Fifteen years ago, a party was thrown at a banker's home, where many intellectuals 
such a journalists and lawyers attended.He makes his 
way from the lighter reading of the early years, to the dense text of the Gospels and 
Shakespeare.As the group argued, the two sides of the debate coalesced into two representatives: the 
banker, who is for capital punishment and believes that it is more merciful, and a 
lawyer, who believes that life imprisonment is the better option, due to its preservation 
of life.The banker acquiesces and confirms the lawyer's suspicion that he has mastered 
languages.To prove his seriousness, the lawyer 
decides to leave his prison five hours before the appointed time, and renounces his 
claim to the two million, thereby freeing the banker from his debt and from financial 
ruin.In it, the lawyer proclaims his intention to renounce earthly goods in favor of the 
spiritual blessings.During that party, the group in attendance had 
many lively discussions, ultimately turning to the topic of capital punishment.The banker and the lawyer decide to enter into a bet, with the banker wagering that 
the lawyer could not withstand 5 years of imprisonment.The banker cannot fathom his good fortune, and even offers the young lawyer a way 
out, saying that he is being hasty and foolish.Later, the main focus of his time becomes books, as he searches for adventures and 
comforts that he cannot possess physically.He takes great advantage of the banker's 
ability to provide any book, and asks that the banker test the result of his reading by 
firing two shots in the garden if his translations of several languages is indeed flawless.In fact, the banker even manages to convince 
himself that the lawyer is getting the better end of the deal, since he will still be 
relatively young at 40, and, with the 2 million rubles, relatively rich.As the years go by, the lawyer reads virtually every genre under the sun.The banker cries and kisses the prisoner with relief.