1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 177 Successful People
Sylvie arrived at the right time.

Ronan is currently having a headache over the renovation budget.

Starting from mid-to-late July, he met with Cafu several times and visited the site several times. They had in-depth discussions and communication on the two different sets of indoor and outdoor decoration designs.

Ronan designed several different decoration plans for the restaurant, some of which he was very satisfied with, but which Cafu had never seen or done.

Cafu can basically represent the highest level of Provence decoration. If Ronan wants to realize his idea, he can only go to big cities like Paris to find a construction team, which is unrealistic.

Ronan then made some design improvements to ensure that Cafu could make it and succeed, but the cost was out of control.

For example, in order to highlight Chinese elements, Ronan hopes to make every seat in the room look like a pavilion or a fishing boat, and place key elements that match them around it.

After evaluation, Cafu quoted a price of 45000 francs, which was a discount on the basis of the friendly price. In case Ronan suddenly wanted to add something one day, the budget would continue to increase, so similar design plans had to be abandoned.

At this time, Ronan once again realized the importance of money.

Ronan actually didn't spend much money throughout the summer. He spent more than 6000 yuan on buying stones to decorate the backyard, and more than 4000 yuan on buying professional outdoor equipment in Aix. The rest was daily expenses.

By August, a total of more than 8 francs had been saved, which was the peak after the end of the truffle picking season.

But after paying half a year's shop rent and various miscellaneous expenses, only 3 francs were left.

Ultimately, after assessing a host of factors including the thickness of his wallet, the capabilities of Cafu’s team, the length of construction, style, experience with other restaurant renovations, etc., Ronan decided – light on renovation and heavy on decoration.

Put the bulk of the budget into the later accessories, furniture selection and color tone, and try to reduce the construction cost.

The "Forest" theme restaurant on Sorgue Island also adopted this strategy, and the effect was very good.

The overall style of the restaurant is bright, clean and simple, which is close to the main decoration theme of Provence restaurants in recent times.

The Chinese elements were added by Ronan in the later stage.

After finalizing the renovation plan, Cafu estimated that the construction would take about one and a half months, with a budget of 1 francs.

Most of this money can be covered by subsidies from the Lourmarin government.

Taking into account the time required for furniture and "soft furnishings" after construction, Ronan's restaurant will not open until October at the earliest.

In the next two months, Ronan will have to work hard to make money and find ways to cut down on the rest of the renovation expenses, which will put him under tremendous financial pressure.

"If I want to save more money, I have to do it more myself." Ronan sighed sincerely.

It’s not easy to be a boss, especially a poor boss.

The house handover date is awkward, as the tourist army will leave Provence at the end of August.

If you want to gain something this year, you must open your business as soon as possible.

All the shops that successfully attracted investors along the entire commercial street entered the renovation and construction phase on August 8st.

Except for Ronan, several villagers from Lourmarin Village run small-scale shops, such as souvenir shops and shops selling quilts and hand-embroidery.

Although the government also gave them a "renovation fund", these people all chose to renovate their homes themselves.

Just call a few relatives and a few villagers, that's enough, everyone decorates their homes this way.

And they don’t understand anything about design, as long as it can be used and is sufficient for business opening, that’s enough.

So on the whole street, only Ronan's restaurant and four shop owners from other villages hired a professional team of craftsmen to enter the market.

Gabriel 'disappeared' after taking the keys. His business is so big that in the future he will have employees specifically responsible for the store in Lourmarin.

In a similar situation to Gabriel is the middle-aged male owner of a cafe, who also handed over the decoration work to his wife's younger brother.

But two other people from other villages, Thomas, who wears glasses and runs a stone shop, and Cotillard, who has an afro and runs an art shop, were in the store throughout the entire process to supervise the craftsmen's construction work.

But they don’t know anything about decoration, so most of the time they can only hide in a cool place and observe every move in their second hometown, Lourmarin.

"Ronan is also watching the decoration." Thomas' eyes would scan the best-located shop on the commercial street every few seconds.

Ronan comes early every day and leaves late in the afternoon, just like he goes to work.

"Yeah, it's very strange. Normally, a person of his level should be like Gabriel and have an employee look after it. Why would he oversee the decoration himself?" Cotillard also noticed this unusual place.

She and Thomas had discussed this privately many times, and after learning that Ronan was from Paris, she became even more certain that his background was 'mysterious'.

"Maybe because it's for his father's retirement, so he's taking extra care of it?" Thomas muttered.

There was no need to ask for information, as the enthusiastic villagers had already told them all the information about Ronan:

22 years old, from Paris, bought a farmhouse with farmland in Lourmarin without sightseeing.

My father was a social elite in Paris. He owned four or five restaurants, ran a freight business, and was in the fresh food business before coming to Provence.

His parents were tired of living in Paris, so they moved to Provence to live a "retirement" life, but they couldn't sit still and wanted to make their "retirement" life more colorful. When Ronan found out about this, he immediately rented a shop for his father to open a restaurant to "kill time". These were said by Ronan's mother herself.

Although he is a typical rich second-generation, he likes to experience life. He has set up stalls at the market, dug truffles in the mountains, and personally managed a vineyard, declaring that he wants to experience all the beautiful things in Provence.

He spends money like water. He bought a car for 3000 but spent 9000 on repairs. He would feel uncomfortable if he didn't spend some money on decorating his house every month. It is said that Ronan's house is better looking than the Allinde Ballroom, and his main purpose is to show that he is rich and casual.

He is addicted to alcohol, especially rosé wine. His girlfriend is the most beautiful girl in Lourmarin and she is also an artist.

Look at the typical successful person!
You have to make friends with people like this, we will be neighbors in the future. Thomas asked Cotillard:
"Ronan must be pretty bored in the store, right? It's full of dust, and the noise from the renovations is a headache."

Cotillard said excitedly:
"It's bound to be boring. It's almost lunch time. Why don't we go have lunch at Yoronan's?"

"That's a really great suggestion!" Thomas walked towards Ronan's shop. "We can chat with him every day. We need to get familiar with each other as soon as possible."

There were more than a dozen people working at the same time in Ronan's restaurant.

In every corner there are shirtless hunks as strong as professional football players.

Some of them were building walls, some were doing wall base treatment, some were moving materials, and some were splitting bricks with their bare hands. It looked disorganized at first glance, but a closer look revealed the professionalism and efficiency of this team.

Thomas and Cotillard are both "big city people" who have seen the world, and they can tell at a glance that Ronan has found a very professional and capable team of craftsmen.

Well, it fits his identity very well.

"Hello, where is Ronan?" Thomas asked a worker politely.

The worker was like a ruthless working machine, perfunctorily pointing in a direction:
"Get out of here quickly and don't delay our work."

"We'll leave soon." Thomas said awkwardly.

They moved around the construction materials on the ground and headed towards the yard the man pointed to.

After taking a few steps, I heard a voice behind me:
"Come some people out to move the stuff!"

Thomas and Cotillard turned around and saw a ferocious-looking local resident wearing a captain's hat saying in a condescending tone:

"You are in for a treat today. Mr. Ronan's father asked me to bring you some dishes to treat you. Pearl Jade White Jade Soup, Peerless Double Peppers, and Family Portrait"

The man listed seven or eight dishes that Thomas and Cotillard couldn't understand.

Although they didn't understand, they knew that these dishes were prepared by the Ronan family for these craftsmen.

Is that Ronan's butler?
Well. It fits Ronan's identity very well.

"Hey! Who are you two?" Henry asked, pointing at Thomas and Cotillard.

Thomas smiled and said:
"We are the shop owners next door, and we are here to look for Ronan."

Henry's eyebrows immediately stood up, and he said angrily:
"If you want to visit Mr. Ronan, you need to make an appointment in advance. You can come again after Mr. Ronan agrees."

Humph, they are actually two damn outsiders!
Cafu waved to Thomas and Cotillard to let them in:

"Ronan is in the northwest corner of the yard."

After Thomas and Cotillard left, Cafu smiled and asked Henry:
"Is Lao Luo trying out dishes again today?"

There are also many workers in the backyard.

Thomas and Cotillard did not see Ronan in the northwest corner of the yard at first, so they asked one of the workers:
"Hello, where is Ronan?"

The man frowned and asked:
"What do you want from Ronan?"

Thomas sighed:

"We are the owners of the shop next door and we want to say hello to him."

God, why is it so hard to see Ronan?

The worker pointed to the northwest corner and said:

"Ronan is there, but I'm afraid he doesn't have time to 'say hello' to you right now."

Thomas and Cotillard came to the northwest corner of the yard for the second time, but still did not see Ronan.

There was only sawdust all over the floor and a huge 'cutter' that was making a lot of noise.

Next to the 'cutting machine', a worker, almost covered in sawdust, was working seriously, with the cut wood scattered all over the ground around him.

"Will Ronan become invisible?" Cotillard said in despair.

Where is Ronan here?
There is only a wooden man and a devastating noise!!
Thomas walked away quickly:

"Damn it, we were fooled by those workers!"

They don't want us to find Ronan at all!
Suddenly, the wooden man in front of the two men moved. He turned off the cutting machine and wiped the sawdust off his glasses:
"Why did you come here?"

Thomas said angrily:
"Alright guys, we'll be leaving in a minute."

Rock girl Cotillard raised her middle finger and was about to point it at the man:
"Don't try to play tricks on us again."

The wooden man took off his glasses and shook the sawdust out of his hair:
"Is there any misunderstanding?"

When Cotillard saw the man's face clearly, he touched his face with his middle finger in fear:
"Ronan?"

Thomas was extremely shocked, but he tried hard to force a smile:
"Hello Ronan, are you experiencing life again?"

God, does it need to be experienced so deeply?
(End of this chapter)