Chapter 7 Chapter VII

Once upstairs, K. met the teacher head on.The room had been made beyond recognition, and Frieda had done a splendid job with her hands.The room was airy, the fire blazing, the floors scoured, the beds made, the maids' filth removed, even their photographs; The table, which had made one look so glaring, was now covered with a snow-white embroidered tablecloth.It is now a place where guests can be received.The couple of K.'s replacement shirts hanging in front of the fire - Frieda must have washed them early in the morning - did not spoil the view of the room very much.Frieda and the teacher were sitting at the table, and they got up when they saw K. enter.Frieda greeted K. with a kiss, and the teacher nodded slightly. K. was still a little disturbed by the conversation he had just had with the landlady, and began to apologize for not calling on the teacher; he seemed to think that the teacher was impatient because he had not gone, and that was why he did so.On the other hand, the teacher also seemed to be slowly remembering a time when he had made such an appointment with K. "Land surveyor," he said slowly, "you must be the stranger I was talking to in the church square the other day." Had to put up with his nonchalant attitude, which he didn't want to put up with now in his room.He turned to Frieda to consult, saying that he was going to visit an important person soon and therefore needed to wear his best clothes.Without asking any more questions, Frieda called over to the two assistants (who were already busy looking at the new tablecloth) and ordered them to take off K.'s clothes and shoes - which K. had already begun to take off - Take it to the yard below to brush it clean.She herself took a shirt off the line and ran down to the kitchen to iron it.

Only K and the teacher were left in the room now.The teacher sat down again in silence at the table; K made him wait a little longer, took off his shirt, and began to wash himself under the tap.He turned his back to the teacher, and only then asked him why he came here. "I have come here at the request of the mayor of my parish," he said. K was ready to hear what he had to say.But the teacher couldn't hear what K said because of the splashing of the water, so he leaned against the wall next to him. K. apologized to the teacher for washing himself in front of the guests and for being in a hurry to keep his appointment.The teacher paid no attention to him, but said: "You are very rude to the mayor of the parish. An old and experienced man like him should be respected." "Whether I was rude to him, I can't say, said K., drying himself off, "but at that time I was thinking of other things besides being polite, and that was absolutely true, because my existence was at stake, threatened by a disgraceful bureaucracy. , since you yourself are a member of one of the surrogates, I don't need to detail all the bureaucratic shortcomings. Does the village chief blame me?" "Who does he have to blame?" asked the teacher. "Even if there is such a person, do you think he will complain about him? I just saw it from the minutes of the meeting dictated by him. The summary of the meeting clearly told me how kind the village chief is, and how kind you are? How did you answer it?"

At this moment, K. was looking for his comb, which Frieda must have put somewhere, and said: "What? Minutes of the meeting? When I was not there afterwards, someone who was not at the meeting wrote it." Meeting minutes? That's not bad. Why such a meeting minutes? So, is this an official meeting?" "No," replied the teacher, "this is a semi-official meeting, and the meeting minutes are also It's only semi-official. The reason for writing this meeting is simply because for us, everything has to be done according to strict rules. Anyway, it's over now, and you don't get any Brilliance." At last K. found his comb, which had been stuffed into the mattress, and said in a more composed tone: "Well, then it's over. Did you come here to tell me that? ""No," said the teacher, "I am not a machine, and I have to tell you my own opinion. The instructions I received are just another proof of the mayor's kindness; I want to emphasize that he The kindness shown this time is incomprehensible to me, and I am only carrying out his instructions, because it is my duty and out of respect for the village chief." K. had finished washing and was sitting His shirt and clothes were waiting at the table; he was in no hurry to hear the news from the teacher, and besides, he was under the influence of the landlady's contempt for the mayor. "It must be past twelve o'clock now, isn't it?" he said, thinking of the distance he had to run; then remembering the subject at hand, he said, "You said you were going told me." "Ah, yes," said the teacher, shrugging his shoulders as if to shrug off all responsibility. "The village chief is afraid that if the decision on your matter is delayed, you may make some abrupt moves on your own initiative. Personally, I don't understand why he should worry about this--according to me We are not your patron saints, and we are not obliged to worry about all your actions. We have nothing to do with you. But the village chief doesn't think so. Of course, he An early decision cannot be urged, that is a matter for the official authorities. But within his own purview, he is willing to offer you a temporary, but no doubt very generous, solution; it is up to you to accept such an arrangement Yes. He temporarily appointed you as school janitor." At first K. did not pay much attention to this appointment, but the fact that it was given to him did not seem to be meaningless to him.This seems to point to the fact that, in the eyes of the village chief, he is able to take care of himself and make his own decisions, so that the village council is preparing to take some countermeasures.How seriously they take the matter!This teacher who has been waiting for a long time, and wrote the minutes of the meeting before coming, of course, the village head must have ordered him to come.Now seeing that he had finally got K. thinking, the teacher went on: "I objected, and I pointed out that so far we have not found a need for a porter; Miss Sha pays no attention to cleanliness. I have had enough dealing with the children, and I don't want a janitor to bother me. However, the village chief pointed out that the school is too dirty. I replied factually that the school is not So dirty. So I went on to say, would it be any better if we got this guy in as a janitor? Of course not. Leaving aside the fact that he doesn't know the job, the school only has two classrooms, There are no other rooms; therefore the janitor and his family have to live, sleep, or even cook in one of the classrooms, with little possibility of making the classrooms more Clean. But the mayor emphasized the fact that this position will solve your difficulties, so you will do your job well; he further pointed out that as you take this position, your wife and your two assistants also will work for us, so that the school will be well run, a first class tidy school, and not only the school but the grounds will be clean. I have easily proved that it is impossible. In the end, the mayor couldn't find a word in your defense; he laughed and said that you're a land surveyor after all, so you can keep your vegetable garden looking good anyway. Well, since it's a joke If that is the case, then there is no need to argue, so I come to you with this proposal." "You are wasting your energy, Mr. Teacher," said K. "I have no intention of accepting this position at all. ""Wonderful!" said the teacher. "Excellent! You completely and unconditionally refuse to accept this position." After that, he picked up his hat, bowed and left.

Not long after the teacher left, Frieda rushed upstairs in a panic, the shirt still unpressed in her hand; she did not answer K.'s inquiries.To assuage her nervousness, he told her both the teacher's visit and his advice; she hardly heard a word, threw the shirt on the bed, and ran out again.She came back soon, but with the teacher, who seemed very unhappy, and he came in without saying hello.Frieda begged him to be patient--she had obviously begged him several times along the way--and led K. through a side door (which K. had never thought of) into an adjoining attic. , Panting with tension, she finally told him what had happened to her.The landlady publicly admitted that she was having an affair with K. because of Frieda's low status, and what was worse, completely accommodated his demands and tried to find him a chance to meet Klamm, but in the end she asserted that nothing but some Frieda would get nothing but cold and false confessions, and she was so angry that she decided not to take K. into her inn; , because he had to be out of here at that time of the day, and she would never want to get him back unless there was an official urgent order or order; How to take advantage of this relationship.Besides, it was only through the negligence of the proprietor that he was able to stay at the inn, and he was not without a place to live, for just this morning he had boasted that he had a house where he could lodge at any time.Of course Frieda would stay; if Frieda were to go with K., she, the landlady, would be very sad; she lay down in her chair by the stove in the kitchen downstairs and cried at the thought of it.The poor sick woman; yet it was a matter of honor to Klamm's souvenir, and if she did not do it now, what else could she think of?For the proprietress, that's the way it is.Of course Frieda was willing to follow him, K., wherever he went.But, in spite of everything, their position was indeed very bad, and that was why she welcomed the teacher's advice with great pleasure; although it was not a very suitable position for K. It has been repeatedly stated that this is only a temporary position; even if the final decision is not good for them, they can buy some time and look for other opportunities. "If it turns out to be worse," Frieda cried at last, throwing herself on K.'s neck, "we'll leave here, what is there in the village that we should miss? But now, my dear, we'll accept the job, Okay? I've got the teacher back, you just have to say yes to him, and then we'll move to the school."

"It's disgusting," said K., not quite showing his sincerity, for he didn't care much about his lodgings, and he was standing in the attic with neither walls nor windows in his underwear, He was shivering from the cold wind blowing in from outside. "You made the room so comfortable, and now we have to get out of here. I am very, very reluctant to accept this position. I'm miserable enough, and now he's my boss again. If we can just stay here a little longer, maybe I'll be better off this afternoon. If you can stay here alone, we can get things over with. Delay a little longer and give the teacher a vague answer. As for me, if things get worse, I really can always find a bar to spend the night..." Frieda put her hand on his mouth and refused to budge. he went on. "No, it can't be like this," she begged, "please don't say that again. Other than that, I'll let you go. If you like, I'll stay here alone, even though it's painful for me If you like it, let's turn down the errand, although it seems wrong to me. Because it's obvious, if you find another opportunity, let's say it's this afternoon, well, we can drop it immediately Take down this post in the school; no one will object. As for your humiliation before the teacher, let me deal with him, and you will not be insulted at all; I will tell him everything, you just stay aside. You don’t need to say anything, and it will be like this in the future. You will never be asked to talk to him. If you don’t want to speak, it’s actually just me. I’m his subordinate alone, and I won’t even be him. , for I know his weakness. So, you see, we have nothing to lose if we accept the seat, and much to lose if we refuse; besides, if you get nothing from the castle today If you don't, you're not going to find yourself a place to spend the night in this village, that is to say, you'll never find a place where I, the fiancée, won't feel ashamed. If you can't find a place at night When I think of you wandering around in the cold night, do you really think I can sleep here in a warm room?" K kept wrapping his arms around him like a coachman. Warming his own chest, he said, "Then there is no other choice but to accept this errand; come on!"

When they got back into the room, he went straight to the fire, paying no attention to the teacher, who was sitting at the table, took out his pocket watch, and said, "It's getting late." "I know, but we finally agreed." Opinion," said Frieda, "we accept the position." "Very well," said the teacher, "but this position is for a land surveyor; he must speak for himself." Frieda hastened to relieve K. "Really," she said, "he accepted the position. Didn't he, K.?" Then K. only had to say "yes" simply, and this "yes" was not even directly addressed to the teacher. It was to Frieda. "Then," said the teacher, "the only thing I have to do now is to give you the task, and we can talk about it once and for all. Land surveyor, you have to clean two classrooms every day, light the stove, and take care of the house. You have to do minor repairs in the garden, keep the teaching aids and sports equipment yourself, clear the snow from the garden walkway, deliver the letters for me and the female teacher, and take care of everything in the garden every year in the warm season. As your job remuneration, you have the right to live in whichever classroom you like; but only if the two classrooms are not in session at the same time, and if you need to use the room you live in, of course, you have to move to another room. You must not cook in the school; for this reason you and your servants will be fed by this inn, at the expense of the village council. As for your conduct, you must be in accordance with the dignity of the school. Proportion, especially when the children are at school, should never be allowed to see any uninstructive speech or action between married couples, I only mention it in passing, because as a cultured person, of course you Must know. In connection with this, I would like to add that we firmly believe that you must legalize your relationship with Miss Frieda as soon as possible. All this and other details will be entered into a formal contract, You will have to sign it when you move into the school." All this seemed insignificant to K., as if it had nothing to do with him and could not restrain him; but the teacher's self-importance irritated him. , so he said casually: "I know, these are ordinary tasks." In order to dispel the impression created by this sentence, Frieda asked how much the salary was. "Whether wages will be paid," said the teacher, "we will have to wait for a month's trial." "But we will have a hard time," said Frieda. Home life cannot be arranged. Could you, sir, suggest to the village council that we should be given a small wage at first? Could you advise them to do so?" "No," replied the teacher, continuing to K speaks. "Proposals to the village council can only be made with my permission, and I will not give you such permission. You are given this position only as a personal gift, and if a man knows his obvious responsibilities, he should not And even more." At this moment, K. could not help but interrupt. "Speaking of gifts, Mr. Teacher," he said, "it seems to me that you are mistaken, and that you should say that the gifts are from me." ""No," replied the teacher, smiling a little, because he had finally forced K. to speak. "I stand by my opinion.We need school janitors as badly as we need land surveyors, and janitors and land surveyors are a burden on our shoulders.I still have to rack my brains to think of reasons to justify giving you such a position to the village council.To me, the best and most honest thing to do is to just leave this recommendation on the table and say nothing about what is right and what is wrong. ""That's exactly what I was going to say," replied K., "you recommended me out of necessity.Although you feel extremely unhappy because of this, you still have to recommend me.When a person is compelled to recommend another person, if a person will let him recommend, then this person is the bestower. ""really weird! " said the teacher. "What is forcing us to recommend you?What forced us was only the compassion of the village chief, his heart was too compassionate.It seems to me, Land Surveyor, that you've got to get rid of all your wild ideas, or you'll never be a good janitor.Words like what you are saying now cannot create a good atmosphere for you to finally get paid.I am also sorry to note that your attitude is still causing me a lot of trouble; just now--I have seen it myself, but it is almost unbelievable--you have been wearing shirt and drawers all the time Speak in front of me. ""Exactly," exclaimed K., clapping his hands and laughing. "And my two precious assistants, where are they going now? Frieda hurried to the door; seeing that K. didn't want to talk any more, the teacher asked when Frieda would move to the school. "Today," Frieda said. "Then I'll come tomorrow." Inspection work," said the teacher, waving his hand as farewell, and went out through the door that Frieda had opened for herself, but at that moment two maids ran in, and they had brought their things back to the room. The room was occupied by them; the teacher, who never gave way to anyone, had to pass through them, and Frieda went out after him. "You are in such a hurry," said K., seeing the maids this time. I was very happy in my heart, "We are still here, are you going to squeeze in? "They didn't answer, they just rubbed the bags in their hands in embarrassment, and K saw the filthy rags he knew so well protruding from them." So they haven't been washed yet," said K. There was no malice in saying this, but there was some tolerance in it. Seeing this, they all grinned their strong mouths in unison, revealing their beautiful and neat teeth, and smiled silently." Come on ,' said K, "put your things down, this is your room after all. Seeing that they were still hesitating—the room must have changed in their eyes—K took one of them by the arm and led her forward. But he let go again immediately. Because both of them looked so startled, they exchanged glances and then stared straight at K. "You must have seen enough of me by now," he said, restraining himself. He felt slightly uneasy for a while, and then picked up the clothes and leather shoes that Frieda (two assistants were following her timidly) just brought in and put on them. He never understood how Frieda treated the two assistants so well. Patience, now he has this feeling again. She searched for a long time, only to find that they were downstairs having a leisurely lunch, and the suit of clothes they should have cleaned in the yard was still crumpled up. on her knees; so she had to clean them up herself. She was always good at urging ordinary people to do their own work, but she didn't even say a word of condemnation to them, and she didn't say it was a serious matter to them. Instead, as if it were an insignificant fault, he patted one of them on the cheek lightly, almost lovingly. K. wanted to tell her about it right away, but it was time to move. , so he said, "The assistants stay here to help you move. "They were more than welcome to this arrangement; they were well fed and happy, and were just about to exercise a little. But they waited until Frieda had said, "Of course, you stay here," I agreed to stay." Do you know where I'm going? " asked K. "I know," replied Frieda. "Do you have anything to ask me to stay a little longer?" ""You have many difficulties to overcome," she answered, "and nothing I can say is as important as your business!" "She kissed K. good-bye. As he hadn't eaten at lunch, she handed him a little bag of bread and sausages, which she had brought him from downstairs. At the same time, she reminded him that it would be late on his return." Go to school, but don't come here again, and then put your hand on his shoulder and send him out.