1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 195 Demonic Whisper
After that, there were three new "employees" in Ronan's restaurant, and the Henry family would go to "work" early every day.

The farmers occasionally went to the restaurant to see Ronan, and when they saw Henry clumsily struggling with the vines, they had to make a few jokes about him.

But Henry sneered at what these people said:

"This is Mr. Ronan's respect for me! When one day I become as rich as Mr. Ronan, you will know how stupid you are!"

Ronan was in the restaurant all day, so if anyone wanted to talk to him about something serious, they could only go to his house at night.

But everyone was also happy to go to Ronan's house in the evening.

Ronan's backyard looks best at night!
"In two months, we won't be able to go out drinking at night." Theo leaned back in a chair in the rest area under the Roman column, his tone and demeanor extremely lazy.

Ronan put his hand close to the bonfire in front of him:
"It's getting a little cold now."

Lourmarin is located in the Luberon Mountains, where there is a big temperature difference between morning and night. It is still hot during the day, but the temperatures in the morning and evening are not high.

I heard that the autumn in Provence is very short, and sometimes the season changes in just a nap. Ronan believes that day will not be too far away.

Theo stretched out his arms and said:
"Lucas will be back next month."

Ronan smiled and said:
"Finally coming back? This guy has been gone for half a year."

Theo's red wine was gone, so he picked up Ronan's pink wine and poured himself a glass:
"I came back early this year. Normally I come back in November."

"Maybe he's bored staying in Marseille." Ronan took an apricot that Theo brought.

4-6月吃樱桃，5-7月吃草莓，7-8月份吃杏只看家里的新鲜水果是什么，普罗旺斯人就知道现在是几月份。

Theo also ate one:
"Lucas said this year is a 'cold winter' and truffles will be available in October."

Ronan said nothing and ate in silence.

He didn't know what "cold winter" and "warm winter" were. He only knew that the truffles were not of good quality and had not strong enough aroma in the first month after they appeared, so they could not be sold for much money. November was the "harvest" season for truffles.

"I have to help Lucas deal with a lot of things recently, so please lend me your car for a few days." Theo said without any emotion.

In small villages, it is normal for friends to borrow things from each other and there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

He asked Ronan to borrow his car for a few days, and after a while Ronan asked him to borrow his gun for a few days. Everyone did the same.

Ronan pointed to the house:
"You'll drive away directly in a moment, but where's that pickup truck you were driving earlier?"

Theo is not only tough in words, but also very concerned about his reputation. Lucas knows his brother's character and left an American pickup truck for him in Lourmarin. When Theo goes out to do important things, he drives that car.

Theo raised his glass to Ronan as a token of thanks:

"Lucas had the car driven to Marseilles."

Ronan nodded without asking any further questions.

After a while, Henry appeared excitedly holding a bag:
"Mr. Ronan!"

Ronan patted the seat next to him:

"Come, Henry, sit down."

Henry did not sit down, but opened the bag and said to Ronan:

"Josephine asked me to bring you some Arles sausage. Her mother is from Arles, and this is the purest Arles sausage recipe."

Ever since Ronan gave Henry's family a job weaving chairs, his wife often asked Henry to deliver things to Ronan's house.

"Thank Josephine for me." Ronan leaned over and looked at it curiously. "Is this the famous Arles sausage?"

The people of Provence are extremely picky about their sausages.

A few months ago, Ronan made sandwiches for Cafu and his men using some unknown sausages he bought in Avignon.

Cafu showed obvious disgust when he took the first bite.

However, since they were not familiar with each other at that time, Cafu only expressed it in a euphemistic way:
"Hmm, this is a really unique sandwich."

Ronan and Cafu have become close in the past few months. The guy once mentioned this incident, waving his arms like tree roots, as if he wanted to beat Ronan to death at that time:

"You're wasting food with bread and cheese and that rubbish sausage!"

Later, Ronan learned that there was another sausage 'capital' in Provence - Arles.

Moreover, this title has been around since July 1655, 7, and there is a specific story behind it, which can be accurate to the day, and it is even hundreds of years earlier than Cavaillon's title of "Melon Town".

It is said that on that day a butcher named Godard created a sausage recipe that has inspired generations of sausage makers in Arles ever since.

The ingredients are pork and beef, seasoned with a little pepper, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and fine wine. After being stuffed, it needs to be air-dried for several weeks. From the appearance, it looks like a string of edible stalactites.

Of course, Ronan figured out the recipe by smelling it out, but there was a special smell of ingredients in the sausages Henry brought, and Ronan couldn't figure out what it was after sniffing for a long time.

This means he has never eaten this thing.

"What did Josephine put in it?" Ronan sniffed more vigorously. "It seems there is a special ingredient?"

Theo also came over to smell it, and even though his brain was deprived of oxygen, he still couldn't smell the 'strange ingredients' that Ronan mentioned:
"Isn't this just ordinary Arles sausage?"

Henry chuckled a few times, and the red jumping bonfire was reflected on his hideous and terrifying face, as if he had a tattoo of the devil's mark, the kind that would give children nightmares if they saw it.

Devil whispers:

“There’s a special kind of meat in there.”

Ronan unconsciously became nervous.

If this scene appeared in a movie, the next line would probably be 'human flesh', right?

Theo complained impatiently:
"What's so mysterious?"

Henry gritted his teeth and said:

"Josephine put a little donkey meat in it, which makes it taste even better and more amazing."

Ronan didn't say anything, Theo jumped up directly:

"How can you eat donkey?!"

Anna loved donkeys the most, so Theo bought two donkeys to raise at home.

Even when the vineyard was dry, Theo would not forget to feed and water the donkey.

Henry snorted disdainfully:
“This is the true Arles sausage recipe! Donkey meat is a must.”

Theo pointed at Henry's nose and cursed:

"Donkeys have such charming eyes and can make expressions. How can you use them for enema? They are our family members, you are a devil!"

Henry's momentum was not weak at all:
"Josephine used the Big Black Donkey of Berry, not the Provence Donkey, and I didn't use any of our family!"

Ronan had never studied donkeys before moving to Provence.

But many of his friends raise donkeys, and his family also has an abandoned donkey shed, so he has unknowingly accumulated a lot of knowledge about donkeys.

There are more than a dozen different donkey breeds in France, and each has its own distinct characteristics and personality. The local donkey in Provence is called the Provencal donkey. It is much smaller than other breeds, but has exceptionally large feet and has a very nice grey coat with different shades of grey.

Ronan has observed Anna's two donkeys up close. They have distinctive white circles under their eyes and an obvious cross pattern from their shoulders to their spine, which is the St. Andrew's cross. They even 'smile' when you feed them, which is really cute.

Henry must have taken this into consideration and ate "donkeys from other villages".

He doesn't even like outsiders, and he has no psychological burden eating donkeys from other places. However, Theo can't accept this at all. When he sees a donkey, he thinks of his daughter Anna.

If Anna knew that her favorite animal was eaten by someone, she would definitely faint from crying.

"Did you know that in the 18th century it was illegal to kill a donkey? You son of a bitch, Henry, you deserve to go to hell!"

Henry said with spit flying:

"You know that was the 18th century! It's the 20th century now, you bastard Theo, you wanna fight?"

"Fight! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

"Come on! I've disliked you for a long time!"

Ronan was in the middle, using all his strength to stop the fight, and his body was almost shaken apart.

Oh my God, why are there so much hostility between these two people when they meet?
Just as the backyard was in chaos, the fat boy Cornell appeared.

Ronan called for help:

"Come and help me stop them!"

Cornell helped Ronan pull the two people apart while anxiously saying:
"Ronan, go check your restaurant, something's wrong!"

Theo and Henry let go of each other at the same time, raised their fists and asked Cornell:

"What happened?"

When Ronan came out of his house, there were only three people with him, but when he walked to the restaurant on the commercial street, he was surrounded by more than twenty brothers.

They were all local villagers who heard or saw the news and joined Ronan halfway when he ran to inform him.

Through the descriptions of these people, Ronan understood the current situation.

In the past, Lourmarin was just a stopover for tourists, who would take a look and leave on the same day without staying overnight.

But this year, the government's diversion has led to a surge in the number of tourists, and more people want to stay overnight here, but there are few places to stay in Lourmarin, only four family hotels, which can't accommodate many people.

Some tourists don't even want to find a place to stay, they come to Luberon just to camp in the suburbs.

The small village of Lourmarin, which is not so popular but has a little heat, became their best camping spot.

However, there are wild animals in the Luberon Mountains, and the government does not encourage tourists to do so. There are signs saying "No Camping" in many wild areas.

Then tourists can only think of other ways.

Today, a few college students took a fancy to the second and third floors of Ronan Restaurant, set up their tents there, and recklessly lit a "bonfire" inside, under the pretext of having a good party at the end of the vacation.

When the villagers saw this, they of course disagreed and immediately rushed in to stop it.

But those college students were so arrogant that they had no choice but to call Ronan over.

At the entrance of the restaurant, Big Brother Pierre had already brought a group of farmers to surround the college students.

Ronan just walked to the entrance of the museum when he heard a quarrel over there.

"We come to Lourmarin to spend money, but there is no place to stay here. Are you going to let us sleep on the streets? We just want to find a safe place to spend the night. Do you rude guys want to drive tourists out of Lourmarin?"

"But you shouldn't break into a private house! This is a private place, especially when you have a fire in there!" Pierre's voice was filled with anger.

"There's nothing in there, what can burn? We are well-educated city people, we will clean up the place when we leave." The strange voice was full of disdain.

"Damn it Pierre, why waste time talking to this bastard?" Theo rushed into the crowd waving his fists, but was stopped by Cornell and Fabian.

Henry spat fiercely, almost spitting in the faces of those college students:
"Get out of Mr. Ronan's house! Get out!!"

"Are you going to hit someone?" Several college students roared in a shrill voice, "I'm going to file a complaint against you, these vulgar guys! We're going to file a complaint with the Vaucluse Tourism Bureau!!"

"Enough!" Ronan shouted to stop the chaos.

With a gloomy face, he walked through the crowd and approached the naughty college students.

These guys are so annoying, Ronan must teach them a lesson today.

He was just thinking about how to explain to Blanco tomorrow that he had brought "shame" to the tourism industry in Lourmarin.

College students are the group that the government hates the most. Their ability to confuse right and wrong feeds countless gossip magazines, and they are very good at taking advantage of the relationships between governments at all levels.

It is foreseeable that these guys will spread this matter. Maybe tomorrow the local radio station in Provence will broadcast the news that Lourmarin "bullies" tourists.

"Ronan, we have more people, what are you afraid of?" Theo was held tightly by someone, but he did not forget to give Ronan advice.

Just as Ronan was about to speak, another voice appeared behind him:
"Wait a moment."

The crowd of onlookers automatically parted, and Blanco, wearing home clothes, appeared behind everyone.

It was obvious that he came in a hurry, and the buttons of his pajamas were all crooked.

Ronan's expression grew even darker.

Blanc certainly doesn't want a conflict here, as that would damage the 'image' of Lourmarin that he has worked so hard to build for several months, so is he here to 'appease' me?
The villagers also looked at Blanco with unfriendly eyes.

They didn't believe that the kind village chief was here to help them vent their anger. This guy always smiled at everyone he met and had never lost his temper.

So are you going to use the position of village chief to force us to swallow our anger?
"It's useless no matter who comes!" Henry threw his hat far away, not giving Blanco any face at all, "These guys are so vulgar all the time, I will never let them go easily!!"

Blanco passed by Ronan and whispered:
"Leave it to me."

"Pierre." Blanco shouted in a not-too-loud voice.

Pierre frowned and looked at Blanco with a gloomy face.

Blanco pointed to several college students in Ronan's restaurant and said:

"Find some brothers to ask those 'city people' to leave. If they don't cooperate, let them see the strength of 'vulgar' country people."

Pierre was stunned for several seconds before he said "Okay" happily.

Amid the murderous abuse and slander, Blanco turned his back to the villagers and said to the college students in a very serious tone:

"We do encourage tourists from all over the world to come to Lourmarin, but the 'tourists' here refer to those who respect Lourmarin. Lourmarin will always say 'no' to those tourists who don't know how to respect others. This is not only your tourist attraction, but also our home. Please leave Lourmarin, leave our home!"

Although Blanco was wearing pajamas, his figure was taller and more resolute than when he was wearing a suit.

The way he scolded the tourists with his back to everyone looked like a parent protecting his children.

Ronan smiled and rubbed his chin.

This village chief is quite handsome.

(End of this chapter)