On the evening of October 18, when Ava drove back to her mansion, her young friend was studying in the glass room.
Since moving into Ava's house, Hesta often stayed in the glass house on the first floor and read. Ava has an amazing collection of books in her home that she can access at will.
Hesta had in her hand the supper that Alga, the young girl with the thick braid, had prepared for her, some pancakes, butter, stew, and wine, but Hesta did not even look at it, her face was ashen. He was flipping through a book under the lamp, looking very angry.
Ava watched this scene from a distance. She took off her coat and handed it to Alja.
"Since when has she been sitting there?"
"As soon as 1 o'clock in the afternoon came, she sat there. She has been there for the past few days." Alja sighed, "She didn't even eat until she looked at her. I reminded her several times!"
"What book is she reading?"
Alja thought for a while and said with some uncertainty, "It seems like what I watched today was "Mountains Under the Storm"?"
Ava laughed and said, "Is it convenient for you now? If so, please make me a cup of coffee."
"Are you still drinking coffee so late? You shouldn't have any caffeine after six o'clock in the evening - I'll make a cup of flower tea, okay?"
Ava's mouth sank slightly, making a "I'll do whatever you want" expression.
After Alja left, Ava walked to the glass room alone. What surprised her was that Hesta, who was reading, was so intoxicated. It wasn't until he came to her that she raised her head as if she was awakened.
After realizing that the person coming was Ava, Hesta breathed a sigh of relief. She put the book aside, covered her eyes with her hands, and greeted tiredly, "...you are back."
Ava picked up the reader that Hesta had put down. Its black cover had the words "Mountains Under the Storm" printed on it.
"Why do you suddenly think of reading this book?"
"...I was wandering around in your library at noon and saw this book," Hestad replied softly. "I remembered that a friend seemed to like it very much, so I took it out to have a look."
"Male friends?"
"Um."
A teasing smile appeared on Ava's face again, "Where did you read?"
"I just finished reading the first volume." Hesta replied, "The hero is getting married."
"Reading so slowly," Ava sat down opposite Hesta, "Alja said you spent the entire afternoon reading without sleep or food. I thought you had read at least half of it."
"The characters' names are so hard to remember. I read the first three sections more than a dozen times," Hestad said angrily. "Not only are everyone's names as long as trains, but they also have two or three nicknames and nicknames—— Different people will call them different nicknames, and it’s hard to tell who is who at first reading.”
Ava had an "I knew it" expression on her face, "So, how do you feel after reading the first volume?"
Seeing Hesta frowning again, Ava flipped through the book casually and said with a smile, "I guess it's not very pleasant."
Hesta sank into her chair, silent. She closed her eyes and sorted out her words alone, so as to temporarily retain the too intense part. However, after a long time, she still shook her head, "...I can't say it."
"You don't like this work, do you."
"Yes," Hesta replied.
"But you never put it down for a moment, why?"
"...The story is smooth, and everyone's face is clear and vivid," Hesta thought hard about the reason, and her left hand drew a circle in the air meaninglessly, "I have read very few... …Maybe I haven’t seen the world, so I can’t let it go.”
"That's not the case," Ava said softly. "This book had a very high status in the Silver Age. At that time, it was translated into at least 54 languages. It is normal to be frightened by it. Since you said that everything in it The individual faces are all clear and vivid, so so far, which character’s fate affects you the most?”
Hesta thought for a while, "...Aksinia."
"what is the reason?"
Hesta fell into a long silence again, but this silence did not come from an empty space. It was just the opposite. Countless broken words were flying in her heart, and she wanted to say so much that it was like a volcano erupting. They collided with each other, burned, and burst out with such intense light and heat that for a moment Hestad didn't know where to start.
Alja brought flower tea at this time, and she also prepared a cup for Hesta.
"What are you talking about?" Alja looked at them, "If it's a night reading meeting, can others join?"
"Of course." Ava smiled, "There are so many chairs here."
Arga stood up happily, left the glass house briefly, and quickly returned with five or six people. Some of them have young faces, some have old faces, some have curious eyes, and some have cold and dignified expressions.
They all sat down on the chairs next to Hesta and Ava.
Ava held her cheek with one hand and raised her glass to Hesta with the other.
"Read a passage, read a passage about Aksinya."
So Hesta opened the book again, and her hands turned through the pages, finally stopping at one place.
She read softly.
"Aksiniya married Stepan when she was seventeen years old... In the autumn of the year before her marriage, she plowed the fields on the grassland eight miles away from the village. At night, her father, a fifty-year-old man, - tied her hands and raped her.
"'If you dare to say a word, I will kill you. If you don't say it, I will buy you a velvet jacket and a pair of high boots with shoe covers. You have to remember this: If you let out the slightest bit, If you get wind of it, I'll kill you...' he threatened her.
"At night, Aksinya ran back to the village wearing only a torn petticoat. She fell at her mother's feet, breathless and cried... her mother and brother - a newly demobilized woman. The Cossacks of the Tamansky regiment hitched their horses to the cart, asked Aksinya to sit in the cart, and rushed to their father.
"During the eight-mile journey, my brother almost beat his horse to death. They found their father near the place where they spent the night. He was very drunk, sleeping on a sheepskin coat spread on the ground, with an empty vodka bottle next to him. Ah Ksenia watched helplessly as her brother unloaded a shaft log from the car, kicked his sleeping father awake with his feet, asked him a few simple questions, and then hit the old man on the bridge of the nose with the shaft log wrapped in iron sheet. go.
"He and his mother beat the old man for a full hour and a half. The old and always docile mother frantically grabbed her unconscious husband's hair, and the brother kicked him desperately. Aksinia covered her head. , lying under the cart shivering silently...
"Before dawn, they took the old man home. He moaned pitifully, but his eyes kept searching the house, looking for Aksinya who was hiding. Blood and pus flowed from his torn ear to the pillow. He died at dusk. To others, they only said that he fell out of a car while drunk and died." (1)
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1 Quote from Sholokhov's "Quiet Don"
