Chapter 24 24 masks

A certain social club, for the purpose of raising money for charity, held a masquerade ball, or as the local ladies call it, a masquerade ball. It was twelve o'clock at midnight.A few non-dancing and maskless intellectuals (there were five of them in total) were sitting around a large table in the reading room, hiding their noses and beards in the newspaper, reading and taking a nap, and, according to the Kyoto newspaper The local reporter, a gentleman with liberal tendencies, is thinking. From the hall came the music of the quadrille's spinning wheel.Outside the door, servants ran past from time to time, and there was the sound of footsteps and the clink of cups and plates.It was very quiet in the reading room.

It seems more comfortable here!Suddenly there was a deep and hoarse voice, which sounded more like coming from the furnace, all come here!Hurry up, friends! The door flew open, and a stocky, broad-shouldered man in a coachman's livery, with peacock feathers in a wide-brimmed hat, and a masked face entered the reading room.Behind him came two masked women and a servant with a tray.On the tray lay a well-bellied carafe of strong liqueur, three bottles of red wine, and glasses. Come up here!It's cooler here, says the man, put the tray on the table and sit down, ladies!Hot｜Wu｜A｜La｜Terry Monte Long [Note: French with inaccurate pronunciation, the meaning is unknown. ], and you, gentlemen, move away and don't stay here!

The man shook his body, waved his hand, and wiped several magazines on the table to the ground. Bring the tray here!And you, gentlemen of the newspapers, make room.Now is not the time to read newspapers and study politics and throw away the papers! I ask you to be quiet, an intellectual looked at the man's mask through his glasses and said, this is the reading room, not the snack bar, and this is not a place for drinking. Why not?Could it be that the table is shaking, or the ceiling will collapse, strange!But I don't have time to chat with you now!You threw away the newspaper and you read it for a long time, that's enough.You are already smart enough not to read newspapers, but reading newspapers hurts your eyes.Most importantly, I don't want you to read newspapers, that's all!

The servant put the tray on the table, put the towel on his elbow, and stood by the door.The two women immediately grabbed the red wine. How can there be such a smart person in the world who thinks that newspapers are better than fine wine? The man with peacock feathers poured himself a glass of strong rum and said, in my opinion, the reason why you respectable gentlemen like to read newspapers , because you have no money to buy wine and drink.Am I right?Ha ha!They read newspapers all the time!Hey, what's written on it?Mister Glasses!What events did you read about?Ha ha!Come on, stop looking!You stop pretending, why don't you come and have a drink!

The man with peacock feathers straightened up a little, and snatched the newspaper from Mr. Glasses.The other party blushed first, then blushed again, and looked at the other intellectuals in surprise, and those people also looked at him in surprise. You have carried yourself away, sir!Mr. Glasses is angry, you treat the reading room as a tavern, how dare you take the newspaper from my hand!I don't allow it!You don't know who you're dealing with, sir!I'm Restyakov, the bank manager! I spit on you Restyakov!As for your newspaper, it deserves the honor only. The man picked it up and tore it to shreds.

What is the matter, gentlemen?Restyakov murmured that he was stupefied, how utterly incomprehensible, how unreasonable it was! His old man was angry.The man laughed, oops, I was scared to death!Even his legs were shaking.So it is, honorable gentlemen!Seriously, I don't bother to talk nonsense to you because I want to be here alone with these two girls and have some fun here, so please don't get in our way, let me go out please!Gentlemen!Mr. Berebkhin, get out!Why are you frowning?I tell you to go out, you just go out obediently!hurry up!Otherwise, be careful and I will beat you up.

What kind of talk is this?Berebukhin, the accountant of the orphanage, said blushingly and shrugging his shoulders, I just don't understand how a scoundrel came here and suddenly said such a goddamn thing! What is a rogue?The man with peacock feathers yelled. He was so angry that he slammed his fist on the table, causing the glasses on the tray to jump up. Who are you talking to?Do you think that if I put on a mask, you can talk nonsense and scold me?What a sharp-mouthed pepper!I tell you to go out, you go out, no bastard is allowed to stay here!Come on, get the hell out of me! We'll see the results soon!Restyakov said that he was so excited that his glasses were sweating, I want to show you something!Hey, go and call the supervisor on duty!

After a while, a director with short stature and brown red hair came in, with a small blue cloth strip pinned to the lapel of his jacket, dancing and panting. Please get out!He said, this is not a place to drink!Please go to the snack bar! Where did you come from?The masked man said, Could it be that I called you? Please don't you yours, please get out! You listen to me, cutie: I'll give you a minute because you're the director and the headliner, so please take these actors by the arm and get them out.My girls don't like it when there are outsiders here and they're shy, but I want them to show their natural self since I've spent money.

Obviously, this savage doesn't understand, he's not in a pigsty!shouted Restyakov, and sent Evstrat.Spiridonitch is calling! Yevstraat.Spiridonich!There were shouts from the club, Yevstraat.Where is Spiridonich? Yevstraat.Spiridonitch, an old man in a police uniform, arrived at once. Please get out of here!He widened his terrifying eyes, raised his dyed mustache, and said in a hoarse voice. Oops, it's scary!The man laughed happily, really, it was scary!There is such a scary person, your mustache looks like a cat's tentacles, and your eyes are popping out hehehe You stop talking nonsense!Yevstraat.Spiridonitch, trembling with rage, shouted hoarsely, Get out!Otherwise, I'll call someone to take you away!

There was an unimaginable noise in the reading room.Yevstraat.Spiridonitch, blushing like a boiled shrimp, kept shouting and stamping his feet.Restyakov was also shouting.Berebkhin was also shouting.All intellectuals are shouting.However, their voices were suppressed by the deep and hoarse voice of the Masked Man.The dance was interrupted by chaos, and the crowd poured from the hall to the reading room. Yevstraat.In order to show his prestige, Spilinich called all the policemen in the club.He sat down and began to write the police record. Write, write, the masked man poked the nib of the pen with his finger and said, oh, why do you call me a poor man now?I am a poor wretch!Why do you want to destroy me, a helpless person!Ha ha!Well, now I'll let you see!one two three!

The man stood up, puffed out his chest and belly, and took off his mask abruptly.He showed his drunken face, looked at everyone, admired the effect, and then collapsed in the armchair, laughing with joy.The repercussions he evoked were truly extraordinary.All the intellectuals looked flustered, looked at each other, turned pale with fright, and some scratched the back of their heads.Yevstraat.Spilinich cleared his throat uneasily, like a man who has done something stupid by accident. The troublemaker was recognized as Pyatigolov, a local millionaire, factory owner, and hereditary honorary citizen, who had always been famous in the village for his love of nonsense and his enthusiasm for public welfare, and, as the local bulletin repeatedly said, As stated, he is also full of love for education. How are you going or are you not going?asked Pyatigolov after a moment's silence. The intellectuals were all speechless, and walked out of the reading room on tiptoe without making a sound.After they left, Pyatigolov immediately locked the door. You must have known he was Pyatigolov!After a while, Yevstraat.Spilinich shook the shoulder of the servant who brought the drink into the reading room, and whispered hoarsely, Why are you silent? His old man forbids me to say, sir! Don't talk about it. When I lock you up, you damn bastard, and spend a month in the detention center, then you will know that you are not allowed to talk about it!Get out!But you are good, gentlemen, he turned and said to those intellectuals, you actually rebelled!You can't leave the reading room for ten minutes!Alright, now you guys go clean up this mess.Well, gentlemen, I don't like it, gentlemen, really! Intellectuals walked up and down the club, dejected, restless, ashamed, muttering to themselves, as if anticipating the impending doom; their wives and daughters heard that Pyatigolov had been wronged, He lost his temper, was too scared to speak out, and went home early.The dance is over. Pyatigolov did not come out of the reading room until two o'clock at night.He was drunk and staggered around.He came to the hall, sat down by the orchestra, dozed off during the music, then hung his head sadly, and immediately snored loudly. Don't play music!The directors waved their hands to the musicians, boo!Yegor.Nirech fell asleep Excuse me, would you like to take you home, Yegor?Nirech.Berebkhin asked, leaning over the millionaire's ear. Pyatigolov nuzzled his lips as if trying to blow a fly off his face. Excuse me, do you want to send you back to your house?Berebkhin asked again, or ordered the carriage to be ready? ah?who?What do you do? It's time to take you home, sir, it's time to sleep I want to go home and you send me back! Berebkhin beamed with joy, and hurriedly helped Pyatigolov up.Immediately the rest of the intellectuals came to help, and smiling cheerfully, they lifted the hereditary honorary citizen up and carefully carried him to the carriage. Only an actor, only a genius, can fool such a large crowd, said Restyakov cheerfully as he sat him down, "I am really shocked, Yegor.Nirech!Until now I still want to laugh haha ​​but we are still furious and tossing around!Ha ha!Believe it or not, I have never laughed out loud like this before watching a movie. It's so funny!I will remember this unforgettable night for the rest of my life! After sending Pyatigolov away, the intellectuals beamed and began to feel at ease. Before leaving, he held out his hand to me, and the very proud Restyakov said that everything is all right now, and he is not angry anymore. God bless you!Yevstraat.Spiridonitch said with a sigh of relief, scoundrel, scoundrel, but you know, a philanthropist again!I can't tell!