When enough rain falls, early summer has quietly passed away. The summer heat evaporates the moisture in the air.
In the small shop, there were only Anna and Mr. Goldman.
Things were a little different today. When Anna came in from the outside, she found that Mr. Goldman was not in her usual seat. Between his somewhat too pale fingers was not a trace of chalk, but a speck of paint.
"Mind if I take a look?" Anna asked.
The man looked up at her, and said lightly, "I remember I informed you that there is no teaching today."
"There is no such irresponsible teacher like you anymore." Anna smiled, not minding the other party's indifference.
She lifted the hem of her skirt and approached him, her eyes fell on the drawing board.
On the thick paint, a beautiful woman is sleeping quietly, and an old man is staring at each other with frowns tightly. Outside the small window is the sound of spring, and a touch of bright yellow winter jasmine blooms quietly.
The girl's reassuring smile contrasted with the man's tangled brows, and the darkness inside the house contrasted with the brightness outside the window. One light and one darkness made people wonder about the relationship between them.
"Is it father and daughter?" Anna asked.
"No." The black-haired man denied, and his slightly thin lips spit out an answer gently, "It's the god of death."
Anna froze for a moment.
Mr. Goldman stared at the petals in front of him, and the brown paint was smeared on the man's tangled and unkempt hair. Then he looked up at Anna, and said with a smile: "You don't believe it, do you?"
"I believe it a little bit." Anna said, although she smiled slightly, she understood with some regret in her heart.
Mr. Goldman's movements stopped for a moment, and there was a trace of blankness in his green eyes, as if he was hesitating whether to change another painting, but he became calm and clear again not long after. The pursed lips relaxed, and he decided to continue applying paint, but this time, the man's movements became more gentle.
Two weeks later, the talented tailor in Petersburg left.
Anna sees off someone before the ferry.
Mr. Prokhov raised his muscular arms, and he was now quite like a sailor. His face was very clean, unlike those whistling sailors, but his eyes were the same as theirs, always hiding the eyes of the sea.
"You'll be back, won't you?" Anna asked, pressing her hat with her right hand.
Mr. Prokhov laughed, bright and harmless.
"Yes, though I cannot say when," he continued after a pause, "I shall call on you and your husband if I have the opportunity."
In the end, the big man waved his hand, the mast swayed in the sea breeze, and Anna also raised her hand to see him off.
A strong wind blew, and the lavender ribbon was loosened, and the hat fluttered along with the arc of the wind. Anna's voice disappeared in the wind, and then she curled her lips and smiled.
Because of facing the light, the woman's eyes could only narrow slightly. Even though she knew who that person was, Anna still wanted to see him clearly.
Under the scorching summer sun, by the ferry, the figure of the man was elongated, making him look thinner, but never thinner.
The light-colored suit is worn on him, just like the taste of this summer. In the sweaty colleagues, people can also taste the feeling that only belongs to summer in a more authentic way.
"What a coincidence," said Anna, after Karenin came up to him and carefully put her hat on.
"I told you that at least this time I can come." Karenin said, as if he couldn't understand what Anna meant, but his softened eyes made Anna understand that he knew everything.
Anna held the other's arm, she turned her head, the naked sun no longer shone directly on her fair and tender cheeks, although those rays of light always wanted to sneak over, but the husband was always tall enough. The slightly sideways body, in the end, even the vicious scorching sun was a little helpless, and he could only slap the man's cheek unwillingly to vent his anger.
She smiled and said briskly, "Alexey, from the point of view of decency, should you find me another shop owner?"
"I thought you wanted to take care of these things yourself."
"No, no, I want to relax for a while." Anna said, looking at her husband, she didn't mind those things at all. After all, all he did was to keep her safe. In Petersburg, fame is more important to women than anything else. And the definition of reputation depends on your husband's reputation and your own excellence in many cases.
This is very contradictory. It's like if a girl's family has too many suitors, it will always damage her reputation. And if the women in this circle have such an affair, it symbolizes your charm.
Anna always thought that in this era, as a woman, she was labeled as an accessory before she became a monk. When a rich woman marries another man of the same family with a rich pretense, she will It has become an accessory of this man again. It is precisely because of this inequality that she wants to make this marriage more equal.
She made a not-so-clever attempt, without much difficulty, before she understood. It has nothing to do with her, the reason why she didn't feel any news of wind and rain was because there was one person who resisted it for her.
In such an era, he is always excellent as a man. His identity determines that he needs to be careful in everything, not to let his colleagues or political opponents catch any handles. Anna should have understood these things the most, but she ignored them.
So now, she decided to give her trust to the other party without reservation.
"I'm sure you can do well, Alexey. If you weren't my husband and I happened to meet you, I'd always ask you to help me." She smiled, "And luckily , you are my husband, then I will save a generous salary."
"God always favors me, doesn't he?"
Karenin looked at his wife for a while, then said: "Anna, don't forget one thing."
"What?" Anna raised her head happily.
"Your husband is an official in Petersburg. To be honest, he is in a high position and holds a lot of power. Generally speaking, people who make petitions before me always have to pay a very expensive fee. Sometimes It’s money, sometimes it’s something else.”
Anna stared blankly at Karenin's serious look.
She almost wanted to cover her purse subconsciously, but then remembered something, which made her feel confident.
Facing those calm blue eyes, Anna thought for a while, looked around, and finally decided to approach the other party, blushing and whispering: "I'm yours now, what do you want?"
"Well, that's because you don't want it, and it's not that I don't want it." She mumbled.
After a while, when she raised her head, she found that the man in front of her had a suspicious blush on his face.
Karenin raised his hand to his lips and coughed softly, then thought for a while and approached his wife, and said, "Actually, that's not what I meant before."
After he finished speaking, he let go of his left hand on Anna's shoulder a little bit awkwardly, looked at the sea for a while, and then turned his head to look at his wife again.
Sure enough, the other party had a blushing and annoyed look on his face.
Karenin smiled slightly, then held back.
"Then," Anna raised her head, held back her blushing, and said with a tense expression, "what do you want?"
She saw Karenin looking at her, and raised her hand again, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek behind her ear, and then said: "Anna, I need a decent set of clothes for the banquet in a month's time." .”
Anna was a little surprised when she heard this, and then she laughed: "It's not really something to take away from me."
"Speaking of this, I have to say one more thing. I thought you didn't care about it."
"Alexis, you don't like change. You like rigor and order. You don't like my little tricks much, do you?"
"Anna, I like them," Karenin said, "but maybe it doesn't have to be for me."
"So, it's for me again, right?"
"That banquet is very important, I know you have already started to prepare." Anna bit her lower lip, "I don't think it's a very good idea, maybe..."
"Anna." Karenin gently interrupted his wife, "I think this is an appropriate arrangement."
"I believe you, it's not that you don't like them that much."
He approached his wife again, and whispered in her ear: "I am your husband, since you choose to trust me, you must trust my judgment. No matter what it is, Anna."
As he left, he kissed his wife on the lips again.
Anna held her breath when Karenin kissed her, and did not recover until Karenin took a step back. She looked at the other party with her eyes open, a little ignorant, but after a while, there was a look of pride in her eyes. It was as if her husband was her greatest protector, reliable and powerful.
"I believe in you, Alexei. I believe in you more than I believe in myself." She said cheerfully, with sincere eyes, which made the high-ranking official in Petersburg show a soft smile again.
Things can never be rushed. Although the banquet is very important, one month may be long or short, but Anna still has one more thing to do, and that is to visit Alexei who is in the military academy.
She hadn't seen the child for nearly two months.
In this well-known military academy, the first regulation is to temporarily isolate students from their parents for a period of time. Until those squeamish people see the name of the school clearly.
Anna finally met Alexei after going through various complicated procedures.
The boy's hair was cut short, like a burr, completely exposing his face. The originally pale complexion was still a few shades different from the people around him, but it was already closer to a healthy white.
There were a few peeling spots at the corners of Alexie's mouth, but his overall spirit looked good. Wearing the uniform of the school, in the summer, it is also stuffed inside the high-top military shoes, and there is a kind of toughness that does not belong to teenagers.
But when he spoke, Anna knew that he was still that thin-looking child.
"How are you doing?" the boy asked, the joy in his pale eyes couldn't be concealed.
"I should be the one who asked you this, dear Alexei." Anna said with a smile, and she hugged him briefly. She paid attention to her surroundings so that the people coming and going would not see her. After all, boys of this age are always a bit shy and shy.
It was not difficult for Alexie to guess what Anna was thinking from her eyes and movements. He wanted to say that he didn't mind, but he opened his mouth and finally said nothing, just continued to look at the person in front of him with a smiling gaze.
"I'm all right, Aunt Anna."
"So do we." Anna patted the boy's shoulder and squeezed it, "I think you seem to be standing taller?"
"Yes, half an inch."
"That's not a little bit." Anna said deliberately with awe, "Maybe you will be taller than Alexei."
"I hope so," said Alexey softly.
"I would like to write to you and to Uncle Karenin, but we are not allowed to."
Anna smiled and said: "I know. I was a little worried before, and then Alexey told me." After she finished speaking, she moved closer to the other party and said intimately as if she was whispering, "This is a bit unreasonable. , but I can't complain in front of him."
"Your uncle doesn't think there is anything wrong with this kind of overly cruel education, which is not very good."
"This is a military academy, which is different from other academies, so the requirements are naturally stricter."
"I understand." Anna laughed, "I know I shouldn't be worried, but Alexie, seeing that you can really adapt, I can really feel at ease."
"If you were here, I believe you wouldn't complain." Alexey smiled affirmatively.
Anna blinked. She felt flattered, but, well, she was pleased.
"Would you like to visit?" the boy asked.
Anna nodded, and then saw Alexei stretch out his arm to him, the movement was gentle but powerful. She smiled and gently took the child's arm.
The school was originally located in the suburbs, and it was not at all as prosperous as downtown Petersburg. It doesn't take long for the uniformity of the military academy to become tedious and dull after an initial wow. For this reason, it was even more important for Anna to determine whether Alexey had really adapted well.
When they walked to the training ground, the person who was playing ball saw them and called Alexey.
Anna followed the prestige, and saw a boy in uniform running over with a lot of sweat on his forehead.
Her legs were slender and powerful, her eyelids were also extremely deep, and her dark blue eyes were like glass balls, brittle and born with a certain bright light.
It was Vronsky whom I had not seen for some time.
She knew that Vronsky also went to this military academy, Betsy had mentioned it, but she did not expect such a coincidence to meet each other here, and, from the somewhat intimate words of Vronsky and Alexei , Anna captured the fact that these two people have a good relationship.
"Good day, Mrs. Karenin." Although Vronsky's movements on the court were a little rough just now, when facing the lady, he naturally regained a trace of elegance. Sweat streaked across the corners of his eyes, but he held it back and didn't wipe it off with his sleeve. After all, this is not a banquet where you always have a handkerchief in your pocket.
"Good day." Anna nodded in response, then looked at Alexei, her eyes wandered between the two of them, and finally smiled slightly, "Since when did you get so familiar?"
"Alexis is my roommate," Alexey said.
Anna always felt a little strange when the name Alexey was spoken by someone else, especially when it was not her husband Karenin but someone else.
She shook her head in her heart, and said a few more words to Alexei, and then someone in uniform reminded her that she had to leave.
"I have to go, I'll see you next time, Alexie." Anna said, and adjusted the collar of the boy's uniform before leaving.
What she didn't know was that after she left, the boy with dark blue eyes looked at her back a few more times, but in the end he just shook his head and patted Alexie's arm. . Let the latter join the previous campaign together.
The author has something to say: There is no small theater today~