1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 169 Celebrating the holidays!

"The unexpected heavy rain brought huge losses to the villagers."

At the internal meeting of the Lourmarin Village Government, Blanco frowned and asked nervously:

“How much loss is there exactly?”

The villagers don't like rain, and the government doesn't like it even more.

Every time it rains, the government will have "endless troubles", either someone complains about the aging circuits or the outdated sewage system.

It seemed that the guy who was causing them trouble was not the heavy rain, but the Lourmarin government.

"The roads in front of 13 houses were washed away, 7 houses had obvious cracks, 27 families suffered power outages, at least 30 families had their sewer systems collapsed, and countless families had leaks." The staff reported the statistical results solemnly.

Blanco's face was as pale as paper:
“More serious than ever”

Sylvie sighed:

"The rainy season came early this year and no one is ready for it."

Lourmarin is not a wealthy village. Not only its tourism infrastructure is backward, but the villagers' living infrastructure also needs to be upgraded. However, the economy is not improving and the government does not have enough budget for the transformation.

Every year we patch up the problems, but next year, the problems will still happen again.

The government needs a huge investment to completely improve the fundamental problems faced by villagers in severe weather conditions.

Blanco looked at another colleague:
“How many complaints have been received against the government today?”

The people of Provence do not have the habit of parading, but their enthusiasm for complaining is just as strong as that of Paris.

The government’s complaint hotline has been flooded with calls, right?

The colleague frowned and curled his lips:

"It's strange. There aren't many complaints this year. I've only received six since I started working."

"Why is it so little?" Blanco became even more nervous.

If the complaint was not made to the Lourmarin government, could it be that the complaint was made to the Vaucluse department?
It's over, things are getting big!

The colleague couldn't answer, but Claude, who had nothing to do with the matter, answered for him:

“I think I know why there are so few complaints.”

After get off work, Claude brought Blanco to his house.

He pointed to the old house next to him and said:

"This morning when I went to work, I ran into my neighbor here. His house leaked yesterday, but he started repairing it as soon as the rain stopped. But Blanco, you know, since I can remember, my father has always reminded him that his house is too old and must be completely repaired. My neighbor often said that the weather is so hot, it's nice to get some rain occasionally."

"Then why did he decide to overhaul it this year?" Blanco asked Claude puzzledly.

He saw many bags of sand and gravel placed at the door of that household. That was not just an ordinary repair, but a major upgrade.

Claude smiled and shrugged:

"I asked the same question, and he said he envied Ronan's family for having a beautiful, sturdy house, so he took this opportunity to renovate the house. Can you believe it? The stingy villagers actually learned to improve their living environment just because they envied Ronan's house."

Blanco's mouth opened wide.

Have these villagers finally figured out that to improve their living environment they can’t just wait for the government and they need to work hard themselves?

"Come with me around the village." Blanco said seriously.

Claude accompanied Blanco around half of the village and saw several road rollers and bulldozers, as well as large trucks carrying decoration materials passing by.

The heavy rain did not reduce the number of "living people" in the village of Lourmarin. The tourists hid away, but on the road you could see many busy villagers.

The entire sky above Lourmarin seemed to be shrouded in something called "vitality".

This was a scene Blanco had never seen since he became village chief.

“Ronan has brought about a change in the mentality of the villagers,” Blanco said excitedly.

Claude nodded with feeling:

"Yes, I can clearly feel that everyone loves life more."

Blanco put his hands behind his back and said with relief:

“It is not enough for the government to change, but only when the villagers take action together can the face of Lourmarin be completely changed.”

Claude smiled and said:
“I think the villagers have started to take action.”

Blanco waved happily to Claude:

"Let's go and see Lourmarin's 'hero'."

Claude followed happily:
"I haven't been to Ronan's courtyard yet. I heard that people don't want to go home when they sit there drinking."

Blanco and Claude came to Ronan's house, far away from the village center, and found that it was more lively than the village.

As soon as they stepped onto the asphalt road in front of Ronan's house, they could hear the children's happy laughter. Then five or six children came running over and asked them:

"Are you guys here to 'celebrate the festival' as well?"

"Celebrating a holiday?" Blanco looked at Claude with a questioning look, "What holiday is today?"

Claude frowned slightly, thought for a while and said:
"Today doesn't seem like a holiday."

"Nonsense! Uncle Ronan said today is the festival day!" After saying that, several children ran away quickly and continued to play.

Blanco and Claude continued to move forward and heard another fierce "quarrel".

As he got closer, he found that it was a dispute among several women over who made the best-looking dumplings. Blanco became even more confused and asked Claude:

“What are dumplings?”

Claude was also confused:

"Have not heard."

Fortunately, women's vision is not affected when they move their mouths.

They were busy in the kitchen and saw Blanc and Claude coming through the big window of Ronan's house:
"Village leader? Blanco? Why are you here?"

"We're here to find Ronan." Blanco stood in front of the window and talked to the women. "What is 'dumpling'?"

Theo's wife picked one up and showed it to Blanco:
"It's a Chinese delicacy. Ronan said that Chinese people eat this during festivals."

This was the second time Blanco heard the word "holiday". He asked Theo's wife curiously:
"What holiday is today?"

too weird!

It’s really weird!

He looked through the window and saw at least seven or eight hostesses from different families in Ronan's kitchen.

Feng Zhen leaned over and explained to Blanco with a smile:

"Ronan was joking. Since there are so many people here today, let's find an excuse to have a good meal together and treat it as a holiday."

It was the first time Blanco heard such a casual reason for celebrating the holiday, so he asked Feng Zhen:

"Is Ronan home?"

Leah pointed to the backyard:
"The men are in the yard."

Blanco and Claude turned to the backyard, and Feng Zhen shouted to them from behind:

"Stay for dinner tonight and try the dumplings we made!"

"Ronan is quite interesting. He even found an excuse to celebrate the festival just to have a meal together? It seems the kids believed it." Claude said with a smile.

"Ronan is very interesting," Blanco laughed a few times.

Children playing happily and women working together chattering, there really is a festive atmosphere today.

But today is not a real holiday.

But when the two men arrived at the backyard, they saw men playing cards, bickering, and drinking, and they thought it was too "festive".

No, this is more festive than a festival!
There won't be so many people gathering together to celebrate Christmas!!

Without giving them time to react, Pierre hooked Claude's neck and pulled him away:

"You've come just in time. We are short of one person. Come on, come and play for a while!"

Claude was forced by Pierre to sit on a chair under the Roman column.

He kept looking up at this 'famous attraction' in Lourmarin:
"My God, this place is even more stunning than everyone describes."

Pierre smacked his lips in displeasure:

"Are you going to play or not?"

"Play, play, play!" Claude said eagerly, "We can play for a while longer. There are lights here at night, right?"

Pierre laughed.
"There are not only lights here, but also bonfires!"

"Blanc?" Ronan came running over from the outdoor kitchen area. "What's up?"

Blanco pointed at these people and asked:

"Why are there so many people at your house today?"

He had never seen such a large gathering in Lourmarin.

Ronan laughed awkwardly a few times:
"In fact, there weren't so many people at the beginning. One person called out to another, and slowly it became like this."

His house is so cozy and beautiful that the children didn't want to leave this morning.

Ronan's family also liked this lively atmosphere, so they decided to have a good time together today.

"Ronan, thank you for bringing enthusiasm and passion to the villagers." Blanco said from the bottom of his heart.

In the past, after the rain, the villagers would gather around the government to complain.

And this time, after the rain, the villagers actually gathered at Ronan's house to celebrate the "festival".

Everything is so magical and wonderful.
Ronan waved his hand:

"Don't say that. By the way, go play Mahjong for me. I'm going to go in and cook."

"What is mahjong?" Blanco asked with a frown.

He felt that he was as ignorant as a child today.

After half an hour.

Blanco excitedly asked Luo Tianhai across from him:
"When is the next 'festival'? If it is convenient, can you let me know in advance?"

Luo Tianhai smiled and said:
"You'll have to ask Ronan when the next 'festival' is, but you must come during the Spring Festival. I swear it will be even more lively than today!"

(End of this chapter)