It was already late at night when Karenin returned.
He usually doesn't come home late. There will be more entertainment in summer, and gradually less in late autumn. The cold freezes the will. But there are always some people who just like to go against the seasons.
Mr. Stremov from Moscow, the one who will be traveling with Karenin next, is obviously a lover of society. A man like him, no matter how long he stays in Petersburg, never learns to adapt himself to the environment instead of changing a good place.
think about it!
That good-looking face coupled with a glib tongue successfully turned Petersburg, a place that seemed a little quiet under the influence of Karenin, into another happy Moscow.
"Don't you like this, Karenin?"
The man who was a year or two younger than Karenin asked with a smile, the secular traces in his eyes made Karenin's eyes twitch in his heart.
"It's just that I'm not keen." He said lightly, with a bad temper, and he didn't even bother to do false coping.
Stremov rolled his eyes, the glass still in his hand. A tactful person like him naturally knew that he was not welcomed by Karenin, but how to put it, Stremov was just not willing to fulfill Karenin's desire to stay away from him.
"It's a real honor to be out with you. I'm sure we'll get something out of this trip."
Karenin's lips twitched ironically.
"Yes, naturally."
Stremov smiled and made a wisecrack to clink glasses with Karenin, who gave him a look without a smile in his eyes, but accepted it anyway.
On the surface, the friendship between the two seemed to be eased. Michal Vasilyevich Sludin, who was preparing to deal with the aftermath, blinked and let the amber liquid flow down his throat like drinking water .
When the drunkenness was on and even Karenin turned red, Sludin found an excuse to get them off.
"I have to take you home."
The young secretary muttered something, his cheeks flushed, making him look younger.
Every time he drank, Sludin had to be sullen, otherwise he would not be able to do a good job as a secretary.
"You go back, I can do it myself." Karenin refused, he seemed to seriously examine the degree of drunkenness of the two of them, and tried to speak in a steady tone, but in fact, he was also drunk, otherwise he shouldn't have Refuse escort from secretary.
"No, sir, I have to send you back safely." Sludin was still trying to remember his responsibilities.
Karenin became a little impatient under the influence of alcohol.
"I do not need."
Sludin wanted to say something more, but Karenin had already asked Peter, the coachman, to call a carriage for Sludin.
"Go back." He said concisely.
The young secretary obeyed the instructions subconsciously. After he got into the car, the horse ran for a while, and woke up after being blown by the cold wind for a while, Sludin felt a little uneasy in his heart.
Of course, when he returned, Karenin and the carriage had already left.
"I hope it's all right." Sludin muttered, and went to the hall to ask the doorman. After confirming that Karenin was returning in his own carriage, he let himself go back into the carriage with some shaky confidence.
"Oh, go home," said Sruddin, covering his eyes with his right hand.
On the other side, Karenin was leaning on the carriage with some headaches. He frowned, as if he was enduring something.
He is drunk.
he knows.
Although Karenin had super self-control, he still vomited halfway under the bumps of the carriage.
"Are you all right, sir?" asked Peter the coachman with concern.
He has been working under Karenin for so long, and he rarely sees his husband drunk, let alone like this.
Karenin stood up a little and swayed so slightly that he had to help the carriage.
"I want to go for a while."
Karenin said that he had already wiped his mouth with his handkerchief.
"It's getting cold, sir, you'd better go back quickly." Peter disagreed, but he didn't dare to ask Karenin what to do directly.
Karenin waved his hand, meaning there is no need to say any more.
The cold wind blows on people's cheeks, making people squint their eyes unconsciously.
Karenin took a deep breath.
Although it was cold, he was much more awake now.
Peter didn't dare to talk much, so Karenin was only accompanied by the sporadic sound of carriages.
He raised his head, and there were a few lonely stars in the night sky.
The star was no different. As long as Karenin could remember, he hadn't paid special attention to these things.
They seem to have never changed, and the rhetoric of Petersburg high society naturally does not fall on them. It was his wife who made Karenin want to pay attention to them.
One evening in the summer, Karenin remembered Anna's words:
"I heard that the light of the stars we saw appeared in front of us after a long time. The starlight we see now is not the present itself, but a long time ago, isn't it like a miracle? It was not a era, but some people have witnessed it and cared, so they become very meaningful.”
Just after listening to it at that time, Karenin always felt that Anna seemed to want to explain something, but when she asked, she just smiled.
It was Karenin who didn't tell the other party, but the latter seemed to know the smile.
Therefore, a person like Karenin who likes to pursue understanding in everything, in that case, all he can do is kiss the other party.
"Would you like to get into the carriage?"
The coachman's voice made Karenin aware of his current situation.
He is smiling.
Although under the cover of the night, he was sure that the other party could not see his expression clearly, Karenin still felt a certain heat rising on his face that was different from that caused by alcohol.
"Yes." He said succinctly.
The night breeze took away the alcohol smell from Karenin's body, but it seemed to quietly add something to it.
When Karenin returned home, the whole house was quiet.
Kearney is used to it all.
Holding a lamp, he took Karenin's coat and answered in the usual way.
After Mr. went up to the second floor, Kearney returned to his residence with a lamp.
In the past, he always had to be careful, but now, someone will take care of him.
Karenin wanted to go to his study first according to the habit, but his legs went against the master's will and went directly to the bedroom.
He turned the lock.
Faint light illuminates this small world.
After they got married, he knew that Anna was not used to sleeping with lights on, but sometimes she would leave the lights on, and sometimes she wouldn't.
He had wondered if there was a reason for this, and then he realized that leaving the light on meant she was worried about him. It could be the weather, it could be his health, or it could just be a sudden worry.
Karenin went up, and he blew out the lamp.
Like a breeze, it doesn't disturb the sleeping people.
Karenin sat on the edge of the bed by the light of the corridor.
He saw his wife's beautiful face showed a kind of softness, and the corners of her mouth were slightly curved, as if dreaming.
"Who was she dreaming about?" Karenin thought subconsciously, his mind slipping rapidly and uncharacteristically into certain areas he was not very familiar with.
Before he knew it, the man had scrunched up his face.
For some reason, Karenin suddenly wanted to see his wife.
Not just her sleeping face.
He wanted to hear her voice, to see those bright eyes and the smile on her lips.
Under the influence of alcohol, he did so.
"Anna." He gently pushed the other party, lowered his voice and called slowly.
"Anna..."
Slowly, he saw his wife move her eyelids, and after a while, those gray eyes opened dimly.
"Who did you dream about?" Karenin asked in a low voice, brushing his fingers lovingly over Anna's warm cheek.
"What?"
Anna was still a little confused, she asked with some effort.
Karenin's body was covered with a faint smell of alcohol. She subconsciously wanted to avoid it, but she was trapped. Those arms restricted her movement, and the skin of her chin was close to Anna's cheek.
Near the ear, warm breath blowing, still asking stubbornly.
"You smiled."
"In a dream."
"Who did you dream about? Anna."
Hearing these words, Anna finally woke up.
"you've been drinking?"
There was a pause after she finished speaking.
"you're drunk."
Her response was a dawdle on her cheek.
"Who did you dream about? Anna, you haven't answered me yet."
Anna couldn't help laughing, she hugged him and patted him on the back.
"He's a nice guy."
"..."
There was silence for a while, and then the intimate rubbing between the necks was escalated.
"you can not."
"Can't what?" Anna asked intentionally.
Drunk men are very honest.
"Don't laugh at others."
"Only to me, Anna, only to look at me when you smile like that."
Anna bent her eyes, she hugged him again, and replied softly: "I have always loved someone, and that person is tall, and many people are afraid of him, but I just love him. I always love him I feel I am the luckiest man in the world, because only I have seen the nobility of his soul, and, in the whole world, I am the only one who can have him."
"Who is that person?"
"He is my husband, and his name is Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin."
There was another silence, followed by the man's slightly muffled voice.
"Anna, you can't like this person, you can only..."
When Anna was a little dumbfounded, the drunk man had already raised his head from his not broad shoulders, bent his back, and let his forehead rub against hers.
"I want you to love me..."
The low and hoarse voice made Anna's smile froze slightly, and after a while, a deeper smile curled up around the corner of her mouth.
"I only love you."
That night, after putting Karenin to sleep, Anna stood by. She lay down beside the bed, opened her eyes and looked at Karenin carefully for a long, long time.
Her heart seemed to be filled with something.
She knew that for Karenin who was drunk, what happened tonight would become blurred. He might not remember what he said, but it didn't matter, Anna would always remember.
She remembered that night, in the cold wind of late autumn, mixed with the slight smell of wine brewed from wheat, happiness seemed to have small wings, and it flew to her heart by the wind.
A long time ago, there was a little girl who prayed to heaven.
Why I never do anything bad,
Why I always wanted to be a good boy,
why i worked so hard,
But still, no one wants to love me.
And after a long time, fate brought her to another world, so she thought: If everything I have suffered is to meet you, then I am happy now, and I will be happy in the future.