1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 216 The 'Queen' of Lourmarin is back!

Theo's guys are so lame, there's no fun in hunting with them.

Ronan's dream hunt would be tense, exciting, yet rewarding.

The hunting season will last until next spring, and Ronan has decided to wait until his restaurant is stable before going on some proper hunting, not just small-scale hunting at home.

However, he would still go into the dense forest to shoot occasionally. It was not for the thrill of adrenaline rush when shooting, but because the villagers needed Xiao Hei's help to find the dog.

Many owners could not wait for their hounds at the spot, and found them at Ronan's doorstep once they came out of the dense forest.

It's like Ronan's house is a "nursery", with parents coming to pick up their "children" at a certain time.

In order to save the time of "pulling" in the middle, the villagers like to call Ronan to go together when they go out hunting, because they have heard that as long as the Doberman in Ronan's family is there, the hunting dogs will not leave their owners too far, especially the female dogs.

In this way, Xiao Hei became the veritable "star dog" of Lourmarin, even more famous than Ronan.

However, this star aura lasted only two days before it was suppressed by other "stars" - the real "queen" of Lourmarin returned.

"Lucas has returned to Lourmarin from Marseilles with Margaret."

"Wrong, it's Lucas who's back with his baby daughter!"

"You are indeed my dear daughter. Do you think your daughter has the ability to earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of francs for your father in one winter?"

“I wonder how many truffles Margaret will be able to dig up this year.”

Last day of June.

Lucas returns to Lourmarin with his wirehaired dog Margaret after a few months away - this marks the beginning of his truffle journey this year.

Normally, truffles are at their best in November. Although they can be found in October, the smell is not strong enough, so for truffle hunters who rely entirely on hounds, their efficiency will be greatly reduced and their income will not be particularly good.

But Lucas's recent financial pressure is indeed too great.

No matter how little you earn, it's better than staying in Marseille doing nothing every day.

But this made his "darling daughter" suffer. She had to go into the mountains a month earlier, which added a lot of challenges.

Lucas touched Margaret lying on the sofa and asked gently:
"The fish in Lourmarin isn't as fresh as the one in Marseille. How about we have beef?"

Margaret groaned and continued to sleep with her eyes closed.

Lucas immediately kissed it on the head:
"I will personally cook you a feast."

Theo helped clean the house, but he didn't buy food for Lucas, so Lucas needed to go out and do some shopping.

After not coming back for a few months, Lucas found that the atmosphere in Lourmarin had completely changed.

In the past, during the non-travel season, it was rare to see villagers on the streets. Even if there were any, they would rush to their destinations in a hurry and would not show much expression.

However, there were obviously more pedestrians on the street today. They walked slowly and seemed to be in a very good mood. When they saw Lucas coming back, they would chat with him for at least several minutes before leaving.

Before he even got to the butcher's shop, Lucas had already arranged four meals and three drinks.

He also found that there were many residents in the village who were repairing their houses, reinforcing them, repainting the walls, and remodeling the gates.
“Is everyone so passionate lately?”

Passing by Pires' house, Lucas saw a car parked in the yard and joked with a smile:

"Finally someone asked you to fix the car?"

"Oh! Lucas!" Pires' round head popped out from behind the front hood.

He wanted to give Lucas a big hug, but he was covered in oil and could only gently bump Lucas on the shoulder:
"Are you finally willing to leave the big city and return to Lourmarin?"

Lucas smiled and shrugged:

“I’ve always loved Lourmarin, but Catherine and Gilani love Marseille.”

"Oh, you rich people just live a comfortable life. You have a lot of houses and you can live wherever you want." Pires muttered, shaking his head.

"You're not bad." Lucas pointed at the car in Pires' yard and said, "Isn't it someone who sent you some pocket money? What's wrong with the car? If it can be sent to you for repair, it must have a serious problem."

"This car is not broken, it was sent here for modification." Pires said with a laugh.

"Modified?" Lucas paused holding the cigarette.

Is there anyone in Lourmarin who plays with modified cars?
Pires started talking, talking endlessly:
"This is already the second car this month, and there are three more in line. The first thing these farmers do when they make money is to buy a car. No matter what they buy, they all want to learn from Ronan to modify it! Ronan's DS19 looks good, he has enough budget and good aesthetics, so I helped to modify it, but other people are so stingy that they waste my time sewing quilts. It's really annoying!"

'Crack--'

The metal pulley rubbed the flint quickly, Lucas turned his head to light the cigarette and blew out a smoke ring:
"Ronan modified the car?"

Pires said with great joy:

"He modified a very beautiful car, a convertible, which looks better than a new one, and spent 9000 francs on it! Oh, if it weren't for the fact that many parts were hard to find and Ronan was anxious, he might have raised the budget to more than 1. That guy is really willing to spend money!"

Lucas nodded:
"Okay, I'll go get some food and come talk to you next time."

Pires suddenly said excitedly:
"Food, yeah! Didn't you know Ronan's restaurant is going to open next week? Oh, it's the most unique restaurant I've ever seen. God, you must go and try it. Their cooking skills are really great."

The commercial street project had not yet started when Lucas left Lourmarin.

He didn't know that there was a new row of houses in Lourmarin, and naturally he didn't know that Ronan had opened a restaurant.

In Lucas' memory, Ronan went to the market to sell pink wine and sweet and sour pork after rejecting his cooperation proposal.

In March, he went to the market in the village of Mena and calculated that Ronan could sell more than 3000 francs in the morning.

This income is indeed much higher than that of the villagers in Lourmarin, but it is definitely not considered a "rich person".

With such little income every month, how can I become a restaurant owner in just half a year?

Lucas's feet seemed to have a mind of their own.

They unknowingly led their owner to the side near the Château de Lourmarin.

Lucas saw the museum that was still under construction, the cafe, the stoneware shop, and the art shop. Everything here felt strange to him, just like he felt that the villagers had become strange.

Is this still Lourmarin where he has lived for more than ten years?

In front of a huge open space in the center of the commercial street, he saw a restaurant with a logo of a couple and five dogs and a sheep silhouette.

Villagers familiar to him kept coming in and out of the door, including even his younger brother Theo.

Lucas thought he had seen it wrong. Theo, who had been lazy since childhood, was actually organizing the villagers to clean this restaurant? Isn't this a treatment that only I, a brother, can experience?
Lucas looked up again at the shop with the best location and the largest area on the whole street.

Is this Ronan's restaurant?
The 'restaurant supervisor' Theo organized everyone's work in an orderly manner.

"The glass isn't clean, clean it again!"

"Wipe the green plants too. They'll look better after being wiped!"

"By the way, did you see where the light bulb Ronan asked to be replaced is? He said the living room wasn't bright enough."

Theo had just sat down on the rocking chair at the door and was about to take a rest when he suddenly saw a tall figure walking into the restaurant. He jumped up and walked over quickly:

"How did you come?"

Lucas looked at the area where Theo had just sat and fell into deep thought.

Stone walls, green plants, rocking chairs. Each element is familiar, but when put together they feel strange.

The style of Ronan's restaurant was something he had never seen before. What style was it?
But no matter what this style is called, Lucas can say with certainty that this is a restaurant that would be eye-catching even in Marseille.

"I heard that a commercial street was built here, so I came to take a look." He said calmly.

Lucas was calm, but Theo was very excited and said:
"You came at the perfect time. Ronan's restaurant has just been cleaned. Can I take you around?"

Lucas wanted to say no, because he still had to go buy beef for Margaret, but after seeing the inside of the restaurant, his feet started to move out of control again and he automatically walked inside.

Theo pointed to the dark wooden table and said:
"Ronan did all of it himself. This kid has been getting better and better at carpentry in the past few months."

Lucas's attention was drawn to the strange chairs:

“Where did you buy this?”

What a unique style, never seen in Marseille.

Teo explained carefully:

"It's not bought. Ronan made the frame himself, and the vines outside were made by Henry's family of three. This thing is called rattan weaving."

Lucas looked at his brother Theo in surprise.

His younger brother, who had just graduated from junior high school, also began to feel strange to him.
In addition to cars and guns, Theo can actually speak so many professional terms?
Then Theo introduced his brother in a more 'strange' state:

"Ronan made these lamps himself. You see, they are made of grass, wheat straw soaked in special potions and then dried. It's the kind you can find everywhere in Provence. This skill is called straw weaving. I heard it has been passed down in China for thousands of years. Ronan is so skillful, it's like a magician."

"Ronan also made the lights himself?" Lucas' tone changed noticeably. "He built the entire restaurant himself?"

Theo smiled and shook his head:

"That's definitely not the case. How can he handle so much work?"

Lucas nodded slightly.

Theo suddenly became proud:

"We helped him do it, me, Pierre, Fabio, all of us."

Lucas's expression was too complicated to conceal.

What does this restaurant have to do with Special Olympics? What is Special Olympics proud of?

"And these coasters and accessories are Ronan's own. Oh, I'll take you outside to have a look!" Theo pointed in a direction, "It's more beautiful over there."

Lucas went in the opposite direction:

"No, I have to go buy beef for Margaret."

What exactly happened in the past six months?
When did Ronan's position in the village become as important and central as this shop? !
Lucas bought the ingredients and went home to cook for his baby daughter Margaret, but all he could think about was Ronan's memorable restaurant.

Half a year ago, Lucas went to work in the promising artificial truffle business, and Ronan went to work as a "cook", which sounded like it had no future.

At that time, he secretly held his breath, wanting to see which of them would make the right choice in the future.

Now, half a year has passed, and the future of the truffle business is uncertain.

Ronan, however, transformed himself from a market stall owner into a restaurant owner, and he was surrounded by a group of loyal "brothers".

Who doesn’t have psychological waves?
Just when Lucas was asking himself for the hundredth time whether it was right or wrong to invest all his money in the cultivated truffle business, his doorbell rang.

Lucas went to the sofa and kissed Margaret on the head:
"Wait a minute, baby. I'll go see who's here."

Lucas opened the door and saw that it was Ronan and his Doberman standing outside.

Ronan smiled and said:
"I heard that you came back and went to my restaurant, so I came to say hello to you."

Lucas smiled and made way for him:

"You are in luck. Come and try the beef I made."

Ronan pointed at Xiao Hei who was walking on the road and asked:

"Can it come in with me?"

Ronan heard that the 'Queen' of Lourmarin was extremely noble and had many 'rules' that were more peculiar than those of humans.

Lucas thought for a moment:
"Okay, but don't go to the living room. Margaret doesn't like people of her kind getting too close. But why did you bring the dog?"

Ronan sighed:

"When Xiao Hei was at home, there was always a female dog coming to look for him. The door to the house was full of the smell of the female dog's markings. My mother asked me to take Xiao Hei out so that she could clean the door."

Lucas joked:

"Those bitches won't chase me here, will they?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lucas saw Margaret, who had been sleeping on the sofa all day, appear in the kitchen.

It first looked at Ronan warily, and then carefully sniffed Xiao Hei's butt.

Lucas frowned in alarm.

Ronan's eyes widened with excitement.

Is Xiao Hei going to marry into a wealthy family?
sure!
It's great!!
(End of this chapter)