1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 221 Sweet Trouble

Leaflets are the most efficient and common form of advertising in the Luberon Mountains.

Most residents living in medieval villages did not have the habit of reading magazines or subscribing to newspapers. Only this kind of paper containing key information could let them know the important events happening around them.

Ronan didn't understand the cost and efficiency of flyers, so he went to ask Sylvie, who had just held the "Vow Fulfillment Ceremony". Blanco said that Sylvie had prepared a lot of flyers, and judging by the situation that day, her promotion was quite good.

The commercial street was also a project that Sylvie was in charge of, and it was a more important project than the 'Vow Fulfillment Ceremony'. Without further ado, she became Ronan's temporary worker - helping him with publicity work.

She first summarized the successful experiences of several "Vow Fulfillment Ceremony" and put forward several suggestions for improvement. She treated the opening promotion plan of Ronan Restaurant as diligently and responsibly as she treated the 2.0 version of "Vow Fulfillment Ceremony".

With the help of this publicity 'master', Ronan set longer and farther goals.

“I want to promote the restaurant opening not only in the Luberon Mountains, but also in Provence as much as possible. Is it possible?”

Sylvie stopped him and said:

"That would require a lot of money, a lot of money. Are you sure you want to be so radical?"

Ronan said firmly without hesitation:

"Yes, absolutely. I will do my best to promote it."

Sylvie was so shocked that she shook her head:
"I want to go to the market to sell things. You are such a rich guy that I'm so envious. Okay, leave everything to me."

In fact, Sylvie guessed completely wrong.

Most of the income from selling sweet and sour pork, rosé wine and boxed lunches at the market is used to decorate the restaurant, and the remaining part must be used for restaurant operations and cannot be used for large-scale publicity.

Ronan used all of his "secret savings" to finance this publicity effort.

After the harvest, each farmer has a 'harvest wish' to reward himself for his hard work for a year.

Some want to buy themselves a new car, some want to buy clothes for their wives and children, and some want to renovate their houses.
But Ronan has all of these.

Not only himself, but also his parents, Zoe, and Zoe's family are among those people in the village who have no worries about food and clothing. They have everything they need.

So Ronan decided to use all the more than 2 francs he earned from selling grapes for publicity - running the restaurant well was his biggest wish this year.

Sylvie is a professional publicity master. She helped Ronan to formulate a reasonable plan and allocate the budget, making sure every penny was spent wisely.

In this way, the news of the opening of the first Chinese restaurant in Luberon spread from Lourmarin to Meine Village, from the small Luberon represented by Meine Village to the big Luberon represented by Gordes, and from Apt, the capital of Luberon, to Aix, the capital of Provence art.
Ronan also has to thank Theo, Cornell and Fabian, his twenty or so farmer friends, for making the campaign known to such far-flung places.

They took on the task of distributing leaflets in several villages near Lourmarin free of charge, helping Ronan save a considerable amount of manpower costs.

Ronan wanted to give his brothers "salary" many times, and Theo would ridicule him every time:
"Who are you looking down on? The alcohol we drank at your house cost more than this amount. Why are you dawdling like a woman? Get out of the way and don't delay my flyer distribution!"

Ronan has done everything he can with all his heart. He is just waiting for the opening day to see the results of his hard work over the past few months.

Every day after a busy day, when he lies down on the bed, he will cheer himself up:

"I worked harder today than yesterday, so the result will definitely be good!"

Thomas and Cotillard both chose to close their stores at the end of September, and did not even make it to the "Vow Fulfillment Ceremony".

After the tourist season, even wild dogs no longer come to Lourmarin. All the people on the commercial street are villagers who go to Ronan's restaurant to help. Instead of this, it is better to "regain strength" and wait for the arrival of next spring.

So this time they came to attend the opening ceremony of Ronan Restaurant, which marked their return to Lourmarin after an absence of half a month.

At around 9 o'clock, when Thomas drove into Lourmarin, he thought he had driven to the wrong place.

There was not a single empty space on the entire street where he parked every time.

Lourmarin is a village with an underdeveloped tourism industry. There is no formal parking lot in the village, but you can park anywhere on any wider road.

So Thomas drove to other places to look for a place, but he couldn't find a parking space on the main road of Lourmarin, so he drove to the edge of the village near Ronan's house and stopped successfully.

As soon as he parked the car, he heard a familiar curse word:

"Damn it, I'm wearing 8cm high heels today, why do you want me to walk so far!"

"Hi, dear Cotillard, long time no see, how are you?" Thomas opened his arms and walked towards Cotillard who was cursing.

Cotillard immediately changed her personality and warmly hugged her partner who shared the same pain as her:

"I'm fine. The rock music in Aix made me forget about my savings for a while. How about you? How are you doing recently?"

Thomas walked towards the commercial street:

"It's not very good. I hear my father's sarcasm every day. Maybe next summer I will be broke and go home to help."

"Hey..." Cotillard fixed her hair. "By the way, why are there so many cars parked on Lourmarin Road today? Are they holding another 'wish-fulfilling ceremony'?"

Thomas shrugged.

"Who knows, but I haven't received any notification."

"Neither do I—" Cotillard said in a joking tone, "Do you think all these cars are going to Ronan's restaurant? After all, Ronan often talks about having many friends."

Thomas laughed and pointed at the watch on his wrist:
"But the restaurant doesn't open until 10 o'clock. Ronan gathered so many friends at around 9 o'clock. Is it because the cleaning is not done yet?"

Cotillard was so amused that he rolled over and over;

"So let's go faster. If we go too late, there will be no work to do."

Something was not right between the two of them.

As we got closer to the commercial street, there were obviously more cars and people.

It seems that all the people in Lourmarin today are heading there.

It was not until they walked into the commercial street and saw that the streets were full of pedestrians, and even the coffee shops that usually had no customers were filled with people, that they dared to confirm this idea.

"God, aren't these people drinking coffee waiting for Ronan's restaurant to open?" Thomas opened his mouth in disbelief.

Is this the commercial street he is familiar with?

Is this Mena Village or Gold?
No, no, no, he would believe it even if you said this was Apt!
Cotillard trotted:
“Just go and see and you’ll find out!”

Thomas and Cotillard thought that the people gathered at the entrance of the commercial street were waiting for Ronan's restaurant to open, but they found out that they were wrong - Ronan's restaurant had already opened ahead of schedule before 10 o'clock!

But even so, the area around the restaurant was full of people waiting for a table.

They entered Ronan's restaurant and were immediately pushed out by the sweaty Ronan:
"Come and help me!"

Cotillard said helplessly:
"Order or delivery? I worked as a cashier in a supermarket in college, and I'm pretty good at math." Ronan pointed outside the restaurant and said:
"Help me open your store so that these people waiting for a seat have something to do."

Cotillard was stunned for a second, then immediately took off her high heels and ran out at the speed of a 100-meter sprint:
"Ronan, you are a genius!"

Thomas crossed himself and said excitedly:
"Are you the angel the Lord sent to me? My prayers have been answered! They have been answered!!"

Ronan had no time to sing praises of God's mercy with Thomas, so he went to the kitchen and said to Luo Tianhai:

"Should I ask someone to call Lisa and Josephine to help? Even if we have more than a dozen people, it still won't be enough."

Today's flow of people far exceeded Ronan's expectations, and people started arriving at the restaurant entrance after 9 o'clock.

Luo Tianhai said that he would not let customers wait and open the store early, but even so, more and more people came outside the door.
In less than an hour, Ronan had called five or six people to help, but there were still not enough people.

Luo Tianhai was seriously "negligent" in manpower estimation. In order to quickly reverse the situation, he said to Ronan in a decisive manner:
"A restaurant of more than 300 square meters needs 25 people. Adding two is not enough. Call a few more people to help! There will be more people at mealtime!"

"Not saving money anymore?" Ronan asked.

Luo Tianhai has been saying these words every day recently, making him hesitant to spend money.

Luo Tianhai knocked the pot twice:

"Why are you still saving money? The money is falling on your head. Find a few more people to help you 'collect the money'!"

After leaving the kitchen, Ronan muttered softly:
“What a happy trouble!”

Lucas left his house around ten in the morning and walked slowly to Ronan's restaurant.

Although a lot of things happened to Ronan in the past six months, which made this kid's status in Lourmarin rise again and again, Lucas firmly believed that he was the first person the villagers thought of when they mentioned "rich people" and "truffle hunters".

The two of them just chose two different paths, but both lead to success.

Moreover, in front of Ronan and the farmers, Lucas is always the "Big Brother", and even Pierre has to bow and nod when he sees him.

My younger brother's restaurant is opening, so as the 'big brother' I naturally have to give him a generous gift.

Lucas brought two bottles of red wine produced by a famous winery in Marseille. This brand is a "showpiece" even in Marseille restaurants and can be displayed as decoration.

Knowing that Ronan liked to drink rosé wine, he specially asked someone to get two bottles of the best rosé wine. Although it was not as good as the red wine brand, it was definitely top-notch in Provence.

The second time I came to the commercial street, it was much more lively.

The originally deserted shop was now filled with customers shopping, and none of the roadside chairs were empty. This lively feeling made Lucas feel even more unfamiliar.

Is this still Lourmarin?

When they reached the center of the commercial street, Lucas realized that these people were all heading for Ronan Restaurant.

Seeing that the door was full of people, Lucas began to hesitate.

Should I go in directly or wait for a table?
"Lucas!" Louis, who was helping to maintain order at the door, led him through the layers of waiting people and directly into the restaurant. "Ronan has reserved a seat for you."

Lucas laughed in satisfaction.

What happened to opening a restaurant?
Ronan still has to treat him as his 'big brother'!
The situation in the restaurant was even more lively than outside. It was crowded with people, every table was full, and familiar faces could be seen helping out everywhere.

If he had left out those familiar faces, Lucas would have thought this was a busy restaurant in Marseille during the tourist season.

"Ronan did a great job," Lucas praised.

Louis said in a tone of great happiness:
"Too many people came today, catching us off guard. Zoe and I came to help."

Lucas patted Louis' shoulder with his big hand:

"You found a good 'son-in-law'."

Louis took Lucas to a quiet corner and pointed to Ronan who was talking to two men at the table next to him and explained to Lucas:
"The tables nearby are all Ronan's friends. He will come to see you right away after he settles those people."

Lucas waved his hand:
"Don't worry, we are all family, don't worry about me, let Ronan deal with the guests."

There were unfamiliar faces at the tables over there. In Lucas's opinion, their relationship with Ronan was naturally not as close as his own.

Unexpectedly, the situation there was completely different from what Lucas expected.

Ronan was chatting animatedly with the two men at the same table, especially with the man with a mustache, who was kissing him like conjoined twins.

Several times Lucas heard Ronan patting his chest and saying:
"Gabriel, I declare you my best friend!"

Lucas poured himself a drink with disdain.

I thought Ronan really made the wrong friends.

What and what? Best friends?
Until he saw the thin and taciturn man take out a pair of watches that even a rough guy like him could tell were 'expensive'.

"You said this is your and Zoe's restaurant, so I'll give you something that both of you can use. Please accept this pair of couple watches. I wish your restaurant a prosperous opening, and I also wish you and Zoe sweet happiness."

The man with a mustache smiled and said:
"No need to congratulate, today's opening is already a great success! When my store opened, even if we invited the people from the Vaucluse Department of Agriculture to come, it wouldn't have been as lively. You're amazing, my friend."

Lucas stroked the two bottles of red wine he brought with him.

Compared with those two priceless watches, these two bottles of wine are just child's play.

But where did Ronan get to know these two rich and powerful friends?

After dealing with the two men, Ronan went to a table where a woman and two men were.

The woman was wearing very fashionable clothes, like a veteran star in Cannes, and her tone and demeanor were even more like a star:
"I'm here to drink today, let's not talk about anything else."

Ines deliberately sat apart from Gabriel and the others.

Ronan picked up the bottle of pink wine on the table and poured wine for everyone:
"No need to say anything. I'm so happy that you three can come."

Lucas was attracted by the pink wine bottle in Ronan's hand.

He recognized the wine, the highest-end one produced by Château Strasbourg, which cost 800 francs a bottle, and there were already two empty bottles on the table.

Lucas silently took the two bottles of pink wine he brought to his feet.

Does Ronan usually drink such expensive pink wine?
Then he pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation at that table, and found that the gifts the three people gave Ronan were all priceless, either rare goods or treasures.

Lucas clenched his fists tightly:
"Has Ronan become so powerful?"

Why is he surrounded by all these rich and powerful guys? !
(End of this chapter)