1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 106 Interesting Thor
Thor was very quiet. His arrival did not bring any trouble to Ronan's life. He even helped Ronan find a better place to read.

When he has nothing to do, Ronan will move his chair to the shade under the tree.

Reading "Hunting License Examination: Official Manual of Theoretical Questions" here will greatly improve your efficiency.

He had finished reading the first three parts a few days ago, and the fourth part was about safety instructions.

There are three mandatory measures when hunting in France:
When hunting in groups, you must wear fluorescent clothing, you can only hunt in safe areas with hunting signs, and you must undergo scheduled training every ten years to understand the new laws and regulations that have been introduced over the years.

Failure to comply with the above rules could result in a hefty fine of up to 3000 francs.

The fifth part of the book talks about the relevant knowledge of hunting weapons.

For example, the types of firearms that can be purchased in France, which of them are allowed to be used in hunting, weapons bans, requirements for purchasing ammunition, storage requirements, domestic and international transportation rules, etc.

France only allows a few types of firearms to be used for hunting, and there are very strict modification restrictions and magazine specification restrictions.

Guns that can be used for hunting include:

Semi-automatic rifles with a caliber less than 20 mm; automatic pistols with a total magazine of no more than 11 rounds and a caliber less than 20 mm; single-shot semi-automatic rifles, etc.

At the same time, it is required that each legal weapon shall not hold more than 1000 rounds of ammunition.

There are also many exercises in this section.

Ronan was watching carefully, and Thor next to him asked:

"Are you planning on getting a hunting license?"

"Yes." Ronan said without looking up.

"I really should take an exam to kill time." Thor closed the book and placed it on his closed knees. "It may not be a big deal to stay here quietly for a few days, but if you stay here for a long time, you will inevitably get bored."

"Boring?" Ronan also closed the book and looked sideways at him.

Thor put his head in his hands, looked at the vineyard in front of him and said:
"Besides taking care of the vineyard every day and going to the market twice a week, you don't have anything else to do, right? There are no cinemas, no children's parks, no shopping malls, and no nightlife with bright lights and feasting. Isn't it boring?"

Ronan seemed to have heard some funny joke and shook his head repeatedly:
"Not only am I not bored, I'm so busy that I don't have time to be bored."

Thor turned his head:

"If you don't go out and play, what else can you do at home?"

Ronan opened the "Hunting License Examination: Official Handbook of Theoretical Questions" and continued reading:
"It's because I don't go out to play that I'm so busy. Every day is so lively."

Thor said nothing more, but Ronan knew he didn't believe it.

Ronan didn't say anything else because he knew Thor would believe it sooner or later.

Thor wanted to make sugar and butter pancakes in Ronan's beautiful big kitchen, but Ronan's family didn't have the ingredients he needed.

He said he saw the location of the shop when he was on a night tour yesterday and could go buy the items himself, so Ronan stayed at home reading a book and waiting for him.

But Thor appeared in Ronan's sight again just one minute after he went out, and a strange old man came back with him.

"He said he wanted to see the owner of the house, so I brought him back," Thor said, pointing at the man.

Ronan stood up alertly, thinking that the Belgians were coming to his house for a picnic again.

After seeing the man's clothes clearly, I confirmed that he was a local of Provence, but definitely not from Lourmarin.

The man was wearing a bleached plaid shirt and canvas shoes, and had a huge backpack on his back.

Ronan's first reaction was that there was enough space for one person to fit in there.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Ronan asked politely.

The man took out a homemade cigarette and put it in his mouth but did not light it.

According to Ronan's observation of the farmers in the old tavern, this action means that the other party is about to make a "long speech", but he is reluctant to let the cigarette burn in vain, so he puts it in his mouth first to satisfy his craving.

The moment they light up, it means that everything they want to say has been said.

"I saw a warning sign. There are vipers in the vineyard?" the man said, pointing to the vineyard behind him.

Ronan did his homework before writing the "Warning Signs". He chose all the things that existed in the Luberon area but did not need to be seen to be believed. For example, he did not write "High Voltage Electricity Nearby" because it would be easy to expose that it was fake.

But the viper doesn't need to verify anything.

Not seeing it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

My friend, if you are not afraid of death, come here.

As he didn't know the other party's purpose, Ronan nodded and admitted it:

"Yes."

"How many have you seen?" the man continued to ask.

Ronan thought seriously for a while:
"Three or four times, I don't know if they were the same or different ones."

"How long?" the man continued to ask.

Ronan gestured casually:
"To be honest I have no idea. They either crawl very fast or coil together. I don't know the exact length."

Thor quietly moved some distance towards Ronan.

Ronan's answer was so truthful that he began to doubt whether the words Ronan said to comfort him were false.

Maybe he made up this excuse after seeing me having a breakdown?

The stranger's expression also turned serious, with the corners of his mouth drooping:

"That sounds serious."

Ronan asked him:

"What is the reason you ask these questions?"

The man took the cigarette off his lips and said bitterly:

"There are pit vipers near my home. They are very poisonous. You must be sent to the hospital within half an hour, otherwise—"

He rolled his eyes, stuck out his tongue, and had an extremely ferocious expression.

Thor moved another step closer to Ronan and hid behind him.

He felt a slight itch in his calf.
"Especially for you two young guys, it's even more dangerous when facing the viper." The man's facial expression returned to normal, and he continued, pointing at Ronan and Thor.

"What do you mean?" Ronan didn't understand. Could it be that the viper had a special habit of attacking young men?

The man put the cigarette in his mouth again and said with a grin:
"If a man is bitten by a snake, he will definitely die. But if a woman is bitten by a snake, it is the viper that dies. Hahahaha——"

Behind Ronan came the sound of cheering cows.

"So when you are in places where vipers appear, you must wear sturdy boots." The man laughed so hard that he laughed out loud, then opened the backpack behind him and magically produced a pair of boots for display.

Ronan noticed that the bag behind him was filled with the same style of boots.

"A pair, gentlemen?" the man finally lit his cigarette.

About two minutes later, Ronan and Thor watched the man leave.

Thor said happily:
"Your place is more interesting than Paris."

Ronan looked at his new boots and asked:

“Because you can shop from home?”

Thor let out a loud bullish sound, and some letters popped out intermittently:
"Does this kind of guy come here often? He's so interesting. Next time I want to guess in advance what they're selling."

Ronan laughed speechlessly.

Why did he feel that Thor was more interesting than that man?

(End of this chapter)