Chapter 14 twelve

The city of XXX, to which our two friends went, was governed by a young governor who was at once a progressive and a tyrant—such characters abound in Russia—and he arrived at the same time. By the end of the year, not only had he quarreled with the noble chief of the province (a captain of the retired Guards cavalry, the owner of the horse farm, and a hospitable man), but he had also had trouble with his own staff.In view of this intractable disagreement, the Petersburg Ministry decided to send a trustworthy person to investigate the situation, and Matvey Ilyich Kolyazin was chosen.Once upon a time, when the Kirsanov brothers lived in Petersburg, they were under the care of their father, Kolyazin the Elder.Little Kolyazin was "young and promising", that is to say, he became a state activist in his early forties. He wore a medal on the left and right of his chest, although one of them was foreign, which was nothing special.He is also considered a progressive, like the premier who is here to stand trial.But this eunuch is different from most high-ranking officials. He thinks highly of himself, and his vanity is unbelievable, but his demeanor is not arrogant. He often looks at people with approval, listens to people with tolerance, and smiles He is so amiable at times that he has earned a reputation as "pretty good" from his first-time acquaintances.He is also good at confusing people's eyes and ears on important occasions, quoting a famous saying: "Spirit is essential, IMenergieestlapremierequalitedMunhommedMetat," ①In fact, he is often deceived by people and played by veterans.Matvey Ilyich has the utmost respect for Gizo, and he tries to convince everyone that he is not a bureaucrat, an outdated bureaucrat, and that no important phenomenon in social life escapes his attention.... Unbeknownst to him, he even paid attention to the development of contemporary literature—of course, it was only on a whim, just like a grown man who meets a group of children on the street and plays with them for a while.To tell the truth, Matvey Ilyich was about the same as a lord in Alexander's time.At that time, the scholar-bureaucrat read a few pages of Kontilak's article in order to attend the evening party at the house of Mrs. Svetchina (who lives in Petersburg).It's just that his tactics are different, much more fashionable than that of the scholar-bureaucrats at that time.In short, he is a smooth favorite, who does not know how to manage affairs and has no intelligence, but has the most important ability-financing money.

-------- ①French: Vigor is the first element of a state activist. ② Gizot (F.P.Cuizot, 1787-1874), a French historian. ③ Svechinna (C.O.EBFJIDC, 1782-1859), the wife of Russian General Svechin, a writer with mystic tendencies. ④Condillac (E.B.deCondillac, 1715-1780), French philosopher, Catholic priest. Matvey Ilyich received Arkady with all the amiability, or rather unconventional friendliness, of a high official, and was surprised to learn that the noble relatives he had invited were living in seclusion in the country and were not coming to see him. "Your father is such a weirdo," he said, fiddling with the tassels on his velvet pajamas, and suddenly, turning to his listening young subordinate in his uniform, he asked with concern: "What did you say?" Come?" The poor young man, whose lips were stuck together because he hadn't opened his mouth, stood up solemnly, looking at his superior in bewilderment... But Matvey Ilyich turned around after embarrassing his subordinates For him.Generally speaking, our high-ranking officials have a penchant for teasing their subordinates in various ways. The following is one of them, which is what the British say "isquite afavourite": a high official suddenly does not even have the simplest words. I understand, as if I have become deaf.For example, he will ask: "What day is it today?" The subordinates will reply respectfully:

-------- ① English: Happy to use. "Today is Friday . . . Your Excellency." "Ah? What? What did you say?" the senior official asked intently. "Today is Friday . . . Your Excellency." "What's the matter? What? What's a Friday? What kind of Friday?" "Friday . . . Your Excellency, the day of the week." "What, you want to teach me a lesson?" Matvey Ilyich was also a high official, though he called himself a liberal. "My friend, I advise you to pay a visit to the governor," he said to Arkady. "I advise you not that I support the old law, but that it is customary to pay a visit to the ruler in order to show respect. Just because the governor is a decent man, and you probably want to get acquainted with the social world here... You don't want to be a loner bear, do you?

He's giving a big ball the day after tomorrow. " "Are you going?" asked Arkady. "He organized it just for me," said Matvey Ilyich, even with a touch of pity. "Can you dance?" "Yes, but not a good dance." "Unfortunately, there are very beautiful women here. Besides, it's a disgrace for young people not to be able to dance! But I must say, this is not out of old ideas, I don't think that intelligence must be on the tip of your feet, but bye Ethics is also ridiculous ilafaitsontemps." -------- ①French: It is outdated.

"But, Uncle, it's not because of Byronism that I don't..." "I'm going to introduce you to the local ladies and take you under my wing," Matvey Ilyich interrupted him with a proud smile. "It's going to be warm under my shelter, isn't it?" At this moment a servant came in to report that the Minister of Finance was visiting.The Chancellor of the Treasury was an old man with gentle eyes and wrinkled lips, and he was very fond of nature, especially summer, as he said: "Every bee takes bribes from the flower core..." Arkady took the opportunity to slip away. gone.

He went back to his residence to find Bazarov, and tried to persuade him to meet the governor together. "Okay," Bazarov was finally persuaded by him, "If you don't do it, you don't stop. Since the two of us are here to see the landlords, we might as well go and see it with our own eyes!" But he didn’t ask them to sit down, and he didn’t sit down himself, because he was too busy. He had been wearing a tight uniform and a stiff bow tie since early in the morning.In the province they called him "Burdale," not comparing him with the French Jesuit missionary, but an allusion to "Burda," a cloudy, poor-quality drink.The governor invited Kirsanov and Bazarov to a banquet at his residence, and invited him again two minutes later, identifying Bazarov as brothers of the Kirsanov family and Kirsanov mispronounced Kaisarov.

The two of them came out of the governor's mansion and were walking on the road when suddenly a man jumped out of a passing carriage. He was not tall, and he was wearing a tunic that the Slavophiles liked to wear. He shouted: "Evgen Ni Vasiliich!" With the shout, he ran straight to Bazarov. "Oh, it's you, Gail Sitnikov," said Bazarov, walking on. "What brings you here?" -------- ① German: Mr. "Purely by chance," replied the man.He turned his head and waved at the buggy five times in succession, and shouted at the buggy: "Follow us, follow us! . Said: "My father has some business here, and he wants me... Today I heard that you have come to the city, and you have even been to the hotel where you are staying..." (It is true. After returning to the hotel, the two friends saw a brochure A corner card bearing the name Sitnikov, written in French on one side and cursive in Cyrillic on the other.) "I hope you're not from the governor, are you?"

"You're disappointed, that's exactly where we came from." "Ah! Then I must go too. Yevgeny Vasilyitch, introduce me and your... and him..." "Sitnikov, Kirsanov," Bazarov introduced as he walked away. "It's a great honor," Sitnikov immediately started talking, and at the same time caught up with them, side by side, and hurriedly took off his over-fashionable gloves, "I have heard many... I am Yevgeny An old acquaintance of Ni Vasiliich, one can even say that he is a student. He has been taught by him a lot, and he has been reborn..."

Arkady looked at Bazarov's student, but he had a clean-shaven face, small and small, which was pleasant, but with a somewhat disturbed, silly expression, and a pair of The small eyes that seem to be set in the eye sockets seem to be very focused, but anxious, and even smiles are anxious-short and stupid. "Do you believe it?" he went on, "when I first heard Yevgeny Vasilyitch say that authority should not be recognized, I was so excited ... it seemed as if I had grown up all of a sudden! I thought: Well, at last I have someone who can advise me! By the way, Yevgeny Vasiliich, you must know a local lady who will understand you well enough to take your visit to the next level. It's a great joy. I suppose you've heard of her?"

"Who is she?" Bazarov asked unwillingly. "Kukshina, Eudoxie, Evdoksia Kukshina, a wonderful emancipee, in the true sense of the word. Do you know what I think? Let's go see her now, Her house is not far from here... We can still have breakfast at her place. You haven't had breakfast yet, have you?" -------- ①French: Avdoxie. ②French: progressive women "No." "Great! She has broken up with her husband, and now she has nothing to worry about..." "Is she beautiful?" Bazarov interrupted and asked. "No...it's not beautiful."

"Then why did you come up with such a bad idea and tell us to go and see her?" "You're such a joker...she'll buy us champagne." "Okay, now I can see that you are a pragmatic person. By the way, does your father still sell monopoly?" "Still doing that business," Sitnikov smiled. "Well, it's settled?" "Honestly, I can't make up my mind." "You wanted to look into the world, so go," Arkady whispered. "Are you going, Kirsanov?" Sitnikov asked vigorously, "you will go too, without you." "How can we all rush in at once?" "It's okay! Kukshenna is wonderful!" "Is there really champagne?" asked Bazarov. "Three bottles!" cried Sitnikov. "I guarantee it!" "For what?" "Use my brain." "It's better to use your father's purse...well, let's go."