who knows the samsara of officialdom, even I can't understand why a man of his ability should keep him in such a low position. Naturally, this Soltini He sent back this thoughtless explanation letter and asked us to complete the letter. Now, since the first order from Department A to the present, if not several years have passed, then it has been It has been several months, and the reason is not difficult to understand, because an official document operates according to the regular channel-this is our rule,-it can reach the outside department within one day, and it can be resolved on the same day, But if it got lost in a very efficient institution like ours, it would take a lot of effort to find out where it really went, or there would be no way of finding it; so, uh, so, it must have been It took a long time to find out the whereabouts of this letter. So when we were notified by Soltini, we had only a vague memory of the incident, and it was only Missy and I. Two people work, and the primary school teacher hasn't been sent to us yet. We only take notes of the most important things, so we can only reply in the most vague tone that we don't know what to do with a land surveyor. thing, and as far as we know, there is no need for such a surveyor here.[Note]

"However," at this point, the village head suddenly stopped himself, as if fascinated by the story he was telling, he went too far, or at least he seemed to think he was going too far, "what I told A story, don't you get tired of listening to it?" "No," said K., "that's an interesting story to me." The village chief immediately said, "I'm not telling this story to amuse you." "But it just taught me," said K., "because it made me see clearly that in some cases ridiculous mistakes can determine a person's fate."

"You haven't seen anything from this yet," said the mayor solemnly, "but I'll go on. Soltini is naturally not satisfied with our answer. I admire this man, although he always Trouble me. He simply doesn't trust anyone; for example, even if a person has dealt with him countless times, he already knows him and thinks he is the most reliable person in the world, but as soon as a new situation arises, he I don't believe him, as if he didn't want to know him at all, or rather, he seems willing to think of him as a bad guy. I think it is right and reasonable, a businessman It must be so; but, unfortunately, I was not born with such principles; and you can see for yourself how frankly I am to you, to a stranger, in telling you all these things, I must This is not possible. But Soltini did the opposite. He became suspicious after reading our reply letter. Since then, a large number of correspondences have been caused. Soltini asked me why I suddenly remembered that there is no need to hire a land surveyor. Yes. I replied, from Missy's good memory, that the first suggestion was made from the Cabinet Secretary's Office (actually from another department, but we have long since forgotten what department). Sortini retorted: Then why am I only mentioning this order now? I replied: Because I only remember this order. Sortini said: This situation is very rare. I said: One thing It's not uncommon for something like this to happen in the middle of something that drags on for so long. No, it's rare, because the order I remember is gone. I said: Of course not, because the papers have been lost. Soltini Said: But there must have been a memorandum about the first contact, and now there is nothing. This caught my attention, because in Soltini's department, something went wrong, and I I dare not mention it, and I cannot believe it. Perhaps, my dear land surveyor, you will blame Soltini in your heart. After hearing what I said, he should at least be moved to ask other departments about the matter. If so, it's just wrong; I don't want to put any blame on this person, no, not even in your own mind. One of the working principles of the Head Office is that any possibility of error must be eliminated. This is a basic principle unanimously confirmed by the highest body of official authority, and that affairs must be dealt with as quickly as possible. Therefore, it is not within the purview of Soltini to consult other departments, and they also No answer at all, for they would at once guess that it must be an inquiry into a possible error."

"Mayor, allow me to interrupt you and ask you a question," said K. "Didn't you mention at one point that there was a supreme governing authority? It sounds from your account that, if one could imagine it that way, the governance of this whole structure would be considered a failure." "You are too strict," said the mayor, "but multiply your strictness a thousand times, and your strictness is nothing compared to the strictness required of yourself by the authorities. There is only one complete stranger." To ask questions like yours. Is there a supreme authority? There are only authorities here. To tell the truth, their function is not to investigate what is commonly called a mistake, because mistakes never happen, even if they happen once in a while. As in your case, but who's to say it was a mistake after all?"

"That's really news!" exclaimed K. "But for me, this is commonplace," said the mayor. "I was like you, and I later believed that there was a mistake, and Soltini was discouraged by it, and we are indebted to the junior deacon officers, who discovered the source of the mistake and admitted that it was a mistake. But Who can guarantee that the deacons of the second rank will come to the same judgment, and that the deacons of the third rank and all other deacons will also come to the same judgment?" "Perhaps so," said K. "But I'd rather not make these speculations. Besides, this is the first time I've heard of these deacon officials, and of course I don't understand them yet. But I think there are two things that must be distinguished here: first, that they What is dealt with in the office, and it can be explained in one way or another in an official form; secondly, I, the actual person, myself, outside the office, is threatened by their violation, The offense is so senseless that I can hardly believe how serious the danger is. As regards the first point, it is evident from the strange and confused details which your mayor has told me; But I still want to hear from you about my own situation."

"I was going to talk about that too," said the village headman, "but you can't understand it without first giving you some details. I'm going to tell you about deacons now, and for the sake of It's too early. So I have to go back to my conflict with Sortini. As I said just now, my reasons for defending myself are gradually becoming untenable. But at any time, if Sortini is in hand If anyone gets hold of anything, even the slightest, he wins, for then his vigilance, strength, and vigilance are indeed heightened, and it is a terrible moment for the victim, and for the victim The enemy of the victim is a glorious moment. It is only because I have experienced this emotion in other situations that I can speak of him like this. Still, I have never been able to see his face. He cannot come Next, he was overwhelmed by so much work; I have heard that the walls of his room were covered with piles of papers stacked on top of each other; Bundles and bundles of official documents are still being sent in and out one after another, and everyone is in such a hurry that those piles of official documents are always falling on the floor, and it is precisely from these official documents that people continue to You can only recognize this is Sortini's studio in the sound of falling to the ground one after another. Yes, Sortini is a staff member, regardless of the size of the matter, he treats them equally and handles them carefully ."

"Major," said K., "you always call my case the smallest thing, but it has caused a lot of headaches for a large group of officials. If it is not an important matter, Maybe it started like that, but through the hard work of officials like Soltini, it has become a big deal. Unfortunately, I don't want this at all, because my ambition is never to see that Rolls and rolls of papers about me go up and down, and I just want to work quietly on my drawing board, a humble land surveyor. "No," said the mayor, "it's not a big thing at all, and you have no reason to complain in that respect--it's the least of the most insignificant things. Whether a thing is important or not , does not depend on the amount of work involved, and if you think so, you don't understand official authority at all. Even if it is a matter of work, your case is still a trivial matter; Ordinary events, I mean those where no so-called mistakes have occurred, still require more and more efficient work. Besides, you have no idea of ​​the actual work caused by your matter. I will tell you now Here you go. Well, Soltini didn't take me long enough to leave me alone, but some clerks came and made an official inquiry every day at the Herrenhof, involving notables from the town. Most of the Everyone was firmly on my side, only a few backed away--such a land surveyor's question appealed to the peasants,--they sensed some secret plot and evil, etc., and found a So Soltini told them this, and had to believe it, thinking that if I brought the matter up to the town council, no one would object to the hiring of a land surveyor. So, such a thing Mundane things—that is, no need for a land surveyor—turned out to be at least suspicious. One of them stood out, by the name of Brunswick, whom you don't know, of course. ; he may not be a bad man, but a little silly and dreamy, and he's Raisman's son-in-law."

"The son-in-law of the tanner?" asked K., and he described the bearded man he had seen at Raisman's. "Yes, this is the man," said the village chief. "I know his wife too," K. said casually. "It is possible," the mayor replied curtly. "She's pretty," said K., "but she's haggard and sickly. Of course, she's from the castle?" The sentence was half inquiring. The mayor glanced at the clock, poured some liquid medicine into the spoon, and swallowed it hastily. "Do you only know the situation on the official side of the castle?" K. asked bluntly. "Yes," replied the Mayor, with a sardonic and pleasant smile, "and that is the most important aspect. I was just speaking of Brunswick, and if we could keep him out of the town council, Almost all of us would be pleased, and Reisman would not be displeased. But Brunswick had some influence then, and of course he was not an eloquent orator, but a shouter; but Even so, he has done a good job. So, the arrival forced me to take the matter to the town meeting; but this is only a temporary victory for Brunswick, because at the town meeting Most people naturally refuse to hear about a land surveyor. That was a long time ago, too, but it has been going on and on since then, partly because Soltini With assiduous earnestness he scrutinized the arguments, and sought to probe the motives of the majority as much as he paid attention to the opposing side; partly also because of Brunswick's folly and ambition, and his There were some personal friends among them, to whom he moved with a head full of novel fantasies. But in any case, Soltini would not allow himself to be deceived by Brunswick-how Brunswick Can you fool Sortini?--But just to not let yourself be fooled, you need to examine a new argument, but Soltini has not yet completed the examination, and Brunswick has already thought up some new tricks Come; Brunswick is undoubtedly a man of many tricks, and this can be compared with his stupidity. Now I come to a feature of our management. The management has both accuracy and at the same time High sensitivity. A matter that everyone has paid attention to for a long time, although it has not been fully considered, it may happen that a decision is made suddenly and suddenly, where it comes from. You will know that a decision solves the problem, if just in most cases, but is still unavoidably arbitrary. It seems that the governing body can no longer bear this tension, this kind of restlessness caused by the same incident for many years. - the matter itself may have been trivial - so the governing body took the decision itself without the assistance of its officials. Naturally, it was by no means a miracle, but a clerk must have hit upon the solution by chance. or an unwritten decision, but in any case we don't know who. At least we don't know, or even at the Headquarters, which clerk made the decision in this matter, his And what was the basis. The officials in charge only found out how it was much later, but we'll never know; and it doesn't interest anyone now. You know, I've told you However, these decisions are generally very good. The only annoying thing--and this is often the case with such things--is that people know these decisions too late, so at that time, people still continue to discuss these long-standing decision made. I don't know in your caseHave you ever made a decision like this—some say yes, some say no—but if you really have such a decision, then the recruitment notice may be sent to you, and you will have a long way to go How much time will pass by coming to our place, and Soltini will be here all day working on this matter until he is exhausted.Brunswick will do his tricks, too, and I'll have both of them.I'm only pointing out the possibility, but I know it's true that one of the deacon officers, at this point discovers that, years before, Department A had questioned the town council about the land surveyor, but so far So far no reply has been received.So a new inquiry was made to me, and by then the whole thing really came to light.I replied to Department A that there was no need for such a land surveyor, and they were satisfied with my answer, and Soltini had to admit that he had mishandled the matter, which is true, and he did a lot of work for no reason. Heaps of brain-struggling work are all in vain.If new tasks had not been pouring in from every direction like this, if your business had not been a trifle--almost the most insignificant of inconsequences--we might all Everyone could breathe a sigh of relief again, and I think even Soltini himself would; only Brunswick murmured and complained, but it was only for fun.So imagine yourself, land surveyor, after the whole thing has had a happy ending--and it's been a long time since--and now you're suddenly showing up, imagine yourself, What an embarrassment I must have been in, and now it looked as if the whole thing had to be started all over again.Of course you will understand that as far as I am concerned, I will never let this happen under any circumstances, don't you think! " "Of course," said K., "but I also understand better now that someone is abusing his power in my matter, and that it may be an act of trampling on the law. As for me, I know how to defend myself." "How are you going to defend yourself?" asked the village chief. "I can't reveal that now," said K. "I don't want to force you," said the mayor, "but I want you to feel that you can find it from me... I would not say a friend, because we are of course strangers... but in a way... Business friend. The only thing I can disagree with is that you should be a land surveyor. As for the rest, you can rely on me, and I will be open and honest with you as far as I can. , though I don't have much power." "You always say that," said K., "that I shouldn't be a land surveyor, but I already am, and here is Klamm's letter." "Klamm's letter," said the mayor, "is valuable and worthy of respect, because it seems to be really Klamm's signature, but even so... I dare not exalt it by my own unfounded words." What's the letter's worth. Missy," he cried, and then: "what are you doing there?" Missy and the two assistants, who had not been noticed for a long time, obviously did not find the papers they were looking for, so they tried to put everything back in the cupboard, but because the papers were messed up and they were There are so many, so I can't put them in.So the two assistants came up with an idea, which they were now carrying out.They put the filing cabinet upside down and stuffed the files into it, and they were kneeling with Missy on the door, trying to close it in that way. "So the document was not found," said the village chief. "Oops, but you already know the whole story; in fact we don't need to read the paper now, and besides, we shall find it in due time; perhaps it's with the schoolteacher, in his There's a lot of papers there, too. But now, Missy, come to me with a candle, and read this letter to me." Missy walked over, leaned against the strong man, and sat down on the edge of the bed. The man put his arms around her, and she looked paler and smaller at this moment.In the candlelight, only her haggard face was sharply defined, the simple serious lines of which were softened only by age.Almost as soon as she saw the letter she clapped her hands lightly and said: "From Klamm." So they both read the letter together and talked for a while in whispers, when the assistants called out. "Okay!", for at last they closed the door of the filing cabinet--they won Missy's silent and appreciative glance--at last the mayor said: "Mi Nian completely agrees with me, and now I can express my opinion. This letter is by no means an official letter, but a personal letter. It only needs to start from the tone of the first sentence addressing my dear sir. It can be clearly seen. Moreover, there is not a word in the letter that it has made you a land surveyor; Of course, you know, this is because it is up to you to decide what job you should take on. In the end, they formally and clearly appointed me, the village head, as your direct supervisor, and told you more detailed information You, as a matter of fact, I have already explained most of it. It is all too clear to anyone who knows how to read official letters, also knows how to read private letters that are not official. Yes. It doesn't surprise me that a stranger like you doesn't understand this. Generally speaking, this letter simply means that Klamm himself is willing to show interest in you if you serve the government." "Village chief," said K., "you have explained it very well. With your explanation, this letter is just a blank piece of paper with your signature on it. Do you know that even though you pretend to be respectful?" Klamm's name, is actually a name that despises him?" "You have misunderstood me," said the mayor. "I have not misinterpreted the letter, and I have read it not to despise it, but on the contrary. A personal letter from Klamm, it goes without saying, is more An official letter is much more important, but it doesn't have the significance you attach to it." "Do you know Schwarz?" asked K. "I don't know!" The village head replied. "Perhaps you know him, Missy? You don't know him either? No, we don't." "That's strange," said K., "he's the son of a lieutenant." "My dear land surveyor," replied the mayor, "why should I know all the sons of the lieutenants?" "You're right," said K. "then let me tell you that he is the son of a vice-warrant. On the very day I came here I had a sharp confrontation with this Shivaro. Then he called Ask a deputy city guard named Fritz, and the answer is that I am called to be a land surveyor. How do you explain it, village chief?" "Very simple," replied the mayor. "So far, you have had no real contact with our government authorities. Your contacts have been illusory, and have been taken as real only because you are ignorant of your surroundings. As for the telephone, you see, I don't have a telephone here, despite my close relations with the authorities. A telephone may have its uses in hotels and such places, but at best it's like a amp. Just put in a penny jukebox thing. Have you ever made a phone call here? Have you? Then you probably know what I mean. In the castle, of course, the telephone works beautifully. , I heard people say that the phone is non-stop all day long, and the work efficiency is of course greatly accelerated. From the telephone below the castle here, we can hear the continuous phone call, like a low humming sound Like, you must have heard it too. You have to know that the only real and reliable thing you hear is this low humming sound from our telephones, and everything else is unreal .There is no private plane between us and the castle, and there is no switchboard to take our calls far away. When anyone calls the castle from us, all the subsidiary departments' telephones will ring, or almost all The department phones would ring--I know for sure--if they didn't pick up the handset. But every now and then there would be a tired officer who needed a little entertainment, especially in the early evening. In this way, we heard a call back. Of course, this reply was actually just a joke. This is also very easy to understand. Because in the middle of the night, I went to call for my own little private dispute. I have been busy with urgent and important work, so who is willing to take on this kind of responsibility? I don’t understand, when a foreigner is on the phone, let’s call Sortini, for example, how can he imagine answering Sortini is really the one. Probably a little scribe in an unrelated department. On the other hand, it does happen once in a lifetime that someone is calling the little scribe When I was a member of the staff, it was Soltini who answered the phone himself. The best thing to do at this time is to leave the phone before the other party has spoken the first sentence." "I really didn't know it was like this," said K. "I have no way of understanding all these special circumstances, but I also don't really trust the conversations on the phone. I always feel that only what happens in the castle is really important." "No," said the mayor, and he put the word firmly and forcefully, "the answer on the phone absolutely made sense, why didn't it make sense? How can a castle official say something that doesn't matter? As stated when reading Klamm's letter. Not a single word in the letter has an official meaning; if you add an official meaning to them, you are mistaken. Whether it is good intentions or malice, it has a lot to do with it, generally speaking, it has a bigger relationship than what is expressed in the official letter." "Very well," said K. "If everything is as you say, then I must have quite a few good friends in the castle: for many years, I have watched that department eagerly, waiting for their sudden inspiration- -Let's say a land surveyor is to be hired,--it was a friendly gesture to myself; threatened with expulsion." "You have some truth in your view of the matter," said the mayor, "and you are right in thinking that castle declarations should not be rigid. But care is always necessary, not only in this matter." , the more important the statement, the more careful you should be. But when you go on to say that you've been duped, I don't know what you mean. If you listen to my explanation more carefully, you must You will understand that the question of whether you were called to the castle cannot be settled here, nor can it be settled in a short conversation now." "The only conclusion, then," said K., "is that everything is still unclear and unresolved, including my expulsion." "Who would take that risk to drive you out, Land Surveyor!" asked the village headman. "It's because you can't figure out whether you are invited, so you can be guaranteed the best courtesy, just don't be too sensitive to those superficial phenomena, no one here will keep you, but it is by no means to say that you will be kicked out Walk." "Oh, mayor," said K., "you are taking things too simply now. Let me give you a few reasons why I want to stay here: I have made the sacrifice of leaving my homeland, I have traveled long and hard my voyage, the good and well-founded hopes I had for being employed, my present state of being without income, and the prospect of never being able to find proper employment in my home country again, and last but by no means least, I also have a fiancée who lives here with me." "Oh, Frieda!" said the mayor, without showing the slightest surprise. "I know. But Frieda will go with you wherever you go. As for the other points you have said, which must be given due consideration, I am willing to pass them on to the Castle. If anything is decided, or needs to be first If I ask you again, I will send someone to come to me. So, do you agree?" "No, I absolutely disagree with that statement," said K. "I don't want to ask the castle for any favors, I only ask for my rights." "Missy," said the mayor to his wife, who was still sitting close to him, lost in dreams, fiddling with Klamm's letter, folding it into a small boat - so frightened that K. snatched the letter out of her hand. "Missy, my foot hurts again, we need to change the bandage." K stood up. "Well, I must take my leave," he said. "Well," said Missy, who was already preparing the ointment, "the ointment was too tight last time." K. turned away.He had hardly finished his last words when the assistants, with their usual eagerness to do their master's service, hastened to open the two doors.In order to prevent the strong cold air from blowing into the patient's room, K had to bow hurriedly to the mayor.Then he pushed the two assistants in front of him, hurried out of the room, and quickly closed the door behind him.