Gogol 
Dead Souls 

The novel describes an opportunistic swindler Qiqikov buying and selling dead souls. Qiqikov went to the suburbs of a city to buy the dead serfs who had not yet cancelled their household registration from the landlords, and prepared to mortgage them as living serfs to the supervision committee to defraud a large amount of deposit. He visited one landowner after another, and after fierce bargaining, he bought a large number of dead souls. When he quickly completed the legal business procedures with the help of his long established relationship, his criminal activities were exposed, and the prosecutor was scared to death by rumors, and Qiqikov had to flee in a hurry.