I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 242 A Offering and a King Failing to Meet (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets, Please Vote!)
As another ordinary day dawned in London, Mikhail, who had some things to do, got out of bed early. After a quick wash, seeing that it was still early, he decided to sit down and finish what he needed to do.

The most important task was replying to other people's letters, specifically those from Emily Brontë and Charlotte Brontë. The former mainly involved simple discussions with Mikhail about some poetry issues, while the latter was purely to express gratitude.

When writing back to Emily, this undeniably genius, Mikhail certainly racked his brains. Fortunately, he had read many related articles before, so despite the effort, they were still able to have a conversation.

Replying to Charlotte's letter was much simpler, basically expressing his approval of their writing. In the letter, Mikhail also learned that they had started writing novels. Although she did not mention what the novels would be titled, Mikhail already knew the answer in his mind.

Compared to the seamless creation of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey," the emergence of "Jane Eyre" was more convoluted. Charlotte Brontë first wrote a less successful novel, "The Professor," which was submitted for publication without success. Then one day, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration and completed "Jane Eyre" in a very short time.

During the writing of this book, she disagreed with her two sisters' idea that the female protagonist in the work had to be beautiful. She told them, "I will prove you wrong with facts."

After thinking about these things for a while, Mikhail finally finished writing his reply and then prepared to send out the two letters at a later time.

To be honest, Mikhail is quite looking forward to the publication of the three sisters' novel. It would be funny if they wanted to add a line on the first page that reads "Dedicated to Mikhail Romanovich Raskolnikov".

Of course, this is just wishful thinking. Mikhail can only hope that their economic conditions will improve so they can take better precautions, or that they can send their unfortunate brother to another place for further studies.

However, Mikhail is not at liberty to offer such reminders at the moment, and can only say that we should wait a little longer.

After finishing this task, Mikhail went out wearing his Sherlock Holmes suit.

It is worth mentioning that Mikhail did not wear that particularly conspicuous hat, and he temporarily put away his cloak and held it in his hand.

Unfortunately, with the growing reputation of "A Study in Scarlet" and the subsequent news reports, Mikhail was genuinely afraid he would be overwhelmed by the crowds on the streets of London if he were to wear the full version of the book.
But Mikhail had his reasons for wearing it. Simply put, he was invited to a well-known club in London, and if he wanted to make money off the British gentlemen, he had to show them how it looked on him.

Even though Mikhail's clothes were less conspicuous after being disassembled, he still unconsciously lowered his head and quickened his pace.
The latest news about "A Study in Scarlet" is that its first issue brought Sanders' Fiction Weekly nearly two thousand subscribers, and sales figures are changing daily.

Since The Novel is published every two weeks, new content will be available to London readers in a few days.

After Mikhail had been thinking about a lot of random things, when he came to his senses, he found himself getting closer and closer to his destination without even realizing it.

It must be said that the club Mikhail was going to was indeed powerful, as its venue was located in one of the best areas of London. As Mikhail got closer, he seemed to vaguely see Buckingham Palace, the residence of the British royal family.

It must be said that although Britain during this period was known as the "empire on which the sun never sets," there were far too many amusing stories about Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria.

First up is our beloved Dickens, who was quite the show-off in a way. Although Queen Victoria had been reading his works for a long time and admired him greatly, often enjoying his descriptions of the lower classes in London, Dickens had no respect for the monarchy.

It's even said that Dickens believed he was more famous than the Queen, and therefore he always tried to avoid Queen Victoria and refused to meet her.

Of course, Dickens' reasons for avoiding Queen Victoria were probably complex, but in a sense, perhaps Dickens genuinely believed that kings should not meet, and that Queen Victoria should avoid his sharp edge.
Secondly, prior to 1840, security at Buckingham Palace was notoriously lax. In 1838, a man attempted to break into Queen Victoria's coronation ceremony. After being stopped, he seemed undeterred, and a month later, the palace gatekeeper found him asleep in the palace's portrait gallery.

At that moment, he was very close to Queen Victoria's bedroom. After interrogation, the man admitted that he had come to ask the Queen to marry him again, and he was then sent to Torshillfields prison.

Meanwhile, in December of the same year, a flamboyant and repressed teenager named Jones broke into the palace. After a chase, he was eventually arrested, and when the police pulled down his bulging trousers, several of the Queen's original underwear fell out.
His behavior was described as "youthful foolishness," and he was later acquitted.

But this arrogant young man seemed to have become addicted to breaking into the palace, and broke into the palace twice more in the next two years, causing a sensation throughout London. Prince Albert, the de facto King of Great Britain, took the opportunity to begin to reorganize the palace.

Leaving aside the many other amusing incidents, just as Mikhail was reveling in these thoughts, in a nearby club, the British gentlemen were on high alert, each displaying their best demeanor and readiness to deal with the incredible young man from Russia.

Although they were more curious about the young Russian man than harboring any ill will, now that he had come to England and entered the club of British gentlemen, he had to abide by British rules!

While they might not be as accomplished as the young man in literary matters, in other respects, these gentlemen, who were already quite old, would certainly make the young man feel ashamed.

Among them, a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance attracted the attention of many people present, who looked at him with a mixture of awe and wariness.

Strictly speaking, he is not a regular at this club, but his name is known to many clubs.

In Britain today, gambling is a core social activity in many clubs, with stakes often extremely high. Some gentlemen may lose thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds in a single night.

Because the British value "gentlemanly conduct," even if you lose a large sum of money, you must keep a smile on your face and not lose your composure.

Generally speaking, it's normal for some people to keep losing when gambling, but those who can win frequently or consistently are extremely rare.

The ordinary-looking middle-aged man was the latter. Even though he didn't always win, his winning percentage was enough for most gamblers to deliberately avoid him. Over time, almost only people who were new to the social scene and didn't have friends or elders reminding them would sit at the same card table with him.

So, did he come here today on purpose to win money from a young man from out of town?
He has done such things before.
While the people on the field were lost in their own thoughts, a new guest soon appeared in the club, led by a servant. He didn't need to introduce himself at all, because the gentlemen present recognized him the moment they saw his strange attire.

Sherlock Holmes has been all over the news these days!

Or rather, it was Mikhail, the Russian writer who created Sherlock Holmes.

So what does it mean that he came here dressed like that? Could it be that Sherlock Holmes is his autobiography?
Slender, tall figure, eccentric attire, and a calm, confident demeanor.
Some people's curiosity quickly swelled, but many old-fashioned gentlemen frowned at such strange attire. However, given Mikhail's identity as a poet and artist, such people always have many eccentricities. In addition, this Russian was said to be a rare genius. Therefore, these old-fashioned gentlemen did not make a fuss immediately.

In this slightly eerie atmosphere, Mikhail calmly introduced himself, and as he spoke, a gentleman in charge of the club's daily activities seemed to wake up from a dream and began to briefly introduce the people present to Mikhail.

After this segment ended, Mikhail quickly found a place to sit down.

Even though he didn't initiate conversation with anyone, it wasn't long before a rather young British gentleman couldn't contain his curiosity and asked, "So, Mr. Mikhail, please forgive my intrusion, but why are you wearing this outfit? Are you perhaps still searching for inspiration for your novel?"

"Of course, it's because this outfit is both warm and comfortable, and it also looks quite stylish and attractive."

The young gentleman was momentarily stunned upon hearing Mikhail's impeccable English, then he heard Mikhail continue, "Don't you think so? I think you should take a good look."

Upon hearing this, the young gentleman couldn't help but scrutinize Mikhail for a while, and after looking at him for a while, he nodded involuntarily and said, "It does seem to be true."

"And I think clothes like these would definitely look better on you."

really?
Just as the young gentleman was starting to feel a little tempted, the unremarkable-looking middle-aged gentleman suddenly leaned over and asked rather naturally:
"Mr. Mikhail, I also have a question I'd like to ask you?"

"You say."

Mikhail smiled and looked over.

"I've heard that you Russians often play Whistle or other games during parties or leisure time. I wonder how your games differ from those in England?"

"I'm not really sure about that."

Mikhail shook his head innocently, then sighed and said, "I play these things very little, and I seem to win very rarely, so I don't know much about them."

"Oh?"

The middle-aged man said somewhat exaggeratedly, "This is a pastime that every British gentleman must know. It would be a shame if you didn't know these things; you would miss out on a lot of fun in England."

"Perhaps I should study it in England."

"I can introduce it to you."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's eyes lit up immediately, and he said enthusiastically, "Of course, you'll understand even faster if you play a few rounds yourself."

"Is that so?"

Mikhail seemed quite interested: "But I only took twenty pounds with me when I went out today."

"We keep accounts here, just remember to settle the accounts when the time comes."

The middle-aged man's smile seemed to brighten even more, and it seemed that in order to help Mikhail integrate into the club quickly, he had actually arranged a card game in no time.

Just as the young gentleman was about to remind Mikhail, the middle-aged man had already pulled Mikhail away.

Faced with such a scene, most people present adopted a bystander attitude. If one could fall for such an obvious scam, then this writer probably has little to do with the exceptionally intelligent characters he creates; at best, it's just artistic creation. In that case, many rumors would likely be debunked on their own.

However, soon, as others explained the rules to Mikhail, as others invited Mikhail to play a few rounds, and as Mikhail's twenty pounds kept changing...
The eyes of many gentlemen present widened, their expressions grew increasingly agitated, and their gazes toward Mikhail shifted constantly.
How many pounds can twenty pounds become at most?

The question almost crossed their minds.

Although everyone present was a true English gentleman, at least at this moment, Mikhail looked more authentic than any of them.

This was because Mikhail's smile remained largely unchanged throughout the entire incident.
(End of this chapter)