British writer

early morning.

St. Petersburg.

Da da da--

The crisp sound of horse hooves pierced the silence.

There was a chill in the air, like a razor blade gently cutting across the horse's skin,

The horse shook its head and sneezed, its mane quivering.

Sitting in the carriage were two old friends——

Maxim Gorky and Leo Tolstoy.

Both seemed very tired,

Especially Tolstoy, after all, he was old. With his eyes half closed, the long journey made him seem to have experienced an endless battle.

"Toon..."

Gorky lowered his voice,

"Toon?"

Tolstoy slowly opened his eyes,

His face is covered with traces of time, his cheekbones are more protruding, and his skin has become sagging.

"What's wrong?"

Unexpectedly, he looked very tired, but his eyes were bright.

Gorky breathed a sigh of relief,

"We've come all the way, it's been a long journey, are you okay?"

Tolstoy waved his hand,

"What problem can I have? Yasnaya is very close to Moscow, and it's very convenient to take the train~"

Yasnaya-Polyrna,

This is actually not a standard place name.

In Russian, it means "empty forest glade", but it is world-famous because it is the place where the writer Tolstoy was born and lived.

Tolstoy spread his hands,

"On the contrary, it was you who came from Siberia and it was really hard work."

"Ah this..."

Gorky was a little embarrassed.

Tolstoy laughed and patted the other person on the shoulder, full of appreciation.

Gorky sighed,

"I should have listened to Professor Lu's advice and kept a low profile."

At that time, after returning from France, he participated in a demonstration in St. Petersburg because of his hothead, and was arrested.

After he was released from prison, he secretly set up a printing office. Unexpectedly, the matter was exposed and he was arrested for the second time.

There is no such thing as "one more time, two more, not three" in Russia.

The second arrest resulted in exile.

There is no need to discuss the distribution of Siberian potatoes.

Fortunately, Siberian supervision is as leaky as a chrysanthemum with hemorrhoids.

Strong prisoners can escape by finding a snow nest for a while while the guards are peeing;

It's easier for the rich, just bribe them.

In short, Gorky escaped.

Tolstoy gently opened a gap in the car curtain,

The cold wind blows in,

He couldn't help but shrink his neck,

"Alexei, can you feel the anticipation brewing?"

Gorky: "Huh?"

Some of them can't keep up with the old man's thinking.

Tolstoy whispered: "As the sun rises, the cold will slowly subside and warmth will return to the earth. Therefore, the cold can bring cold freshness and the expectation of warmth."

Gorky: "..."

I complained in my heart,

Toon was too romantic. He just said that he wanted to overthrow the Tsar. That would be easy.

At this time, several children suddenly ran outside.

Tolstoy quickly stopped the carriage.

"Wait! Stop the car!"

The driver tightened the reins and asked angrily: "What are you doing? It's such a cold day!"

A long way away, the smell of vodka drifted over, and even Gorky in the carriage could smell it.

Tolstoy did not answer the coachman,

He waved to the children,

"come over."

The children looked at each other and communicated in low voices, as if assessing the risks.

The coachman was very angry. He took a sip of wine, licked his big tongue and yelled: "You guys, stop whining there and come here quickly! The old man in the car is quite old, and he can still be a secret policeman!" ?”

Such directness is exactly the characteristic of the Russian people.

But the coachman did have a point,

The children discussed for a while and then approached the carriage.

The coachman said to Tolstoy: "Move quickly!"

He jumped off the carriage, found a wall nearby, held a wine bottle in his mouth, unfastened his belt and peeed.

Gorky smiled and said,

"This coachman is very smart."

In fact, the people at the bottom of St. Petersburg and Moscow are very smart and know that "don't say what you shouldn't say and don't see what you shouldn't see."

Tolstoy glanced at him,

"Aren't you composing a play recently? The theme is the working people, right?"

Gorky nodded,

"That's why I said that."

The script he conceived is called "At the Bottom", which is a summary of 20 years of observing the life of homeless people.

And he himself is from a lower-class background and knows the wisdom of living at the bottom.

Tolstoy nodded to the children,

"You sell newspapers, right?"

As soon as this statement came out, the children immediately became nervous.

The oldest one asked, "How did you know?"

Tolstoy waved his hand,

"It doesn't matter how I know. The key is to see what you are selling. Let me see it."

As he spoke, he picked out a few coins from his arms,

"This is Swedish krona."

The children's eyes immediately widened.

In 1900, Russia's foreign debt was too high to repay, and its economic growth began to slow down or even stagnate, and prices soared.

During the later Russo-Japanese War, inflation even caused the railway lines to cease to operate normally, and the economic difference was evident.

One child said, "We have newspapers! Lots of them!"

As he spoke, he looked around, then lifted his shirt from the hem, revealing the thick pile inside.

Tolstoy glanced at it,

"I don't want any of this."

He shook the coins in his hand and said: "Since I give you foreign money, then buying foreign newspapers should be a very reasonable request, right?"

Gorky echoed from the side,

"Children, take out what you need. I know you have it."

The leader of the children replied: "Foreign newspapers are not cheap."

He pulled out a small messenger bag from behind his buttocks and showed Tolstoy the crumpled newspaper inside.

Tolstoy nodded,

"Give it all to me."

He took the coins back and used paper money instead.

The leader of the children muttered: "Is this... real money?"

Tolstoy smiled, took back the banknotes, turned out all the coins in his pocket, and stuffed them into the other person's hands.

Children do not recognize the Swedish krona, but they do recognize the Arabic numerals on the coins.

Besides, metal looks more reliable than those pieces of paper.

They didn't even want the messenger bag to hold the newspaper, they just threw it into the carriage, turned around and ran away.

"Tsk..."

Gorky was speechless,

"It's almost like people buying and selling contraband are having a meeting."

Tolstoy laughed,

"That's right. Some newspapers must be contraband now."

At this time, the coachman also came back, and without any nonsense, urged the horse to start again.

Tolstoy opened the first newspaper, and it was "Le Figaro".

Gorky asked: "How is it?"

"well……"

Tolstoy sighed,

"What else can we do? Of course it will be the front page headline~ This time, we Russians will lose face to the whole of Europe."

Gorky was very curious.

The two were sitting opposite each other, so he quickly sat next to Tolstoy.

They read the newspaper together.

The article is called "Please don't overstep your bounds!" 》,

The author is the winner of this year’s Jules Verne Award——

Marcel Proust.

——

The soil of literature should be free, open, equal and inclusive.

As a reader, you can applaud, applaud, spread and promote the works you like,

Of course, you can also choose to ignore objectionable works and silently filter them out.

Use your personal likes and dislikes and the power in your hands to eradicate dissidents,

This is a sign of fear!

——

He was almost named Nicholas II.

Gorky said: "This young man is unknown..."

Tolstoy spread his hands,

"French~"

Gorky was stunned for a long time, and then laughed,

The French are indeed very cunning, letting young people like Proust come out to blow the attack horn.

However, on the front page of Le Figaro, the attitude is quite obvious.

Tolstoy continued to read another newspaper,

"This is from Germany... Let me start by saying that I can only understand German roughly and am not proficient in it. After reading it in general, the German newspapers left almost no escape route, and even invited Master Hesse to come out. Hiss... his words are better than The young man named Proust is much more intense."

Gorky snickered.

Think about it, this is inevitable.

In continental Europe, it can still be called a feudal monarchy and an influential country:

Germany,

Austria-Hungary,

Russia.

…

What these three countries fear most is problems with domestic public opinion.

Who would have thought that Nicholas II was so crazy that he jumped out to claim "Animal Farm".

How can there be any reason for the other two countries not to try their best to slap shit on each other?

There is no harm without comparison,

Doing this will make your home appear more free~

Gorky whispered: "I heard that there is a saying in China, 'It is better to guard against the people's mouth than to guard against the river.' Is this what it means?"

Tolstoy was a little surprised,

“There are still Chinese people in Siberia?”

Gorky spread his hands,

"It's good to learn a little bit of everything."

Tolstoy: "..."

Don't know what to say.

Gorky waved his hand and changed the subject: "The most important thing is Britain. How is the British reaction?"

Among the newspapers the children sold to the two,

"The Times", "Daily Telegraph", "Manchester Guardian", "Mirror\

,"All major British newspapers are available.

They read in turn.

As a result, there are no special articles,

The newspaper "Chao Wen Dao" was banned by Nicholas II. The newspapers only reported in some corners, and even the criticism was very perfunctory, as if it were a routine matter.

The front page headline of "Mirror" even features a new topic called "Game Guide".

Even more outrageous, the author turned out to be Edward VII.

In the article, His Majesty the King shared his experience of playing a tabletop game called "The Lord of the Rings", focusing on how to build various professions and using a novice copy as an example.

Gorky: "..."

Tolstoy: "..."

Both of them were confused.

Tolstoy whispered: "'Construction', 'Novice Copy'...are we separated from this world? There are so many words in it, I can't understand it?"

Gorky spread his hands,

"Me too...hiss..."

He slapped his forehead as if he thought of something.

Tolstoy was puzzled;

"What's wrong?"

Gorky said: "Compared with Proust and Hesse, what is the status of King Edward?"

A word that wakes up the dreamer!

Tolstoy suddenly realized,

"Mirror" used its front page headline to share His Majesty the King's experience of playing games.

Is there any creation with more literary freedom than this?

This is true joy with the people!

Tolstoy smiled bitterly,

“Professor Lu’s idea is really too advanced!”

Gorky nodded slowly,

Lu Shi's ideas were wild and unconstrained, and even the way he slapped him in the face was different.

Moreover, this method is definitely the best,

Regardless of morality or law, there is always a deliberateness in reading those two articles, which is far less effective than moisturizing things quietly.

Tolstoy muttered: "This is a way to manipulate public opinion. The Tsar should really learn from it."

Gorky waved his hands repeatedly,

"He should stop learning. Otherwise, how should we overthrow..."

Before he finished speaking, the coachman's voice came from outside,

"arrive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he knocked on the wooden board of the carriage angrily.

"Get out of the car quickly!"

Russians don't have much of a sense of service.

Gorky jumped off the carriage and helped Tolstoy down.

He said to the coachman: "Can you help me unload my luggage?"

Begging and tipping at the same time.

The coachman took a sip of wine, rolled his eyes at Gorky, and said, "Keep your money in your pocket! You have already paid the fare before."

After saying that, he unloaded his luggage in a few steps and drove away with the carriage.

Gorky and Tolstoy looked back,

In front of me is an old building. The facade is mottled and full of traces of time.

The door number was dirty and the contents had long been obscured.

Tolstoy asked: "Here?"

Gorky nodded,

Then, while chanting the numbers "three, five, one, two", he knocked on the door regularly.

After a while, the door was opened.

A shrewd and capable bald man stood at the door.

"Alexei, you finally...eh...why did you bring someone with you?"

The bald man looked at Tolstoy, looking up and down with a scrutinizing gaze.

Suddenly, his eyes widened,

"Who are you……"

Tolstoy shook his head,

"Go in and talk."

After saying that, he and Gorky ducked into the house.

The house was very clean.

The furnishings are also simple, with almost no superfluous things visible.

The bald man stretched out his right hand to Tolstoy,

"My name is Mikhail Greenkin. I used to have a printing shop in St. Petersburg. Are you Toon? It's impossible for people in the publishing industry not to recognize you."

Tolstoy nodded.

As a result, when he was about to speak, Gorky interrupted the topic first.

He quipped to Greene: "You also have a printing shop now."

Green King raised his eyebrows,

“I now only own a printing press, not a printing shop.”

He waved,

"You guys come with me."

After saying that, he walked towards a closet in the house.

Squeak——

The cupboard door was opened.

Rows of clothes hung there, with a tapestry hanging to the ground behind them.

"Come."

Green King lifted the tapestry.

Instantly, the thick smell of ink hit their faces and filled the nostrils of the three people.

Behind the wardrobe is a small room,

The old printing press was being operated by two workers, running constantly and making a low and regular noise.

Gorky asked: "How about "Chao Wen Tao"?"

Green King replied: "Demand exceeds supply."

He couldn't help but sigh,

"The efficiency of a machine is too low. I considered not printing "Country Teacher" and "Chao Wen Dao", but only printing "Animal Farm" and then making it into a booklet. But... alas... you know, those two The article is also very good, I really can’t bear to give it up.”

Gorky said "hmm".

"I understand what you are thinking. Professor Lu's works are really..."

He did not give an accurate adjective, but took out a notebook from his arms.

The cover of the notebook is badly worn. It must have suffered a lot with its owner in Siberia.

Green King asked: "Is this why you came to me?"

He took the notebook.

Gorky reminded: "Look from back to front, there is a long poem by Professor Lu... The poem was actually written by me, but Professor Lu added the finishing touch."

Green King flipped through the pages as the other party asked,

"Is this "Haiyan"?"

Gorky nodded,

"Read it and see."

Green King then calmed down and read carefully.

"On the vast sea, strong winds gather dark clouds..."

This poem is extremely well written.

At the beginning, the tense atmosphere of vicious waves rising into the sky, thunder and lightning, roaring winds, and magnificent waves is played up to the fullest.

Even Green King became nervous.

Poetry is undoubtedly successful if it can arouse readers' emotions.

As he read, his voice gradually became louder: "——The storm! The storm is coming!"

Gorky stretched out his hand and helped the other party turn another page.

In an instant, Green King's eyes widened,

——

This is the brave petrel, flying proudly over the roaring sea and in the midst of lightning; this is the prophet of victory shouting:

——Let the storm come more violently!

——

These two sentences take the whole poem to another level.

Green King even shouted: "-Let the storm come more violently!"

So powerful!

So fiery!

His hands were even trembling slightly,

"This...was this written by a Chinese? In Russian...can he write in Russian?"

Tolstoy laughed: "You may not imagine that the first language of "The Country Teacher" is actually French."

"hiss……"

Green King took a breath of cold air,

It's really unimaginable.

He turned to Gorky,

"I can probably guess what you want to do when you come to me. But..."

He pointed to the printing press running behind him,

"As you can see, I'm already too busy just printing three articles from "Chao Wen Dao". Adding one prose poem to the list is really... ugh... I'm afraid the machine will smoke."

Gorky said: "Then according to your previous idea, delete "The Village Teacher" and "The Way of the Morning".

Green King said "Huh?"

"this……"

He looked at Tolstoy.

After all, Tuo Weng is the translator of "Chao Wen Dao", and it always feels weird to plot such a thing loudly in front of the translator.

Unexpectedly, Tolstoy actually said: "I agree."

He sighed,

"The problem now is not publishing, but fighting. Only by winning the battle can Lu's works be seen in the sun."

Green King scratched his head,

"But, wouldn't this mean that... Lu can't possibly agree!"

Although he didn't finish what he said, both Gorky and Tolstoy understood it.

The other party felt that doing so was bringing in private goods.

"Chao Wen Dao" is Lu's work. Isn't it a joke to put a song "Haiyan" in it?

No one with professional ethics can do such a thing!

Gorky smiled,

"Mikhail, I know what you are worried about. Have you forgotten what I just said? The finishing touch of this poem is the Lu painting."

Green King shook his head,

"That's inappropriate, right? After all, you are the main writer of "Haiyan". How could you force it on Lu?"

This is another way of entraining private goods.

Gorky smiled,

"Who said I was going to put it on Lu? Can't we be realistic?"

He took out his pen and wrote two lines in the blank space of his notebook:

"Haiyan\

,"Author: Gorky, Lu.

Gorky asked back: "Is this seeking truth from facts after all? Moreover, Lu didn't mind it. I talked with him and Mr. Bernard Shaw about literature and history on the boat, and both of them were quite open-minded."

Green King was speechless.

After a moment, he said: "Okay, let's do it. Anyway, we are not the only ones doing this."

Nicholas II had a sudden brainstorm and banned "Chao Wen Dao". Instead, he handed the knife to those "anti-thieves".

The "rebels" printed "Animal Farm" with great fanfare and made it into a pamphlet.

But the focus is not on the novel, but on the private goods included,

They may slightly modify the content of the novel, such as changing the main character Napoleon into Peter the Great;

Or, various "isms" are printed after the novel.

In comparison, Gorky's pragmatic behavior is nothing at all.

Green King watched "Petrel" again,

Then, he showed a joke-like expression and said, "Toon, Alexei, do you know the most absurd point of this matter?"

Tolstoy and Gorky shook their heads,

"Where?"×2

The two were puzzled.

Green King said: "As a collection of science fiction short stories, "The Way of the Morning" did not have much room for dissemination in Russia. As a result, because of the ban by Tsar Nicholas, it spread faster than any other book. Even those who were illiterate You have to ask someone to help you read..."

Tolstoy chuckled,

"Lu created absurdist drama in the United States, and it is said that it is gradually becoming popular. Perhaps, one day in the future, this incident will also be recorded in the form of absurdist drama?"