Summary of the story "Viper" by Alexei Tolstoy

When Olga Vladimirovna Zotova went out into the communal kitchen in the morning to wash herself over the sink, all the tenants felt the danger emanating from her.

This was facilitated by a scar on his leg, and a bullet wound on his back, and a tattoo on his right shoulder. The female population of the apartment in the person of the tailor Mary Afanasyevna, the unemployed Roza Abramovna and the charming Sonya Varentsova hated and was afraid of her.

Especially after she threw a hot primus at the Zhuravlev manager’s house because he did not allow him to be kept in the room in order to avoid a fire.

Olga Vladimirovna smoked shag, cut her hair short, sometimes let go of strong expressions, and a revolver hung over her bed.

In her youth, her life went awry. When the schoolgirl Olechka was 17 years old, their wealthy merchant house was attacked by a gangster. The girl’s father and mother were killed, and she herself miraculously survived. She managed to recognize Valka in one of the attackers of the former schoolboy.

During treatment at the hospital, Olga Vyacheslavovna met a young Red Army soldier Emelyanov, whom she fell in love with at first sight.

When the whites entered the city, the girl was thrown into prison by the false denunciation of Valka about her Bolshevik moods. After the White Guard escaped, half-dead Olga was found among the shot Red Army soldiers. Emelyanov did his best to save her, and after recovering, he enlisted in his squadron.

The fragile Olga Vyacheslavovna famously galloped on a horse, owned a saber and skillfully shot from a carbine. All these skills were very useful to her in case of an unexpected meeting in the steppe with two mounted White Guards, one of whom was Valka. From this fight with two men, a woman emerged victorious.

The war deprived Olga Vyacheslavovna of her beloved: during the battle Emelyanov was killed. In peacetime, the girl felt very lonely and useless to anyone. Fate threw her to Vladivostok, to Siberia, and finally she ended up in Moscow, where she got a job in a non-ferrous metal trust.

Sonechka Varentsova, who lived with her in the same apartment and worked in the same building, ridiculed her for her ridiculous appearance and funny outfits. Other residents called the viper and stigma.

But one day Olga Vyacheslavovna was transformed to such an extent that the men gasped and called her a shock girl. Fans appeared, but the director of the plump trust took her heart. But he was passionate about Sonechka and the matter went to the wedding.

The bride Sonechka Varentsova hated Olga Vyacheslavovna and spread all sorts of discrediting rumors about her that were untrue. She was insultingly called a "squadron skin", although she was a girl, sexually transmitted diseases were attributed to her.

When Sonechka, shocking the marriage registration certificate, began to demand that Olga Vyacheslavovna leave her husband alone and at the same time call her a bastard, in response to her insults she received several shots in the face. After that, Olga Vyacheslavovna went to the police and reported on her deeds.