They didn't intend to announce it on the spot now, because Karenin said it would damage Anna's reputation.
Reputation, yeah, this guy takes it very seriously. Kind of a stuffy little flaw, but harmless.
"Then I will wait for you to come over the day after tomorrow." Anna said.
Karenin nodded slightly: "Tomorrow I will send someone to deliver the visiting letter. Logically speaking, I should be a week in advance, but considering that I will not stay in Moscow for too long. I mean, if you think now is a good time to get married , Then I have to go to France on a business trip for a month the day after the wedding."
"I think the sooner the better." Anna blinked, and then asked, "If you're going to France, can I go with you?"
"It's not without precedent. If you want, you can. But," Karenin paused, "I still think that such a hasty marriage would make you feel uncomfortable."
"No, not at all."
Anna had her cheeks in her hands, and she kept looking so happy, like she wasn't making some impulsive decision, like they'd known each other for a long time.
"I'm happy to go anywhere with you." She deliberately whispered, with a charming tone.
Karenin coughed a little unnaturally.
"Actually, that's exactly what I mean. Considering that you and I are going to travel from Moscow to Petersburg after we get married, it might make you uncomfortable to be left alone."
"I like your idea."
Anna praised bluntly. "I hope that a husband can always think about his wife and express that he needs her."
After Anna finished speaking, seeing the man staring at her for a while, she was not afraid or shy, but frank, and finally laughed again.
"I see."
What she didn't know was that after her first request to Karenin was not met, the gentleman had always taken her words to heart ever since. In his well-organized mind, some guidelines and ideas are constantly revised because of her whimsy, so that people of their two eras can be consistent.
And all of this, Anna doesn't know now.
"Finally, maybe you will call me by my name Anna instead of Miss Oblonsky?" Anna licked her lips and asked again, which fully demonstrated the stubbornness in her character.
"As I said before, I will change my address only after God confirms that they are the closest existence to each other." Karenin said calmly, then he stood up, approached Anna, and took the back of Anna's hand, kissed.
"Get ready, Miss Oblonsky."
After confirming one thing, Karenin is the kind of person who will not retreat, and his political momentum that cannot be retreated is unconsciously put into the present.
He took one last look at Anna. His lower lip, which was slightly thicker than his upper lip, was slightly pursed. The blue eyes revealed when his eyelashes drooped and he raised his eyes were like low-key gems, which easily hit her heart.
"I will." She replied with a smile on her lips.
The carriage was sparkling, and Anna was sitting in the carriage, with her brother and sister-in-law Tao Li who married two months ago.
Dolly was the eldest daughter of the Shtcherbatsky family, a very prestigious family in Moscow. It is also a well-matched marriage. Like other political marriages, the husband and wife did not come together because of love, but they lived a good life.
"I found that you are in a good mood, Anna, did you encounter any happy things?" Tao Li asked.
Before she got married, she was a little worried about whether she could get along well with her sister-in-law, but later she found that she was overthinking. Her husband's sister is a gentle girl. Since she recovered, her personality has changed, but Schevara says it's for the better. Because obviously, Anna has become more cheerful.
"Yeah, tell me what good things happened to you, Anna."
Skiva blinked his pair of gray eyes that were exactly the same as his sister's. He was not yet thirty years old, with a well-proportioned body and a peaceful and friendly appearance.
"I don't want to say it now, let's do it tomorrow, and you will know tomorrow." Anna blinked.
"We are so curious about you." Tao Li smiled.
"If she's not willing to say it, then we shouldn't continue to interrogate her, my dear." Skiva reconciled.
He didn't mean to criticize his wife, but Tao Li is a sensitive woman, but fortunately, Schwarz is an optimistic person. He talked about a special topic, which made Tao Li quickly put the matter aside.
Anna didn't listen to what her brother was saying. Even though it was night, she felt like a happy bird, eager to fly to the sky.
In this era, although there is still a lot of suppression in the clean air, the future is so clear that people want to chase after it.
With such anticipation in mind and full of joy and hope, at ten o'clock the next morning, Karenin's visit letter arrived.
"Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin?"
Anna's current aunt, the Duchess Tellier, is a stern woman. She is not thin, and even a little fat. On that beautiful face, she always makes people feel cold.
This coldness is very different from Karenin.
Duchess Tellier is like a machine, and the program is to maintain the honor of the family. So she arranged for Anna's elder brother, Skiva, to choose the eldest daughter of the Shcherbatsky Duke's family. She was planning to start arranging Anna's marriage, but now, something seemed to have changed. As long as there is a girl to be married at home, the answer is self-evident when any respectable gentleman comes to visit.
"Anna, do you know this Lord Karenin?"
Mrs. Tellier naturally knew about Karenin. Even though she was just a widow who lost her husband in her early years, she always knew all about political celebrities.
"We talked at the ball yesterday." Anna replied softly. No way, this old lady is not easy to get along with at first glance, she doesn't want to get involved in this series of explanations.
Madame Tellier asked her high-ranking servant to bring her monocle, and then looked at the invitation carefully.
Half an hour later, she asked her servant to deliver the written reply letter to the place where Karenin was staying. During this period, she and Anna no longer talked, even if they talked about her as the main character.
Mrs. Tellier didn't have the habit of discussing with others. In addition, Anna and Schwarz's parents died young, and she was in charge of everything. She didn't intend to inform Schwarz of this matter, but her own grandson and But the granddaughter slipped up.
"Aunt Anna is getting married!"
The two brats were quarreling, and Skiva's face flushed.
"Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense." Tao Li said, the two children found it very interesting because of the adult's reaction, and instead spoke more diligently.
"Shut up!" Schahua reprimanded the two nephews in a rare voice.
The children were terrified, cried out loudly, and went to their mother one by one to complain.
Skiva ignored the two brats, but looked at Anna and said, "What's going on?" He didn't get angry at Anna, but was close to muttering.
"I don't know, maybe you can ask your aunt." Anna said slowly.
"Of course I'll ask her." Sceva muttered again, and then went into Madame Tellier's study, leaving Dolly and Anna behind.
Tao Li was a woman after all, so she was more careful. She said carefully: "If I'm not mistaken, Mrs. Karenin may have come to propose marriage."
"Maybe." Anna said deliberately reserved.
Tao Li knew she shouldn't ask that question, but she asked anyway: "Then if it's true, what do you think?"
"Not too bad, he's a rare gentleman."
Hearing what Anna said, Tao Li didn't say anything anymore. She didn't dare to analyze whether Anna's words came from the heart or unwillingness. After all, judging from the conditions, this is also a well-matched marriage, but, or More or less, thinking of the fourteen-year difference between Anna and that gentleman, she felt a little better about her marriage in her heart.
It didn't take long for Skiva to come out, looking a little downcast, perhaps reprimanded. He looked at his sister.
Anna stepped forward and smiled: "Don't frown, Skiva."
"Anna, are you happy with this?"
"Schiva." Tao Li whispered, trying to stop her husband from speaking so bluntly.
Once a woman is married, no matter whether the other party is good or bad, she will always put this man in her own protection zone, and even ignore the fact that he may not be so good, and maybe he does not need this kind of protection.
"It's okay to wait until tomorrow, Skiva." Anna said sincerely.
Skiva always had nothing to do with his sister, so he grunted again.
It was night, at the desk, the man pressed his right hand slightly on the paper, looked at the paper with half-closed eyes, and finally smiled slightly. He picked up the pen and wrote on the paper again. The sound of the pen writing on the parchment "swipe" seems to be drunk, and in the night, it becomes thicker and more intoxicating...
First of all, she is not a princess, and Karenin is not a prince.
The strange thing is, maybe in the eyes of others, this is an aristocratic and luxurious wedding, but in Anna's eyes, it is just that she is about to marry the person she likes.
Although it was her wedding, she was not allowed to express too many opinions.
Since she has obtained such a status of having no worries about food and clothing, she must make some sacrifices. Confrontation is not cost-effective, and she has never experienced such a wedding herself. In such a good mood they at last got almost everything ready, and boarded the train for Petersburg.
Anna's personal maid, Annushka, seemed even more nervous than Anna herself. She had come to ask Anna for a drink of water already for the third time.
"Sit down and rest for a while, Anushka," said Anna with a smile.
Anushka took a deep breath, and then said, "Miss, I really can't sit down properly."
"Oh, then just stand there for a while." Anna said intentionally, and Anushka gave her a reproachful look. As she gets along with Anna, she has let go a lot now, but she still retains her duties as a maid and will not overstep.
During the period, Tao Li always came to entertain her, and they talked about many things. Tao Li's original intention was to comfort Anna and keep her in a good mood about the marriage, but in the end she found that no matter what she said, Anna always looked happy.
Although she had a lot of curiosity, Tao Li was not Skiva, and her good upbringing prevented her from directly asking Anna why.
Skiva would come here from time to time, and he was always in a happy mood, as if he hadn't objected to the marriage before.
Ana liked Skiva, his big smile and the little jokes he told.
Although Anna's cousin Dunya is the eldest daughter of a big family, she is not very generous, especially after marrying a weak and ineffective husband, she really doesn't like Anna who still has countless choices. But now, looking at their ending, even though her husband was timid and cowardly, he was still young, and the man who was about to become Anna's husband was very old and looked serious.
Because of this comparison, Dunya always looked at Anna with a kind of superiority and sympathy.
Anna didn't take these things to heart. She had no reason to be angry with Dunia, she just had to think about her wedding, about the man who was going to be her husband.
The train rattled past Moscow and took them to Petersburg after a tiring journey.
They got off the train in a mighty way, and soon saw Karenin and his servants.
Karenin didn't dress up very eye-catchingly. He was wearing a civil servant's uniform that he had just left work and didn't have time to change. He wore a dark woolen overcoat. The uniform trousers properly covered the socks. He didn't wear a hat, maybe To make it easier for Anna and the others to see him.
The cold wind blew Karenin's hair a little. When Anna saw him, he was still looking around, but it didn't take long before his eyes locked on her. So she showed a sweet smile in the crowd. Even though it was covered under the grid hat, that smile was still like a ray of sunshine, instantly lighting up the whole space.
Karenin suppressed the throbbing thoughts in his heart, and he walked up quickly.
According to the reception procedure, he greeted Mrs. Terrier first, then his brother-in-law, and finally his little wife.
Anna could not talk too much to Karenin, she knew it was some sort of rule. Even if they are going to be a couple in the next hour, as long as they haven't, they are not allowed to be too intimate.
Perhaps in the eyes of people of this era, this is the modesty and elegance of the nobility, but Anna couldn't help complaining in her heart. After all, this was her wedding with him, wasn't it
But no matter how dissatisfied she was, she had to accept the reality.
They went to the best hotel in Petersburg in the carriage arranged by Karenin, and their wedding was less than three days away.
After sending them back to their respective rooms, Annushka told Anna that Karenin had left.
Anna made an ugly expression, she sighed, and it didn't take long before someone knocked on the door. Anushka answered the door.
"Who is it?" Anna asked.
"It's to make you stop moaning." Annushka smiled while covering her mouth.
Anna's eyes lit up when she saw the letter.
She opened the letter and took out a piece of paper from it. The familiar font came into her eyes, which finally caused her to chuckle.
Annushka didn't ask what the gentleman had written to his lady, who was a quiet maid, and she sat on a chair and continued knitting.
During those three days, they were not allowed to meet according to tradition, but no one stipulated that they could not exchange letters!
Anna traced Karenin's face in her heart, and finally noted the word "cunning" on the man's nose, giggling amusedly.
The day before the wedding, Russian men have their final bachelor's night celebration.
Karenin's dictionary did not intend to hold these, but who made his brother-in-law most willing to follow these traditions? In short, Schwartz had arranged for Karenin what should have been a celebration of the last bachelor's night for a young man in his twenties.
Karenin knew all the people who came, but he was not very familiar with them. After all, a big man like Karenin knows a lot of people, but in terms of friends, there are only a few who can participate in this kind of celebration.
So in the end, the party, which was initiated for Karenin in the name of knowing, ended with several drunkards at the wine table crying and laughing.