In the afternoon, they went to the mansion of Petesi on the Esplanade.

Anna's cousin, Peter Oblonsky, was not there, and when he heard that he had learned of a rare engraving in the morning, he left in a hurry.

Petersey complained about Pyotr Oblansky's coquettishness, and after receiving the coat for which she could buy three thousand roubles, she gave her husband a passionate kiss and carefully told him to be careful.

Petersy's mistress did not come this time, neither did the ambassador and his wife, and the Duchess of Miahki and a few familiar faces were still there.

Anna introduced them to Slyuddin.

"We have a new face here today, and it's a pity that Vronsky is not here." Mrs. Petesey laughed and said, "That gentleman has always thought he was young, but if he saw our Mr. Slyuddin, he would have died of shame." ”

There was a hint of a smile on Slyuddin's doll face: "I've heard of Count Vronsky, he's famous for being young and handsome, isn't he?" ”

There is something to be said about it, as if Vronsky were an embroidered pillow.

Anna glanced at the Slyuddin, who began to praise the cooks at the Duke of Petersy's mansion.

"I specially invited it from France, but it wasn't easy." Petsey was complimented and satisfied, so the more he looked at Slyuddin's baby face, the happier he became.

Slyuddin praised the ladies and gentlemen as she drank her tea, until the tea feast was over, and on the carriage back, Anna glanced at the young man and said, "It seems that things are not what I thought. ”

Slyuddin blinked his big eyes, "What do you say, ma'am?" ”

Anna said, "Are you playing dumb with me?" Mr. Slyuddin? ”

"Ah, you mean that?" Slyuddin feigned surprise, then smiled and said, "I didn't just rely on my face to come back there safely, ma'am. ”

"You hid it from your uncle, too?"

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

"Then you can cover up yourself by telling a little lie when I ask you." Anna said calmly.

Slyudin smiled: "Madam, you are a wise man, I had many ideas in mind before I came here, and I had nothing until I met you, although I have been abroad, and I have only occasionally heard about you from my uncle, but I think that my uncle's judgment of you may be a little inaccurate." ”

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

"It's the truth." Slyuddin nodded.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I sincerely thank you for your family. My uncle is my only relative, and I just want to make sure he's doing well. Slyuddin said sincerely.

Anna glanced at her, "I suspect Alexei should recruit you as well, maybe you're better suited for that secretary's position." ”

Slyuddin's eyes lit up: "Secretary, ha, is that Mr. Flammykill?" ”

"Oh my God, he's super cute, isn't he?"

Anna glanced at the young man calmly, and the latter's eyes curled: "Don't mind, ma'am, I just love life too much, and politicians are not for me, well, or rather, if I had sooner, maybe I would have become Mr. Karenin's indispensable secretary, but the Karens family cannot afford to study medicine without one." ”

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

"Of course he won't, he's a good uncle, maybe not very gentle, but he's the best uncle in the world." Slyuddin said softly, then smiled, "But I know he doesn't want no one in the Cullens family to be a doctor anymore." ”

"It sounds very warm and great."

"Look, I've told you everything, and you won't doubt me anymore." Slyuddin 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 it, just said it quietly.

"I'll still observe, Mr. Slyuddin."

Slyuddin, who was still in the observation stage, did not mind, but optimistically felt that it was indeed starting to be interesting in Petersburg.

When she returned home, Anna called Yunina to stop.

"Madame, do you have any orders?"

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

"Yes, ma'am." Yunina didn't know why Anna was asking, but she answered cautiously.

"She has some disability in her legs."

After Anna said this, she felt that Yunina was a little defensive, and the stubborn girl finally suppressed that guard and answered her calmly.

"Yes, ma'am."

For a while, Yunina didn't hear Anna's question again, although she had always been mature and steady, but after all, she was only seventeen or eighteen years old, so she carefully raised her head 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 Anna's next words.

When Karenin came back in the evening and asked about Slyuddin, Anna said: "Very optimistic and intelligent man." ”

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

Anna looked at Karenin: "You have known for a long time that he has this kind of 'fine' character? ”

"Fine?" Karenin chewed on the word for a moment, and then roughly understood.

"As you say, Anna, Slyudin is a smart man, and if he hadn't had his own will, I would have hoped that he would have been my secretary."

"It's not too late."

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

"I don't think you're going to let him run away if it was just that, Alexei."

"Indeed." Karenin bowed slightly.

"But as he said, Cullens is his only relative, and I've known Cullens for a long time."

"I don't think Dr. Cullens should know about that."

"He didn't know." Karenin put his hands behind his back, "but he is a good man who deserves it." ”

Karenin's rare feelings were somewhat revealed.

Anna took two steps forward, stretched out her hand to take Karenin's hand, and whispered: "Because that reminds me of your brother?" Alexey. ”

Karenin was silent for a moment, then took Anna's hand and said in a somewhat low voice: "Yes. ”

"I'd love to give you a hug, but I'm afraid you'll refuse." Anna said with a smile.

Karenin, after being silent for a while, hugged Anna.

As the one who needed to be appeased, his posture didn't show it at all, but that soft sigh still revealed the man's mood.

About a minute passed.

Anna asked softly, "Alexei, if I wanted to build a women's college, would you agree?" ”

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

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

He had felt that Anna's approach was a bit counterintuitive 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.

Loved ones were a no-go zone for Karenin.

Maybe intellectually speaking, this is not a big deal, usually a woman will be coquettish and angry just to get some attention, if they are angry, give them the best way to calm down. When there is a request, lower your posture and show gentleness or gentleness, whether it is life or government affairs, is the most accurate, even he himself does not use it less, but Karenin minds that Anna uses this kind of technical thing on her family, on him.

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

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

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

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

"Did I make you feel angry? Alexei, if that's the case, I apologize. ”

Karenin took a step back, this time not letting things pass, but spoke in a tone that didn't rise or fall, as if he were dealing with government affairs, mobilizing all his brain cells to check every word of every sentence, even every punctuation mark.

It was like a coin poured on a plate, with a stiff clang.

"You apologize just because I'm angry, you blur that and you want it to pass."

Anna looked at the other and restrained her smile.

"I don't understand, Alexei." She said.

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

Karenin looked at his wife, and he now stabilized his emotions again, but the expression on his face was no longer soft, a little stiff.

"If you don't have to do anything that way, I think it's totally an insult to me, to our relationship. I commend you for your intelligence, and as I have said before, you have some superior intelligence, more than many people in my department, and on a par with men. I'm amazed and delighted to have found out so long, and after I look at you anew, I don't mind you putting your cleverness to good use, but here we must make a rule not to use them at home. I wouldn't do that, either to you or Seryosha, and I hope you do the same, Anna. ”

"I hope you can think about it, and maybe you can give me an answer tomorrow morning, and I think it's obviously not good to go any further. Given that I still have some official business to attend to, good night, Anna. Karenin spoke quickly, kissing his wife as he was customary, and saying goodnight to her, but no one could feel the slightest uneasiness in anyone, even himself.

After Karenin left, Anna stood there for a moment, then she walked to the soft chair and leaned against the armrest.

She knew Karenin was right.

She kept an eye on Slyuddin, to a large extent, to help Karenin look at this man, she was doing what he liked, she reassured him, asked that sentence, and also investigated Karenin very early.

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

Even if she is unconscious, when information and instinct are combined, what comes to mind is indeed what it looks like.

Who is she to blame?

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

Anna sneered, she hugged herself, not a single tear flowed.

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

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

She thought so arrogantly, she cut off the little sprout that had just sprouted, 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 finely threaded ashtray.

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

The man's brow furrowed, and after calming down, he realized that he had gone too far.

Although Karenin was religious, it was only from the point of view of a politician, and in the final analysis, he was not the purest of believers.

Catholics can't be good politicians, just like good people can't be high-ranking officials.

Karenin never claimed to be a good man.

He likes to refer to himself as a civil servant on a government allowance, and he sees his career as a hobby, not exclusively for the benefit of the people.

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

Karenin knocked on the door, but no one answered, he unscrewed the door and locked it in, and found no one on the bed, and on the soft chair, where Anna seemed to be asleep.

He approached his wife, who was curled up, and despite having not studied psychology, years of experience in seeing people had taught Karenin what the posture meant, defensiveness and insecurity.

Karenin furrowed his eyebrows, and at last he bent down to carry Anna back to bed, but as soon as he touched the other, the latter awoke with a pair of gray eyes staring at him alarmedly.

Utter strangeness and vigilance.

Karenin felt a cold sensation run through his heart, but he suppressed the surprise and looked at his wife steadily.

In fact, all this is only a few seconds, but for both of them, it seems like a long time.

Anna came to her senses, and she retreated from her vigilance with a little softness.

That touch of softness was originally Karenin's most satisfying place, a gentle wife should be what a man wants most, but when he saw it at this moment, he knew that he was not satisfied.

After seeing his wife's intelligence and cunning, the gentle Anna was obviously perfunctory, so he said a little stiffly: "You are angry. ”

Anna is not easy to get up, she actually doesn't want to see Karenin at the moment, after all, she is a very strong person in her bones, if it weren't for that incident, which discounted her pride and made her have to bow her head in reality, she would become the kind of selfish ghost who is not afraid to live only for herself.

If Karenin is a foolish husband, if he is a man who can be seen casually in this era, then Anna will definitely be able to make the sweetest expression at this time, and think of several ways to let this matter pass, but unfortunately, Karenin is just Karenin, Anna, and only Anna.

"How could I be angry, it's you who should be angry, Alexe." Anna chuckled softly, but there was a sarcasm between her eyebrows.

Karenin furrowed his eyebrows: "Indeed, I should be dissatisfied. Seeing that Anna didn't speak, he relaxed his expression and said calmly, "But if I had to choose, I would like to choose the one between us who is happy with you, so I apologize." ”

Anna pursed her lips, she didn't get up, she just tilted her head, Karenin maintained a posture of one knee slightly down.

It took a long time for Anna to say, "You're not obscuring the point of apology, Alexei." She whispered.

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

"yes, you said 'a little irrational,' so you mean that it's partially wrong to insist that I'm still here." Anna said.

Karenin looked at her for a moment, then said, "You are my wife, Anna, I would not have said it unless it was necessary," Karenin paused for a moment, and finally lowered his voice, "only by being deceived by you will make me lose my mind and speak without words." ”

The bedroom was quiet, only the unclosed windows, the night breeze blowing from outside, the curtains were blown high, the shade of the trees in the moonlight was also blown swaying, and some of the moods were blown away and broken but soft.

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

Karenin continued his previous movements, and he picked up Anna, who was quietly curled up in his arms.

"Sleep, Anna." Karenin put Anna in the bed, and as he was about to leave, his wife grabbed the corner of his coat, and a calm voice sounded.

"I apologize." 166 Reading Network