1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 161 The Beauty of Nature
As Ronan and Zoe's relationship grew closer, Vieri could no longer take away Ronan's time in the evening.

They can go out for a night out more than a dozen times a month, and the remaining dozen nights are for parties. Ronan doesn't have a single moment to himself.

This was fine in the short term, but over time Vieri began to feel unbalanced, and Zoe was the direct victim.

This damn brother always makes her angry with all kinds of things.

For the sake of family harmony in Louis's family, Ronan had to occasionally squeeze out some time in the morning to accompany Vieri.

"It's so hot and you want to play football with Vieri in the morning? Vieri is crazy, are you crazy too?"

At 6: in the morning, Zoe actually saw Ronan at the door of her house.

Ronan comforted her and said:

"In fact, Vieri's request is very simple. Just playing football with him for a while is enough."

Vieri ran out with the football:
"Yes, 30 minutes will do!"

Ronan smiled and waved goodbye to Zoe:
"We'll be back soon."

Lourmarin is not commercially developed and has poor tourist infrastructure, but it does have a small modern stadium.

It's not just Lourmarin. Almost every small village in Provence has a venue dedicated to sports activities. Although the sizes vary, they all have one thing in common - there must be a flat ground about 20 to 30 meters long, made up of a mixture of hard soil and stones.

If it is a wealthy and large village, there will be dense shade trees or neatly arranged sycamore trees on both sides of the flat land.

This professional venue is prepared for a sport that has spread from Provence to the whole world - bowling.

Every night when they came out, Ronan and Vieri would play football on this flat dirt field.

I don't know if it's because they changed the time for playing football, but when I came here today, there were several people playing this Provence 'national' sport.

Bowling has a long history, dating back to the Middle Ages, ancient Rome, and even earlier, ancient Greece.

Early bowling balls, like wooden tennis balls or hickory golf balls, were very beautiful in appearance, but they also had disadvantages - since they were made by hand, their shapes were inevitably concave or convex and irregular, and they could easily deviate from the correct direction once they touched the ground.

But in the game of bowls, victory or defeat depends on a hair's breadth. Just thinking about losing because the ball is not round is infuriating. In France before the 18th century, bowls led to countless fights on the field, and some people even lost their lives.

In order to standardize the sport, the French began to use machines to manufacture bowling balls, and the material was changed to steel.

However, this does not mean that the 'battle' on the court disappears.

For example, this morning, Ronan and Vieri witnessed a "brutal" fight.

The rules of the bowling game are very simple. First, a mother ball is thrown, and then both sides take turns throwing metal balls, which can attack each other. In the end, whichever side is closer to the mother ball wins.

Therefore, the throwing order is crucial, and the last player will have certain advantages.

This time, the "court fight" started with a coin toss.

First, let me introduce the players on both sides.

On the left is a makeshift team consisting of two children aged 7 or 8. Why is it a temporary team? Because one of the children was recruited from the dirt pit nearby. Everyone in Provence knows this sport, whether adults or children. Let's call this makeshift team the children's team for now.

On the right is a team consisting of two old men in their 60s. Let’s call them the Old Man Team for now.

The coins that determine the order of the toss are provided by the old men's team because the kids' team has no money.

One of the members of the old man team threw the coin high up, and after it landed on his palm, he raised his palm to a height of more than 10 centimeters higher than the tallest player of the children's team:

"You go first."

"Show us." The children's team protested.

"How could I lie to you? Just ask, who in Lourmarin doesn't know that I, old Albon, never lie to anyone? Especially not to children." The old man rejected the protest of the other contestant.

Vieri whispered to Ronan:
"His name is Adrian."

Ronan smiled and asked:
"From Marseilles?"

Vieri shrugged his shoulders.

“The charm of bowling lies in the determination to win no matter who your opponent is.”

In a game without a referee, it is inevitable that some things will get out of control. Even after the children's team finished the first round of pitching, the players on both sides were still arguing about the fairness of the throwing.

But after the Old Men started throwing, the game went quiet.

To throw the ball at different angles and routes, one needs to concentrate highly, master the bending movements of the legs and the superb ability to aim at the target, so the pitcher's ability to coordinate and control his own movements is particularly important.

After nearly 30 seconds of aiming, the old man team player threw the ball gracefully. He was very flexible and could stand on one leg, like a retired ballerina.

After the ball leaves his hand, his body keeps twisting left and right in the direction of the ball, as if this can control the direction of the ball. In order to maintain balance, one of his arms will wave fast or slow a few times, like a controller that can adjust the speed of the ball.

When the ball stopped, his suspended hind leg was raised high and backward, and from Ronan's angle it looked like a pelican about to take off.

"We won!" The old man high-fived the players to celebrate.

"No, we won!" The players of the children's team lay on the ground and observed the distance between the two balls with their eyes.

"It's obvious that we won!" the old man team protested.

A member of the children's team took out a ruler from the bag on the ground and announced their victory after precise measurement:

"We are 44mm from the jack (cue ball) and you are 45mm! We win!"

"You touched the ball when you just lay down. You cheated!"

"I didn't, I didn't touch the ball, that's why we won!"

"Despicable boy!"

The angry growl and the child's unique high-pitched scream made Ronan's head dizzy for a short time:

"Let's go play somewhere else."

Vieri picks up the ball:
"Well, the winner has been decided anyway."

Ronan smiled and pointed behind him:
"They will probably argue for a long time."

Vieri gave a sly smile:

"The referee is about to intervene in the game."

"Ok?"

Before Ronan finished his nasal sound, several people gathered in the sports field and several heads popped out of the neighboring houses.

"Damn it Adrian, just shut that kid up and stop arguing with him!"

"Kids, you win, I declare you the winner!"

"Stop yelling! I'm going to hold an award ceremony for you!"

Vieri explained to the stunned Ronan:
"In Provence, there are many ways to judge the winner of a game of bowling, and whoever has the loudest voice wins is one of the most commonly used criteria."

Ronan made a cheering gesture to Vieri:

"Thank God, your favorite sport is football. If it was bowling, I would never play with you."

Ronan and Vieri came to an open space outside the village to play football.

Although it was only seven in the morning, the temperature had already risen.

They played for a while and then returned to the village.

As soon as Ronan entered the village, he was stopped by Pierre:

"Where have you been? We've been looking for you for a long time."

Ronan wiped the sweat off his face and said, "I'm going to play football."

Pierre frowned, as if something serious had happened:
"The guy who did your stonework came with the truck loaded with your backyard furniture, but we stopped him and didn't let him unload it."

Ronan almost forgot that today was the day Doku came to deliver the stone to him:

"Just let him unload, why stop him?"

Pierre waved his hand vigorously in the air:
"That kid fooled you and pulled a few pieces of raw stone here!"

Ronan said with a smile:

"Where is he? Take me there."

The villagers are more concerned about the progress of the renovation of Ronan's backyard than Ronan himself.

Ronan forgot the date, but others did not.

I heard that Ronan is not planning to dig a swimming pool this year, so the only unfinished place in his backyard is the reception area.

Someone was waiting at the entrance of the village early this morning.

Last time, that person sent four beautifully shaped Roman columns. This time the furniture must be even more exquisite, right?

They saw Doku's truck driving into the village and enthusiastically showed him the way.

But soon someone discovered something 'strange'.

"Aren't they just a few pieces of ordinary raw stones? How can this be called furniture?"

"This is the furniture Ronan ordered. I made it all according to the dimensions on his drawings." Doku stood at the door of Ronan's house and explained to everyone, "I was skeptical at one point. I said that others all wanted exquisite carvings, but you didn't even want any shape. But Ronan said that this is what he wanted!"

The huge noise also alarmed Luo Tianhai and Feng Zhen. They didn't know what Ronan was planning.

Maybe it was sent to the wrong place?
"Come in and take a rest first, and talk about it after Ronan comes back." Luo Tianhai said to Doku.

"Ronan is here! Ronan is here!" someone suddenly shouted.

Ronan climbed onto the truck and checked it out, then jumped down and said to Doku:
"Unload, unload."

"Ronan, are you sure that's what you want?" Theo stopped him.

Henry couldn't help but interject:

"Mr. Ronan, you installed a nice ceiling in the outdoor reception area and shaped the walls, but why are the furniture just pieces of raw stone? One of them doesn't even have a polished edge!"

Duoku explained for the umpteenth time:

"That's the 'natural' treatment Ronan asked me to do! It's not the original stone!!"

Ronan patted Theo on the shoulder:

"Hurry up and have Doku unload the goods. You will understand once I finish setting up the area."

He then said to Henry:

"Keep an eye on them and don't let them mess up my backyard."

Henry stood at attention and saluted:

"Don't worry, Mr. Ronan!"

He turned around and said to Theo:

"Leave, you can't set foot here today!"

11 o'clock in the morning.

Zoe came out of the studio for a short break and found that Vieri had not returned yet.

But Ronan clearly said they would be back soon.
How is it possible to play football for a whole morning?
"Didn't Vieri call home?" Zoe asked her mother as she entered the kitchen.

Leah said as she cooked:

"No, maybe I had too much fun playing with Ronan."

Zoe let her hair down:

"I'll go check on Ronan's house."

Zoe arrived at Ronan's house and Feng Zhen told her that Ronan and Vieri were setting up a reception area in the backyard.

"Don't worry, Vieri is fine." Luo Tianhai said with a smile.

Feng Zhen glanced at him.

You are really great. Is Zoe worried about Vieri?

She is worried about your son!

"Ronan's father and I are going to make lunch. You can go to the backyard and take a look. Ronan and Vieri have been busy all morning." She said to Zoe with a smile.

Young people are always "sticky" when they are in love.

It's hard not to see him for a few hours.

Zoe came out of the gate and went to the backyard. Henry did not stop Zoe and let her go easily.

This made the farmers who were waiting nearby angry, especially Theo, who was becoming increasingly annoyed with Henry.

“Henry, why didn’t you stop Zoe?”

Henry took the cigarette off his ear:

"Zoe isn't one to cause trouble."

Theo pointed at Henry's nose and asked:

"You mean I'll mess up?"

Henry stiffened his neck and said:
"Of course, you were the first one to stop the truck from unloading in the morning!"

"I'm doing this for Ronan's own good!" Theo pushed Henry's arm away. "Get out of the way. I'll go in and help him."

"No!" Henry didn't even bother to pick up the cigarette that fell from his mouth, and dutifully pushed O'Neal out, "Mr. Ronan won't let you in."

Theo turned around and shouted to Cornell:
"What are you waiting for? Come and help, don't you want to go in and take a look!"

One, two, three. Henry's defense was quickly destroyed.

Before he fell, Henry grabbed his beloved captain's hat and shouted to the backyard:

"Mr. Ronan, the enemy is attacking!!"

The farmers laughed and ran into Ronan's backyard.

"I'm going to roll around on the couch!"

"I'm going to drink there for three days and three nights!"

"Then this will be my bed at Ronan's house from now on!!"

But when they actually ran to the reception area and saw Ronan's meticulous arrangement, they were too embarrassed to step in there.

Theo squatted on the ground angrily:

"Damn Ronan, it made this place so clean and tidy, I feel like I don't deserve to sit here!"

(End of this chapter)