Celebrity House [Anna]

In the afternoon, they went to Betsy's mansion on the Esplanade on time.

Anna's cousin, Pyotr Oblonsky, was not there, and had hurried away when he heard that there was a rare engraving in the morning.

Betsy complained about Peter Oblonsky's coquettishness, and after getting the three thousand ruble coat she could buy, she kissed her husband passionately and told him carefully Be careful.

Betsy's lover didn't come this time, neither did the ambassador and his wife this time, but Duchess Mijaheki and a few familiar faces were still there.

Anna introduced them to Srudin.

"We have a new face here today. It's a pity that Vronsky is not here," said Mrs. Betsy, laughing. Mr. Liu Ding, I'm afraid he's going to die of embarrassment."

There was a slight smile on Sludin's baby face: "I've heard of Count Vronsky, isn't he famous for being young and handsome?"

This is a bit interesting, as if Vronsky was an embroidered pillow.

Anna glanced at the Sludin, who again began to praise the workmanship of the cooks at Duke Betsey's mansion.

"I specially invited them from France. It's not easy." Betsy was very satisfied with being complimented, so the more she looked at Srudin's baby face, the happier she became.

Sludin happily drank tea and praised these ladies and gentlemen until the end of the tea banquet. On the carriage back, Anna glanced at the young man and said: "It seems that things are not the same as what I think. different."

Sludin blinked those big eyes: "What are you talking about, ma'am?"

Anna said: "Are you playing charades with me, Mr. Sludin?"

"Ah, you mean this kind of thing?" Sludin pretended to be surprised, and then said with a smile, "It's not just because of my face that I can come back alive safely, madam."

"You also hid it from your uncle?"

"I can't say that, ma'am, I can only say that I am a person who can adapt to the environment."

"Then you can tell a little lie to cover yourself when I ask you." Anna said calmly.

Sludin smiled: "Ma'am, you are a smart man. Before I came here, I had many ideas in my mind. After I met you, I have nothing to do. Although I have been abroad, I only heard about you occasionally from my uncle." However, I think that uncle's judgment of you may be a little inaccurate."

Anna smiled. "It's useless to compliment me, Mr. Sludin."

"That's the truth." Srudin nodded.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I am sincerely grateful to your family. My uncle is my only relative. I just want to make sure that he is really doing well." Sludin said sincerely.

Anna glanced at her, "I suspect that Alexei should recruit you, maybe you are more suitable for the position of secretary."

Srudin's eyes lit up: "Secretary, ha, is that Mr. Flamekill?"

"Oh my god, he's cute, isn't he?"

Anna calmly glanced at the young man, who rolled his eyes: "Don't mind, ma'am, I just love life too much, and politicians are not suitable for me, well, or, if it had been earlier, maybe I might have He has become Mr. Karenin's indispensable secretary, but the Cullens family can't afford to have no one studying medicine."

"I don't think Dr. Cullens will force you."

"Of course he wouldn't, he's a good uncle, maybe not very gentle, but he's the best uncle in the world," said Sludin softly, and then smiled, "but I know he doesn't want Karens No one in the family is a doctor anymore."

"Sounds very warm and great."

"Look, I've told you everything, so you won't doubt me anymore." Sludin laughed.

"We are the same, ma'am, I love my uncle, and you love your husband and son." Sludin said happily, but Anna was a little sensitive to the word "love", but she didn't refute, just quietly Said a word.

"I'll still watch, Mr. Sludin."

Sludin, who was labeled as still in the observation stage, didn't mind, but optimistically felt that it was indeed starting to be interesting in Petersburg.

After returning home, Anna called Yunina to stop.

"Ma'am, do you have any orders?"

Anna looked at Yunina, and went through some of the previous things in her mind again, and then she said, "Younina, I heard that you have a younger sister."

"Yes, ma'am." Although Yunina didn't know why Anna asked this, she still answered cautiously.

"Her legs are a little disabled."

After Anna finished saying this, she felt that Yunina was on guard, and the stubborn girl finally suppressed her defense and answered her calmly.

"Yes, ma'am."

For a while, Yunina didn't hear Anna's question again. Although she was always mature and stable, she was only seventeen or eighteen years old after all, so she raised her head carefully and glanced at Anna, but she didn't expect that the latter had been waiting for her.

"Ma'am." Yunina asked boldly, and then she widened her eyes in shock when she heard what Anna said next.

When Karenin came back in the evening and asked about Sludin, Anna said: "A very optimistic and wise man."

Karenin gave a rare smile: "Indeed." He agreed.

Anna looked at Karenin: "Did you know that he has such a 'smart' personality?"

"Smart score?" Karenin chewed the word for a while, and then roughly understood it.

"As you said, Anna, Sludin is a smart man. If he didn't have his own wishes, I really hoped that he could become my secretary before."

"It's not too late now."

Karenin glanced at Anna, then said: "He has his own will."

"I don't think you'd let him go if it was just that, Alexey."

"Indeed." Karenin nodded slightly.

"But as he said, Cullens is his only family, and I have known Cullens for a long time."

"I don't think Dr. Cullens knows any of this."

"He doesn't know." Karenin put his hands behind his back, "but he is a worthy good man."

Karenin showed some rare feelings.

Anna took two steps forward, stretched out her hand to hold Karenin's hand, and said in a low voice, "Because that reminds you of your brother? Alexei."

Karenin was silent for a while, then held Anna's hand, and said in a low voice, "Yes."

"I really want to give you a hug, but I'm afraid you will refuse." Anna said with a smile.

Karenin, after remaining silent for a while, embraced Anna.

As the one who needs to be appeased, his posture did not show it at all, but the soft sigh still revealed the man's mood.

About 1 minutes passed.

Anna asked softly: "Alexis, if I want to build a women's college, will you agree?"

Anna felt Karenin's body move. He let go of his hand and looked down at her. For the first time, Karenin's face was expressionless.

"So, that's the heart of the conversation?"

He had felt that Anna's actions were against common sense many times before, but he didn't want to think about it, so at this time, when the truth was in front of him, a trace of anger appeared in Karenin's always calm heart, but he suppressed it. up.

Relatives were a forbidden zone for Karenin.

Perhaps rationally speaking, this is not a big deal. Usually a woman will act like a baby and get angry just because she wants to get some attention. If it makes them angry, giving them what they want is the best way to calm things down.When you need something, lower your posture, show gentleness or gentleness, whether it is life or government affairs, it is the most accurate, and even he himself uses it less, but what Karenin minds is that Anna puts this technical thing Used on his family, on him.

Anna knew that Karenin was angry, but she could clearly see that Karenin was not one of those pedantic people during the previous conversation.

Karenin's indifference made it more difficult for others to grasp his emotions, but Anna still roughly understood what the problem was.

It's just that she doesn't understand, no, maybe she understands, but she can't feel that.

But she knew that the best thing to do right now was to apologize, so she did just that.

"Did I make you angry? Alexey, if so, I apologize."

Karenin took a step back, and this time he didn't let the matter go, but said in a calm tone, as if he was dealing with government affairs, mobilizing all his brain cells to check every word of every sentence, and even every punctuation symbol.

There was a stiff jingle like coins being dumped on a plate.

"You're apologizing only because I'm angry, and you blur that and you want it to go away."

Anna looked at each other, restraining her smile.

"I don't understand, Alexey," she said.

"You don't understand," Karenin repeated, and then, "Well, Anna."

Karenin looked at his wife. Now he has stabilized his emotions, but the expression on his face is no longer soft, but a little stiff.

"If you want to do something, you don't have to use this method at all. I think it is an insult to me and our relationship. I praise your intelligence. As I said before, you have some extraordinary wisdom. A lot of people in my ministry are still as good as the men. I'm surprised and delighted that it took me so long to find out, after I revisited you, I don't mind if you use your cleverness in some places, but here we have to Make a rule and don't use them at home. I wouldn't do that, neither with you nor with Seryozha, and I hope you do the same, Anna."

"I hope you can think about it. Maybe you can give me an answer tomorrow morning, and I also think that it is obviously not good to continue the discussion. Since I still have some business to deal with, good night, Anna." Karenin said quickly Then, he kissed his wife as usual and said goodnight to her, but no one, even himself, could feel a trace of unrest.

After Karenin left, Anna stood there for a while, then she went to the soft chair and leaned on the armrest.

She knew Karenin was right.

She paid attention to Sludin, to a large extent, to help Karenin look at this person. She was doing what he liked. She comforted him and asked that question, and she had investigated Karenin very early.

Perhaps the investigation of Karenin should not be blamed for this incident, but in the early stage, in order to play this role well, she did need to investigate many people and learn a lot of information.

Even if she is unconscious, but when information and instinct are combined, what emerges in front of her is indeed that.

Who should she blame?

Like, should she blame her parents who died long ago?Or blame her own choice, or, in order to throw that family in jail, so she made herself an opportunist who must do things with a purpose?

Anna sneered, and she hugged herself without shedding a single tear.

It's just that, despite this, for a short while, she really didn't think about anything.It's just that this trace of grievance was swallowed forcefully by herself.

In the final analysis, she is not innocent, and she is more and more sure of one thing, in this world, only herself can be relied on.

Thinking so arrogantly, she cut off the little sprout that just came out, and she didn't cry even though she was bleeding.

On the other side, in Karenin's study, there was already a cigarette butt in the fine-thread ashtray.

Karenin stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, and the blue-gray smoke wrapped around him, as if trapping him, but soon, before the second cigarette was burned out, Karenin extinguished it.

The man's brows were furrowed, and after he calmed down, he realized that what he had said was a bit exaggerated.

Although Karenin is religious, it is only from the perspective of a politician. After all, he is not the purest believer.

A believer cannot be a good politician, just like a good person cannot be a high-ranking official.

Karenin never described himself as a good man.

He likes to call himself a civil servant with a government subsidy. He treats his career as a hobby, not just for the benefit of the people.

Karenin paced his study, and finally, after half an hour, made up his mind to go to his wife's bedroom.

Karenin knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He unlocked the door and went in. He found that there was no one on the bed, and Anna seemed to be asleep there on the soft chair.

He approached his wife, who was curled up. Although he hadn't studied psychology, Karenin's years of experience in watching people had taught Karenin what this posture meant, defensiveness and insecurity.

Karenin frowned, and finally he bent down to carry Anna back to the bed, but when he just touched her, the latter woke up suddenly, and a pair of gray eyes stared at him vigilantly.

Total strangeness and vigilance.

Karenin felt a chill in his heart, but he suppressed the surprise and looked at his wife steadfastly.

In fact, all this only took a few seconds, but it seemed like a long time to both of them.

Anna came to her senses, she withdrew her vigilance and showed a little tenderness.

That trace of tenderness was originally what Karenin was most satisfied with. A gentle wife should be what a man wants most, but seeing it now, he knew that he was not satisfied.

After seeing his wife's intelligence and cunning, it was obvious that the gentle Anna was perfunctory, so he said stiffly, "You're angry."

Anna is not easy to get up, she actually does not want to see Karenin in her heart at this moment, after all, she is a very strong person in her bones, if it is not for that incident, her pride will be forcibly discounted, and she will have no choice in reality. If she doesn't bow her head, she will become the kind of selfish ghost who is not afraid of anything but living for herself.

It would be great if Karenin was a foolish husband, if he was a man who can be seen casually in this era, then Anna will definitely make the sweetest expression at this moment, and think of several ways to make this matter So it went, unfortunately, Karenin was just Karenin, Anna, and just Anna.

"Why would I be angry? It's you who should be angry, Alexei." Anna smiled lightly, but there was a sarcasm in her eyes that she didn't hide.

Karenin frowned: "It's true that I should be dissatisfied." Seeing that Anna didn't speak, he relaxed his expression and said calmly, "But if I have to choose, I would choose the one between us that you are happy with." , so I apologize."

Anna pursed her lips. She didn't get up, she just tilted her head. Karenin kept one knee slightly down.

After a while, Anna said, "Aren't you also blurring the focus of the apology, Alexei." She whispered.

"I apologize, I have to say that I was a little irrational at that time."

"Yeah, you said 'somewhat irrational', so what you mean by that is that I was partly wrong to still insist." Anna said.

Karenin looked at her for a moment, and then said: "You are my wife, Anna, and I would not have said it unless it was necessary, but," Karenin paused, and finally lowered his voice, "it is only possible to be deceived by you." It would make me lose my mind and say nothing."

The bedroom was quiet, except for the windows that were not closed. A gust of night wind blew from the outside, the curtains were blown high, and the shade of the trees under the moonlight was blown swayingly. Also, some moods were disturbed. The blown broken pieces became soft again.

"I'm sleepy," Anna said, closing her eyes.

Karenin continued the previous action, he picked up Anna, who curled up quietly in his arms.

"Sleep, Anna." Karenin put Anna on the bed, and when he was about to leave, his wife grabbed his clothes, and a calm voice sounded.

"I apologize."