1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 187 The Rich Woman Likes a Little Gigolo

Ronan did what he said and he really invited more than a dozen farmers to his house for dinner.

The pork that was not sold due to the rain played a key role in the dinner that day.

They transformed into Chinese dishes of various shapes, flavors and tastes, presenting a 'fantasy' food journey to the farmers who came with the purpose of drinking.

The next day, Lourmarin had a dozen more mobile "propaganda machines".

Even when farmers see dogs on the roadside, they will praise the food cooked by Ronan's father. When their restaurant opens, you must go and try it.

These slogans spread to every corner of Lourmarin in less than a day.

After hearing this, Thomas and Cotillard became even more certain that Ronan's restaurant would also open by the end of August, before tourists returned to the city.

But when they went to Ronan's restaurant to find him, they found that the originally advanced progress of the renovation had slowed down again. The progress of the outdoor ground work was in line with expectations, but the condition of the interior had not changed much from a week ago when they frequently came to ask for help.

Hasn’t the water and electricity circuit renovation been completed long ago?
What are you doing this week?
"We're currently reinforcing the house. After completing the basic work, we'll do the ceiling, wall and ground construction." Ronan unplugged the chainsaw and explained to them.

A while ago, he discovered that a glass window on the second floor of his house that he had bought at a high price was cracked along the diagonal, but he replaced the window himself, so Ronan was sure that it was not caused by construction problems.

He went to the owner of the windows and 'accused' him of having problems with the materials.

The boss blamed it on the earthquake.

Ronan was so angry that he laughed. The weather was sunny and calm every day, and there was not even a strong wind. When had there been an earthquake?
But the boss insisted that Provence frequently experiences minor earthquakes that are imperceptible to humans.

Ronan told Zoe about this as a joke, saying that Lourmarin had a new meteorological "expert". Unexpectedly, Zoe explained to Ronan from a scientific perspective that this was the fact - natural disasters are frequent near the Mediterranean, especially earthquakes.

Later, Ronan paid special attention to the buildings around him and discovered that he could find obvious cracks on the floors and ceilings of houses, restaurants, and government buildings.

The construction time of the commercial street project was very short, and Ronan did not quite trust the construction level here, especially since this would be both his property and his home in the future, so he asked Cafu to reinforce the house in order to make it safer to live in.

Thomas and Cotillard were not at all curious about Ronan's reasons for reinforcement, they just didn't understand:
“Aren’t you going to open before the end of August?”

Ronan shook his head:

“My restaurant won’t open until October.”

Cotillard's black eyeliner became longer because her eyes suddenly opened wide:
“Where were the customers at that time?”

The whole commercial street has been as bustling as if a legion was stationed there recently. There are clanging and banging sounds everywhere you go. Everyone is swinging their hammers like Thor in a race against time.

Opening one day earlier means one more day of business, because the next business will be next year.

Ronan just gave up?
"The workload here is too large. Even if we rush the work, it will be difficult to complete it this month. Instead of rushing and making a lot of mistakes, it is better to do the work slowly." Ronan said optimistically.

His building is the largest shop on the entire commercial street and has a huge backyard.

It might be possible to complete the renovation and open the business in a month, but it is not necessary.

Thomas reminded Ronan:
"My stoneware shop will open next week, and Cotillard's art shop will open the week after. Other shops will also open in the next two weeks."

Ronan smiled and said:
"I'll give you a grand opening gift."

Coming out of Ronan's restaurant.

Thomas said to Cotillard:
"Ronan's restaurant will open in more than a month, but he's already started promoting it. It's hard to imagine how he'll promote it by the end of September."

The villagers mobilized, and the church used a truly amazing propaganda strategy.

"Let's just take care of ourselves, Thomas." Cotillard quickly returned to his shop, "I also have to prepare for the opening."

Thomas went in the opposite direction from her. He looked at the old church spire in the center of the village and said:

"I'll go get ready too."

Other bosses prepare for opening a business by just talking or taking action, but boss Ronan actually sweats a lot when preparing for opening a business.

There was not enough construction space indoors, so Ronan worked in the restaurant's backyard every day.

Even though Zoe bought him a lot of physical sun protection products, in less than a month, Ronan became almost as dark as the locals in Provence.

"I didn't get much tan after working as a farmer for half a year, but I got much tanned after opening a restaurant." Ronan took off his shirt and wiped his body with water to cool down.

Cafu lines up behind Ronan:
"But your face is still white."

Even without those sun protection props, Ronan's face would not get tanned. Zoe also prepared anti-dust props, anti-noise props, and safety props for Ronan.
Every day when the guys were going to and from get off work, they would go to see Ronan. If they found that he was still breathing, they would sigh:
It's a huge miracle that Ronan is still alive and has not suffocated or died of heatstroke.

Ronan thought of a Chinese joke and muttered to himself:
"Just a pale face will do."

Ronan has been spending money like water in the past few months.

I just paid Kafu for the work, but the wood is not enough again. This week I paid Duku for the advance payment for the stone customization.
In a short period of time, his savings hit the warning line several times, and he had to rely on the two weekly markets to make ends meet. If it rained twice more, his brothers would go crazy, but he would definitely go crazy.

But Zoe is getting richer and richer.

She sold an animal artwork for 15000 francs in Aix this week, and a wealthy man asked her through the organizer to customize a coming-of-age gift for his daughter.

Zoe didn't want to take the offer because customization was troublesome and a waste of time, so she quoted a high price of 30000 francs. The organizer said that the rich man would go back and think about it.

This scared Zoe and Ronan to death.

Zoe regretted that she had quoted a low price and was about to face the risk of being dictated by rich people.

Ronan regretted not protecting his face well. Rich women all like men with white faces.

Zoe stopped going to the market this week. She no longer cared about the few hundred francs she earned at each market.

But Ronan cares, he is so poor!
He shared a stall with Zoe, and since Zoe didn't go to the market, her share was wasted.

Ronan asked Luo Tianhai to think about what else he could sell at the market.

The first is to increase his income so that he can complete the decoration smoothly.

Second, the restaurant’s publicity plan can indeed begin.

In addition to tourists, there are also local villagers who come to the market to buy vegetables. When the army of tourists leave Provence, they will become Ronan's source of customers.

Luo Tianhai raised his hands to agree with Ronan's decision. He had wanted to start promoting it for a long time.

Look, while Ronan was sweating, he had already made all preparations to go to the market to sell 'box lunches'.

On Thursday night, Ronan returned home from work and found his mother alone at home.

"Where's Dad?" Ronan looked around.

Feng Zhen made a 'hush' gesture and pointed upstairs:
"Your father prepared the ingredients this afternoon. He will get up at 3 a.m. tomorrow to cook. I'm going to bed now."

"How many vegetables does he want to sell?" Ronan tiptoed into the kitchen and found that the counter was full of neatly arranged processed ingredients, too many to count.

"In addition to the sweet and sour pork, there are 12 more dishes." Feng Zhen put out the dinner that Luo Tianhai had prepared for his son in advance. "Your father said that you will be responsible for making the sweet and sour pork on site tomorrow, and you don't have to worry about the boxed lunches."

Sweet and sour pork and pink wine are Ronan's basis for survival in the market. Many people come here for these two things, so the way these two things are sold will not change. He will just add a section selling boxed lunches where Zoe used to sell utensils.

When the father and son first discussed this matter, Ronan asked Luo Tianhai to think of one or two more things to sell and expand the product range. As a result, Luo Tianhai directly upgraded it to selling boxed lunches.

Ronan said to his mother with some concern:
"Dad is too ambitious. This is his first time selling something on such a large scale. If the results are not good, he won't be disappointed, right?"

Although sweet and sour pork has gained some popularity in Provence, it is still a niche Chinese dish.

When Ronan first started selling sweet and sour pork in Mena Village, it took more than a month before it started to improve. And tomorrow he's going to be selling it at the Lourmarin market where the flow of customers isn't that large, so it's hard to say how well it will perform.

Feng Zhen glanced at the upstairs person:
"He said if there's leftovers, at worst we can just bring them back and have a few more meals. But if the food isn't good enough and the customers aren't satisfied, then it's his fault. Your father always said that as long as the restaurant is open, customers must come first."

Ronan smiled down and shook his head.

This old man
"Has he eaten yet?" Ronan pointed upstairs.

"Eat it, we've all finished eating." Feng Zhen went to the kitchen and got a handful of garlic.

"Then you go upstairs and have a rest too. I will clean up after eating, so you don't have to accompany me." Ronan turned around and went to take a shower.

"It's okay. I won't get up early tomorrow." Feng Zhen sat on the sofa with garlic in her arms, probably preparing it for Luo Tianhai at night.

Ronan turned around, snatched the garlic from his mother's hand, and said in an 'imperative' tone:
"Dad gets up at 3 o'clock, you will definitely get up with him, go to bed! I will peel it after you finish eating."

Feng Zhen felt uncomfortable if she didn't scold Luo Tianhai every day, but Luo Tianhai was also the one she cared about the most.

Ronan even guessed that his mother had to get up an hour earlier than his father to make him less busy.

Feng Zhen suddenly hugged her son's neck:
"My son is so sensible!"

Ronan is a little bit stupid in speaking, but he is very thoughtful.

Ronan patted his mother's back twice and said in an apologetic tone:

"You've worked so hard. You won't have to work so hard when the restaurant opens. We'll just sell sweet and sour pork and rosé wine. You and dad won't have to accompany me every week. Just stay in the restaurant. I'll find someone else to go to the market with me."

Feng Zhen also patted Ronan back a few times, her tone full of smiles:

"Son, we are not tired at all. It feels so happy to work together as a family."

(End of this chapter)