As Karenin had always known, Alexei was a boy worth spending his energy on.
Cowardice is not in his nature, even if his birth was not his choice. All it takes is a few hints and help, this bright kid always knows what to do.
When Anna went to the study to deal with those mushrooms with Sasha, Karenin welcomed him in the study.
He put down the official document and looked at the other party calmly and carefully.
The boy's golden hair was combed properly. Unlike Andre or Charlie, this kid's pride is hidden deep in his eyes, and he won't show it easily. Or, without Anna's help, Karenin believes that this pride may have been buried with the passage of time.
"Uncle, I can go to the school you mentioned, right?"
Karenin clasped his hands and said calmly: "I can let you enter the school, but what happens after that, as I told you, is not up to me to decide."
Alexei showed a slightly pale but humble smile.
"I'm going to do it well, with all my hard work."
The boy's answer made Karenin nod his precious head: "I will write a letter to Mr. Principal, get ready, Alexei, you don't have much time."
"I see."
After Alexie finished speaking, he bowed deeply. He fully understood how rare this opportunity was.
He is not the kind of naive child who is afraid of his stern expression when he sees his uncle for the first time, and he will not think that he is a touching person who does not ask for anything in return after the other party offers help. the mr.
If in the past he was only weakly indifferent to the future, then from this moment on, he has a goal.
Karenin noticed that the child turned back when he was about to leave, so he raised his head again and motioned for the other party to speak.
"I know that Aunt Anna helped me so much because she thought I was very similar to you." Alexey paused for a moment, then showed a solemn expression.
"I said before that I would put in all my efforts to make it right. Now I want to revise it."
He licked his lips, then broke into a grin.
"I will definitely do it."
Karenin looked at the other party for a while, and then said slowly: "Do you know what people are best at?"
He didn't wait for the other party to answer, and then spoke the answer calmly.
"It's sentimental."
"I hope that when you get there, you will keep this in mind. Making a promise to others is like showing your belly and back to the enemy."
"Just you guys."
"If you really want to be successful, I don't even agree with you." Karenin said this in a gentle tone, while the teenager in front of him smiled.
"But I don't want to go that far, that's not what she wants. Believe me, Uncle Karenin. Because of these unchosen things, I know better than many people what is good and what will let me go too far."
After the boy left, after a while, Karenin finished processing a document, and then the corners of his mouth curved slightly. At this moment, he once again verified that his thoughts were not wrong. After a few years, the high-ranking Petersburg official believed that there would be a wise man in that circle instead of worldly fools.
While waiting for lunch, Andre was keenly aware of something changing, but he couldn't tell until Charlie kicked his foot under the long table.
"Alexie will go to military school." Charlie whispered close to Andre.
"Why didn't I know?" Andre asked, a little unhappy, he didn't want him to be the last one to know after everything happened.
"You were immersed in Latin grammar when I asked you to eavesdrop with me." Charlie wrinkled his nose. "To be honest, brother, your hobby is really a bit perverted."
"They are very interesting." Andre argued for his hobby.
"Okay okay, but I want to say, this gives me some ideas."
"What idea?" Andre asked curiously.
The blond boy stroked his non-existent beard, then nodded and said, "Maybe I should go to military school too."
Andre rolled his eyes: "let it go. If you really go there and make trouble, your father can't help you. "
"Hey! I'm not the type to tell my dad all day long." Charlie folded his arms.
"You love your face more than girls, and just because of this, you have already said goodbye to the military academy in your life." Andre laughed.
Charlie touched his smooth and tender face, grimaced, and finally drank a big mouthful of orange juice.
"I'm hungry," he announced, and put the matter behind him.
While Charlie was feasting, Andre also took time to think about his future.
Military Academy? No, he's not very interested. He thought about it for a while and decided he wasn't interested in boarding school either. In the end, the matter fell through, until later, it became a headache for Andre again.
"Can we still go horseback riding in the afternoon?"
Charlie asked during the meal, looking a little interested. Andre also slowed down his movements and listened carefully.
All eyes were on Karenin who was sitting on the main seat. The latter also paused for a moment, and then said, "Let Kabidonitch take you there."
Capidonitch was the concierge of the family, but he was still a good rider. I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but Karenin took this young man with him when he set off from the city.
Charlie gave a small cheer.
Anna saw Alexie's questioning eyes, and then gave him an affirmative answer.
"Are you going with us?" Andre asked, his family-inherited eyes looked at Anna excitedly. It seemed that all the surly shadows that he had in the past because he had to face parting from his friends had all been dissipated at the moment.
"No, I'll stay and make you something delicious?" She smiled.
Andre and Charlie glanced at each other, looking very satisfied.
After eating and resting for a while, under Karenin's order, Kabidonitch and two other servants took the three children to the vicinity of the open horse farm. And Anna stayed as she said.
She went to the yard, and when she led the hall she found Karenin already sitting there. She looked up, looking curious.
"You have something to tell me," said Karenin, in the affirmative.
Anna then laughed.
She went over and sat down affectionately beside Karenin. Of course she found this out.
For a person like her husband, a long time ago, or in some public occasions, the single sofa was definitely his priority.
As the time spent together gets shorter and shorter, many small habits hardly need to be told with each other in words. You only need to be serious and attentive, and you will learn more and more about each other's various hobbies.
"how do you know?"
Although she may understand, Anna is always willing to ask such a question when there is no work or visitors are free.
In doing this and in saying it, a person like her may not even think about why. It seemed that a person like her was born so optimistic and happy, always making people happy. As for herself, a high-ranking official who was somewhat cold in the rumors, being a wife seemed to be complementary, and she could often find topics to praise her husband.
If this happened during a certain negotiation or public expression of opinion, Karenin would usually frown at Anna's knowingly asking, and even make appropriate ridicule in his heart based on the identity of this person, with a fake smile on his face to deal with the other party appropriately.
But precisely because this is his wife, he also gave up those logical thinking about interests, and just stayed with the other party "stupidly".
"You didn't go to the racecourse with Andrei and the others, did you?" Karenin said.
The high official of Petersburg replied with one not the wisest remark, for he had reserved some words for later chatter. Instead of being too stingy to say a few more words of explanation like at work.
Anna laughed, looked at him with gray eyes, and even raised her chin slightly.
"But I don't necessarily stay here just to talk to you. You know, I also have my own 'job'." She deliberately emphasized the word "job", and she looked completely different from the generous and decent at those banquets in the city , It completely expresses the elation she can have at her age.
A little competitiveness in Karenin's character was aroused.
He smiled slightly, and then confirmed his own thoughts in a calm and gentle tone.
"You didn't rush about your business after lunch. You didn't ask Annushka to boil you a pot of hot water. Your clothes," he paused, then looked up and down, "unless It's what you think of, and normally you don't choose to go about your business in pastels."
"Why wouldn't I do that?"
Anna moved closer to the other party, with a certain gleam in her eyes.
“Because you like to unconsciously pick up a pen and scribble on the paper when you are lost in thought. When you seem restless, you will pace the room or eat something. If you are really stuck, you will sit quietly. and looked very sullen. At that time, you didn't like to be disturbed, even if it was to me, you might be a little angry. "
After Karenin finished speaking, he looked at his wife quietly.
His blue eyes are almost full of the same confidence as in diplomacy, so at the end, his speech speed will unconsciously speed up, and it can even be said that it is different from his usual tone. Almost brisk and slightly mockingly sharp.
It was almost shuddering.
If this was Karenin's political enemy, he would be terrified.
If it were any other woman in front of him at this moment, he would find him a little scary for the intelligence and a little bit of meanness in his tone.
But fortunately, it was his wife who was in front of Karenin at the moment.
A person like Anna who is different from the women in Petersburg and even the entire Russian social circle can be said to be a natural match for him.
She didn't feel scary at all, and she didn't feel afraid of him. In fact, her cheeks flushed a little, and then, like an excited rabbit, she hopped her paws vigorously, just to be in another Smart people pop this delicious carrot in their mouths before they even notice it.
But Anna wasn't a rabbit after all, so she just got up and gave her husband a quick kiss on the lips.
Then she sat down again, showing an honest look, but there was still a smile on the corners of her eyes and brows.
"What just happened?"
"Oh, I do not know."
Karenin almost read these two sentences from his wife's hair.
Then he raised his hand, clenched it into a fist, and coughed lightly.
"As you said, I can be less polite." Anna quickly turned her head and added this sentence. Then her husband nodded after a moment of silence.
Anna sniggered at the side, and not long after, a force that could not be said to be very gentle pulled her over, facing the direction where she had played a prank just now.
Anna couldn't be said to be very familiar with the force between her fingertips and the lower part of her cheek, but it wasn't the first time she had met her.
So after a little instinctive surprise, she relaxed, greeted those hands kindly, and faithfully fulfilled her promise.